Urban Dead: The Price of the Oath

[Pcm979]

"Mr. Zimmerman said to tell you, Miss. Something about the three down to two, and reckless idiots." He said, reciting like a dictaphone.

[Josh]

"SHUT UP," Petro said, grabbing a line and swinging it in a furious circle before launching it out. It hit the rooftop and dragged... then caught.

[Caz]

"Reckless? Great," she muttered, hopping from the bed and stretching with a yawn. She yanked a sweater over her tank top and yanked her shoes on.

"Punt's team..." she said aloud, although she wasn't speaking to him.

[Caz]

Somewhat returning to her usual mindset, Sherry leaned forward, grinning like a skeleton as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"So," was all she said.

[Pcm979]

"Two dead, two injured, miss." He said, still robotically. The bearer of bad news, and all that.

"It does seem they inflicted considerable damage to one of the Hordes, though." He said, more optimistically.

[Josh]

"So we need another fucking line to the building so we can traverse safely," Petro said emphatically. "Focus, people, focus!"

[Pcm979]

Mike grinned evilly, and flung his line across.

"There. You were saying, Sherry?"

[Caz]

"You know who to call, sugar," she said to Petro, smacking him on the ass and taking the third line. She moved to another window, hopped out onto the ledge and let it fly. It anchored flawlessly.

Back at the mall, Melanie felt her stomach tighten up.

"Have the wounded been recovered?" she asked the man. "And names? I need names!"

[Dark Silver]

In the infirmary, chaos broke out for a moment, as Silver startled awake.

He sat bolt upright, his eyes wild, and his arms flaying. His screams were incoherent and echoing in the infirmary. The nurses on duty looked at him shocked for a moment, before his arms lashed out, toppling him off the bed, and onto the floor.

His legs still injured, unable to support his weight, just writhed and kicked out, threatening futher injury, and to reopen the previously closed injuries.

through the screams, only one word could be understood clearly, "JAMIE!"

[Josh]

"You're a dead man, Zed," Petro groused as he cinched in his line, giving it a good test before clamping on.

"Can't die," Steve said. "I've got years worth of embarrassing stories to tell about you."

Stepping over the side, Petro began sliding down. Below them, the horde howled and began surging from the building.

"Alright, everyone out," Steve said. "Go go go!"

[Pcm979]

Mike winked and grinned cheekily at Sherry, sliding down after Petro.

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

He swallowed. This was it. "Ellen Macaphee and Mr. Punt, miss."

[Caz]

Melanie paled. "Ellen and Punt are dead?" she asked, realising she hadn't clarified.


Sherry grinned at Steve and Petro, their little exchange remarkably similar to a recent one she'd had with a Mr. Michael Isadore Lancelot, actually...

"Let's go, boys!" she called, gesturing to a few of the others as she yanked on her line, testing it. She deemed it satisfactory and launched from the roof, closing her eyes for a moment and feeling the wind in her hair.

Would've been great were it not for the bloodthirsty zombies.

[Josh]

He hit the rooftop and rolled out of the way, thudding into an exhaust stack and pulling himself upright. The rest of the team was zipping in quickly, and as they started landing, he moved to grab them and yank them upright. "C'mon c'mon c'mon, let's move!"

He took a glance down at the horde. Something strange. A lot of them seemed to be loitering in the building, and the ones outside were moving very, very slowly.

[Pcm979]

Mike noticed the horde's odd behavior too. "Odd. Isn't anyone in charge?" He asked, yanking... Someone to their feet.

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

He twitched. "No, miss. Sorry, miss." Great way to start the day off, misunderstanding your boss. "Phillip Soames and Roger Cook are dead, miss. Mr. Punt and Ellen are badly wounded."

[Caz]

As Sherry landed, she slid a bit in the fresh snow, then hopped up and began helping the others once they landed.

"Might be the fucking cold!" she said, clenching and unclenching her hands a few times. "It sure as hell isn't helping me move quicker."

And her damn feet were still wet. Figured.


Melanie let out a sigh of relief. Although it was odd to be relieved at a comrade's taking damage.

"Take me to them," she said with authority. She glanced back to Jared, who appeared to be sleeping. It wouldn't be good to wake him... the next few days were going to be tough. A bit of peace was all she could offer.

Besides, she had a feeling he already knew.

[Josh]

"Whatever, we can analyze it once we're back at the mall," he said. "Let's go."

He took off across the rooftop, jumping up and over across the narrow alleyway to the next building.

[Pcm979]

The man nodded and led her to the infirmary. They got there just in time to observe Silver regain conciousness with style.

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

"Hell, I'm not complaining." Mike muttered, glancing at Sherry quickly then following Petro.

[Caz]

"Yeah, well you're normally not as fast as me," Sherry chided at Mike as she took off, not as fast as usual due to her frozen legs. "But once I'm all nice and warmed up, I'll race your ass around the mall ten times if I have to!"


"Oh, shit, oh shit," Melanie said as they entered the infirmary. She jogged up to Silver, kneeling beside him. Then she yelled over her shoulder for somebody to FUCKING FIND DORIAN.

[Pcm979]

"Speed versus endurance!" He replied. "I can go for days, baby." He hit the next roof with a twinkle in his eyes, knowing precisely what it might sound like out of context.

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

The man rushed off, returning with Dorian a minute later.

[Josh]

They were easily outpacing the pursuit. This was the sort of thing that made Petro nervous.

Not that he'd act nervous or anything. That'd be unseemly. And pussy. He pulled up, rigging a drop line. Last one in his kit, too, good thing most of the climbing about was done for.

"Okay," he said quietly, surveying the momentarily empty street. "I'll slide down, see if I can get it to turn over. If I can, everyone comes down, climbs on, I show you how Fuckface," he waved at Steve "And I used to do it in the old days."

"Why are you driving?" Steve jibed with a smirk.

"Because I'm not the one who got gigged twice for driving under the influence," Petro replied. "I'm keeping my line attached. If I scream like a girl, pull."

With that, he went over the side.

[Caz]

Despite the importance of the mission and the direness of the situation and all, Sherry couldn't help but wad up a ball of snow and toss it casually, beaning Steve in the back of the head.


Dorian sighed, looking to Melanie. "Like you had to scream," he said with a dignified huff. However, the corners of his lips were turned upward.

"You're such a bitch," she said, then looked back to Silver.

[Dark Silver]

Melanie had kneeled next to him, and it was only the instinct, so much as the sudden awareness that someone was near him, that stopped him from lashing out in that direction.

His body shook as he screamed again, before begining to curl into a ball, his eyes closing tightly, arms wrapped around his body.

"No...no.....to late........so sorry......"

[Josh]

Steve brushed the snow from his hair. "Behave, you," he said, a glint of amusement.

"C'mon Honker," he muttered at the fire engine below.

Petro slid to the vehicle. Keys were still in it, something he'd noted as they'd passed by earlier. Tires were half-flat, but they could deal with that.

Now, if there was juice in the engine. He pulled up the radio. "Rig your lines and be ready to drop, people," he said, creeping closer.

[Caz]

"I will if you will," Sherry said matter-of-factly, then glanced over her shoulder at the zombies, which were still shuffling about mostly brainlessly and slow as hell. Like they had in the beginning. She'd liked it when they were nice and stupid. Good.

She readied her line, then looked to Mike.

"You heard the man."


"Silver, it's Mel," she said gently. "You're back home now; you and Carter both survived." She smiled as best she could, given the circumstances. "You did good," she said, "real good. Bought us time."

[Josh]

He slid into the driver's seat, muttering a prayer.

"C'mon god, just this once."

That would be about the fifteenth 'just this once' this week, and god only knew how many since the fall, but he wasn't keeping score.

He turned the ignition over. Glow plugs lit as the engine cranked in a surly fashion, but didn't catch.

"Still got juice," he said with a sigh of relief. "Just go for me, baby, c'mon."