Ontario

[NoLifeKing66]

Maryse ran and ran, and then she ran some more, but she didn't seem to be getting any closer to the street, to the Hummer, to Greg. Her run slowed to a walk, then to a stop. Had she not come back the way she'd come? She shined her flashlight to and fro, but all she saw were trees.

"Greg?!" she called.

Suddenly, gunfire sounded in the distance. Fighting her instincts, Maryse headed toward the gunfire. She didn't make it far. She tripped over something, falling flat on her face and dropping her flashlight and her shotgun in the process. She reached out blindly, felt her flashlight lying amongst a pile of dead leaves, grabbed it, then sat up and shined it at whatever it was that had tripped her, figuring it was a stone or a fallen log. She gasped.

A half-eaten deer carcass glistened at her feet.

Maryse screamed. She couldn't help herself. She'd watched hundreds of horror movies in her life, she'd seen more gore than most people could imagine. She'd seen worse since the epidemic had started, but she wasn't expecting to see a half-eaten deer carcass, and the sight prompted a scream out of her. A high, girlish scream. She clamped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. The zombie that had killed and eaten the deer stumbled out of the darkness and attacked her. He looked like a mountain climber. Maryse couldn't quite discern the color of his clothes because the light shining out of her flashlight was red, but he appeared to be wearing a purple ballistic nylon jacket and rock boots. He had an ice axe hanging from his belt. He also looked like a sculpture of a human being made out of butter and left out in the rain. The flesh of his face had dripped away from the bone, revealing bare yellow skull in some places. One eye was completely obscured by collapsed skin. The other had the white cast of glaucoma. A few long black hairs dangled from the climber’s face but none were left on top of his head.

Maryse scrambled to her feet. The climber moved slowly, so slowly that she thought she must be running on adrenaline herself as she dodged the climber’s clumsy advances. She ducked under an outstretched arm and tried to knock the climber’s legs out from under him, amazed, as always, at how quickly she was reacting, at how instinct just took over. The climber grabbed the holster around her waist and and dragged her to the ground with him, then crawled on top of her, clawing at her with fingers destitute of flesh, tearing at her clothes. Maryse could hear her own explosive breathing, but the climber made no sound at all. Not even a groan.

"Help!" she cried as loud as she could, "Help me!"  

[ZombieApocalypseSurvivor]

Richie had been jogging for a minute or so when he heard a scream. He turned to his left, where the scream had come from, and darted in that direction full sprint. after he ran a couple hundred feet, he saw a hiker pinning down a person. When he got closer he saw that the hiker was actually a zombie, and it was on top of Maryse, trying to get at her. Richie's instinct kicked in. He put even more force into his sprint, ducked down, and made his left shoulder make contact with the zombies mid-section, tackling it and knocking it away from Maryse. He kept driving it forward until he rammed it to a tree. He then backed up, aiming his SPAS and firing point blank at the zombie's head, making it explode. He pumped his shotgun, running over to the shock-stricken Maryse, helping her up.

"Are you okay? Where's Greg? Did you get bit?" Richie asked in a craze, both worry, fear and adrenaline going through his body at the same time.  

[NoLifeKing66]

Maryse was hyperventilating as Richie helped her to her feet. She had some bumps and bruises, some cuts and scratches. She hadn't been bitten. She was alright. She was about to thank Richie for his assistance when another zombie, a female zombie, appeared behind him, reaching out for him. Maryse could tell by her attire and the ice axe dangling from her belt that this zombie was a mountain climber, too. They must have been a pair. A couple. Maryse moved Richie out of the way, grabbed the climber's ice axe and pulled. She pulled as hard and as fast as she could, and the axe came free of its quick release buckle.

The rubberized grip felt great in her hand. Solid. More solid than anything she'd ever held. Maryse swung.

The pick end of the axe went right through the climber’s jacket and into the hollow space that must have been her lung. Maryse expected to get sprayed with arterial blood, but only a little dry powder billowed from the wound. She yanked the axe back out and swung a second time, hitting the climber in the shoulder hard enough to make her own arm vibrate with the impact. The climber reached for Maryse's throat. She yanked the axe back out again and swung a third time, burying the axe in the climber's skull. The frontal bone collapsed like cracked pottery and the climber slid to the ground, limp, seemingly boneless.

Maryse brandished the ice axe, ready to strike again, but the climber didn’t so much as twitch.  

[ZombieApocalypseSurvivor]

"D**n girl, you got some moves. Let's head back to the street to try to find Greg. Hopefully nothing has happened to him," Richie said, admiring her work briefly.

"Follow me," he said as he jogged off into the night to the road, hoping Greg was alright.  

[NoLifeKing66]

Maryse followed Richie through the forest, cursing herself under her breath. In the last hour, she'd lost her hoodie, her boots, her hunting knife, and her shotgun. She hoped they'd stumble upon some new weapons, some new clothes, some new supplies sometime soon, but first things first. They needed to stumble upon Greg.  

[ZombieApocalypseSurvivor]

As they searched for Greg, Richie noticed Maryse was getting tired. He also noticed she wasn't exactly wearing the right clothes for survival, she didn't even have shoes.

"Hold up a sec," he said, stopping as he kneeled down, taking off his pack, "Here, take these."

Richie tossed her a set of US Forest BDU's and a pair of black Combat boots and some heavy black winter boot socks.

"Go change over in those bushes. I know they're probably not your first choice at clothes, but it's better than what you're wearing right now. I'll be over by this tree. Don't worry, I ain't gonna peek. Give a shout if you need anything," he said, zipping up his bag, picking up his SPAS and walking over to and leaning against the side of the tree that was facing away from the bushes.  

[NoLifeKing66]

As they came closer to the street, their pace slowed to a walk. They shined their flashlights to and fro, searching for Greg. Maryse winced with each step she took. The sticks and stones littering the forest floor were hurting her unshod feet. Richie must have noticed, because he called for her to stop. He knelt down, reached into his back, and pulled out a set of U.S. G.I. woodland BDUs, a pair of heavy black winter boot socks, and a pair of black leather combat boots.

Maryse looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Go change over in those bushes," he said, "I know they're probably not your first choice at clothes, but it's better than what you're wearing right now. I'll be over by this tree. Don't worry, I ain't gonna' peek. Give a shout if you need anything." With that, he zipped up his bag, picked up his SPAS, and walked away. Maryse really didn't want to change her clothes in the middle of the forest in the middle of the night, especially with Richie so close by, but she didn't see much choice in the matter. She simply could not continue to walk around dressed as she was. Sighing deeply, she hid behind the bushes and did as Richie suggested.

"I still have my Beretta," she said, loud enough for him to hear, "so if I see you looking, I swear to you, I'll shoot you."

Maryse unbuckled the holster dangling around her waist and carefully dropped it to the ground. Then she reached around her back and undid the laces of her corset. It was a long, laborious task, but she'd completed it many times before, and she'd completed it relatively quickly. Once the corset was off, she tossed it aside. She looked over her shoulder in Richie's direction, just to be sure he wasn't looking, wasn't peeking, then slipped the straps of her dress off her shoulders and, with a little effort, slid the dress off her body. Standing there in only her striped stockings and her black lace panties, the cool air made the hair on her arms stand up, made goosebumps rise across her skin, made her nipples harden. Shivering now, Maryse donned the BDUs as quickly as she could. It was a man's uniform, so it was much too big for her, but she weighed 132 pounds the last time she checked, and she had the curves to keep it in place, especially at her hips. Once the uniform was on, she sat down on the forest floor and peeled off her wet socks. She paused for a second. She thought she heard something. She didn't. Her feet were freezing, so she pulled on the boot socks, then the boots themselves. She laced them tightly. She loved boots, and she felt good to be wearing them again.

Picking up her holster, Maryse buckled it around her waist again, then walked out from behind the bushes.

"I'm ready to go," she said to Richie as she approached him. "Have you seen any sign of Greg?"  

[Takuha]

((Good God, one day people! I'm gone one day and it happens again!!))

Greg too had forgotten about his leg, and had fallen over shortly after jumping out of the car, shouting curses in his usual loud, angry way, the three hours of rest had certainly helped however, and he managed to get back on the leg, resurrecting his House run. He'd lost sight of Maryse and Richie in the dark forest, just like he'd said he would."What did I ******** say?" He whispered under his breath with an undertone of foot pain. Quickly he jumped down a ditch and into the forest. Greg rested for a moment in the cold hard mud, rubbing his head and pulling out his flashlight, looking around the dark forest; he couldn't see any zombies nearby, they'd probably all headed off to the explosions. Greg sighed and got up with a gimace of pain as he put weight back on his bad leg. Then he heard a scream, hopefully a human one, so he ran in it's direction, hoping to find either one of his colleagues or some more survivors. Greg ran as fast as he could towardsa the direction of what was now quiet mumbling, then he found his survivor amigos. He slid over a small muddy hill and landed next to Richie, his large body thudding as he hit the ground, he looked up at Maryse and Richie smiling after realising who they where.
"Fancy bumping into you again". He said, pushing himself up, and dusting himself off. "By the way I hate to say I told you so but, I did say this would happen back in the car... Apart from us all being dead, good job avoiding that bit". He said, breathing heavily and patting Richie on the back in a slightly masculine fashion.  

[NoLifeKing66]

Before Richie had the chance to reply, Greg stumbled out of the darkness and fell down in front of them. "Fancy bumping into you again," he said. He forced himself to his feet, muttering something about how he'd said this would happen. Maryse rushed to his side.

"Tais-toi, grande gueule," she said, hoisting his arm over her shoulders, supporting him. Shut up, smart a**.  

[ZombieApocalypseSurvivor]

"Put him down," Richie said, "Have a seat. Before we go anywhere," he continued as he pulled out a map, unfolding it, "We need to figure out just where the **** we are."

He sat down on a nearby log, using his light to light up the map as the other two sat down next to him.

"Here's the base that was overrun, and here's the town we were just in. These must be the woods, then. If you guys want to go to Ontario, We'd better head east. I heard a radio transmission that they were taking survivors in that area. That was a couple weeks ago though. There's no credibility to the accuracy of the transmission. They mighta gone rogue, or been overrun. My bet is we head to the coast. Find a port. There might be some boats that were abandoned or even a port colony that held out. Once we get there, we can pretty much travel along the coast, going where ever we want. I'm not taking the chance of going across the Atlantic though. Not unless It's a cruise ship with enough feul and supplies to do so. But first things first, we ned to get to splinted up," Richie said as he looked at Greg. Richie got up, finding a sturdy branch and applied it as a splint to Greg's leg in an attempt to both practice his Red Cross skills and to also help Greg walk easier.

"What do you guys want to do?" He asked finally.  

[NoLifeKing66]

(F.Y.I., ZombieApocalypseSurvivor, we're already in Ontario. We're just outside the GTA, which is supposedly fortified and zombie-free.)


"Put him down," Richie said, "Have a seat. Before we go anywhere," he continued, pulling out a map and unfolding it, "we need to figure out just where the ******** we are." He sat down on a fallen log, using his flashlight to illuminate the map, which he spread across his lap. Maryse looked at Richie, then at Greg, then at Richie again. She shrugged and eased Greg down on Richie's left side while she took a seat at his right. She examined the map while Richie spoke. He suggested that they head for the coast. It seemed to make sense, but Maryse didn't want to go anywhere without checking Toronto, first.

She'd heard that there was a military stronghold in Toronto, and she was hoping they could seek refuge there.

"But first things first," Richie said to Greg, "We need to get you splinted up." He got up, searched the forest floor for a strong, sturdy, supportive stick, found it, and applied it as a splint to Greg's injured leg. Maryse was impressed by Richie's skill and figured he must have had some sort of training.

Maryse nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of an explosion in the distance. The battle. The battle raging on the road. She'd forgotten all about it. The explosion reminded her that the battle was still going on, that they were still in danger. She looked up, and she saw that the sky had been stained a deep, dark red. She saw smoke. She saw embers flitting through the air like butterflies on burning wings. The fires. The fires must have spread. The fires could continue to spread.

"We have to get out of here," Maryse said. "We have to go east. We have to go to Toronto."  

[ZombieApocalypseSurvivor]

"No. No major cities unless we absolutely have to. There are too many zombies around them and in them. And any survivors will most likely shoot us. It's too dangerous. We just need to stick to the coutnryside until we get to the coast. Hopefully we can find signs of a harbor or useable boat there."

Richie was undisturbed at the sounds of the battle raging in the nearby stretch of road. The sky was glowing orange, and was cosntantly getting brighter. It was getting warmer also. Suddenly, he saw orange in the distance. An orange that was racing towards them. He heard the sound of birds fly away from the smoke and the scurrying sound of animals as they tried to escape. He knew the forest was on fire. But then he saw soemthing else. Something illuminated against the orange of the flames.

"Holy sh**," He said, packing up his map and putting it in his pocket, putting his flashlight in the clip on the side of his shotgun.
"Some of teh soldiers are coming this way! They must have sen us run into the woods, that or they are jsut trying to get away from the fire. We have to get out of here now!" Richie considered his options. He knew they didn't have time to find a back road on the map. He decided to against his better judgement, just this once.

"Do you know how to get to Toronto? Is it safe?" he said sternly to Maryse, a hint of panic, and obvious fear on his face.  

[Urbnja]

(sorry for my absences, I've been gone for a few days focusing on my parkour training so I haven't been up here very often)

keith finished up cleaning the guns. Hours past. A noise could be hear from across the room. Tapping coming from the wooden floor. Keith puts his ear up to the floor. the tapping turns into bumping, and he draws his pistol. The bumping gets violent and starts cracking the wooden floor. He points his gun and yells, "who ever is under the house, answer me or I will shoot!" ...no answer, the bumping continues. Keith fires one round into the wood floor and the bumping stops as he hears something yelp faintly in pain. He approaches where he shot very slowly. Out BURSTS a dog like creature! startling keith enough for him to dive backwards. He fires at least 3 rounds before landing on his back. They hit the creature in its mouth and it starts crawling in pain toward him. he gets up and puts two rounds in hit head, then after a moment one more between it's eyes to make sure it's dead. Besides the fact that there where several bullet holes in it's head and face, the creature had torn flesh and infected wounds, with the appearance of a dog. Cameron bursts through the front door and sees keith there with a gun in his hand and the creature laying in front of him. keith straps on his medical mask and a scarf, with cautious thought that he could get infected if he got too close to it's dead body.

Cameron says loudly, "How the hell did that thing get in!?"

Keith replies, "It came through the floor!" keith points with his gun at the hole in the floor.

Cameron walks up to the hole and examines it and then speaks, "Maybe it was trapped under this house the whole time." keith replies, "yeah but that don't explain the wounds it had before I shot it." Cameron speaks again, "your right. Ill have my men scout the area for a possible way in."

Cameron takes keith's gun and puts a bullet in his head himself not trusting that it's dead even though it has three direct shots to it's head. He then walks out and keith can hear him giving commands to scout the area for more of these possible intruders and ways in. Gun shots are hear all over the town. It seems like there were more that got in as a pack. But no way that they could have gotten in. Cameron returns to keith and speaks, "I guess that it came in a pack with others. I don't know what it is, but we have to get rid of the bodies." keith speaks back, "well shouldn't we burn them?"
Cameron looks down at the body of the first one that appeared and keith killed. He thinks for a second.  

[ZombieApocalypseSurvivor]

(Just so you know, animals don't turn into zombie equivalents...they just die. I'll act like this was just a pack of wolves that managed to get in. But remember that only humans are zombies, nothing else.)

Cameron crouched next to the body of the dead wolf. He examined what he could without moving it.

"Get Allan to help you take this one to one of the medical rooms. After you do that, bring the others to the medical rooms also. I'll send Alice to examine the bodies. I'll take four people to go along the wall, patching it up and reinforcing it further."

Cameron looked at Keith, who was quiet frightened.

"Dude, relax. It wasn't a zombie. Only humans can turn into zombies. Everything else just dies off for some reason. This area is teaming with wolves. Looks like this one was attacked. We'll make observations in the Medical rooms."

Cameronthought a moment, looking at Keith.

"Hey, man. I know it seems I'm giving you a lot to do. I'm doing this on purpose. If it seems like you don't mind doing more chores than usual, then I know you'll be fine with just the normal amount of chores. Think of it as a test. If you pass, there won't be any problems. I'll tell ya what, though. After you help Allan take the bodies to the infirmary, just relax the rest of the day. Take some personal time. But, remember, the sh** can hit the fan at any time, so just always be ready to fight."  

[NoLifeKing66]

"No," Richie said, "No major cities unless we absolutely have to. There are too many zombies around them and in them. And any survivors will most likely shoot us. It's too dangerous. We just need to stick to the countryside until we get to the coast. Hopefully we can find signs of a harbor or usable boat there." Maryse glared at him, her frosty green eyes locking onto his. Quite clearly, he'd planned on going to the coast all along, and he fully intended to follow it through. She was sure that no matter what she suggested, he'd shoot it down and try to persuade her to follow his plan, instead. Typical man, she thought.

Suddenly, Richie jumped to his feet. "Holy s**t," he said, looking off into the distance. Maryse turned and saw what he saw: the fire spreading into the forest and the soldiers running toward them to escape it. Maryse jumped to her feet, as well. "Merde," she said softly.

Richie, panicked, asked Maryse, "Do you know how to get to Toronto? Is it safe?" She was about to roll her eyes, but she didn't. Just as the coast had always been his objective, Toronto had always been hers. In fact, she'd been heading toward Toronto when the Hummer had run out of gas. If they continued along that road, they should arrive at Toronto eventually. When last she'd heard, the GTA was relatively zombie-free, so it wouldn't be too difficult. Hopefully.

Maryse also saw this as an opportunity to negotiate. In her experience, if a man thought he could get his way, he'd be more compliant. "If things don't work out in Toronto," she said, "we can escape through the Toronto Harbor. The Ship Channel connects the Harbor to Lake Ontario. From there, we can follow the St. Lawrence River all the way to the coast, if that's what you'd like." She hoped that would appease him. She didn't wait for his answer. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she took off running, disappearing deeper into the forest. They had to get away from the soldiers. They just had to. Even if they were under orders, they wouldn't be happy about being attacked by a group of paranoid people barricaded in a convenience store. They wouldn't be happy at all.

"Come on!" she called, "Nous devons y aller! Maintenant!"