((Collab Post)) [Irene & Matt] Matt opens the door, nearly hitting the kid running by. He can only see the kid’s back, but he looks fairly injured, with fresh blood running down his back. Not only that, the kid was limping awkwardly as he ran, and Matt watches as he nearly falls, pushing against the wall for support. The zombies barrel past Matt, moving unusually fast. Maybe they sensed that their prey was weak and vulnerable. “Wow. Perfect,” Irene comments as she catches up with Matt, neatly dodging to the side as the zombies chase the kid. Matt jogs to catch up to the closest zombie, spear held at the ready. [i]It’s gonna be hard to hit its head as it’s running away, so I’ll go for the legs first.[/i] He adjusts his grip on his spear and prepares to swing low. Irene unsheathes her sword, sprints to overtake Matt, sticks her foot out, and trips the lagging zombie. She watches as it lands flat on its face and steps on its back to keep it down. It struggles, and she knows that she can’t keep it down forever like this. So Irene stabs at its head repeatedly until it stops moving. “Oh c’mon. You’re just going to get tired sprinting like that.” Matt complains. Irene retorts, “But sprinting is fun! And I’m not sprinting all that much so I should be okay. Plus, it’s not like I’m by myself.” She speeds up again to catch the next slowest moving zombie , trips it, and holds it down with her foot. Irene then gives Matt an expectant look. Matt grins and raises his spear like an executioner before a helpless captive. He brings it down with enough force to smash through the zombie’s skull and into the floor. Hitting the floor with his weapon at full force, unfortunately also puts too much stress on the shaft, and the meter stick handle breaks with an audible *CRACK*. Matt frowns. [i]gg too stronk. The stronk was just too much. [/i] [i]That’s one heck of a smile.[/i] Irene jumps back as soon as Matt swings down with his weapon to avoid getting blood all over herself. Her eyes widen when she witnesses Matt’s weapon breaking. [i]Well crap. That’s not good at all. At least the zombie got rekt.[/i] Irene quickly unslings the baseball bat from her back and offers it to Matt, “Do you want this?” He sighs and takes the bat. “Sure.” “Sorry about your weapon though,” Irene comments, “You had put quite a bit into it. Are the knives still retrievable from it?” “It’s fine, I’ll just make a new one. I’ll reuse the knives yeah.” Matt responds. “Alright then. Let’s take down the rest of the zombies then,” Irene replies. “So you can get your precious decoy haha.” Matt leaves the broken spear on the ground for now and swings the metal bat experimentally a few times. “You make me sound like a bad person. I mean, if you’d rather fight an endless horde of zombies, be my guest,” Irene says nonchalantly, “And it’s not like I want to do this either. Unlike someone here.” “I mean, I’ll probably get bored of this eventually. But for now, it’s fun!” Matt exclaims as he leaps on the horde, which had missed the passing of its backmost members. He crushes a knee with a low swing and rapidly brings the bat down on the zombies head until it’s no longer recognizable as human. Irene shakes her head and kills another zombie with the same method she used before. [i]I’m getting somewhat tired…[/i] She glances up ahead of her and notices the zombies slowly gaining ground on the kid. [i]We need to finish this up soon--or he may not make it. What? Live for now so you can send him into his death again? Shut up. [/i] [i]Eww. Bats are so much messier than blades.[/i] Matt wipes his face on the back of his hand skips forward to the next zombie, planting the bat squarely on the small of it’s back and pushing hard. The zombie, already moving forward, starts to tip forward uncontrollably as it’s back arches, and it falls over, managing to trip up the one in front of it as well. The outstretched arms of the zombies as they fall brings down most of the rest of the horde. Tossing his bat aside, Matt leaps from zombie to zombie with his knives, planting a knee on its back and slicing and stabbing the back of the neck neatly to sever the brain stem. Irene capitalizes on a downed zombie and swings twice at its neck to decapitate it. She looks up to see that Matt has dealt with the rest of the zombies so she walks over to the cowering boy and offers a hand. “We’re here to help now,” Irene says with a reassuring smile on her face. The boy takes her hand gratefully and responds relieved, “Thanks for saving me! I thought for sure I was going to die!” Matt bites his thumb to hide a laugh. [i]You weren’t wrong about that.[/i] “No problem. My name is Irene, what is yours?” Irene queries. “My name is Sam, Sam White,” he replies. Irene assesses the kid’s wounds, [i]Yep. The wound on his shoulder is infected, he won’t last long at all.[/i] She looks straight at the boy and says, “You’re going to die.” “What!? How?! I feel fine! My shoulder hurts, but I feel okay overall!,” Sam exclaims frantically, a look of anguish overcoming his features. “The wound is infected by zombies. And there’s nothing that can help those,” Irene states levelly. Matt nods in agreement, sliding a finger across his throat for emphasis. “B-but I can’t! Not yet. Not now. I’m too young to die!” the boy wails. “Yes. You’re going to die. And eventually fade from memory, with no record of your existence,” Irene responds nonchalantly, “Imagine, in about fifty years from now, no one will know who you are. You have not made a lasting impact with your life.” [i]And so the manipulation begins![/i] Matt listens closely as he retrieves his broken spear and takes it apart, cramming the blades into his pocket, as well as hooking the hammer on his belt. The kid’s face twists in agony at the mental image. “However...there is one way you can be remembered as a hero, for now and forever,” Irene says calmly. “How??” Sam asks, desperate. Matt takes the Northface jacket off of a dead girl and cleans his blades thoroughly with them. He wipes his face clean as well, although his black hardcover-scalemail remains deeply stained with blood. Careful inspection of the armor reveals minor tearing of some duct tape, but nothing that couldn’t be easily fixed. “You could help us out,” Irene looks around, “As of now there are too many zombies near the breach. We need a distraction.” “So you want [i]me[/i] to face those monsters again?!” the boy exclaims in a shrill voice. “Yes. And I ask this of you because only you can do this.” After his upkeep was finished, Matt starts to scavenge the zombie bodies, figuring that phones and keys should prove valuable. He finds one pair of car keys hanging from a lanyard, and 4 phones, three iPhones and one android. He manages to fit the loot into his cargo pants pockets, thankful for the storage space. With nothing left to do, Matt wipes the metal bat off and takes a seat next to Irene against the wall, the bat in his lap. “B-but it’s too scary! I don’t want to!” “Look at the facts. You are already going to die, no matter what, by the end of today.” “I want to at least enjoy my last moments!” Irene gives the boy an exasperated look, “Do you want to be known as the [i]coward[/i] who could’ve saved everyone, but didn’t-- just because he was too [i]scared[/i]? Sam shakes his head. Irene continued on, her voice getting more gentle “You can save everyone here in this building. Instead of dying somewhere, unknown and alone, you can be a hero, a savior. Your name will be remembered, for all of time, as the one who bravely faced a horde of zombies in order to let everyone else live. Think about it, do you have any siblings in this school?” The boy whimpers and nods, “An older brother.” “And while you will die, you can at least do something to help the people you love and care about. I know it’s scary, but you’re the only one who can do this.” The kid shakes for several moments, steadies himself, and nods slowly, “I-I’ll help.” [i]Pretty effective manipulation. It wouldn’t work on me, but others are more gullible.[/i] [i]Good job, Irene! You have now successfully condemned a person! Yay. Fantastic. What a monster. Shut up shut up shut up. You awful person.[/i] Beaming a smile at the boy, Irene says soothingly, “You made the right choice.” Looking over at Matt and the freshman, Irene states in a more serious tone, “So here’s the plan. We’ll first transport all the materials needed to MST down. You and Travis can carry the materials while Alicia and I guard you two. If we find Kate, she can help with guarding. Afterwards, you and I will oversee the initial stages of the decoy plan, while Kate, Alicia, and Travis standby until the area is mostly clear. We can then scout for the location of the breach. Once we find it, we can have two people work on repairs, again probably you and Travis, while the rest make sure no zombies come close.” “I’m almost certain the breach is by the lower parking lot doors. I’m also pretty sure that’s where the power was damaged, I smelled smoke and stuff,” Matt interjects. He feels slightly sorry for Sam, but he was probably going to die anyways, so he might as well live out his final moments being useful. Irene gets up. “Alright then. Let’s go find the others and tell them. C’mon Sam,” Irene starts walking toward the chemistry room and motions for the kid to follow, “You made a brave decision today.”