Random Origins

OZ- 2

Raven

"I'm so glad — SO glad you came when you did. Things were starting to get pretty intense in there," Tyren says as I pull him through the small window of his cell. "It's pretty lucky that I was on the ground floor, huh?"

"Shhh!" I hiss through the bandana covering my face. "We can talk all about your adventures over the past month once we're officially out of here."

"Right, right," he mutters quickly as he climbs to his feet.

I pick up my crowbar and slide it into the top of my backpack. I pull a red bandana, not unlike mine, out of my pocket and hand it to my partner.

He takes it eagerly. "Oh yeah! That's right! Trickster and Rogue are back!"

"Shhhh!"

"Sorry! Sorry," he replies, tying the bandana around his upper left arm.

I motion for him to follow me, and we start running for the gap in the fence I made earlier.

After a minute of running, Tyren speaks up. "I hate to say it, but doesn't this seem just a bit — just a little bit too easy?"

"You're right." I slow down. "There should have been an alarm or something. Why haven't any guards come after us?"

Something rustles behind us, and we both whirl around to see what made the noise. A lone figure shambles through the bushes towards us. I pull my knife out of my right boot, knowing that we won't be able to outrun the guard. Tyren ducks behind me.

"How do you still smell like smoke?" I ask my partner in crime.

"Guess how many fires I started in there before they stopped me. Guess!" Tyren says.

"17," I reply without hesitation, "and they weren't able to stop you."

"Wow, you — you actually got it right."

The guard continues to slowly approach us, and I debate making a run for it, when the guard suddenly launches out of the bushes, arms outstretched.

I leap back in surprise as the guard claws at where I used to be. "What the —!"

"It's like he's mindless," Tyren says. He pulls a flashlight out of my backpack and shines it in the guard's eyes.

I gasp.

"He's — he's — he's — He can't be!" Tyren exclaims.

"He's a lurker," I say, completely dumbfounded.

"A-A lurker! Like in that show we watched last year? Unforgotten? You can't possibly mean — You can't!"

"It's a zombie."

Tyren and I start slowly backing away from the lurker. Suddenly, growls and moans start echoing all around us.

"RUN!" I yell, shoving my knife back into my boot and bolting for the gap in the fence. Tyren's hot on my tail. Neither of us turns around, not wanting to even think about the horrors that are chasing us.

We climb through the fence without missing a beat and start running as fast as we can towards the city.

"LOOK OUT!" Tyren shouts as a zombie appears in front of us.

I pull my crowbar out of my backpack and hit the lurker as hard as I can, bashing in its skull.

After a few minutes of running, and thanking me for the cardio training, Tyren calls out, "Do you — do you think I should change clothes before we reach the city?"

"I get the feeling that everyone will be too preoccupied to notice," I reply.