The Walking Dead -The Alien-

The Alien

Jeff awoke to screaming in the alleyway below him. He stood up on the scaffolding he was sleeping on to see an African boy being surrounded by men. "Oh fuck" Jeff said as the men were getting closer to the boy. The African boy started screaming and banging on a metal garage door as Jeff started to climb down a ladder to get to the boy.
Before Jeff could get down to the ground, the men tackled the poor kid. "No!" Jeff exclaimed in a slight southern accent. "Hey!" he yelled at one of the guys to get their attention. "Get away from him!" Just then, one of the violent men started limping over to Jeff. "Please! You people are very sick! I.. I don't want to hurt you!" He said as the groaning man was getting closer. Closer. Too close.
"Fuck man!" Jeff said as he swung his flashlight, hitting the poor bastard in the head. The man moaned and turned around with his eye hanging from its socket. "Jesus." Jeff whispered to himself as he started backing away from the man.
The man seemed to feel no pain as he limped towards Jeff. Just as Jeff was going to turn around to run, he tripped over a piece of metal sticking out of the wall. He thought he was going to die. All of the sudden, a sharp metal rod came through the man's forehead and blood sprayed all over Jeff. He looked up to see a woman on a moped dressed in a knight's armor. She looked at Jeff and said "Aixeca't."
She kicked the limp body of her spear. "Va-moute!" She exclaimed.
"But we have to save-"
"Ja no s'hi pot fer res." Interrupted the strange woman.
"Lo siento. ¿Habla Ingles? I'm.. I'm American" Jeff stated.
"No shit." The woman hissed in a deep Spanish accent.
"That Somali boy. Nobody would even open a door for him." Jeff told her.
"Most of Spain is convinced it was foreigners who brought whatever the hell this is here." She said to Jeff.
"Then why did you help me?" Jeff asked as he climbed on her moped.
"You have something I need." She she said as she started the moped.
"Wait what are you-" Jeff started.
"I'm Claudia. Why? What are you? She said as she lifted up the face shield on the mask to reveal her brilliant face and let her soft brown hair fall to her shoulders.
"Jeff. My name is Jeff." He said stunned.
"Well hang on Jeff. My place isn't far." She said as she zoomed away.
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The armor clanged as Claudia put it on the floor of her apartment.
"Where'd you even find this getup?" Jeff asked as he studied the helmet.
"Work. I'm a curator." She said as she took of her boots. "I watched my assistant eat a security guard at the Museo Militar before I grabbed this and ran like hell. That was two weeks ago."
"You seem to be taking the end of the world in stride." Jeff said as he looked around the apartment.
"Oh this is a catastrophe, but this isn't the end of anything." Claudia said as she poured two glasses of wine. "Barcelona has been ravaged by countless great plagues over the centuries, but they always pass, and life somehow endures. Anyway, what's a cowboy with a cute accent like yours doing in our big city?"
"I don't know exactly." Jeff said. "I never really fit in back home. So after school, I worked some construction gigs until I had enough cash saved up to just start wandering. I always liked Orwell's Homage to Catalonia so this seemed like a cool place to start finding myself or whatever. But I was only here a few days when I got a call about a family emergency. My brother Richie is in the hospital, but by the time I made it to the airport the quarantines have already started." He told her.
"Well Jeff, I might actually be able to get you home to your sibling. But first, as I said... You have something I need." She said as she leaned on the kitchen table taking a sip of her wine. "It just so happens that I'm also trying to get to the states. Word on the street is that your government has found a way to contain their outbreak. I want to bring whatever treatment they've found back to my people." She said as she walked out onto her balcony.
"Everybody's spreading rumors about America." Jeff said as he followed her out to the balcony.
"But very few people know how to get there. Lucky for you I'm one of them." Claudia said. "You don't get seasick, so you?" She poured the rest of her wine into the street, covering an infected man with the bitter red liquid.
"Claudia there's no way we could take a boat all the way across the Atlantic." Jeff argued.
"Which is why I'm planning to sail as far as Ibiza. My museum's largest donor has a private runway on the island." Claudia explained.
"And what makes you think he hasn't jetted away already?" Jeff said.
"He spoke to me before the phones went out. From his compound. Montserrat promised to wait for me 'until this pestilence has snuffed out everything but the sun'." Claudia told Jeff. "I have this effect on people."
"Look even if your friend is still around, the harbor is like a mile from here. I saw hundreds of infected between your place and there, and that was six days ago!" He said.
"Wait until sunrise. There are thousands of the undead out there now." Claudia said to Jeff.
"So you're fucked even with your suit." Jeff pieced together. "It would only take a few of those 'undead' people to pin you down and peel you open like spam."
"Which is why we have to go under them." Claudia said as they walked back inside.
"What are you..? You're talking about the sewers?" Jeff said surprised.
"Barcelona has one of the best urban drainage systems in the world. And all those systems lead straight to the water. Unfortunately, it's pitch black down there. And there's way too much methane to risk bringing an open flame." Claudia explained. "But thanks to you, we'll finally be able to go all the way." She said as she took the flashlight off Jeff's belt.
"That's insane!" Jeff argued.
"As opposed to your alternative? Dying a stranger in a strange land?" Claudia snapped. "You don't have to decide right now. I'm not heading out until dawn. Why not sleep on it? See how things look in the cold light of day." She said in a sweet voice as she blew out the only candle illuminating the room.
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A few drops of water hit Jeff on the head as he and Claudia walked through the sewer.
"I can't stop thinking about that immigrant kid from last night. He couldn't have been much older than my little nephew..." Jeff said as he weighed a medieval weapon in his hands.
     "You did what you could for the boy, even though you had no protection." Claudia said to him.
     "Don't rub it in." Jeff complained.
     "Sorry my armor was too small to share, big man." She said. "But for what it's worth, that old mace is easier to use than my halberd."
     "Terrific" Jeff said under his breath.
     "We should be just under the docks. I'll head up first, you wait for the all-clear. ¿Vale?" Claudia said as she started up a ladder.
     "Mierda." Jeff replied.
     "Bien" Claudia said as she peeked through the man hole.
     She jumped out of the sewers and ran. "Let's go!" She yelled back to him.
     Jeff climbed out of the dark, stinky tunnel to see he was surrounded by the infected. "How the hell is this all clear?!?" He yelled.
     "They're as slow as mud! Run hard and you'll be fine!" She said as ran along the docks.
     He started to run, but an infected man grabbed his backpack. He swore as he swung the mace around, hitting the man, or thing, in the head. It ripped his backpack, sending his stuff everywhere.
     "Come on!" Claudia said as she stepped on a boat.
     "My passport..." Jeff said as all of the undead walked towards him.
     "You think that matters anymore?! Just move!" She said as she cut the rope keeping the boat near the dock. Jeff ran to the boat, jumped the 5 foot gap over the water, and flopped on the deck of the boat. "Well that was graceful." Claudia joked.
     There was a wall of the undead along the dock. They barely made it. "Holy... Holy fuck." Jeff said in between breaths. " We made it."
     "Jeff!" Claudia screamed as a big infected man came up behind him. She jabbed him in the throat with her halberd, but it was still moving. She started backing away from the man, but she backed up a little too far and fell into the water.
     "Claudia!!" Jeff screamed. "Fuckfuckfuckfuck" he said to himself as he jumped in. He saw that Claudia sank to the bottom while the man was trying to get to her. Jeff swam over to him to fight him off while she took the armor off.
     Claudia pulled the last bit of metal from her body and grabbed Jeff's shirt on her way up. They both gasped for air when they reached the surface.
     "Are you..?!" Jeff asked as they climbed on the boat
     "I'm fine!" She said. "Are you?"
     "Yeah, yeah!" He said quickly. "I'm totally.... Ah." He said as he looked down at his leg, glistening red from the blood rising out of it.
     "No." Claudia mumbled.
     "It's... It's ok Claudia. Insane cannibals aside, this has been the best day of my life." He said to her.
     "We can stop the bleeding. We can-" Claudia stammered.
     "Please." Jeff said holding out the mace. "But first, promise me one thing, would you? If you do make it to the states, get a message to my brother. His name's Richie. But these days I guess everybody calls him Rick. He said as he turned to watch the fading horizon of a city that was once Barcelona.
     "He's a... Police officer... He was shot in the line of duty... Slipped into a coma... But he's gonna pull through... He always does..." Jeff said as he sat down to drag his bloodied leg through the water.
     "Tell him... Tell him his kid brother was sorry... He never got to pay him back... For all the times he stood up for me." He said as the color from his skin was draining.
     "Tell Rick... I'm sorry I never got to be... The knight in shining armor... But at least I got to meet one." He said as he turned around to see tears streaming down Claudia's face.
     "Bullshit. You saved my life you asshole." Claudia choked out.
     "God damn. That's a... Nice view..." Jeff said quietly as he watched the sun set over Spain.
     "Jeff wait. How... How am I supposed to find this Rick? I don't even know your last name. Where does he live Jeff?" There was no reply.

     "Jeff?"

[ That's it! If you want me to keep it up then tell me I guess. If so I'll probably make this the prologue. Anyways, hope ya enjoyed. ^_^]