“Sorry, no can do Kas. You’re in no condition to run,” Luka said sternly as he rushed over to Lilac and Mori. The older Rose was holding Mori close as she tried to comfort him. Both pairs rushed over to the people in the front. “We need to go now!” Luka repeated. Whatever had snapped inside of him was causing him to not let anyone out of his sight.
"This way!" Levi called from the front. "There's a field!" He stopped moving and let everyone run past him, watching behind them for danger. "It's fenced off and completely clear, go go!"
Kas huffed indignantly and watched over Luka's shoulder to see if anything was following them. He could tell that he couldn't change Luka's mind, so there was no point in wasting his time and energy arguing. Mori buried his face further into Lilac's shoulder, his breathing quick and erratic.
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Lis ran up at the tail end of the group, making sure that everyone got to the field before her. She occasionally turned around, startled by the sounds coming from the woods.
Tohru ran to catch up with Levi.
Once everyone was there, Tohru stopped to make sure Kas was okay. And that's when a small group of zombies ran out of the woods. And that was only the first few.
One tried to target Kas, presumably clocking him as a weak link. Without the time to whip out his gun, Tohru lunged forwards and tackled the zombie.
Kas raised his bow and loosed an arrow from where he was in Luka's arms, managing to hit a zombie in the head. "Run! We can't let them catch up with us!" He yelled. Mori looked up to see what was going on, his eyes wide with terror and his face ghostly white. "O-Oh god…"
Lilac hid Mori’s face back in her shoulder as she rushed past her brother and Kas. Luka continued running, still carrying Kas with a determined look on his face. Bean gasped when she saw Tohru tackle the zombie. “Tohru!” she cried.
Panting heavily, Tohru pulled a knife and wedged it into the zombie's neck, trying to push back into the spinal cord as wild claws scratched at him, tearing into his skin.
Once he had hacked through well enough, Tohru lifted his weapon up and got to his feet. Another zombie was coming right for him. Before he had time to save himself- and he wouldn't have had time anyway- a gunshot rang through the air. Lis had downed the monster just in time.
Tohru whipped his head her direction to shoot her a quick "thanks," but his attention went back to the remaining zombies.
"Hey, what the fuck is happening? These are some bold sons of bitches, aren't they?" Tohru scowled through gritted teeth.
Kas managed to shoot down another zombie with his bow from Luka's arms, gritting his teeth and growling a bit in frustration. "Just run! We can't take them all with so many of us injured!" Mori clung tighter to Lilac, hyperventilating and starting to panic.
Luka nodded, rushing ahead. It was as though his legs had a mind of their own. Lilac held Mori close as she was still ahead of her siblings. “Shhh…I’ve got you…I won’t let them hurt you,” she whispered to him, trying to reassure him and herself. Bean followed her brother as she looked around wildly.
"Lilac, I can take Mori at a full run," Lis insisted, "Take care of yourself and your siblings first."
She kept on high alert, but offered to take Mori before they moved on.
Tohru finally reached for his gun, clicked off the safety, and shot at one of the two zombies that remained for now.
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Aspen watched in horror, a zombie lunged at her from behind, due to the noise she turned, both hands gripping the handle of the bat tightly, and swung with all her upper body strength, putting a dent in the zombie's skull, she looked around wildly, Bean was nowhere in sight, Aspen then quickly spun around, where a zombie managed to get a hand on her shoulder, she swung sideways, and managed to knock the zombie over, she then beat on its chest, repeatedly with her baseball bat; until it was unmoving.
Lilac shook her head. “I can handle it. Thank you though,” she smiled a little, still holding Mori. Her arm looked like it was bleeding, as one section of her hoodie was darker than the rest. Bean rushed over to Aspen and hugged her from behind. “I’m so sorry I left you….I…I was just so focused on keeping my siblings safe…” she whispered. Luka was still carrying Kas as he hid behind a large rock. “Okay…I think we’ll be okay here for a tiny bit…”
Aspen turned around, her eyes blazing with fury "don't apologize, keep everyone safe." She said through gritted teeth, her hip stung wildly, but she kept her grip on the handle of her baseball bat, she looked at Bean, and her expression softened for a couple seconds, she loosened her grip for a couple seconds, before a zombie rustled up beside her, and she swung at its legs, hearing a faint crack, she hit the zombie right in the chest, and it stopped moving she turned back to Bean "don't focus on me, focus on everyone." She said, her voice shaking.
Kas knelt behind the rock, docking another arrow into his bow as he peered over the top of it. He pulled back the string and shot another zombie, grumbling in frustration as it only hit its shoulder. Mori gripped Lilac more tightly, his breathing erratic and shallow.
Lilac went behind a tree as she held Mori close. She winced in pain at her scratched arm. Bean stabbed a zombie with a crowbar, taking its head off. She turned to face Aspen. “I’m not leaving you here,” she whispered. Luka looked around for signs of any more danger. “I don’t see anything else….” he muttered, looking back at Kas.
Aspen sighed giving a single nod, she swung as zombies approached, she looked at Bean and winked "whatever you say m'lady" she said slyly.
Bean blushed as she smacked several zombies with her crowbar. She dodged each of their attacks the best she could and looked at Aspen. “Be careful,” she told her, getting back up.
Aspen grabbed Beans hand, helping her up "you too" she said to Bean, as she pressed her back against the other girls.
Kas climbed over the rock to shoot another zombie, managing to hit it in the head this time. The zombies were closing in, but he didn't seem to notice, just shooting every one that he could see. One jumped on him from behind and scratched him, but he managed to elbow it hard in the head before it could bite him.
After both girls got rid of the zombies surrounding them, Bean grabbed Aspen’s hand and rushed to the tree where Lilac and Mori were hiding. “There!” she yelled. Luka gasped. “Kas!” he looked at the other boy before attacking a couple zombies.
Aspen stayed surrounding the others, to make sure they were safe, she felt good, she could take her anger out by swinging her bat, so she did. She swung until she could swing no more.
Kas grimaced as he quickly made his way over to where Luka was, blood seeping through his clothes down his arm. "W-We need to get moving." He insisted through gritted teeth.
Aspen looked at Kas and nodded "do you need help, getting Kas up?" she asked worryingly "I think there's and abandoned hospital somewhere around here, maybe we could go there?" she suggested.
Luka held onto Kas, worried sick about him. He sighed. “W-We can try…” he muttered. Seems that confidence from earlier was starting to fade a little. Bean put her hand on her own shoulder, as it was a little sore. “Hey, we’re gonna be okay. We just need to get past this,” she told them and Luka nodded. Lilac was still holding Mori close as she tried to hide her pain from the kid.
"We'll be fine… they didn't bite me. Jus'… jus' a scratch… nngh…" Kas closed his eyes, starting to sway a bit. "If we're going somewhere, we need to get going as soon as we can, yeah? God…" He hissed through his teeth in pain, his legs shaking violently.
Rachel put an arm around Kas, grim determination the only thing on her face.
"Can you walk any further?" She asked.
She was exhausted, even with the mostly peaceful nights of rest she had gotten. This constant attempting to help people with what medical practices she knew. Not as much as she liked to say she did.
Earl looked behind him, torn between helping Tohru and Lis or protecting the group.
"Dammit." He muttered, unholstering his Beretta.
"I'm coming!" He started running to them, squeezing off a few shots at the zombies, hitting one in the leg.
Luka nodded in agreement. “You should get some rest when we reach the hospital, okay? You don’t look too good…” he told him as Bean nodded in agreement. “Plus, we don’t want you getting even more hurt so when we do go, Luka should carry you,” Bean said, crossing her arms slightly.
Kas glanced up at her and then back to Luka, biting his lip a bit as he considered his words. Of course he couldn't really continue walking. He'd slow the group down. But making someone carry him was almost as much of a burden. However, being carried meant he probably wouldn't die. Even if it was a minor inconvenience to carry him, it was less of an inconvenience than him dying. "I'm… uh… not sure I can walk…" He replied stiffly after a few seconds.
Aspen sighed and hitched an arm around Kas' shoulder and helping him up "alright, we should get going." She said quietly.
Luka nodded in understanding. “Alright, we’ll help you,” he told Kas as he picked him up. His sister nodded in agreement. Bean looked around as she watched the group’s backs. Lilac looked down at Mori, wincing. “Y-You okay, kiddo?” she asked, trying to hold back the pain.