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"City of the Dead: a Bbs story"

23,751 Views | 225 Replies

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-10 20:16:04


(part two)

Sarai glanced at her own watch.

"I heard what you were saying earlier. And I'm afraid that you're the one who's got it wrong, Link. Seems we've been...out of the game for a while, without noticing."

She gestured towards the dome of St. Peters. Or what remained of it, at least.

"Do you really think that the Roman people would just sit idly by as their homes were incinerated, along with their priceless and timeless landmarks?"

She shook her head.

"No way, no how. If not swarms of fire fighters, we should at least see civilians running about the place, attempting to put out these fires. But like I said...I'm guessing that we've missed
out on a whole lot, lately."

She turned towards them.

"Look at the damage, and tell me what you see."

Link didn't budge, and Gagsy didn't seem to find it in her to face the horrific scenario either. Trunks, eyes brimming with tears of despair, found that he simply hadn't enough willpower to make a rational assessment right then and there, in the midst of it all, so that Sarai could prove whichever point she was trying to impress upon them.

So Tigerkitty, who seemed to be the only one capable of coping with the tragedy at that moment, stood at Sarai's side and looked down at the blackened ruin that was Rome.

"...the fires. They've burnt down a lot, but...in some areas, it almost looks like they've burned themselves out."

Sarai nodded. "Precisely. Which means, basically, that they've run out of material to burn down. Which means...that we really have been...gone, for a while. However that happened."

Gagsy sighed, and opened her eyes. This was too much.

"So, what is it exactly that you're suggesting, then? That we've been drugged somehow? Hypnotized by a random magician, lurking about the school? Or did we just hop into a goddamned time machine and forget about it entirely, right when we were in the middle of the beginning of this whole crisis?!"

She almost began to shake with anger. The fucking city was ablaze, and this woman was chatting about what DAY it was supposed to be? She had a hard time believing what she was hearing.

"Look, Gagsy, try to calm down for a sec--" said Link, in a placating tone.

"I'm not in the mood for your insightful, original, witty jokes at the moment Link, so you might as well just--"

"What, might as well just shut up, so you can keep up the whole jealousy-act you've got going on with--"

"ENOUGH already!" shouted Trunks.

Everyone shut up, out of sheer surprise.

"Look, I dunno how or why, but we've all been cut off from the rest of the world for about a week. What I do know, is that I sure as hell am not going back in there--"

He pointed at the school.

"--to investigate on what happened to us, or any dumb crap like that. I don't know about you people, but that's the last thing that I wanna do. The way I see it, the smartest thing we can do is try to call the authorities, from out of town if necessary, and get someone to help us out here."

He took his cell phone out, glared at it for a moment with anger in his eyes, then threw it with all the strength he could muster into the pavement. It smashed into about a hundred separate pieces.

"You know as well as I do that the phone lines won't work, seeing as how all the city's radio-transmission towers will have been destroyed too, along with any other device of that kind. So what we need to do now is just...get somewhere, where there has to be an international cell phone or something of the sort, that we can use to...call someone for help."

He stopped. Apparently, he'd finally noticed the expressions on the faces of his companions.

They were all staring at him. This was unexpected. The last person that they'd expected to come up with anything resembling a plausible course of action was...well, Trunks.

Sarai seemed pleased with him, at any rate. She nodded.

"He's right. We need to get a move on, and start heading for the nearest government building , or whatever else we can find of that sort. Some place that was built to survive a disaster like this, and that will most certainly have something inside it that will allow us to contact the army, other cities, and whoever else we can reach. And..."

She glanced uneasily behind them, towards the school.

"...we're going to have to be quick about it. Not only because the faster we go, the better chance we have of getting some help to whoever else survived this calamity, but also because I just don't think that sitting in the same spot for too long..."

A faint moaning could be heard in the background.

"...would be much of a good idea."

Link swallowed audibly. "Point made. I say we make like a tree, y'know?"

Gagsy silently agreed, nodding her head. But even though Trunks had dismissed the issue entirely for the moment, somehow Sarai's reasoning had gotten to her...made her start to think over what had happened so far.

They'd heard the screams from their study room, raced downstairs, gotten their phones and then encountered the first of the cannibals.

But before that, they'd met kids running past them, down the hallway, streaking for the exit...

...so when did they suddenly skip 6 whole days of their lives? What had caused them to forget? How had they failed to notice all of this, until now?

She knew she'd have a great deal of time to ponder all of this on the long hike down the Viale Vaticano, and beyond. She wondered whether she'd be able to talk it over with Tigerkitty and Trunks, and possibly even Link.

Sarai chose that precise moment to announce that she was going to hang back and try to close the iron gates, while the rest of them started making their way down the hill.

…"Lupus in fabula". thought Gagsy, smiling grimly to herself. It was the Latin equivalent of "Speak of the Devil".

The woman herself had inadvertently given her the chance she dearly needed to have a frank discussion with the rest of the group about what their thoughts and plans were. Which was exactly what they all needed.

She nodded once more to Sarai, and started moving down the sidewalk, quickly catching up with the other students.

The substitute teacher followed the girl’s movements for a few seconds, sizing her up. This Gagsy seemed to be the typical leader type…it would be interesting to see how she’d hold up, throughout this ordeal.

But she put those thoughts out of her head. First, she had to make sure that Gagsy and the rest of the students would survive the crisis at all. She’d have plenty of time to contemplate their personalities later.

She reached the gates she’d mentioned earlier to the others…

…but she didn’t even so much as look at them.

Instead, she reached into her left jacket pocket, and extracted one of the world’s most expensive, hi-tech phones from inside.

She flipped it open, dialed a number, and pressed “send”. It rang once, and once only, before someone answered.

“Everything going smoothly?”

The man’s tone was cool and formal, but it somehow conveyed a certain unmistakable frost to it.

“Absolutely. They’re all here with me, unscathed, as you asked. And…they’re taking it well.”

“Excellent news. I knew I was right to trust in your abilities.”

Sarai smirked.

“I’m flattered. Now, is there anything that you need me to take care of, at this point?”

The man paused for a moment, before giving an answer.

“Nothing that we haven’t gone over already. Keep an eye on them, get them where they’re going safely. I need them all, and I won’t suffer any losses. At all. Do I make myself clear, Sarai?”

Sarai almost shuddered. He had a rather chilling way of getting all the way under her skin and freaking her out from the inside.

“…absolutely, Doctor Monocrom.”

And with that, she hung up, in a way feeling somewhat relieved.

(end of part two)


Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-10 20:47:10


Oh how brilliant, I simply must keep in check with this thread and story.
Plot twisted too.


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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-10 20:48:15


Hurrah, more story! Glad to hear your exams went well- I must say I'm pleased not to have any this year :D

And another awesome chapter- I'm loving all of the twists and turns you are throwing out, keeping us on our toes. The loss of 6 days in particular was a good one- I'm looking forward to the explanation to that!

And I don't know what the selection process was for this story, and whether people gave you some character ideas, but is Monocrom ALWAYS a doctor in these things? I read JadeTheAssassin's 'experiment' story and I remember him and Sarai being a bit of a terrible twosome in that as well!

Looking forward to the next part.


Sig by lebastic

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-10 21:01:19


I really like it so far. Seems like it'll be one of those stories people should remember, y'know?

I can't wait for more.

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-10 22:20:54


hmm, sarai is part of an evil organization that has something to do with the firey end of the world...i always suspected...

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-10 22:29:57


Why do the zombies stop coming when the charaters start talking?


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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-11 02:04:02


Zombies always stop coming when characters start talking, because usually they start talking when they've been running for a while.
lol

And Link, that was honestly the best chapter to any BBS story I've ever read. Ever. It was just awesome, I loved it all... it was sick. Left me craving more. Much like a zombie. lol


wew

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-11 12:36:11


At 7/10/07 08:48 PM, Sentio wrote: ..... is Monocrom ALWAYS a doctor in these things? I read JadeTheAssassin's 'experiment' story and I remember him and Sarai being a bit of a terrible twosome in that as well!

LOL ! Doctor Monocrom back from the grave! :P

Perhaps I'm a different character than the one from Jade's story. :D

Another juicy chapter that leaves me wanting more. Good job, Link. :)

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-12 02:03:19


Doctor Monocrom. Oh dear God!

He's so scary! I uhh only work for him, because uhh, he's holding my parents captive. I'm not some evil person honestly. Uhh.

*pokes Monocrom*

You tell him, it's nothing else but that!

Great chapters, probably the best written thing going on at the moment on NG. Far superior to mine after comparing them, you get action in, I struggle, you write in good backgrounds all the time, I do it once or twice.

Very well done.


The Newgrounds O-Ren-Ishii but with a nicer smile and still alive

Got Rice?

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-12 05:36:38


Comments, huzzah! :P

- Musk and Changes: glad you've enjoyed this latest installment as well. I was worried that it wouldn't be all that enjoyable, considering that there were no zombie-killings and such in this one.

- Sentio: Yep, my exams went fairly well, thanks. Anyhow, as Monocrom himself has already hinted, his character in my story isn't the same one from Jade's.

The reason I chose to make his character a Doctor of sorts is because...well, "Dr. Monocrom" just sounds good. Almost a plausible name for a guy with an M.D or a PhD, wouldn't you think?

- TheSovereign: Hey man, you can't mess with the fundamental laws of sci fi and horror stories >:( if the main characters need to have an important chat, then the freaks busy themselves with something else for a while. I'm guessing that in this case, the zombies found the school's cat, and gave chase for a happy 10 minutes or so. That kind of stuff.

- Trunks: Gee, people sure seem to be liking this chapter a lot :/ doesn't seem all that much of a smashing hit to me, to be honest, but...if you guys like it, it must be ok :) I appreciate the support though, and I'm glad that you liked the latest installment.

- Monocrom: Hang on a sec...that's not a bad idea 0_0 it is a zombie story, after all...

lol, no freakin' way. Jade would sue.

But seriously, I'm glad you approve of what I've come up with so far :p and hopefully, I'll manage to update this chapter before I have to leave for my Summer trip.

- Sarai: Hey now, don't be so quick to denounce Monocrom for all that you may or may not have done.

After all, we don't know if you and he are "evil" at this point. You didn't say anything about killing or hurting people while you were on the phone, did ya? ;)

But..."superior to yours"? Now, I appreciate the praise as always, Sarai, but this is way too much self-criticism on your part. There HAS to be a crap-load of action in my story, or there basically wouldn't be anything for me to write about. It's a zombie story, for cryin' out loud! >:( unless someone is shooting/eating/defiling someone else, it gets boring as heck.
You, on the other hand, are doing something that takes way more brains and subtlety than that, what with the carefully crafted political undertones you have to come up with and such. So obviously it's taking you a lot longer to get to the juicy action-filled part...but when you do get there, I'm sure it'll be awesome.

Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-12 21:06:05


heys! canz iz bez inz itz?

a lone suvivor with an injured leg cuz it got chewed on? and a great shot!

gotaz lovez thisz onez! sci fi stuff ALWASY TAKES ME!

i put condom joke on my SIGGY!


The Lack of content here, Is suprising.

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-13 00:25:33


Well, once again I stumble into an ongoing story thread, and I have to say that this one's already been added into favorites, filed under Randomness<Awesomness. It's well written, with a nice blend of action and story, and it grabbed my attention fairly quickly (which is good because I really do have horrible ADD)
I do love a good zombie story and this one is definantly good, so keep up the good work and post some more chapters whenever you get them written.
Someone earlier in the thread suggested that you try and find someone to make a flash series of this, and while I agree that finding an animator with too much time on his/her hands isn't likely, you could probably find an artist willing to make a few panels for the action scenes. As for suggestions, I guess the only thing I have is to maybe change the style/pacing of the transitions between action and story. If you're transitioning from story/conversation stuff to action, try to make it quick, have the action (zombie attack or whatever) break in on the conversation, rather than having a slower transition. But when transitioning from the action to story/conversation stuff you might want to do the opposite, slow it down, let the reader relax for a moment after being caught up in the action.

But hey, it's your story, and it's great so far so if you don't like my suggestions, it's not like I'll be offended if you don't use them ;)

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-15 13:54:31


At 7/13/07 12:25 AM, Sainth wrote: Someone earlier in the thread suggested that you try and find someone to make a flash series of this, and while I agree that finding an animator with too much time on his/her hands isn't likely, you could probably find an artist willing to make a few panels for the action scenes.

i can draw anime to a point. i would be happy to send a pic or 2


The Lack of content here, Is suprising.

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-15 13:58:02


I am not sure if an anime style would work. I see this more as a Slient Hill / dark blood gothic style.

It would make a good comic, one of those manga style that are very dark?


The Newgrounds O-Ren-Ishii but with a nicer smile and still alive

Got Rice?

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-15 14:33:51


At 7/15/07 01:58 PM, Sarai wrote: I am not sure if an anime style would work. I see this more as a Slient Hill / dark blood gothic style.

to tell the truth anime style is the only way i can draw besides sticks. -_-'


The Lack of content here, Is suprising.

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-15 19:39:57


Comments first, update right after that.

- naruto-ninja999: I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I've still got some other characters on my mind that have yet to be introduced into the story. About two or three of them. And seeing as how I want to avoid having to simply kill a few people off just to focus on the main characters, I think it'd just be better to keep the amount of people involved to a minimum.

About the pictures...if you should happen to have absolutely nothing better to do, then I'd definitely like to see some sketches of your work. Just to see what this anime style of yours really looks like (Sarai's got a point, methinks...the wrong kind of style would look pretty awful, in this case). Please pm me about that, if you're up to it.

- Sainth: Glad you like what I've come up with :p and thank you for your suggestions concerning the overall "style" of my story. I'll take them into serious consideration, soon as I start writing up my next chapter.

---------------------------------------------
----------------

UPDATE: Next chapter should be done and posted within the next 8 days or so...since I'll be leaving for my main Summer trip in about 10 hours or so (which leaves me about 6 hours of sleep...argh >:( ), and that'll last about 7 days total.

Hope y'all have fun while I'm gone :p


Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-26 13:46:11


Ladies and gentlemen, the cat's outta the bag, as they say. Monocrom's new story has come out, for the joy of the avid bbs story readers :D

Which is what forcefully reminded me of how long it's been since I came up with anything new :(

I'd apologize for the amount of time it's taken me to come up with the next chapter and all, but...eh, it'd be like the 4th or 5th time, and I doubt it'd seem quite so sincere to you folks at this point.

So, without further ado, here's the next installment. Enjoy :)

Chapter Six: Out of the frying pan...

(part one)

"Pretty damned unlucky town, come to think of it" mused Link, as he sauntered over towards the rest of the group. "First Nero, now zombies. Two city-wide fires, less than 1950 years apart. And that's if you don't count the fall of the Empire, with the barbarians coming in and fucking the place up..."

Trunks, who until that moment had been riveted to the side of the road as he looked out at the unbearable, almost apocalyptic scene of fiery destruction down in the Vatican City and beyond, came close to stopping in his tracks.

"...sorry, what?"

Link just shrugged. "You've been going over ancient Roman history for the past 3 friggin' days, man...something had to stick."

Gagsy, who had finally managed to catch up to the group, as they all made their way down the Viale Vaticano, decided to get down to business with her fellow students. She didn't know how long it would take Sarai to fix that iron gate. "You mean, the past three days that we can remember, link. We still have no clue as to what went on during the actual five or six days before today, technically speaking. Which, if possible, is something that almost freaks me out as much as the rest of what's happened lately."

Tigerkitty nodded. "True. With the zombies, we know where we stand...point and shoot. Or just run for our lives. But as to what happened to all of us in the past week, without us even noticing...it raises too many questions."

She frowned. "How long exactly have we been...well, out? Who and what made us lose track of so much time? And..."

she glanced at Gagsy.

"...how much is the self-proclaimed substitute teacher involved in this mess, if at all?"

As they spoke, they walked past the "Musei Vaticani", and all the way to the main plaza of that area.

It was as dreadful a sight as the one they'd witnessed they'd seen all the way up at the school, even though in this part of the city, most the flames had apparently died out.

The streets were littered with everything from broken glass to contorted, torn-up remains of exploded vehicles. Everything was blackened, melted and corroded. Buildings all around them were shattered and twisted as well, as if the fire had brought the effects of some horrible earthquake along with it.

"I'd say that this is freakishly similar to that Hell-scene in that Constantine movie, but..."

Link looked around himself, halting for a moment.

"...where are all the bodies?"

A silky voice carried itself across the air from behind them: "Well, I'm guessing the flames took care of anything remotely biological, in this area. But lucky for us, it looks like it's been raining for quite some time...the whole area is probably a lot less hot that it should have been, after being devastated from a fire like that."

Sarai, who had also managed to catch up with them at this point, simply pointed towards the massive, deep blue clouds in the sky.

"The work of some favorable sea-wind inbound from the Mediterranean, I'm guessing."

Trunks frowned, and muttered to Gagsy: "Good thing the skies were crystal-clear, last time we'd checked".

She nodded an inch, and kept on moving. Indeed, before they'd gone into school (which was to say, before the entire mess had began), there hadn't been a cloud in sight.

With a jolt, however, she realized that she'd noticed the clear weather through the windows even as they had fled down the steps, running for their lives from the advancing cannibals. So when had they lost consciousness? On the stairs?

"Wonder how much it'd have smelled, without all that rain" said Link. And for once, Gagsy was grateful for his utter lack of tact: Sarai hadn't noticed the expression of surprise on her face, busy as she was frowning at Link after that particular comment.

"...right" she muttered. "Anyhow, as Trunks said earlier, we've got to get our priorities straight."

They'd reached the center of the plaza, the old "Piazza Repubblica", from which half of St Peter's was visible, and that stretched out to a number of well-known roads...the kind that were jam-packed with fashion shops, restaurants and more.

She stopped, and spoke up: "I say we split up for the time being, in order to cover more ground in less time. We need provisions, means for defending ourselves, and if possible, a vehicle of some sort. We'll need one to get all the way to Piazza Cavour, which is where the Justice Administration building is...which, in turn, is the closest political edifice I know of."

She nodded to herself.

"Yes, I think me and Trunks had better move off towards Via Ottaviano, right here to the left...there's supposedly some firearms depot in that area. Tigerkitty and Link should head off to Via Cola di Rienzo up there, and look for the supermarket for some food."

Tigerkitty seemed highly incredulous, as did the rest of them.

"Uhm...miss Sarai, I'm glad you've come up with a plan of action and everything, but...splitting up? In a time and place like this? You can't be serious."

Sarai half-smiled placatingly. "I know, I know, you're thinking about our fiesty un-dead friends out there...but hey, have you seen any of them around, since we left the school?"

She had a point: they hadn't even heard any of that disquieting moaning on their way down, much less been assaulted by the zombie-like creatures.

But even so, no one was all that keen on separating from the rest of the group and wandering about the city (though in the same block) on their lonesome.

"True, but I can still see a gaping hole in this idea of yours, miss." Link had problems with Sarai's plan as well, it seemed. "What about Gagsy? She's supposed to run off and find a car on her own? Not to mention break into it and get it started without the keys."

He looked over at her.

"And she doesn't exactly seem like the kind of gal that's used to doin' that kind of stuff, either..."

But Gagsy shook her head. As much as she wanted to disagree with this increasingly suspicious woman, she couldn't deny the importance of speeding things up.

"It's ok, Link. I'll be fine. There's bound to be an abandoned car 'round here anyhow...probably in one of the usual over-priced parking lots. Down in one of those, there's a chance I might even find a car that still works...as in, one that hasn't been burned to a damned crisp."

The others began to protest as well, but she held up a hand.

"Seriously guys. We're in the deepest shit of our lives, and if we want to get out of it, we have to move fast. Which means, we'll have to split up for a few minutes and grab some shit. There's no avoiding it."

Trunks sighed, and checked his watch. "Right, then. It's about 1:00 pm right now...I say we move out, and meet back here in exactly one hour. That sound OK to everyone else?"

The others nodded slowly. The plan made sense. If their luck held out, in one hour they'd be much closer to getting out of this hell-hole, with food and protection to boot.

(end of part one)


Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-26 13:47:34


(part two)

Link hadn't quite finished, though.

"Fine, fine, we'll run 'round the block a few times and see what we can get our grubby hands on. But I'm the one who's heading out alone. Gagsy's sticking with Tigerkitty...her taste in cars sucks anyhow."

And with that, before anyone could argue or protest with him, he grabbed his cell phone in his hand and pelted off into the distance.

Gagsy stared after him for a moment. She then muttered a few words silently under her breath, that Trunks alone, being fairly close to her, overheard.

"...stupid, cocky son of a bitch. Hope he ends up zombie-chow."

With a sign, she turned to the rest of the group.

"Right, well...let's get moving, I say. Tigerkitty, I guess you and I can go check out the supermarket, and see how much food escaped the flames. You should be alright with miss Sarai, Trunks...the pistol store is less than a block away from here, if I remember correctly."

Trunks nodded, and began to walk in the direction of "Via Ottaviano". He didn't want Gagsy to worry about him heading out with the strange woman, so he played it cool. Sarai followed suit, smiling briefly at the two young ladies and tossing Link's discarded knapsack over her shoulder.

Gagsy turned to Tigerkitty, who patted her reassuringly on the shoulder and walked with her down the broken, cracked sidewalk towards the supermarket.

One hour passed, and five people met up in the middle of the Piazza, near the charred remains of what once had been a striking bronze statue of a Carabiniere, a distinguished Italian officer of the law. Everyone had made it back within the time limit...except for Link.

Trunks was scowling almost as much as Gagsy, at this point. He'd gotten back 15 minutes earlier than expected, alongside Sarai, with a unique assortment of weapons. They'd snatched 8 hand-held pistols in total (in his hurry, he'd left his uncle's gun in the school), three rifles, about 4 boxes of cartridges and several sharp, exotic blades (stolen from a fantasy-theme store; Trunks himself was actually holding a replica of Frodo the Hobbit's Sting). It'd taken considerable work to haul all of this back to their meeting spot, but he'd done it anyways.

Which, of course, frustrated him to no end, since all Link had to do was drive back, and yet he hadn't done so yet.

Gagsy was also fairly fed up. Tigerkitty and her had only managed to find heavy, incumbersome canned meats and vegetables at the store they'd rifled through. Whatever hadn't been protected by a shell of some sort had been ruined by the flames, or was rotting away on its own...which had left them little choice. They'd had to lug an awful lot of that back with them, since they didn't know how long they'd have to go before they had the chance to raid some other store.

"Ten to one, that jerk is busy joyriding through the empty streets right now."

Tigerkitty seemed to be the only one concerned for their absent companion. "I don't know...seems like screwing around would be something a bit too foolish to do at a time like this, even for him."

They'd have tried calling him on his cell phone, of course, but they knew that it would have been absolutely pointless to do so; the lines was still dead, and it would remain so until someone actually moved in and fixed whatever the flames had destroyed...which would probably take years.

Sarai said nothing, but stood very still. She had extracted her own pistol (an old Jericho 941F) and was holding it in both hands. Her eyes were focused on the ground...she appeared to be listening for something.

"I think he's coming" she said simply.

Sure enough, a few seconds later the rest of them heard it too: a low rumble coming off from the distance, in the direction Link had sped off in.

The rumbling grew louder and louder, 'till a car finally zoomed into sight from behind a corner across the plaza. A light blue Multipla, speeding towards them at about 100 kilometers per hour.

"Finally" sighed Gagsy. He was late, and the car wasn't the hot-rod she would have expected him to jack, but it would do.

Tigerkitty, however, shook her head. "That's not Link, at the wheel..."

Sarai raised her pistol at the oncoming car. "Sure isn't."

The driver slowed the car down considerably, after seeing the imminent danger he was in. He came to a stop about 20 feet away from the huddled group, and turned off the car.

Sarai didn't lower her weapon. "Get out of the car, and let me see your hands."

Trunks frowned incredulously, and turned towards her: "Miss Sarai, what're you doing? It's a survivor from the disaster, same as us...and he's got a car."

But before Sarai could answer, the right-side door to the vehicle swung open, and in the blink of an eye the driver had bounded out of his seat, a AKS-74U held tightly in both his burly hands. He rose his weapon and pointed it in Sarai's face, before she could aim her own at his chest...which was saying something, seeing how quick she could move.

Both froze.

"Hey, HEY don't shoot, don't shoot damnit!!!"

Link jumped out of the back of the vehicle, arms flailing desperately in the air.

"It's ok, it's OK, they're my friends dude! The ones I was telling you about!"

A young woman with fair hair slipped quietly out the other side of the vehicle. She too had a weapon in hand, but she hadn't raised it in anyone's face. Yet.

"Hon, calm down now. I don't think we need any more violence for today...especially since these people seem about as...alive and scared as we are."

The big man didn't move a muscle. He just growled.

"Now sweetie, you know I don't really enjoy shooting people, but when someone pulls a gun on me out of the blue..."

The blond lady walked across the front of the vehicle and reached the powerfully built fellow. She holstered her own weapon and, very slowly, reached up and caressed his arm, in a soothing gesture.

"Do it for me, big guy. Just cool down, OK? We're just gonna talk with this woman, there's no need to shoot her, I'm sure."

With that she turned to Link, and rose an eyebrow.

"Oh, damn, you're right" he stammered "...uhm, this is miss Sarai, our substitute teacher, and those guys over there are my schoolmates".

He moved towards his friends.

"Guys? These two are a couple of good Samaritans that just finished saving my neck and getting this car..."

He gestured towards them.

"...meet Jade and Fyndir."

(end of part two)


Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-26 14:05:28


Sweet! Now we've got our main good (and one maybe bad) characters together, so they can all do some zombie ass kicking! Are we gonna find out what Jade and Fyndir have been doing in the time that Link and the others skipped?

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-26 15:05:12


"Doctor Monocrom... We've got a problem....

"Yeah... I'll try, but I don't think it'll be easy...

"Ok, got to go"

*Click*

---

Good chapter, very long and detailed, I am very happy to be PMed with this whenever you do it, it's special and good.

I really hope that I am not too evil in this :( Fyndir faster than me? Eeep, the laws of physics have turned on their head, so much so, that I think I should be worried. I deserve to live! (God, saying this after only four chapters in... So desperate!)

The Newgrounds O-Ren-Ishii but with a nicer smile and still alive

Got Rice?

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-26 15:40:47


At 7/26/07 03:27 PM, Fyndir wrote:
At 7/26/07 02:05 PM, Sainth wrote: Are we gonna find out what Jade and Fyndir have been doing in the time that Link and the others skipped?
Wild, passionate sex?

I would bet on it. Every BBS story is now required to have a Jade and Fyndir sex scene in it.


Sig by THEJamoke Contributor to PONIES: The Anthology 2 and Anthology 3 Go watch them now!

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-26 17:48:13


At 7/26/07 03:40 PM, 36Holla wrote:
At 7/26/07 03:27 PM, Fyndir wrote:
At 7/26/07 02:05 PM, Sainth wrote: Are we gonna find out what Jade and Fyndir have been doing in the time that Link and the others skipped?
Wild, passionate sex?
I would bet on it. Every BBS story is now required to have a Jade and Fyndir sex scene in it.

Actually.... that's pretty much true....

Oh well, one question answered, now I just have to wonder what Monocrom is up to!

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-27 08:09:37


Comments, comments, comments :p

- Sainth: Well, as you can see, it's been a hectic week in Rome, what with the half burned down edifices, missing bodies and all. I doubt a pair such as Fyndir and Jade would manage to stay put and hide indoors, while the world went to hell in a wastebasket around them.

- Sarai: I'm very glad that you liked this latest installment as well :) And I wouldn't be too taken aback about Fyndir's speed, if I were you. He was quicker at the draw, because you were a tad surprised at a mountain-sized man bursting out the side of a minivan with a big-ass rifle in hand (which is sorta understandable). Plus, you were busy trying to speak with Trunks, which obviously distracted you a tad.

- 36Holla: Hell yes, a sex scene is not only preferred, but also needed. However, I'm not entirely sure if I'm qualified to come up with one :/ Bit too afraid of making the entire thing too vulgar (zombies and hawt s-e-x, involving huge Scotsmen?!? Too much for just one story).

-----------------------

Update: Lol, I know that very few of you believe a word that I say in these things, since I'm always much slower than I say I am, but...I can tell you that I'll do my best to come up with a new chapter fairly soon (perhaps even by the day after tomorrow).


Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-27 08:59:42


Ohh just noticed the last chapter - good stuff!

And thanks for being a gentlemen =P I don't know what I would of done if I ran into those two, he is quite scary! >.>

What I was wondering is about the diary installments, I know you said you'd try without them because a few people had commented on them, but will we see a return at all?

I look forward to a new update (hopefully in 2 days like you said).


[I've been wandering round but I still come back to you]

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-27 14:00:54


At 7/27/07 08:09 AM, LinkSilvermane wrote:
Update: Lol, I know that very few of you believe a word that I say in these things, since I'm always much slower than I say I am, but...I can tell you that I'll do my best to come up with a new chapter fairly soon (perhaps even by the day after tomorrow).

That would make my weekend very good. :) Very good indeed.

Write a sex scene, but no zombies. Unless it's Monocrom experimenting on Zombies. That's his style :)


The Newgrounds O-Ren-Ishii but with a nicer smile and still alive

Got Rice?

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-07-30 11:22:15


At 7/27/07 09:21 AM, Fyndir wrote:
I'm not scary. =(

I'm a big cuddly teddy bear.

That's not what I heard =(

Teddy bear yes but made from metal, not fur and and with razor sharp claws =S


[I've been wandering round but I still come back to you]

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-08-04 22:56:59


Well folks, I've finally come up with that chapter that I promised you.

Truth be told, I'd also promised to have it done and posted about 3 or four days ago...but that's not so bad, considering my usual standards, right?

At any rate, here it is...the latest installment. Enjoy :D

Chapter Seven: Swapping war stories

(part one)

*THWACK*

"OW! What wuz that for? You've been on my case for the past half hour, just for getting' back a measly fifteen or twenty minutes late...why the need to get all physical-like and slap me that hard?!"

Gagsy chuckled.

"Wasn't me, o fearless and mighty one. But you're free to look behind you and take a wild guess."

Link, still rubbing the sore on the back of his neck, turned about and glared accusingly at the occupants of the cramped backseat area of the stolen Multipla.

After a few seconds, he merely grunted and turned back around, having apparently decided that the need to keep his mouth clamped shut was greater than his necessity for retribution.

Which, quite simply, was because pretty much everyone behind him had a good reason for slapping him, at that moment. And he certainly didn't want his neck to get any redder.

The tension in the air was certainly a lot thinner than it had been a while ago, when everyone had been formally introduced; though in some cases, things hadn't gone quite so formally...like when Tigerkitty, perhaps sensing some mysterious and unfathomable affinity with one of the new arrivals, simply enveloped a (quite pleasantly) surprised Jade in a very warm, affectionate embrace (and Trunks could have sworn he'd actually heard one of the two purring, somehow, at the moment of their encounter).

The strange yet oddly pleasant gesture had also calmed down an equally surprised Fyndir, it seemed...so much, that in the end he finally put his rifle away, and greeted the other survivors with as much grace he could muster (all the while keeping a wary eye on Sarai, of course, who however hadn't seemed to take their near-shootout experience nearly as personally as he).

Even so...a whole lot of people still wouldn't mind venting some of their frustration on the frighteningly irresponsible kid who could have easily averted the whole trouble at the plaza, had he simply told Fyndir about Sarai's unique personality beforehand...or even had the Scot stop the car a good 15-20 feet sooner, for that matter.

So he decided to simply cross his arms and attempt do his job, which at the moment was to navigate for Gagsy while they drove through the blackened, charred ruins in the west side of the Eternal City.

Jade and her fiancé simply didn't know the town well enough to drive through it as quickly as they needed to (given the ghastly circumstances), and Fyndir himself didn't take kindly to the idea of a suspicious, pistol-totin' teacher driving the vehicle he and his wife-to-be were both in...which left Sarai out of the picture as well. So those three sat in the back, pressed up against the equally unfortunate Trunks, and Tigerkitty (who didn't seem to mind the vicinity to Jade, and had already started chatting up a storm with the young lady).

Though certainly no one would have wanted to give Link the opportunity to stretch his limbs in the relatively comfortable front seat, they couldn't argue with his sense of direction: apparently, he'd taken quite a while to get to an accessible parking lot and find a functional car (after having met a startled Jade and Fyndir along the way, who'd been hiding out temporarily in a blown-out tourist paraphernalia shop), but it had taken him very little time indeed to guide Fyndir all the way back to the plaza he'd left over an hour earlier.

Gagsy drove on through the ruins in relative silence, pondering over quite a few thoughts that'd been running through her head since they'd left Piazza Risorgimento...their destination, chief among them.

They had discussed their options with Jade and Fyndir, and they'd all come to the conclusion that Trunk's plan was still the best one they had. They were to continue on towards the "Palazzaccio", the "nasty" building, which was the ancient place that housed the administration of Justice for all of Rome, and for the most important trials and cases of the rest of the country as well. There, they hoped, there'd be some protected, unscathed means of communication with the rest of the world...a world that, as it was, seemed effectively sealed off from them all.

Gagsy hoped there might even be a few survivors around the place. After all, if some valuable equipment had been saved from the fiery devastation, it was plausible that some people had been spared from the flames as well.

She had allowed herself this bit of optimism mostly because, quite simply, they hadn't had to blow any zombie's head off since they'd left the school.

Not a single corpse had they encountered, moving or unmoving. No drawn-out moaning, no scraping of dead skin on the pavement had been overheard as they had made their way through the cityscape. Nothing that indicated the presence of undead monsters, hidden in the shadows cast by the Sun in the late afternoon or lurking amongst the waste on either sides of the roads they'd driven through.

They'd spoken to the young couple about it, voicing their doubts, concerns, and hopes. Sadly, the two hadn't been able to offer anything that could put them at absolute ease.

"Well, when all of...of this started happening at your school, Jade 'n me decided we'd hurry on over and see if we could be of any help", Fyndir had told them.

He'd glanced at Jade, who was perched all the while on his lap.

"Back in Ontario, were we live, we work on the 'force, y'know. It's kinda where we met, actually".

Jade looked up at him, smiled warmly, and settled herself against his chest. "That's right. Seeing as we're police officers ourselves, we thought we could offer a few pointers to the Italian fellows that were taking care of things. Didn't think we'd actually get involved in anything...we just wanted to offer some advice."

She stopped for a moment, and grimaced.

"It never got that far, though. Apparently it was right when we were riding through the Metro system on one of those rickety old subway trains to get to the school, that the shit really hit the fan. We were never told how, or by what means, but..."

This time, she didn't continue. She seemed to be unable to believe her own words.

"...yeah, zombies." said Trunks, guessing correctly.

Fyndir nodded. "The train just stopped right there in the tunnel...some decrepit old hag and her friends saw the newsflash one of the Metro's crappy TV's in the wall, and jammed on the emergency brakes. Leaving us stuck in the middle of the underbelly of a fucking zombie-infested area, I might add. So the passengers all ran off the train right then and there, in a panic, and headed for the nearest station."

He stared aimlessly out the passenger window on his left.

"...but we knew better. We watched the news report. We saw the outbreak...blood-covered students rushing out of the school and tearing into passersby and law enforcers alike, people stampedeing over each other in a mad rush for safety...as bad as any mob I've tried to break up in my time. We both knew that we stood far greater chances of getting out of that situation in one friggin' piece by just sitting tight and boarding ourselves up in the snack-bar cabin of the subway train. And lucky for us, we never go anywhere without some backup".

He patted one of the pistols he kept under his belt affectionately.

(end of part one)


Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-08-04 23:12:55


(part two)

"So, thanks to the supply of sweets and to our own protection, we had good hopes of staying out of too much trouble...for a while."

He'd paused then, as if unsure of what to say next.

The others had gaped at him. "...and?" prodded Tigerkitty.

He'd frowned: "Well...we're not all that sure of what happened next, to be honest. For the first few days, we just heard a fair lot of moaning and screaming...the zombies were roaming about the city as they pleased, it seemed. Which scared the crap out of us, of course, seeing as that meant that the entire police force of a town as big as Rome hadn't managed to stop 'em. A few days later, they started sniffing around our train and checking out the rest of the city...which, if possible, scared us even more, since the only reason they'd do that was because they'd already finished off the populace that hadn't managed to hide away in weird places like the one we'd found...which means an awful lot of people, I'm guessing."

He'd just sat there, scratching at his chin, evidently still pondering and racking his brains for an answer to a problem that still bothered him greatly.

"They never came for us, though...maybe it was the smell of the rotting food that saved our necks, or maybe the brainless jerks just couldn't manage to figure out how to open the damned doors. So they just kept shuffling about, moaning incessantly. That is, until they decided shut the hell up altogether, about 4 days after we'd holed ourselves up nice in the snack bar."

Jade had recounted the rest, seeing the bewildered faces of the rest of the group. "Right. Basically, for a minute or two, they stopped making noises of any sort, except fot the one they make just by breathing. It almost seemed that the whole world was...frozen over. Like those freaks had actually managed to be distracted by something, somehow, and were waiting for somethin' to happen. And then...well, then all hell broke loose."

"We heard explosions. BIG explosions. Loud and large enough to penetrate all the way down to the sewage system...we feared for our lives, for the umpteenth-time (although we were still unharmed). And this time, we had no bloody clue as to what was going on. First zombies, then...World War III, from the blasted sounds we were hearing. The ruckus went on for an entire day, non-stop. And when it finally did end...well, we didn't know if we'd both gone deaf or if something equally unpleasant had happened to the two of us, but after that we didn't hear another peep from the surface."

She'd smiled grimly, then, lines of tension and fear still etched in her face. "We decided to go check things out, see what in Hades was going on up there. So we did, armed to the teeth and ready for an army. And presto...no more zombies. Not a damned one. Just the most horrifying, tragic scenario you could imagine. Picture the ruins as they are now...only ablaze. And I meanALL of 'em."

"So we just went back down and hid for another while, simply to avoid going bat-shit from all the indescribable things that we'd seen and heard, up till that point. And then, after a god-sent downpour rained on for at least a day and a half or so, we plucked up our courage, got the heck out ot there and started moving about on the surface, from place to place, searching for anything that we could find a use for or that could lead us to other survivors. Which is when we met fur-face over there."

She'd then jerked her thumb at Link, who'd apparently grown a wiry, scraggly teenager's beard during the infamous six or seven days of devastation that neither he nor any of his fellow students yet seemed able to recall.

All of that, unfortunately, had only clouded Gagsy's mind further, which was partly the reason why she was so pensive. Some weird kind of Armageddon, raining right down on the spot where there'd been a full-blown zombie assault unleashed on the citizens merely days before then; it sure as hell didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the two tragedies were intricately connected...perhaps someone had contacted the damned army after all, and they'd simply proceeded to blow the crap out of the town just to be sure of containing the strange epidemic? Or was it something more complicated than that?

A part of her told her that she sort of didn't need to make heads or tails out of the weird situation, technically...

...all she and the rest of 'em really needed to do was get out of that hell-hole and tell the authorities. Explanations would certainly come later.

Yet another, more persistent voice also whispered in her ear. Far too many things had happened to her, not just to the city, for her to push away all her suspicions on the matter and to concentrate solely on finding the quickest way out of that mess.

...a week of our lives that we can't remember...followed by an encounter with the only two survivors of the entire friggin' area...all the while having our hands held by a teacher who looks more like a damned hired assassin than a helpless educator of English grammar...

Her train of thought was then interrupted brusquely by Link, who chose that moment to rap on her shoulder with his knuckles.

"Yo, airhead. Stop the car already."

She glared at him for a moment, then glanced out the window, and realized what he meant. She was even a bit astonished for not seeing all of this before now, since she was the one driving the car, after all.

She looked up at two great soot-covered stone walls, in the immediate vicinity of an immense pile of ruins of the exact same make and color. On the part of the building that was still erect and standing, she recognized several stone carvings of the same visage of a beautiful woman, shown wearing an ancient helm of sorts, over each of which a simplistic crown of olive leaves was woven...

...Athena, the goddess of Justice.

"The Palazzaccio...we're here."

(end of part two)


Pure awesomeness. You must read it.

(God-like signature by Zeppekk)

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Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-08-04 23:52:28


An excellent addition to your story. I'm loving the suspense. What will they find once inside?
Eagerly anticipating the next chapter to discover the answer to that question. Keep up the good work. :)

Response to "City of the Dead: a Bbs story" 2007-08-05 00:21:18


I just read the last two chapters... best ones yet! This could be a full-fledged novel, it gives me the same intense suspense that i felt when I read Stephen King's "Cell" and I really liked that book.

Also, can anyone tell me why it takes 10 minutes for the words I type to appear?


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