The Desperado Undead (5/20)

1

-The siren sounded. It sounded like the nuclear alarms that used to be sounded just about daily during WWIII. The sound struck fear into Amadeus’ soul because there was only one reason they had set it up; to alert everyone of a city-wide bodysnatcher epidemic. Amadeus slammed his foot on the gas, trying to get home as quickly as possible to be able to protect Ripley. He hoped and prayed that the sounding of the siren wasn’t necessary, that the extent of the attack was being exaggerated.

That’s when a bodysnatcher attacked his car. He turned his head at the perfect moment to see the demon rushing towards his truck. It collided with the vehicle, smashed the driver-side window, and reached for Amadeus, he leaned back and swore as he tried to avoid it. He reached for the glove compartment. He opened it and grabbed the .357 Magnum revolver loaded with snake shot rounds. He pulled the hammer back and took aim as he felt the claws of the demon pierce the veil of his skin and dig into his flesh. A warm heat coated his leg as it clawed down it.

He aimed and fired at the bodysnatcher, sending it flying back. The countless pellets that flew out of the revolver were just enough to kill the demon. Adrenaline rushed into his veins like ocean water rushing into a moat dug around a child’s sandcastle. Amadeus crawled to the back seat to retrieve the medkit he had in the back. He laid in the back seat to try and hide but the demons could smell his blood, and they were hungry.

He Grabbed the medkit and began working. He started by pulling up the leg of his jeans to reveal the wound. He assumed it was about four inches long, half an inch wide, and just about bone-deep. He tied off his leg to stop circulation, then used the water bottle he had to clean the wound. He poured the bottle in and used the towel he kept under the passenger side seat to clean out the water. He laid the towel on the wound to absorb the blood.

Another bodysnatcher jumped onto the top of the car and dug its claws into the roof. It clawed three massive marks into the roof. Amadeus took the towel off and wrapped his leg in bandages. The bodysnatcher smashed the windshield and the flying glass cut Amadeus in several locations, luckily for him, it couldn’t reach him. He used the revolver to shoot the second bodysnatcher, killing it instantly.

He left the car from the back door and limped around his truck to the trunk, opened it, grabbed the sawed-off double-barrel shotgun from the back as well as several rounds of ammo. He made sure it was loaded and took another glance at the truck. It was pretty well destroyed. Another bodysnatcher ran at him but he blew it to smithereens before it could reach him.

He looked around and eventually set his gaze upon the Kramer family farm. It was the family that had provided him and his family with all their meat for...well, since they moved to Staria. But now he saw it in shambles, the barn which housed many of the animals was engulfed in flames, and he watched as the Kramer boy Karl, who couldn’t have been more than seventeen, ran from a bodysnatcher. Tears fell down his face as he realized he couldn’t help, he couldn’t run but even if he could he wouldn’t be able to get to the farm in time. if only he had something with range. Though they were guns, the shotgun and revolver just didn't have the range to be able to help Karl, for they both fired pellets.

He turned his gaze away as the bodysnatcher tackled the boy. He began walking home-bound. His city was falling before him, but all that mattered was Ripley, he needed to protect his daughter.

2

JACK

When the siren wailed, Jack was simply walking along the street.

He had decided twenty minutes prior that he would go for a walk, he had been getting very stressed lately after all. Between the news of Joel, having to prepare for the very serious possibility of a direct attack on Staria from the NWO, and him constantly overthinking everything about his and Anne-Marie’s relationship, he needed a break. Even a simple walk would be sufficient for now. So he did that just, he walked out of the house and just began walking down the street. He had his trusty 9mm concealed on his side as usual but he thought nothing of it, he only ever grabbed it because he felt it was a good idea.

He walked down Cloverfield Lane, down Haddonfield Drive, onto Summerset Street, and from there to Washington Street. He was halfway down Washington Street when he realized something was wrong. As he passed a two-story house painted a deep blue, he heard crashes and screams.

He immediately decided to investigate. He approached the house’s front door and knocked.

“Hello? Anyone home,” he yelled. No answer.

He yelled again, “Hello? Hey, is everything ok in there?”

Nothing for about ten seconds. Jack was about to walk away when what sounded like a young girl screamed at the top of her lungs from inside.

Out of the horrifying screech, Jack thought he may have been able to hear a “Help Me!”

This was enough for him. He kicked the door once...twice...three times before it flew open. He drew his gun and flicked on the flashlight attached to the front of it. This attachment consisted of the flashlight currently in use as well as a laser that could be used to aim the gun. Just point the laser and shoot.

He walks out of the foyer-esc room and into a hallway that has a staircase leading to the second floor. Nothing. Into the living room, nothing. Into the kitchen, nothing. Dining room, nothing. Time to go up the stairs. He walked back into the hallway and to the stairs. He began to slowly walk up the stairs. About halfway up, he heard something running down the hallway that was at the top. Fear shot into him as the bodysnatcher appeared at the top of the stairs and jumped down, throwing Jack down. He tumbled down the ten stairs he had climbed, displacing his arm.

Without thinking, when he was done falling, he immediately took aim and began firing. The bodysnatcher was walking down the stairs when Jack opened fire. The demon died after five shots but Jack didn’t stop, he emptied the entire thirty-round magazine into the body of the demon. The body fell down the stairs as bullets piled into it. It eventually came to a stop when it landed directly on Jack himself. He used his good arm - his left one, non-dominant, lucky him - to push the corpse off of him. When he succeeded with that, he decided to take the matter of his arm into his own hands.

He walked to the guard rail on the stairs and propped his arm up. From there he grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and pulled just a bit forward. He then pulled the arm backwards and was able to pop it back into place the first time he tried. It hurt like h*ll but he would fight to serve another day. He walked out of the house, planning to walk home and call Amadeus as he walked, but plans changed.

He walked out and witnessed the chaos that had taken shape in the maybe five minutes he was inside the house. Three or four crashed cars in the street, broken windows and open doors galore, Jack counted eight human bodies. He dropped the magazine in his pistol and loaded it with the one spare he carried. He pulled out his phone and tried to call Anne-Marie. It rang several times but no one picked up.

“Sh*t,” he mutters before dialing Amadeus’ number.

The phone rang once or twice before Amadeus picked up.

“Amadeus,” Jack says, “we’ve got a problem!”

Then the sirens rang.

ANNE-MARIE

In our world, the one where the Cold War stayed the Cold War and the NWO was never formed, people will ask “where were you?” and tell stories of where they were when the planes hit on 9/11. In this world, the one plagued by the NWO, this question would die out as those who were alive at the time passed, and teachings of the terrorist attack were banned. Instead, people would ask Desperado members where they were on the night of the Dreamcatchers//Bodysnatchers incident. Anne-Marie was at a local gun store, shopping for Jack’s birthday.

The night of the incident was September 23rd, and Jack’s birthday was on November 3rd. She was at the local gun shop because Jack had said time and time again about how he wanted a red dot sight for his pistol.

She was looking in the case which also served as the front desk of the store. Inside were several pistols. An employee walked over to her.

“Can I help you with anything,” the employee asked.

She looked up and met his gaze. He was short, seemingly happy, and very clearly gay. The rainbow-dyed hair gave that last fact away.

“Um, yes,” she responded, “do you know what kind of red dot would be best for a pistol?”

“Depends on a few things,” he told her, “are you on a budget and what kind of pistol?”

She begins to pull out her phone and look for the picture she took of the pistol just before coming. She pulls it up and hands it to the employee.

“Yes by the way,” she says, “I want something nice but not super crazy expensive please.”

“Beretta M9 eh? Nice pistol,” he says, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

He walks off for a moment. She thinks of how nice of a guy he is. She had just met another gay guy the other day, she thought they would have been cute together. Oh, what was his name…. Before she could remember it he returned with a small box in hand. He sets it down in front of her.

“Sig Romeo red dot. Takes three-volt batteries, eight thousand hour battery life, should stay sighted in. All for just two hundred dollars,” he explains to her.

She didn’t understand a word he said, but she went along with it. She agreed to buying it. They went to the register, she paid, this, that and the transaction was complete. As they finished the transaction though, the name hit her.

“Conner,” she yells out.

“Excuse me,” he asks, “sorry, I’m not Conner, I’m Daniel or just Dan.”

“No, no. Conner is this guy I met the other day, pretty sure he was gay. You are too aren’t you?”

“Well you shouldn’t assume...but yes,” he says and chuckles, “so you’re sayin there’s another gay guy in Staria? I thought I was the only one.”

“Yeah,” she says, “Conner, I met him down at Sal’s, he works there, I think you two should talk sometime!”

“Yeah, for sure,” he says, “thanks, by the way, come back again!”

As he finishes his sentence, a bodysnatcher bursts in through the front door. It slashes its claws, killing three bystanders before beginning to throw things. It shatters a case containing several knives and begins to throw them. Tragically, one of the knives thrown travels through the air and finds its destination directly between the eyes of Daniel. Anne-Marie knows not to scream, that would draw attention to her. She could feel and hear her phone ringing. She checks it and sees it’s Jack, now is not the time to get into a conversation. Now is the time to survive. Instead of answering, she quietly slips into the break room of the building. There she tries to open the back exit...it’s locked. She decides her best course of action is to hide. But where.

She notices a large cardboard box in the corner of the room, just big enough to hide under if she curled up. How convenient. She grabs the box and throws it over herself. She curls up into a ball, and to any passer-by giving it just a passing glance, it would look like just a box sitting on the floor. She heard the demon in the room over, ripping and tearing through what she guessed was the twenty people who were inside. The sirens began to sound, but it was already too late.

After a few moments of silence, she began to calm down. The demon killed everyone in the store and left, right? Right? The door to the break room opened. Heavy, bird-talon-like footsteps walked across the room. It must have smelled her. How? She didn’t know. It somehow couldn’t put together that she was in the box though. She covered her mouth and held her breath as the creature searched the room. It opened a cabinet here and threw over a trashcan there.

After what felt like an eternity but was no more than a minute or two, she heard it walk towards the door to leave. The door to the main part of the store creaked open and she shed a tear as she began to think she might make it out alive.

That’s when her phone rings again, loudly. It plays Blue Öyster Cult’s (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. Ironic. The door to the rest of the store slams shut as she pulls her phone out to see it’s Jack again. She hits reject call.

The box was lifted.

AMANDA

Amanda was getting mugged when the siren sounded.

She was walking back to her home after a day with Billy. It was around sunset, just turning dark. She noticed large amounts of smoke coming from the northern part of Staria but thought nothing of it. She was in too good of a mood to think anything of it. She decided she was going to take a shortcut home this time. People knew her, people liked her, so she knew no one would mind if she cut through some yards or walked between a few houses.

She was right. Only two people even noticed her and they didn’t give it any thought at all. For being the ones re-claiming the world we really do have extremely passive people here, she thought as she cut in between two stores.

One store was the one Anne-Marie was in, simply named Guns plus. The other was a convenience store, similar to what Sheetz is in our reality. About halfway down the alley, she saw a large figure block her way out. Not a bodysnatcher, but an absolute unit of a man.

“Hello,” she asked, “can I help you?”

She heard a voice from behind her, “yeah actually, you’s can.”

The voice had a strong Brooklyn accent. She had no idea where its wielder had come from. Had she been so lost in thought she didn’t realize a setup like this? She felt the cold, sharp blade press against her neck.

“Turn around for me cutsie,” the man said.

She turned in compliance, not wanting to get hurt. Before her, she saw a tall and lanky man with slicked-back black hair. He wielded a blade that looked like it had been bought just yesterday.

“Ayo, I was kiddin’ when I called ya’s cute, till ya turned around, now I think I might be serious.”

She stared the man down and said nothing, the evil look in her eyes did all the talking.

“Oh, yeah, gimme a spooky look, that oughta shiver me timbers,” the man laughs, “ight you know the deal, jus’ gimme your money-”

He was cut off by - take a wild guess - a bodysnatcher. The demon came in from behind and grabbed him by the chest. Its long, claw-like hands wrapped around him. It picked him off the ground as he screamed in horror. Amanda turned and saw the man blocking the other end was long gone. When she turned back, she saw that the mugger was half of a man. Literally.

She turned and ran, ran for her life. She heard the demon behind her, close behind. The stomping of its talons was the worst sound she’d ever heard. Pain surged through her as she felt something dig into her back and caress her spine.

The demon used its claws to slice her legs. She collapsed as two bone-deep slices were formed in her legs. She turned to face death head-on. She made eye contact with the bodysnatcher. The ear-to-ear smile with razor-sharp teeth was drooling, hungry...starving.

“F*ck you,” she says to it, her voice quivering.

It opened its mouth wide and feasted.

BILLY

Billy was at a shooting range he had set up in the woods right by the nearest Staria border to his home. There were ten metal targets hanging from various trees and at various other locations surrounding one spot he would stand at. To get to it, you had to know where to go. There was a path beyond a fallen tree that would lead you to another fallen tree. From here, you would have to climb over this tree and slide down a small hill. Take this path, and you would be in a small clearing. Look around and you would notice the target. Billy stood here, ten minutes before the siren rang, both of his guns on his hips, fully loaded.

His eyes were closed, he counted his breaths as they slowly inhaled...exhaled. He wore a black button-up long sleeve shirt as well as black jeans. He recounted the phrase his father had taught him when he was just learning to shoot. He didn’t know how it worked, but it worked just about flawlessly. I cannot aim with my eye, for my eye is imperfect, I aim with my hand. I cannot shoot with my hand, for my hand is imperfect, I shoot with my eye. I cannot kill with my gun, for my gun is imperfect...I kill with my heart.

As soon as he finishes mentally reciting this, he opens his eyes, draws, and fires. From the time his eyes opened to the time he holstered his pistols after hitting every target with a single bullet only ten seconds had passed. His record was just barely over seven seconds. He emptied the cylinders of his revolvers of the twelve empty bullet casings that were shared between them.

Ammo, the caliber his pistols took at least, were hard to come by now, even in Staria. The only other person he knew who even had a revolver was Amadeus, and his shot .380 ACP. Billy’s two guns fired .40 Smith & Wesson, and he hadn’t been able to come by any ammo of that type in his time in Staria. He had a total of sixty bullets at home. It sounded like a lot, but it was only five full cylinders for each pistol.

He thought maybe, just maybe, he could get sixty kills out of the sixty bullets...if he was lucky. Billy decided he had shot enough for today, he knew he could still hit his shots and that was all that mattered.

After unloading the cylinders, he holstered both weapons and began walking back. Climb up the hill, over the tree, along the path, over the other tree, down the path, and out of the woods. He walked from the woods right back into Staria. He walked past a farm or two as well as some homes.

Billy walked for ten minutes before the siren sounded. No more than five minutes from home, he froze in his tracks. Billy had no idea what the siren really meant, but he knew it couldn’t be good. He began to run. He ran between houses, across streets, so on and so forth. At this pace he would be home in two minutes. Billy sprinted on before stopping in his tracks in the middle of the road. He stopped because he saw something. Something horrible. One of those demons, feasting on the flesh of a man he recognized. He had never really spoken of him but he recognized his face, well, what was left of it.

He drew, quickly thought through his manttra, and fired. Click. He had forgotten one very important thing; he unloaded his guns minutes ago and had no ammo on him. That one click was enough to get the attention of the demon though. It turned and looked right at him, it drooled from it’s wide satanic smile.

“For every single broken bone I ever suffered,” Billy says, “for every gutless S.O.B I ever did encounter, you take the cake for bein’ the ugliest.”

The bodysnatcher screeched at him. It was high-pitched and ear-piercing. It got up. Billy could see its ribs through it’s paper-thin flesh. He could practically see its heart beating inside of its body. He cursed to himself when he saw its bird-like claws. The demon sprinted at him.

As the demon got in reach to grab him, Billy began to fight. He grabbed the arm-claw that was reached out towards him and pulled forward. The demon, not expecting this, fell forward onto the ground. Billy brought up the arm so it was fully extended and kicked as hard as he could away from himself while pulling the arm towards him. He heard a distinct snap as the creature's arm broke in half. It used its remaining arm to grab Billy by the leg, pick him off of the ground, and throw him three feet away. He landed on his side with a grunt. He looked up to see the bodysnatcher standing up.

“Lets dance *sshole.”

He gets up and ducks almost immediately to dodge a slash from the bodysnatchers good arm. Billy gets back up to his usual height and knocks the demon onto the ground by hitting it across the face with his revolver. He sits on the bodysnatcher’s chest, pinning it down.

“Want to kick me when I’m down?!”

He hits the bodysnatcher with the revolver.

“Want to stomp my head into the ground?!”

He hits it again before holstering the gun.

“Too bad I’m f*cking built like an animal.”

He grabs the bodysnatcher’s bottom and top jaws between the razor teeth. He begins to pull down on the bottom, and up at the top. The demon screeches in pain until It no longer can.

Speak no evil. He thinks before cursing out the demon as it slowly experiences its second death. He stands up and looks over the dismembered, bloody mess of what once was a bodysnatcher. He looked around, scanning the area for more of the demons. He saw none around.

He continued his journey to his home. As Billy entered an alley between two homes, he fell. The ground seemed to collapse from beneath him and he fell into the earth. He landed after falling for barely five seconds. He landed and managed to keep his balance. Billy looked around and saw that he was in a dugout room attached to the basement of one of the houses.

The whole room was dirt with wood supports keeping it from collapsing. One wall though seemed to be one giant canvas. On this canvas was a painting that sent a chill down his spine.

The painting was of two figures next to each other. The one on the right was of a man, average stature, but with no discernible features, for he was wrapped in bandages which covered his whole body except for his mouth which remained exposed. The man seemed to be injured though, for in several places the bandages were bloodied.

The figure on the left was a woman. She appeared to be made of porcelain and had a similar stature to the man. She was wearing a white wedding dress and her left arm was an old, slightly rusted chainsaw. On her head she bore a crown of flowers and thorns. Beads of blood seemed to seep from where the crown pierced her skin. Below her was scribbled in drippy pain, Dreamcatchers. Under the man, bodysnatchers was written.

On the dirt ground, spray-painted in vibrant red was a pentagram along with a note in the middle that read, “it seems to me his heart just doesn’t beat quite as hard as it used to beat. Encased in brittle bones and wrapped in paper skin, because he’s not quite as strong as his intrepid souls make him out to be. His persistent resilient resistance is wearing thin. And you will tear the thin paper.”

After finishing reading this, he heard a deep, smooth voice in his head.

“You’ve stumbled across something you were not supposed to see Billy,” Deschaine says.

“What is this, and who are you,” Billy asks.

“I’m a powerful soul Billy, and here you see my influence.”

3

Amadeus limped down the street, his pockets filled with shotgun shells, and his double barrel in his right hand. Though he encountered no immediate danger so far, minus the three bodysnatchers that attacked his car, he could hear the extent of the devastation they were causing. He heard every scream, every shattering window, every crashing car, every gun firing. The pain in his leg had become a drone of deep, sharp stabbing pains. He suspected he lost a bit too much blood, his head was light and his entire left side had begun to go numb. His heart rate slowed.

Anyone who saw him would have told you that he looked like a dead man walking. His skin was pale and his eyes slightly glazed over. The one thing that made him look alive was the look in his eyes. It was full of emotion, powerful emotion. A primal look of pure hatred and fury. Most of the time, people would have said that he was not a very intimidating individual, but on this day, you could feel the anger radiating off of him. He approached a four-way-intersection and took a left. The road he crossed onto was Noel Road, ten miles from home.

He walked…and walked. As he walked Amadeus kept his head down. Stay alive, get home, protect Rip. Amadeus repeated this to himself over and over again as he walked. He barely noticed when the ground below him lit up from someone’s headlights as a car turned onto the road. At this point, the sun had fully set. It was not dark in Staria though. The burning homes made sure of that. The light got brighter and brighter as the car drew closer. Finally, when it was no more than twenty feet behind him, he stopped, turned, and looked up.

Amadeus could make out no more than the basic shape of the car due to the blinding light. The car got closer, stopping no more than ten feet from him, and a man got out. He couldn’t make out any features, though he could tell he didn’t know who it was from the stature alone. He was a short but wide man. He ran up to Amadeus and put an arm on his right shoulder.

“Amadeus, sir,” the figure said, the surprise clear in his voice, “oh sh*t, sir are you all right?”

Amadeus tried his best to formulate his thoughts into words, “who are you?”

The sentence came out as, Who aah ya?

“Lee Smith, sir,” the figure tells him, “of the Dreamcatcher division. C’mere, get in the car.”

Lee grabs one of Amadeus’ arms, but Amadeus collapses before they can even make it five steps. Lee picks him up, asking if he’s ok. Amadeus barely hears this as he slips out of consciousness.

He awakes not much later. He is lying in the trunk of Lee’s SUV. Lee, along with two other figures, one male, one female, stand before him. He sits up, his head thumping, but other than that feeling much better.

“Sir, you’re up,” Lee says.

“Yeah,” Amadeus says, “I noticed. What happened?”

“You seemed to have lost a lot of blood,” Lee explains, “so we gave you some of the O negative blood the hospital on the other side of town had.”

“Universal donor,” Amadeus says, “nice.”

He tries to get up, but as soon as he allows his weight to come down on his leg, he collapses. Lee catches him.

“Woah there Hercules, your leg is still messed up, you can't move,” Lee tells Amadeus.

“Take me home,” Amadeus demands, “I need to make sure my daughter is okay.”

Lee nods and Amadeus tells him his address. Lee goes back to the other two figures. Amadeus’ head spins as the pain in his leg begins to register again. He can’t quite make out what is being said between the three of them, but he also isn’t paying much attention. He snaps awake though when a bodysnatcher comes from seemingly nowhere and tackles the woman to the ground. Lee retreats to the car and gets in the driver's seat. As he turns the car on, the other male figure tries to attack the demon with his bare hands, but is killed with one sweep of the claws.

Amadeus hears Lee curse before finally putting the car and drive and beginning to drive away. Amadeus nearly falls out as Lee picks up speed, but is able to catch himself and close the trunk door in time. He peers through the back window and sees the bodysnatcher now chasing after them. It runs on all fours like a horrific hell-hound. Amadeus watches in horror as it draws nearer.

“Lee,” he yells, “is there a rifle or anything up there?!”

“Um…yep,” Lee responds.

Amadeus reaches over the back seat as Lee hands it back to him. Amadeus brings the rifle to him. He checks the magazine, it’s fully loaded with thirty rounds of 5.56. He pulls back the slide just enough to see that there is already a bullet in the chamber. Amadeus peers through the window again and sees the demon is a mere fifty feet away. He bashes the window with the butt of the stock one…two…three times. The window shatters. He sets the rifle on the hole where there once was a window, steadies his aim, and takes the demon out with the pull of a trigger.

“Clear back here,” Amadeus calls out, “What about up there?”

Lee slams on the brakes before he can respond. Lee jerks forward in his seat and Amadeus falls into the back of the back seats.

“Sh*t,” Lee mutters.

“What is it,” Amadeus asks.

“Car wreck, bad one. The whole d*mn streets blocked.”

Amadeus opens the back door from the inside and walks around to inspect the damage. He has the rifle dangling on him via a sling. The wreck is bad. Very bad. Amadeus counts twelve cars all piled onto each other, several still on fire. He gets lost in the sight of the flames for a moment but is awoken by the sound of a familiar voice calling his name.

“Amadeus,” Jack yells as he runs to him, “what in God’s name is going on?!”

Amadeus turns and sees Jack go from a run to a power-walk as he approaches him.

“Only he knows Jack. Where's Anne-Marie? Amanda? Billy?”

“Present,” Billy says from behind him.

Jack, Amadeus, and Lee all let out a simultaneous, “Jesus Christ!” None of them had noticed Billy’s approach.

“Couldn’t tell you about the others though,” Billy tells them, “though I did find this weird shrine thing. Coulda been what started all this.”

“While that’s great Billy, we need to deal with all the crap goin on right now. We’ll deal with the who, what, and when when this is all said and done,” Amadeus tells him.

“I’m gonna go find Anne-Marie,” Jack says. He runs off before the others can respond.

After thinking for a moment, Billy says, “I’m gonna hunt down Amanda, keep yourself safe Am.”

Billy runs off before Amadeus can respond. He chuckles a little, Amadeus always liked the way Billy talked. I’m gonna hunt down became Imuna Hun’ daywn. Amadeus turns to Lee.

“Not much further to my place, we split up here, or you keep comin with me. Your choice,” Amadeus tells him.

“I’m by your side till the end of the night sir.”

Amadeus finally got his first good look at Lee at that moment. He saw that the man before him, though short, was attractive. Even Amadeus could admit that, and he was as straight as an arrow. Amadeus pats Lee on the shoulder.

“Your vivacious vigor to venture forth impresses me Lee,” Amadeus tells him, not knowing how pretentious it sounded, “let’s go on our way.”

As Billy and Jack did just moments ago, Amadeus and Lee go off on their own mission.

They were all off to be rescuers.

4

The amount of time it took for the bodysnatcher to lift the box Anne-Marie was nestled comfortably under was no more than a second, yet it felt like an eternity. The feeling that rushed into her could not be described as fear, or even horror. What felt like gallons of adrenaline rushed into her veins as she caught a glimpse of the long talons of the beast. Her fight-or-flight instincts kicked in as she saw its face appear. Drool dripped from its devouring jaws of damnation. A million thoughts raced through her head as she took half a second to come up with a plan.

She became an observer in her own body as instinct took over. The door to the rest of the store was on her right and the exit on her left. Though that exit was locked.

The bodysnatcher raised its disfigured right claw above its horrifying head decorated with its literal ear to ear smile and void black eyes. She decided her best chance was to run. As the bodysnatcher raised its claw to swing, she leaped towards the door. The demon had clearly not seen that coming as when she was opening the door, it was just finishing its swing, which tore the box in three.

Anne-Marie bolted for the shattered window, but as she got halfway across the store, another bodysnatcher jumped from on top of the building to the window before her. She froze in place, a bodysnatcher in front of her as well as behind. It wasn’t looking good, but it wasn’t over yet. She quickly looked to her right, nothing helpful, then to her left, boxes of ammo and rifles on the wall. Good. She waited. The demon in front of her made a high-pitched screech that sounded like a mix between the caw of a raven, the cry of a newborn without its mother, and the squeal of a pig close to death. It charged her, and as it did, she made her move.

Anne-Marie bolted for the box of .223 ammunition. She got to the shelf it was sat upon and grabbed it. As she did, she heard the bodysnatcher she had just faced down skid to a stop and knock over a shelf of god knows what whilst the one that had discovered her finally entered the room. Box of ammo in hand, she jumped the counter of the stare and grabbed the nearest rifle that would fire 5.56 or .223. It was a classic M16 style rifle with a small ten round magazine in it. She pulled the magazine out, put it in her pocket, and looked at the demons. They were both attempting to sneak up on her, and they almost had.

They were no more than four feet away and they both froze in place when noticed. The one that first discovered her was the one to break the stillness by charging her. She knocked it down with one bash to the face with the gun's stock.

With the few seconds of borrowed time she had, she sprinted to the room she had just been in. By either luck, skill of some sort, or the grace of God, she made it. Anne-Marie entered the room and threw the door shut. She threw the rifle on the table and opened the ammo box. From there, she pulled out the magazine and began loading in rounds. Three razor-sharp claws pierced through the door and clawed three massive holes into the center of it. The two demons began to bang on the door.

Anne-Marie loaded one round…two…three…four. She heard a small noise coming from the banging on the door that made her think it was about to give in. She loaded the magazine into the rifle, chambered one of the four rounds, and took aim. After one more crash, the demons broke through. As soon as they entered the room though, they were each met with two bullets in the head, sending them both back to their fiery homelands.

As their disturbing bodies fell to the ground Anne-Marie let out a sigh of relief. She’d have their time, they all would, but hers was not today. She took the magazine out of the gun and fully loaded it. She put the magazine in, checked the chamber, and hit the forward ready when the bolt closed just as Jack had taught her just the other night.

She walked out of the room, out of the store, and into the street with one thought in mind. She needed to find Jack.

Anne-Marie stood in the store’s parking lot, unknowing of where to head. Jack could be anywhere, especially in a time like this. She looked all around. She saw smoke billowing from the southern part of the city. She heard screams, gunfire, and the occasional explosion. She smelled a putrid mix of fire, burning flesh, burning plastic, and the stench of rotten flesh that comes with the bodysnatchers. She felt a breeze, way warmer than it should have been for the time of year, consistently running across her body. She tasted the ashy air as she took in a deep breath.

Anne-Marie decided to follow her heart, she simply began to walk. Some unknown part of her was pulling her to her left, towards the one hospital in the city. She had no good reason to believe this was the right way to go. No reason at all really, it just felt right. She walked for around ten minutes, through grass, through streets, between houses, all without encountering anything or anyone. Halfway across Sunburry Street, she stopped. An overwhelming feeling came over her.A feeling of dread, of anticipation, a feeling she had gotten just last night when, unbeknownst to her, Joel had jumped into the abyss with Garrison in his arms.

She stood still, trying to comprehend what she felt, when from behind her she heard a call.

“Anne-Marie!” Jack yelled.

5

“Stay back,” Amadeus told Lee as they approached his front door, “She’s not much of a people person, plus she’ll be freaking out already.”

“Copy,” Lee agrees. Lee walks back to the street and clicks the walkie-talkie on his shoulder, “Lee to Dreamcatchers, come in, over.”

People begin to respond, “Jack, present.”

“Alain, present.”

“Stephen, present.”

So on and so forth with all forty three in-range fighters.

“What’s the status of the attack,” Lee asks.

The radio beeps, and Jack speaks, “All threats seem to be neutralized, any contradictions speak now…over.”

No one speaks.

“Okay, just checking, over and out,” Lee says.

The others agree and copy.

Amadeus approaches his front door. Thankfully, the house is fully intact, it’s not burnt down, and all the windows are together. He tries the doorknob…it’s locked. Another good sign. He knocks on the door.

“Ripley, it’s dad, you can open the door,” Amadeus yells.

No response. Cautious…good, but annoying nonetheless. He reaches into his pocket to grab his key. It’s missing. He curses to himself, the only way to get in is to break in, and that will surely scare the sh*t out of Ripley. Sucks to be her, he thinks. He kicks the door in after three attempts. He readies the rifle he got from Lee, which is equipped with a flashlight, ACOG sight, and suppressor. He turns the flashlight on and scans the living room the door opens to.

Everything looks fine. He walks across to the kitchen. Empty. He walks to the basement door and down the stairs. He sees nothing changed, the Mirror is still in place.

She isn’t here, Amadeus.

Of course she isn’t…where is she? Is she okay?

These, Amadeus, are things I know not. I know where she was headed as she left my sphere of influence, before I lost track of her.

Well then speak up.

What do you say?

…Please.

No. Try again.

D*mmit Mirror, I don’t have time for this!

You said half of it…

Amadeus sighs, Mirror, mirror, where is Ripley.

She was headed to the home of her mother last time I could read her.

Amadeus doesn’t even bother to thank the Mirror, or say any last words to it at all, he just rushed out of the basement and out of the house. He runs past Lee, saying nothing.

“Sir,” Lee yells, trying to get Amadeus’ attention but failing. Lee sighs and begins following Amadeus.

The mix of the drugs that Lee and his gang had given him earlier and the adrenaline in his system had turned the pain in his leg to no more than a drone of aches. But that didn’t matter. The place Elana was staying at was just a couple houses down. He had barely been running fifteen seconds when he reached the driveway. He stumbles in the driveway and regains his balance. Amadeus notices all of the lights inside are off, but that doesn’t mean anything, it is night after all.

He approaches the front door of the home, praying to every God he can think of that his little girl was still alive. She may be fourteen, and she may resent him due to the endless stream of negative ideas her mother had put into her head about him but she was still his little girl. He would sacrifice it all for her, the Desperado Undead, Jack, Billy, himself.

He opened the door.

6

As Jack continues walking in the direction that had just felt right, he notices a figure in the middle of Sunburry Street. He gets closer…it looks feminine…it’s Anne-Marie.

“Anne-Marie,” he yells, more excited than he's ever been in his life.

They run at each other, and collide in an embrace. Tears fall from both of their eyes.

“Is…is it over,” Anne-Marie asks Jack.

“Yes…yes, it’s over, they’re all gone.”

They stand in each other’s arms for what feels like eternity.

Jack hears anne-Marie make a pained grunt and something splatter onto his shirt. He lets go and backs up to see what it was.

Blood. He looks at Anne-Marie, Anne-Marie with her face flawed in the perfect ways, Anne-Marie with the personality perfect for Jack, Anne-Marie, Jack's true love, with the claws of a bodysnatcher piercing through her stomach.

All goes quiet. He can focus on no more than what's before him because he can barely believe it. The demon towering behind her ripped its claws from her chest and opened its wide jaw to feast. Jack was quicker, though. He drew his pistol and shot the beast five times before it fell. As the demon’s horrible body fell, Anne-Marie collapsed to her knees. Jack crouched down to get face to face with her, crying and unable to speak.

Anne-Marie held her hands to her injury, looked down, and saw the blood pouring from between her fingers. Of all things that it hit, the bodysnatcher managed to miss her spine. Though it punctured her liver twice and stomach once. She looked up at Jack, fully aware of her fate. Jack tried to lay her down in his arms, and she allowed.

“There’s gotta be something…,” Jack says desperately, sobbing, “Something we can do…It-it-it ca-can’t be that bad…”

Anne-Marie, with her dying breath, says, “Jack…it’ll be ok.”

With that, she exhales, with this comes the distinct sound of the death rattle. Jack sits with Anne-Marie's lifeless body in his arms, denying what just happened. He lets all of his emotion out in one pained, long, violent, and loud scream.

He presses his forehead against hers. The world burning around them perfectly symbolising what would be Anne-Marie’s new home.

7

Amadeus enters the house yelling Ripley’s name. He stands in the doorway for a moment, begging God for a response. He gets none. Amadeus listens, hoping to hear something, anything. There it is, something getting bumped into and a small, feminine, childish grunt. A surge of excitement rushes through him as he fails to realise the slightly off tone that the grunt held.

He rushes into the living room of the home. The lights are off, but he can still see that his daughter is nowhere to be found. Amadeus notices a putrid smell that was not present in the dining room from which he entered the house. He walks around the couch, large enough for three people, and notices a body on the ground. His heart sinks, though it’s too big to be his daughter, he could clearly recognise it. Elana’s body was lying broken and battered before him. He covered his mouth as he began to feel sick to his stomach.

“Daddy,” he heard from behind him.

Amadeus turned, it was Ripley approaching him. He turned just in time to see her somehow grow shorter. Not by much, he had noticed her legs shrink by maybe an inch. But it was still there.

“Daddy, what happened,” Ripley asks him.

Amadeus swallows his sobs, “...you tell me.”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

He could see it now, he wasn’t sure how he hadn’t before. The lifeless eyes, his daughters had always been so full of life. But ever since the attack that started with the Wong family…

Amadeus drew his revolver and put it to Ripley’s head.

“Daddy,” the bodysnatcher in Ripley’s body asked, “what are you doing?!”

“I’m sorry,” he tells it, “but you aren’t my daughter.”

Greif overwhelmed him and tears ran down his face.

As Jack cradled Anne-Marie’s lifeless body, as Billy carried Amanda’s body toward her home, as Anne-Marie’s soul burned, a single shot ran through the night, killing the last bodysnatcher in Staria.