Plans | 1.3

PRESENT

They waited around for what felt like hours, and nothing was happening. The number of zeds outside fluctuated from more to less to more again. The majority were uninterested in the building but there was an odd few that would bang and push against the building, wanting in. This was unusual behaviour coming from zeds who seemed to swarm anything one zed found. What was stranger was that these zeds knew they were in here at all.

The group was deathly silent, no one outside would know right off the bat that they were in here, and they hadn't been noticed on the balcony. So why did these few around the building know? There weren't any zeds trying to get in the other buildings around them, just this one. So they had to know.

This didn't prove to be the only oddity, though. Mikael was still thinking about his sleep. A whole day? And his dream. The hours that they waited gave him a lot of time to think about his dream now. It was fuzzy in memory, hard to make out. He had been too busy thinking about the situation when he woke up that he hadn't stopped to think about his dream. It'd all but left him by now. Though two things about it stuck out a bit. The wave of white hair and some sort of black lizard... Dream's were odd.

He figured it didn't mean much if he couldn't remember it and moved on.

"You hungry? You haven't eaten in over a day, M," Gen said, holding out a piece of bread.

"I'm... actually not that hungry," He said a bit confused.

Gen's brows rose. "You gotta eat," he said, forcing the bread into his hands.

"I suppose you're right," He agreed, ripping off a piece of the bread and eating it.

"You're starting to concern me honestly. You really need to see a doctor..."

"Probably, but I'll be fine for now." He assured her.

"What about your ribs?"

"They ache, but it's not that bad..."

"Your shoulder?"

"The same," Mikael sighed. "I'm fine, really. What about you? How are you holding up? Sean isn't your brother but haven't you known him for a long time?"

Gen smiled sadly. "Ten years," she shook her head, eyes misty. "It was really quick. I- I don't think he suffered so... That's all I can ask for at least. Luckily he won't be one of those... monsters,"

Mikael wanted to ask if it would be so bad if he did turn into a zed, but that was a subject that had gotten him slapped a few times. The general opinion was that it was an unholy thing, an evil thing. No one wanted to become a mindless zed. Mikael for some reason couldn't share the same sentiment. Of course, he didn't want to be one because he would rather stay living, but if he was dead then he didn't think he'd care. Of course, this came from someone who couldn't become one, so he was one to talk.

"Ten years is a long time..." Was the only thing he could find in himself to say.

"Yeah..."

Tiff walked down the stairs and into the room, looking between them with worried eyes. "You guys... you should come see this..."

Mikael and Gen shared a look of confusion before following Tiff up the stairs. They walked up to the window and looked down at the street. That's when Mikael saw it. Likely the biggest runner he had ever seen. It was currently climbing a building a block away like it was a playground later.

"Fucking massive, isn't it?" Klein said from beside them.

"Gen's pistol couldn't kill that thing even if I had the best shot in the world," Mikael breathed.

"We need to leave before it decides to climb our building. Look, it's about to take that one down..." Tiff said and we all looked.

The runner was using the windows as places to step and hold onto, and the weight was crushing the frame. We watched for several minutes before a distant rumbling could be heard as the building it was on started to collapse. A cloud of dust rose as the runner sunk and when it settled, the runner was trying to climb up yet another building.

Mikael noticed in the streets that the Zeds turned, starting to head towards the noise. "This is it!" He said, suddenly antsy. "This is the distraction we need to get the hell out of here!"

Gen grimaced. "What if the runner spots us? We couldn't possibly take that one down..."

"We just have to not get caught," Mikael said.

"Oh wow sounds so easy when you say it like that," Gen said sarcastically.

"We won't have another opening like this, we have to get through the city and now would be the best time. They're all distracted right now,"

Gen sighed. "You're right, let's get our shit and go,"

The group agreed and went on their way, packing away what little items they had with them before stepping into the snowy street. Everyone was tense and on high alert. A few zeds were left wandering around but most of them had headed towards the collapsed building with that huge runner.

The wind was something they weren't glad to be greeted with but it was of little concern in this situation. The group moved as quickly as they could, making little noise. They rounded a corner slowly, and Mikael's eyes landed on a zed, stumbling around the street. It was a woman, her dress ripped to bits and barely hanging on anymore. She was boney and decayed, her hair ratty and falling off. Slowly, the zed turned to them, eyes sunken into its face. It growled, its throat clicking.

Mikael pulled out his knife and ran at the creature, sinking it into its skull before it could do anything or alert any other zeds left in the area. When he pulled his knife from its head, it fell to the ground and he turned to wave the group forward. They ran through the streets, making good progress despite the massive anxiety this had to be giving them all. Mikael wouldn't lie, he was scared. There were so many ways that this could go wrong but there was nothing else he could think of to do than to make a run for it now.

A screech in the distance had him skidding to a stop in the snow. He listened with pointed ears to his surroundings. He covered his ears when another, much louder scream was made by the big runner. It was unreal, ethereal even. This was a dangerous place to be. Looking around for any zeds, Mikael silently waved to the group to continue on.

So they ran, ducking behind cars and buildings should too many zed's block their path. This went on for a good hour, the group slowly growing exhausted. If they hadn't had to make roundabouts through different streets, then they likely would have made it to the other end of the city by now. But they were almost there. From the end of the city, they just had to follow the highway four miles until the next city.

Mikael found himself behind a building, peeking around it at a group of three zeds, stumbling around, agitated by the distant screaming of the large runner and whatever smaller one it was trying to talk to. Did they talk to each other? Mikael wasn't sure of the creature's relations to each other, nor did he have the time to think about it. He gripped his knife tighter, getting ready to go out there and take the three on but he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He looked back at a concerned Klein who was shaking his head. He nudged his head in the other direction, motioning that they should just go the long way around. Reluctantly, Mikael agreed. They turned down an alleyway and started making their way through it. There was another piercing screech in the distance and Mikael found his vision going blurry.

"Hey, Mikael," Gen said quietly, concern written all over her face.

Mikael opened his mouth to say he was fine but he found himself stumbling, and hitting a nearby metal dumpster with a bang. The entire group flinched and stiffened at the loud noise. The large runner in the distance screeched again and Mikael held his head, clearly more affected than the other three here. He groaned feeling sick. In fact, he was so sick he ended up throwing up right then.

It's not as though there was much to throw up, but the little he had eaten was spilled out onto the snow and pavement. When the runner screeched yet again, he was gagging violently, throwing up bile. Whatever the group was saying was lost to him as he became disoriented. Soon he felt a tug on his arm. Looking up he could just barely make out Gen trying to pull him to his feet.

He used the dumpster, trying to push himself to his feet with the help of Gen. Once he was up he blinked a bit, looking around. What was going on?

"Mikael! We need to go now!" Gen said as she pulled harshly on his arm.

He heard the groaning and growling from behind himself and spun around to face the three zeds from before. "Shit," He found himself saying.

"Let's go!" Gen growled as she pulled him into a run. "What's going on with you?" She asked him.

"I don't know," He responded honestly.

"You gotta keep it together for a while longer," She told him as they finished running through the alleyway and made their way to another main street.

They stumbled into the street, looking frantically for someplace to go. Dazed, Mikael looked around but something was drawing his eyes up. Slowly he looked up to see a runner on the roof of a short building not far away. It met eyes with him, black ones staring right through him.

"Hey..."

"Let's go!" Gen tugged on his arm.

Mikael pointed to the runner and the group froze. "Fuck," a few of them collectively breathed.

"We need to get inside again..." Mikael said now.

Frozen where they were, the group looked around them for the best building they could get into. If they started to move again, then the runner would be after them and they were fast. Faster than any human at least. There was only one shot they had to get into the closest building. If it was locked or jammed, then they'd get taken out. Mikael was unsure if he had the strength to take on a runner with only a knife again.

They'd have to take yet another chance from here. "That one," Mikael pointed slowly at a building. "I'll go in last. Tiff first, Gen, then Klein and then me," He explained to them. There wasn't time to question or disagree with the plan. "When I say go, alright?"

There was silence which he took as confirmation. He slowly looked back at the runner which stood frozen on top of the building. Lucky for them it was a regular-sized one, but that wouldn't stop it from attracting more unwanted attention. "Go," he said and instantly Tiff took off running, Gen following and behind her Klein. Mikael was last as they followed each other in a line.

The group nearly jumped out of their boots as the Runner screamed, launching itself off the building and after them. Mikael guessed there were only seconds before the thing was down the street and tackling someone. Tiff made contact with a door and grabbed the handle, pushing on it. It wouldn't budge. She tried again and still it was stuck. Shit. Mikael watched with untold stress levels as Tiff threw herself against it and to the group's relief it swung open, allowing Tiff to stumble inside with Gen and Klein after her.

Mikael was last to rush inside. He swung the door closed only to smack it onto the face of the runner. It screamed, pushing against the door, one of its long arms reaching through the crack, trying to get at Mikael. Klein stabbed its arm and it screeched, ripping its arm out of the building and taking the knife with it. This allowed Mikael to slam the door closed and lock it just before the monster slammed against it again. The door creaked and groaned with the weight of the creature banging against it.

"Shit, it won't hold forever," Mikael said as he started to step back from the shaking door and the screaming creature.

"What the fuck do we do?" Tiff asked, utterly terrified.

"Is there a back door?" Mikael found himself asking.

"Looks like it," Gen said, approaching it.

The group rushed to the door and opened it, only to find zeds turning to look at them. Three of them. The three from the alley. Not only that but there was more approaching them from down the alleyway. The door slammed immediately before the zeds started to bang against that one too.

"We're completely trapped," Klein said. "My knife- shit it got my knife,"

Mikael rummaged through his bag and managed to find the Hammer he had taken from the store they had rummaged through earlier. He handed Klein his knife, keeping the hammer for himself. "Don't lose that one," he warned.

Mikael looked around the room but the place had little to offer them. There was, however, a cabinet and a dining table and chairs. "Barricade the doors," he said suddenly and no one said anything as they all rushed to whatever furniture they could find and blocked the doors and what windows they could.

The banging got more violent and he heard the door crack and splinter. He pushed against the stuff blocking it. "Fuck," He growled. Another scream from the runner could be heard and soon the loud one from the large runner in the distance could be heard. It pierced the air and sent Mikael to his knees. The ground shook as another building came down.

"Mikael!" Gen shouted as she started to push against the barricade, the door shaking from the other side, splintering all the more.

"Its- it's coming!" He gasped, struggling to push himself. Up. "He runner- the giant one,"

"That monster... is coming here?" Klein said as he joined Gen in pushing against the barricade.

Mikael felt the ground rumble again and the banging on the door went silent. Suddenly the streets were far too silent. He blinked, looking around the room, using his hearing to detect anything, but not a sound besides those within the building could be heard.

In the next second the roof of the building was collapsing.