Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness Ch.33
Title: Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness
By: Pink Rabbit Productions
Chapter: 33
Date: 15 October, 2010
Rating: R (for sex and violence)
Disclaimer: Hmmm, characters, not mine, situation, mine, though with the proviso that certain scenarios owe a major debt of gratitude to George Romero. Sex? Likely. Genders involved? Likely all female (at least anything on camera). Also there are likely to be very bad things in this story. I'm not one for prodigious amounts of gore, but this is horror and there is likely to be ickiness and things that might disturb some folks. Seriously. If it's gonna bother you, move along.
Summary: When the dead rise, civilization falls.
Author's Notes: Awhile back, just for fun, I did a faux movie poster that set Otalia in a horror setting and used some elements from an idea I've had running around for ages (what can I say---it was the Halloween season). See the poster here: http://altfic.com/artgallery/otalia/glafterworld01b.htm . Sooo, at some point, it seemed like fun to take a gander at writing them in that universe. I've quite deliberately tried to break away from my usual style and make it a bit faster moving, with frequent chapter breaks, deliberate cliffhangers, shorter scenes and more directed pov. We'll see if I can keep to one pov per chapter (well, they are short chapters...lol).
Dedicated to: My mom. Seriously. All of my growing up years, she would constantly throw me these what-if scenarios and press me to figure out logical ways to survive/get out of various emergency situations. Now, she never mentioned the zombie apocalypse, but I'm sure that was just an oversight or a desire not to scare a little kid (because, really, I grew up as the daughter of a top secret type during the cold war...I already had enough fear issues), but really, that odd little game was the genesis of...well...not just this story, but a lot of my love of writing. So, thanks mom.
Previous Chapters: | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30 | Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 |
Afterworld:
Into the Arms of Darkness
Chapter 33
Balanced on her heels near the bottom edge of the garage roof, Natalia saw a black cylinder a little larger than a man's fist arc away from Jeffrey's hand. It hit near the top of the roof, then started rolling down the slope toward her.
She heard Olivia's shouted warning and tried to run, but the grenade was rolling straight at her feet. No time and nowhere to go.
And then it exploded.
It was like being caught in the middle of a lightning bolt and a thunderclap at the same time. A flash of light and a sharp, explosive snap of sound had her blind, off balance, and flailing.
One foot skidded out from under her on the uneven surface and she went down, a dull scream torn from her lips as a sharp edge caught her mid back. Momentum sent her tumbling before she could grab for anything.
Then suddenly her upper body was out over thin air.
Unbalanced, she toppled.
* * * * * *
Olivia saw the bright flash and heard the sharp crack. Not a frag grenade, a flashbang-stun grenade. She'd seen them used once on a crowd of protesters during one of Edmund Winslow's many bouts of proclaiming himself ruler of San Cristobel. They created noise and havoc and left a thin haze of smoke in the air, but they weren't fatal.
She saw Natalia fall and hit the deep grass with a visible jolt. A hand rose almost instantly and she grabbed for her head. Probably not seriously hurt, but she'd been so close when it went off, she was likely to be dazed for several minutes.
All around them, the dead men were fighting to rise, a perverse kind of infancy giving way to an even more perverse toddlerhood.
Her opponent knew exactly what he'd done. She could see it in his eyes.
"You can fight me or save her," he taunted.
Once a bastard, always a bastard.
The one she'd killed in the garage-she remembered his name was Decker-was the closest to the fallen woman. He was also the oldest and most mobile. Not quite on his feet yet, but he'd reached his knees and was staggering in search of balance, trying to stand.
The noise had also drawn his attention Natalia's way. He'd seen her fall and was focused on the spot where she lay, his mouth working convulsively as though he was already chewing.
Not long before he'd be on his feet and moments after that, attacking Natalia.
Tangling with Jeffrey would delay her, probably long enough for Decker to chow down.
No choices left.
Cursing, she pushed to her feet and ran. Her tormentor didn't even try to stop her. He had the same problem she did. Waste time fighting and end up dead. They had different reasons and different lives to care about, but the end result was the same.
As Olivia moved, Decker reached his feet and started staggering toward Natalia, his arms out stretched, gait lurching like something out of an old Boris Karloff film. Without pausing to think, she hit him in a hard tackle that took them both to the ground. He flailed wildly, still trying to pull himself forward, but made no attempt to turn and attack or even throw her off. His attention never wavered from the young woman pushing slowly to her knees.
As far as Olivia could tell, he was totally unaware of her.
She tried to tell herself that it was because he was so focused on Natalia, but a part of her couldn't escape the knowledge that they never seemed to notice each other. They might nip or shove, but they didn't fight or attack one another. Finally, world peace through death. Who knew a dozen Miss America's could get their wish in such an unexpected way.
Her gorge rose, but she fought to ignore the sensation. She didn't have time.
Natalia didn't have time.
Pushing up with her hands, she pinned him down with a knee to the back as she grabbed the bali song from her pocket and flipped it open. She yanked Decker's head back by the hair with her other hand, feeling it roll unnaturally far as his neck wound gaped under pressure.
She brought the knife around.
The first pass deepened the wound.
His entire focus fixed on Natalia, Decker showed no sign of noticing.
The bali song wasn't meant for cleaving bone and Olivia could feel herself getting weaker by the moment, making it that much harder to apply enough pressure while maintaining her balance. Her biceps knotted painfully, then suddenly a scraping sound and a crack.
Abruptly the knife moved easily. She was through everything except a thin flap of skin at the back of the neck when she let up pressure.
Decker went limp.
They had no capacity for deceit. Like shutting off a light switch, he was gone.
She glanced up, half expecting to find Jeffrey coming after them, but he had problems of his own. A crawling dead thing was clinging to his pants leg, pulling him back and making it impossible to flee.
Then, as Olivia pushed to her feet, the third dead mercenary staggered by her. He passed so close their shoulders just barely brushed, but it was like she wasn't even there. He was aimed for Jeffrey, his mouth moving the way Decker's had, as if he was already chewing an imaginary bit of meat.
A hint of an icy smile curved her mouth as she saw Jeffrey look up and realize he had more company coming. Panic in his eyes, he started pulling desperately in an effort to escape the clinging one, but couldn't work his way free of the undead grip. How fitting for him to end up pinned down against his will, with nowhere to go.
Olivia would have liked to kick back and enjoy the show, but she had other matters to attend to.
She made an unsteady pivot, searching out the area to see what other threats might be incoming. The most active of the dead had gone after the two bleeding men. The rest were milling, drawn by the sounds, but lost now that things had quieted and there wasn't much to excite them.
Good.
She broke into a limping trot, her body protesting every step. Dying was a real bitch, undying even worse.
Natalia had pushed to a sitting position, her back to the wall. Her face was twisted into an expression of pain and she was squinting and blinking rapidly, but there was no sign of blood and she was smart enough to stay quiet. Clearly, she'd figured out the art of not being noticed by the dead. Just had to get her inside and she'd be okay.
Emma would be okay.
And soon Olivia could rest.
Her bare feet were in agony, every muscle felt like it was on the verge of collapse and she was shivering as though someone had sapped all the heat out of the world.
She'd made it about halfway when a figure came at her from the side.
Heavyset, blonde, something clutched in one arm. She hammered into Olivia, knocking her on her ass. Pain rattled through every nerve ending, but she snapped to her feet and came up braced for a fight.
She expected teeth and claws, but what she got was shoved and slapped as a rasping, unnatural voice chanted, "Uuuhhhllliiibbbyyyyuuuuhhhh!"
Ears ringing, she stumbled back several steps and stared at the newcomer in confusion. Even for Afterworld, this was odd. The dead usually went for biting and chewing, not junior high shoving matches. Dancing back in an effort to avoid the bone-bruising blows, she stared at the dead woman in confusion until suddenly she decoded the mystery of slack features and dirty blonde hair. "Reva," she exhaled, the sound ending in a pained grunt as her old nemesis lunged and shoved her again. She was strong as an ox. No way Olivia was holding ground against that. "You've really let yourself go." Another hard shove sent her careening back several feet.
"Uuuhhhllliiibbbyyyyuuuuhhhh!"
"And still carrying a grudge, I see." Reva wasn't trying to bite, just pushing and shoving. Uncertain what it meant, Olivia made a play to just step around her old nemesis, but a meaty hand punched her shoulder and knocked her back on her ass before she could get more than a foot. The undead woman didn't seem hellbent on destroying her, but as she felt her shoulder and chest throb in the aftermath of the hard shoves, Olivia wasn't sure how much longer she could take the punishment.
Afraid Jeffrey might use the distraction against her, Olivia twisted in time to see him grab the incoming zed by the throat with one hand and snatch a gun from its belt with the other.
Well, that was one way to reload.
Meanwhile, the thing on his leg was still clinging, trying to drag itself closer. He fired on the crawling one first, two shots straight down into the dead man's head. An explosion of blood and bone heralded its end, allowing Jeffrey to yank his foot free. That done, he brought the gun up, punching it into the gaping mouth of the creature caught in his grip. Two quick shots sent brain matter and congealing blood spraying away out the back of the dead man's skull.
She brought her head back around as she heard a soft snuffling sound. Reva was standing perfectly still, vacant eyes screwed into an expression of concentration. Her nose twitched and her head angled to one side and then the other. Suddenly she roared and took off. "EEFFFFRRRRREEEEEYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!"
Straight at Jeffrey.
His chin snapped up and his eyes went wide with sheer terror. He jerked the weapon free of the dead thing's mouth to take aim on the blonde roaring his direction. Olivia could see the motion as he pulled the trigger.
But nothing happened. His turn to be out of ammo.
Some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you.
He backpedaled several steps, tried the weapon again. Still nothing, but Reva was coming fast. The bear was definitely damned hungry.
Olivia had never expected to be toppled from position atop Reva Shayne's who-I'd-like-to-see-torn-limb-from-limb list, particularly since it had been created in her honor, but apparently she'd lost her standing in favor of a new target.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
The thought went through her head that after all the years of hate and bitterness, Reva was finally going to do her a good turn.
The earthly remains of her former nemesis slammed into Jeffrey before he could gain any momentum, the impact enough to throw him several feet. Unfortunately, he managed to land on his feet and spun, bracing himself for the attack. He looked her way and she had the oddest sense he was expecting her to do something.
That would be just like him.
"For Ava," he called out in an attempt to guilt her.
Olivia just shook her head. If their daughter was alive, she'd be far better off without him in the world. He'd already done more than enough damage. He was on his own.
And then she lost sight of him as Reva leapt at him. A spray of blood flared back from him to the soundtrack of his scream.
Olivia surprised herself by suddenly not wanting to see. Even a few minutes before, she would have sworn that a chance to watch Jeffrey O'Neill torn to pieces would have had her popping popcorn and settling in to enjoy the show. Now she just wanted it done. She wanted the threat out of her life, but she'd seen enough blood.
Scrambling to her feet, she tried to ignore the sounds of killing and dying as she pivoted away from the sight. She pulled up short as she found herself face to face with the shambling ruins of a man. Tall, broad shouldered, square jawed, he'd been handsome once, but that was now lost to destroyed limbs and decaying flesh.
As she recognized the ghost of a love from her past, she felt her stomach roll and her eyes burn with the threat of tears. She wanted to scream and undo what she was seeing, wanted to make it not true.
Even hating him, there was tiny bit of her that had always loved him.
Josh Lewis.
He moved past her as though she wasn't even there, his gait slow and ungainly as he trailed after Reva.
The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. She stared after him in shock, backpedaling rapidly as though she could escape that easily from the knowledge of what he'd become.
"Olivia."
She spun, tracking the sound to its source even as she scanned the area, hunting for any sign of threat. The music had died away sometime during the confrontation and things were quiet again. The dead were moving on all sides, but none of them seemed to see her.
Like Josh and Reva, they recognized one of their own. She was no longer prey. She was one of them.
Nauseous and overwhelmed, she let her gaze float on. Even red eyed and stumbling badly, Natalia had managed to find the hidden entrance to the garage and get it open. She was standing in the doorway, one hand outstretched.
They were only a few yards apart, but suddenly it felt like miles, the distance made up more of circumstances than inches and feet.
Olivia knew she was dead. Her body ached with a throbbing kind of violence and muscles that had briefly seemed inhumanly strong quavered and threatened to give way. She was cold, tiny shivers shaking her and making her teeth rattle. She had no business wanting to reach back, to grab hold of warm flesh and hold on, trusting the other woman to ground her in this world and refuse to let her move on to the next.
In that moment, she was struck by Natalia's sheer beauty. Her hair was loose and floating on a soft breeze, her eyes soft and caring. In spite of the bruises-or maybe because of them-she looked like the heroine from an old movie, fresh from the fight, waiting for the final kiss before the screen faded out.
Regardless of the rough beginning to their relationship, there was no doubt in Olivia's mind that she and Emma would have had a safe place to rest and heal in her home. And there was no doubt that when she was gone, Emma would be loved and cared for and have as much of a home as could be offered in this world.
"Come on," Natalia called when Olivia still hadn't moved a second later, gesturing Olivia toward her with her outstretched hand.
No reaching back, Olivia mentally chastised herself as fought the urge to give way to temptation. It would be so easy. She'd seen so many people do it, deny the obvious, then destroy everyone they loved as a result.
She wouldn't do that, wouldn't put them in danger. She'd made plenty of mistakes in her life, but she wouldn't make that one. Not with the stakes so high.
Swallowing hard, she stared into chocolate eyes, momentarily losing herself in their depths and taking comfort from the caring she saw there. She was suddenly profoundly glad for the moment in the closet, the soft brush of lips, the forbidden caress. It gave her another reason to hold on and do the right thing and a pleasant memory to cling to as she felt her body shutting down. "I can't," she said at last, oddly warmed by the hurt she saw reflected in dark eyes. It was kinda comforting that maybe someone other than Emma would mourn her passing.
"Olivia, please-" Natalia began. Her voice was thick and ragged and there was suspicious glint in her eyes.
"I'm cold," Olivia interrupted, her tone as flat as she could make it in hopes of destroying the other woman's hope along with her own. It would be easier that way. Hope just made things harder. "And I can barely stand and...." Then the worst of it struck her with the impact of a sledgehammer. "...I can't feel my heart beat." She wondered if it had been like this for any of the creatures wandering around. Had they had a moment when they realized they were gone and were still human enough to feel the loss?
Natalia was shaking her head, denial reflected in her eyes. "Olivia-"
"I can't," Olivia repeated. So many times she'd done all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons, but not here, when the price would be unimaginably high. Part of her wanted to beg the gods for a chance to see her daughter just one more time, but she couldn't take the risk. She wouldn't put Emma's life in danger. And as she lost herself in chocolate eyes, she realized she couldn't risk Natalia either. "I-I wish things had been different," she whispered, and turned away. She couldn't see Jeffrey or Reva, but wherever they'd gone, it looked like they'd drawn some of the crowd along with them. Others were wrapped up in feasts going on with the most recent deaths. The rest of the dead were milling. With no excitement to draw their attention, they were wandering randomly, hunting for something to feed their hunger.
Time to join them...
* * * * * *
TBC