Abandoned Subway Tunnels, Los Angeles, Saturday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

"Stealth said that this place is a kind of refuge for homeless people who didn't want to shelter up on the surface," Banzai said, leading the way through the subway tunnels. "They're really good at policing their own; making it safe for women and families to stay down here. No drugs, no violence, that kind of thing. Isn't perfect, but pretty damn good for people with nothing. But nobody's heard anything from anyone down here in awhile and she wants someone to check in with them. There was no indication that they've had contact with anyone infected, but the silence is weird. She's hoping they're just hunkered down and waiting for this to blow over."

Flickering lights overhead didn't do much to dispel the gloom, illuminating only the area around them and leaving the rest shrouded in darkness. There were sections where the lights were out entirely and that meant that they would have to travel for several yards in true darkness, at least until they reached the next, intact light. "We should be coming up on sentries soon. They might have weapons, so please let's try being nice first?"

[For those guys with her! And NFB]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

Wasn't about taking on the shambling undead this once, though. Or the next time. Or even the time after that. But that was something Dante was apparently never going to get through her skull.

He had bigger things to worry about right now.

The sudden movement to his side had him moving, twisting in place, but by the time he was facing the threat she was there. He didn't linger. He jumped, touching a foot to the back of a zombie's head. Struck down, cleaving it in two. "That's what you get for giving me side-eye!"

[spin_kick_snap]

Especially not while she was nursing her hurt and injured pride, nope! Her entire outlook was colored by the phrase Saturday morning cartoon and the look on his face when he'd said it.

Though listening to Dante quipping made her wish she were more in the mood for it. There were so many puns she could be making and she just didn't have the heart for any of them. Instead, she just pulled her knife out of one zombie's temple and shoved it into the eye of another, then unwound her shéng biāo and flung it around the throat of a third, yanking it backwards until it was in range to kill.

"Three more to your left!" she called, then did a doubletake. Fuck. They were children. Three little kids, probably no more than ten when they'd--turned.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Got it--"

Dante twisted 'round on top of the zombie corpse, coat flapping around behind him, and did a double take of his own. "Aw, fuck."

There was a mental image of dead-eyed children waiting for their turn at the orphanage, shooting through his head in one split second. He ignored it.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Do you have it?" Banzai asked, bouncing to his side. "Because if you don't-- I can--"

They were children. Just children. And they hadn't deserved what happened to them. But now, she could help them rest. Make sure they never hurt anyone. It would hurt so much, but she could do it.

It's what a hero would do.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't."

That wasn't about the last couple of days, or them, or anything related to any of it. Just. Don't.

Dante drew Rebellion again, but it was his foot that struck the first child in the face, knocking her down to the ground. The blow was a simple one, separating head from torso.

Don't cut him out of his memory. He could see demons here, as he cut their heads from their bodies and left the rest of them intact.

[spin_kick_snap]

Banzai didn't. She didn't know what was going on in his head, but she could do as he asked. She left him to his task, which he was completing with what looked like single-minded precision, and guarded his back instead, lashing out with foot, fist, and bokken to keep the zombies off of him while he put the dead children down.

[rebelseekspizza]

There'd be screams clawed into words on the walls all over in Limbo here. Dante was certain of it. As he yanked his sword out of the last ch-- zombie's body, he looked up into the crowd, and for a split second he could swear he could see them.

Black, flickering ghosts, bent over in torment. Some stuck between the zombies, some covering 'em.

He winced, wrenching his gaze as far out of Limbo as he could without actually knowing what the fuck he was doing anyway.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey, you okay?" Banzai asked, seeing him wince. She didn't know what he'd done or what he'd seen, but he'd just been face to face with three dead children. That was enough to knock anyone off their game.

[rebelseekspizza]

Right. Dante wasn't alone.

"I'm fine."

He pushed off, slamming a foot into a zombie's head.

[spin_kick_snap]

Right. She didn't even know why she'd bothered asking. Dante was hardly the 'share your feelings' kind of guy at the best of times and this most certainly didn't qualify as that by any stretch of the imagination.

"I'll leave you to it, then," Banzai said, snapping a zombie's neck with a hammer kick.