backyardbbq | [closed] zombiestuck

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[closed] zombiestuck

[April 13th, 2009. That was the day everything changed. Nobody expected the sudden invasion from the skies, and within a year the invading aliens had taken control of a good portion of the planet. These creatures with grey skin and orange horns were absolute terrors on the battlefield, and no human army could even compare to their destructive capability.

That was why the remains of the American government decided to make the virus. They knew no army on Earth stood a chance against such a fearsome army, so they decided to turn to chemical warfare instead. No matter how strong the alien army was, even they would fall to disease. By late 2011 they had designed a virus that only killed off trolls, while leaving humans unaffected. The world had its secret weapon.

November 11th, 2011. 11/11/11 day. It was meant to be the turning point in the war, where the American military would unleash their fearsome disease on trollkind, killing them all off within a matter of weeks. Indeed, it seemed to work at first, and trolls began dying off by the thousands. They were dying so quickly that the Condescension, the leader of all trolls, had to continuously send new waves of trolls to Earth to fill in the spots for the front line soldiers as they died. Still, the virus seemed to be working, and all of humanity bundled themselves in to try to wait for the trolls to give up and leave.

But then, as the bodies accumulated on the battlefield, something terrible happened. Nobody knew why it happened, but some of the dead trolls began to rise again. Their bodies were dead, their souls were gone, but somehow they were able to move and attack. And when they attacked, they didn't just kill humans. they devoured them. And they attacked and killed other trolls too, and those trolls who were killed by their own dead rose again as well. spreading this mutation of the sickness.

Zombie trolls proved to be much, much harder to fight than regular ones. While normal trolls stopped fighting if they were fatally wounded, zombie trolls would continue to fight until their bodies were either burned or blown to bits. At first the Condescension tried to fight the zombification, telling her best scientists to find a cure. But after years of trying, no cure could be found, so the Condescension pulled her forces out and left in 2014, a mere five years after her initial invasion.

She didn't take all of her trolls with her, though. Any troll who had ever been planet-side was left behind, and all of their space-traveling vehicles were destroyed. She would not risk any chance of the sickness going along with her when she left. As far as she was concerned, the displaced and zombified trolls were now the problems of Earth.

It is now 2019. Roughly thirty million humans and seventy million trolls remain alive on Earth. Those numbers continue to dwindle every day, as the hundred million survivors of Earth have to combat countless zombies, each more fearsome than the last. Some are fast. Some have telekinetic powers. Some can control the minds of animals, other trolls, and even humans. All of them want just one thing: the flesh of the living.

John Egbert had only been 13 when the invasion started. He had been far too young to play any kind of role in the war, and afterwards all he could do was survive. Most of his friends had fallen out of contact when the invasion had started. His one remaining relative, his loving father, had fallen to the zombies years ago. All alone in the world, John had continued to survive in what remained of Seattle, making a home in the small, walled-off area that held all of the survivors from the western coast of the United Stated. It used to be a suburb of Seattle, actually, and the mayor of the settlement had been the mayor of Seattle when civilization had fallen.

They couldn't hide behind the wall forever, though. They could grow food and sustain life inside the walls, but when anything special was needed someone had to go out into the remains of Seattle and hope to find what they were looking for.

That is why John Egbert is currently sneaking through the empty streets, his trusty hammer on his back and his two pistols in his belt. He is trying to recover a spare part for one of the generators, and he has to make it to one of the many hardware stores and back before the sun sets. Being midday, the zombies are all inside, hiding from the harsh rays of sunlight. One of the lucky breaks humanity had gotten was that trolls seemed to hate sunlight, so zombie trolls instinctively kept to the shadows. John is taking advantage of that, and he hopes to make it home before any zombies come out to bother him.

But is he truly alone?]

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[Oh great, he was heading this way. This made Karkat flinch a little bit, trying to keep himself out of sight. He couldn't tell if the human had actually spotted him or not; it was best to keep still he was sure he was unaware.

It wasn't that he didn't think he could take the human out. His kind outnumbered them dramatically. It was just better to avoid confrontation unless necessary. After all he was just heading back to his own little base. It wasn't like he was out to pick a fight.

Still, he made sure to keep what was left of his former sickle at the ready. If the human noticed him he would not hesitate to strike. If not...well, he wasn't above killing him either.]

[Not knowing of the danger waiting for him, John pressed forward, still searching for the person he had caught sight of. It had only been a glimpse, and Karkat was pretty good at staying hidden, so when John got to the spot he thought Karkat was at and found nothing he began to doubt what he had seen.]

Huh. Was I just seeing things?

[Genuinely confused, John looks all around him, trying to search for Karkat. He was sure he would be the only person in the ruins of the city today, his usual exploring partner had chickened out on him. If someone else was here, he wanted to find out why. Maybe they were a survivor who had been holding out?

John really wanted to call out to whoever was out there, but he was too afraid of the zombies that could have been lurking in the dark buildings. So he did try to call out, but in one of those fakey, whisper-calling-out voices.]

Hello? Is anyone there?

[Shit. So he had been spotted after all. Great job genius. Way to make this more of a pain in the ass then it had to be.

He felt his heart beating a little faster, and was suddenly annoyed with himself. Why was he nervous when the human was the one in the hunted position? If Karkat waited long enough he could just kill this guy from behind.

In fact, maybe if he moved slowly enough...

He started to slowly sidestep, making sure to stay perfectly still if he felt he had made too much noise. He wasn't going to get caught, and this dumbass wasn't going to rat him out to anyone else.

More importantly, he wanted to do this without attracting any undead.]

[Karkat was successful at sneaking, as John didn't notice him at all. But John only lingered in his spot for a short while, since he knew staying in one place was a bad idea. So, before Karkat got close enough to attack, John started moving again, still searching for the person he thought he had seen.

He was going in the wrong direction, though. He actually started heading away from where Karkat was, and he was watching the buildings to the left and right of him as he walked, looking for any signs of life. He wasn't too nervous, not any more nervous than he usually was when traversing Seattle. And with no sign of any undead, that made John even less nervous than he should have been.

Maybe that was why he started to grow braver. He started to speak louder, to the point where he really was calling out. He was hoping whoever he had seen would come out and speak to him before anything bad happened.]

Hello! Hey, I know you're around here, I saw you just a moment ago!

[It was at that point he turned around fully for the first time, and he was looking back in the direction Karkat was.]

[Yes. Yes he did turn around. Unfortunately for Karkat it's impossible to be stealthy when you're hunched over behind someone in broad daylight, ready to strike.

John had gotten too far away. The jig was totally up.

>FIGHT
RUN

Well, he may as well take the shot. As soon as he came to his senses he came charging at the hammer-clad lad.]

[Oh.

Well that hadn't been a human after all.

Weirdly enough, that was the first thought that ran through John's mind. The second one was holy shit he's going to cut me to pieces!

Luckily, he had his hammer. It was a sledgehammer, to be exact. Not the best for killing zombies, unfortunately, but it proved to be very helpful at fending off deadly things when he was out of ammo. And while he wasn't out of ammo this time, Karkat was too close for shooting, so the hammer would have to do.

Well, it would have to do as soon as John could get it off of his back. At that moment he had to duck down and out of the way to avoid getting decapitated.]

Woah!

[John tried to pull away far enough to give him a couple seconds to unstrap his hammer. He really hadn't been expecting to come across a lone troll, and definitely not one who wasn't a zombie. There was a distinctive lack of rotting here, so Karkat couldn't have been a part of the undead hoard.

Then he remembered that living things could be reasoned with, so instead of whipping out his hammer to smash Karkat, he stood up and held his hands out in front of him.]

WoahwoahwoahwoahWOAH! Calm down now, there's no need for fighting!

[As much as he hated trolls for all the trouble they had caused humans, he really didn't want to fight, especially not in the middle of a city of undead. The smell of fresh blood would draw zombis there like flies to rotten fruit.]

[Karkat didn't respond, but he did hesitate for a moment. Was this guy really going to try to rationalize the situation? What sort of creature doesn't fend for its life?! No wonder humans were a dying species.

Still, the fact remained that fighting the human was more trouble than it was worth, so he lowered his weapon, implying he'd at least listen to what he had to say.

He swore to god it better have been good. He hated having his time wasted.]

[Okay, so the troll was at least stopping long enough for John to talk more. John wasn't sure if this troll would listen to him, or even if he could understand, but he had to try. So he spoke quickly, trying to get as much out before Karkat decided to attack him again.]

Okay, look. We're in the middle of zombie deadland here, and the last thing either of us need is a hoard of superpowered dead guys after us. You know they'd all flock here the moment they smell fresh blood, so let's just keep all sharp and pointy things to ourselves, mmkay? I'm not even looking for a fight, I just thought I saw another human and I wanted to make sure they were safe. But I guess that was you, huh? It was kinda hard to see, your horns are all nubby 'n stuff, so I didn't even notice them. But hey, we all make mistakes, right?

[John really did ramble on when he was feeling jumpy.]

AT LEAST I HAVE HORNS Y--

[Okay that was loud. He wasn't a very quiet guy to begin with, but when he was pissed off he was even worse. He clammed up and glared at the guy. He could have culled him right then and there, but...

Well, he had a point.

With a little cringe he decided to just run off. The human wasn't even worth wasting his time on anyway, and he needed to find shelter; the sun was starting to irritate his eyes.]

Wait-

[But Karkat was running off already, and John really didn't want to press his luck and chase him down. Honestly, it was better that way. They could go their separate ways and not have to cause a big scene. Nobody got eaten by zombies, nobody got stabbed in the face, and everything was good.

But as Karkat escaped, John noticed how unusually skinny he was. Everyone was eating light, John knew that. Even back at the makeshift town he lived in everyone had to carefully ration their food. But Karkat looked like he was beyond rations and extending into 'constantly hungry' territory. Maybe he had been following John because he was hungry?

Whatever it could have been, something compelled John to find out more about this lone troll. he had never even heard of a troll being by themselves, they always moved in groups, or so he thought. Why was Karkat different?

Those thoughts led John to come back to that same area the next day, this time with extra rations of food on him. Maybe a little peace offering of a lunch would butter Karkat up enough to get him talking. John was distrustful of trolls, but he was also curious about them too.]

[Of course he would have been back in the area. He was a troll that didn't get much sleep. It had always been the way he lived, and being the creature of habit that he was he continued this trend on Earth, sleeping only when he felt it was safe to. Or when he couldn't stay awake any longer. Whichever came first.

At any rate he had returned to the area to scrounge around for food himself. The little base of operations had nothing he could readily take, so it was another night of winging it. Winging it and hiding from the undead. Wow was this place shitty!

It didn't take long for the nubby-horned troll to realize the human had brought food. When you're hungry food smells even better than usual. It still confused him though. Why was he back? Did he forget something?

Was he just stupid? That was probably the answer.

He didn't approach John directly, again choosing to keep an eye on him from a distance. In hiding. Brilliant.]

[At least food that wasn't uncooked meat seemed to not attract the undead, so John didn't have to worry about the shambling hoard being drawn to him because he was carrying a bit of bread and cheese. But he had definitely seen some movement in one of the buildings when he had been on his way there, so he was already worked up. While he waited for Karkat to show up (figuring that hey, if the guy was in the area he would be back) he paced around the intersection where they had spoken before and kept glancing around, as if he expected an undead to jump out at him.

After maybe twenty minutes of waiting, his nerves got to be too much for him, and he set half of the food he had brought down on the curb, with a bit of cloth under the pile to keep it from getting dirty. Then he backed up about half a block and ducked behind a fallen wall of a building , trying to hide and watch to see if Karkat would come out.

But he wasn't really hiding, or at least not as well as Karkat was. He was kind of obvious, with his mess of black hair and bright blue eyes peeking around the edge of the broken wall.]

[See now that was just offensive. The human had left rations out for him like he was some sort of dying animal. Karkat shuddered at the idea of being pitied by a human. How pathetic would it look if he accepted it?

Still, he was pretty hungry...

NOPE. No. No way. That was not happening. This human was downright condescending to him. Also, he was very shitty at hiding. Karkat could see him plain as day. He lifted his head out from his hiding spot.]

I'M NOT GONNA TAKE THAT!

[Oh, there he was! Karkat was a pretty loud guy, so as soon as he spoke up John had no problem at all figuring out just where he was. When he spotted Karkat, John smiled and gave him a little wave.]

It's okay, it's not poisoned or anything!

[He couldn't get why he was doing this. The trolls were there enemies, they were the ones who had caused all of this. John should have been killing Karkat, not feeding him. The hatred between their two races was too great.

But then again, Karkat was all by himself, and he looked so hungry...Maybe it was pity, the platonic kind of pity, that was drawing this niceness out of John. Even though their races were enemies, they were still in the same boat, right? Yeah, that had to be it.]

THAT ISN'T THE POINT!

[He looked pissed. He looked downright offended. He ducked his head behind his hiding spot again, shooting him the middle finger.]

LIKE I'D TAKE A HANDOUT FROM A FUCKING HUMAN. I DON'T NEED YOUR CHARITY!

[Even though he said that, his stomach was aching pretty badly.]

[That sure is a prickly troll! But John knows how to handle prickly people, more than a few people back at the settlement are prickly and tough to deal with.]

Well, if you don't want charity, what if we did a trade?

[Which was what John wanted in the first place, but having it come up like this is better. It flows with the conversation much more smoothly.]

[The troll lifted his head up again. A trade? Well, that was fair. Less demeaning than a handout. Although...]

....I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING.

You have information, don't you?

[Oops, that could have sounded like John was up to something. He quickly clarified what he meant.]

Like, about the zombies, or about any resources you might have found. Stuff like that. You guys are way more technologically advanced, right?

WELL, YEAH. NO FUCKING SHIT.

[Why did he even ask that? This guy is a moron.

Karkat came out of hiding, his busted up sickle still firmly in his grip.]

...BUT I WON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING THAT CAN GET MY PEOPLE IN TROUBLE, Y'GOT THAT?

[Who were his people going to get in trouble with? It wasn't like anyone was keeping tabs on Earth anymore. They had all been left to rot, and John didn't understand why anyone would be loyal to a queen who had abandoned them.]

Sure, okay.

[And he finally realized how silly it was to be hiding like that, since Karkat knew exactly where he was. So he stepped out from hiding, keeping his weapons undrawn to make himself look as nonthreatening as possible. He didn't want to frighten the troll after they had already declared a truce.]

[The empress? Fuck the empress! Karkat's loyalty lied in his people alone, and he wasn't going to let any humans know of their whereabouts, or any weaknesses they may have.

He reluctantly walked out, slowly and suspiciously making his way towards the food. He never took his eyes off of the other man for even a second.]

[John kept his distance while Karkat went for the food. He watched, but he didn't go closer, and after a moment he went ahead and started to talk.]

Well, I was mostly wondering why some of those zombies have weird powers. Some of them can move stuff with their minds, but others can't. Why is that?

[He thought it was a troll thing, rather than a zombie thing, which was why he was asking in the first place.]

[What's that John? Karkat was too bust scarfing down this free food. God, if he wasn't so hungry he'd actually be embarrassed by this.]

THAT'S BECAUSE OF THE HEMOSPECTRUM.

[It looked like he was right, Karkat really had been hungry. John wasn't too surprised, after five years of a broken society all of the packaged food was starting to go bad. If Karkat didn't know how to farm, then he would have a hard time finding food. John knew he would be in that same position too, if he hadn't been taught how to hunt.]

Oh, that's the thingy that makes all your blood different colors, right?

[Luckily he's not completely ignorant of trolls, he had learned a couple things over the years.]

YEAH. THOSE IN THE LOWER CASTE ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE PSYCHIC POWERS.

OF COURSE THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE.

[He shrugged, realizing that he had devoured all the food John had left out.]

GOT ANYMORE?

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