Black Stand

Chapter 04: Recuperation

Edward and Angela were both heading back to headquarters, while fighting off the sorrow of the imminent deaths of their two comrades. Edward was driving the van, while Angela sat in the passenger seat, looking down at her lap.

“So,” Angela said, looking up, “What do you think he’ll say?”

“I don’t know,” Edward grimaced, as his grip on the steering wheel tightened, “But all I can say is that he’ll be awfully disappointed with us.”

Edward made a left turn onto another road. Inside the van, Edward and Angela were both soaked to the brim, and with sweat mixed with sewer water, the stench coming off of them was rather repulsive.

“Blegh, we smell like crap, we better wash ourselves off once we get to HQ.”

“Ha ha. . . yeah. . .”

They made a right turn, and drove up a normal but destroyed looking house’s driveway. Edward and Angela both got off the car, slamming the door shut.

“Hey, Angela, I’ll get the rest of the stuff from the trunk, go ahead and ring the doorbell.”

Angela proceeded to the doorstep of the house, and rang the doorbell. Edward opened the trunk, and took out a crate filled with ammunition for their weapons. Sticking out of the crate was a belt with fragmentation grenades clipped onto them. Edward bit his lip as memories of Katie and Brandon flashed in his mind.

Edward caught up with Angela up to the doorstep, when a voice spoke from behind the door.

“Is that you?” asked a voice.

“Yeah it’s us, open the door.” Angela said.

The door opened, and Angela and Edward stepped inside. Inside was the living room, with no furniture whatsoever besides a couch, and a small table with a television set on top. The floor was filled with old papers and debris. The walls in the room were a tinge of yellow, with specks of different colored paint everywhere.

“Ah,” Edward said, “Home sweet home.”

He turned towards to the person who admitted them inside. It was a girl. She was a bit taller than Angela, but shorter than Edward. She had long brown hair, which covered her blue eyes. She looked very fit, and was quite good looking. She was wearing black under armor, which showed off her figure quite nicely.

“Wow,” she said, clamping her nose while giving Edward and Angela a disgusting look, “You guys smell really, really bad.”

“Macy,” Edward said seriously, changing the subject, “Where’s–?”

“He’s in his room,” Macy said, still holding onto her nose, “He said he’ll be down in a second.”

Macy peered over Angela and Edward’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Macy said for the sake of conversation, “Weren’t there four of you when you left?”

Angela looked down onto the ground, while Edward gripped the crate harder.

“Katie. . .” Edward began, “was captured by the zombies. She wasn’t dead when we saw her last, but it’s obvious the zombies did something with her. . . And. . . Brandon. . . He couldn’t live on without her. So he. . . stayed behind.”

Macy simply looked at Edward. “I see,” sounding as if she didn’t care, “I suppose that must’ve sucked.” She ran her fingers through her hair.

Angela clenched her fists.

“That’s it?” she said angrily, “Two of our friends were probably killed, and all you can say was that it “sucked”? Do you have any decency as a human to show ANY SIGN of sadness or sorrow?!”

She stepped angrily toward Macy, but Edward stopped her.

“Please, Angela. The last thing we need is a fight between the few humans left on this planet. Please, we need to be a team. It’s not really wrong of her to not have cared for Brandon or Katie. Besides, she never really got to know them anyway.”

Surprisingly, Macy stepped in, pushing Edward back slightly, and came face to face with Angela. Angela’s dark eyes locked on with Macy’s cold blue ones.

“You might’ve considered them to be your “friends”,” Macy said, her fists clenched, “But they were nothing more than comrades to me. Stop assuming that they were my pals, or my “buddies”, it’s starting to piss me off. I mean, I could care less whether they were eaten alive by those freakazoid zombies. For all I care, they could be killed all over again, and I would just laugh. Stupid idiots, how could they die from a thing that moves three inches per hour, and moans like a moron?”

Angela made a move face towards Macy with fury etched on her face, but Edward stepped in. He dropped the crate onto the floor, and with surprising agility, he grabbed Macy by the collar, and slammed her against the wall, making her rise several inches from the ground. Edward took out his Shot Gun from his back with his free hand, and held it up her chin.

“Now that,” Edward said, rage creeping upon his face, “crossed the line.”

Angela looked stunned, and stepped back. Edward bared his teeth, and his eyes held unbelievable hatred that no one would have guessed he could have.

“I don’t mind,” Edward said, “you saying that you didn’t care for them as friends. . . But, if you mock Katie or Brandon’s death in anyway ONE more time, I swear, by all means, I’ll blow your head off.”

Macy’s expression remained unchanged. Her blue eyes were like ice, freezing all threats that tried to make their way towards her mind.

“Are you threatening me?” Macy asked, in a dangerous tone. She put her hands on Edward’s arm. She looked into Edward’s green eyes, and whispered three words.

“I’ll kill you.”

Macy slapped Edward’s hands, which made him slack his grip on her. She took this opportunity to wrench free from his grasp. Edward made a move with his Shot Gun, but Macy whirled around him, took his arm, and forced it behind his back, pushing it upwards by the second, which caused him extreme pain. Edward gasped in pain, and tried to aim at her with the Shot Gun, but she kicked it out of his hands. She was going further and further, and it was a matter of time before she broke Edward’s arms. . .

“Stop it.”

Everyone’s attention turned towards the man who had spoken. He was standing on the stairs. He was extremely tall, and had short spiked hair, with a strong looking build. He was wearing a leather coat that matched his handsome brown eyes, and held a PK-5 in his hand. He walked down stairs, and looked at Edward and Macy. Macy let go of Edward, who fell to the ground. He rubbed his forearm as he looked up.

“Lawk!” Angela said.

“The first minute you guys are back, and you’re arguing with Macy already.” He grinned. “Ed, this isn’t like you at all man! Chillax, we need to work together, remember?”

He walked up to them, and helped Edward up.

“Thanks,” Ed grunted.

“No problem, man.” The man who went by the name of Lawk said, “and hoo, boy, you could use a shower too. You reek, dude.”

Lawk looked around the same way Macy had did before.

“Hey Ed, where’s Brandon and Katie?”

Edward and Angela’s faces were both consumed with sadness, once again. This time, Angela took the courage to say something.

“They both probably died. . .They were both captured by zombies when we last saw them. . .”

Both horror and surprise fell on Lawk’s face. He looked down, facing the ground.

“I’m. . .I’m sorry.” He said quietly.

There was an awkward silence. Edward looked abashed, due to the fact he was beat up by a woman, while Angela leaned against a wall, struggling hard to fight back tears. Macy stood there, not seeming to care at all. Lawk looked extremely sad for a second, unlike what any of Edward and Angela’s emotions showed. He shook his head, and resumed talking.

“So,” Lawk said, steadily going back to a normal volume, “I assume that you destroyed the building?

“Yeah,” Edward said, “That place is no more now.”

“Good,” Lawk said with a sigh, “There were too many zombies in that building for that place to continue to exist.”

“Lawk,” Angela said suddenly, but with uncertainty, “There aren’t more buildings like the one Edward and I just went to, right?”

“There is, unfortunately,” Lawk said grimly, “And a lot more of them too. That’s our main focus right now, to take down the places that have the biggest T-Virus readings. Once we do that, we can concentrate on how to solve this problem once and for all.”

Lawk sounded confident at the last sentence. He then seemed to have realized something suddenly, and turned to Macy.

“Macy, did you tell them about the weird signals we received on the computer?”

Macy shook her head.

“I was planning on to, but it seemed these guys wanted to fight as soon as they got here,” she said coldly.

Edward’s fist twitched. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

“What signals?”

“You see,” Lawk said, walking towards the couch, “There’s been weird energy readings coming from the computer. It’s unlike the one we received from the building earlier. It’s. . . Different.”

“Different?” Angela asked.

“Yeah,” Lawk said, sitting down, “The motel you just came back from had readings of over one hundred zombies, with power levels around fifty. That sounds about right, seeing zombies are only a threat to us in numbers.”

“And, what about this new place?” Edward said.

“See, that’s the weird thing,” Lawk said as he bit his nails, “The computer showed that there were only few signs of undead-life there, no more than ten zombies, but with the power levels over one hundred.”

“Then. . .That means there must be humans there!” Angela said, wide eyed.

“That’s what I thought too, but then, I realized, that the computer was set to only track signs of the T-Virus. So either zombies are there, or the T-Virus viral cell itself. It’s highly unlikely the T-Virus itself is in that building, so it must be some new species of zombies. So, in conclusion, it must mean. . .”

“Those zombies are on steroids.” Macy joked.

“Yeah, that too,” Lawk said, smiling, “But it would also mean that these things are unlike what we’ve seen before, so we better take caution.”

“When are we going?” Macy asked, bringing the hair out of her eyes.

Edward stepped forward. “We’ll go as soon as Angela and I take a bath. I mean, we wouldn’t want to smell TOO bad for our date with the zombies there.”

Author’s Notes:
Ha, I’m sorry that I couldn’t introduce everyone in this chapter, everyone. I managed to fit Rain’s character: Macy in there by having her replace one of my characters I was planning on introducing this chapter. I can ensure a good surprise next chapter, so look out for the next installment of Black Stand!

Criticism is encouraged.