(Unedited) Stage One: Hope in Darkness

Fighting Sickness (Lara)

I was in the front so I got the unlucky honor to peek around the corner. Carefully leaning over I looked and frowned at the sight. And no it was worse than a bunch of zombies hanging out. It was a bunch of zombies with masters. The Ripper Walkers we called them and they were sick. Zombies were tied up to various things to keep them in place. Their arms were removed and something to cover the head so they couldn't see anything. The human part of this group was just sitting around a camp that they made. They laughed and roared, making all the noise that they could while enjoying they're fresh friend. They were cannibal for sure. That's what made them worse. Full thinking cannibals.

"Lara" Ryan whispered to me wanting to know what I saw. I pulled back and looked to them

"Ripper walkers" I whispered. Sam sighed irritated

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that" Sam mumbled. Derek like always just took this information in silence. He just looked to the ground then to Ryan as he asked

"And what about the bomb?"

"Well they seemed to have used the bomb just to make themselves a fire pit camp. Real cozy looking" I said obviously being sarcastic. Ryan cursed under his breath and thought about it. I took the time to glance around the corner again see if anything changed. They were teasing they're 'pets ' with the leftover arm they themselves were eating a moment ago.

"Gotta keep my babies healthy!" The one laughed as the zombie leaned and pulled on its restraints with no give and snapped its jaws at the arm. The Ripper's boys laughed at the zombie and danced around the fire. One was teasing and taunting his friend with the arm and then shoved him at the zombie. The zombie locked its jaw into the man's shoulders and he let out a blood curdling scream as he fell and the zombie fell and started to eat his owner. I frowned as the man groaned in pain and tried to fight off the zombie but the venomous bite paralyzed him.

His friends laughed and jumped around excited for the action and cheered on the zombie as it ate the man. The sight of the blood and .... I think I might be sick.

"Okay. How many are there?" Ryan asked me as I turned back to them. They seemed startled by the scream and they saw my face

"Three now" I spoke carefully so I didn't puke all over them.

"Those sick..." Derek finally spoke up angry with what they did. Derek's parents were tortured and killed by the Ripper walker's so to say he hated them was an understatement

"Derek no" I hissed forgetting my nausea and grabbed him holding him in place "get your emotions together" I hissed at him. He looked at me then realized he had been walking on his own.

"She's right Derek...look we need to surround them and take them out at the same time-"

"Not all of them" I turned to Ryan and he looked at me confused

"Why not?"

"Because these guys travel in much larger groups in case you forgot...and these guys are probably just scouts. We need to question one" I said and he cursed again. "We need to split them up" I said and he nodded in agreement. Ryan split us up into our areas of town and we got to work. I was to capture the lucky one who was left. They never had a chain of command so we could take anyone we wanted. With some noise they sent one to check but never came back. Then some more noise on the opposite side of town then made them uneasy as a second went to check it out. Silence.

"Ahhhh!" A sudden scream echoed through town. It was the Ripper. He was trying to make us flinch. I slipped around the building hearing he was walking around. I saw his back to me. I moved quickly and grabbed him but was hit in the gut making me loosen my grip. He grabbed my arm and threw me onto my back and threw his head back and howled. I gasped in the air as I turned to get up but felt another kick to my side sending me to the ground.

"Oooo you're pretty" he spoke with a creepy clown kind of voice. I turned over as I saw his leg lifting to stomp on me and I grabbed the heel and kicked him in his jewels. He yelled and fell back giving me the chance to get onto my feet. I heard a groan and turned around to see one of his 'pets ' was released and it was right on me. I turned my full focus onto the zombie. I put my hands up and grabbed the head to keep it from biting me and kicked the left knee all the way backwards. It didn't seem to be fazed by any pain and just fell to the ground with a normal gurgle sound . I shoved it to the ground and turned to the man and saw Ryan had grabbed him and had him tied up.

"Where the hell were you guys!?" I snapped aching all over my body and nearling getting my face eaten off. Ryan looked over to me and smiled.

"You got it all handled" he said. I glared and gave him the bird before turning to the crawling zombie snapping its jaws at my shoe. I raised my boot and brought it down with a crunch and it fell limp. I saw Sam and Derek come out and they had their machetes out and ready to take out the remaining zombies.

The Ripper was laughing hysterically and was clearly having fun then a grunt. I turned to see Ryan was really laying into him but he was enjoying it. Time for me to use my methods.