[3] There Goes the Sun (Tail Escape)

[Karl Jak]

Carmelita
Guilmon
Deadpool
Abner
Arthuria Pendragon
Makota Yuki
Granite
Colonel
Amber Veritz

 
Storm clouds rolled in overhead.  Faint drips had already begun to fall upon the heads of the living and the dead alike.  Rumbling in the distance heralded something far worse to come if they just hung out in the open and continued their beach party.

Despite the coming danger, the herd of zombies had started to thin.

Somewhere removed from the conflict, a wide-eyed Amber clutched her arm and seemed to have lost focus with what was going on around her, despite Carmelita's best efforts.

 

Updates
Your group will defeat the zombie horde (congratulations), but you’ll quickly be faced with a rather intense storm that will flood the beach and force you to either A) Learn to swim and dodge lightning or B) Head into the Forest.
 
As of now, I still have you all in a loose group.  If this changes, let me know and I’ll spin people off into other threads.
 
Everyone has taken two points of damage, except:  Granite (4 points) and Amber (3 points).  Once the adrenaline subsides, Amber will develop cold chills followed by a fever and lots of sweating.
 
I’ll let y’all take your time resolving the zombie fight for those of you who like conflict and punching things.  Don’t take too long.  I’ll provide additional stuff once people are done with this scene

[Carmelita]

There was a crash of lightning and as the zombies were slowly diced, Carmelita felt water trickle into her boot.

She glanced behind her. The sea was frothing, rain pounding down and sweeping in curtains across the shore. The zombies were easy to deal with if you faced them head on, but it seemed that the elements were conspiring against them now.

The tempo of her shots resumed, zombies falling over jerking before being stabbed or crushed by the collection of survivors around her. Off to her left, the knightly woman protected the flank, and Amber was, if looking a little pale from blood loss, still holding her own to the right. Between them stood four Syntech employees, wielding rocks and branches as makeshift clubs, and Carmelita had taken a step back to fire through the gaps where needed. Now, though, she realised that their efforts were not quick enough.

She waded through the rising water to the knightly woman. The zombies that were coming for them had petered out, only a few stumbling down the beach while the remainder were focused on other groups around the beach.

“We need to get out of here!” she yelled. The woman looked blankly at her for the second, the howl of the wind drowning out Carmelita’s words. She gestured with her pistol at the water and then at the trees, before understanding dawned in the woman’s eyes and she began stepping up the beach, forging a path. Carmelita pushed the secondaries into line behind her before grabbing Amber. The faunus was bent over, pale and shaking, and nearly attacked Carmelita before realising that the hand on her shoulder was furred and not dead.

With shock pistol in hand, and Amber’s gun taking potshots at any remaining undead that were interested in the procession, the group began trekking slowly across the sand towards the shelter of the trees.

The water behind them was rising almost as quickly as it took them to walk. Carmelita’s socks squelched slightly with each step, and she pushed it to the back of her mind as they proceeded. The spray of a large wave crashed down across their backs, bouncing off Carmelita’s greatcoat but soaking her hair even more than the rains had already.

Finally, the knight made it to the forest’s edge and pushed into the undergrowth, making a path for the others to take while Amber and Carmelita turned and dealt with the two last zombies to try and follow them.

The rain was still falling from the canopy and the already dim light was darkened by the leafy branches over head. A few of the Syntech employees tried to sit down, only for Carmelita to hoist them to their feet with a shake of her head and a wordless push.

Lightning struck nearby, the crack of a tree boiling and exploding echoing around them. The knight was leading them up the slope, higher and higher away from the storm surge, until they found themselves at a eroded overhang, tree roots dangling and forming a rough roof under which to shelter.

They took to the slightly drier shelter with relief, the secondaries with their heads in their hands as they felt their adrenaline spike crash. The knightly woman, blood dripping from a gauntlet on her hand, made her way over to the pair as Carmelita looked closer at Amber’s bite wound.

“Well met,” she said, standing to attention even with the poor light and conditions in which to do so. “I, Saber, would know your names.”

Carmelita gestured for her to sit wearily.

“Inspector Carmelita Fox-Cooper,” she replied, charging her shock pistol and using the light cast by the glowing ball of electricity to examine Amber more carefully. “Thank you for helping.”

“Amber.”

The three of them sat in silence for a moment, the sound of rain and thunder roaring outside the shelter and the soft groans of those around them filling it for them.

[Karl Jak]

Updates
Amber, Saber, and Foxy Love have branched off into the Forest.

Guilmon
Deadpool
Abner
Makota Yuki
Granite
Colonel

[Granite]

"Focus," Colonel said sharply. "If you dwell on it, it'll only get worse. Just move. Act, don't think: solve the problem, worry about it afterward."

The words of the Colonel rang within the mind of Granite. The metal man's words calmed his racing mind and shut off his heart. No longer did Granite see these things as humans. They were walking flesh, and the problem was that they were going for Colonel. 

The bodies came from all around, mostly from the shallow graves between the two Institute members and the rest of the survivors. Limbs, teeth, blood, etc flew about the duo as they defended themselves. Some of the enemy was taken out, but even so, the crowd pushed them further and further from the group. Soon, the two were backed to an outcropping of rocks. Up until this point Granite was unable to defend both of them from all angles. He did what he could though, and in turn, received considerable damage. The stone man's wings were chipped and cracked. There were teeth left enlodged within his crust and his white skin drenched red. Colonel was luckily faring a lot better. With dings, and scratches. He to was covered in blood, but not to the extent that Granite was.

But now, things were looking better. Colonel and Granite were at a better defensible, high ground position. The air grew heavy with mist. The wind stopped, the calm before the storm. And, before one could even think, the rain began to fall. The stone the two were on became slick with the rancid mixture of rain and blood. Things were only going to get worse from here.

[Deadpool]

The walkers lumbered towards the mercenary; through the downpour of rain, they trudged over the slushy dunes of sand. The first to reach him—a one-armed stewardess with red hair (a stone-cold fox before her death)—drew her mouth back in a snarl. Her black eyes burned holes through the mercenary as she tried to decipher whether or not he was food.

Deadpool tilted his head and croaked. The woman stretched her neck, flaring her nostrils. She took a good whiff of the mercenary's scent, and then walked passed him. The walkers behind her followed suit, drifting over to some of the other survivors.

It fucking worked; while the crews of characters fought desperately to keep themselves from being devoured, the mercenary circumvented Karl's obstacle. He watched as the other survivors split into groups, all conjuring their own plans to overcome the situation. The mercenary considered helping them, but the was Dante's Abyss, and though this year's rendition already proved to be vastly different than its predecessor, there could only be one survivor.

Deadpool imagined Karl Jak hiding in some bunker shrouded in shrubbery, deep within the forest; the homosexual smirking as he observes a wall of of monitors. He's swishing around a cocktail in his hand, occasionally bringing it to his lips. I've done it again, banking off the success of popular shows—Lost plus zombies, it's a no-brainer million dollar idea.

As rain continued to assault the island, the coating of blood and organs on Deadpool's suit began to wash away. One of the walkers following the herd stopped, and turned towards him. Slowly, he headed towards the mercenary, attracting the attention of nearby brethen to accompany him.

Deadpool basked in his own greatness, relishing in the awesomeness of his wits as he spewed mental compliments to himself—Who's the man? I'm the man. Who can coax your daughter out of her panties? You got it, me.. He pelvic thrusted the air, picturing a faceless man's daughter bent over on the receiving end. You like that don't you?! Oh Ye—

The ravenous walker lunged at the mercenary, grabbing hold of an arm. He treated it like a drumstick, and sank his teeth in, grabbing a mouthful of meat and ripping it from the forearm.

Deadpool yelled, ”Sonovabitch!” He took his free arm and drilled the walker's temple with a fist, knocking the undead into the sand.

The other walkers marched forward in a crooked column, bumping shoulders as they gathered in numbers. It was almost as if they were doing so intentionally, walling off any hopes of escaping into the forest behind them. Even their groans seemed to be more synchronized.

Deadpool looked over his shoulder at the rising tides behind him. The horde of undead had pinned him between themselves and the coastline. He knew there was no running, and a twisted smile curled behind his mask.

The sound of cold steel pierced the pounding of rain as the mercenary unsheathed both of his swords. He slid the blades against one another like chef sharpening his knives, sweeping a gaze across the wall of walkers.

”So, would you fine ladies and gentlemen like to be filleted, of skewered?” he quipped.

One after the other, he slaughtered the undead like oblivious lambs wandering into a butcher's den. The first walker outstretched his hands in an attempt to grasp the mercenary, but fell collapsed when one of the katanas went from his collarbone to the opposite side of his hip, dividing him in half. Deadpool swung his other katana through the crown of the second walker's head; blood shot from the top like a wild water hose. He pivoted and impaled another walker who attempted to attack his flank, twisting his hilt and spilling the woman's ovaries.

The mercenary couldn't help but cackle as lifeless bodies accumulated around him; it had been a long while since Deadpool enjoyed a good ole hack'n'slash, and all the mayhem was beginning to form a tent in the center of his pants.

727/2400 words

[Albert Wesker]

His heavy boots slid and skittered unsteadily on the rain slick stone. He hovered barely a foot away from his stone ally, back to back, glaring coldly out at the undead clambering slowly forward. Unsteady of gait, shuffling in stride, and haphazardly jerking about in their movements, but resolute in their mindless advance.

"We won't be able to hold out here for much longer," Colonel spoke up, his tone neutral. "Not out here in the open, with weather like this." A bolt of lightning split the sky, striking the wreckage of the plain, producing a horrendous screeching as metal was sheared apart and sand and debris were left instantly melted into molten slag. "...we need to fall back. Now."

Granite briefly looked back, over his shoulder. "What about the others?"

"....I'm going to carve an opening. Break through, grab anyone within arm's reach and pass along the message: fall back into the trees." Colonel's saber was raised and held ready, his posture shifting forward. "Be ready to move." His stance shifted, spreading wider, hunkering down, ready to leap into action.

For a moment the man of stone said nothing, just slowly turned his head back to peer through the steadily-intensifying rain back at his surroundings, as if taking in the number of the undead remaining, and where any of their fellow survivors were. "...ready." he finally said, bringing both fists up to bear, looking ready to pounce into the fray himself.

A low hum began to build up, and the damp air sizzled and hissed as it hit the dimly-glowing blade of the soldier program's energy saber. Sparks went up, flashing wildly in bursts of emerald. "....now." It was the only warning he gave before he sprang forward, leaping directly at the most immediate obstacle. And without another sound, his saber arced out in a brilliant flare of green, trailing a sizzling, crackling blade of energy in its wake. The force of the Screen Divide tore through the zombies in his direct path, four bodies falling into a misshapen pile and several more staggering and tumbling down from the sudden force of the blow.

And then the machine and his stone ally were past, charging through the brief opening.

Colonel's over-large hand clamped down rather forcefully on the shoulder of a blue-haired youth wielding a large sword, clad in what appeared to be a school uniform. He seemed far too young to be involved in any of this -- but then again...so had Lan and his friends. Capability was not always measured by age. "The situation has turned poorly." His statement drew the gaze of the youth up toward his stern expression, already peering around for his next course of action. "Fall back to the trees."

And then he was off again, his saber shearing the limb off another of the persistent undead and a brutal hammer-blow from his opposite arm all but caving in its rib cage as it toppled to the wet sand. He bounded over it, and off across the beach toward the treeline, peering through the mist the rain had kicked up for any sign of Granite.

....ah, there he was. Lumbering away toward the treeline, fresh from passing on the word to another man, some type of rifle in his hands. Reasonably capable, at a glance. The two Institute associates reconvened, their path of retreat falling into line with each other.

"I could only reach one of the other survivors!" Granite spoke up as soon as they were alongside again.

"One is better than none," came the taciturn response. There was no sense wasting any more time to divert course and go after the others. With any luck, the ones they had managed to reach would pass on the memo to anyone else they came across, or the others would just get the message naturally.

But that was something for someone else to ponder. Colonel and Granite didn't have the luxury for turning back now, breaking through the edge of the treeline and disappearing into the mass of plant life.

687/2400 words

Passed along a message to retreat to Abner and Makoto (by sheer value of RNG), who are welcome to come along or do their own thing. Non-organic dudes, out.

[Guilmon]

As Guilmon burned more of the Zombies to a crisp, a flash a lightning lit up the the area more than his flame was. And with the rain pouring down harder as each second passed, his Fireball was becoming less and less effective at getting rid of Guilmon's and the group's adversaries. He watched as the fox lady, the knight, and the cat girl ran off into the forest. Behind him, he heard the funny man yell out. It seemed like he had been bitten by the un-dead creatures. Deadpool, however, had not faltered. He quickly dispatched more of the hoard around him.

He looked around again, finding it difficult to locate most of the others. On the top of a dune, he saw the stone man and the metal man that had broken Guilmon out of his frenzy earlier.

*CRASH* ... *CRACK*

Another flash of lightning crashed into the remainder of the plane that had brought them here. Yeah, they definitely were not going back that way... As more un-dead monstrosities started to surround Guilmon again, he was resorting to using just his claws in the downpour. Every so often, one of the un-dead would scratch him, but Guilmon would quickly turn and scratch them back. "Ow! How do you like being scratched?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Guilmon saw the stone man and the metal man take off towards the trees. On their way, they grabbed others, spoke briefly while pointing to the trees, and took off again. Guilmon was not exactly the smartest member of the group, but even he knew what they were planning. He follows their lead, calling out to the red-and-black funny man. "Funnymon! They're heading for the trees! Follow Guilmon!"

Whether the man heard the Digimon or not, Guilmon could not tell. He took off after the departing pair as fast as his reptilian legs could carry him, which was pretty damn fast by human standards. If the funny man had heard him, then he would probably be close behind. If not, Guilmon tried.

345 words via Wordcounter.net

[Zack Fair]

Blood, guts, and saltwater sprayed everywhere. The storm increased in strength and ferocity, and before Abner knew it he was standing in the rising tide. The waves pounded against his shins, and he felt the sand get sucked from beneath his boots as the surf ripped it back out to sea. He was soaked from head to toe, from the rain and the spray of saltwater from the powerful rising waves. His waterproof boots were doing their job, although not as intended. The water had risen high enough that it had flooded into his footwear, which was now holding the water in instead of letting it out. The worst part of all? The rain had pretty much disintegrated his lit cigarette.
 
There was no semblance of a defensive line. Hell, there hadn’t really been one to start with, but any fleeting attempt at teamwork was long gone. Abner, for his part, was fending off attacks from all sides, shooting the remaining zombies as they approached from any direction. The robotic man he’d observed before ran past, using few words to say an obvious point: it was time to abandon this position.
 
Damn, if that wasn’t the understatement of the century. And yet, Abner needed someone else to tell him that. He turned to follow after the cybernetic individual, but the surf was again pulling against his legs, beckoning him to come out to sea. This didn’t faze the robot he was trying to follow, but it sure made his own movement difficult.
 
Suddenly, a hand gripped his ankle. Whatever held him was underwater and being pulled out to sea by the rip current. Unfortunately, it had enough momentum that it pulled Abner right off his own feet, and the ex-trooper fell beneath the water line as well. His instincts were quick, and by the time his back made contact with the sand, he’d already ripped his combat knife from its sheath.
 
A wave crashed over them, temporarily stopping the journey to the deeper water. Abner used this opportunity to pull his foot free from the abductor’s grip, and hoist himself to his feet. He emerged from the water waist deep, and took a gasping breath for air. Just the same, he also began to step backwards. As disoriented as he was, he knew he needed to get some distance from his attacker.
 
A young woman emerged from the water in front of him, her red hair plastered against her face. She couldn’t have been more than nineteen years old, and she was clearly shell-shocked by this entire experience. The only important detail to Abner, though, was the fact that she was decidedly not a zombie. So he disregarded any level of pleasantries for the time being, and instead sheathed his knife. While the girl was still obviously trying to figure out how she’d made it this far into the water, Abner sloshed towards her and snatched her by the arm. The girl took that direction pretty well, and as soon as Abner figured out which way was back to shore, the two of them hurried through the current, praying they weren’t about to step on any submerged undead.
 
It didn’t take long for them to exit the deep water. As Abner all but dragged the girl from the ocean in their haste, his eyes locked on the tree line. There were no more zombies anywhere around their immediate area, and the water was shallow enough to see any that could be lurking below at this point. The only remaining obstacles were several large pieces of scrap metal that were shifting dangerously against the pounding waves. That, and some guy who was standing right in the middle of it, staring at the two of them and paying no mind to his own dangerous predicament.
 
Look at this dumbass. Abner still found a moment to be amazed at the stupidity of people. When a piece of metal shifted in the waves and began to approach the guy from behind, Abner gave his best attempt at a warning. “Look out!”
 
The boy, who had to be about the same age as the girl Abner had just pulled from the sea, didn’t even have time to turn around. The piece of wreckage hit him in the back of his knees and threw him to the sand. It would have sucked him out to sea just like the girl, had Abner not caught his wrist. With the girl’s help, Abner pulled the other Syntech employee to his feet, but wasted no time assessing the injury. That could wait. Instead, he continued to run for safer ground, and the two secondaries were pleased to follow.
 
“Come on!” Abner shouted, redundantly, as it wasn’t like they were going to go anywhere else. They simply weaved through the remaining pieces of the plane as they made their retreat.
 
After climbing the embankment to get away from the insanity at beach, Abner led the two young secondaries into the woods and in pursuit of the two non-organic primes. The trees gave just a little shelter from the rain, but Abner wasn’t fooled. This jungle would be just as dangerous, and they would be much harder to spot by a rescue crew.
 
Hopefully the robot had a plan, because he sure as hell didn’t know what to do, now.

909/2400

Abner and two secondaries have left with Colonel and Granite.

[Deadpool]

Each walker groan was met with the whisper of Deadpool's katana slicing through air, and before long, all that remained was a semi-circle pile of disassembled body parts in front of him. He did not know how many undead he had killed, but presumed the number was in the thousands. Maybe millions. Definitely more than anyone else killed; counting poor J. Saunders, he reckoned that at least half of the contestants were now disposed of.

Only one more half to go, Deadpool thought, putting both katanas back in their sheathes.

He analyzed his wound and grimaced. That zombie got him good, taking a whole portion of the mercenary's forearm. Now there was just a hole, and a pain that throbbed like high hell. His healing factor jump-started to quell any spread of infection, but unless he exerted more energy the wound would stay. He elected to keep the wound, and more importantly, keep his energy.

A bolt of lightning illuminated the bruising sky, and Deadpool's eyes shifted over to the other survivors; cornered against the edge of a cliff, an autonomous robot and a humanoid made of pure stone defended themselves from the small group of zombies. The mercenary smiled as he watched the pair of survivors struggle, taking delight in the prospect of two more competitors dying. Then a frown struck his face as the survivors barreled through the group of walkers, and made a beeline for the forest. The cliff they were just fighting on fractured, and fell into the crashing waves beneath it.

”Damn, almost,” Deadpool murmured to himself.

Another survivor—what looked like a wannabe Pokemon—stood at the opposite end of the dashing duo. The creature opened its mouth, exhaling a fiery sphere; despite the onslaught of rain, the ball kept its flame, and slammed into crew of approaching walkers, reducing them to smoldering corpses.

Then the creature looked over at Deadpool. ”Funnymon!” he yelled, gesturing over towards the pair of survivors, ”they're headed for the trees! Follow Guilmon!”

”Wait, wait, wait, wait. Why the fuck does Charmander's retarted second cousin get red text, but I don't?”

Three more survivors emerged from the plane wreckage area, frantically running with zombies in chase. Two of them were Syntech employees, apparent by their solid colored uniforms; the third survivor failed to have any distinguishing features (mostly because the narrator failed to provide a description for Deadpool to visualize). They climbed out of the beach, pursuing rockman and the robot into the refuge of the forest.

Fuck some stupid character description, you better answer my question. You're not about to just end this post without explaining to me wh—“

The faux-Pokemon failed to clarify his intentions behind following the other survivors, but Deadpool accepted his offer.

490 words, by the site's count.
1217/2400 for the round
Deadpool is following Guilmon and the rest of the survivors into the forest

[Karl Jak]

End of Round 3

The whole situation had degraded rather quickly.
 
What should have been an easy triumph over zombies quickly became a mad scramble to escape a beach that was losing a fight with the storm-engorged ocean.  Waves crashed up against the trees, claiming luggage, corpses, and plane shrapnel for the angry ocean.  The group that had once seemed so formidable was dazed and confused.
 
Abner could spot the other two primes up ahead.  With the two survivors in tow, he spun once to see that there were others still scrambling to make it off the beach.  “Hurry up!”  Abner shouted before directing the two secondaries into the trees. 
 
Guilmon made it to the trees and turned just as Deadpool reached him.  The mercenary lifted a finger to express his discontent, but before he could start to ramble about colors, a massive wave crashed into him.  He was thrown forward into Guilmon, who lost his balance and fell as well.  Before either of them knew what was going on, their lungs were filling with salt water.

“Motherfu—” Deadpool couldn’t finish the word before he was smacked in the skull by a piece of fuselage.  Seeing the danger that the other Digimon was in, Guilmon kicked against the current and wrapped an arm around the unconscious mercenary’s hip.  As he hugged Deadpool against his broad, reptilian chest, Guilmon spotted another figure bobbing and flailing in the ocean.
 
What was that man’s name?  Makato?  Guilmon felt bad that he couldn’t remember at the moment, but as the Digimon tried to make it back to the other survivor, he saw something slicing through the frothing ocean.  The dark blue triangle was barely visible amid the anger of the water, but before Guilmon could deduce what he was staring at, the man let out a horrible scream as he was pulled under the waves.  A beat later, a geyser of red forth erupted up out of the water.
 
Guilmon turned back toward the trees, but he couldn’t make it.  He was too far away at this point, and with the man in tow, he didn’t have the strength to fight the waves.

[spoiler]
Updates
Makato is dead and will respawn at the Nexus in 3 days.
Everyone received a further 2 points of damage, except for Deadpool (1 points)
New threads will be up by the end of the update period (11 AM CST).[/spoiler]