ENDWORLD: MOON RUN CHAPTER 11: ZOINKS! ZOMBIES! **************************************************************************** Ail was mad. To be more acurate, Ail was FURIOUS. He took his anger out on the nearest beings, in this case, the Mark 2 Supirior P-002 and the Cardian Ey-Se-U. "We've been searching for three days straight," he ranted, "and what have we turned up? NOTHING! Absolutly, NOTHING!" "Don't 'look' at me boss," Ey-Se-U said, "I've been doing all I can to find that device you want, but having all these eyes is useless if I don't know where to look." "Your anger is unjustified," P-002 calmly stated, "This search may take quite a while." "Yes," Ail growled, "and we'll always have to fend off those damn Zombies every ten seconds." "Fortunatly," P-002 replied, "Supirior circuitry is not edible." Ey-Se-U chuckled and quipped, "Doesn't stop 'em from tryin'." P-002 sighed and said, "Unfortunatly, that is correct." Ail punched his fist at one of the few remaining walls in the city and it broke on impact. (The wall, not his fist.) He roared at the sky and also added several curses. At that minute, both the Mark 2 Supirior and the Cardian turned to look north. "I see something," Ey-Se-U said. "I hear something," P-002 said. Ey-Se-U turned to P-002 and asked, "Does it have to do with gunshots and an engine for a van?" "Yes. What is the color of the van?" "Military green." The Supirior turned to Ail and said, "It is the SEAL. The Warriors have arrived. They must have found out about Primators plan and have come to stop us." "Is that so?" Ail asked, as a plan formed in his mind, "I have a plan then. They might know where the device we're looking for is. We'll follow them for a little bit and if they are just as lost as we are, we'll kill them. If not, we'll let them do all the hard work of getting the device and then we'll take it from them." A few minutes earlier and a few miles away...... Up close, the city was even more horrific. The fact that night had fallen, added to the chilling effect. Every last one of them in the SEAL could easily imagine monsters lurking in the shadows. Tuxedo Kamen was sitting against the left side wall of the SEAL, when a loud "thump" sounded and he felt the area he was leaning against bounce. "Hey," he exclaimed, "What the....." Blade identified the forms that had started swarming the SEAL. "Zombies!" he shouted. If the sight of the city had been a bad dream, then the Zombies were living, breathing, ugly, nightmares. They were all over six feet in height, completely emaciated, had grey skin with green blisters spread all over. Their eyes were an unfocused red, their yellow tapered teeth filling the maw of their mouths. Sailor Moon went wide eyed and just looked at them with a frightened facination. They climbed over every inch of the outside of the SEAL and only Geronimos cry of, "Hang on!" put her back in reality. Blade gunned the engine and the SEAL leaped forward throwing all the Zombies on the vehicle off. It raced to the end of the street and Blade jerked the wheel hard so the SEAL screched and spun a 180. Then he flicked a silver switch marked M. A metal plate under the front headlights slid upward and two fifty-caliber machine guns rose into position and fired automatically. The bullets from the SEALs machine guns decimated the attacking Zombies and most of the first wave fell in puddles of their own dark green fluid. The Zombies kept attacking. Blade then flicked another sliver switch, this one marked F. A portion of the front fender lowered, a nozzle of some kind extended, and a spurt of flame fired, having a range of about twenty feet. More of the Zombies fell as they were now beeing burned to ashes as well as being shot to pieces. The Zombies still kept attacking. Geronimo shook his head and said, "Some people just can't take a hint." "Then let's give them the message loud and clear," Blade replied. He turned back to the others and said, "Hold on tight. We're going to get shaken up a little bit." He flicked another sliver switch, this one marked R. The middle of the front grill moved sideways and a Rocket Launcher moved into possition. The Launcher fired and a Zombie that had actually made it to the SEAL was blown backwards along with the rocket. Geronimo quiped, "Look everyone. Air Zombie." The Zombie hit the center of the remaining Zombies and at that moment the rocket exploded. A large amount of dust was thrown into the air and no one in the SEAL dared say a word until it cleared. The Zombies were gone. They were either dead or had run back into the ruined buildings. "Okay," Blade said to Timeiand, "Which way?" Timeiand chuckled and said in reply, "It's kind of fitting that the Zombies would have chosen now to attack," he pointed out the front window to the left, "We have arrived." Madison Square Garden was devistated like any other place in New York, but all of them were suprised at how little damage it had taken. It was scortched and burned in many places and a portion of the roof had caved in but it still had the same basic shape it had when it had been first built. "Let's go," Timeiand said as he prepaired to exit the vehicle. "Go?" Mercury asked, "Go where?" "Into the Garden, and then underground to a secret facility hidden under the Gardens subway station." The group left the SEAL and Blade locked it. Then they all gathered around. "Okay," Blade said, "Now when we enter we do it one at a time and ..." he noticed someone was missing, "Where's Sailor Moon?" Sailor Moon was looking at a severed arm that had been blown off a Zombie with sickened curiosity. She hadn't planed on looking at it but she had seen something moving out of the corner of her eye and had turned, in case it was another Zombie looking for a snack. She had seen the arm, and watched as it twitched sporaticaly. Then her stomach did its impersination of a gymnastics team, she leaned forward and retched up every bit of food she had eaten that day. She felt a strong hand on her shoulder as her belly kept throwing things back up her throat and out her mouth. She heard Blade's voice as he said, "It's okay kid. We've all been there." Eventually she got her gagging under control and the sympathetic looks she recieved from everyone made her feel better. Sailor Moon said, "Sorry. You must think I'm a real wimp for that." "Not at all," Geronimo said, "Just going to New York is pretty brave, you can't be expected to do much more than that." "But you two," she pointed at the Warriors, "are here and don't seem bothered a bit." "Truth be told," Blade replied, "I'm frightened out of my mind." Timeiand sighed, "Are we going or not?" The group decended into the Garden and at Timeiands directions, went down a long fight of stairs to the subway station. Blade came first, followed by Timeiand, then Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Geronimo watching the rear. At that moment Zombies came from nowhere and started to attack the group. "Here we go again," Tux said. Blade and Geronimo raised their Dakon II rifles and fired their fragmentation bullets at the rushing hoard. The bullets did their job as they ripped the chests and heads of the Zombies in green sprays of fluid. Sailor Moon removed her tiara and tossed it with a cry of, "Moon Tiara ACTION!" The tiara cut into Zombie after Zombie disintergrating them with a touch. Mercury called up her powers and crossed her arms over her chest before flinging them out and shouting, "SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!" The mist that Mercury shot, froze the Zombies it hit solid and Tuxedo Kamen used his cane to shatter them. "I have a feeling," he thought to himself, "that a rose in the chest would probably just annoy these things." Timeiand fired burst after burst of chronical energy, that also turned the Zombies into dust. The Zombies fell in droves, but their seemingly unending numbers gave them the ability to keep attacking. Suddenly, the walls to the groups side smashed inwards and more Zombies poured through. The Zombies grabbed the group of heros and Blade thought, "The odds had to catch up with me eventually. I've been beating them so long, I guess it's payback time." Sailor Moon paniced. As the Zombies ran their cold and clammy hands over her she screamed...... ....and then something unusual happened. The Ginzuishou glowed brighter and a pure blast of white light shot out over the entire area. The Warriors, Sailor Mercury, and Tuxedo Kamen were dropped and they stood, uneffected by the light. The Zombies however did not get off so easily. Like vampires in the sun, the light of the Crystal burned them into small piles of white ashes. Tuxedo Kamen looked up and saw that Sailor Moon had removed her broach and now held it high over her head. The Zombies they had faced were dead, but Sailor Moon seemed to have no intentions of stopping. "Tuxedo Kamen," he heard Timeiands voice say in his mind, "stop her. She's trying to kill every Zombie in New York. If you don't stop her, she'll kill herself in the process." Tux nodded and pulled out one of his roses. "Forgive me," he whispered. He threw the rose and it hit Sailor Moons hand. She dropped the broach and it fell to the ground with a clatter. Then she fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. She shook and sobbed. Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen ran up to her. Geronimo joined them but Timeiand grabbed Blade by the shoulder before he could go over to join the group. "What are you doing?" Blade growled, "Usagi needs all the support she can get at this time." "I know," Timeiand replied, "I just want you to know we're almost there. She won't be subjected to this horror much longer." Tuxedo and Mercury both noticed something different about Moon as they tried to get her to stop shaking. Her eyes had lost their happy sparkle and in its place were two empty pools of despair. They heard her whispering softly, "Is this our future? How could people do this to themselves? What's the point of going on?" None of them had a good answer. END CHAPTER 11 NEXT: CHAPTER 12: MEANWHILE..... As you've been reading this, you probably think that the next chapter is the one where we go back to Androxia to see how our other group is doing. Well, it's not. For the next chapter we're going back to the Home to see our two favorite little cats, Luna and Artimis. They've had it pretty easy at the Home but not even the Home is safe from danger. Consider this next chapter a little intermission before the big finale. (Plus, I discovered that if I kept going the way I was I would end with 13 chapters and I don't want to do THAT.) To find out what happens..... Read on! May The Spirit Preserve You!