Shoot From the Hip, Aim For the Head
He's Dead Kobra!
“What is this place…?” I wasn’t expecting an answer while I roamed the dark tunnel letting the Hybrid take lead. It had obviously been through these motions before, knowing exactly what to do and where to go.
“This is Graves, Ghoul. You can lower the shield, NV hasn’t been able to wear off the vamps yet, and Shepherd leaves a few memories of death around the walls. No promises about the shadows though. I’m Saw, by the way. We haven’t had the chance to officially meet.” Saw came riding up next to me, stretching out a hand to help with the shield, before going to shake mine. I couldn’t really make him out besides a few small details, in the next to nothing light. If anything he looked a lot like Skratch.
“What happened?” I couldn’t think of any better response. If that small glimpse at, whatever that was, wasn’t even considered war but basic call of arms. My idea of warfare has just changed. Back in zone 6, when that many Killjoys were called in, that was war. Not a basic call of arms, it was full out warfare.
“Those were SS’, they are sent out to look for fuel. The stuff that’s running NV and BL/I. The addictive and painful drugs that they put out. One or two Creators will be sent out to start blasting holes and make it hell. The bomb Dawn found was a set trap. Shmigs, similar to the Dracs, will set loose a Hybrid and have the Creators shoot it down. Making us think it was one of ours.” We moved farther down the tunnel, passing some Killjoys that were being treated or checking for any flesh wounds. “Graves is the nickname for the Black Point Vampires. The guys and gals who live in this never ending graveyard.”
“So…all those stories about the Vampires, and Zombies, and well everything else…they’re all true?”
“If they came from Dr. Death-Defying, then yes. We’ve got two breeds of vampires, Millennium Vamps, and the classic ones who are the Graves. As for zombies, guess Skratch, Shepherd, and I are in that category and some of the SWAT guys.”
“Not what I imagined…”
“Zombie apocalypse not all what it was cracked up to be?” Saw laughed as I nodded in response.
“Saw, we’ve got a problem. We’re missing a few of ours and one of the…” The man got quite dragging the rest of his sentence as I came up next to Saw into the dimly light bunker area, filled with coffins and what I imagined were vampires helping to treat some of the wounded.
“Spit it out Joey, what else?” A vampire came up next to the guy named Joey. Only reason I knew she was a vampire was because she had no effort to hide the long saber like fangs hanging in her mouth.
“He went to say, Party Poison. He’s not done here. I went through the whole base. He probably got herded with the rest of our guys. Some Shmigs were down here when Dawn announced the bomb, so I figure there were some up there with you.” Saw looked at me before he mustarded up his response.
“Get the assassins on it! If they start nailing at Gerard thinking he’s one of ours…it’s not going to be pretty.” With the end of his sentence I knotted my fingers in my hair, trying to hold back tears. All I could picture was what Revolver and them had told us about, about Dawn. He got his fingers cut off because he kept quiet, and that was the less painful.
“Ӓllur already went out sir. We tried to get him to wait for your command, but he said ‘it’s a greater cause,’ and left.” Joey spoke up again. He kept his head down like he had done something wrong.
~/~/~/~/~
I was choking back tears the whole ride back to camp. It was already passed noon when we finally reached the camp, and I had no means to do anything else today. We had just got here; nothing bad was supposed to happen; now Party is a captive. Everything was perfect when he was in the room that morning, and now he’s been marked as a dead man. Once you are captured the thought of return is only a faded hope and dream. We needed Party though…I needed Party.
“He’s my brother! You can’t just forget about him! This guy was already going in to get him out before they did anything! And you just say forget about it!?” Kobra was thrashing out at a tall man that Revolver and some other girl were holding him back from. Standing next to the unknown man was another man dressed in full black. A big hood masked his face, but the weapons he carried were clear to see. Of what Kobra had just said, and the way he was dressed I figured he was Ӓllur. He lightly ran his hand over the first man’s shoulder, whispering something, and walked off.
“Mikey Way…The Kobra Kid…” Kobra’s eyes grew dark at the use of his name. The man had a dark, cold voice. I couldn’t see his face from under the violet hood he wore, but his blood red hair fell on one side of his face as he spoke. “Go back to sleep…” Revolver turned her head looking at the dirt as the man stretched his arm out putting two fingers to Kobra’s forehead.
Kobra’s eyes grew wide before falling shut, his legs giving out, leaving the girls to hold him up. “Was that really necessary, Shepherd?” Saw walked over to Kobra lightly nudging him with his foot, making sure he was unconscious.
“As necessary as it is to leave Gerard with Zephyr tonight. Kod is out tonight, and I have no intention on losing my finest to that bastard. I know you three want your friend back, as much as I want my soldiers.” He removed his hood, revealing dead eyes, and jagged scars; a being without life but trapped amongst the living. “Now, I want everyone set up in their rooms by ten sharp. That was a pitiful display of our abilities and I won’t stand to see it happen again.”
It was obvious to tell Shepherd would never compare to Doc. As much as Dr. Death-Defying yelled at us for failing a task, he was never this scolding. Everyone’s head seemed to fall, the strip going silent besides a few coughs and sneezes. Shepherd didn’t let them off on anything. He was a dictator in this war. He made Kobra pass out after all, he wasn’t welcoming second opinions. We were…they were an afterthought to him.
“Never thought you Killjoys would show up, squeeze Defying just right and he sends us the legends. Welcome to the New Vegas project, Zone XI 3-1.4.”
“We’re not supposed to be in the actual project though…we’re just supposed to help train.” Jet said, walking closer to where the Shepherd stood.
“Who told you that? Training would probably help, but I could easily get someone here to do that. You came here for the combat.” He ran his bone like hand through his long, blood red hair as he spoke. Of what hair he actually had, seeing as it was mostly shaved off.
“Well then, someone is lying. Doc told us, we were only coming here to help out with training some of the Killjoys here. That’s it.”
“Then your beloved Doctor lied to you.” He said with a smirk, walking away from us. Walked away from everyone who stood and watched the scene unfold. Walked away from Party; not sending a signal person to find him, to bring him back.
}{}{
“This is Graves, Ghoul. You can lower the shield, NV hasn’t been able to wear off the vamps yet, and Shepherd leaves a few memories of death around the walls. No promises about the shadows though. I’m Saw, by the way. We haven’t had the chance to officially meet.” Saw came riding up next to me, stretching out a hand to help with the shield, before going to shake mine. I couldn’t really make him out besides a few small details, in the next to nothing light. If anything he looked a lot like Skratch.
“What happened?” I couldn’t think of any better response. If that small glimpse at, whatever that was, wasn’t even considered war but basic call of arms. My idea of warfare has just changed. Back in zone 6, when that many Killjoys were called in, that was war. Not a basic call of arms, it was full out warfare.
“Those were SS’, they are sent out to look for fuel. The stuff that’s running NV and BL/I. The addictive and painful drugs that they put out. One or two Creators will be sent out to start blasting holes and make it hell. The bomb Dawn found was a set trap. Shmigs, similar to the Dracs, will set loose a Hybrid and have the Creators shoot it down. Making us think it was one of ours.” We moved farther down the tunnel, passing some Killjoys that were being treated or checking for any flesh wounds. “Graves is the nickname for the Black Point Vampires. The guys and gals who live in this never ending graveyard.”
“So…all those stories about the Vampires, and Zombies, and well everything else…they’re all true?”
“If they came from Dr. Death-Defying, then yes. We’ve got two breeds of vampires, Millennium Vamps, and the classic ones who are the Graves. As for zombies, guess Skratch, Shepherd, and I are in that category and some of the SWAT guys.”
“Not what I imagined…”
“Zombie apocalypse not all what it was cracked up to be?” Saw laughed as I nodded in response.
“Saw, we’ve got a problem. We’re missing a few of ours and one of the…” The man got quite dragging the rest of his sentence as I came up next to Saw into the dimly light bunker area, filled with coffins and what I imagined were vampires helping to treat some of the wounded.
“Spit it out Joey, what else?” A vampire came up next to the guy named Joey. Only reason I knew she was a vampire was because she had no effort to hide the long saber like fangs hanging in her mouth.
“He went to say, Party Poison. He’s not done here. I went through the whole base. He probably got herded with the rest of our guys. Some Shmigs were down here when Dawn announced the bomb, so I figure there were some up there with you.” Saw looked at me before he mustarded up his response.
“Get the assassins on it! If they start nailing at Gerard thinking he’s one of ours…it’s not going to be pretty.” With the end of his sentence I knotted my fingers in my hair, trying to hold back tears. All I could picture was what Revolver and them had told us about, about Dawn. He got his fingers cut off because he kept quiet, and that was the less painful.
“Ӓllur already went out sir. We tried to get him to wait for your command, but he said ‘it’s a greater cause,’ and left.” Joey spoke up again. He kept his head down like he had done something wrong.
~/~/~/~/~
I was choking back tears the whole ride back to camp. It was already passed noon when we finally reached the camp, and I had no means to do anything else today. We had just got here; nothing bad was supposed to happen; now Party is a captive. Everything was perfect when he was in the room that morning, and now he’s been marked as a dead man. Once you are captured the thought of return is only a faded hope and dream. We needed Party though…I needed Party.
“He’s my brother! You can’t just forget about him! This guy was already going in to get him out before they did anything! And you just say forget about it!?” Kobra was thrashing out at a tall man that Revolver and some other girl were holding him back from. Standing next to the unknown man was another man dressed in full black. A big hood masked his face, but the weapons he carried were clear to see. Of what Kobra had just said, and the way he was dressed I figured he was Ӓllur. He lightly ran his hand over the first man’s shoulder, whispering something, and walked off.
“Mikey Way…The Kobra Kid…” Kobra’s eyes grew dark at the use of his name. The man had a dark, cold voice. I couldn’t see his face from under the violet hood he wore, but his blood red hair fell on one side of his face as he spoke. “Go back to sleep…” Revolver turned her head looking at the dirt as the man stretched his arm out putting two fingers to Kobra’s forehead.
Kobra’s eyes grew wide before falling shut, his legs giving out, leaving the girls to hold him up. “Was that really necessary, Shepherd?” Saw walked over to Kobra lightly nudging him with his foot, making sure he was unconscious.
“As necessary as it is to leave Gerard with Zephyr tonight. Kod is out tonight, and I have no intention on losing my finest to that bastard. I know you three want your friend back, as much as I want my soldiers.” He removed his hood, revealing dead eyes, and jagged scars; a being without life but trapped amongst the living. “Now, I want everyone set up in their rooms by ten sharp. That was a pitiful display of our abilities and I won’t stand to see it happen again.”
It was obvious to tell Shepherd would never compare to Doc. As much as Dr. Death-Defying yelled at us for failing a task, he was never this scolding. Everyone’s head seemed to fall, the strip going silent besides a few coughs and sneezes. Shepherd didn’t let them off on anything. He was a dictator in this war. He made Kobra pass out after all, he wasn’t welcoming second opinions. We were…they were an afterthought to him.
“Never thought you Killjoys would show up, squeeze Defying just right and he sends us the legends. Welcome to the New Vegas project, Zone XI 3-1.4.”
“We’re not supposed to be in the actual project though…we’re just supposed to help train.” Jet said, walking closer to where the Shepherd stood.
“Who told you that? Training would probably help, but I could easily get someone here to do that. You came here for the combat.” He ran his bone like hand through his long, blood red hair as he spoke. Of what hair he actually had, seeing as it was mostly shaved off.
“Well then, someone is lying. Doc told us, we were only coming here to help out with training some of the Killjoys here. That’s it.”
“Then your beloved Doctor lied to you.” He said with a smirk, walking away from us. Walked away from everyone who stood and watched the scene unfold. Walked away from Party; not sending a signal person to find him, to bring him back.
}{}{
Notes
Because I know people are going to ask…What’s the difference between Classical Vampires, and Millennium Vampires?Here it is: Classical Vampires are just that, Classical Vampires. Wooden stakes threw the heart, holy water, crosses, garlic, all that works on them. They can’t go out during the day or else they burn. Think way back when; the scary, horrid monsters that once ruled the plain of mythical beings. Those are The Graves.
Millennium Vampires are the new breed. Over time they adapted to grow immune to their weaknesses. Though Classical Vampires still exist amongst them, Millenniums are slowly taking over. Holy water, wooden stakes, garlic, and sun light have no power against them. They are also masters of hiding in planning sight (No Twilight w/sparkles and everything involved). The one major downside is; they are more blood driven. They need to drink blood to survive, but it’s more of a major demand.
Quick briefing of the two. They will be explained later on in the story, I promise.
12/26/12