Rescue in Suburbia

Posted on Mon Jun 24th, 2024 @ 10:36pm by Hale Stratton [Major, United States Army] & Timothy Reynolds [Captain, US Army] & René Rouen & Vienna Quinn & Serena Reynolds DR & Civilian Thea Matthews & Edward Harrison Jr

2,086 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Winter is Coming
Location: Strip Mall Parking Lot Outside of the Blast Zone
Timeline: 6 September 2010 - 8:30 a.m.

Hale exited the dealership and slanted his gaze upward toward the watch tower to get a direction from Tim. Fifteen bullets and his knife. Yeah, this was going to be great.

Timothy and Ethan were up on the water tower, scanning for danger. Though he had heard a nearby gunshot, he couldn't determine either the source, or what the target was. He was starting to get the strong feeling that they needed to leave this area, and very soon. He waved the all-clear signal to Hale, when he saw his friend looking up at him from the dealership. He then shifted his sights to the Walgreens, and saw Serena getting back into their truck.

Five Blocks From The Dealership

René was slowly giving ground as the Soulless advanced on him. He couldn't turn his back and hobble away, the pain in his leg was barely tolerable as it was. He would thrust his rapier through the the head of a Soulless One, yank free, take a few shaky steps backwards and repeat. He had probably dropped nearly a dozen, but they kept closing in.

Vienna reached René’s side, they needed help but she wasn’t leaving him alone whilst injured. “Let’s get you out of here!” She wished she had her bow, but right now she didn’t.

[Walgreen's]

Serena exited the drug safe with a bag full of medications. There was not much there. But she managed to get several boxes of Penicillin and a couple of variants as well as some boxes of sleep drugs and more. As she exited she found the other trolleys in another aisle so she dragged them to the two she had stacked. 

Pausing, she looked around as Patrick stirred on her back. "shh baby" she whispered and bounced slightly to rock him. Still no sign of anyone. She placed the bag of medication into a trolley and slowly pushed the first trolley out of the Walgreens. As she slowly loaded the supplies into the Blazer, trying to keep things in groups, she wondered about food for the people in the group. There were no food stores around so she was getting concerned. There were empty water bottles in the store and she had gathered a number of them for storage. If they could find a water source she would be able to fill them and store them for later use. 

Carefully she placed Patrick back in his car seat and climbed into the Blazer once she was finished and locked the doors and waited for the all clear. 

[Dealership]

All clear didn't give him a direction but such was life. He waved back to Ghostwalker and couldn't help but smile at the sight of Ethan standing opposite Tim to watch the other direction. Wasn't the first time that Rene and Vienna had slipped away but this time, Thea was involved, and well, didn't feel right. Not with everything that had happened.The only place where he didn't have a good line of sight was the apartment complex.

As Hale was looking up at the water tower. An older Dodge work truck pulled around the corner. On the doors were the words, "Dominic's Auto Service". There was a lone person in the cab of the truck as he pulled up to Hale. "Howdy, Sir," the big man said in a tired, but friendly tone. "You're the first survivor I've seen today. I was wondering if you needed any help with your car?"

"Appreciate the offer," Hale said as he walked around to the driver's side. "We're here looking for transportation and well, ran into a spot of trouble. I'm Hale by the way. Major Hale Stratton."

The driver extended a large, powerful-looking, but friendly hand as he smiled softly. "Edward Harrison Junior, Sir. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm a car and truck mechanic, though I'm more experienced with gasoline engines than diesel." He paused as he thought about what he had passed on the way here. "There was a u-haul rental dealership a few miles back, seemed like everything was in good shape when I passed it."

Hale nodded, gesturing towards the two buildings adjoined by the parking lot. "Both the dealership and the Walgreen's are safe, been cleared out, and I'm off to check on three of ours that have gone missing. Think they headed into that apartment complex just beyond the Walgreen's."

Ed looked over at the complex, then nodded. "I'll give ya a hand, Major." He put his truck in park and shut off the engine. After he climbed out, his powerful, six foot three form seemingly unfolding from his front seat, he reached in the back of his truck and pulled out a meter-long iron pry bar. When he looked over at Hale, he shrugged. "In case we need to pry anything open."

"Let's go then," Hale said. Following a trail on black top isn't generally possible but, following a herd of the not-quite-dead? Now, that was entirely possible because weren't clean. There were drippings and spatters and shuffle in patches of dirt on the road. Enough to follow and to suggest that they were following something because it was unlikely they would leave otherwise. "You okay with running a stretch," Hale asked as he turned to the man. "I think our people might be in some trouble."

"While no track star, I did run some in football." He then followed Hale as the Major set out towards the apartment complex.

[Walgreen Parking Lot]

Thea had heard a brief noise, looking around she noted there were less supplies than before someone must have been into the store. She looked cautiously around eventually seeing a woman sitting in a car, she headed to it motioning for help. “Help us! Please! My friends...” she motioned towards the direction of René and Vienna.

Serena climbed out and looked at her. "Hop in" she said. "We will head towards their location. "

[Back at the Apartment Complex]

For awhile, he lost interest but then the girl showed up. The teen was holding his own against the undead but then, they smelled the blood dripping down his leg. Nice shot that," Whistler thought, as he watched the shufflers press in on him. Not just one now but two or three. He saw the teen try to step back and aimed a shot at the ground behind him. To stop him. No need to wound a second time. Early days, he promised himself, early days. Instead, he shouldered the weapon and headed off down a side alley away from the festivities. He was late ... late for a very important date ...

The shot was hard to miss and in the unnatural quiet that was the world these days, he found a direction and took off at a run. If Rene was shooting at something, the group was in trouble. He got lucky and found them without too many missteps and took it all in as he was moving in. No pistol this time, too close to the teens. So, he drew his knife and stepped in, picking them off from the rear.

René handed Vienna his dirk and put an arm around her shoulder. He thrust the rapier into the head of another Soulless One. The apartment complex off to their side had a narrow breezeway. He nodded towards it. "There we can hold them off in the breezeway. They won't be able to surround us."

Vienna breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Hale arriving to help, taking the dirk she kept a hold of René helping him towards the breezeway at the best pace he could go, whilst trying to defend against the soulless.

Rene, the blood, Vienna ... and now, two others. They split focus with the ones in the rear turning back toward Hale and Ed.

Hale kicked out at the kneecap of the first one causing it to stumble and fall to the ground which dropped the second on top. The rest moved to the right and left of the bodies, some trying to step over, but it provided a makeshift funnel. Hale started dispatching the ones that came toward him, allowing the bodies to fall at his feet as a sort of barricade. As he moved, struck and moved again, he kept watch on Ed to make sure that he was holding his own.

Though Edward had heard about some strange things happening to people, he hadn't actually seen it for himself yet. Then, to see the Major just step into the mix, brandishing his knife like he was...it all caused the big man to hesitate briefly. Thankfully, he regained his senses in time to save his skin from a walker, dressed like a fireman, his oxygen mask dragging on the ground behind him. He was even missing most of his right arm as he reached for Ed, his teeth gnashing, covered in gore.

Ed took a step back and swung his prybar as if he was in the major leagues, the solid iron smashing through the fireman's skull like it was a piñata full if candy. Unfortunately, the big man didn't have time to recover, as more walkers shuffled towards him. He continued to swing the heavy bar, cutting a swath with each rotation.

René was relieved that help arrived, even so, his strength was waning and it was becoming more and more difficult to stand. He struck again at a Soulless One but missed the head. The blade pierced the neck and he wrenched the sword from side to side. The body dropped as the head came off, but the head kept gnashing.

Vienna was doing her best to keep René walking but his weight was becoming heavier as his strength was waning. “Let me...” she took the blade from his hand, thrusting it into the head with force stopping it gnashing. “Stay with me...it’s not far now!” She was worried about his wound, it needed sorting as soon as possible, she didn’t want to think about what could happen if it got infected.

Seeing who he thought were the Major's people, Ed could see the teenaged boy was losing strength. "Major! Cover me! I got the kid!" He then lifted the prybar in front of him, parallel to the ground, at bout his mid-chest level, and rushed forward, using the bar as a bumper in front of his rushing bulk. He plowed through the group of zombies that were getting close to the kids. The former nose tackle for the Florida State Seminoles ran over and through the walking dead, like he was a mack truck. When he finally reached the kids, he shifted the bar to his right hand. "C'mere, kid, I'll carry you putta here!" He then maneuvered René up onto his broad shoulders in a fireman's carry. Once everything was set, he stood up easily and turned back to face the way they came from, keeping the girl behind him as they made their way back through the, now crawling zombies. Even with the teenager on his shoulders, Ed made his way through the dead, slamming the heavy end of the prybar through a head here, stomping his large size fourteen steel toe boots through others.

René was grateful for the rescue by the big stranger. "Merci Monsieur." Those were his only words as the pain, blood loss and the last of his strength sent him into unconsciousness for the moment.

"Ed, Vienna, get back to the dealership," Hale ordered. "I'll be right behind you." He didn't wait for an answer but instead turned back toward the group, some down, some crawling, some moving in their direction. Maybe twenty in all. Doable, he thought. Just make every bullet count.

Edward nodded, then looked at the girl named Vienna. "This way, young lady." He then led her back the way he and Hale had come.

Hale fought the last of them, shooting the ones who came right at him, knife to the soft spot behind the temple to the ones who were down and crawling. He moved with a sort of economical grace, take one down and look for the next. Check the bodies for another weapons though there weren't any. Until finally, his weapon emptied and useless, using his combat knife and his training, the last one fell silent -- because, could you really call them dead?

 

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