The Railroad

[Austin Murphy]

With the store's door being mere inches from the College kid, he knew those White Castle burgers were in his grasp. Those mouth-watering, juicy, delightful little sliders was the only thing that Austin could think about. He grabbed the handle, made a gentle pull and.....they were locked.

"It can't be," stutter Austin as he shooked on the doors, "This can't be. Shit, this is not right, man! Even in a fucking apocalypse, I can't have White Castle! "

Despite his shouting and cursing, the doors were still locked. He then took a sigh and looked down at the crowbar he had. He could break the window in the door, but if experience taught him well, it seems many stores have alarms that sound off even when electricity isn't present. Still, he didn't want to give up on his quest for a White Castle burger.

Suddenly, the train station erupted in a fiery of screams as the infected came alive and formed a horde. Swiftly grabbing his rifle, he prepped himself for the battle. However, he quickly realized that the zombies weren't heading towards them, but away from them, prompting Austin to instruct his team not to fire at the horde. Were they this unstoppable that the infected gave up on fighting them? Nah, they weren't that smart. Clearly, they seem to heading somewhere else, to another battle. Were there more people in the train station than just them four? He needed to find out.

"Comeon, lets follow the crowd. there might be some survivors that need our help," jetted Austin as got abit ahead as he sprinted behind the herd of infected.

Clearly, White Castle was going to have wait.

[Keith the Great]

“Book store?” Keith gasped, already wiping his face with the clean side of his scarf. The world still looked like a Saint-Patrick’s-Day kaleidoscope, but he could tell it wasn’t a zombie dragging him around; zombies didn’t bother kidnapping people (with the occasional exception of the hot female sidekick in the movies). “I ain’t goin’ in th’ book store! I almost died th’ last time!”

Fortunately, some cover-fire (from someone-or-other, Keith couldn’t tell) cleared away some of the advancing infected, and whoever was carrying him got whisked away. He took a moment to speed-clean his eyes and glance around; he was still seeing spots, but he could tell where his two pals (a.k.a the moving, human-size green spots) were running. While he didn’t plan to go in the bookstore, he figured that it’d at least be good to stick around that area.

Determined, Keith shoved his way through the crowd and slid (literally) to the bookstore’s outer-wall. He crashed into the wall and retrieved his trusty magnum from his coat pocket. Leaving his teammates to their own plans, Keith picked away at the mob (now starting to trickle away) running towards him.

[Dahlia Breaker]

Falling in step with Luigi, she followed him towards the White Castle when all the sick people started coming. For once though, it wasn't at them.

"Come on, lets follow the crowd. there might be some survivors that need our help." Said Austin as he began to go ahead, burgers forgotten.

Now, normally the logical thing (To Dahlia at least) would be to avoid the mean sick people. It never ended well when there was alot of them. But then again, there could be someone who needed their help...

However, these were decisions beyond her control. Sometimes, it stunk being only nine years old in the middle of an apocolypse.

[Lizzie]

A black-haired boy stepped into the train station and glanced around warily. Once he was sure that there were no infected in sight, he turned to the girl behind him. She caught his eye and smiled big which made an irritated sigh come from the boy.

“I swear to God, Kameko, if they aren’t here…” Shane trailed off, unable to finish the sentence in his annoyance. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “What possessed you to go jacket-shopping at a time like this?”

The girl crossed her arms and pouted. “Hey! I needed a new jacket since my other one was ripped to shreds. And they’re here. Remember they were talking about going to the train station?” Kameko told him.

Shane opened his mouth to reply when the howls of a horde interrupted him. The two tensed for a battle, but stared in confusion when the infected ignored them as they rocketed past. Shooting each other wary glances, the two took off after the infected. When they saw who the infected were chasing their inner chibi-selves sweat-dropped.

“Wow, we weren’t even gone for fifteen minutes and they managed to attract a horde.” Shane rolled his light brown eyes. He made sure his combat rifle was loaded before leaping forward to his comrades’ help.

Kameko stayed where she was, looking down at her sniper rifle. She smirked, knelt down, and looked through the scope. Snipin’ time.

[Austin Murphy]

Already ahead of the group, Austin made haste to where the horde was going. There were a few that attacked the young survivor, but he made swift work dispatching them with his crowbar without the rest the infected noticing. The closer he got, louder the gunshots echoed it till it became clear that the shots were coming from a 12 gauge shotgun and two magnums; a .44 and an AE .50. He got closer and closer until he saw that the survivors in need were holding up in a Book Store. While it seemed the group was holding up, he knew it'll be a matter of time before they brake down.

Acting quick, he examined his surroundings to find a 50s retro-style diner next to him. With the already open, he went to check to around to see if there was anything he could use to distract the zombies away from the other group. What dunned in front of him was a jukebox. Unsure whether it would work or not, he decided to hit on it, like Fronz from Happy Days, and to his surprise, the trick seemed to work as the machine was blurring out the music of Surfin' Bird.

"What everyone said about the bird?"

The horde soon forgot why they were charging the group in the book as they soon targetted the annoying song coming from cafe. Austin merely smirked as he readied his assault rifle against the imposing force. He fired his onslot of bullets at the army of the undead while having a funtime listening to that 60s hit.

[Rae Beckham]

Stopping mid-run, the teenager heard something distinct over the roar of the horde. It was some sort of tune, nothing that she had ever heard before.

"Oh my God." She groaned. "He did not just do that. That bastard did not just do that."

Of course, Austin had pulled another of one of his stunts again, and they were probably going to have to go see if he required their assistance. That guy was seriously going to get himself killed one of these days.

Reloading her pistols with a sigh and making sure Luigi and Dahlia were still keeping up, Rae broke into a run.

[Moro Ashford]

<sub>Sitting quite uselessly with her back against an overturned bookshelf, doing little more occasionally lobbing a ruined volume into the advancing hoard, the mechanic first thought she imagined the tune. As she hesitated, however, listening intently, she could make it out through the bursts of gunfire and infected shrieks.

"a-ba-ba bird-bird-bird, bird is the word-"

Fewer and fewer infected were falling against her barrier; risking a peek, Moro slid painfully to her knees and glimpsed the hoard changing direction, heading now for a different target. "The hell?"

As she watched, uncertain of how to proceed, her vision slid by chance to the far wall, where a very fortunately-placed fire ax sat behind chipped glass. Taking advantage of the momentary lull in attack, the mechanic got to her feet and began a hurried hobble toward the weapon, wincing as the lacerations in her chest and torso stretched with the movement.

Reaching the weapon had winded her; silently cursing her broken, worn-out body, Moro splintered the fractured glass with her elbow, reached carefully past the sharp shards. Just as her fingers grazed the smooth wooden handle, however, there was a distinctive, hacking cough behind her, and the Smoker's slimy tongue snaked around her midsection.

With a sudden pull the monster yanked the mechanic off her feet, her hand raking through the glass and now gushing blood. (not done)</sub>

[Lizzie]

Luigi watched Austin and Rae sprint off. He grabbed onto Dahlia's hand, about to follow, when music drifted into his ears. The boy connected palm to face as he recognized Surfin' Bird by the Trashmen.

Austin would play that song. Luigi thought before taking off while holding onto Dahlia's hand so she could keep up. His watchful eyes managed to spot a bile bomb on the way and he stopped really quick to pick it up. It was going to come in handy later on.

"Hey! Puke in the hole!" he cried when the two appeared on the scene. He threw the green-filled jar into the horde charging at Austin, covering an unlucky male infected in the bile. Distracted by the irresistible aroma, the horde changed their target yet again. Luigi was smirking when he walked over to Austin.

"No need to thank me. I'm awesome, I know."

[Moro Ashford]

<sub>(And here I will attempt to continue...sorry for the delay...)

The swift jerk forced the breath from her lungs and sent her sprawling back against the floor, red light blossoming over her vision as her head struck the tile. Writhing weakly, barely able to breathe against the constraint on her bruised ribs and unable to call for help, her nails scrabbled at the tongue and then at the ground around her, her fingers trailing over a very fortunate chunk of rubble. In a wild, desperate movement, she twisted around and hacked at the tongue, which snapped under the tension. From directly above and in front of her there was a choked howl of pain; Moro now lay helplessly at the feet of the enraged smoker, who, in apparent surprise, stared down at her with long claws brandished.

Yanking the tongue off of her the mechanic struggled to slide away; as one claw pulled back to strike her, however, there was a sudden explosion, and the monster collapsed in a groan and a puff of green smoke. Bewildered and blinded, Moro struck out out as something seized her arm and dragged her back a few paces.

"Damn it chickie, will you calm down?" The voice belonged to a man who had to be at least six foot, wearing a blue flannel shirt and gore-speckled jeans and looking down at her with pale olive eyes in what was akin to annoyance. Yanking Moro to her feet, he pressed a pistol into her hand.

"Here," he said, brushing dirty-blonde hair out of his eyes. "We'll make a trade." Knocking away the remainder of the glass, he armed himself with the fire ax and nodded toward the horde.

Finally finding her voice, Moro took a few steps back toward the commotion. "Thanks, uh...?"

"Shiloh. Now c'mon, I'm gettin' old here." And with that he turned and headed back toward the fray, lopping off the the head of a zombie approaching another survivor.

"Howdy," he said to them.</sub>

[Austin Murphy]

"Reloading!" shouted Austin as he replaced his empty mag with a fresh one, "give me some..." But then it hit him that his teammates weren't with him. He went off ahead without them, again, and now in the attempt to do the honorable thing of saving another party, he has gotten himself in a pickle. He cocked his Ak, and continued his stand in the retro diner. The horde was getting stronger and he knew couldn't keep up with the fighting any longer. "Where are my teammates?" he wondered.

Suddenly, among the screams and gunshots, he heard shattering of glass. Soon enough, the army of the undead was fighting among each other. How the...unless?

"No need to thank me. I'm awesome, I know," bragged Luigi.

Austin wasn't sure how Luigi done it (well, it's was most likely one of those bile bombs) or where he got the bile bomb, but he did save his life nevertheless.

Austin replied as stubbornly as possible, "You know, if you could just keep up..." But, deep down, he knew he screwed up and was quite thankful, "ah screw it, you saved my ass." Then he proceeded to give the kid a big bear hug.

[Patrick Schrader]

"Comeon! We can still hold off these freaks!" Patrick shouted as he tryed to rally his party.

The Texan was now getting tried. His legs were sore, his stomach was empty, his arms were shaking; sweat, blood, and dirt dretched his clothes. Despite his axe feeling heavier for swing he took, the Rancher presisted in the fight, not letting go one inch of ground. And among the chaos of the battle, he could hear a faint sound: song...an anoxious song.

"...bird, bird, bird, bird is the word..."

Dear god, why did it have to be this song? Out of the all the songs in the world, it had to be Surfin Bird. Yet, despite Patrick's distaste of the music, it seemed it was tracking the horde away from them, leaving his group a significantly less amount of zombies to deal with. He continued to cut through the remaining undead. As the battle lightened up, he looked back to see how Moro was doing and she was gone.

"Hey! Where's Moro?" asked Patrick as he axed an infected in the head.

But his question was answered as he saw in the distance the young woman with an older looking man.

[Mason Breaker]

Wiping away the last bits of slime from his eyes, Mason grimaced at the stench filling his nose and the irritating music assaulting his ears. His mood was seriously bad right now, despite the fact that Moro was back and alive and that there were, apparently other survivours, but being puked on really ruined a guy's day.

So did Hunters.

The hooded punk was creeping along the edge of the store, growling. A sure sign that it was about to attack.

Nope. Not today.

The moment it lept towards him, he brought his waiting fist into it's face, sending it sprawling to the ground. Not wanting to waste any more ammo, he took the opportunity to grab it by it's scrawny head and put it in a strangle-hold. The thing hissed and growled, trying to claw at him. The Irishman was having none of that, grabbing both sides of it's head and began to twist, popping noises slowly turning into sickening cracking. With a grunt, he twisted the Infected's head to the side, breaking it's neck. Tossing the dead thing aside, he tossed it back out the store and took the moment to take it all in. Moro was with some guy, there was another guy in the diner giving a teen a man-hug, and... Was that Shane and Kameko?

Who was next? Sighing, he rubbed his temples, trying to dispel the oncoming headache.

[Lizzie]

"Ack!" Luigi cried when he was pulled into the hug. The teen squirmed in protest. "Aw man, no bromance!"

Managing to wriggle out of the embrace, he backed away from Austin. Suddenly he remembered something. Looking around frantically, he confirmed his worst nightmare.

"Holy crap I forgot Dahlia!"

[Rae Beckham]

"Wait....what?" the gray eyed teen pressed after Luigi and Austin had their little moment. Grabbing the front of Luigi's shirt, she began to shake him furiously.

"You. Forgot. Dahlia? Why the hell would you leave a nine-year-old girl by herself when there are fucking infected running around!?" Rae snapped.

Seriously, are guys that usless? she thought.

Shoving the other teen into Austin, Rae glared down at him. "Where the hell was she last?"

[Keith the Great]

Shortly after the music started, Keith was please to notice that the infected seemed to hate the tune more than the puke. (He couldn’t blame ‘em.) He took a moment to pick away the last few slow-runners who hadn’t gotten to the concert fast enough before wandering into the store and ‘borrowing’ a handful of fancy cloth bookmarks to clean the gunk off his face. Boomers, he mused, were probably the most inconvenient infected of all. (Y’know, except for a Jockey dragging you off a cliff or something.)

Once the hygiene issue was out of the way, Keith strolled back out of the store with a whistle on his tongue (and the tune had nothing to do with birds or words). He found Mason first (hard to miss, that guy), but Kameko and Shane weren’t too far off and he spotted Moro with some new guy as well. “Damn,” he said, glancing between everyone. “Izzit just me or do we got more people here than we did before?”