PaleFucks part III (Chad)

As dawn begins to break the hollow wailing outside fades. All save one. The "Leader" we've come to call him. Loud-ass bastard. He keeps it up as they move back to whatever shithole they came out of. Finally it's over. No more sounds. No more monsters. No more blood. Yet.

It was completely silent as the dew began to form. A slow morning fog rolled into the gym. That pleasant sense the foggy air brings would be welcome in most cases. Not this one. This fog had rolled in the death outside. Bringing the stench with it.

We decide to wait another hour to make sure. I decide to take a look outside anyways. Xander comes with. As always. We make our way to the locker room with weapons in hand. I give my katana D34TH the morning off and brandish Fury. A modern broad axe with a fiberglass handle and 16 inch blade. Xander holding his usual two hands of steely death.

As we approach the doors our group rises and covers us. I slowly remove the bindings of our Lockdown Device and we're in. Xander leads. I follow. Some from our group haul the bodies of the fallen into the hallway. Stacy is screaming for her "Mommy". Our guys do as we've trained and barricade the door behind us. We're alone. For now.

No words are spoken between the two of us. We advance carefully. Planned out. Always. The hallway is riddled with bullets and body parts. At the far end we can see the sunlight through the high, small, broken windows. One entry point. The deader are scattered everywhere. We make sure they're dead. One hit in the skull each. For good measure. We also take count as we pass. We need numbers. We have to know what we're up against. Just in case.

Our pace slows to a crawl as we approach the Mens and Womens locker rooms. The doors are wide open. Scratch marks lining the hallway all leading to here. From here. Massive gouges cut with ease. The traffic back here must've been pretty heavy. Bullets don't help.

"We have to take both at once."

"Just...go in?" Xander seems pleased. He's smiling again. Our confidence is as high as ever.

"I don't wanna get ass-raped by one o'them. Do you?" We laugh. We're both smiling. This is the good news.

We burst through the doorways in unison and are face to face with a trap. This is the bad news. The Pales didn't ALL leave. There, inches from my face. One, pale, fuck. Two more standing behind him. A few huddled in the corner. Xander was against similar odds. Two standing side by side a few feet from the threshold. A few more against the back wall.

X doesn't stop. He takes the fight to our enemy. The Pales may be fast, but in close quarters like these, that speed counts for naught. The Pale on the right makes the first move towards X just as Xander hits the ground.

At full speed, on both knees, Xander takes off the first Pale's right foot. X plants his weight and is back on his feet in time to see the next creature dive for him. Xander leans forward and locks his legs. Trunks planted to the tile. He thrusts his left hand forward. The machete attached to it anchors into the jumping Pale's sternum.

The creature is frozen in time, hovering off the ground. Kept weightless by the power of Xander. It stares into the abyss of X and, with a quick swipe, all is turned off. The black haired head falls to the floor as Xander puts the right machete to work. Holding the body aloft with one arm and lopping the head with the other.

The first Pale isn't hobbling for much longer. With accuracy only seen in comic books Xander throws his machetes through it's skull. Both of them. Bullshit. He laughs.

The Pale in front of me is less then a snail fart away. Close. I can smell it's acrid breath. Putrefying wastes funneling from the blue belly. It screams. I scream back. Fury is turned over and thrust into the gonadal area. I got to one knee, Fury deep inside the Pale. I stand with my back to the monster, ripping my blade through it, rising Fury above my head. The creature's not cut entirely in half. Just a literal axe gash of gore running up the entire body and head.

The next Pale sprints towards me. I step out of the doorway just as it hits the open gut-sack of it's comrade. The creature loses it's footing and slides through the opening. I swing Fury high into the doorway and it's head doesn't make the trip with it's body. Two down. One more.

I'm back into the Men's locker room immediately. I can see the bullet holes pocked across the white flesh of the one in front of me. Wounded. Just how I like 'em. They say that's when animals are the most dangerous. Only, I'm the animal. I attack. Running forward I use both hands to contain Fury. I make a wild downward swing at the head. The beast barely pivots fast enough to avoid the attack. Just as planned. I wait for the obvious counter-attack then strike.

The Pale swings high at my head. Seems to be the preferred method. They like fast kills. Noted. As the monster's left arm passes over me I begin my work. I go at the white bark with both hands. Chopping down a tree. I make first contact in the left armpit, the Pale begins it's scream. The arm falls limply to the side. Barely hanging on. The Pale screams louder. I chop down the trunk. I feel the bone splinter as I cut through the thigh. It screams louder as it goes to one knee.

Looking down on it I start towards it's end. The next blow goes into the left collar bone. The screams are now at a deafening tone. One more swing and I hit the throat. The screams fade to gargling wheezes. Two, three, four. I continue my work on through the right armpit. It's done. A heaving mass of ruined flesh strewn about my feet.

Xander and I pause. We take in the situation. The only ones left are too wounded to stand, let alone fight us. Huddled against the walls and in the corners. Away from the sunlight.

"You good?" I ask.

"Yeah, you're never gonna believe this shit."

"What is it?"

"I swear to god, I just threw BOTH machetes into this fuck's skull. LOOK..." He chuckles as he says it.

I look. We laugh. He did that shit. I know he's not lying. No need to these days. Crazy shit happens all the time. You gotta enjoy the fun stuff. Besides all that, he wouldn't lie to me. Nor I him.

"Let's finish this and scout outside." As always. I like to state the obvious. False sense of control in these fucked up days. We go back to the locker rooms and finish the job. Nothing special. Couple head taps. Some whining by the victims. The usual.

"CLEAR!" I call to the group as I head towards the shattered hall windows. I hear them unbarring the door. The others come in and take a head count. I clear the glass from the frame and Xander and I climb out of the window.

"Where are you going?!" DUDE3 says worriedly. He made it to the door at the first scream and was anxiously waiting for news.

"We ran into a few speed bumps! We're good now!" I answer back. "Count the heads! We're scouting the area. We'll knock up front so barricade this when you're done!"

The group does as they're asked. Thirty-one white bodies. Two pink ones. One is particularly missed. Stacy won't recover from this. It's a shame. So young. Too young to have to grow up in this world. She'll never make it. I hate being the realist.

The walkie crackles alive once more as LADY3 gets on the mic. "The final count is 31 guys."

"Thirty-one? How many were there?" I ask in disbelief. "I only saw a few dozen, at the MOST, in the streets last night..."

"By the sound of things this morning, there were PLENTY more..." Xander answers.

"....fuck. Let's be careful about this. It's not like they burn in the sun light."

"They probably can't see very well though. You see those eyes?"

"Oh yeah. Up close and personal. Let's get to this."

Xander walks around the south side of the gym and I clear the north. Nothing. No movement at all. There were still tons of zombies on the streets when the Pales showed up. There are none now. It's too quite. We meet at the east entrance doors and our group has them opened and battened back down within seconds.

"So what's the verdict?" LADY3 starts.

"Looks clear." we both respond.

The group rests for another hour while we figure out a plan. Ironically enough, the only person in the gym that knew about the closest hospital, was a Guest. Ironically enough, it was their fault we were in this mess. We should've never taken them with us. My voters are regretting their earlier decisions...

The pain in my left arm is manageable for now. Anything is manageable when you have something to protect. Some one. LADY3's doing better now. I can see the pain in her face. She's tougher then I gave her credit for. She's full of surprises.

"Alright. Let's get to the Hospital. Who's coming with me?" Like that one.

"No way." I step up first.

"Joking." she says through a coy smile. "Just had to get you guys off your asses. My arm's killing me..." she giggles. It's about the only sweet thing left anymore.

"Alright fags, let's go." Xander gets the small Hospital group up and ready. DUDE4, DUDE3, DUDE5, LADY5, and LADY1 all gather at the east barricade.

"Okay guys. Weapons check." I get the routine started. We lock and load. We pack spare ammo into our side packs. We check or current medical supplies. We double check our weapons. We triple check the shopping list. Antibiotics, painkillers, bandages, stitching materials, scalpels, forceps, the list goes on. We mark the most important ones. Those we go after first. The rest we get if we're lucky.

"Check."

"Check."

"Good."

"Check."

"Golden." DUDE3 finishes the sound off.

"I'm good. Let's Roll." Xander takes lead out the door. We all have the plan embedded into our brains. The moment the sunlight touches our faces we're pedals mashing floorboards. Full speed. One thing on our minds.

We leave the group in the gym in good enough condition. Two wounded, six up. They would let the Guests sleep as best they could. They would take turns in threes on watch. Most of the ammo and supplies are with them. They have enough to survive without us. For good. If there's not contact in 12 hours, they'd have to. Everything is planned out. Again, not our first rodeo.

We tear up the street to the north. The Hospital is "two miles north, about one mile east..." according to Jim the Guest. "...On _STREET_NAME_OMITTED_." We carefully take in our surroundings as we move. We stop periodically to listen. Then we're sprinting again. Faster than before. We listen for any noises. Slight rustles in the leaves send us down the next street east. Past more dark homes and apartments. A car alarm sends us back north. We pay attention to everything. We are the all-seeing, all-knowing, killers of undead asshats.

We stick as close to any shrubbery or tree line as we can. We're doing well. Halfway there now. A loud bang freezes us all for an instant.

"East." I say "Mile or so." We've become good estimations after so much time. We at once break north. Our tight little group, Xander up front. I've now shifted to the rear. Farther and farther we go. Legs churning, feeling like butter. As we near _STREET_NAME_OMITTED_ we are greeted by our first encounter in hours.

The rustling of bags. The clanging of tin. There were Zeds up ahead. We needed to be careful now. We're all breathing heavily. Only a mile or so to go. We break back to the east and in no time are upon the Hospital.

The building had gone dark. No lights. It was small for a hospital, but with no lights, it still managed to look massive and foreboding. We still needed to find a way in. The entrance was a no go. Not with that many zombies in the lobby. Our healthcare system STILL sucks. We split into two groups. By 3 and 4 we went. One south, one north. We scouted the outside of the building for any entrances or low traffic zones. We met again at the east wall. Where we were greeted by a most pleasant site.

On the outside of the building was a fire escape, ladder fully extended. We carefully checked it's weight-baring capabilities and noise factor. Then, one by one, we went up. Slight noises were made. We were careful enough not to attract any unwanted attention.

Finally. The Hospital. Trying to get here seemed like a neverending tale of tragedy. Hopefully it will be a bastion of hope. We scan the rooms as we advance up the steel steps. We reach the roof with no problems. Too easy. The sun is still blazing above our heads. Feels like a hot day, but, it's just the personal armory we carry. We are, each, armed to the teeth. Main weapon, check. Backup, check. Melee, check. Secondary melee, check. Ropes, lockpicks, first aid supplies, ammo. To. The. Teeth.

The door into the inner stairwell is slightly ajar. Perfect. We form up behind Xander. He stows his .12 gauge and wields his bowie knife, carefully sheathed against his left shoulder. The machetes in dual sheaths crossed his back. A .9mm Glock 19 Parabellum at his right hip. The shotgun slung low.

Xander wasn't the only one well equipped. On top of my oversized bike armor I had my katana at my back. My wakizashi across my lower back, handle to the left. My daishō was complete. I had my favorite .45 ACP 1911 Colt attached to my hip and my MP4 in my hands.

The others were similarly outfitted. DUDE3 had forgone his typical rifle for a more appropriate USAS-12 Assault Shotgun. One of our few treasures. Lucky kids. The rest followed suit. All rifles were left with the others at the gym. We needed all the close combat weapons we could take.

As we enter the hospital we here them almost immediately. There are zombies packed into the first floor. The moaning can be heard on the fourth. We carefully advance through the ever growing darkness of the hospital. Every room seems to have closed blinds. There are a few exceptions which make the situation bearable without flashlights. This is a good thing. Zombies don't see well in failing light.

Room by room we clear. No bodies. Just blood. No supplies either unfortunately. We continue at a steady pace. One by one we advance. We make our way towards the center of the floor hoping to find something, anything. We round a couple more wings and at last come across a centralized area for the doctors and nurses. Supplies everywhere.

We scramble towards the supply rooms and gather as much as we can. We weren't the first, but the last folks left plenty for us. We take it all. We fill a medium sized satchel with gauze-wrapped antibiotics, wound dressings, syringes, painkillers...You name it, we got it. DUDE5 carried the satchel. LADY1 and DUDE4 accompanied him back to the gym. Can't waste any supplies once we finally have them. We cleared our first floor and began to move on.

We find a nearby stairwell just as our three runners exit the building. We advance down one floor. There we could hear the obvious signs of un-life clambering about. We slow our pace and hone in on the noise. With a gesture Xander sends DUDE3 and LADY5 to one side of the hallway. I slowly twist the silencer into place at the tip of my MP4. Another one of our rare treasures. Xander was right about stopping that night.

I'm over Xander's shoulder as he edges into the room, knife in hand. The undead don't see us and we act on instinct. There are four of them. Standing around the bed at the far end of the small hospital room. Daylight barely visible through the cracked blinds. There are two zombies on either side of the bed. Two with their backs to us, two staring right at us. They go first.

Xander is in low, stalking posture, taking large, swaying steps as crosses the room to the left. I line up my sights and plug the two facing me. Clack. Clack. Two beautiful new holes. Lucky the wall takes the bullets and not the window. DUDE3 and LADY5 are keeping watch outside as X finishes clearing.

Sweeping in from their left he strikes. Hit stabs the first one in the forehead just as it turns. Xander switches his grip on the blade and with a twist the knife is free. He uses the shoulders of the first zed to propel himself onto the backs of both, forcing them down into the empty bed. With a final stab to the back of the head it's done. One more room cleared.

We make our way further down the hall. More noise. More action. On the right this time. I cover our fronts. Xander pulls his Glock and is covering our backs. DUDE3 and LADY5 edge into the open doorway. There are three more zombies. Two are crouching in the middle of the room around a large bloodstain. Wishing food back into their mouths. They have no idea how close it is.

LADY5 and DUDE3 load their crossbows. Got 'em five-finger. They're beauts. With two quick snaps the crouching zeds are lying down. I spot the third turning and nod at DUDE3. Before he can act LADY5 is in the room and on the walker. She's pulled out her nightsticks and is proceeding to beat the mouth of the zombie into it's brains. She's successful. The only noise being the sick, wet, suctioning sounds coming from every blow. The zombie falls. LADY5 is covered in gray matter. She smiles. It's beautiful.

We move down the hall without further interruption and find the Nurse Station and supply cabinets. Not much there. Enough for half a satchel maybe.

"Not much." I whisper.

"Better then nothing." DUDE3 whispers back, satchel in hand.

"It's gonna start getting packed in here on the next couple of floors." I remind them

"I've got an idea," Xander snakes in, "I'll create a diversion. Lead them out of the Hospital."

"And go where?" LADY5 snaps back.

"The church on the way in. It's about a half mile west." I say.

Xander and I smile at each other. The others see it.

"....fuuuuuuck..." they whisper in tandem. I want to laugh. But now's not the time.

"Okay. Here's what we do," I begin laying down the plan, "X and I will head to the front doors. Once you see the second floor has cleared, make your way inside and take EVERYTHING. Then double-time it back to base."

"Got it." again, in tandem.

"Gives us your Primaries." Xander makes sure we're well equipped.

DUDE3 almost cries as he hands X the weapon. LADY5 has no problem giving up her MAC-10. We trade their guns for our steel. They take the machetes, katana, wakizashi. We need to be as mobile as possible for this. With a crowd this large, those weapons are nearly pointless. NEARLY. DUDE3 and LADY5 will be just fine with what they have. What they have is speed. They'll make it back to the gym before any skinwalker takes notice.

I unscrew the silencer as Xander and I make for the exit. Xander trades me the .12 gauge pump-action for the MAC-10. No need to hog the shottys. We make it to the third floor room attached to the fire escape. We step out onto the steel and into the sun. Just in time to be spotted by a couple Shufflers. We run down one more flight and get things started.

"This is it." My last chance to talk before we open hells gates.

"See you on the other side brotha." We tense up and jump. Two stories straight down. We tuck and roll through the grass. My body's on fire when I land. At once we're up with guns blazing. Carefully placed shots. We need to call attention, not waste ammo.

One zombie receives a softball-sized hole in back of his skull as my .45 tears into his cheek. Xander shoots the eye out of a young college student with his Glock. Her sweatshirt reps her sorority. She'll see them again soon. We head north around the building to the main entrance.

We're greeted by a horde. Hundreds. They are already on us as we round the corner. Xander quickly draws the AS-12 and shreds whatever human feature the first 20 zombies had left. He lays into the horde with half the rounds in the first clip. The second floor windows come to life at the noise.

We turn and run west, towards the church. The church by the trash can zombies. Fuck. Forgot about them. We'll deal with it when we get there. The first row of zombie-pulp is tripping up the horde as it follows us. But, like slow moving music fanatics, they will eventually trample whatever they have to to get what they need. Contact.

We sprint towards the church as fast as our legs allows us. We're on the open road. Here for the taking. Everything is behind us now, and Hell follows them. We see a large group massing in the middle of the street in front of us. Came to investigate the ruckus.

"COMING THROUGH!!!" Xan screams as he lights up middle of the group. I follow behind briefly before sprinting ahead to clear the hole. I get off three clean shots with the .12 gauge center mass on the new group before going in. I tuck my shoulder as I throw my entire body horizontally into the mini-horde. It looked bigger but the dozen or so up front were all limp. Easy to get through. I plow the back dozen over and create the perfect hole. As I begin to stand I see X jump over me and back on course for the church. He stops, turns, pulls the Glock, squeezes 6 rounds in 4 zombies reaching for me. They go down. I'm on my feet and running towards him again.

We're nearly on the doors of the church now. Not much further. I pause to take a look back. There was no more visible street past the horde, only crooked feet. Slowly approaching. We're at the front steps in seconds. Our legs are on fire. My body still sore from the fall. We struggle up to the doors only to find them locked.

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" with all his might Xander screams. He takes aim at the center of the doors and opens fire. The USAS-12 makes quick work of the wood and locks. The doors swing open. I was very dark for the most part. No light except the little streaming in through the stained glass windows. One busted out. It lit their skin rather beautifully when they stood. Dozens of colors sparkling over the clear skin and odd muscle structure. Dozens of PaleFucks.

They were ready for us. We react first. Xander had changed clips before the doors opened and was again letting her rip. PaleFucks were falling left and right. I was getting off as many rounds as I could. X was in control. The creatures were frantic. Jumping into rafters, screaming their bloody screams, we killed them. ALL. I run out of shells and sling the pump-action. I trade for the MP4 and I have a field day sweeping through the leaping crowd.

They begin to charge us. I place a good bursts into their faces as they pile up in the pews. Xander and I are at the Holy water. It's not working. We are. Another seven fall to Xander before he breaks out the MAC-10 and Glock. All seven couldn't be recognizable from ground beef. Most of the floor looked that way. Entrails were strewn across pews and rafters. Blood and the putrid smell of their bloats floated in the still air. Of the few dozen Pales when we opened the doors, only six were left. And Him. The Leader. Sitting in the rafters. Hiding, watching, waiting.

X breaks for the other six. Utilizing the MAC-10 he lights up the three on the right. Two take rounds to the head. One is hit in the chest and goes down. Taking cover behind the first row of pews he fires off three .9mm shells and kills the Pale on the left. Only two more. Then the big one.

I sprint to the right, towards the confessional, as I open the head of one of the Pales. A good burst across it's face and it becomes a Pez-Dispenser. Flopping backwards sickly. The final Pale takes a Parabellum round to the right temple as it leaps at me. It ragdolls into the pew in front of me like a stringless marionette.

Our focus turns finally to Leader in the rafters. There's nothing.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?!" I scream, demanding an answer. It answers back.

Hiding in the shadows of the pews and bodies, it was upon me. Leaping forward with both claws aimed at my chest. I get off a few rounds as it makes contact. The rounds land in the creature's gut and my bike armor holds. It feels like being hit by a car. I land on the floor with the Pale on top. Not my favorite position.

Looking up I see the monster screaming and about to attack. Quickly I grab it's arms. Fuck they ARE strong. It spreads it's arms as wide as they will go. I hold on as tight as I can. My legs are on fire but my arms feel like they're about to be torn from their sockets. Leader doesn't stop screaming.

Before I know it, X is in the air, knife in hand. He catches Leader in the right side of the throat. Leader stops screaming. It slowly stands up, me still clutching it's wrists, arms wide open, hanging in mid-air. I let go and land on my feet. Leader turns slowly towards Xander.

"FUCK YOU!" Xander yells as he charges. I throw my body into Leader's left knee. It breaks. Leader goes down just as Xander, in mid air, grabs it's throat. They topple over. I stand up and take a hold Leader's right foot, cold, clammy, disgusting. I drop my right knee down and destroy Leader's other leg-bender.

With X around it's neck and two broken knees, Leader flails its arms, splintering any and all wood within arms reach. Xander coldly carries the knife through the neck of the monster and the arms go limp. Reaching out I take Xander's hand and get him to his feet. X grabbed a handful of the Final Pale's hair and, with a tug, ripped off another trophy.

We got up slowly. Forgetting briefly of the impending horde. Only one problem. They we no longer impending upon us. They had stopped a quarter mile down the road. Still focused on us, they didn't dare go towards the church. Odd. Very. Not a bad problem to have. Xander and I gather ourselves and our new trophy and make for the gym.

We get there we no further hitch. The horde never followed. Our muscles tight and barely working as we approach the doors. With a knock, and a quick, "Fuck you, that's who!" we're back to safety. We put the Leader's head on a tether-ball post and leave it in front of the doors. It's much quieter that night.

By the time X and I had got back, everyone was already back with the supplies and patched up. A couple of our guards even went out for food. Came back with a box of Cliff bars. We ate like kings that night.

I sat against the bleachers, legs spread, as LADY3 knelt in front of me tending to my shoulder. Xander hadn't stopped talking about the battle for the last couple hours. I was just fine here. I'll let him do the talking.

LADY3's touch was still soft. Even in all this hatred and filth. She never stops surprising me. I smile at her. She smiles back.

"Glad you made it back in one piece." she says.

"Me too. I mean, what would you've done without me?" I smirk.

"Snuggle with Xander I guess..." she smirks backs as she lets the joke sink in. I smile at her. She smiles back. I touch her hand. Slowly, carefully, we lean in.

"This isn't smart..." she whispers, eyes closed.

"I don't care."

We kiss. A familiar, but altogether foreign feeling rushes through us. Her lips are a painful reminder of all that's been lost. I love her. In all this shit. I love her.

...Shit.