#TeamVoodoo Pt. III - @thetempered's "World's End"

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WORLD'S END

By thetempered


'I'm going to personally grease the pole that slides you down into a tub of shit.' Gideon patted his grey beard and smiled before throwing five more $50 casino chips onto the pile in the middle of the felted table.

Grace looked across to Willard. 'Next time we are out, we need to find some new DVDs. If I have to hear him quote "No Mercy" one more time ...'

'It's a classic,' Gideon said, 'set right here in New Orleans. Reminds me of the good old days ... when we still had a city.'

Willard threw in his hand and picked up a glass of whiskey. At least he could get a couple of drinks in before he had to go. 'Next time we play billiards.'

'Come on Maverick, show me what you've got,' Grace said. She matched Gideon's last bet and turned over her cards, revealing a paltry pair of tens.

'Full house!' Gideon turned over his winning hand. 'Looks like you two losers are taking the next trip. Dinah and I will stay here and keep the home fires burning.' Gideon started dividing the chips evenly into three piles for the next time. Dinah never had to play, she always stayed back, not because she wasn't capable, but because Gideon was over protective of his teenage daughter.

'We've cleared out the Coast Guard Base, the Jackson Barracks is dust,' Grace said, 'perhaps we should make that trip up to Camp Minden, to the ammunitions plant.'

'It's over 300 miles away,' Willard said, 'but, your right, we have been putting it off for too long. The generators are close to empty.'

Grace put her hand on Willard's. 'We can find a nice place for Geraldine along the way.'

Willard pulled his hand away and stood up. He was not ready yet.

'It's been three days now Willard, you can't keep her down there any longer. I think I heard rats in the hull.'

Dinah walked along the outer deck and stopped outside the door to the saloon. 'I think you guys need to come out here and take a look at this, there's a whole lot of dead coming towards us.'

Willard, Grace and Gideon joined Dinah outside on the deck of the old steamboat World's End. Before them was the French Quarter, or at least what was left of it. Many of the buildings had been destroyed by the bombs. A group of about forty dead were walking past the ruins of the cathedral and through Jackson Square towards them.

'We haven't seen a mass like that for weeks,' Grace said. World's End was set safely back from the water's edge by about fifteen feet. They did not use a gangway, rather they had fashioned a zip line that connected the top of the steamer to a lamppost on the boardwalk.

'Look at her.' Grace pointed to a girl of about twelve years who was walking in the centre of the pack. She had springy dark hair and was wearing a dirty floral sundress and tan cowboy boots.

'I hate seeing dead kids,' Gideon said.

'No look, she's fidgeting with a button or a necklace.'

'I've never seen dead do that,' Dinah said, as the young girl arrived at the edge of the boardwalk.

The girl stopped and peered up at the motley crew on the steamboat. The mass of dead stopped with her. 'Hello.' She seemed oblivious to the corpses that stood beside her. 'I am hoping you may have a witch in your party?'

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