An Outbreak of Zombies

When Shane had received the posting for the job at hand, he almost did a double take. A zombie outbreak, survivors to be rescued and to make a final stand so that they can all escape together on an airship. When he had been assigned, Shane’s preparations were no different from his usual missions. As usual, his Rune Knights uniform was hanging in his cupboard but the Rune Knight paid it no heed. He had hardly worn it, even when he was in the HQ, preferring his normal combat clothes. His outfit consisted of a long-sleeved tee shirt that dark grey this time with the sleeves rolled up to just below the elbows to create an elbow guard of sorts, a pair of dark brown cargo pants that was slid into black combat boots that reached halfway up his shins. A pair of holsters were strapped to his thighs, fitted with his twin high-caliber pistols, one red and black, the other black and grey.

The same airship that would let them down in front of the city perimeters, the very same one that would later pick them back up in the middle of the Spiral City, had provided a quick and uneventful flight, sailing smoothly through the skies. His eyes struggled to adjust themselves to the dark night after been stuck in the somewhat bright lighting of the airship for an hour. However, the first assault to his senses was the smell. Of garbage and decay in a landfill, left on its to decompose, and one smell that would Shane on edge. The coppery smell of blood. When his eyes adjusted, the silver-haired Rune Knight looked as far as he could, his single red eye seemingly glowing in the night with an otherworldly aura in the morbid setting.

His left hand automatically rested on the handle of Huntsman, a red and black handgun in his left thigh holster as he could hear movement all about them but none close enough to be a threat. Joining him on this mission were three other members of the Rune Knights. The first two was a pair of twin Exceeds, the bravery of lions hidden under their small and cute appearances. From what Shane had observed so far, of their attempted flight with their wings and then dropping back to the ground, he thought of them as a little too excited, but nothing a little bit of zombie killing won’t fix. The other man was another relatively new recruit, by the name of Raiji Kameyama. Little was known about him as well, as it was the first time Shane had cooperated with them.

After failing at their attempt to fly, the two Exceeds surprised Shane by clambering up his body and rest on his shoulders, one on each. He laughed lightly, paying no heed to the two of them. They gave a quick description of their objectives, along with an order to move on.

“The fastest way could also be the most dangerous way. I would suggest avoiding the roads altogether and move through the roofs, unless necessary. If we go through the roofs, we can just strike through diagonally. We’ll need to reserve our firepower for the second half, where I’m sure, all hell will break loose,” Shane suggested. He would have been fine going in with his guns blazing, carving a way through the zombies to arrive at the guild hall. But that would definitely put a hitch in the plans for the second half when they needed to protected roughly eighteen people to a Knight.

“I will also need to know what type of firepower we’ve got before we go in. I’m most comfortable fighting in close range, but if we need to fight from a distance or to keep up a barricade, I’ve got my Requip firearms ready,” Shane brought up. Despite his preference for close combat, calls of duty was requiring him to keep adding new weapons and tools to his Requip arsenal, preparing for all eventualities.

[668 words]
[Total WC: 1054 / 7000]

@Raiji Kameyama
@"Grappa & Jellisha"

“I’ve got to make a pitstop,” Kameyama said as his necklace/AI rang a notice to him about a sudden job popping up.

“We’ve gotta make a pitstop,” His upstart apprentice Mizuki said, “You said I’m stuck with you,”

“And you are,” Kameyama said, “But this is something about reanimated corpses and I don’t trust your level of magic to keep up,” Their voices were loud due to the fact that the two of them were riding motorcycles created by Kameyama’s magic. “So I’m going to go kill zombies, and you’re going to start asking around at the city. It’s an equally important job, it just means you don’t have to smell corpses.”

There was a moment of thought before the young girl said, “I don’t like the smell of corpses. Alright fine. I’ll meet you there,” She pulled ahead of him at and turned down a separate road as he turned back to ride towards the city of the dead.

———

Night fell on the town before he arrived, riding through the city on a motor loud enough to draw attention of the undead if he continued to do so beyond the safe zone. Fortunately he seemed to understand this as he jumped off and in one swift movement, the metallic spider-like legs protruding from his back absorbed the metal back into his form. He joined the other three a moment later, just in time to hear the updates on the situation, “Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to risk too much of a disturbance.”

He listened carefully to the input from the other three, the small Exceeds resting atop the shoulders of the well armed gentleman who seemed to be taking point in the mission. Kameyama pulled his goggles off and replaced them with his usual bifocals. The aging warrior brushed off his coat and adjusted his shirt, “Well, I’ll be the first to say I’ve never taken on the undead as opponents, but if the stories and fables are true, we’re better off staying far away than being close. I think my magic is going to help with that.”

The metallic spider arms behind him stretched out unnaturally, protruding as though from his flesh but with no marks through the jacket, almost as thought they were protruding from the jacket itself. Using this ability he was able to raise considerably off of the ground. However, the magic holding things to the ground was clearly taking a toll, “Hmm,” He commented, “Normally I could take this easily through the entire city but it seems that I’m under the effect of that same magic. I could try to carry the four of us across the rooftops but if any of them are unstable, it could spell more trouble for us than it normally would. Still, if it gets us even a fourth of the way through…”

He looked between the three of them. His eyes lingered on the Exceeds for a moment. He’d only met one and it wasn’t this… cute. Were they younger?

WC:505
TWC:1559