Young Writers Society

Hugo paces backwards and forwards, before finally coming to a stop besides an extremely large hand and a half sword, hanging on the wall. Quickly he be-scabbards it and hangs it on his belt. Then, quickly and methodically he walks about the room, arming himself. Tracer Bola. Buckler. Telescopic Epee. Finally he attaches some ammunition around the back of his belt, and slings a length of rope with a grapple over his shoulder. He looks at his wristwatch, checking the GPS function. And finally he is ready to leave.
Ten minutes later, Hugo stands outside the gate. Under normal conditions he would scale the wall, yet the gate had been opened recently, so with any luck it wouldn't make too much noise.
"Alexandru, could you open the gate please?" he requests his wrist watch. "But only a crack, then shut it once I'm out." Making as little noise as possible, he slips out of the narrow crack, which groans shut behind him.
Once out, his watch beeped twice. A message. He looked at it, and it turned out to be the mission brief. Alexandru hadn't written it earlier to save time, yet Hugo knew he was legally obliged to do give it. Quickly, with a sense of urgency, he skim read it, his eyes flicking up every so often to check for zombies. His eyes caught a picture, someone he recognised. The caption told him the picture was the "nerd" Alexandru had talked about, by the name of Ladnar. Ladnar. He recognised that name... Aha! He was in a three week close combat boot camp that Hugo had delivered, Ladnar was the natural fencer. Hugo had liked him, but unfortunately he never done anything with his talent, despite Hugo's recommendations.
Quickly Hugo ran through the deserted buildings, following his GPS. Arriving at the old warehouse style building, Hugo stopped, and unwrapped his grapple. He was just about to throw it when he heard a moaning, shuffling noise behind him, at least five. Finally.
Hugo spinned and drew his sword in one movement. The first zombie was sliced horizontally, clean in two. Zombies two and three were decapitated in the back cut. Zombie four was brought to the ground with the buckler, and finished of later. Zombie number five was sliced in two vertically, so that each half fell in opposite directions. The final zombie was shot with Hugo's buckler pistol.
Hugo wiped his sword clean with a cloth he had brought for the purpose, and picked up his grapple. The second cast he made caught, and after tugging twice to ensure the rope was steadfast, he started to absail up the building. Absailing was in no way Hugo's specialty, so he had to rely on brute strength to haul himself up the side. He was half bear, after all. Finally he pulled himself over the edge, stood up and brushed down his jacket. Looking around he assessed the situation. Ladnar told Alexandru he would wait for Hugo inside, so inside is where Hugo will go. But which way did he take? There are a couple of vents, and a pair of double doors, but there would probably be other ways of getting in. Making the obvious guess, Hugo picks up his grapple and slips through the doors.

Charlie | Hybrid

Charlie walked, the heavy set of the sun cording thick shadows in the notches of his odd, mutt face. His head was down, his dirty hair in his eyes. His wide powerful shoulders were slack with exhaustion, a result of hyperactivity. His feet were the color of the starved ground. It had been four days since he had escaped.

Monsters. They were nothing like the ones that were held captive behind bars, contained within the roaming space of the arena. They were wild, angry, starving. Radically desperate. Aggressively fast. Maddeningly strong. And alarmingly gaunt.

But besides the erratic times when he had to bolt into a building, or scale over a still- intact fence, or the occasional times when he had to resort to his own claws to scrape his way through a rotting body, its teeth rotted pegs reaching for his fleshy skin, he was surviving. His food would last him about another week in a half, a little less than he's comfortable with, but enough time for him to manage out of the city. If the city ever ended.

But he could feel it again. The faster pace of his heart, the rock in his throat that was heavy with meaning, and the adrenaline that thrummed through his fingertips. Weird as it was, he could smell it, too; the mix of dust, rot, and charcoal, with his feverish sweat. To anyone else, it was the anxiety that came with the constant threat of danger. But to him it meant freedom once again. He wasn't packed into a sweaty uniform, parading around like a wooden trinket. He wasn't strapped down to a table, screaming against the muzzle around his mouth until he lost his voice for days as the Doctors studied him under that blasted lamp and prodded him with those disgusting tools. He was back living amongst the monsters, where the mutants belonged.

Charlie paused, raised his head and inhaled through his inhuman nostrils. His ears tweaked and twitched to his subconscious's demands as Charlie turned his head this way and that, shortening their twisting range until they pointed in the direction he was turned. His attention narrowed until it composed of a single street pocked with trash and old remnants of graffiti, his body slowly tensing.

Then there it was again; a distant scream, bouncing and diffusing into and from the great fallen buildings.

Charlie broke off at a hurried jog, pausing once again to listen at an old intersection. A pounding echo sedately hobbled down to brush against his skin, unnerving as the unmistakable sound of bending metal. He twisted his body so he was facing to his left and ran down the street at a powerful sprint.

He stomped down on his heels to slow down as that familiar wail caressed his hearing with a cold clammy fingers. Four or five buildings down to his left a hoard of zombies hammered an uneven beat into a pair of double doors reinforced with old steel. Again, a scream came out of the building, somehow scraping over the sounds of hungry moans. For a split second he thought he was going to barrel into the crowd, killing without a care of his life. However, despite his immunity to that lethal bite, there were many other ways a mutant could fall from a mass of those things, something he remembered distantly with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Instead, he looked upwards, his eyes following the movements of the roofs next to the complex. Edging a little too close to the hoard, he quickly and selectively slipped into a conveniently broken window, quietly making his way upstairs until he found a window he could open that mirrored one on the next building. He dug around until he found a heavy paper weight and chucked it at the opposite window, satisfaction warming his chest as the cheap glass shattered. He lithely jumped the distance and again went up until he found another window that had a strangely misplaced brick sticking out of the side of the complex. Steadying himself on the tip of the window, he paused as another shrill and clatter originated from the apartments, and then he returned his focus, his tail swishing up a loose piece of paper. Then, he jumped.

And missed.

"SON OF A ROTTEN MOTHER-!!" He screamed, scrambling and scraping his knees, skin and claws against the brick as he fell. By some miracle his feet suddenly bumped against the pane of a window, and he was quick enough to catch the lip of it with his fingers. With his hair once again flung into his eyes, he lifted himself up on his elbow, which was barely able to fit into the indention around the window. Lifting up his other arm with his fist clenched, he punched through the window, his fury fueling his momentum and throwing demonic shadows into the suddenly angry lines of his face.

A screech, much more significantly louder, blared into his ears, undoubtedly human and female. He lifted his eyes so they peered through the curls of his hair, growling instinctively at the irritating noise. He must have been quite the sight; a strange bulk that was too big yet generally resembled a human figure, blood dripping from his arms, legs, and clawed fist which dangled against the dreary apartment wall, face scrunched up in a mix of agony and irritation that flashed his teeth like a hazard, and gold eyes that appeared to glow in the dim light.

This time he could see that there was two of them; a young girl cowering in the corner, and a boy holding up a broken off piece of wood that obviously went to something else, looking ready to swing but too panicked to act. As he was focused on the boy he saw the girl open her mouth to scream again, and with an angry snap he shouted at her, "Shut up! Just shut up and STOP SCREAMING."

As the orange glow from Ladnar’s cutting torch slowly faded, Ladnar kicked in the third door he had done this to inside the factory. And just like the last ones, it was just another office. There weren’t even any PC’s in the offices, just hundreds of loose sheets of paper. Either looters had already got to the factory during the early days of the outbreak, or the zombies took the computers for entertainment. Ladnar would put his bet on the former. Glancing a bit more to make sure he hadn’t left anything, Ladnar continued down to the next office. Once again, the door was locked, and so once again Ladnar had to use the torch. On his rare missions with other Hammer agents, Ladnar had seen them kick down locked doors with ease. But when he had tried, he had fractured his leg. When it came down to it, the cons of having hallowed bones definitely outweighed the Pros. When Ladnar had cut around the doorway, he gave it a firm kick, sending the door inward. Ladnar was satisfied to see this office was still in an orderly state. Papers were still in their folders, and there was even a computer on the desktop.
“Petral, you’re up. Search that computer for any useful data. Try and find factory schematics and an inventory.”
“The main power grid is offline. You will need to use your emergency battery on the computer.”
Thinking as much, Ladnar detached a small black box that had been magnetically held just above his tail feathers from his belt. Ladnar unplugged the computer from its floor socket and plugged it into the black box. While Petral checked the computer, Ladnar looked around the office for anything useful. Inside the desk were a couple of bagged snacks that were several months past their expiration date, (like that mattered with all the chemicals in them) a smart phone, and a flash drive. Ladnar pocketed the smart phone and flash drive to use on upgrading Petral. The only game Ladnar could play on Petral right now was Angry birds, and he was hoping this smart phone would have a more sensible game like chess installed. Ladnar looked on the underside of the desk, and just as he suspected there was a fully loaded Revolver hidden in a holster screwed underneath the desk. Ladnar gladly took that, but the only weapon he would ever need was his Buzz Blade as he liked to call it. It could easily slice through zombies, and stun both them and survivors if he needed to.
“Subject 16, I have finished my search.”
“Find anything?” Ladnar asked, turning to the computer.
“There was a complete inventory of the factory stored on this computer, but unfortunately there were no schematics. Ordinarily, the proper procedure would be to hack into the central computer from a lesser one, but the local network is down, so you will have to find the executive office. That is likely where the main computer is.”
“Got it. Thanks Petral.”
“In other news, your partner is on his way.”
“Just one? I thought Alexandru was sending more than that.” Ladnar said, a bit miffed at this. If their had been two, then they could have just kept the small talk between each other. But now, their was going to be an unnerving awkward silence.
“Alexandru could only spare one Hammer agent.”
“Who is it?”
“Agent Hugo. I will upload a full personnel profile to your visor when you wish.”
Ladnar sighed at this. He remembered Hugo from training, and he would be more in place single handedly ridding a city of its population, both undead and alive, than on a tech op. Now he had an incentive to get the job done faster. Maybe he could salvage all the good tech before Hugo came barreling through a wall.

Ladnar was a bit in the dark without the schematics, but luckily the executive’s office wasn’t very subtle.
“Now, what are the chance’s this is the office?” Ladnar asked, gesturing to the double doors that were plastered with several posters with slogans such as “I’m the boss!” and “If you can read this, you aren’t working hard enough.”
“There is an 80.3% chance this is the executive office.”
“That was a rhetorical quest…”
“Also, I am detecting a human heat signature inside the room.”
“Good. I was tired of burning down doors.”
Ladnar knocker on the door, glancing down the hallways to make sure there weren’t any zombies trying to get the jump on him. There had been a surprising lack of them inside the factory so far. Ladnar waited, but there was no response. Not verbally anyway. Ladnar heard the faint click of a revolver on the other side.
“David, that you?” A nervous voice asked.
“No, I’m a… Hey!”
A bullet punctured one of the doors, hitting the opposite wall.
“I’ll shoot again! You can’t dodge them all.” The voice shouted.
“I doubt you would want to put more bullets through your door. The zombies will smell you easier.” Ladnar reasoned.
There was a bit more silence, then the voice spoke again.
“Who are you?”
“I was about to explain that before you shot at me. I’m an agent of Hammer. We’re an organization devoted to killing these zombies.”
“… alright. I’ll get the door.”
The handle turned, and the door slowly opened, but stopped before it even got halfway open. Obviously this guy was still worried about Ladnar. Ladnar rolled his eyes, and opened the door. Ladnar was hit with the strong scent of alcohol and body odor as he walked in. He shut the door behind him, and turned towards the mystery man. He was short, bald, and was a perfect example of an inept apocalypse survivor. The man just stared at Ladnar, a horrified look on his face.
“What the hell are you?” He asked.
“A Hybrid. Haven’t you ever seen one before?”
“Well, I’d heard about them, but I thought they were just some tabloid junk.”
“Speaking of tabloid junk…” Ladnar mocked, looking at a pile of… inappropriate magazines on one of the beds in the office. The man quickly grabbed a blanket and through it over them. Ladnar’s gaze was drawn to the other two beds in the room.
“Are you alone here?” Ladnar asked.
“I am now.”
“What happened to the others? And how are you still alive?”
The man put his hands in his head, as if the memory was too painful to remember.
“I can’t remember when, I’ve lost track of time. But one day, my employees were doing all their work as usual…”
“Employees? Then I guess that makes you the boss then?”
“Yes. My name is George Murphy. Anyway, they were all just working and I was up here doing company business… stop that!”
When the man had said company business, Ladnar had deliberately let his gaze drift over to the blanket.
“Sorry. Go on.”
“They were all just working, but then the next thing anyone knew, the factory floor was being swarmed by those things. They had run in through the loading area, and had already gotten the men working there. In ten minutes, they had gotten most of the people. I locked myself in here with my two bodyguards. We occasionally heard one of those things walk by, but soon even that stopped.”
“Where’d they all go?”
“That’s what we went to find out. We looked out onto the factory floor from the observation room, and we saw bodies all over the floor. Then we figured out what had happened. One of my employees had opened up our nuclear reactor to try and kill them all.”
“That was smart.” Ladnar said admirably. That man had opened up the reactor to stop the zombies from getting out, even though he knew it would likely kill him.
“No, no, no! It just made things worse. It did kill a few, but then we saw two more just stumbling along, not moving in the frenzied run they used to. They walked over to a large pile of bodies we hadn’t seen, and collapsed into it.”
“I still don’t see how that’s worse than if they had just died.”
“Neither did we. One of my guards realized we didn’t have enough supplies, so he tried to get to the cafeteria to get food. We were watching him go across the main floor from the observation room, and I wish we hadn’t. As he was walking by the pile of bodies, it… it got him.”
Ladnar waited for an explanation. He hated melodramatics.
“Umm… how did a pile of dead bodies get him?”
“It wasn’t a pile. At least, not anymore. The radiation had mutated the entire pile into some giant, ape thing. It grabbed him, and swallowed him whole. A few days later, we could see his body squished in there with the others.”
Ladnar stood there for a while, trying to process this.
“Petral, do you have any reports of this ever happening before?” Ladnar asked.
“There is no record of this behavior in any of the Hammer files. From this story, it seems that the undead gathered themselves in a pile specifically for the purpose of self-preservation.”
Ladnar hung up on Petral. He needed more information.
“What about the other dead bodies? What happened to them?”
“That thing ate them, about once per day. When it ran out, then the screeching started. It calls others to it and eats them, but it doesn’t look like it’s growing anymore.” George explained.
“It is likely that this creature needs a constant supply of energy to sustain itself. Though the law of energy transfer states that not much energy is transferred from organism to organism, this creature doesn’t seem to need as much energy.” Petral explained.
For the first time in his career, Ladnar was feeling genuinely afraid.
“Where’s the observation room?”
“Just down the hallway and to the left. You can go, but you’re not making me go.”
There was just one detail that still bothered Ladnar.
“You said you had two bodyguards. Where’s the other one?”
The man was obviously caught off guard by the question.
“He… left. Yeah, he left a little bit after my first guard died. He thought he had a better chance of survival going off alone.”
Ladnar wasn’t in the mood to pursue the subject further. Ladnar turned towards the door to leave.
“You aren’t going to try and kill it are you?” George asked.
“Of course I am. Killing zombies is what a Hammer agent does best.”
Maybe a normal agent, but Ladnar wasn’t sure how much use a tiny submachine gun and a shock sword would be. Now he wanted Hugo to hurry up. He would need help with this.

"Hey, Ladnar!" Hugocalled down the corridor of welding torch opened doors. "Wait up!"
"So, what's the plan, what's happening, and... well, that's pretty much it."
Im two sentences Ladnar explained the situation. "Broke in found boss. Big radioactive zombie lump in observation room."
"Where's that then?" Hugo asked.
"Down the hall to the left." said Ladnar.
"What are we waiting for?" Hugo had been expecting a tech mission (just because he am strong everyone assumes he can't identify tech.) but this exceeded his expectations. Passing a heavily sloganed door the duo headed down the corridor, and turned left. Then they came face to face with large double doors. Ladnar reached for his torch, but Hugo simply looked down condescendingly (rather easy to do two foot higher than everyone else) and kicked down the door with a single blow. Rather than the large zombie glob thing Hugo had expected he saw a couple of dead zombies. Just then his watch started beeping.
"Be careful," he warned Ladnar, "high radiation levels." Ladnar looked slightly peeved, and Hugo saw his AI had just told him exactly the same thing.
Following the obvious and only exit, in hope to find this so called zombie glob, the entered a corridor not unsimilar to the previous one, only with all it's doors. At the far end stood more double doors, yet these did not require opening by brute strength, for both were torn of their hinges.
"Looks like the thing went this way." Hugo said.
"No shit Sherlock. " Ladnar replied.
Hugo considered quoting a little Doyle, but he didn't want to further annoy Ladnar. He could already sense his presence wasn't entirely appreciated. Rather he quickly wrote a mission status report, and proceeded. Heaven knows what lies ahead.

As Ladnar and Hugo walked down the corridor, Ladnar’s thoughts were constantly being interrupted by his infernal conscience. It said that he shouldn’t have snapped at Hugo, and that he needed to work on his short sentences when in the presence of organics. But what did it know? Ladnar hated pointless observations. They wasted time, and after a while, the time spent on obvious observations really adds up. Ladnar was fairly certain that he had accumulated at least a month’s worth of wasted time. As for his speech, it was an unbreakable habit. Whenever Ladnar’s mind went into overdrive, he tried to keep his sentences short just to keep up with it. The Hammer Counselor said that he needed to work on this, as it could lead to communication issues. But if anyone partnered up with him didn’t possess the processing power to understand him, then they had the wrong partner. Ladnar and Hugo had already passed through several hallways, and the only thing they had found was more destruction. It was possible the creature could have left the factory, but that didn’t make much sense. According to George, it had made the factory its home for quite some time. But Ladnar didn’t follow that train of thought very far. He was more focused on the creature itself. Was it a hive mind, or did one zombie have complete control over the collective? Which of the bodies was the weak point, and what if it didn’t have one? Ladnar was broken out of his thoughts by Hugo, who had stopped. They had come to another set of double doors, with these also torn off their hinges. Through the doors was obviously what appeared to be the company cafeteria. Hugo turned to Ladnar.
“What’s the plan?” Hugo asked.
Ladnar stood and thought. He wished he had gotten the schematics from the Executive office before leaving so he could see the layout of the room.
“Weapons?” Ladnar asked.
“Plenty of swords. Might open up a museum with them when this is all over.”
“No Projectile weaponry?”
“Nope. Well, just this.” Hugo said, pulling a Frisbee like object of his belt.
“I just toss this, and it blows up. Pretty straightforward. And deadly.”
Ladnar thought for a few more seconds.
“Take this.” He said handing Hugo the revolver he had taken from the desk. It had eight shots, and the bullets inside were designed to detonate shortly after impact. Hugo took the revolver, even though it was almost too small for his claws.
Ladnar turned to his micro computer.
“Petral, search for radiation. Find highest concentration.” Ladnar ordered.
“The room does have faint traces of radiation, but only prolonged exposure will do harm. I cannot get a good reading from our current position. A more direct scan of the room should help.”
Ladnar was afraid of that. Petral wasn’t smart enough to realize that he was trying to find the monster. If it had been exposed to radiation for as long as it had, then it should emit a strong radiation signal.
“We’re going in. Be ready.” Ladnar told Hugo. Hugo put the revolver in one of his spacious pockets, and drew his hand and a half sword. Ladnar drew his submachine gun, but he was starting to doubt its usefulness. Ladnar turned to Hugo, and held up three fingers. Then he dropped one, then another, and when he dropped them all he and Hugo swung themselves into the room. As soon as they stepped in, they were greeted with a horrible screeching noise. Luckily Ladnar had sound dampeners built into his visor, but Hugo wasn’t as lucky. The volume of the screech made him flinch, but he didn’t cover his ears. Ladnar looked all around for the source, but couldn’t find it.
“Subject 16, I am detecting high radiation levels directly above you.” Petral informed.
Ladnar glanced up, and there hanging from the metal support beams was the monstrosity. George had been right when he had described it as an ape. It definitely looked like one. It had large forward arms made up of various decaying body parts, and short hind legs made of the same thing. No head was visible, just the massive arms and stubby legs. Ladnar shouted to Hugo to move, but he could hardly hear his own voice over the combined effects of the sound dampeners and the screeching. Thankfully, Hugo heard him and dove out of the way as the creature came crashing down from the metal support beams above. Ladnar had already dived out of the way, and was now opening fire on the creature. It instantly turned on Ladnar and charged at incredible speed for its size, screeching in its loud wail. Ladnar side rolled, and continued shooting. The bullets though seemed to only be making it angrier. Hugo had recovered from earlier, and charged at the creature. Amazingly, it didn’t even see him coming, giving Hugo the chance to swing his sword into the creatures arm. The sword met resistance about halfway into its arm, but the damage had been done. The creature swung the arm that had been cut in Hugo’s general direction, but he had already withdrawn to a safer distance. All the while, Ladnar had been shooting, but it was as if they were made of rubber. With Hugo gone, the creature turned back to Ladnar and charged again. Ladnar tried to dive out of the way, but its limp arm was swinging around as it charged, and caught Ladnar in the side, knocking him across the room. Luckily, the impact hadn’t been enough to break any of his bones.
“Subject 16, I have analyzed the creature’s behavior, and I have concluded that it lacks sight. It is reacting to any harm done to it and any noise. I would recommend informing Agent Hugo of this.” Petral said. Ladnar pushed himself painfully off the ground. The creature had stopped, and was lumbering around waiting for something to attack. Hugo ran at it, getting in underneath and stabbing upward. The creature flailed around, trying to hit Hugo again, but Hugo did a surprisingly agile backwards roll, getting out of range. Ladnar quietly ran to Hugo to tell him about what he had learned. Hugo was just about to make another charge when Ladnar stopped him.
“Creature can’t see. Reacts to sound.” Ladnar quickly whispered. But even the whisper was loud enough for the creature, and it once again made another charge. Both Hugo and Ladnar dove out of the way, but now they knew this things weakness. Hugo pulled his Chakram from his belt and primed it.
“Petral. Explosive Power?” Ladnar asked.
“I detect that this device is the equivalent of 20 pounds of basic TNT. The explosion should rip the creature if placed properly.”
Hugo slowly stalked towards the creature, his sword in one hand and the Chakram in another. Ladnar was tempted to shout at him to stop. This strange conglomeration was unique, and the science team would want to study it. For all Ladnar knew, there could be more out there. But if Ladnar shouted, the creature would definitely hear, and it would charge again, and this thing might get lucky this time. Hugo was right up against its back now, and he pulled the revolver out of his pocket. He was almost touching the creature with the revolver barrel. Hugo pulled back the hammer, and let four shots into the creatures back in rapid succession. The explosive tips tore a large hole in the creatures back, and just before the creature turned to attack, Hugo shoved the Chakram into the hole. The creature roared, and swung its good arm around, but Huog raised his arms up and actually managed to hold off the blow. Hugo sunk the remaining bullets into the creatures legs, staggering it backward.
“Run!” Hugo shouted as he shoved the creatures arm off, disengaging. Ladnar didn’t even hesitate, running for the same door Hugo and he came in through. Hugo was right behind Ladnar, and the creature was still in the cafeteria. A few seconds later, Ladnar and Hugo heard a large explosion the signaled the creatures demise. Ladnar turned to Hugo, who was leaning against the corridor wall, slightly out of breath.
“I wish you hadn’t done that. That creature’s corpse would have been valuable.” Ladnar said, back to his usual speech habits.
“Whoa, so you can talk normal. Look, I’m sorry about that, but it was either it or us.”
“Why don’t you go and see if there’s anything left of that thing, and then start looking for any technology. Try and find a storage or stockroom and grab as much as you can.”
“Anything specific? I’m not that good at telling what’s valuable and what’s not.”
“Anything computer or weapon related. That shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll go back to George and…”
“Who?” Hugo asked, unfamiliar with the name.
“George is the name of the survivor I talked with and is also CEO of this factory. I’ll go back and try and get more information out of him, while you check the creature’s remains and salvage tech. Be careful though. From what George said, that monster’s roars signal other zombies.”
“Got it. I’ll be back with as much tech as I can carry. Probably means I’ll come back with the entire storage room though.” Hugo said jokingly. Ladnar just stared, not really comprehending the joke.
“Well… I’m off.” Hugo said, walking back towards the cafeteria, singing an unfamiliar song. Ladnar turned back the other way. Even though he was a bit too trigger happy for Ladnar’s liking, Hugo did make a decent partner.
“You’re getting soft.” Ladnar thought to himself. “That’ll bite you in the tail feathers someday.”

The creature's remains were not a pretty sight, a pile of radioactive greeny brown zombie ooze, but Hugo gathered a small container full, singing the lyrics to We Are Ninja (which had entered his head some time during the last battle, for some unknown reason.)
From the observation room Hugo continued down the corridor, knocking down each door with his fist as he passed it, checking for offices with any sort of tech. Every now and then he entered a larger office, and looked in a few draws, but other than that he took what was visible through the aperture of the door frame, and was small enough to put in his rucksack. (Nobody uses cathode ray monitors now anyway.)
At the end of one of the many corridors Hugo came across what looked like an ICT room. This was what he had been looking for. He was just about to break down the door when he heard noises from inside. A scratching sound, eerie in the otherwise silence. Zombies? Humans? In one swift movement Hugo broke down the door, sword in hand...
Mice.
The mice scuttled away as soon as Hugo entered, so he walked around the room, taking what he could find. Cables, smart phones, the occasional pair of smart glasses, (including a rather nice pair of smart contact lenses) and a taser that he found under one of the tables for some reason.
Cables slung over one shoulder, Hugo started walking back to the observation room. He wondered what Ladnar would make of his spoils.

Snow

Something wakes me. We've been moving along steadily, going through a different town every day. With no sign of Charlie anywhere, we move on to the next town in the afternoon, board up a house, and search it the next day. But this town we got sloppy. We haven't seen any of the creatures since we left, so I think everyone forgot to do something important. Board up the house.
There is another bang, followed by some shuffling of feet on floorboards, and then a low growl. I sit up quickly, eyes scanning the room. I see nothing, but as my ears swivel around, they pick up the sound only one living - or should I say dead - thing will make. A low moan, like a hungry child.
"Everyone up, up, up!" I roar, leaping to my feet.
A few lights blaze - torches on shotguns for moments like these - and the doorway is lit up, showing a mass of zombies. My throat tightens and my heart drops to my stomach. Everyone lets out a breath that resembles a squeak, and guns are raised.
All hell breaks loose. Screams and roars fill the room, almost drowned out by the firing of guns. Beside me Neal roars and blasts at the zombies. Bullets ricochet off the walls, roof and floor, most killing the zombies, some missing them completely. By the time the wave is over, everyone is breathing hard and dripping with sweat.
"Well then, which genius forgot to board up the fucking house?" Neal growls, looking around.
"We're all to blame, Neal, so shut up," I snap, and turn around to walk over to a window. Outside I see dark figures running toward the house at an alarming speed. I curse under my breath and turn to face everyone. "We gotta go."
"We can't see outside!" Someone shouts.
"Well, you can brave the dark or die in here," I snarl and pick up my shotgun and spin around to glare at everyone in the room. "Your choice."
"I vote for living," Neal says.
"Me too," Lora adds.
"That makes three of us," Mark puts in.
Two others agree to come into the dark with me, while the other two decide to brave the indoors.
"Your funeral," I hiss at them and leap out of the window to scale the wall onto the roof. Lora follows, telling the others behind her that we're climbing onto the roof. The other four people scale the wall onto the roof and we sit there, waiting.
"What now?" Neal asks.
"Now, we -"
Screams cut me off, followed by gunfire. When the noise dies down, we wait, huddled on the roof, and I spot the first rays of sunlight.
"Wait," I finish.
"Well, it's going to be a long wait," Neal groans.
"Load your guns," Lora says, and we all do as she suggests.

Hanley

"Shut up! Just shut up and STOP SCREAMING." The thing yelled, it's slumped figure making weird breathing noises. The anger in his tone frightened me, even though I was used to raised tones.
The figure was big, tall...but it had to form of a human. The light from outside allowed me to see liquid dripping off of him, which I assumed was blood.

I wanted to yell back, argue with him, but I decided that that probably wasn't the best decision, considering the fact that he just fought terrible creatures that came from who knows where.

Matthew and I each had water bottles, even though we only had a little left in a each one.

As I slowly moved from the corner, Matthew snapped his head toward me, and I could see the curiousness in his eyes. I took my jacket I'd been wearing off, poured some water on it, and made my way over to the...person on the other side of the room.

Once I reached him, I hesitated, then pressed the clothes against his arm, which seemed to be the worst damaged.

What was it he was fighting? The monsters? Did he get bitten? Was it even safe for us to be around him?

"I'm Hanley." I told him, after a few moments of wiping blood from his arm.

This was quite hard to do without much light, if only I had a flashlight...oh well.

Matthew cleared his throat, and weakly stated his name.

The man grunted, and pulled his arm away. "Save your water."

The window he'd come through was completely broken, and I could hear the howl of the wind blow through the sharp crystals that remained.

"Matthew..can you patch this up? I...I'm gonna go to bed.." I muttered to him, as I left the room that contained my friend, and some...large stranger.

I most likely wasn't going to sleep, in fear of being harmed by the man who'd just arrived.

When I reached the room, I entered, shut the door, then sat on the edge of the bed.

I wasn't exactly sure how long I'd been sitting there, but I could feel the blood on my hands drying slowly, becoming crusty.

As I picked at the dried blood, there was a quiet knock at the door.

Without answering, the door creaked open, and Matthew stood in the doorway.

"Do you mind if I crash on the floor? The guy...he's gonna sleep in my spot. I let him.."

"He's staying? Not leaving? Is he dangerous..? Did he tell you his name?" The questions tumbled out before I could shut my mouth.

"He's staying, yes..I don't really know if he's dangerous, and he said his name's Charlie."

I nodded once, and got up on the bed. "I don't care if you sleep in here. You can actually sleep up here, on the bed with me, if you want. I'd feel more comfortable if you did."

His company made me feel safer, even though he wouldn't be able to fight off a big guy like that ma- er, Charlie.

The bed creaked as Matthew sat next to me on it. "Go to bed. If this guy has been out there, then he might be able to help us get food.."

My mouth immediately started watering just by hearing the word 'food'. "..alright.."

Laying down, I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering slightly. The room temperature had dropped, and without my jacket, it seemed to be freezing.

"Night, Simmons.." Matthew mumbled as he laid down.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Ladnar said as he walked back into the office.
"Did you kill it?" George asked, referring to the mutant.
"Yes. It's completely blown apart. It's not coming back." Ladnar said, but he only assumed it was blown apart. Hugo would be back soon with a report on the body, and hopefully some decent salvage.
"Who's David?" Ladnar suddenly asked.
"What?"
"When I first knocked on the door, you asked if I was someone named David."
"Oh, right. That was the name of my other guard, the one who left."
"If you thought I was him, then why have a gun ready to shoot."
"Because I wasn't sure if you were David or not!" George exclaimed.
Ladnar stared at him, trying to see if their was any truth in his eyes. There wasn't.
"I think you're lying." Ladnar stated plainly.
"Fine! He didn't leave, I kicked him out. There wasn't enough supplies for the both of his, so I told him to get out at gunpoint."
"I take it you didn't even give him a gun to defend himself with?"
"No, ammo is too valuable. Their, now you know what happened. If you took care of that thing, then let's go."
"I hope you don't carry that selfish attitude with you to the survivor's camp. It's a team effort their."
"Yes, I won't. No more selfish. I'll be a team player from now on. Now, can we go?"
"I need to wait for my partner. He's off getting salvage."
"Salvage? Those are my products he's rifling through! Call him and tell him to get his grubby paws, talons, or whatever he has off my stuff!"
"Actually, it would appear your factory is out of business, so I think that gives looters the right to anything still left here."
George didn't have a response to that, and so only began to pack whatever he would need. He pulled a suitcase out from underneath the bed, which was already half packed with spare clothes and some food. He filled the rest of the space with his pillow and blanket, a smartphone, and more food. Ladnar stepped out of the office and looked down the hall, trying to see if Hugo was on his way back yet. Sure enough, his big lumbering form came into view with a small plastic bag clutched in his hand.
"Got a pretty good haul here." He called out.
Hugo held out the bag,which Ladnar took. he looked inside, and saw quite a few advanced pieces of technology.
"Good job." Ladnar said, impressed by how good it all was. he had expected Hugo to waste all carrying space with anything that had buttons, but these choices were very good.
"So, we done here?" Hugo asked.
"Yes. We have one survivor with us though, so I think it would be best to reunite with the other team for now. I think their camp is in an abandoned house West of here. I'd call them, but I think they are lacking in communications equipment."
"No problem. I've got a pretty good nose. Shouldn't be too hard to smell out the only living things left in this city."
George came out of the office, his suitcase in one hand, his revolver in the other and a G36C slung over his shoulder, obviously the gun his guard once used. He was a bit taken back by the appearance of Hugo.
"How many of you are their?" He asked.
"More than you think." Hugo responded.
"Wait, what all did you steal?" George accused Hugo.
"Relax, their wasn't much left. I fit it all into that bag." Hugo responded, pointing toward the bag Ladnar held. George snatched it away, and looked into it. Satisfied their wasn't to much expensive stuff, he handed it back to Ladnar.
"Are we leaving now or not?" George asked impatiently. Ladnar officially didn't like this guy.
"Yes. We have another team west of here we're going to meet up with."
Ladnar tied the bag in a knot around his belt and drew his SMG.
"Try not to slow us down too much." Ladnar said to George as the group began to walk toward the emergency exit.

So, this is the George I've been hearing so much about, Hugo thought to himself as he left the building, him at the front and Ladnar bringing up the rear, in order to keep an eye on George. George really was a prat: he had to be told to shut up five times, and once Ladnar had to clamp his hand on George's mouth when he thought he heard the unmistakable shuffle of zombie feat. Luckily he was mistaken, and it had been a tom cat riffling through some rubbish.
Every couple of dozen yards Hugo stopped and sniffed the night air for the smell of living people. They were heading west, but they didn't want to miss the house.
But it turned out missing the house wasn't an issue.
After five minutes of plodding through the streets, both mutants slowing their paces to keep with George, they heard a shot ring out in the night air. It was followed by more, but already Hugo had picked up George by the collar (which he enjoyed greatly) and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. George squealed and dropped the bag full of eelectronic salvage, but quick as a flash Ladnar scooped it up and they were running in the direction of the noise.
By the time they got there the building was littered with dead zombies.
"There's certainly been a fight here, but where ar the survivors?" asked Ladnar.
"They can't have gone far," replied Hugo, "but they needed a vantage point. "
"The roof!" exclaimed Ladnar and they set of racing up the stairs, ignoring George's squeaks of protest.
Finally they got to the roof door. Hugo ran through, to be faced with five gun barrels.
"Friend?" he squeaks, and the barrels lower.
"Thank God," one of them said (I think her name was snow), "we need all the guns we can get. Then she looked at Hugo, and added "Or indeed, swords."
At this point Ladnar came in, and greeted Snow. No doubt they knew each other from training or something, Hugo thought.
"And the squealing runt on Hugo's back is George. " said Ladnar to Snow.
"So, whats been happening to you lot? " asked Hugo.