SET Initiative

Addison ended up waiting a solid twenty five minutes.


Suddenly, Austin jumped out of the window, landing on his back with a thud.

He was wearing newer armor, and he had a helmet on. He also had a few weapons attached to his armor. Rifles and the like, all the same make and style as his armor and gear. You could only barely tell that they were weapons, though. The blocky items of technology had parts that folded and slid around like a toy Transformer robot. They were attached as if they were part of the armor itself.

He scrambled to grab the bags, and threw two discs at the door and window like he did at the studio. They quickly expanded into hard metal barricades.

Austin's helmet split down the middle and folded away into his armor.

"We need to move, now! Take this!"

He threw an unusually large wristwatch at her, and if she put it on, it would expand into a sleek, thin bodysuit. A hologram would project itself over the suit, and the hologram quickly became solid plating for a suit of armor.

Mobility would be relatively the same as before she put it on, and she would need it because Austin had picked up three of the children and began running.

Addison caught the rather large watch he tossed at her, and she put it on. She gasped as the bodysuit attached itself to her, and when the armor took form, her eyebrows lifted. However, this was not the time to oooo and aahhh over her shiny new toy.

Addie followed his lead, and found she could suddenly carry more of the kids. Oh, this was so much help! She tossed one of the kids onto her back, the other two in her arms, and she took off after Austin, not even bothering to look behind her; she had a feeling she didn't want to know

As her helmet took form over her head, she glanced around frantically. Oh, this, she didn't like. Her vision was already jacked enough, she didn't like this.. but in reality, it didn't impair her much more than her own eye's lack of peripheral vision. She let it go for now, just running desperately after Austin.

Behind them, the sounds of hundreds of screaming, tormented souls rose in the air. They echoed in the empty streets of the city.

A reply came from somewhere else.

There were Infected within the city. There were Infected at the checkpoint.

If there were Infected at the checkpoint, then that meant all of the checkpoints had been shut down.

Addison didn't know that, though. Austin would have to break that news to her later. For now he focused on running.

He made a mad dash for an Acura MDX (small black SUV, seats 6) and opened the back passenger door. He shoved his three kids in, slammed the door, and motioned for Addison to follow him to the cargo door. When and if she arrived, he opened the back door and flicked his fingers towards himself in an "give them to me, we need to move NOW" kind of manner.

When that was done, Austin prayed the machine still had gas left.

Addison sprinted desperately after Austin, and when she caught him at the cargo door, she practically tossed the children to him, pushing them in securely and making the 'buckle up' motion, if they had access to the seatbelts.

She dove in herself, glancing around wildly. She didn't know what was happening, really, she just knew it was really bad. She had a sinking feeling; it wasn't good. The checkpoints. What if they were closed?

She took several breaths to calm herself, waiting to see if Acura still had gas. She shushed the children, head on a pivot.

The car would have had just enough gas to get them back out of town...

If the battery hadn't been totally dead.

Austin hit the steering wheel in frustration, put the gear into neutral and got out. "Addison, steer," was all he said.

Assuming she had climbed over and grabbed hold of the wheel, Austin would begin pushing the car. These kids couldn't run very fast and he couldn't protect them very well if he was holding them. The car would at least provide some shelter.

A drop of blood landed on the windshield from seemingly nowhere.

Addison did indeed move over to his seat, grasping the wheel, and guiding the car along as he pushed. She blinked at the drop of blood. What the..?

She glanced behind her to check on him. Yeah, he was still okay.. She turned back around, then back again, whistling very quietly to hopefully get his attention. She wasn't going to get out and look, she didn't want to mess up the steering, but she had no idea what it could be...unless..What if there was smething on the car??

Boom.

Addison would find herself in her first up-close-and-personal encounters with the infected.

A man-like creature with long, witch-like clawed hands smashed through the window and ripped Addison from her seat. His eyes were missing. Instead, his face was one gigantic, circular, leech-like mouth. Filled with row after row of razor-sharp teeth.

The screech emitted from the back of its throat would send her ears ringing, and soon she was on her back on the pavement with his ugly mug right in her personal space.

Addison screamed as she was ripped through the window, and when she was thrown onto her back, she started to scramble backwards, until the screeching set her head spinning. She clutched her head, flinching when the infected stuck his face near hers.

Feeling around, she realized she didn't have a single weapon. Her leg was on fire, and her head was spinning. What else could she do? She just sort of growled and lashed out; if she was going to die, she wasn't going to go out laying on the ground crying.

When she threw the punch, her fist suddenly crackled with electricity, connecting with side of the Infected's head. It screeched again, and tossed her again, and she grasped at her leg with a gasp of pain. Wait, what? was that a PISTOL? She grabbed it desperately, and pulled itout of the holster. It was! She quickly aimed, and fired several shots of.. plasma? This suit was AWESOME! One of the plasma balls pegged the Infected in it's shoulder.

By this point, Austin had realized what was happening and let go of the car to run over and help Addison.

The Infected screeched in pain, and then screeched at Austin.

Austin's thoughts were fuzzy, but he tried to focus.

Grab your gun. Shoot.

Austin grabbed the plasma rifle off of his back and pointed it at the screaming Infected's head. He pulled the trigger and sent a bolt of electricity straight down its bloody throat.

He rushed over to Addison and knelt next to her.

"You okay?"

AFter groaning and clutching her head, she sat up slowly, nodding. "I'm fine, I 'm alright.. " She gasped. "The kids." She grabbed him, pulled herself up, and took off running for the kids, stumbling slightly as her leg protested to the movement, and skidded to a halt near the Acura. "Are you guys okay?!"

The children were huddled together in the back, whimpering quietly, but they managed to nod. She exhaled slowly in relief, letting her head hang for a moment in relief, and exhaustion.

Addison had barely enough time to recover and stand up before a twin of the monster that had attacked her fell from the sky directly on top of Austin.

Another one slammed into Addison from the side, taking her through a wall of a nearby building.

Yet a third creature shuffled slowly towards the car full of helpless, whimpering, scared-to-tears children. Austin was struggling with his own monster, who had by now doubled in size. Addison's creature screamed in her face, spit and grime mixed with blood and the gooey stuff of Infection flying onto her helmet's visor.

This was a bad day.

Addison groaned as she was thrown like a ragdoll and pushed through a wall.

This was a really bad day.

Addison was trying not to panic. From what she had heard moments before another infection came crashing into her, Austin was dealing with another, which meant the children were defenseless.

The thought made her want to throw up. When yhe monsterous thing screeched and screamed at her, she yelled back, fists flying in desperation. She landed a few hard blows before the thing threw her back out the building through another way. Addison felt desperately for the pistol, yanking it free, but before she could fire, the infection had her pinned.

In a last ditch effort to live, she just fired, praying it would hit somewhere. Enough to get the thing off of herso that she could get the rifle, like Austin had.

Austin had been struggling in much the same way that Addison had, blindly throwing punches and wrestling with the monster. He didn't have much time to notice Addison getting thrown outside the building again, but he did feel the burning sensation of plasma as electricity coursed through his armor.

It evaporated like a drop of water in the Sahara. He quickly found himself at the mercy of this infected creature.

More screeching sounds came from an indistinguishable nearby area, mingling itself with the sounds of more infected: Screaming, howling, animalistic groaning and human wails of despair.

Austin was on the ground trying to prevent himself from being cut or otherwise maimed by the claws and teeth reminiscent of Ridley Scott's Aliens, and it wasn't working.

Five long, prong-like fingers buried themselves in his left shoulder and he cried out.

Addison finally hit her mark, and the infected staggered back. She rolled, grabbing the rifle from her back, and firing probably more than necessary at him. Once he had been taken down, she scrambled to her feet in time to hear Austin's cry, mixed with the screams of the kids and the infected.

She stumbled through the wall she had first been thrown through, and flinched when she saw the infected, monsterous thing clawing into Austin's shoulder. She fired repeatedly, the first one buzzing by, the second clipping it's shoulder, the other the side of the head. Luckily, before it turned towards her, it withdrew its clawlike digits from Austin's shoulder, and when it turned, she fired again, aiming for the chest and head. AFter a few more hits, it finally crumpled over. She'd check on Austin in a minute, but she had to...

Addison screamed. The infected by the Acura had ripped out two of the children, both of the girls, and their bloody remains were piled by it's feet. It was reaching inside towards the screaming boys. She didn't know what else to do. Moving so that she was less likely to hit the car or the boys, she fired again, yelling, trying to get the thing's attention. The electrical bolt that hit the side of it did the trick.

Austin cursed as he sat up, gripping his shoulder tightly. Blood oozed from the holes in his arm.

He sat up just in time to watch the infected rip the car open like a tin can and rip apart two helpless children, and cried out again.

"No!"

He forced himself to stand up and looked at his watch: It didn't look to be in functioning condition. The damn monster had had his hands pinned.

Austin shook his head and hoped Addison's aim was true. The infected in the Acura eventually fell over.

They weren't in the clear yet, though. Not by a long shot. There were at least ten more in the immediate area judging by the sounds, and they were getting closer.

"We're screwed..." Austin muttered under his breath.

Addison sprinted over to the Acura, doing her best to calm the boys down; they were hysterical, understandably, and she finally got them to quiet down to silent tears. Once they were quiet, she dashed over to Austin, skidding to a stop in front of him. "Are you okay?"

She glanced around wildly. She didn'tknow what to do. Austin's suit wasn't working, even though hers was. But she wasn't trained for this, not even close. She was a dance teacher, for God's sake. She grabbed his uninjured arm, and pulled. "We gotta get the kids and go."

She didn't know where, but they needed to get out of the area, pronto. She hurried back to the kids, pulling them out one by one. She glanced to Austin. "Can you use one of my weapons even without your armor?" It would help, if he could, she could give him either the pistol or the rifle.

Austin's face was strained: he was in more pain than he let on.

"Yeah... Yeah I'm fine. I think." Austin nodded in agreement with Addison, and followed her to the car.

When she asked him about weapons, he nodded again.

"There's a rifle on your back. If you reach behind you and grab, it should unfold." Should she do so, various bulkier and blockier parts of the armor would detach themselves from her and form together to become an assault rifle. As Addison did this, Austin quickly ripped off his shirt and tied it around his shoulder to help stop the bleeding. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

Addison nodded, and pulled said rifle down again, watching it become the much bulkier assault rifle. She turned to him, handing it to him, and checking the shirt when he tied it, to make sure it wouldn't fall off. She winced.

"If we make it out of this, I'll look at it and try and patch you up." She glanced down at the kids, then up at him. "Come on, we need to move." With that, she took a step in the direction they had originally been heading, urging the kids to follow as quickly as they could, glancing back frequently to check on Austin. She wanted to do more, but if they didn't move, they were all going to die for sure.

Austin took the rifle and rolled his left shoulder. It hurt like hell, but he couldn't do anything more about it for now. He nodded at her. "We'll make it. Don't worry..."

Austin silently followed Addison, making sure that there were no Infected on their trail, and nothing was about to surprise them again.

The crying and yelling noises didn't get any more distant, but they weren't growing closer either.

Austin tried to remain optimistic, but he knew the inevitable outcome.

Addison trudged along as quick as she could get the children to walk.

She knew.

She didn't want to admit it, but she knew. Their chances were pretty much zero at this point.

She had to try, though. For the kids, and now, even for Austin. She couldn't give up.

She glanced back now and then still, but only briefly.

Addison wasn't about to let him see that she had tears streaming down her face.