At 8/5/07 12:21 AM, Trunks wrote: Also, can anyone tell me why it takes 10 minutes for the words I type to appear?

I'm thinking something's wrong with your comp. Worms or a virus..... unless your internet connection is slow as Hell or possibly F-ed up.

The new BBS text box is very slow, very slow. I find that after about 4,000 characters there's a huge amount of lag and I have a super-computer anyway.
I think it's something that they might fix soon, I'd hope.

In regards to these two long chapter posts. It's a very nice way of getting a back story going. It's clear (although of course the reader can see some gaps in Fyndir's story about survival (not to mention I agree totally with Gagsy, ninja-English teacher I am). But the back-story that the characters share both helps the reader and draws the characters together.

By that I mean it's more plausible that they can form the groups you talk about (everyone likes Jade!) and later if there's violence or whatever, I am sure this will come into play.

If I was to be picky. I'd be picky about... the three day delay!

So overall, nothing bad, lots of good things, can't wait for a 'mission' or something now. Also isn't about time that the Doctor shows up ;-)

Hey, I also think it's important you don't get distracted with this new story rule. Your thread is great, it is safe and tbh, if you've not already read my blog, my recent comments in the story thread. I think that in six months when things have settled down everything will be just as good.

So mods make us do more work and leave crap still on the forums. It's always been like that, in addition there's a small vocal minority of mods who want to ban things they're not able to do. However what outweighs their small-mindedness is that the new system is okay, it will get better etc.

So your story is great, you've got lots of readers and fans, you'll have to work a bit harder to PM people until the subscribe to blog feature is made... Small price to pay? :) I like your PMs.

OK then, let's check out these comments :)

- Monocrom: Glad you liked this latest chapter...I was worried that people wouldn't enjoy it as much, since I haven't really added any action to the story for the past few installments. But yeah, the next couple chapters should clear up the issue of what awaits our heroes inside the ruins of the Palazzaccio ;)

- Trunks: You must be absolutely insane, to compare me to Stephen King 0_0 but the support is appreciated anyways :D I guess I'll check up on that book though, since I haven't read this "Cell" novel as of yet.

- Sarai: Yeah, I'm sorry for the delay, yet again...but better late than never, right?

...right? :(

Anyhow, I'm not sure if our dear Doctor will be directly involved in the events of the next few installments...but I have a feeling he'll be around sooner or later ;)

I won't comment on the New story rule, since I have no intention of getting into any hostile and/or complicated discussions in this thread of mine. However, I can tell you that I enjoy sending pm's to people and saying a quick "hello" here and there, so I'm glad you like receiving them.

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UPDATE:
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Unfortunately, it will be quite a while until I can get back to this thread (about two weeks...urgh), seeing as I'm leaving on a merry camping trip with a few buds of mine later today.

I apologize for being so damned slow with this story...all I can do is promise you that I sure as hell won't give up on it and /or rush things just to "get it over with". I love writing this stuff, and I love the fact that some of you seem to be enjoying it as much as I do even more.

So please be patient, and...have fun while I'm gone :)

good to see jade and fyndir together again, and both alive (36, that's for you).
nice work, keep it up!

Damnit, damnit, and damnit to hell once more.

I'm actually going to have to write this damned thing down in 4 flippin' days, instead of tomorrow.

*sigh*

I can't tell you folks how much I despise myself right now. I had the brilliant idea to waste precious day-light hours by packing my bags and doing all the things that didn't require any serious brain-power to get done, instead of spending them on my keyboard...

...being as short-sighted as I am, I didn't think that I'd be dead tired and unable to write, at 5 in the morning.

Hell, I haven't even gotten halfway through the chapter, and I started writing at least an hour ago.

...what can I say? Hopefully, folks have stopped checking the thread, and are simply waiting for me to pm people when I come up with the latest installment, at this point.

Anyhow, chapter 8 will be posted by Friday...even though I said I'd post it by tomorrow. Argh.

Hope you folks don't take it personal or nuthin' :(

Damn, I almost forgot about this story. You need to update more often =/

Unfortunately I have been checking it. Daily. :(

crap almost forgot, sry...

Ugh, make another one already.

Bloody hell this BBS story is awesome! I love the character development and the violence and just everything! It truly does suck that your going camping and won't be back for another week or so, Ill miss you. Anyway, I can't wait for the next installment, its really getting great.

And y'know what? Maybe in a couple posts when this story gets even more epic, you will actually receive FluffyBunnyMan's patented "Thumbs Up". But we can only hope...

Earth-shattering news...I'm once more, late as can be for my latest chapter. I just hope no one has been keeping score of how many times I've gone at least 3 or 4 days past my pre-established deadline here... :(

Oh well. I'll spare you folks the usual apologies (as well as the response I'd usually fork out to the latest comments), and get right down to the gory-goodness :D enjoy!

Chapter Eight: The More, the Merrier

(part one)

Tigerkitty sighed, as she edged out of her seat and stepped out of the car.

Which, in itself, was actually quite an accomplishment, given how crammed and pressed against one another they'd all been in the back seat of the over-crowded Multipla. But even so, she barely noticed the immediate sense of relief she distantly felt in her cramped muscles as she jumped out, lost as she was in contemplation of the sorrowful ruins of what had once been a priceless historical monument.

The sight of the ghastly crater, which was all of what remained of the small plaza and of the marble staircase that had once lead up to the edifice, was more than enough to distract her. The others might have been more concerned about their immediate peril and needs...but at that moment, Tigerkitty was simply dumbstruck by the incalculable distruction that lay in front of her own two eyes.

On far better days, weeks earlier, she'd spent hours sitting on a bench somewhere near this very spot, simply reveling in the combined beauty of the ancient plaza and of the clear, ocean-blue skies. But now...

She felt almost grateful when Gagsy, who was busy hurrying people towards the other side of the car, gently took her by the hand and guided her towards the others.

Poor Tigerkitty simply couldn't stand to gaze upon the blackened, charred remains any longer.

As she moved towards her companions, who in the meantime had begun to walk towards what remained of the front entrance, Jade (almost instinctively) reached out and pulled her new aquaintance to herself by the waist, and kept her there. This prompted a wan smile from Fyndir, who knew full well how truly shocked the young student must have been, but who also knew how soft-hearted his own fiancè was, and how easily she bonded with people in a crisis.

Almost reluctantly, he forced his attention back on the matter at hand.

"So...what's the master plan, kids? Are we to forge on a mite through this rubble, and explore the area?"

As they continued up the broken, jagged steps, Trunks shook his head. He certainly hadn't expected things to be this bad. " Doesn't look like there's much to explore, at this point. I was kind of hoping that some of the larger buildings such as this one would have still been intact...or at least, that there would have been some sort of reinforced section, where politicians and VIP's would hide out, in case of an emergency..."

Jade nodded. "That would seem logical...what with all the threats terrorists have been throwing at the Catholic Church and all. It would make perfect sense for there to be some sort of bunker in this area as well, since we're smack-dab in the center of the city."

Gagsy seemed to be the first among them to catch on to what Jade was actually saying. "A 'bunker', huh? You're suggesting that there's some sort of shelter...underground?"

"Yup" said Fyndir, who had already guessed as much. "So let's sift about this crap and see if anything shows up...like a subterranean entrance, for example. But let's be awful careful about it, too" he added, looking back at the students, "since we don't know how stable some of these busted rocks are. Wouldn't wanna get finished off by some big-ass stone wall, when we've gotten past all the nasty zombies and city-wide fires and all".

So they reached the top of the steps, and passed through the battered remains of two great bronze doors, moving towards the center of it all. Soon, they were forced to clamber and hoist themselves over the great ruins just to move forward, and their pace was considerably slowed down. Jade, Fyndir and Sarai, all three seemingly in peak physical shape, were soon forced to stop occasionally and wait for the rest of the group to catch up.

"Goddamned mountain goats, they are. But still...so far, so good", breathed Link, as he puffed and panted from the exertion.

From his immediate right came an equally tired response. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?" growled a sweating Gagsy, who was definitely not in the mood for her schoolmate's usual brand of cynical banter.

"Well...we may be on the verge of dying from exhaustion and all, but look on the bright side."

He turned towards Gagsy, half-grinned, and said: "But at least there ain't no zomb--"

The ghost of a smile on his face faded almost instantly.

Then he just yelled.

"LOOKOUT!"

From under the same fragment of the immense pillar that the two had been crawling over, came the most decrepit, ghastly zombie Link had ever seen, inching ever closer to Gagsy's shoulder, its mouth sagging in a near-silent moan.

If it hadn't been for the fact that it posed a direct and immediate threat to his friend and to himself, Link might have even felt the tiniest twinge of pity for the revolting (yet still moving) cannibalistic corpse. The thing was even worse off than the tattered, decaying un-dead beings that they'd faced at their school. There was barely any skin left to drape its thin, grayish muscles and parasite-infected organs; it was missing several of its limbs (which actually made crawling over the pillar quite an accomplishment, if not mere proof of how infernally famished it must have been). But what surprised Link the most was that it had somehow sensed Gagsy without the use of its eyes...seeing as it no longer had any.

Yet decrepit as it was, it had somehow managed to reach the survivors without making a sound (which, as they later pondered, was awfully uncharacteristic of the ever-moaning cannibals), and was now on the verge of replenishing itself with a bite out of Gagsy's right forearm.

Just before the ghastly jaw clamped down on soft flesh, out of nowhere a boot flew straight into the zombie's mouth and, without stopping its forward movement in the least, smashed clear through the decaying spine and overlapping muscles. The cannibal's upper head parted ways with the lower, and flew across the ruins, coming to a halt as it splattered against one of the few still-standing walls.

Gagsy, who had barely had the time to register the threat at all, simply gaped at Jade, who lowered her still-extended right leg and glanced down at the girl.

"You alright, hon?"

"...uhm...sure. Th-thanks" stammered Gagsy, still shocked at how close she'd been to getting bitten and at how insanely fast Jade had come to her aid. "Wh-where'd you learn to move like that? That looked like something out of a friggin' Kung-Fu movie."

But before Jade had time to answer, Link was yelling again, as was Tigerkitty, for the others to look out. They were pointing behind Jade, this time and (if possible) they seemed even more frantic than before.

The reason for this was because no less than five men, looking for all the world like terrorist soldiers, had come out of nowhere and started running towards Jade. They wore black boots (much like Jade's own), black combat suits, black kevlar vests, and black gas-masks.

And they were carrying some awfully large, shiny black M4 Carbine's to match.

(end of part one)

(part two)

Jade spun around and, instinctively, reached for her own firearm. But the silent soldiers had managed to get the jump on her, and the first of the armed unknowns slammed unto her midsection with a perfectly executed tackle, which succeeded in throwing her into the ground, before she could extract her weapon. His following companion quickly moved forward and snapped a pair of gleaming handcuffs on her wrists as she reached once more for her gun, while she was still pinned beneath the first assailant.

All of this had happened in about two seconds.

Which, as it happened, was all the time Fyndir needed to cross the 15 feet that separated him from the rest of the group and slam into the two with all his considerable weight and wrath, in the exact moment in which they spun around and faced him.

Had he been thinking straight, he might have chosen to simply shoot the two off his bride-to-be. Yet he had been under a great deal of stress in the past week or two, and seeing Jade get assaulted by these creeps had simply been too much for him. So he'd simply thrown himself at the two hostiles, arms outstretched to both sides, and caught them around their chests.

Then all three men, propelled by the force of Fyndir's onslaught, flew off the stone pillar and out of sight, down towards the dust-covered ground below. The sickening sound of bones being crushed and snapped was heard about a second later, followed immediately by high-pitched shrieks of agony.

As much as Trunks would have wanted to see how badly Fyndir had been hurt by the fall, Jade's yells of pain and frustration forced him to focus on the matter at hand. The other three assailants had converged on her, much as their companions had only a handful of seconds earlier, and were subduing the fallen woman (a matter made easier by her inability to use her hands freely). One of them held her down, while the other slammed a vicious kick to the side of her head. It wasn't enough to knock her entirely unconscious, but it certainly stopped her from struggling.

The other had enough sense to cover the rest of the group with his rifle, learning from the mistakes of his two fallen companions. He opened fire at Trunks, who ducked instinctively behind the stone ruins to his left and attempted to force his hands to stop shaking long enough for him to extract his own pistol.

Fortunately for him, the armed man was suddenly busy ducking for his own cover, fleeing as he was from the blaze of death erupting from the twin barrels of Sarai's hand-held guns.

Gagsy extracted her own weapon, finally gathering up sufficient nerve to spring into action herself, when Sarai shouted: "Don't fire at those two, you'll hit Jade!"

Sure enough, the two men that Gagsy had been aiming for had now tossed Jade over their shoulders like a log, and had begun to run as quick as they could towards the edge of the fallen pillar. But the girl didn't feel like giving up on her new companion just quite yet;

"C'mon Link, we've got to go after 'em!"

Her schoolmate gulped, looked up at her, then nodded and rose quickly to his feet. Making sure that Sarai was covering the other hostile (she'd managed to pin that one down pretty well, maintaining a steady stream of bullets flying in the direction of the stone that shielded him), and that Trunks was in the process of checking on Fyndir, they sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them towards the two would-be kidnappers.

"Wait, LOOK!" shouted Link, as they neared the spot where the two soldiers had begun to slide and clamber off the immense pillar. "A door!"

Sure enough, the first of the two hostiles had flung open a large, heavy-looking iron door on the ground itself, which lead to an underground tunnel of some sort, confirming Jade's previous suspicions. A hidden bunker, it seemed.

Gagsy decided that she couldn't wait any longer. She pulled out her own pistol and leveled it at the two men below them. "Stop! Stop or I'll blow your brains all over that tunnel!" she screamed desperately.

Only one of the two heeded her threat, dumping the semi-unconscious Jade on the other one's shoulders and turning around, raising his weapon at the two.

Link yelled, and and stabbed the trigger on his rifle with his finger. Unfortunately, he seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that he'd left the safety on.

And yet the man below them went down in a spray of blood, as if he'd managed to fire anyways. Gagsy, apparently, hadn't been quite as unfocused on the details as Link had. She lowered her still-smoking pistol.

"Shit" she said. Shooting a deceased, decaying cannibal was one thing...opening a hole in a live man's lower abdomen was quite another thing altogether.

Sarai, who had managed to catch up at that point, didn't pause to stop to ask why Gagsy wasn't giving chase anymore. She simply leapt down from the pillar, rolled and grunted as she reached the ground, and pounced on the fallen assailant before he could reach for his sidearm. Crouched on his chest, she delivered two quick, fierce blows to each side of his face before he could react, robbing him of even the slightest inkling to get up off his shoulders...much less to grab for his gun.

Gagsy and Link hurried down towards them as fast as they could, scrambling over the last few rocks almost frantically. The look in Sarai's eyes chilled their bones; she looked more than ready to kill the man right then and there with her bare hands, in cold blood. But was she capable of it?

"Wait, wait Miss Sarai, don't kill him!" said Gagsy, as she came to a halt a few feet away, still gasping for air. "We need to know where they're taking Jade, and why! Right?"

Sarai's eyed narrowed dangerously. But the logic behind Gagsy's reasoning had apparently punctured the red haze of her murderous anger. She seemed to simply snap back to herself, and she quickly raised herself off the wounded man.

"...you're right, of course. But you needn't worry...I wasn't going to kill him. Yet."

"That's good to hear" came a gruff, low voice from behind them. " 'Cause after we're through questioning the rat bastard, I'M gonna be the one to gut him like a fish."

Fyndir stood behind them, arms trembling with silent rage, hands and face covered in blood, eyes wide and terrible. If Tigerkitty (who had also finally managed to catch up) hadn't known better, she would have thought him to be some deranged, psychotic serial killer, instead of an honest, caring officer of the law.

Whether the downed soldier understood what Fyndir had said or not was anyone's guess. The sight of the man had certainly scared the living hell out of him enough.

As was made apparent by the dampening and darkening of the front of his pants.

"...gawd, I hope that's blood", said Link.

Fyndir, who seemed to take notice of his horrifying appearance, began to wipe the blood off his hands and face with his shirt, and turned towards Gagsy.

"You. You know how to speak Italian, right?"

She nodded, trembling slightly, still looking at the man soaked by his own blood and urine below her.

"Right." said Fyndir. "Tell him to start talkin' ".

(end of part two)

SHAZAM!
good to see you back with another fantastic chapter, link.

*plot thickening noises*

Good chapter.

I like the part where Fyndir appeared for one moment to look like a "deranged, Psychotic, Serial killer." LOL !

The only thing that didn't seem to fit was the part about their shiny M4s. A shiny assault rifle is a dead giveaway...... Key word being dead. Non-reflective flat black is far more common.

Other than that, I enjoyed it very much.

Ok, no complaints about te length of time between chapters because that awesomness totally made up for it. You put in almost non-stop action, without seeming as if you were rushed in your diction. Also, why does everyone like making Fyndir an uber-violent ninja type guy?

Ah, how nice! 2,5000 views, 150 replies, 6 pages, and...

...comments :p

36Holla: Indeed, some people have been telling me that I'm taking a bit too long to write these chapters down and such. I'd like to say that the only reason for this is because I've just been having a pretty hectic Summer...people tend to come by my house, tell me to grab a knap-sack, and whisk me off for weeks at a time on camping trips and other such madness.

All I can do is hope that when I start my first year of University (in a couple of weeks, in other words), I'll have a bit more time for myself ;)

FluffyBunnyMan: Sadly, I've yet to hear anyone else mention this fabled "FluffyBunnyMan's patented 'Thumbs Up'."...so I really wouldn't know how much of an honor that would be, should you choose to bestow it on my humble self. But...thanks for the consideration, at least :)

Joodah: *author-enjoying-excitement-of-reader noises*

Monocrom: Yes, I figured I'd stea...erm, borrow an interesting concept or two from your new story-thread :D seemed like a good idea at the time. Seriously though, I hope you don't mind.

And...there might be a bit of an explanation in store for you and all those who wonder why these soldiers are running around with excessively visible weapons (such as the "gleaming" rifles) :p

Glad you enjoyed the latest installment, anyhow.

Fyndir: Yes...yes, you seem fairly hardcore. Sadly, what with the hush-hush on explicit sex-scenes, I won't get the chance to see exactly how hardcore, huge, etc. you really are.

Careful, though. I may just be building you up...to make your downfall all the more spectacular :D people love to see a tough hero-type guy go down in flames, trust me.

But...are you the one who will fall? Or is it some other kick-ass character? Have I said too much, as it is?

Oh well. Only time will tell, I suppose. (a considerable amount of time, at that...considering how long it takes me to write these chapters, and all :p)

Sainth: Glad you enjoyed the latest chapter :p and once again, I'm sorry for making you folks wait so long.

And...the reason people like to make Fyndir into an unstoppable, blood-lusting beast in their BBS stories is basically because...

...that's pretty much how most people imagine him acting, in everyday life. I mean really, what comes to mind, when you think of Fyndir going to Wal-mart?

Carnage, that's what. Pure and simple. Mediocre staff left in puddles of blood and oozing brain matter.

Amirite?

It's cool.

I don't mind you "borrowing."

Cause when I post the last chapter in my story, it's going to blow everyones' minds. :)

I rally liked this chapter, went in a whole way I wouldn't have expected it to, great work :)

At 9/5/07 04:48 PM, Fyndir wrote: My dick must be huge.

you...you mean you don't know?

Yeah, I see your point. Hmm, I have the germ of an idea for my next GameMaker creation!

After a hell week of work, I am back on the BBS for a few posts. One of which must be to comment here,

This was a great two part chapter creation that ticked a lot of boxes quite quickly, action, Secret Cults / Government Involvement, Starving Zombies, etc.

It was good and well written. It would be good to get some down-time into a future chapter to have the characters emote more to each other, but I guess we're going to be dealing with the kidnap for a bit of time too come. After that though, lets have a pause and reflect on who and why and so on, perhaps you can even then get to the burning question Fyndir has?!

Heh, well done. Keep it up, time is no barrier to great chapters.

First the comments, then the update.

Trunks: Indeed, I felt the need to take the tale in new directions, to keep the readers interested :p looks like it worked :D

Sarai: Yeah, I figured that I'd done enough character development for the latest few chapters, so I decided to work in some good ol' action, with a twist of "wtf"? :p glad you liked it, anyhow.

but...what "burning question" of Fyndir's are you referring to, exactly? Think I lost ya there for a sec :(

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Update:
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Seeing as how there's still an awful lot of way to go, to finish this story, I think it would be preferable at this point to just speed things up a bit. So...I'll try to get the next installment done and posted as soon as possible. A few days, I hope.

ooo

Nice chapter, I sense something big in the new chapter, or I could be wrong =( Look forward to your next update, just please don't push yourself to do it =(

At 9/8/07 08:58 AM, Fyndir wrote:

All I know is that when erect it disappears over the horizon somewhere, so I can't say for sure how big it is. I've been bugging NASA and Google to help me find out, but they seem to think it's a joke. =(

Oh, dude. Greenpeace is gonna eat you alive.

I'm betting that they'll put two and two together...you've definitely got something to do with that hole in the O-zone layer.

At 9/8/07 08:58 AM, Fyndir wrote: All I know is that when erect it disappears over the horizon somewhere, so I can't say for sure how big it is. I've been bugging NASA and Google to help me find out, but they seem to think it's a joke. =(

that explains why it was so shady out earlier.
you could rent it out as a flag pole...or something :p

At 9/8/07 01:09 PM, Fyndir wrote: I'll cockslap those motherfuckers. >=(

If we have another earthquake in freakin Colorado, most stable place on earth (except for Greenland) I'll know who to blame.

Well, as tempting as it is (almost disturbingly so, I'd say) for me to continue making bizarre references to Fyndir's anatomy, I think it's high time I got back to the essence of this thread:

Blood, gore, death.

And maybe even a few nasty ol' zombies, every now and then.

So, without further ado...I give you the newest installment (and, as always, I apologize for the monstrously excessive tardiness on my part..all I can say is that I've sorta started getting into university now, and I'm getting used to the quirks and changes that come with that).

Chapter Nine: Chasing Skirt

(part one)

The wounded assailant, watched closely by a dozen eyes, lay against one of the great iron doors, unmasked and stripped down to his blood-soaked undergarments (Sarai was a firm believer in the virtues of recycling, so she basically told everyone to take all the kevlar, equipment and ammunition they could carry from the dead/dying soldiers around them). His right hand was placed not-so-firmly on his lower stomach, where the blood still gushed forth from a ragged hole.

Sarai had shot well, indeed. She'd pin-pointed a spot that wasn't covered by the protective kevlar, and that wouldn't kill the man instantly...giving them time to question him.

Sadly, that particular endeavor wasn't proceeding quite as planned. Though Gagsy could technically communicate with the man (and she had, for the first couple of minutes), and although Fyndir himself gave the poor bastard more than enough reason to sing like a canary on a double espresso, it seemed he wasn't able to go on any longer...the blood-loss had finally taken its toll.

He drew his last few breaths in short, quick gasps...and then his hands, held no longer in check by the man's willpower, finally slid off his stomach and dropped to his sides.

But, as it was, no one had watched him in his final, agonizing moments. They'd been caught up in far more pressing issues.

Gagsy had translated every syllable the man had uttered even as he'd spoken them, so everyone else knew just about as much as she did: the dying grunt had managed to tell her that he and his deceased companions were not alone by any means...which is to say that there were probably a heck of a lot more hostiles just hiding out and waiting to receive the two surviving soldiers that had apprehended Jade just minutes earlier, and to cover their backs from intruders and pursuers of any kind. Sadly, before Gagsy could ask the truly meaningful questions (What, Where, Who, How, Why, etc.), the man had lost control over his bodily functions once more (this time, merely because his body was shutting down, it seemed), and since then had not managed to spit out another word.

"Right then" said Fyndir, after hesitating for the briefest of moments. "Kids, you stay here with the nice lady. I'll be goin' that-a-way" (he pointed to the underground tunnel past the metal doors) "and I'll be back with Jade in just a bit."

His expression darkened even further. "But if you don't hear from me by nightfall, then scram. Look for some other way to get the heck out of this hell-hole, and me n' Jade will catch up with you lot eventually."

He turned to leave, kevlar armor-plate strapped over his torso, newly acquired M4 in hand, but he was halted shortly by Sarai's hand on his arm.

"That'd be a suicide mission at best, Fyndir, and you know it as well as I do...so let's drop the theatrics and think of something less foolish. We need to look out for the children first, right?" she said, squeezing his arm and raising her voice ever so slightly on that last note.

"Yes, the little buggers need some watching over. Which is what you're good at, right? You're their teacher, not me. So keep them safe, like you're supposed to, while I mingle with the locals and fetch my fiancè."

Sarai moved in front of him, blocking his way to the hidden passage.

"Enough, Fyndir. Stop. This is ridiculous. Getting Jade back from an unknown number of armed hostiles (let alone surviving the whole ordeal yourself) is pretty damned laughable."

The Scotsman didn't even glance at her, at first. "Huh. So you're saying that this is funny, somehow."

Then he took a step closer, towering over her, and then he looked her straight in the eye. "What's really funny, though, is that you're under the impression that you can actually stop me."

Not a trace of mirth was to be heard in his voice.

Jen spoke up, before Sarai could respond: "Hey guys, enough of the veiled threats and open hostility, for god's sake! We're on the run from zombies, burning buildings are collapsing all around us, people are kidnapping us, and you two are actually considering beating yourselves up because you can't agree on a damned detail? You've got to be shitting me, both of you."

Link nodded. "Who're the bloody "children" now, huh?"

Trunks piped up: "Tigerkitty's right. Calm down, both of you, please. Fighting amongst ourselves right now is about as useful as splitting up entirely and going our separate ways...by which I mean suicidal."

Gagsy breathed a sigh of relief. It was certainly nice to know that everyone else was holding up well enough to avoid getting into any unnecessary trouble. If the others hadn't managed to point out the obvious, she wasn't entirely sure that she would have...

...the image of the dying man, drawing pathetically sharp and shallow breaths while clutching his own intestine, still burned in her mind, consuming her innermost thoughts. Killing zombies was one thing...watching a fairly ordinary Joe (albeit a would-be murderer himself) kick the bucket was quite a different ordeal altogether.

Jen, ever the voice of reason, brought her back to reality once more. "Both of you, back off. Please."

Fyndir glanced at her, sizing her up. The urgency in her tone seemed to get to him, somehow, as had the vehemence of her earlier outburst of disbelief.

He took one single step back. Sarai nodded, and did the same. A symbolic gesture, almost, to show the students that the worst of their private confrontation had passed.

"Good" said Tigerkitty. "Now listen up, if you will: we know that going after Jade is quite dangerous, since we know next to nothing about what we're going up against." She looked at Sarai, who tilted her head in acknowledgement. "But we also know that there's no way in hell that we're leaving her behind." While saying this she glanced at Fyndir, who also nodded slowly. "And we all know that if any one person goes after Jade, there's not much chance of either getting back in once piece...and besides, the rest of the survivors will have that much less of a chance to get out of this city alive".

"So there's really only one way to go with this, then" said Gagsy, catching on. "We all go. All for one, one for all, right?"

"NO." said Sarai, shaking her head firmly. "There's no way in hell that I'm letting my own students go and get slaughtered. Yes, we stay together, but it's out here that...HEY!!!"

Unfortunately for her, the rest of the group had basically come up with the same solution to their troubles at about the same moment.

They ran for the door, and into the tunnel, leaving a speechless Sarai behind (Link and Trunks chuckling madly all the while, Fyndir in the lead). The message was clear: "We're going. Come with, or stay outside alone and do nothing."

Sarai looked at them run farther and farther down the dark tunnel, and swore. Profusely.

(end of part one)

Whoops, didn't mean to post that quite yet...

...still have to write down part two >:( which will take me about 45 minutes.

Hang on for a sec, people. I'm workin' on it.

(part two)

Before chasing after them, though, she reached below her own kevlar vest and pulled out the minuscule phone she'd been hiding. A place she knew neither Trunks nor Fyndir would ever dare observe too closely, much less check for hidden equipment (though she'd had her doubts about Link). She turned the tiny bit of technology on with the flick of a switch, and was almost immediately in contact with the man she needed to reach.

"Trouble?" asked a cool, collected voice on the other end, with a hint of frost about it. "I certainly wasn't expecting you to call me quite so soon, Sarai. Our last chit-chat was a mere two and a half hours ago."

"Nothing I could do, Doctor. The children and Fyndir himself seem determined to get themselves killed...they're going after Jade. She's been kidnapped."

Pause. "...kidnapped? By whom?"

"They moved fast, and without warning...a small group of armed hostiles. I suspect they're supposed to be defending one of those emergency bunkers we spoke of. I didn't manage to stop them before they carried Jade off into the underground...and the rest of the group decided to go after her."

The man on the other end hesitated for a second. Then he responded, frostbite-cold tone barely containing his wrath.

"You disappoint me, Sarai. I expected better from someone with your experience. And I certainly expected more from someone I've paid so thoroughly, in more ways than one, to take care of a fairly simple task."

He paused.

"This is what you will do. Not try, as you obviously have limited yourself to do until now. Do. You will go after them. You will watch over them. You will extract them from the bunker without losing a single student. If in doing so you manage to save Jade, so much the better. If not, you are to leave her behind. As you shall, should Fyndir fall captive as well. And if you don't do exactly that, then I promise you that in the very near future, being stranded in an undead-ridden city will not seem quite so harsh to you any longer."

He didn't ask whether or not he'd been clear. He didn't make excuses for his near-inhuman detachment from Jade or Fyndir.

He didn't need to.

Sarai simply nodded, and hung up.

And she began to wonder if the payment she'd received for this particular assignment was sufficient to risk incurring in the wrath of an employer such as Doctor Monocrom.

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

"Wonder what's taking that leather-lovin' teacher of yours so long" mumbled Fyndir, as they jogged on further down the dark, cement-paved tunnel. They'd all extracted their weapons of choice and donned the protective gear they'd brought along with them. Sadly, they didn't have much chance of surprising whoever was at the other side of the tunnel, since there were no lights down the length of the damned corridor, and they'd been forced to turn on what flashlights they'd brought along with themselves. Which meant that, since they were going to be spotted well in advance anyways, they might as well move forward at a quick pace and get ready for action, instead of attempting to get all the way there unheard.

"She'll catch up" whispered Gagsy. "She always does, whether we like it or not."

So they trudged on further and further, acutely aware with each passing moment that they could get fired upon without warning from whoever was waiting for them at the end of the tunnel. Minutes passed as slowly as hours. But they didn't stop.

They waited and waited for confrontation in the tunnel, as they advanced. Yet no one came towards them in an attempt to head them off. Not a sound came from the other end of the tunnel.

Which of course, scared them even more. An ambush, no doubt, on the other side. How were they supposed to survive an assault like that, when they didn't even know where they were headed, or who they were up against? Sarai's comment on how the whole thing seemed suicidal practically rang in their ears, almost as if she were with them.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" said Link in a purposefully ominous tone, attempting to make light of the situation. It was all he could do to move along with the rest of them and avoid shooting randomly at the unseen enemies down the tunnel.

Gagsy turned to her left, and whispered out the side of her mouth: "Link, for Christ's sake, will you shut---"

Impossibly, part of the wall to their right opened up, revealing a hidden area. Something zoomed out of the dark space and bounced off the ground.

The next thing they knew, they were enveloped in an explosion of light and sound, so terrible that they almost blacked out from the pain and shock to their senses.

Trunks moaned, not having the slightest clue as to what had just happened, eyes closed tightly shut and hands clamped over his ears. The first thing his dazed senses registered besides pain was the cold touch of his face on the concrete floor. The second thing was the inarticulate growl that his sore eardrums picked up from somewhere above him.

He opened his watery eyes, tears streaming down his face, and looked up. An inhumanly large, burly figure he couldn't yet make out was thrashing about, throwing itself this way and that, in absolute chaos.

Then his vision cleared, and he saw.

Fyndir had been jumped by no less than seven armed soldiers, identical to the ones that they'd fought and killed before, and was in the process of trying to throw them all off and fight back. His movements were erratic, however, and he only managed to dislodge a couple of them by throwing all his considerable weight against the wall behind him (with the noise of a overly-ripe watermelon getting squashed to bits). Whatever had disoriented the rest of them must have gotten to him too...though he was still standing. And pissed as hell.

Trunks looked at the others, and saw that, if anything, they were possibly worse of than even he. Apparently, Fyndir's bulk had spared him from most of the blast of...whatever had struck them.

Gagsy moaned softly to his right. She too was slowly coming around, but not quite as fast as Trunks. And what was much, much worse, was that a soldier had stooped over her (with his back turned to Trunks) and had begun to subdue her further.

Trunks willed himself to his feet, desperate and angry, and after having grasped for a weapon, did the very first thing that his instincts told him to.

He swung his arms and nailed the armed assailant in the crotch with the butt of the rifle that he'd snatched off the ground.

The man simply fell over, as if an invisible hand had shoved him off his feet, and clasped his hands over his smashed privates, bawling out loud as if he'd just lost an arm.

The commotion was overheard by a couple of hostiles that had also been attempting to tie up the students, and they started towards the armed student, weapons raised.

Trunk's next thought wasn't especially profound or memorable. In fact, it consisted of exactly one word, a slang term relating to human bodily waste.

He began to flip the rifle in his hands, in order to point the business end at his attackers. He wasn't even halfway through this operation, when they both went down in shrieks of pain, blood spurting from newly-acquired holes in their arms and legs.

The remaining soldiers, who'd been busy subduing Fyndir (who, at this point, had managed to take out a third, but had finally been pinned down to the pavement) turned towards their new assailant, but were shot down from both the front and back. They all hit the floor, dead or dying or otherwise seriously incapacitated.

Jen and Link got to their feet, guns in hand, grimacing and rubbing their eyes.

From the opposite side came Sarai, twin pistols still smoking.

She shook her head at Fyndir, sighing.

"Told you."

(end of part two)