Neo-Nowhere: Book One - Welcome To The Neighborhood [CLOSED]

Entering the warehouse Chris squinted trying to get a better look at his surroundings. All of a sudden Jennifer slammed the door shut behind him. Startled he looked back around just to see empty space where she had been. "Jennifer!" Chris yelled into the dark building. Searching frantically with his eyes he heard and big *swoosh* as someone or something flew over top him. Ducking quickly and skidding to a stop behind a steel barrel, he peered over the top into the engulfing darkness. Like lightning, black tentacles snapped themselves around the drum and pulled it into the dark. "Shit!" Chris exclaimed falling back onto the wall. The black oozing tentacles soon shot out of the darkness and grabbed Chris and picked him up off his feet. Held in place in the air the tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter. Suddenly the lights flickered on and blinded Chris till his eyes adjusted. His eyes finally focused, with gripping terror he looked into a mans face so morphed and grotesque that it was just hard to keep what little he had for lunch down. "What do we have hear fellas!" the man was talking to 6 other people standing around him snickering to eachother. On the far right was a very very big russian type very silent but menacing. Next to him was black guy, very tall and lanky with some kind of ooze seeping out of his shoes. Standing to the right of the no faced man was a hooded figure, not very descriptive. To the left of no face was two people who looked exactly alike although both had a scar on the other side of their face. Then all the way on the other side was Jennifer with her arms crossed. "Jennife- AUUGGHH!" he tried to call her name but the tentacles were wrapped even tighter. Chris then saw that the slimy black tentacles were coming straight from her back. Damn! How could he be so stupid not to realize her coy acts to get him to follow her. "Christopherson" no face said with much air about him "no need to fear we only want your services. Let's call it an invitaion of sorts. You help us achieve our goal and we will give you a family in which you so rightly deserve. My name is Levian, but you may call me Lev. These people are my family and you shall know them soon enough. What say you Chris". Chris stopped struggling and started to look for a way out. It seemed hopeless, so he answered "what is it you want help with?". Levian didn't seem to smile or maybe it was a grimace but whatever it was he said with a hiss "we search for the philosophers heart! In which we could take hold of this world and rule it with an iron fist!". Chris realized that the man had no mouth and wondered how he could hear what he was saying, then he knew. Levian was a psychis and was speaking in his mind. Chris didnt like that and made his mind up. "Ahhhhh I thought it was something sinister like that. Well i dont like to stick around for that kind of stuff and your too high for me to hang around with. So fuck you and I think I'll be going now". Before he could even blink, softened his atoms to liquid and easily slid out of the tentacles grasp and sloshed onto the floor. Following the divet in the concrete he quickly made his way into the nearest drain pipe, while Jennifer was screaming and trying to pick up the liquefied Chris. Fully submerged in the sewage he had known he had escaped, but for how long?

Standing outside of the two-story slightly suburban home Vlad decided he had made the right on account of he was fairly hungry at this point and something in this house smelt great.

"By the way, I'm Allison" the woman said with a smile extending her hand to Vladimir. "Oh oh and I'm Mathew" announced the boy excitedly. "My Name is Vladimir" responded Vlad with a hand shake to Allison as she finished opening the door and the three of them entered the home.

"Dinner Smells ready!" Mathew said as he walked to the kitchen. "Don't let his age fool you, Matty is actually a fantastic cook, Tonight we're having baked chicken with alfredo noodles and I believe he said fried potatoes" Allison said with a grin. "Wow That all sounds great I'm starving!" exclaimed Vlad.

Dinner was served and Allison and Matty told their story to Vladimir. Allison had just moved out on her own after her first year of college. Her first night in the house she noticed something moving in the backyard which scared her but she felt compelled to check whatever it was out and it's a good thing she had, there laying in her lawn was young Mathew. Mathew's parents had been killed by burglars that night and he escaped. He ran street after street through parking lots and yards until he collapsed from exhaustion in Allison's backyard.

"And we've been together ever since" Allison said. "Yeah we're like family!" Matty smiled. "That's right, for about 7 months now" as Allison patted his head, "I take care of him and he takes care of me." "What she means is I know how to cook and she handles everything else." Mathew said with a snicker. "Hey you little brat my cooking isn't that bad!" Allison yelled. This made Vlad laugh as he thought back to his 'siblings' and him at the orphanage. "Well, what's your story Mr.Vladimir?" They both chimed to him. Vlad told his story of the orphanage, his 'siblings', The Priest, and his travels that brought him here. By the end of his story Matty had fallen asleep, he himself was feeling tired at this point.

"I'll put him to bed and set you up in the guest room upstairs" Allison said, "Just go up the stairs, I'll meet you in a moment" Vladimir walked up the stairs admiring the house's simplicity. "He was really out. "Allison said from behind him, "Here's your room and a pillow" "Thank you very much..." "No! You saved us today, we still owe you" Allison interrupted. "Like I said, It was the right thing to do" Vladimir insisted. With that they said their good nights and Vlad laid in the bed.

Vladimir awoke to a *click* and looked around the room unable to see because his eyes haven't adjusted to the darkness yet.
"Shhhh..." he heard, "It's just me." as a hand touched his shoulder, realizing the voice was Allison's. "What are you doing in here?" Vladimir asked in a sleepy voice." "I just couldn't sleep..." responded Allison. "I felt there had to be some way I could thank you." "No no, You've given me enough, directions, food, and a place to sleep for the night, What more could I ask for doing a simple good de..." Allison put a hand to his mouth, "I still want to give you this..." The interruption became more than What Vladimir Valentin had expected...



Vladimir wasn't sure what awaited him in the morning once he awoke. Where his journey would take him, what he would find, but for that night, he slept peacefully.

Sliding down the unusually long dark drain Chris started to contemplate what he had just witnessed. The overlord, the henchmen, the take over the world theory. It all just seemed to bounce around in his head, not really settling into his mind. As always he just brushed it aside for another day. He soon got tired of sloshing around in the tight drain, and when the nearest entrance out arouse itself he surged himself up the other drain connected to the one he had been in. Up he went till he shot out the other end, landing in a shallow pool. He straightened out and stood up. He stood in the middle of a foutain in a square next to a mall. Looking around for anything interesting, he noticed a sinister looking fellow sitting on a nearby bench. The man had on a dark trench coat and was staring intently at a couple of multi colored rocks lying on the pavement. Ignoring all danger he yelled out "HEY! YOU! DO KNOW WHERE I CAN GET SOME FOOD AROUND HERE?!"

Tristan was ready for battle but he was observing the evil fiends draw close to the bass player Tristan just stood there. The music coming from his audio player was a bit bizarre compared to the music he listened to, but in all reality it was kind of catchy.

"WOAH! That bass has powers!?" Tristan yelled as he watched a giant wave of sound pour out of the bass and blast the heads off of the zombies.

With all of the zombies beheaded and an empty bloody roof with nothing but Tristan, the bass guy and dead bodies, Tristan decided to walk over to the guy.

"Hey the names Tristan. I see you have some power too. I'm not used to talking to people but the way you helped me seems like your a nice person. I came back here to see if you and that other guy were ok. But it looks like you could have handled yourself. We should totally team up and stuff. It would be so cool. Plus I could use a friend. Whaddya say?"

Eyes closed and sitting on the bench leaning over his drawing, Red Coat is deep within his mind, and barely
acknowledges noise outside the void, sliding around its surface leaving him unaware, as he twitches half-gloved
fingers now and then on his left hand as though playing some game.

Bloody fingers.

Though the sun bathes the world in its golden embrace, small shadows flicker beneath the bench, close to it as though outlining edges.
Peeking out from the bottom as though trying to crawl towards the red painting the stone's surface, but they recoil and withdraw,
near-shivering back into the small shade of the bench with a low hiss.

"Your light feels so nice to me, on days like this. And yet you are so very cruel to me."

Chuckling to himself, eyes still closed, a small half-smile forms across his face.

"So very cruel."

"Uhhhhhh ok. . . . . " Chris says watching as the man just kind of whispers to himself and chuckles still staring at the ground. He steps a little closer trying to get his attention while wavig his arms. Chris eventually just shrugs and walks over to the other bench across the courtyard to have a sit. He stares over at the man in the trench coat. Trying to discern what was wrong with him. Watching his hand move ever so slightly, Chris thought he saw movement on the ground in front of the cloaked man. At a second glance it was still just a couple of rocks. Then Chris saw something odd beneath the shadowed bench. The shadows seemed to be moving on their own? No, it must've been his head, he reasoned that he hadn't slept yet and thought maybe that's what was happening. Whatever it was Chris didn't like it. He decided to head into the mall and find something to eat and a place to sleep. He got up and walked pass the man to the double doors.

Tristan walked over to Drake, almost awestruck at the powers Drake had just unveiled. Making an offer to team up, Drake pondered at the question, wondering if it would be the best course of action or not.

"What's up? Um...Team up? Hmm..." Still pondering in thought, Drake looked up to see a zombie coming up behind Tristan fast!

"Duck!" Without a moments hesitation, Drake swung Ivan around with a fast, yet forceful wind, hoping Tristan would be able to react fast enough. He'd have a pretty hard lump, otherwise.

Asking the guy to team up must have seemed a little creepy or just too hasty. Tristan could see the confusing in the mans eyes.

"Well you don't have to, it was just an offer yah know? So wanna at least tell me your name for future reference? Or not that's...."

Just as Tristan was about to finish his sentence the man guy yelled for him to duck. Quickly thinking, Tristan did duck. Anything could be behind him. The guy swung his bass over Tristan's head faster than Tristan could even see. As that happened, Tristan could only here a "wooosh" overtop.

Fortunately it was only a zombie and that bass guitar abolished it to pieces. To be fortunate again, only a little bit of blood happened to get on Tristan's shoes.

The zombie's head exploded from the impact of Drake's bass, spraying blood all over Tristan's shoes.

"Sorry about that, mate. Don't mean to come off so strong."

Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass could be heard in very close proximity. Drake scanned the roof, looking for the disfigured man that had attacked him earlier, knowing he was still out there, but couldn't see a thing. Suddenly, a thick grey smoke started to rise from over the edges of the building. The smoke grew thicker and thicker, shrouding the air around them, and clouding their vision.

"Shit! I can't see a thing! Tristan, where are you?"

Drake could barely see his hand in front of his face through this thick smog, that was now starting to choke his lungs. Without warning, a sickly looking fist flung forward, hitting Drake square in the face. The force of the hit was strong, knocking him back.

"Hahah- *cough* *hack* Try fighting me out of your element, you punk ass kid! Just watch your step. You might find yourself falling a few stories to your doom. That is, if the smoke doesn't choke you to death first!"

Drake steeled himself, and got Ivan ready, knowing he'd be throwing more blows soon.

"Crap, this isn't good...He's got me right where he wants me. I can't move without risking falling off this building, and I can't just slap bass lines out randomly, or I might blast Tristan off the building by mistake...Arg, I can't do anything!"

Struggling to find an answer to this dire dilemma, Drake rooted himself to the ground, hoping he'd find a way out of this dangerous predicament in one piece...

Not. You. Alone. Are.

As the brown-haired boy came to pass Red Coat, his eyes opened, widening the slightest in surprise.

That had to have been a stray thought of mine.. but then why did it feel so.. real?

"I wouldn't go in there, boy." Red Coat stands up slowly, bloodied hand on one knee already drying in this heat.
"It's not for the faint of heart, or the weak of stomach," he says, smirking.
Casually striding toward the brown-haired boy, he whispers just loud enough for the guy to hear:
"I fear this mall has a store-wide 100% off Death, today."

His body shakes with silent mirth at that, and his half-grin almost gives way to a full smile.
Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Red Coat nods towards the young man.
"I am Cross," glancing at the double doors then back at the boy and raising an eyebrow he continues,
"Well, I'm sure we can find something entertaining in there anyway."

Even though the blood was a little annoying Tristan doesn't sweat the small stuff.

Tristan heard a ruckus underneath his feet and a sharp sound of breaking glass. The sound was so distinct that he knew it was close by. Suddenly the air began to smog up and it became practically impossible to see. Tristan began to walk around aimlessly like a chicken with no head and wound up punching the kid in the face. Tristan heard him yell at me but I began to choke so he could not apologize. Although it was quiet and smoggy and it almost seemed like they were alone. Tristan knew that they were definitely not alone. The was a very strong presence and Tristan knew that the kid knew they weren't alone as well. Tristan was able to catch a breath.

"Sorry for punching you man! I seriously can't see shit. As for where I am.......I have no idea. I think I'm by you. I don't know. I'm going to try to help. I hope this works. Stay by me if you can!"

Hoping that one guy heard him, Tristan stood firm and began to concentrate........he began to lift off of the ground and flow straight up about 10 feet into the air. He couldn't tell how high he was but he knew he was floating. Tristan then began to wave his hands around in a sturdy waving motion circling his head. Then he vigorously shot his hands up and a wave shot out of his hands and around his body. One solid force of energy. With more concentration the force began to increase in size and fall to the ground around him. Smoke still in the dome of energy he waved his hands around once more absorbing the smoke into a ball in his palms. He threw the small ball outside of his newly made force field.It was now as clear as could be in the dome but unfortunately still foggy outside. Unable to move or else the force field would disappear he looked down and saw the kid standing there dazed a bit.

"Hey I hoped this helped a bit. You don't have much seeing range but I'm sure we will be safe in here for a moment while you get ready to kick his ass. I would help but if I move this thing will disappear. Good luck dude!"

With that said Tristan closed his eyes and listened for the enemy to help warn the guy.

"Uhhhhh ok?" Chris said only slightly confused. Quickly getting over the fact that the man was extremely ominous and also bleeding. He lead the way into the mall. "So my names Chris nice to meet you. What do you say we get some grub!! Im starved!" Chris said heading in the direction of the food court.

The intoxicating fog slowly started to spread out, fading out and around the area, almost like a dome. Drake looked up to see Tristan floating, and waving his hands in the air, manipulating the smoke.

"Thanks, guy! At least I can actually see what I'm doing now!"

Re-hardening his nerves, Drake kept his ear open for any signs of the toxic freak that was still prowling about. Scanning the rooftop, Drake clenched his teeth in frustration. He couldn't pinpoint where he went off to. Suddenly, something soft flicked Drake in the back of the head, and fell behind him. Turning, Drake looked down to see a dimly lit cigarette, smoked almost completely to the filter. The smoke man's weezing voice pierced the thick air again.

"Sorry kid, I thought I'd distract you for a moment. -wheeze- I just needed a quick cigarette break. Looks like it got cut -hack- short though, due to your strange friend floating up there, messing with my smoke. He might be a problem, so I'll catch you later, kid. Some of the big wigs I work for are gonna want to know about you two. Don't get yourself killed now...Hahaha -hork- gahaha!"

With that, the deformed smoke man clenched his hands into fists, and released them, spraying a thick, concentrated fog around himself. The smoke cleared quickly, and the man had vanished. Annoyed, Drake slung Ivan back around his shoulder, knowing that he got away. Looking up, Drake noticed the smoke finally starting to rise up, and dissipate; the warm, brilliant sun shining down on the rooftop.

"Well...that was dumb."

Worn out from the confrontation he just managed to get out of, Drake walked over, and sat down, taking a sigh of boredom, with a curious hint behind it. Refocusing his attention on Tristan, he mustered up a few words.

"So, mind explaining to me what your intentions are? Or are you really just helping me out for no reason? I can dig it, either way, but it's good to know everyone's motives. Especially in a situation like this." With a shrug, Drake held Ivan softly, turning the nobs down and just plucking innocently on the thick strings.

Vladimir woke up from what felt like an eternity. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and quickly realized he wasn't in the bed he fell asleep in, in fact he wasn't even indoors anymore! "Where the hell am I!?" As Vlad examined his surroundings he realized he was in a fenced off back alley which seemed farther in city. "How did this happen... Where's Allison... What's this..." Lifting the only thing that seemed to be leftover from the night before to eye level, "This blanket... *sniff sniff* hmmm, smells good." As Vlad collected his thoughts about waking up in the alley with nothing but his belongs and the blanket with the sweet smell of the woman who now only seemed like a dream he felt a quick pull back to reality.

"THE MALL!" Vladimir quickly hopped to his feet, "I can feel whatever was calling me before, it feels so close now."

Grabbing his sword in hand he lifted the blanket *toss* *shink... shic -shic-shic... shink* Ribbons of the blanket fell to the ground as the sword clicked into its sheath. Vladimir clutched a single ribbon of the blanket in hand, "I'm not sure exactly what happened but I hope to figure it out some day." Stuffing the ribbon in his pocket he kicked open one of the gates to the alley and started running towards whatever was calling him at the mall.

"I can already see it... but of course..." On the road ahead were four infected. "I don't have time to deal with right NOW!"

Vladimir concentrated his force-field around his body, concentrating alittle harder it expanded outwards some into about a 10x10 sphere around his body.

"This 'hamster ball' may be a bit cliche, but like I said, I don't have time to waste on you!" Vlad ran as fast as he could toppling through all four infected without losing a bit of momentum.

"One more street to cross and... THERE!" Vladimir yelled in excitement and intrigue as he was in the parking lot of the mall. "I guess I'll start from this end, besides the food court sounds perfect considering it's breakfast time." *crash* The 'hamster ball' smashed into the main windows of the mall hurling roughly thirteen infected across the vast room.

"Just like the malls back home... There is a bit too much of a crowd for me to handle..." Vladimir Un-sheathed his sword, whispered a prayer, and prepared to fight for his life in the vast horde.

The food court was full of the infected and Chris was pissed. "Damn it! Of all the places why here?! All I want is some food!" While Chris was throwing a fit the zombies around the corner walked on aimlessly. All of a sudden there was huge crash and the sound of shattered glass filled the room. Peering around the corner all he could see was the body of a man flying through the air. Chris turned to Cross and said "Hey did you see that? I think that guys in trouble. We have to go help him!" Without wasting another minute Chris dove into the fray. He made his way towards where he saw the man land. Chris hardened both his arms and just swung them back and forth crushing anything in his path. From time to time he would yell "HEY!" or "YOU ALRIGHT?!" But there was no answer. The infected that didn't see Chris coming were mowed down on the spot, but the ones that had a little more sense started to claw and bite Chris. Although they didn't do to much damage, they were wearing down his stamina. "I need to hurry up and get out of here quick". Almost as immediately as he said that he could see that up ahead the bodies were thinning.

Vladimir dashed at the closest infected, quickly dispatching it with a swift, semi-sonic, slash separating its head from its body. As the body fell two infected jumped at Vlad. Instinctively he threw up a barrier, flinging the two attackers away and blocking a third he almost didn't notice.

"Damn... this many infected in this type of space it's hard to keep track of them all. If only I could find a way to limit their route of attack or I had another pair of..." Vlad's thoughts paused as he saw something flailing through the horde and he faintly heard what sounded like a voice yelling, "eyes." his thought finished as he concentrated more to keep his barrier up and focused on the 'flailing man'. He noticed the man wasn't necessarily flailing at all, he seemed to be charging through the horde swinging his fists at any infected in his range, they attacked him back, but it seemed they could not pierce his skin as if it were armor or steel. "Ha, What a tactless method he is using. But I must say it seems to suit him. Though I can see his exhaustion from here, well he seems to be helping my situation... the least I can do is return the favor"

Vlad concentrated his barrier field outward like the 'hamster ball' and began to swing his sword inside the walls. "I hope this works..." swing his sword at a faster pace he started running in the ball towards the man. "HEY! I KNOW YOU DON'T KNOW ME BUT I NEED YOU TO DUCK OR SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!!!" With that he pulled the barrier ball close into his body and focused it on his sword and swung like a home-run swing with both hands, the field around his sword extended out as if making his sword several feet longer slicing through countless infected... he only hoped the man headed his warning.

Chris's exhaustion was weighing him down but his urge to help the man in need made him press on. Suddenly he heard a bunch of garbled words being shouted at him from behind a wall of zombies. He pushed forward a bit more until he noticed the limbs and body parts being flung in the air in front of him. He paused just for a second. In that second he saw a shimmering blade like substance slicing through a good portion of the zombie horde. He realized that it was coming at him next! Almost simultaneously he started to soften his atoms. Right when the blade touched his body however he was not liquefied enough. Chris felt the small sting of where he was cut. Luckily he softened enough so that the sword slid straight through as though he was a liquid. Chris splashed on the floor as the rest of the zombies in the line were mowed down. Materializing back to his former state he stood up and brushed himself off "Holy shit that was a close one" . Checking himself for injuries, he had a small cut across his stomach but that was it. "Man im one lucky bastard" he then remembered where he was and steadied himself for the next wave of infected.

Astonished at the man's 'liquification' Vlad was also glad that his idea worked with minimal harm. "Sorry about the cut. My Name is Vladimir. I think the two of us are in for a bit of a fight it seems, but from what I can tell you can handle yourself well enough, I think we can clean this up with out too much stress." *shink* slashing a head from an infected that came too close for comfort. "Something, I'm not sure what, has been drawing me to this mall ever since I arrived at this city. Have you noticed anything or anyone here other than yourself?"

Treck tore his eyes open, awaking from a deep blackness. He was laying down flat on his back, and he could feel small rocks jabbing uncomfortably into him. He tried to scan his surroundings, but smoke veiled his eyes. His body was drenched from a cold sweat. He tried to listen around him, but a sharp ringing pierced his eardrum.

Where am I?

After several minutes, the ringing seemed to stop. He could not see very well, but as his hearing returned, a gnawing sound began to creep into his ears from his left. Trying to lift himself to investigate, he realized he was trapped under a weight of rubble. His right half was completely pinned by a large concrete slab.

Sweat began to drip down into his eyes, so he lifted his left arm. Though there was some rubble covering his left arm as well, he found he could move it with ease. But his arm felt much heavier, and much bulkier than normal. As his hand was close enough to view under detail, he gasped.

His arm was much longer than before, about knee length. It was also made of steel. Examining his arm, he saw bolts and rivets scattered around the surface, along with hydraulic cylinders and various gears along the joints. Gaining further control of his senses, he realized his entire left half was numb.

Panicking, Treck tipped his head forward to see his body. A giant block of concrete was leaning across the entirety of his body. He grabbed it with his left arm and lifted it with ease. Being a body builder, he wasn't surprised his arm could handle such a feat. What was surprising was the state of the rest of his body.

He was wearing blue coveralls with a name patch that said "Mech". It was the pair he often wore while he was at work. He saw the entire left sleeve was gone, as if it had disintegrated from his expanding new left arm. The rest of the left half of his body had bumps, pushing the fabric of his suit outwards, as if bolts and rivets covered down his side too. From the knee down, his left leg sleeve was in the same shape as his arm sleeve: gone. His leg was a mechanical mess, intricately weaving gears and hydraulic cylinders to give it mobility. As he scanned down his leg, he found the source of the gnawing noise.

On his metal foot was the mouth of a strange creature. It was biting vigorously, trying to tear him open. It looked up at him, returning his gaze with bloodthirsty eyes.

"What in tarnation?" he yelled.

Lifting bending his knee back, he tore the creatures front teethe out. It screamed in a writhing pain. Without thinking, Treck extended his leg back out for a slight kick, to push the creature away long enough to compose himself. As his foot met the chin of the creature, however, it pushed the jaw straight through up into it's head. At the end of his kick, the creatures entire cranium cracked under the pressure, and brainy fluid exploded upwards with his foot.

"Whoops..."

Still trying to grasp what was happening, he lifted himself to his feet. He leaned on his new arm, which he found he could extend to the floor. He searched for a place to go so he could figure out where he was. Although the smoke was still heavy, he could make out a rectangular shape of light behind him. Figuring this was a door, he slowly walked towards it, limping. But this limp wasn't because of his new injuries. He had always had this limp from his weak right knee.

It didn't stop him from walking out into the light.

The finely cut head rolled right into position between the two of them. Chris looked down a small cut and just shrugged a little. "Man your pretty good with that sword there" Chris felt a slight pinch of jealousy at how cool this guy was. "I guess you really didn't need any help. Well the names Chris, and actually I did find something a bit odd". The zombies surrounding them had a hard time shuffling over the fallen infected so for the time being there was no general hurry. "There's this guy. I don't know what his deal is but he has powers like you and me. So we kinda came in here together. I left him back there around the corner when I came to help you out". Chris lazily threw an arm in the direction he came from. "I have to admit though he's seems kinda not all together. What did he say his name was?" Chris scratched his chin in thought. "Oh yeah he said his name was Cross".

Actually receiving a thank you from this guitar genius, Tristan was happy for the moment. He was busy concentrating but he could hear the creepy disfigured voice. It seemed to be just toying with us. Well most guitar genius. Tristan was just kind of hovering there trying to help.

As much help as he could have been if there was a fight, Tristan only helped with the fact of this foggy guy leaving. Tristan was the problem. The man left cold heartedly with a smirk on his face almost encouraging them to follow but Tristan dares not follow and he doesn't think that the guitar genius would be that stupid.

Tristan fell to the ground with a loud "THWOMP!"

"Ouch.....that didn't feel nice obviously dude." Getting up. "So what was that guys problem? He made like a sweet entrance and then just decided to leave. What a loser huh?"

Tristan wiped his pants of the dirt. By now the smoke had cleared and the sunshine had beamed through.

Tristan waked over to guitar genius who was sitting down, "My intentions huh? Well I just felt the need to help, I have no intentions but to survive and help the ones who need it. I'm not EVIL or anything," Tristan said in a deep funny voice, "but no seriously who was that guy? Like why was he trying to kill us?" Tristan seat down next to him watching him pluck his guitar. "So is it you with the powers or is it the guitar? Also for the hundredth time man, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!?!"

A slow smile forms on his face as Cross casually stepped over corpses that never rose.. again, until he comes to rest at an intersection of the mall.
Leaning against the cool wall, he peers around the corner, surveying the wide, open court that writhed with a mass of hungry infected that would attack anything on sight.

Chuckling to himself, he pulled his gloves from behind his belt and tugged them over his hands.

"Almost anything."

Turning his head to eye an infected creeping along the wide hallway, looking him over as it stumbled by on a near-destroyed foot, he says, "Need another lesson, hound?" Snarling, but making no move toward him, it continued toward the fray.

Flexing his fingers within the thick material of his black, welding gloves a few times, he straightens himself and begins to step around the corner when realization hits him. His eyes widening and foot frozen mid-step he clenches his hands.
"What is this feeling..?"
Pressing his foot to ground and retreating a few steps to fall back against the wall and slide to the floor, he looks around to see if anyone was watching. "Idiot. You're imagining thi-"
His eyes widen again as a slow crawl brushes his skin, from jaw to temple as though being caressed. Shivering, he laughs lightly, showing teeth and still wide-eyed. "No, not now." Chuckles briefly and shakes his head. "Not yet, but I will trust you so long as you don't fail me." He stands up and glances around, then strides across the hallway to a grey door labeled "Employees Only" and opens it roughly and looks back across the hallway at the mass. "Lights out, kids" he slurrs, his left eye dilating as he pulls the door shut and searches out the room he is looking for.

About three doors down he finds what he needs, the control panels and fuse boxes that govern the electricity spread through a large portion of the building. Without hesitation he opens all of them, flicking the sub-switches one by one and then the master switch just to be sure. The light fails immediately and he draws a blade from his sleeve then closes the panels. Slamming the blade through the lock and wedging it in tightly as to give whoever tried opening it more resistance, he turns around and strides through the darkness sure-footedly, left eye now fully dilated.

"Feels like home," he spits into the shadows.

Chuckling slightly at the sight of Tristan falling to a thick thud on the rooftop below him, Drake raised his head as Tristan brushed himself off and made his way over.

"That looks like it might have left a mark, friend." Drake smiled through his words, trying to not be the most arrogant ass ever. "And I agree, that guy had the upper hand. I wonder why he didn't strike?" Drake pondered on this thought, when another question concerning his powers came at him.

"Well, you see, the source of the power is technically me, but I've noticed I can pick up pretty much any object that amplifies sound and turn it into a physical force. It seems that once I've come into contact with these instruments, my powers sort of bleed into it for a short time. Most people can't figure out how to channel the energy inside the instrument once they've got it, but apparently you were able to. It might have to do with the fact that we're both gifted individuals...or we're both just weird or something."

Questions continued to surface from Tristan, concerning the disfigured smoke man and why he was after Drake.

"To be completely honest, I couldn't tell you why. He definitely caught me off guard though. He was crouching in the shadows when I first heard him speak, so I wasn't able to tell he was a monster. I thought he was just some guy with real bad smoker's cough who managed to survive this outbreak that's been going on. Anyways, I have no clue why he attacked me like he did. It was almost like he was trying to test me or something..."

Tristan seemed impatient with the fact that he had shared his name with Drake, but Drake had not returned the favor.

"Oh, how rude of me." Drake motioned his calloused hand towards Tristan with a dumb grin on his face. "The name's Drake. I'm that guy that plays bass."

Peering over the edge of the building, Drake looked down to see hundreds of the undead starting to crawl about, yet they all seemed to be moving towards the same concentrated area. Standing up and moving closer for a better look, Drake noticed a shopping mall a good distance away, with the lights turned out, and a slab of wall busted out. Zombies continued to slowly pour inside from the nearby streets, signaling to others nearby that a meal was close.

"Well it looks like the party's over there, friend! Ready to crash it?" Drake smirked, turning back to Tristan. "But um..."

Drake looked around, his eyes revealing that he wasn't finding what he was searching for.

"Is there any other way to get down? I'm not sure if it's safe to head back down the stairwell. I think the whole building is still flooding with that gas...Any suggestions?"

Treck walked into the light and found himself tripping up some concrete stairs. He was apparently in a basement of some sort. As Treck broke the surface of the smoke, light blazed into his eyes. He had not realized how long he spent in darkness. Squinting, he could now try and get a grip of where he was and what happened. He could see he was in a city of some sort, with shops scattered up and down the street, and roads crossing to form blocks. There were tall buildings too, ominously towering over the streets he now had to walk. But the strangest thing of all was there wasn't a soul in sight.

Treck hadn't gone to the city much, but what he remembered of his visits to Toledo, there were people everywhere. This lack of human bodies made him incredibly uncomfortable, sending an eerie chill down his spine. He still had no idea where he was, and there were no help in sight. He also accidentally killed what was seemingly the only other living creature in this place. Stepping farther out into the street, he turned around to see where he came from.

In front of him was a large hotel, about 30 or so floors. A yellowish smoke was billowing out every crack possible, and it sank into the alley basement stairs that he just had arrived from. It was an incredibly unnatural looking gas, and it was obviously much more than the smoke that Treck had assumed it was. Was it deadly? A poison of some sort? He didn't feel any different. Was it meant to hurt or disable in some way? Besides his usual knee problems and his new ligaments, Treck seemed to be fine. Perhaps it was responsible for his new arm, and it somehow transformed him into this human-machine hybrid?

A slow crescendo of moaning started to fill his ears, interrupting any further questions he had. He looked to his sides to figure out which way it was coming from, but years of work as a mechanic and shooting guns at the range really did a number on his ears. He could hear fine in his left, but his right always had a little trouble. He was going to have to do some exploring.

Far off in the distance, he thought he could see a mall of some sort.

People are at malls! There's got to be some help there!

With this thought, he made his way through the street. But as he made it to the end of the block, the moaning crept louder into his left ear. Looking over, he saw something even more chilling than the lack of human bodies.

He saw a giant clump of them.

"Eh I'll be ok!" Tristan said insecurely. Noticing that the guy wanted to burst out laughing. "go ahead laugh!"
"I have no idea why he dang feel like attacking but he's a dumbass for not right. I'm sure I would have died but I don't k ow about you. You seem pretty tough."

"Wow that seems really cool! I wonder if there are others out there like us, you think? So your guitar is like your friend in a way cause your power seeps through it. Could you like create bass sound waves with like a drum set? That would be cool! Well I need to stop talking about non-sense. I'd say I'm pretty weird. But I believe we have some sort of special powers. Mine came from a burning toxic train crash when I was a youngster."

"Wow, you mean this guy before? He wasn't just soMe random guy? Hm."

"So your name is Drake huh? Thank you for finally telling me Drake. Why would we go towards the fight? I am not interested in dying. We are going to have to go through the hotel. We have no choice Drake. I still don't know if you want to team up? Right now would be a good time to decide that."

Tristan stood there steady, waiting for Drake to respond. Drake seemed to be too concentrated on what exactly he should do. While waiting, Tristan began to think of a way to get through this. That guy sure did lead those zombies to the two guys on the roof.