ic Zombie vs Zombie

[Supercape]

GM

 

"We all do wat we think is right. But some think more dan others"

 

Maybe the Machete dropped a little. Maybe Machete Max stepped back a little. Maybe his initial challenge, the spite in his words, maybe they dropped a level. Maybe. 

 

But he still held a Machete, and he still knew how to use it. 

 

And the dead were still bursting from the Graves around him. 

 

But - and this was now apparent - the Zombies were confused, disorientated. At least, as much as a brainless undead could be confused and disorientated. Many were agressive, but some sank to their knees, some beat their head, and one even tried to do a shuffling tap dance. 

 

They may have desired brains, but they also seemed caught up in the echoes of their former life. 

 

One, in a suit and thick glasses, carried a clip board, and in a mindless way tried to do some accounting of the zombie hoard, making crude pen marks with every zombie he heard

 

And some started brawling with each other. 

 

The mob continued to shoot down the Zombies. 

 

But it was a free for all. It was Zombie vs Zombie!

Edited July 5, 2023 by Supercape

[Spacefurry]

Around them the number of undead grew. Chimera tensed, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the sweat on her exposed flesh. Then, suddenly, she noticed one was acting strange.

She was loath to take her eyes from Max, but even behind him she could see more of them acting seeming randomly,  then some began to attack.

Not her. Not Max. But each other. Maybe he didn’t have as much control over them as she assumed. Or many it took time.

Either way, she couldn’t wait to find out.

 

Chimera launched herself across the small patch of graveyard between them. Looking like some kind of demon among the walking dead. Electricity crackled around her hands as she swiped at the machete wielding Yardie.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"So, it come to dis, yah hero. Me protecting da city, yah stopping me..."

 

The electricity missed Machete Max by an inch, and only because the man moved fast. His eyes widened in surprise - his confidence was bleeding. He had not expected Chimera to be that fast. 

 

He took a step back, spun on a heel and whipped a foot around - the style was easy to note; Machete Max was a capoerista. 

 

And more. 

 

The Capoeira spinning kick was just a ruse, followed up by a low slash to the legs - more in the style of a fencer, a swashbuckler, a pirate. 

 

Whatever else one might say about Machete Max, the man knew how to fight - not just with esoteric flashy kata, but with practical experience. Scars, broken nose, and a deadly experience with his fists and his blade. 

 

"Young 'un. I not be da killin young 'un. Dis not yah fight. Stay out, be yah keeping yah armour and yah sparky sparkies for dah villains..."

[Spacefurry]

Chimera was fast, but her in experience was evident. The spark of her fingers missed by only inches, but in a fight it may as well been feet. Max danced back from her, literally she realized as the man seemed to sway and step into a spinning kick.

 

Wait, she’d seen something like this once. It was in one of those old kung-fu movies one of Jamie’s old boyfriends made them watch. What was it called…

 

There was no time to follow that train of thought as she moved to dodge the kick, only to feel the bite of his machete. It found just enough exposed flesh between tendrils to slice into her shin. Chimera yelped in pain as she hopped back from him.

It had cut deep but hadn’t hit the bone. She was lucky, but she could feel the warm blood already running down her leg and it hurt with every step. There wasn’t time to focus on healing so it was going to have to wait.

 

She considered grabbing something to throw but the only thing around were tombstones. She quickly decided against it.

 

“You think yourself some kind of hero, is that it? You’re no better than the others. Even dead people have rights. Look at them.”

She waved around.

“What’s left of them are scared and confused. They deserve to rest in peace.”

 

Chimera balled her fists and lunges forward again. She swung for Max but again he easily danced out of the way. It was quickly sinking on that her speed wasn’t going to save her this time like it had against other petty crook players n the past.

 

She wasn’t about to admit it to anyone, but despite her bravado, the glint of moonlight off his blade scared her more then the undead around them.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Another few steps back, a twirl, a crouch, with dreadlocks spinning and half covering his face. 

 

The moonlight dimmed as dark clouds crossed its path. Suddenly Machete Max was in neart darkness, his blade dull, with only the whites of his eyes and his teeth clearly seen. 

 

"You be wagging de tongue. Yah jaw be slack. Ain't no words be stoppin' de dead, dey be attack!"

 

The mangled rhyme (which he somehow made look cool) was spoke as Machete Max slithered into the darkness. It was hard to see him... the moonlight gone, the zombies brawling every way Chimera looked. 

 

She could hear him above the cacophony of crazy zombies. She could swear one of them was trying to sing Rick Astley. 

 

"Nvrrrr Gaahhhh Gvvvvv uuuuuh uuuuuhp...."

 

He was silent, he was stealthy, but she could make out a running shadow, make out the quiet patter of feat across grass. 

 

But in a moment... he would be gone....

[Spacefurry]

Instinctively Chimera pulled into a defensive stance as the Yardie danced and spun away. She sent her feet to try to dodge his next attack. She couldn’t take many more hits like that. Ya, she was hurting but she was confident she would heal. Of course she was so sure what would happen if she actually died and had no desire to know.

 

She gave an exasperated grunt at Max’s taunts. She would be damned if she was going to let this man make a fool of her. He was right about one thing, nothing she was saying was swaying him. 

He was the worst kind of person to deal with. Someone on their own self-righteous mission.

 

She had to focus to keep an eye on him. Max almost seemed to melt into the shadows. Was actually a meta after all?

Before she could dwell on it the shadowy silhouette darted off. She nearly lost sight of him right away, but she caught a glimpse of it. He had caught her unprepared to run and she hesitated for only a fraction of a second. She ran without thinking, weaving through the chaos of the undead.

 Chimera really hoped there was a way to put them back, otherwise it was going to be a long explanation she would have to give the authorities when they arrived. With a little luck she would have someone they could hold accountable… hopefully.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Was Chimera faster than Machete Max?

 

It was a close run thing. Machete Max had long limbs, and agile ones, he was athletic, but not at an athlete. Chimera however had experience in running, running fast, efficiently. Her cardio? It would probably have one the day, if it came to that. 

 

But that was not the deciding factor. The darkness was. 

 

Even squinting, the dark clouds over a moon and the lack of any illumination over a graveyard made the darkness heavy, solid. The flash of gunfire in the distance and the pale orange hue of Freedom City street lights beyond the graveyard were the only faint sources of light. 

 

Machete Max could see in the dark. 

 

He dodged zombies, he vaulted gravestones. 

 

And Chimera had to cut throught zombies and stumble into headpieces. 

 

If it wasn't dark, she would have one. But Max had the edge here, and into the darkness he melted. 

 

Leaving a swarm of zombies and an increasingly frantic Blowfish...

 

...the goons were running out of ammunition...

[Spacefurry]

Chimera panted, but was far from winded, as she quickly slowed to stop. She squinted around, shoving another stumbling zombie aside as she did.

Several unlady-like words escaped from behind the mask. The fresh itch of the slash on her arm healing was there and she absently scratched at it, it was still a little sore though. She cried out in rage and punched the zombie she had shoved a second ago.

 

She immediately regretted it. It wasn’t their fault. They were just as much victim as anyone in all this. Chimera started to turn back to the sounds of the gunfire but stopped a moment as something Blowfish had said earlier came back to her.

 

He said he thought Max was using technology to reanimate the bodies. Cybernetics.

 

She couldn’t be sure how accurate that was but maybe she could learn something. She moved to pin the zombie down. Easy enough with her strength. Placing her palm on its face she tried to picture in her mind what she wanted.

She imagined slivers of the tendrils piercing the undead flesh. Spreading and searching for any technology within the corpse. And then consuming it, just like it did sometimes when she wasn’t paying attention.

The symbiote seemed to hesitate at first. It seemed to know she didn’t like it when it ‘ate’ things.

Mentally she nudge it. Tried to reassure it that it was okay this time. That she wanted it to do this. And that if it found and ‘ate’ anything, there was the possibility of more to ‘eat’, given the swarming masses littering the graveyard.

 

That did the trick. She could swear she felt it’s hunger as tiny threads of techno-organic symbiote began grow from her palm and spread through the zombie pinned beneath her.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Symbiote burrowed into the zombie, eager to feed. Through nostrils, through ears, through mouth and eyes. 

 

Perhaps it burrowed through other orifices too, but fortunately the rotten clothes of the Zombie concealed such possible body horrors from view. 

 

Seeking technology.... seeking nanobots...

 

But there were none!

 

Blowfish had got it wrong. Or lied. Or maybe both. The closest thing to technology on the zombie was an antique pocket watch. Yummy, but not pertinent. 

 

The Zombie itself had the symbiote rip through the mortified skull, causing it to sink back to inanimate death. So it was not a complete loss. 

 

"HELP! HELP! I'M OUTA AMMO!" called Blowfish. He and his thugs were engaged into hand to hand combat with the zombies. They were winning, for the most part, but still outnumbered. Blowfish himself was swinging his now-bent Tommy Gun against the skull of a zombified police officer, his powerful blows creating a mush of bone and brains...

[Spacefurry]

“Son of a-“

Muttered curses escaped her lips as Chimera felt the symbiote’s growing frustration.

 

It found nothing within the animated corpse. The watch it did manage to find was ‘consumed’ in moments. Techno-organic matter sliding over it, then retracting, leaving a bare wrist. Normally she would have told it not to, but she had unleashed it with implied potential ’food’.

Though, honestly, she wasn’t sure if it actually ‘ate’ it for nutrients or if it was some drive to add to its mass. Which in the end was more or less the same thing she supposed.

 

All gunfire suddenly stopped and Blowfish’s cry for help echoed over the noise of the graveyard.

 

Chimera was out of time. The sound of desiccated flesh tearing as she ripped the techno-organic tendrils from the corpse would have been disturbing if anyone other then the walking dead were around to hear it.

“I am so done with this night.”

She was off like a shot. Agitated tendrils trailed off her, lashing as she ran. She hadn’t realized how far Max had led her away from Blowfish and his men. Two small hops took her from one of the taller headstone onto the roof of a mausoleum.

 

From there she was able to orientate herself and spot the group in the distance. They were golding their own for now, but the dead had superior numbers.

The wings on her back twitched as she tensed to leap down and she remember they were there. She sighed to herself.

“Would have help to remember them earlier.”

She thought out loud even as she tensed again and leapt into the air. She soared over the teeming undead towards the gangsters to help them.

 

…She was gonna fun trying to explain this one to her roommate.

[Supercape]

GM

 

There were perhaps fifty zombies lurching around the graveyard. A few dozen more lay scattered on the ground, their skulls and brains victim to a bullet or a knuckleduster. It was not a pretty sight. The undertakers of Freedom City would have a busy day tomorrow. 

 

The goon news was that of those fifty, most were fighting with each other or doing some mindless and innocuous activity. One pushed a headstone like it was a shopping trolley,  mumbling something about getting the last box of Cherrypop! lollipops. Another was frantically trying to clean its rotted clothes, apologising for spilling red wine over the lapels of its dinner jacket. 

 

But a dozen circled Blowfish and his six men. Here, things did not look so good. The thugs, and Blowfish, knew how to take care of themselves in your average street fight, and the zombies were slow. But they were also persistent. Without bullets to take care of skulls, it was a precarious battle...

[Spacefurry]

‘Not as bad as I thought.’

Chimera made a wide arch and judged her angle. She came around between the men and the cars then dropped like lawn dart. It was only a a couple dozen feet, but it was more than enough to drive the zombie she landed on to the ground with her weight. The short spike that grew from her knuckles buried in the back of its skull.

 

“I’ll clear a path to the cars.”

She yelled at the men. God, she hoped she had it left in her. She was still aching and she could feel a trickle of blood still running down her shin from Max’s last slash. She pulled the spike out, ignoring the ichor and brain matter that clung to it as she stood.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Zombie collapsed in a heap. Inspired, Blowfish and his men redoubled their efforts in undead destruction. Blowfish himself swung his deformed and bent tommy gun into the skull of a Zombie standing just to the side of Chimera - a skull that shattered and exploded. 

 

It was fortunate that it was a particularly old zombie, dessicated, dry, more dust than anything else. Other "fresher" zombies had the disturbing ability to ooze ichor and brains. Blowfish's assault merely covered Chimera's face with a thin layer of bone dust. 

 

"Pffft... da dead ain't no match for da livin!" proclaimed Blowfish, smile broad. 

 

The last few aggressive zombies dealt with, Chimera heard a scream from one of Blowfish' men. 

 

"I'm bit... I'm bit!" yelled a thin goon clutching his shoulder. A slow trickle of blood oozed from his hand. 

 

"Dang it, Beanpole...pffft...." frowned Blowfish. "Now I gotta go stick a knife in ya skull. Whaddya go and get bit for?"

 

"No! No! I don' wanna die! Get me to a church or somethin' get me blessed..."

 

Blowfish grunted and gave a tic. With a final sigh, he pulled out a flick knife and advanced on his minion, Beanpole...

[Spacefurry]

Chimera watched as the men seemed to get their second wind. She wiped at the dust on her face and looked to see how many zombies stood between them and the cars. She was about to start clearing a path when one of Blowfish’s men screamed.

 

Like everyone else, she turned to look at the man. Her gaze flickered to the injury and her breath caught in her throat. She found herself stunned for a moment as Blowfish seem almost sorry for the man he called Beanpole.

Everyone had the same thought and Beanpole was on the verge of terrified panic. Blowfish produced a knife and Chimera reacted without thinking. She was between the mobster and his minion in the blink of an eye, her hand held out to stop the Blowfish.

 

“Hold on, we can’t jump to conclusions.”

She glanced back at the bite victim.

“We can’t assume anything.”

She looked back at Blowfish with fierce determination.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Whaddya mean?" asked Blowfish, holding his hands out in a shrug. "Beanpole is a good fella. Bit skinny. But stupid. But a good fella, all da same. But dat don't mean a piece of pasta when ya get bit by a zombie..."

 

"No!" yelped Beanpole. "Amputate me... that works, right?"

 

Blowfish clipped Beanpole around the head. "Did dat bite make you even softer in da head? What you want us to do, amputate yah head?"

 

The other men shuffled their feat. There was no way of amputating the bite mark without some bifurcating Beanpole in two. 

 

"We gotta stick ya, Beanpole. Sorry, but dat's da way it is. Yer seen all da zombie movies, right? Yer get bit, yer get... pffft... turned!"

 

Blowfish hefted his flickknife and actually looked sorry. But not so sorry he wouldn't do it. 

 

Beanpole looked at Chimera with pleading, panicked eyes...

[Spacefurry]

“Blowfish.”

Chimera sounded serious as she interposed herself between him and Beanpole.

“This isn’t some bad zombie movie, we don’t know if contagious.”

She looked back at Beanpole and tried to sound reassuring.

“We don’t know.”

 

She looked back at Blowfish.

“If you don’t like that, leave him. I’ll watch him until the authorities get here and he can get medical help.”

Chimera stared down the monster.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Thats right! Thats right! It ain't a movie, is it? I mean, who says dese Zombies are like movie Zombies, right?" yammered Beanpole. 

 

"I don't know... pffff...." hissed Blowfish. "I mean, yer may be ... pffff.... right..."

 

He fondled the flickknife in his hand, his eyes flitting between Beanpoles skull and Chimera. After a few more tics, he folded the flick knife away. "I guess yer might... might.. pfff... be right. I'll leave him in yer hands then. Just promise that if he turns, you will.. do him..."

 

Beanpole's eyesbrows raised, but he said nothing. 

 

"Look, I know his mother. Pfff. I don't want to break her heart. But I'd break in twice over if she knew her dead son was wanderin' da streets of Freedom City as one of da undead."

 

He offered the flick knife to Chimera. 

 

"So I'll leave him in yer hands. As long as you promise to give him proper rest if he... pfffff.... turns. Deal?"

 

 

[Spacefurry]

Chimera watched Blowfish, but it wasn’t until he closed the folding blade that she realized she was tensed and relaxed.

 

“Of course.”

She nodded. Maybe there was a good man buried somewhere deep inside there.

 

Very deep.

 

She eyed the offered knife and nearly turned it down, but she then she understood it was more than a knife he was heading over. It was the responsibility. Beanpole was one of his men and he was going to do what he thought was necessary, even if Chimera thought he was wrong. But she stepped in. She was assuming responsibility for Beanpole and whatever happened next.

 

She met Blowfish’s eyes as she reached out and took the knife with a nod.

“Deal.”

She looked at the knife and her fist tighten around it.

“If it comes to that, I’ll tell you myself. And I’ll tell her too if need be.”

 

It was a very heavy knife in her hand.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Yer know, fer a cape, pffft, you ain't half bad. Yer ain't half bad at all. Yer git some common pfft sense after all..."

 

Blowfish actually gave her a salute. 

 

"I tip my pfffy hat to ya"

 

He turned to face the carnage around him. Whatever else was going to happen, a lot of people would have a lot of digging to do. 

 

"Lets go guys, we got a city to run! pffft...."

 

He turned his eyes to Chimera. "I mean.. pfft... we got a city to be respectable citizens in. And don't forget, silver girl, half price at da pfffy pizza palace. I mean it!"

 

He gave a wink and Blowfish was driving off. 

 

The remaining zombies carried on doing their deeds, but with less vigour, less animation. It would be a relatively simple matter now to cave their heads in with a shovel, or cut them up with a chainsaw. 

 

Beanpole, all sixty kilograms and six foot three inches of him, looked mighty relieved. 

 

"Goddamn it, I never meant to get bit by no zombie. I guess I got you ta thank, cape. Whaddya say yer name was again?"

[Spacefurry]

16 hours ago, Supercape said:

GM

 

"Lets go guys, we got a city to run! pffft...."

 

He turned his eyes to Chimera. "I mean.. pfft... we got a city to be respectable citizens in. And don't forget, silver girl, half price at da pfffy pizza palace. I mean it!"

 

He gave a wink and Blowfish was driving off. 

 

Chimera gave Blowfish a raised eyebrow, resisting the urge to smirk. She was sure those guns were questionable, but the men hadn’t actually broken any laws she could think of off the top of her head. Even the discharging of firearms could be chalked up to ‘self defense’ in court. She was sure she hadn’t seen the last of the mobster.

 

She watched them as they loaded up and drove off. Turning back to Beanpole she took in the man. He certainly lived up to his name being a good nine inches over her but couldn’t be more then 10-20 pounds more then her.

 

She but a hand on his arm, trying to sound reassuring.

“I’m sure no one ever means to get bit by something.”

She paused and tried to lighten the mood.

“Unless they’re one of the idiots online trying to get views. You can call me Chimera. What should I call you?”

She asked, not sure if he actually liked the nickname ‘Beanpole’.

 

Chimera realized she was still holding the knife. She tucked it into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She dialed 911 and waited, watching the zombies around her carefully.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Beanpole yelped slightly when Chimera touched his arm, but soon managed to impress his goon-persona over his anxiety. 

 

"Everyone calls me Beanpole. Guess you can, too, Mis C. I mean, I am pretty tall, huh?"

 

Indeed he was. He neglected to add that he was also thin. 

 

The Police were on their way after the 911 call. The Graveyard was perhaps five or ten minutes away from the patrol cars, who were not exactly sure what they were dealing with? Prank call, Zombie apocalypse, or something inbetween. 

 

Unbeknownst to Chimera, the Police Station had put wagers on what had happened. And made sure the two patrol cars had flamethrowers, silver bullets, and chainsaws. And the police wore helmets and padded armour. 

 

"I mean, I'm not sure I wanna hang around for da cops" lamented Beanpole, shuffling from one foot to another. "Dey ain't ever been so friendly, not unless we pay 'em, and I ain't got no ker-ching to hand. They see bit, with my rap sheet, dey gonna shoot first and not bother with questions at all, knowhaddimean?"

 

Beanpole drilled a thin and bony finger into the centre of his forehead to emphasise the point. 

[Spacefurry]

Chimera inhaled and exhaled a short breath. She’d rather not consider Beanpole’s wrap sheet, but he made a valid point.

“I suppose it doesn’t help that I look like some kind of boss fight waiting to happen here in the graveyard.”

 

She looked around one last time at the insanity and shook her head.

“Well then.”

She mused.

“We should get you to a doctor. I didn’t drive here and they didn’t leave you a car. So, I hope you don’t mind flying.”

 

The image would be incredibly comical if anyone else were there to see it. The shorter Chimera scooping Beanpole into a princess carry. It was just the only way she knew how to carry someone and still use her wings. She’d carried Jamie like this before at her insistence.

“Try to relax.”

Chimera tried to sound confident. Once she had him, she crouched for a moment as her wings spread again, then with a leap her wings thumped the air and she was once again flying.

 

She circled a bit as she got her baring, then angled toward Freedom Hospital.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Whee! am I dead? I'm flying! Whee!"

 

Beanpoles adrenaline and shock mixed together and curdled his brain. His long, gangly limbs flailed around like a windmill in a storm. It was all to much for him, and he entered some manic dissociated state. A delerium. 

 

Relax, that was beyond him. But he appeared to be so flush with shock that he enjoyed it. 

 

"Wheeee!"

 

That was about all his flabbergasted mouth could manage until Chimera set down outside the ER of Freedom Hospital. 

 

"Awwww...."

 

His dissapointment was palpable. 

 

A couple of doctors and nurses rushed out with a trolley to see what was up - even in Freedom City, a winged superhero doesn't set down outside the hospital every day of the week. And when they did, it usually meant something serious. 

 

"I'm a zombie! I'm a zombie! Wheee!" explained Beanpole, eyes wide, pupils dilated. 

 

One of the doctors raised his eyebrows and gave an inquisitive look to Chimera. 

 

"A zombie? Really? Looks like someone snorted something a bit funny up their nose to me...."

[Spacefurry]

Chimera was just happy her passenger wasn’t flailing around in fear and screaming. Still, she felt a little bad for him and was glad when she was finally set him down in front of the emergency intake. She allowed her wings to shrink and reabsorb so they wouldn’t be in the way.

 

She coughed and cleared her through as the doctors looked to her.

“He was, ah, bitten not long ago by an animated corpse, raised by a voodoo gang member.”

 

Wow. Saying it out loud… When did her life reach this particular milestone?

 

“He may be in shock.”

Chimera tried to sound professional. She wasn’t sure how many of these doctors have dealt with ‘hero’ incidents.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"In Shock? I'm not in Shock? I'm perfectly healthy for a zombie! You ever treated a zombie before, doc? Well now's your chance. I'm a zombie, and furthermore, a zombie is what I am! Yessir, one hunded percept zombie, zero percent alive! If you test my blood, you will find I have very high levels of Zombium. Whee!"

 

The doctor nodded sagely whilst checking Beanpoles pulse. 

 

"Sir, you have a pulse."

 

"A pulse?" answered Beanpole. "You mean, a real pulse? a pulse that pulses? like a pulse?"

 

The doctor rolled his eyes. 

 

"A pulse that is like a pulse. Exactly like a pulse, in fact."

 

"Then I am... alive?"

 

"Yes, sir. I have checked your life levels and I can confirm you are alive. Now perhaps we should take a look at that bite and give you a few blood tests, maybe some antibiotics!"

 

Beanpole staggered left and right in shock. Now that he knew he was alive, he suddently became aware of his gangly limbs and they, unusued to such scrutiny, started an unruly protest. The doctor and paramedic had to garb his arms to stabilise him and lead him into the hospital. 

 

"Come check on me, Chimera!" yelled Beanpole as he dissapeared through the front doors of the hospital.