A Kennedy Promise

On The Run

"Oh my God! Joseph! You're alive!" Juliet exclaimed.

"Heh. Can't get rid me of me that easily," he replied, smiling. His uniform was slightly bloodied and torn, but other than that, he was fine. He reached out for her hand. This time, she didn't pull back. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

She nodded. Suddenly, another explosion happened. That was bound to attract more of the undead. One of the other survivors pointed out that they could escape through the alley behind. She turned back to Leon, but he was already busy ushering the survivors to get a move on. Joseph tugged on her hand, and she followed suit. The group entered an empty gun shop. Some stocked up on ammo, while others grabbed something off the shelves. Leon and Helena were talking in hushed tones, seemingly to be in contact with someone else over comms. While the others were busy, Juliet used the opportunity to ask him, "Do you know what happened to the others?"

Joseph couldn't meet her eyes. He shook his head slowly. "...Michael, Brendan, my team- They all turned. It was too late. I couldn't do anything."

She quickly wiped a tear before he could see. Joseph placed his hands on her shoulders. He apologised, "I'm sorry, Juliet. I tried to come back for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere. And then I saw these civilians. I just couldn't leave them."

"I know. I understand, Joseph. I'm just glad you got out."

Joseph sighed and nodded. "Me too. I-"

"Juliet!" Leon called out, interrupting their conversation.

"Yes, Leon?" she answered, turning away from Joseph.

Joseph cursed under his breath. He quickly moved away from her as the other male jogged towards her. In Leon's hands were a double-barrelled Hydra shotgun and two boxes of ammo. He gave it to her.

"It's a little more your size. I think you'd be good with that," Leon commented, beaming a little. "Just be careful of where you put your hand, though."

"Wait, why would you think Juliet can use this gun?" Joseph interjected, seemingly bewildered.

"I know she can," Leon replied simply.

In the distance, there was a loud shriek and multiple gunshots. Helena ran towards the windows and immediately told everyone to stand back. Another wave of the undead was quickly approaching the gun shop. The group also heard the slam of a door above, and one of them went up to check. Apparently, the owner of the shop had barricaded himself, disallowing anyone to come up because they'd only "lead those bastards in here". That, however, was their ticket out of the gun shop and into the streets opposite. They couldn't go out the way they came in, and now they had to stand their ground. Leon instructed everyone to be alert and shoot without holding back.

"Juliet, stay back, I can-"

"No, I know what I'm doing. Just cover me!" she quickly said, running towards the window on the left.

The first zombie approached them, and Juliet decided to test out the shotgun. Holding the Hydra straight out with one hand, she killed the straggler with a perfect shot right in the head. Her stance was incredible, and not many could pull that off. She expertly reloaded her shotgun, leaving Joseph's mouth agape. Leon smirked at her. That's my girl, he thought. The rest of them shot at the incoming wave, though most of them missed. One of the survivors ditched the group, but not before insulting his girlfriend and stealing her handgun. Helena was furious at him, but she wasn't going to stop him. He ended up being chased down and killed. All of a sudden, a new type of undead crashed through the windows and let out a piercing howl. Its eyes were bloodshot red, and its entire body was slicked in some kind of slime. The beast jumped onto one of the survivors, almost ripping his throat out. Luckily, Juliet got to it first and blasted it away. However, the bloodshot wasn't going down that easy. It was fast and had gotten back up.

"JULIET!" Joseph shouted.

The bloodshot was headed straight towards Juliet, and there wasn't any time to get out of the way. Joseph was about to reach out to her, but Leon had pushed her out of the way first. They landed a distance away, with Leon cushioning her fall. With his arm still around Juliet, he fired into the bloodshot's head. Juliet landed the final blow with her shotgun. They panted, a smile appearing on their faces. He helped her up, and she hugged him in return. Joseph immediately ran towards her.

"Juliet! Are you all right?!"

"Yeah," she replied. "Thanks, Leon."

"You're welcome. Come on, there are still more coming!" Leon warned.

Joseph was still in shock, and Juliet had to snap him out of it. They continued the fight for a few more minutes before the wave finally died down. The shutters on the windows suddenly rolled down, and the door above opened. The old man had changed his mind and allowed them to get upstairs. They quickly restocked before heading up.

"I've been meaning to ask you," Joseph started the conversation. "How'd you learn how to shoot?"

"I never told you a lot of things, Joseph," she spoke softly. She chose to omit the unnecessary details. "Long story short, I learned self-defence from my best friend's older brother."

"And I'm guessing he's not the brother," he said, nodding towards Leon.

The door behind them had been locked. Leon talked to the owner about the route out, while Helena comforted the girlfriend of the dead man. Leon turned and met her glance, giving her a small smile before returning his attention back to the conversation. Joseph had been watching their interactions, and he can't help but feel jealous.

"Who is he?"

"An old friend," Juliet replied.

A friend, he scoffed. He'd never buy that. And as if there weren't enough troubles for the night, the ground beneath them shook. Everyone quickly backed away from the door as they heard something huge approaching. The old man and a Japanese survivor scrambled to open the other door which led to the upper balcony. However, the latch was stuck, no matter how hard they tugged on it.

"Brace yourselves!" Helena yelled, aiming at whatever was coming through.

Not a second later, the door was busted down. A gigantic zombified man weighing about 500 pounds forced itself inside the tiny room. One hit from its punch looked like it could knock out someone, or even kill them.

Leon sneered, "Looks like someone had too many whoppers! Aim for its legs!"

The other survivors followed his instruction. After getting multiple hits on its knee, it was unable to get up and got killed easily. At the same time, the latch was unlocked, and the Japanese man called out to them. Everyone ran out to the balcony and out through another alley. Several zombies, bloodshots and whoppers were chasing them, but there wasn't enough time to gun them all down. Everyone ran into the school bus, but one of the whoppers was blocking the way. It used its strength to tilt the bus backwards, but thankfully Leon rained bullets on its face and stunned it. The Japanese survivor slammed on the gas pedal, leaving the horde behind as the bus sped through the burning streets with the cathedral as their destination.