ZPG fanfic by T3dd13
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Fallout Arc
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Period 11: Bait and Switch
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High above in the branches I take a few seconds to enjoy the wonderful view of the treetops. The autumn air fills my lungs as I take the time to admire the color of the leaves. The moment of peace makes me temporarily forget the ever waking nightmare we face each day.
The view becomes marred by the sudden rush of birds taking flight. The tranquility is broken by the loud explosions from Nen, the running of RC motors and the discharge of Gunslingers weapons. I draw the longbow I crafted, with whatever materials I could find to replace the one broken from my fight against Mr. Warner, and take aim. Rolling back my fingers I release the arrow. The arrow embeds itself into the beech tree a little above my intended target. Cursing under my breath I draw another arrow and string. This time the projectile finds its mark in the temple of the shambling undead. Drawing on the renewed confidence, I fire more shots and each arrow finds it mark. The zombies fall like autumn leaves around them. I find myself firing at shots well beyond my supposed target range, but I don’t really care. Anything I can do thin the zombie ranks heading for the Bait group, I’ll do it. I don’t really care for the plan too much anyways…
“This is the plan”, Bookworm said as she gestured with her hands towards a crudely drawn map, “See this? This is where we are. This is the tree house.” I look down Bookworms slender finger to the image she was pointing to with her index. From my perspective it looks nothing like a tree house. More like an upside down octopus with broccoli hair. I hide and stifle my slight chuckle at her lack of artistic talent by covering my mouth with my left hand to look as if I am pondering something. I fake a cough and bring my hand back down as she continues. “From my gardening club friend, they told me they were planning a harvesting event for the school. So they planted a lot of fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse here.” Her finger moves from the tree house to what I assume is the greenhouse a box colored green. I guess she didn’t even bother trying to draw that. “We will divide into 3 groups. One will gather as much food as they can while the other distracts the zombies by being as loud as they can. The third group is in charge of protecting the gatherers. Nen, Gunslinger and RC since your weapons create the most amount of noise, you will be the bait.” A bit of awkward pause falls over the room. Since Nen, Gunslinger and RC has joined us, Bookworm seems to put them at bay. I cannot tell whether she doesn’t trust them or not but having the three of them together all the time during arrangements is starting to become obvious. Logically speaking though, this time around it makes perfect sense so they do not say anything. Neither do I. “Thankfully we have a well and the school reservoir nearby so water will not be too much of a problem. We will have to start rationing food and gather what we can when we aren’t rescued by the time winter comes.”
I glance over to the fields as Fluffy, Tank and Scrapper are gathering crops in the greenhouse. The gardening club grew quite a bit of corn, potato and pumpkin for a school wide harvest event. With the sudden outbreak I don’t think that the event is going to occur anymore or worse yet, the gardeners themselves have become the undead shamblers, nothing more than a decaying husk of their former selves. Heavy is blasting away with his water gun. I have no idea what Gadget and Heavy did but that thing has become so deadly and powerful. Heavy can set it to do small thin water beams that punch holes and cut limbs or set it to full blast and push an entire horde back like a fireman's hose. Of course, he is limited by the amount of water he can carry. As per usual, Brawler fights with both her insane strength and finesse. I watch as she throws a strong hook that obliterates a decaying skull to dust then with a quick roll to her next target and upward kick to the poor zombies chin decapitates sending its head flying in the air. Watching her fight is like watching a dance or a ballet recital. No movements wasted, quick, efficient, and destructive. Suddenly she looks towards my direction and give me the thumbs up sign. At first I am embarrassed as I thought she caught me watching her fight but then I remember. I quickly look over to Fluffy and them who are waving in my direction. I go to my quiver and grab a special arrow. It looks something like a rocket attached to an arrow. I light the long fuse and fire it out into the distance. The explosion creates multiple loud noises and flashes with hopes of drawing all the zombies to its location. This doubles as the signal for the Bait team to retreat back to the tree house. I remove the tether from my waist and start to climb down the tree. In my haste, I make a fatal mistake. Perhaps my shoes have been wearing too much lately but the grip gives out and I slip off the branches. A scream escape my lips as I watch the ground gets closer and closer as I free fall. Since there is nothing I can do I shut my eyes and brace myself for the bone shattering impact…
Comments
The enemy this time around is someone living and children like them. They call themselves "the Quiet Ones". A play on the saying "fear the quiet ones". Sometimes the quiet people in life are the most dangerous ones. They have ganged together and created a cult. We'll see more of this and I will try to explore some ideas on how this came to be. Remember this is a work of fiction and as of yet (unless MB wants it to), has nothing to do with the actual game.
Look forward to the next chapter.
I sadly don't write much but I tend to sketch a lot. (Sorry for the late response) although I actually haven't done a full sketch of my oc yet.