The Zombie Apocalypse (open to Talons or if you ask)

It had been three months since the zombie outbreak. After the devastation, we guessed about 60% of the world's population had died. The radio signals and TV broadcasts said to get out of big cities. With my luck I live in New York. Fortunately we were able to board up the Talons' HQ and just remain on higher floors. We sank the dock too. From the window on the top floor I could see the city burning to the ground. I used to joke about this kind of thing in High School and what I would do, but I was never actually prepared for this kind of disaster actually happening. When it all went to hell Tyuki and I were eating lunch at some cafe. I don't remember the name of it, I just remember the food sucked. We were sitting and just talking about our vacation to Jamaica in 3 weeks. Some man ran in holding his body against the door. There was a bite on his right arm and he was really freaking out. The dude was screaming "The apocalypse is happening!" over and over.

I looked out the window to see huge masses of people eating each other. All I could think was"what the fuck?" It was like something out of a movie. I looked to Tyuki and she screamed. On the man's neck there was a large bite mark and it was spewing blood fast. He was holding the door closed from the horde, but he was going to die soon. "We gotta do something!" She screamed to me.
If the world was going to show I figured screw my identity, I have to stay alive. Like primal instinct I leaped for the door. I asked the man to let me help him, and he obliged. I pulled an empty table over to the door, and pressed it tight. Then I reinforced it with another one. The man fell back on the ground and appeared to die. I remembered every zombie movie I ever saw and knew what had to be done. I told the poor bastard I was sorry, and stomped his skull in. I didn't give him time to reanimate.

Tyuki's face was of horror. This was the first man she had ever seen me kill. Granted, he was already dead, but the blood and brains were the same as if he wasn't. The door was caving in. There were a few hundred zombies crowding to eat us. I heard over my Dog Tags a familiar voice. "I'm here buddy" It was A.I. Over the diner I heard The Bird's blades spinning.
There were 4 people in the joint, not including us, when it was time to go. A mother, her 14 year old daughter, an elderly man, and the waitress. The cook decided to try his luck out the back door letting ln a few undead.

"Dammit, what are you gunna do?" was all I could think to myself. I blasted a hole in the roof with some fire and tossed Tyuki up. Quickly I tossed the remaining other's up to her as the zombies got closer and closer. Me and the elderly man were the last two. He pulled a handgun off his side, and pointed at the walking dead. With perfect accuracy he put a bullet between all 4 of the undead's eyes. "I learned a thing or two in Vietnam, and I got tired of the hoodlums trying to rob me." I just kinda chuckled. I later learned he only served the last 3 years of the war, but god damn he could shoot. His said his name was Cletus, I told him I was Andrew. I helped him up, and then A.I dropped the ladder.

Once we made it back to the base, the other's had been preparing for our return. The dock was down, but the landing strip rose, and took us below to our lower levels. The team was in disbelief, not many words exchanged for a few minutes and then Sean spoke up. "Well what the fuck are we gunna do?" The question I was wondering myself. "We're gunna keep each other alive" I said. Here we are 3 months later, and we have stuck to what I said. The fight has been hard, and we're running out of food and supplies. I need to make a decision. Do I stay here, and try and scavenge New York for food, or do I pack up the team and try our luck somewhere else? All I know is I can't do this alone.

I didn't even think about her comment of food. I couldn't eat, I had people to take care of. I heard her words but they just went through me. It was like my mind was elsewhere. My watch said it was two in the morning but it felt like five. I haven't slept in three days now and I know I'm worrying Tyuki. I remained staring out the window as I felt her touch me. It had been so long since I felt any kind of pleasure. Her touch right there though...It made me feel like I still had a fighting chance at finding the world we all lost.
I turned around to Tyuki and kissed her hard. "Things used to be so much easier." I laughed as I fell back on the bed, and she fell with me. "Taking on bad guys was so much easier than watching your friends turn to..."
"But we still have each other." I said cracking a convincing fake smile to lift Tyuki's spirits.

I laid there for a minute then hugged Tyuki tight. Tickling her stomach as I let go, rolled on top of her and began to tickle her all over. After I stopped I bent down a bit and planet another kiss on her, it lasted a little longer than usual before they broke.
There was a knock on their door. "This better be good." I said answering the door shirtless to Cletus.
"I need to talk to you..." he told me as I walked into the hallway and closed the door behind me.
"What's wrong." I asked as I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall.
"It's Amy...today during scavenging..she got bit."
My heart stopped for a moment. Amy is the mother of fourteen year old Stacy.
"Have you told Stac yet?"
"No. I was hoping you could. Amy has about an hour or two left."
"Fuck."

Put on the spot I caved and told him it would be done. After a thank you I walked back into my room and sat on the edge of the bed. I put my face in my hands, and played with my hair a bit. It was starting to get long, but that was the least of my worries. "Amy got bit Tyuki." I said as I exhaled and laned back into her lap.
Her legs around me sides, and her arms around my shoulders. "I really don't know how to tell Stacey or the others. She's like...our second mom. When I lost my family in the outbreak she was there for me."
A single tear rolled down my cheek "I have to tell Stacey soon. Cletus told me Amy has about an hour or so left." The fact I would have to tell a 14 year old girl her mom was dying didn't sit with me well, but as leader of this group and her closet friend I had to. Leaning my head all the way back, I looked at Tyuki upside down. "Will you come with me to tell her?"

Behind Tyuki, I watched in horror as Amy fell victim to this plague. Even with our super powers, the infection was too much for us to handle. The infection had finally sunk it's deadly claws into our group. Stacey was there and had already found out what had happened. She ran off to her bedroom and slammed her door. I put my hand on Tyuki's shoulder and pulled her in. "I'm gunna go ask her if she wants to take care of it herself or if she wants us to." As I let go of her I felt her start to shake and cry a bit. I wanted to be there for her, but we had a reanimating corpse in the making. As I opened the door, I remembered I had no shirt on so I crossed my arms in embarrassment. Stacy blushed a bit, and we both seemed to find a moment to giggle for a second. That childish moment faded away to despair as we remembered why I was there. "Do you want to take care of it?" I asked picking her handgun up off desk.

"Andrew, you've been my best friend while I've been here. I don't think I have it in me to do that. Would you please do it"
I wanted to say yes right away, but it wasn't that easy. "Of course. Stay here, and cover your ears. I'll be back when it's done." As I closed the door and held the firearm, I felt my stomach churn. Tyuki was still crying from it all. "Turn away." I told Tyuki as I kissed Amy on the forehead and thanked her for everything. I put the gun to her temple and closed my eyes. With a deep breath I squeezed the trigger and watched as a crimson trail formed from the couch to the floor. I stood up and looked Tyuki in the eyes. I could tell she saw the pain in mine as I passed by. I didn't need her worrying about me. Once in Stacey's room I sat in a chair and put the gun on her desk.

"I'm sorry Stacey. I really am. She was like a mother to all of us, I can only imagine what you must feel."
"It's numb now. I can't feel the hurt yet."
"Well remember when you do, I'm always here."
She stood up and gave me a big hug. Her body was tiny compared to mine. I picked her up with ease and hugged her tight. "Well you should get some sleep."
"Yea goodnight Andrew." she said with a faint smile as she crawled into her bed. She reminded me a lot of my little sister, except a lot less moody. I missed Angie all the time, and my mom and dad. I never was able to confirm if they were alive or not. Once the roads were cluttered, and the cities quarantined, it was only a matter of time until electricity went down. If I ever make it to Boston I'll find out for sure.

Once back in our bed me and Tyuki were locked together again. The sex drive we both had going evaporated. She cried and I held her tighter, and her tears began to stop. I really loved her. I tried to change the subject so tickled her a bit again, and kissed her neck. "I miss weed." I said as I chuckled a little. It was now around 3 in the morning and I was ready for sleep. Looking in Tyuki's emerald eyes she had a bit of "flare" in them. Maybe a little leftover from before. I didn't want to make a move and look stupid for trying after a disaster, but we both needed to think about something else, something...pleasant.

This honestly could not have been happening. The end of the world? Please, I think that worse things have happened to this planet. And poor New York City, always getting hit with the worst of it. Someway some how there had been a zombie outbreak, and not just a bunch of homeless people on bath salts. When the whole thing broke out I was just minding my own business relaxing at a friends beach house down in South Carolina. My friend, Trisha who's parents owned the house, called over to me while I was having a drink on the porch. She was talking about how something had happened and that New York was under attack... Again. At first this was not news as I knew that my fellow talons would be on the case no problem. I was on vacation and I would continue to enjoy my time off. However in a couple days more news was coming in that New York had been "lost" and that the problem was spreading. Trisha found that it was some sort of zombie infestation. A diseases that turned people into mindless cannibals, just like the movies. Of course some loser nerd had already made an app for tracking the spread of the disease, there were splotches of it in South Carolina but it seemed to be spreading more west of them. I figured it would not be safe there for much longer, and just like that something began banging on the door repeatedly.
" Trisha! Do not answer that! We've gotta get outta here. Grab a bag with the stuff we absolutely need and bolt..." I had instructed her, following she ran upstairs and I boarded up all the doors and windows with some thick ice to buy us some time. Suddenly I heard a scream from upstairs, I bolted up the stairs as fast as I could to see Trisha running past me and tripping down the stairs. I tried to yes asking if she was okay, but one of the flesh eating freaking was right behind her. I shot through it with an icicle and impaled it against the nearest wall making sure it wouldn't be able to move. I jumped down the stairs to find where Trisha had gone. I found her in the fetal position sitting on the couch by the tv.
"Oh my god! Trisha! Are you okay?! That thing is gone, it's taken care of. Please, did you get hurt...?" I asked her sitting on the couch next to her.
I could see that there was blood on the couch and I could only thing the worse...
"I mean... You know what happens in all those movies..... If you get bit you get turned into one of them.."
She said to me in a very scared voice, there were sounds of the monsters coming from all around the house. Trisha was so terrified, and I could see it in her eyes. She didn't want to die, and I knew that I would not let her.
"Alright girlfriend. This is gonna sound a little crazy but you gotta hear me out. I want you alive just As much as you do... I'm going to freeze your body..."
I couldn't even finish the sentence before she exclaimed against it, but at that point I couldn't thinks of anything else to do. With this shed be safe until they found a cure and I could come back and get her and administer the cure so that she could continue with her life.
I told her to think about it for a second and I knew she knew that I would never just forget about her.
"....alright. Lets do this..."
I held her hand as a tear ran down her face.
" Be strong, I know you can do this. I'll be back soon and we can continue our vacation. I promise."
I couldn't help but shed a tear for one of my best friends, we had known each other for so long and I refused for this to be the end. I tightened my grip on her hand and she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and in a flash I encased her body in a solid ice cocoon. Following I filled the rest of the room with solid ice, and after I grabbed my bag of survival tools I went out to the roof and filled the rest of the house with ice so that I knew that no one would ever be able to get to her except for me.
The house was completely surrounded and I'm knew i would have to fight my way out of this. My goal was to try and make it to New York to reconnect with the rest of the Talons as soon as I could. I started off materializing a solid large block of ice that fell to the ground with a bang flattening the zombies under it. It was hi enough up so that I could stand on it without the reaching, so I jumped down onto it and began taking out the zombies as best I could. I slung barrages of large icicles, and forces out large solid walls of ice that all only temporarily solved the problem. Thinking of a new strategy I took a stance atop this block of ice and began throwing my hands out as if I were tossing discs stuck to the bottom of my hands causing sheets of ice to fly out of the middle of the block I had perched myself on. I had them move at such a speed that it severed the zombies where they stood. It was a highly effective technique, but after fighting for nearly ten minutes I was growing tired and I wasn't not getting anywhere. There were just too many of them and I was nearing the ground, running out of ice on this block. Stomping on what remained, it shattered into thousands of smaller icicles which began swirling out in every direction tearing the zombies to shreds. As a final goodbye I encased the already ice filled house in a massive pillar of ice that could be seen for miles. Heading north, I places myself in an ice sphere so that I could roll safely through crowds of zombies, occasionally materializing a spike to get them off. Although no matter how many I killed none of them seemed to learn that I was dangerous. The only thing that haunted me was knowing that these were once people. Checking that app I had downloaded on my phone I can tell it had not been properly updated as not a soul could be found in town. It wasa a ghost town and I didn't even seen any monsters so I let down my ice sphere. On foot it would take months to reach New York, and it seemed like all the cars here were either taken or a,ready destroyed. Letting out a deep sigh I just continued on.
I came across a couple cars and drove them as far as I could until either the road was blocked off or it ran out of gas. It seemed like this out break happened so fast that people barely even had time to, well, do anything. I was nearing Virginia after a day or so and came across an empty grocery store. I stopped in for a minute grabbing some food to eat. Of course with my abilities I can preserve food but cooking it is a totally different story. There was a break room with a microwave and I had a couple microwave dinners since I had not eaten a solid mean in a few days. This whole surviving thing was proving to be more difficult than I thought.
The only odd thing is that I hadn't seen another human in all this time traveling. Occasionally a zombie running around dazed and confused, but no people. I tried to find some information on the radio, tv or Internet about what's going on and it seemed most radio and television stations were out and there wasn't anyone to post updates on the Internet about the infection. I let out a sigh and went back to eating, I had some veggies and figured maybe some Hot Pockets sounded good so I went out to the freezer section to get them. I was actually surprised that the electricity out here was still working, which got me thinking if there was a mall of any sort near, I could really go for a change of clothes. But the sound of a glass jar hitting the ground interrupted my thoughts. I checked my surroundings and decided to go investigate. Rounding the corner, there was no one there but the spaghetti sauce container that had spilled was still there. I shrugged and turned around to be staring down the barrel of a shot gun.
"Now listen here missy, if you is one of them flesh eaters ima blow your head off where ya stand, ya hear!"
I had my hands up and then slowly moved my right hand to move the gun down.
"I am perfectly fine sir, no cuts, scratches, or bites of any sort..." I said politely to the man who had a heavy southern accent.
"Hm, well alrighty. But im gonna keep my eye on you..."
"If you would like, we could travel together? I can--"
"Nooooo thank you little lady. I can make it just fine on my own. Just another mouth to feed. I'm just gonna get muh supplies and be on my merry way..."
And with that the man slowly walked away keeping his gun pointed at me as he did... It seemed like the strange resourceful people made it through this some how. After this encounter I grabbed a few shopping carts and filled them with as much stuff as possible, from water to potatoes and potatochips of course. This whole apocalypse thing is gonna makes me gain so much weight. After leaving the store I just pulled the carts around with some ice and with my luck after a few miles I found a nice hummer parked in a driveway, I even skipped in joy towards this behemoth of a vehicle. The house seemed abandoned and I searched around for the keys to the car and I found them in a small little dish right by the door, though I stopped moving when I heard rummaging in the kitchen. I grabbed the keys and with my luck knocked the dish over spilling everything else, whatever was in the kitchen came around the corner. There was the presumed owner of the car with an arm in his hand, the hand attached had a wedding ring and I put my hand over my mouth in disgust and shock. Next to this zombie man was, of course, zombie man's best friend, zombie dog. And this thing was twisted, it's mouth opened way to wide to be okay. No sooner did I see this dog the misses came stumbling down the steps and into the picture. If the situation wasn't life or death right now I would have found that hilarious, but seeing as I had to run for my life I left the humor for later.
I threw up a solid wall of ice between me and the zombie family that even cut through the roof and sides of the house. I ran in the other direction barreling through the front door in a mad dash to get to the car. I could feel them beating against the ice wall as I loaded up as much of my supplies as I could before pealing out of that drive way. I was breathing a little heavily bust mostly just because of the adrenalin, it was an exciting feeling though I knew that this was just beyond serious right now. My luck came through once again as the ever so economical monster had a full tank of gas. After this little grab I started to make great time making it all the way through Pennsylvania over the course of a couple days, having to stop and fill up of course. It took a few tries but I got the gas to pump at the abandoned stations. Occasionally I ran into families and gave them some of the supplies that I had and a special piece of ice that I instructed for them to only use in an emergency. Though it took longer, I went around Washington DC just because of the movies I've always seen. It's always there and the other major cities that have the greatest infestation. Once I got to New York it was clear that I would have to continue my venture on foot. The entire state had been completely destroyed and not a soul in sight, streets were full of flipped cars and all kinds of debris. It looked like a hurricane ran through here not hordes of cannibals. I really liked the Hummer, we bonded in a sense so I kept the keys and froze it in a solid block of ice in case I needed it again. Though I don't know what good it would do here on the border. It was about a days walk to the Talons HQ and I had just a backpack full of supplies left. I did find a mall that I got a new set of clothes at.... And some make up, and perfume... But that's besides the point. It had taken nearly a week to get all the way up to New York and was extremely glad She decided to go to Trisha's beach house in South Carolina instead of Brittney's in Maibu. That would have been one hell of a trip back.
It was just about sunrise when I had the Talon's base in sight. I honestly just felt a wave of relief sweep over me and only had a few hours left before I made it back. Seemed likes people got out real quick in a week... Or got turned into zombies real quick in a week. Either way there wasn't a lot of anything out here. Once I got within about a half hour of the base I heard a rumbling from behind me ha was soon accompanied by the sound of a screaming crowd. While still walking I turned to see a massive riot of zombies rushing towards me and the Talons base. Letting out quite the scream and started running for me life towards the door. I kept glancing back and the slower ones kept getting trampled over and I really did it want that to be me. I tried to put up some walls of ice but I couldn't mold one the size of the mob quick enough while running. I got to the doors of the base and starting pounding will everything I had.
"OH MY GOD!! OPEN UP! IT'S GENEVIEVE!!! THEY'RE COMING!!! OPEN THE DOORS PLEASEE!!!" I kept screaming and I knew they heard me cause I heard voices behind the doors, he this mod was getting too close for comfort.
"Stand back!!"
I put a lot of power behind this attack and a lasted forward with a battering ram of solid ice the blew through the door with a bang. I rolled forward a couple times and got to a knee facing the 'new' entrance to the talons building and instantly boarded it back up with an extremely thick and extremely dense wall of ice. I left out a breath and turned to look at the gang.
"Phew... Well, I made it you guys!!!" and I ran in and first gave Tyuki a hug and brought it in for a nice group hug. It was good to be home.
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It had been quite some time and things were still better. I could still feel the presence of my ice pillar all the way down in South Carolina. I had made it from a special ice that would not melt under any circumstances. It was getting rather boring in the base, occasionally going out on food runs. Most places had run out by now and we were on out own for things to eat. Tyuki and Andrew had gotten real lovey dovey over the last few months and at some points it was cute and others I just kind of left the room. Being cooped up with the same people you had to get used to their tendencies and just try and get along, arguments were really not something that they needed to be a part of. And the worst part of all this is that I'm running out of things to wear. I'm thinking that if I start wearing one outfit per few days I can make my wardrobe last the rest of the year... Assuming no one else has been wearing my clothes. If anyone is gonna get in a fight about something, it's gonna be me fighting over a pair of dry shoes...
We had taken in a couple of survivors, and unfortunately a woman by the name of Amy had fallen victim to the disease and Andrew had to put her down. It was really odd to see him like this, taking lives, even if they were already dead, was not his style. I went up to him after a while and looked him in the eyes.
"No one else needs to die. If anyone else gets infected I can cryogenically freeze them and wait it out until a cure is found... I already had to do it to a friend back in South Carolina... Honestly, it kills me inside having to do it because I feel like its nearly the same... But you know you just gotta keep hope." I said with a smile trying to keep his spirits up.
Later that day while we were all eating I told them the complete version of my travels. I had told stories of pieces of parts of what had happened, and if everyone sat down together they could probably piece it all together, but I just felt that I need to tell everyone what happened and what it was like out there when I saw it. I leaned my head against the back of a chair and just closed my eyes to think for a bit. I just needed to pray that this would all be over soon...

It all began around three months ago, I first started hearing the screams in the middle of the day, I was sitting in my room inside the Talon base, news site indicators and streams popping up all over the screens at my desk. There were many words, it's hard to remember what I read in all the chaos but there were a few things that stood out to me this day. Dead, Rise, Eaten, but one word that really stuck out to me was 'Zombie'. I couldn't believe it, I'd read all the comic books, seen all the movies, but it was impossible, no way there could be actual zombies at this point. I knew how quickly everything was about to go to hell, and if we were going to survive I knew how quickly we would have to react. I slipped on my trench coat, grabbed my bow staff off the wall and locked my gauntlets into place on my wrist. I ran into the Talon HQ living room where a few members of the team had already assembled, they were staring at the new anchor in silence, not really quite sure they were believing their eyes, they all looked like they were in shock. I turned to one of the Talons and said, "Lower the dock, anyone not here can find their way, we cannot risk any of those... things getting to the HQ.". I was still in a state of shock myself, it was surreal, already it seemed that the city had begun burning, falling into complete and utter chaos. The military was in a state of full alert, I could hear the sounds of tanks and assault rifles firing off rounds, I knew innocent civilians would soon start feeling the fire, and a chill ran down my spine as I thought of them. Suddenly there was a banging and some screaming, I sprinted to the door of the Talon HQ as fast as I could, my gauntlets glowing with energy and at the ready, I braced myself to fire but just as I was ready to attack, the door burst open and Genevieve burst through the door, sealing the entrance and then running over to Tyuki. She scared the shit out of me.
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T H R E E. M O N T H S. L A T E R

It has been three months since the outbreak and frankly the entire world has gone to shit, it is a miracle most of the Talons have survived, but survival is a point of view, some of us are still in shock three months later, and we're running out of food and water quickly. The death of Amy weighed heavily on all of us, as much me as the rest of them, I could tell that Phoenix is starting to feel the effects of all this, it's strange seeing our fearless leader begin to crack under the pressure of the situation, I had faith that together we can pull through it. Of course bullets would never become a problem because we all had our powers for the most part, we'd be able to fight the infected off for a while, I can scarcely count how many I've had to put down just to keep all of us safe, it was difficult for a while, getting past the psychological aspect of killing them in such numbers, but these things are not people, they're filth, they're the filth that caused Amy's death, and I'd make them pay for it. Right now all the Talons are talking about how we're going to get more food and water, resources are running low here and New York City is completely over-run by the undead, some of them are saying stay, some of them are saying go, I can't decided. If we stay we'll be safe in these walls, but for how long? It's a siege, either we leave and risk our lives, or the undead starve us out, and we die slowly. All I know is we have to stay together and decided quickly, I just hope we do the right thing.

What started off as a normal day would devolve into what can only be described as pure chaos. I was walking only a foot behind Aaron,who was talking enraptly into his headset in that usual rapid speech My hands were dug deeply into my pockets,tips running over a small clump of lint that had found my attention. It was likely that I would be dealing with some sort of family meeting today,another hour of boredom that had to be endured. We were walking for what seemed like only a few minutes before eh abruptly stopped,green eyes staring off into the distance as the traffic continued its movement. For a second I swore that all time seemed to stop and with it my heartbeat grew in volume within my own ears,beating like a tribal drum until I swore that I would go deaf. My stomach had the strangest feeling moving through it as if something were trying to works its way through the soft muscle.

That was when everything went to hell. First a car swerved off the road as it slammed into a building side and its explosion resonated through the morning air. I swore under my breath turning to see what looked like a man attacking a woman with his teeth, and he was trying to eat her. ”Well shit.” I cursed under my breath as I rushed the woman with a full speed dash as my foot made contact with his head and sent him rolling. The woman looked up at me with disalted eyes,eyes dialted with fear that were on the verge of tears. For the most she was unharmed. ”Go on,i'll deal with this guy.” She nodded and ran before another word could be shared between us,my eyes moving to the man who seemed to only dazed by my kick. I glared at it with what would normally scare any thug who had seen how fast I could move,yet it stood to its feet and charged me with wild abandon.

With a deft motion I stepped out of the way and hit him full force in the face with a punch as it hit the ground;then it got back up. ”Dammit,.what the hell is with this guy?” I muttered avoiding a bite aimed at my leg.”Are these like the things that attacked Brooklyn?” I wondered this,since they also had tried to bite me when they nearly managed to pull me into the sewer during that awful day. It seemed this guy was nto human anymore or if he was,what I had to do next could not be helped. Dead looking eyes looked up to me and the water bullet penetrated the skull with a deadly accuracy. Yet still its eyes gazed up to me with something that I couldn't quite shake,something that pierced to the very core. Kicking the body aside I walked back to Aaron who only looked at me with an unreadable expression.

From around the corner of the street came what looked like a horde of bloody people that let out a bloody primal screech,their united voices painful upon my eardrums. ”Well this looks like a fine mess we've gotten into.” He said with a deep sigh.

”You act like I did all of this.” I said quizically raising an eyebrow as the oncoming horde rushed us.

”Well you did unleash a demonic horde onto a small town once.”

”Not the point.” Water formed around us in a violent torrent,initially shredding the undead with ease. ”Come at us you ugly fucks!” I roared over their moans and thats how the apocalypse started for me.

3 months later

I looked over the ruins of New York,smoke reaching into the heavens. This world was truly forsaken and I was alone with Aaron within it,though I could not say that we were truly alone. I had him and that seemed like enough for now really. Sure sometimes I would get sick of him but we got along pretty well alone.

”Look all you want and it will still look hopeless.” Aaron chimed in as the unfortunate voice of reason,followed by the warm press of his lips against mine. For that moment I could forget that my entire world had been destroyed,that everything I had loved was now gone and would never return. Then the crushing realization would return and the pain would come back. I pulled away from his touch,looking down at the street to see the undead reaching for us with hands that craved to feel our flesh;ripping into it as they ate their fill. Luckily this place was already protected,the correct runes in palce to keep them a hands distance away from us but how long they would last was unknown and I doubt I could take much more of this really. We were runnign low on food,water not being a problem really with what I could do. I couldn't really go too far form the spot seeing as it took both of us fueling the runes to keep what looked like over 1,000 undead things from breaking in. At the most I could move a mile before my power wouls be cut off from the place and thirty minutes before it would fail.

Sadly my Talons communicator had been broken and I lacked the parts to repair it, and Aaron had very little knowledge about the thing. So that left us with the the only option of trying to aquire a radio and signal for any help that was out there,maybe the remnants of the Talons if we were lucky. I turned around to see the small black box sitting upon a green plastic table,pristine almost in this world of ruin. Walking over to it I pressed a button,one that was supposed to send a signal out to any available source.

”Hello. If anyone is out there this I Sean Collin. I am surrounded by the infected and surviving on a rooftop on Wall Street. Requesting rescue immidiatly.” I let a deep sigh out as I reclined into a chair,my now shaggy black hair falling over my eyes. Damn I hated this.
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New York had fallen to the undead,no the entire world had fallen and I was alone in the wrekage of it. My father had become one of the undead but he was easy enough to dispose of without his necromatic powers,leaving me alone in a world that was dead. I sat lone on the top of a highr ise apartment complex,the only way to the roof destroyed to avoid any unwatnted attention. Above me was a construct of ice that would never melt and I wrapped myself in a blanket that kept me warm when it grew too cold. Below I had some fo my skeletons roaming the area searching for food,as well as some of my flies for any survivors. The main plan was finding a way to control all fot he undead,seeing as what they are falls under necromancy considering they were just reanimated dead. Everytime I tried to press my influence over them,that only seemed to draw them towards me and that was not good in the least. There was also the matter of food and I only had enough for about a week at the most. I would have to find something to control the undead but what? Maybe the books of that old witch Elena Marie would prove useful? That meant I would have to find a way to reach the Thiels manor and from there find her book of shadows.

We had finally done it. The big it. It was the most meaningful and great I had ever had. After everything we had been through together, I think we could've both used it. I sat there with a smile on my face. A shit eating grin, and it wouldn't go away. I couldn't believe what had happened. As she got up I laughed at her hunger comment. "I could use a gatorade." I chuckled as I gave her a wink. With her out of the bed I slipped into. I was so tired of running, fighting, hurting. This whole ordeal had taken some of my closet friends, and a lot of energy. Everything at this point in time felt great. The fact I could hear hundreds, maybe thousands of biters moaning below didn't bother me. For the first time since this all began, I felt a bit of relaxation. As Tyuki walked out of the bathroom I could tell she was tired of this all too. She still looked gorgeous of course, but this was no doubt taking its toll on all of us. "I'm not too hungry, you can cook if you want to eat, but I think we should try and get a few hours of sleep in before the meeting at 10." I said yawning and collapsing in the bed. I hoped she's crawl in with me because I felt empty sleeping without her.

As I awoke I saw no sign of Tyuki. I rubbed my eyes and crawled my way out of the jungle of sheets. As I remembered what happened last night I felt the sadness again. The clock said 9:45, and that meant I had a few minutes until the meeting. I took a quick shower and walked back into my room, throwing on a pair of black skinny jeans and a black and white Red Sox tee. I smelt bacon as I put my dog tags around my neck. I felt them buzz and a message came in. It was from Sean. I pressed the button right away to respond. "Sean! This is Andrew, do you copy? I'm going to have A.I. ping your location, and we'll send The Bird out to get you today. Tell Aaron I said hello. Both of you be ready by nightfall for our arrival." I let go of the button and walked out in my living room. Tyuki was asleep on the couch, seemed the lack of sleep had caught up to her as well.

I woke her up and told her the time, I felt bad, but we had to leave. After picking up my katana off the table and throwing it around my back, I headed out the door with Tyuki behind me. The walk from my room to the elevator seemed to be forever. I knew this meeting would be the worst one so far. I did my best to try and gather some words to say to the group. They all looked to me for cheering up and answers. I'd rather it be me than someone else though. I know when it comes down to it, I will keep these people alive. We've foughten so
hard for so long. If we can only stay strong a little longer, I think we may make it through this apocalypse.
It appeared we were the last two to enter the living quarters of the Talons HQ. All eyes were on me, including Stacy. Gauntlet, Gene, A.I., Cletus. They all looked exhausted as well. "Today is a sad day.....

My makeup could only fake so much. All the nights having to stand guard and watch were getting tiresome. Yes it was important but just sitting around and staring out a window did get a little boring. This night was especially annoying since they all had to attend a meeting the next morning at ten o'clock, and I sure needed my beauty sleep. At about midnight I got the wonderful idea of just throwing up a small perimeter of ice around the complex and if anyone or anything crossed it I would be the first to know. And with that I crawled into my bed and drifted off. It was actually one of the very few times I can recall myself sleeping soundly in this whole scenario. It may seem pretty dark but the screams had stopped, it sounded as if we were the only ones left. I honestly tried not to think about it because what could we have done? Most of the time I would play some classical music in my room to help me relax and get to sleep faster, though tonight I did not need it. I think it may have been that added sense of security that helped me reach my happy place. I just hoped that the people out there, if there was anyone else out there, did look down on us for what we were doing... Or rather what we were not doing. The thought haunted me, but was pushed gracefully aside as the notes of Bach danced through my subconscious.
Luckily, I woke up right on time. I was able to put my face on pick out an outfit that hadn't been used and made my way down. I tried to go for a business professional look; glasses, hair to the side, pencil skirt, black blazer. Though the looks I sometimes got with this most people seemed to mistake me for a sexy librarian. How are librarian's even sexy? Has there ever been a sexy librarian? I just figured they were all unfortunate teens with dental problems or those thirty year old woman who have never married and don't have any kids... Ugh, I'm never gonna have kids. But I digress. I was the first one to arrive, seemed like some people may have had a longer night than most. I could still feel the slight mental tug of the ice I had set up around the base, I had brought a small folder with me and wrote a couple things down. A few points that i wanted to bring up during this little meeting. Hopefully it wasn't anything too serious or depressing so that whatever followed Andrew's announcement would still be valid.
While waiting for everyone else to arrive I tore out a piece of paper and started to do some Origami. I only knew how to make a couple of things out of paper even though I could literally make anything out of ice. I was just folding the last pieces on the paper rose I had been making when Andrew stepped out of the elevator. Looking up to him, there was something different about him. His aura gave the idea that he did not have any good news to share with us, however there was something underlying that. Just something in his eyes that...
"Today is a sad day..."
As soon as he started his sentence, my eyes widened to the possibility as Tyuki bashfully joined us from behind him. I caught the look on her face out of the corner of my eye and I knew that look on a woman better than I could spot it on a man. The slightest grin crept at the corner of my mouth, instinctively I bit my cheek as this was a serious matter and these sorts of stories would have to wait for the next girls night out. At least they were keeping the love strong, someone needed to in such abysmal times.

I was finally the last thing that I ever wanted to admit I could be, I was exhausted. It had gone on for too long, the killing, the patrols, the guard duty, the sleepless nights. I would never break, I promised myself that. But if I had to spend one more week in this hell hole I swore I was going to go out there and kill every one of those undead pieces of shit my self. When I woke up that morning I was in dirty clothes, a ripped sleeveless shirt, combat boots, and cargo shorts were the attire of the day. I had nothing specific that needed doing so I threw myself down into one of the seats and laid my head back against the back of the seat. I knew, and hoped that it was only a matter of time until some action was taken, but until then I would have to continue to function almost like a soldier.

I continued what needed to be done for the sake of my survival, and the survival of the other Talons, my friends. The Talons were the closest thing I had to family at this point, even before the zombie chaos began, my family was mostly dead, by my own hand. A fact that had stopped bothering me years ago, but I was glad for the company, and my survival during this crisis was proof of my friends' loyalty to me. Slowly but surely as I sat and contemplated all of these troubles, all the Talons still at the base began to make their way into the room. "Meeting time?" I thought to myself sitting up to look around at everyone. Finally the last two of the Talons walked into the room, it was Phoenix and Tyuki. There was something off about the two of them, but I couldn't really think about what it was.
The slight bubbliness that Tyuki brought with her angered me slightly, we were all struggling, who's right was it to be happy? I pushed it to the back of my mind though, it was clear something interesting was finally about to happen. My boredom and frustration was going to culminate in one way or another. I just hoped we would be getting out of here.
Silencing my thoughts, I looked up at Phoenix who was standing in front of all of us solemnly.

"Today is a sad day..... he said to us slowly. I looked up at him, a pang of interest but more than anything, a feeling of fear. What could possibly have happened recently that would top what we already had to experience?

I still wonder to myself how I got here. I mean, I know how it happened, but I am still prone to moments with these people where I ask that question. Looking around at the group assembled before me, I realized that they were almost like a family, and it started to make me think about April. I hadn't talked to her in a while and seeing these people so close...well shit, it got to me. I wouldn't let that show though. I looked at the group assembled before me, Phoenix in particular. He was the one responsible for me being....conscripted into this mess. I still remember the conversation after my 'last meal', where I found out he had someone line it with nanotech or something. Naturally I called BS as he told me this and tried to stab him with the pen that was at the front desk of the prison. That pen never stabbed him though, and I blacked out, waking up with my hands still cuffed at Talon HQ. He then told me again that I had no real choice in the matter, and that I could get out through doing this job and through him I'd ended up here, masquerading as a hero. I never really considered myself one, this was just at job to do after all. I'd do what I have to, get my freedom, then leave. Nothing more, nothing less.He gave me back my suits and said that I was now an agent of justice. I almost wanted to groan when he said that, but I didn't know where the remote to the nanites was and I did not feel like blacking out again.

I felt right at home though in the killing and turns on guard duty, keeping my skills sharp. The zombies were like shooting ducks in a barrel. The way they dropped to their knees when the boomerang sliced off their heads was almost comical to me. I started to make a game of it after a while, even trying to invite others tomembers to join me. I was not surprised whey they refused, nor when they looked at me like I was some kind of freak. Then again, I wasn't really someone they got to know, nor did I make an attempt to be known. They're all close with each other and that's fine for me, but I'm not really here to make friends. I am essentially a stranger in a strange land. I stopped darting around in my own thoughts when Phoenix spoke

"Oh why, fearless leader?" I asked dryly, leaning against the wall of the meeting room, a boomerang twirling n my hand