Flashes of blue illuminated the night sky intermittently, accompanied by the screeches of zombies interrupted by shotgun blasts like an avant garde performance. Jets of water whizzed through the air like sentient head-hunting arrows, dropping zombies onto the ground like flies.
“Come and get me, you bastards!” William yelled as another zombie’s head exploded in a flash of red inches from his gun’s muzzle. A flash of pain shot through his leg, making him yelp. He swung his plasma cutter downwards with a growl, severing the head of the crawling zombie sinking its teeth into his ankle.
Damn you zombies. William stretched a hand out, trying to reach for the nearby sea water, but it was too far away. He cursed and threw his open bottles in the air instead. The spilt water rapidly gathered mass, draining the moisture from the air.
Rage focused his mind clearer than any amount of concentration he had mustered before.
The water, now roughly the same volume as a lake, gushed towards the wave of zombies like a mediaeval army. A brilliant blue gleam radiated from William’s eyes as he rose up in the air dramatically, feeling his power surge through his entire body. Both waves clashed below him, sweeping through and cleansing the streets.
More zombies leapt through the open building window of the second floor where he was hovering too closely, catching him by surprise. William struggled as the weight of the zombies piling on him quickly dragged him down.
But he was not going down that easily.
A primal scream of rage rang out as zombies were sent flying away from William’s body, carried by a slightly reddish liquid. Blood gushed out of his open bite wounds, quickly diluting as it merged with the condensed water from the air.
The bloodied water took the form of crimson ice blades, hacking and slicing the zombies around him into pieces. William panted with effort, but he was too overcome by adrenaline to notice his fatigue. He continued his watery onslaught on the never ending wave of zombies, until a pang of intense dizziness finally struck him.
William fell with one knee to the ground, breathing heavily and shivering from the extreme loss of blood. He tried to use his hands to prop himself up, but slumped to the ground further instead as a huge wave of exhaustion hit him again.
Yet more zombies appeared from all his directions despite the multitude of corpses on the ground, running at full speed towards him. The shotgun lay on the ground beside William, but he made no further attempt to reach for it. He closed his eyes, his final words parting from his pale lips. “I’m coming home to see you, Amber.”
“YAH!”
A slight breeze brushed William’s face. A lunging zombie ragdolled away through the air as a leg struck its chin.
“Why… did you come back…?” William barely managed a surprised whisper.
“To save you, damnit!” Marianne shouted, her long hair flying haphazardly as she sent the zombies flying back with a chain of roundhouse kicks. More zombies showed themselves, running towards her from behind. William’s eyes flashed blue again as he tried to conjure another wave of water, but his energy was already dangerously drained.
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“Watch…out…” he cried out hoarsely as he clung onto one of their legs, trying to stop it from moving forward.
“William!” Marianne turned around desperately, running towards the zombies. “Get away from my friend!”
The darkness lit up a bright orange as a huge blast of fire exploded from her hands. It spread over a large area, quickly turning the zombies into charred skeletons. Marianne fell to her knees with a bright yellow glow in her eyes, but this was no time to rest.
“Can you still walk?” Marianne swung William’s arm over her shoulder, slowly dragging him forward.
“Leave me. You gotta go before the rest of the zombies catch up,” William said in a raspy voice but Marianne shook her head, her face a picture of resolve.
“I’m not giving up on you. Not here. Not after you saved my life so many times.”
“You’re gonna die, Marianne. I’m not worth it.”
“Then let me die fighting by your side.”
A loud creaking sounded as the metallic wall that Victor made broke under the weight of the zombies piling up. Cracks started to form on the structural pillars of the buildings as the flood of zombies pushed against the parts of the wall leaning against them. William looked up in horror as the two buildings on each side of the street started to collapse. He tried to motion to Marianne to run, but realised she had already let go of him.
Her drop kick came from seemingly nowhere and William was sent flying backwards away from the falling buildings. He tumbled onto the ground momentarily dazed, but recovered just in time to look up. William squinted his eyes as a flash of light seared his retinas. It went as quickly as it came, leaving William temporarily blinded by the sudden contrasting darkness.
“MARIANNE!” he screamed in anguish, raising an outstretched hand blindly in her direction. The buildings collapsed onto the street, burying both Marianne and the zombies under dust and rubble.
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William could barely hear the rushed footsteps coming towards him as his eyes blanked out in shock and blood loss. “William, you’re alive!” a girly voice called out.
“Where’s Marianne?” Masako knelt beside him, looking around. William closed his eyes painfully, pointing to the devastated rubble in front of him.
“No…” Masako ran towards the rubble, grunting as she tried desperately to lift the huge chunks of concrete. “No, no, NO… Marianne!” she cried out. “Victor, you gotta help me move these! We need to save Marianne! We gotta-”
“It’s too late, Masako,” Victor said in a low voice, standing behind her with his arms folded. “She’s gone.”
“No, please! We… we gotta try…”
“Can you sense her electrical signal? Do you know where she is?”
“I… I can’t…” Masako sank to her knees again, crying loudly. “No… I could’ve done something… I should’ve gone with you… I’m… so sorry…”
Golden fingers of light crept along the street as the rising sun slowly dawned on the remaining trio.
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The settlement was a flurry of activity when they got back. Victor barked orders while a group of people quickly carried a blacked out William into the medical bay. Masako stole a quick glance into the medical bay as the medics quickly closed the door to tend to William.
Left with nothing else she could do, Masako slowly walked back to the common room, ignoring the stares of the other occupants in the room. She sat on her bed, still in disbelief about all that had transpired. Only numbness remained, as if she had truly run out of tears to cry.
Her head hit the pillow.
~~~ End of Season 1 ~~~