Alright, I haven't been feeling too well, and I had my covid vaccine recently, so here it is, I really pushed myself to get this one out as early as it did. So I hope you enjoy it.
Luckily, the store wasn't too far away from the safeplace, if it had been any further away. The chances of me agreeing to come would have significantly dropped. When we actually got there, a dark and dingy looking place met my eyes. The part we first came in, was an underground car park with the walls and ceiling purposely painted black to maybe unintentionally make it look darker than it was meant to be. The only light coloured element were the yellow stripes that separated the cars from one and other. And oh, speaking of the cars, they were all run down, beaten up and the paint seemed to be scratched. In fact, I wasn't really sure what I was expecting in a zombie apocalypse reality like our one.
"Remember guys, we're going for batteries and getting out of here." Zizzy told me and Pony. I watched Pony adjust his winter hat as though he was preparing to meet the queen, before huffing.
"Fine. But if I find any carrots, I'm taking them." Aside from the largely grimy looking car park, to the left of it all, was the entrance to the actual store. Two doorways, with light glowing around the edges could be visible. For about ten seconds, no one moved a muscle. Until Pony broke the silence.
"Isn't it ladies first." Pony said. Zizzy shrugged and stepped forward, footsteps echoing along the ground, she entered the first doorway, and I followed.
I had to admit, the store did't seem as much as a store, as it did a market, with smaller stalls containing different products, like one selling technology, food, DIY supplies. Instead of selling just a general item like most 'stores' would. I headed straight for the electronic store, thinking that finding batteries there would be a no brainer. I went in there, while Pony went round a corner, followed by heaving noises. Meanwhile Zizzy checked in a different shop. In the electronic shop, it seemed like the place had been ransacked. The shelves had fallen onto the floor, and there was a safe in the shop, but the door had been torn off and the contents obviously stolen. And for a moment, I could hear a faint scratching noise, however my police training forbid my reflexes from not looking up. And right there, I saw a bipedal deer wearing a long turquoise dress, black baton in hand, and the most extraordinary orange eye with a black dot dancing in it. I immediately identified it as an infected.
"INFECTED!" I screamed, to alert Zizzy and Pony. I saw Zizzy poke her head out from a shop wearing a concerned look.
"Shoot." I saw her mutter. The deer let out a screech and I found the perfect motivation to name her Dessa. Dessa charged towards me with the staff in hand and started twirling it around in a strange fashion. Zizzy ran forward and leg-swept the deer, causing her to topple over. From this point in time, it was clear Pony hadn't heard anything yet. Following where he had been. I saw Pony pushing up against a fallen barrier.
"If only I had enough energy." He whispered.
"Pony!" I yelled sharply, making him jump up. "Infected are here, we need to find those batteries now!" Pony shook his carrot obsesses daydream off and leapt to his feet.
"Where's Zizzy?" He frantically asked me.
"Battling Dess-I mean the infected." I told him. He didn't need to hear another word. Drawing his wooden sword, he ran to aid our friend. So that left it up to me to find batteries. Somehow I always find myself in similar situations. But really, where was I gonna find batteries in a place other than the electronic store, so I crept on my tip toes back there. Pony and Zizzy could be seen outnumbering and fighting Dessa, each holding back from getting scratched, or punched, one tiny smack would be all it took. Trust me, I really wanted to help, but I had no weapon. Zizzy had her sword, and Pony had his sword. Having a second look in the shop, it wasn't much different. The same broken appearance with no order, undoubtedly being trashed previously by Dessa. The real question was..why? I was busy searching among the wreckage, but then I heard loud stomps coming from behind me. I turned round and saw Dessa, slowly striding towards me. She had an even crazier look in her eye, and she raised her baton high above me. But before she could turn me into a mindless zombie, Zizzy came crashing out of nowhere and kicked Dessa so hard in the side that she was sent flying trough the air and landed in a heap, unconscious.
"That was close." I joked to Zizzy. She laughed, before putting her silver sword away.
"Let me help you look."
Long story short, we found the batteries and left. Dessa didn't even stir once the entire time! The safeplace slowly dragged up into our view as we trekked the fifteen minute walk back. Standing outside the safeplace were two figures. One was significantly taller than the other. The only two it could be..Giraffy and Mimi.
"See! See! Look who's back." Mimi excitedly yelped, jumping in the air. "I told you they'd be back before noon." Giraffy stared at the floor and thrust his hands inside his pockets.
"A deal's a deal." He tutted. "Great..Now I have to cook for the rest of the week." At first I was confused why Giraffy seemed so upset to see us, but I guess only ever doing cooking and planting takes a tool on the betting scheme.
"We got the batteries for the radio!" I cried, walking up to the gates. Giraffy strolled over and pressed a few buttons on the keypad. The metal gates whirred open for me, Zizzy and Pony to enter. Everyone ventured inside the building and gathered round a table. Mimi gladly produced the radio and gently set it down on the table. I handed her the batteries and after a bit of fumbling, the sound of static pierced the room.
"Can anyone hear me?" Mimi asked through the speaker. Everyone else stayed deathly silent. This was the first signs of communication. After about twenty seconds, it seemed like nothing was happening.
"You sure it's working?" Asked a slightly frustrated Giraffy. Mimi did not give a response. A physical one anyway. Everyone held their breath again as Mimi attempted for a second time.
"Greetings." Boomed a crackly voice on the other side. "Yes, we can here you. This is settlement six speaking." My heart at that moment seemed to dislodge from my chest and fly into my mouth.
"This is the Safe Place! How can I help?" Mimi asked, her voice cracking with excited and emotional nerves. It once again took about fifteen seconds for another answer. Before the person on the other end answered with,
"We are looking for communities to trade with. We'd like to meet up." This time, it was our turn to take twenty seconds to respond. Mimi glanced around the room at everyone's glad but concerned faces. I watched Giraffy mouth something to her, but before she can actually say whatever Giraffy suggested. Settlement six blurted,
"Meet us at the old Oak." Then, the radio seemed to die, the static just paused and straight up stopped.
"It looks like we lost their signal." Mimi sighed. For a few moments, everyone's brains whirred at the possible outcomes of this situation. Then everyone exploded into argument.
"We should meet them." Mimi reasoned. "We've been living together for months without seeing another survivor." But her quiet voice could barely be heard over everyone else's voice.
"I don't think this is a good idea." Pony said with a frown. "We don't know anything about them."
"Is this another one of your jokes, Pony?" Giraffy sarcastically said, shooting glares at Pony.
"No, Giraffy, I mean it!" He protested. All of a sudden, Zizzy shocked Pony to his core by agreeing with Giraffy.
"I agree with Giraffy." Zizzy said, not looking Pony in the eye. "I don't think we should trust them. But let's face it, Mimi's right, we haven't had interacted with another group of survivors for who knows how long."
"What?! You can't go, Zizzy." Pony said, his voice cracking with nerves. "We don't even know who this people are."
"Pony, we know how to handle ourselves out there." Zizzy assured. "If we get into trouble, we simply know how to get out of it." At this point, I decided my input on this situation was more than necessary.
"Zizzy has a point." I said. "After all, you two fought an army of infected all by yourselves at the plant." Pony looked at the ground and muttered something to himself, but it was too quiet to properly make out what he was saying.
"Right then!" I said loudly, rubbing my hands together in preparation. "That's settled. Let's go and see some new faces." I was in the process of jogging to the coat stand to grab my jacket, when Giraffy and molly stood back.
"Well I need to stay. I need to harvest as much as I can before the winter comes." Giraffy murmured
"And I'm going to try and see if I can learn more about this radio." Mimi murmured. Pony and Zizzy went to also grab their things in preparation for the second trip this day to the old oak.
It was now dark, The old oak, was well, a grand oak, tall, coarse bark, handsome branches, and even the leaves were still green.
"There isn't anyone here." Zizzy stated. But she of course by luck, spoke too soon. In a flash, six figures leapt down from branches, some of them brandished knives, and swords, and revolvers, the leader, was a silver fur wolf, with a black scarf and purple shirt. I recognised her immediately as Willow. Older yes, but it was the spitting image.
"Ah yes, it's nice to see some familiar faces." She turned to me. "You, I bet you enjoyed taking me away from my family. And you." She said said in a disgusted tone, while turning to Peter.
"The Ex club member." Pony hung his head for some reason. Me and Zizzy cast a few confused glances at each other.
"And you." She said, finally turning to Zizzy. "I haven't seen you before. She suddenly looked very angry and very hurt. I could notice the cogs turning in Zizzy's head, and now she suddenly seemed very distressed, I'd never seen her like that before.
"I've heard about you and what your gang do." She growled. Then, Willow, pulled out a gun and smirked.
"Hold your horses." She said. "I just want you for questioning." Zizzy pulled out her silver lance. Willow nodded to the left. A muscular brown hair brandishing an axe ran toward Zizzy, growling. I gasped, as Zoey performed three quick kicks to the man's lower body, and then one in the chest, causing him to fall over.
"Seize her!" Willow cried, one hand on her hip, and the other at Zizzy. A sly looking fox and an elderly cat leaped forward. Zoey jump-kicked the fox in the face, causing him to stumble back, but the cat brought out a silver whip, and lashed it toward Zizzy's feet, it coiled around her legs and launched her to the floor with a yell. Zizzy hit the floor, but this set off Pony.
"Leave her alone!" He screamed. Pony ran forward with his wooden sword, but Willow stuck out a leg and him tripped over. Meanwhile, I could only watch in fear, plus without a weapon he was defenseless.
"Phillip, Tigry!" Willow called, a young tiger with dual knives and a sea otter with a baseball bat jumped forward. Tigry tied a rope around Zizzy's arms. But her leg's were still free. She kicked over the bear, who'd just got back up, down on the floor. Phillip snatched her legs and held her upside down. Tigry attached a piece of tape to her mouth.
"Mmmf mmmf mmmf." She cried.
I had the sudden urge to do something, and sprinted forward toward the action, to help Pony to his feet, and attempt to fight these awful people. But before he could properly act, Willow whipped out her gun and aimed it dead at my face. My blood ran cold.
"I don't want things to get bloody here." She said, leering nastily. And in a few seconds, they were gone.
Pony was still in the floor. And even from a distance, I could see he was visible upset. As a matter of fact, when I pulled him to his feet, he was sobbing.
"I let them take her away!" He wailed. "It's my fault."
"Not all, it was my fault too, I didn't even help too." Pony didn't answer, he looked away from the oak, and spotted a shining building in the distance. His eyebrows fell dramatically.
"They took her there." He whispered.
"Okay!" I said. "Then we haven't a moment to lose."
Wow, I didn't realise until now how lengthy Chapter two really is. I mean, for me, it's a slightly forgettable chapter. Except that finishing cutscene, damn. Anyway, Chapter three should release January next year around the same time as this one. This will be my last chapter of 2021 actually. And don't forget, January 2nd is the anniversary for this uhh, channel? Whatever. Well..for writing any way. That's all for now!
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DOF