Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yes. We've found him," Gwen answered, "And we have been assigned to go and get him. We're going to bring him back with us."

Gwen and Derek exchanged a quick glance, and, by unspoken consent, the agreed not to mention the last piece of info that the Chief told him.

"And the Chief has specifically said," Derek continued, "That you come with us! We'll all get to see Jack again!"

Gwen looked at her watch, "Our flight for Atlanta leaves in two hours. Get everything you have ready, and meet us at the bottom."

Without saying a word, she walked off again.

Derek sighed, "I swear, she's so uptight. Definitly not my type."

He gave Katsura a quick smile, "I'll be fine, thanks. Get ready. Oh, and bring a gun," then dissapeared with Shea to catch up with Gwen.

Gwen had both handguns drawn and ready to go, "Don't know if you know yet," she explained to Katsura when she got there, "But there's a zombie outbreak here. I know you don't like fighting, so stay behind us and cover our backs."

Derek, his TMP slung over his shoulder, motioned to the west, "I've got my Hummer parked down in the parking lot," he explained, "We'll be safe there once we reach it,"

Without saying another word, they slipped into the night, weary of any zombies that may come.

((On it. Sorry about that.))

For over an hour, the four of them crept toward the parking lot. their ears were trained to listen for the sounds. Their trigger fingers just lightly touching the trigger, if someone dropped a safety pin, the guns would go off.

Suddenly, a roar cut through the silence. In the span of a half second, Gwen and Derek had their guns pointing straight at the direction of the sound.

Derek started forward. He had an idea. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He tossed them behind him. Gwen reached up and caught them, "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Saving your hides," Derek answered, "You all go on ahead. I'll clear the road,"

"Alone?" Gwen asked, "I don't think so. You're staying with us!"


"Look," Derek reasoned, "I can take care of myself, alright? Just meet me at the exit to the city."

Without waiting for an answer, Derek took off.

Gwen shouted after him, "WAIT!" When he didn't answer, she huffed, "Ugh! That man is more trouble than he's worth! When he gets back, I'm going to punch him so hard he'll be wishing he stayed a zombie!"

Gwen motioned for the others to follow her, "Well, we can't do anything else now. Let's go." Then stared jogging towards the parking lot.

Finally, they reached the parking lot. Gwen sighed with relief that they were safe. For now, at least.

"Okay," she said, a calm serenity coming to her voice, "Time to crank it up and-"



"GGGGGRRRRRRAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!!"

Gwen jumped when she heard the roar. No, it wasn't Derek. It was... monstrous, earth trembling.

"What the hell?!?" Gwen shouted. Her pulse quickened until her heart almost burst from her chest.

"Everyone! In the car!" Gwen shouted as she jumped over the bed, flipped over the passanger door, and stuck the key into the ignition.

A loud, frightening rumble in the earth kept wrenching her hand off the key. She wanted to turn it, but she couldn't maintain her grip.

Finally, she turned the ignition. Not a moment too soon. A huge massive... thing burst through a building.

Imagine a human, who was fifteen feet tall, with a face that looked like most face muscled had been broken, and the flash torn apart, and had muscles that would put the hulk to shame. THAT was the thing that started chasing them.

"s**t!" Gwen cursed as she saw that thing. But she had no time to think, hoing that Katsura and Shea were inside, she slammed on the gas, and the Hummer went flying out of the parking spot.

It didn't take long before they were on the main road, "Everyone, hang on!" she screamed as she floored the gas pedal.

"I'm going as fast as I can! Derek has no taste in cars!" Gwen yelled from behind.
So close... She could see the exit! But there were a bunch of zombies that stood in the way.

Oh well.

Gwen hit the accelerator, and soon, all the zombies in the road were flattened.

Suddenly, a crash came from the passanger window. Gwen screamed, but soon, the voice called, "Easy!"

"Derek!"

He smiled, "You were going pretty fast. I've never taken the Hummer at that speed before. Not bad."

Gwen looked behind her, "Is this really the time to be talking?!?"

"Right. I got it!" Derek said, then rolled down the window so he wouldn't be sitting on broken glass. He leaned out and sat on the window, "Shea! Roll down that other window!" he ordered as he took aim at the monster.


"GGGGGGGRRRRRRAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!" roared the thing as Derek started unloading TMP ammo into the monster.


((Here's a better pic for the monster. Monster)

Gwen was gritting her teeth, "Come on, come on!" she groaned as the Hummer began to pick up speed.

Finally, Derek landed a crack shot in the monster's eye. It roared with earth shattering loudness, and it clutched its face and staggered around.

Derek let out a breath. They'd done it. For now at least.

Suddenly, the monster started a second roar, but it was... understandable. It was a name.

"GGGGGGWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN!!!!!" It screamed.

Derek slid back into the car, putting his TMP down at his feet. "That monster seems to like you," he said, "You really should be more careful about who you date."

Gwen was so close to punching Derek that her fist started to shake, "This is no time for jokes! I don't know how it knew me, but it's gone now,"

"For now, at least," Derek said.

"True." Gwen replied.

"So where did you go anyway?" Gwen asked.

Derek looked out the window, the roaring wind whipped his short hair behind him, "I wanted to give you guys a chance to escape. There were other monsters there, I could feel it. And those guys wern't dumb brutes like what we're used to."

For the first time, Gwen looked over at Derek. She then gasped, his left sleeve was stained with blood.

"Derek! What happened?!?" Gwen shouted.

"Easy!" Derek answered, "Well, these guys are getting smarter. I ran across an infected lumberjack. And well... he had an axe."

"The zombies can use weapons, now?" Gwen asked, horror struck across her face.

"Yes and no. Yes, they can use them. No, one swipe and they can't use them again." Derek answered. With a groan, he said, "Another one had a chainsaw."

Gwen gritted her teeth, "We have to find Jack as soon as we can,"

"Damn straight." Derek answered.

"Nah," Derek answered, "Don't worry about it. I know that Jack would be happy to see you. Surviving with a horde of zombies isn't exactly a picnic."

He tried his best to give a comforting smile, "I know. I was one once. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Don't get so down on yourself. That's why we're here. We can back you up."

Gwen nodded and looked back, "That's right. There is no need to be sad. You're among friends."

Derek jerked his face back towards Gwen, "Keep your eyes on the road, will you?" he said in mock anger, "You've already cost me a fortune staining my car with zombie guts. Don't you dare crash it!"

He sighed, "Women drivers..." he said, shaking his head. He then gasped and covered his mouth. He forgot that he was surrounded by women.

"Man... my ladies skill really are terrible," he groaned.