[4-14] The Town

[Gildarts]

The dust settled while the sniper’s head spun with hankering beats of nausea. Her palm met her forehead which had been contaminated by a gradual headache, “Red?” she looked over at the other corner of the lift. “Red?” she said again, hurrying over to the Simba’s side and shaking his matted pelt, hoping to see the rise of his ribs. 

It came, Thank god. Her good hand patted him between the available space of his ears, while a soft pattering came from outside the steel door of this rickety piece of shit. It sounded like a steady drum of hail, but she knew better than that. 

Silence. The rogue let it fill the air, hopefully the carnivorous enemies would forget the sound of their crashing descent, but that wasn’t something she was willing to bet her life on. Who could’ve guessed that ace bandage was just as good as duck tape when attaching a sword to the end of a rifle. 

Yes, I made a motherfucking bayonet.

The banging from the outside hadn’t stopped, instead, fell into a drone of monotony, with a pace that sounded like a clock, slowly ticking until she had the strength to pry open the door. Red’s ears perked just as she had completed the tie, which she held with her fingers and she pulled it taught with her teeth. Mutual smiles formed as he began to speak, but Christa shook her head and pointed to the sealed doors. With her eyes, she asked if he was ready. Nanaki shook off the dirt from his pelt and with a solemn nod, confirmed.

One arm, this oughta be good. Christa winced painfully as her fingertips were jammed into the spaceless fold and after a sweat-filled moment, she found herself finally making an inch of leeway. Red had perched at the ready, close to the doors, but in this case, he doubted he could lunge faster than one of the animated dead. 

A retching sound came from above and there was an immediate crash through the panels of the elevator’s ceiling, which were no longer intact. Instead, a zombie fell into their little box and hurled itself into a standing position, tackling the human to the closest corner. Confined spaces were a bitch. Gaping jaws and a curling tongue spat tainted goo into her hair, while she exerted her energy in a violent struggle, playing tug of war with her own body, doing all she could to keep the creature from taking a bite. It roared with defiant rage and trumped her with a new wave of attenuating brute strength, releasing a cackling hiss as it snarled, mouth open, and dove in head-first. 

That was when Red’s giant claw fell down along the wilting skin of the undead’s back, forcing it to the ground. Goop spattered as the victor stomped on the mush of its limp skull with her heel, barely blinking her grateful eyes at Nanaki. Christa stole a single breath before she opened the elevator door.