Wright almost slapped his hand on his face when he heard four gunshots coming from above. No doubt some idiot who decided to shoot at one of those zombies…

He gave a quick nod to the fellow in the room and said “Hold on, got to deal with this.” There weren’t any more from what he saw and there couldn’t be many zombies left in the lobby coming up.

With that in mind, he held the stick of the broken broom in front of him and ran out into the hallway in the directon of the stairs.

(shorter than I had in mind; just had to get something to help with this backlog)

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Three Towers Apartment Complex, Unit 505

Several gunshots were heard after what seems to be a few moments of silence. Sue mused that it could've been the undead that have breached through whatever that was stopping them, even after her blatant advise to avoid using firearm unless necessary. Perhaps, it was truly necessary. She steadied herself for whatever's coming, her Chinese chopper still gripped firmly on her strong arm. If the undead has breached the ground floor, odds are they will be heading upward. She hesitated to leave her apartment unit, until she heard what seems to be chatter in the hallway. With her apartment door wide open, she slowly popped a head out to see two men having a talk.

Upon closer inspection, one seemed to have aged quite a bit. However, she couldn't really tell. Caucasians in her eyes always seemed - much older than their age - but magically stop aging when they reach 50, maintaining a rather classy look. One gentlemen has that coupled with what seemed to be graying hair, so she figured he was about 40-50 years old. The other was a rather masculine man, extremely well built. A professional bodybuilder perhaps? No matter, they seemed rather capable. She hollered out in a sufficiently loud voice, loud enough for the two to notice her, but perhaps soft enough for anyone on the lower floors to not have comprehended.

"Hey, you two!" She appeared out of her apartment doorway when she got their attention, now within their full view. "What's going on downstairs? Has the...The undead...Breached?" She queried, her face etched with worry. "I came back to my apartment not too long ago from downstairs, I even reminded them to refrain from using their firearms. Surely, they'd have used it as it was necessary" She explained herself while wondering if these two men knew anything else she did not.

@redbaron1234@Paingodsson

Madison Ripley

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With a scream of rage and pain, Madison pulled herself from the floor and threw herself at the wall outside the room that John had stumbled out from. Her thickly gloved fingers went to her cheek and she felt the rough texture of the rubber on her tongue. Its taste was metallic, and she could feel the cold air on her teeth. She shuddered, and whimpered as she pulled her hand away covered in bright red. She recalled the gunshot that floored her, she remembered seeing her cheek explode in a small cloud of red. Then the pain came. The burning, stinging pain that consumed the left side of her face like a flash-fire.

She let loose a short scream, but cut it short as she felt her cheek tearing more. A small noise of panic emerged from her lips, her axe dropping to her side as she removed her gloves and rifled through the bag over her shoulder for the first-aid kit. Tape gauze, absorbent pads and disinfectant came out in shaky hands. The green chemical burned as she applied it to her skin via the folded bundle of cloth. Her skin and flesh screamed as she held it there, tears welling up in her eyes, before she taped it up. It would have to do. She had not prepared for something like this. She should have been prepared for something like this. With a whimper, she donned her mask.

The hallway was still slightly noisy, the dead shambling at the barricade and the gunshots serving to further excite them. There were too many problems to be dealt with. Too many variables to take into account. How was she going to survive, Madison thought as she picked her axe up again and listened into the room. John was in there. She could hear his breathing, labored and heavy. The man had always hated her, for doing the work that she did. She had always hated him in return, and his mother, for being so abrasive and volatile. Like a boil on the back of the country. How could he imply that she was beneath him? She was twice the man he'd ever be.

The barricade was under siege and she replied in kind, violently burying her axe in one Stage One's neck before wrenching it out and hopping back as it grabbed for her. The bone parted with some effort as she split another's skull in two, dropping it straight to the floor. Her arms were getting tired. They were beginning to burn. She hopped back once more, lashing out with a boot as one caught hold of her suit. Inside she screamed. Screamed and cried. On the exterior, she hacked away at the first Stage One, severing its spinal cord and leaving it to flop to the ground, head rolling on a flap of skin and strips of sinew. She gave the last one a boot to the chest, sending it back onto the barricade where it stayed, impaled on a broken chair leg. As her battle-fever subsided, her sense of mortality returned, and she gibbered to the marine, Mr. Grayeson, from the wall outside the room John had holed up in once again.

"He shot at me. He shot at me and he hit me. How could he... how could he shoot another person?" Madison mumbled and rambled, speech picking up speed as she took her axe to the side and picked out her stun-gun. "A bad person. A bad person that needs to be set straight. Like a bad dog. Set him straight and he'll come right soon after. Just like Daddy taught." The girl hyperventilated as she spared a look at the barricade. It was holding for now. The immediate problem had to be dealt with. Madison looked over the hallway, eyes trying to pass over the dead preacher. She talked carefully, feeling the searing pain still in her torn cheek as she spoke out loud, partially to herself, partially to those listening.

"We need- we have to get... do you need help? I can help. I can help, I can help."

It didn’t take long before more of the creatures started scrambling their way around the barrier, though slowly at the moment. But suddenly, a frenzied corpse busted its way through some of its “brothers” and “sisters.” Being Nicholas was ready, he reached out and went for the kill of the quick-moving creature. However, it had “seen” his intent or so he thought; and without a care to the warrior standing before it, the monster pushed him aside and landed upon an innocent. Burying its canines into her flesh, Nicholas turned and watched in horror as she screamed and clawed her way trying to be free of the creature. Without a second thought, Grayeson reached down with his free hand and lifted the beast up onto its knees. Followed with a quick “gliding” of his blade through the monster’s temple, he felt it go limp and tossed the body aside. It was with grieving eyes, he looked down to the ravaged girl’s body and knew there was nothing he could do for her. Turning his back, he let out a deep sigh and faced his most immediate problem: the barricade.

A few were ever so slowly making their way through, allowing Nicholas to slow down and take the monsters down one by one. This also gave him an ingenious idea: use the dead bodies as mortar to the furniture he was already using. Finishing off the remaining straggler on that made its way through the barricade, he kicked a few of the bodies over towards the furniture. As he was beginning to lean down to lift one of the bodies to start becoming his mortar; he heard a door suddenly open behind him which was followed with an immediate gunshot. Turning towards the buffoon firing a round in their already “fuck-house” situation, Nicholas suddenly twisted around and was thrown into the arms of a waiting corpse. Though his left shoulder was burning, he threw his forehead into the creature’s chin and grinned at the sound of teeth crushing. Watching as the monster fell into its friends, sending them back down the stairs; Grayeson turned his attention back to the “brilliant” moron that shot the handgun.

Nicholas watched as the woman garbed in a fireman’s outfit was thrown to the floor by another bullet fired by the imposing figure wielding the weapon. Instinctively, or rather through training, Nicholas drew forth his sidearm and paired it with his blade (similar to a certain video game character). However, upon hearing the miraculous sound of the weapon jamming, he watched as the man fell back into the room he had appeared from. The firewoman had regained her composure and flung herself to the wall outside the room of their antagonist. Quickly following her lead, Nicholas pressed himself against the wall and took a quick peek of the situation. A single, oaken table was on its side like a makeshift barrier and Grayeson knew right then the man was behind it. Leaning back out of the sector of fire from his new adversary, he locked eyes with the woman before she made off towards their crumbling barricade.

"He shot at me. He shot at me and he hit me. How could he... how could he shoot another person?" the woman mumbled and rambled upon returning from her battle-frenzied hacking of creatures. Upon settling herself against the wall next to him, she took her axe to the side and pulled out what appeared to be a stun-gun. "A bad person. A bad person that needs to be set straight. Like a bad dog. Set him straight and he'll come right soon after. Just like Daddy taught." She started hyperventilating as she spared a look at the barricade. It was holding for now, thankfully with the bodies they had piled up. With their immediate problem dealt with, she turned her gaze over the hallway, eyes resting over the dead preacher. She talked carefully, as if the gunshot sent searing pain through her torn cheek as she spoke out loud, partially to herself, partially to those listening. "We need- we have to get... do you need help? I can help. I can help, I can help."

“He’s gone… Leave him be.” Nicholas replied quickly, knowing the round had severed his spinal cord.
Turning his attention back to the “monster” inside the room, beckoning them to “come and get it;” Nicholas started building together a battle plan in his head. There were no other entry points to the apartment the man was in. And opening fire would cause more problems than solve any at the moment. Then an idea struck his head. The man was carrying a .38 Special revolver and had fired three shots that Grayeson could remember. That left three more in the cylinder and three more chances he had before Nicholas put him down like a dog. Nicholas then turned towards the wall and motioned towards the woman to utilize her axe against the wall.

“Hey, you, drool-dick! Why not fight me like a man you bitch? Scared my “little” ass can take you in a one-on-one? Come on you fuck!” Grayeson yelled towards the room, hoping to get the oversized man’s attention.

All he could hope for was she caught his intention of distracting the maniac and Nicholas could end this permanently.

Madison Ripley

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Madison's eyes tore from the corpse of the preacher and swept over to Nicholas. The marine was yelling. Goading the man in the room into fighting. John looked big from what she had seen, what was he thinking? What could he possibly hope to gain from engaging in a physical conflict with this man, except more injuries? Maddy adjusted her mask and tried to slow her breathing and she looked to the barricade for a moment. Good and blocked up, but for how long? They had to move and move quick, to remove the problem. To teach the bad dog a lesson. Her mind scrambled as the marine continued to goad John, whilst looking at her. She was confused, until she saw him motion toward the wall, with an chopping motion.

Of course, how could she be so dense. The axe in her hands wasn't just for cleaving skulls apart. It had an originally intended purpose. And that was exactly what she was going to put it to use for. Motioning the marine to step back, the drew it up at arms length, taking care not to put herself out of cover. Then she hacked at the wall, intending on cutting out a hole that was big enough to look through and possibly stick a firearm through.

With a quick motion, she pointed at the glass of her mask and then at the eyes of the marine. She mumbled under her breath, "Watch my back," Then she pointed to the body of the preacher, "Watch him," Then she pointed at the barricade with a shaky arm, before returning to chopping. "Watch that. Watch it all." Chop. "Watch it all, watch it close. Line your brain with eyes and see every angle." Chop. "If you don't, then you are blind. Blindness is vulnerability. Vulnerability is-" Chop. "Death."

She spared a look at the marine and shook her head. She stood with the axe drawn above her shoulder, ready to slam it into the wall and break through.

"Are you ready?"