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The boy who stood before them had long dark brown hair, reaching to his shoulders while wearing black slacks and a white polo shirt stained with faded red markings. His arms had much deeper markings, bloody scratches focused around the wrists which tensed as he tightly gripped a long kitchen knife, 10 inches long. In his other hand, pointing off and away from them, was a handgun smoking. His eyes flicked between both raptors intensely, with Roy asking: "Hey...uhhhh...you work here? Real sorry abou' usin' yer machine withou' asking but-" "What the fuck are you?" "Hey," said FG, "don't you swear in front of the kid!" "Fine...what are you?" "Oh this?" said Roy. "Costumes, we're uh part of a circus." "Circus? ...alright...who's the kid?" "My nephew," said FG. "We're trying to get out of here." "...what's his name?" "That's none of your business kid." "You just screamed an entire fucking zombie horde-" "HEY!" "SHUT UP!" Another firing shot went towards FG, nowhere near hitting him on purpose as the youth continued: "You don't get to tell me what to do. You just screamed an entire fucking zombie horde, to come to this place, and risk breaking down that window while I hide in the back store room TRYING TO SURVIVE with what little I have fucking left. Now...what...is his name?" "...Michael. His name is Michael." "...Michael what?" The youth took an interest in him, moving the handgun down a little as James panicked slightly. He had never asked what the boy's surname was, but thankfully the boy provided it. "Ipkiss. M-michael Ipkiss." "...you're not his uncle at all are you?" James looked rather incredulously at the boy, stepping forwards boldly to reply: "Like I said, it's none of your damn business, how about YOUR name so I can tell you to shove off?" "It's Luke, as if you don't fucking know it already. And you're not going anywhere with him when I make sure you'll remember it." "Wha-what the hell, why not?" "Why did you bring the zombies here?!" "Look, jesus I'm sorry, I didn't know you were here, we just wanted to move them away from the police station and-" "I KNEW IT!"

The teenager fired with untrained aim, shooting off above of FG's head as they ducked down to behind the aisles. "YOU'RE FUCKING COPS ARENTCHA?! TRYING TO CLEAN UP ALL YOUR MISTAKES AREN'T YOU!? AREN'T YOU!?" "Whut the hell's yer problem!?" asked Roy. "We ain't cops, we just survivin'!" "Plenty of ways to survive without trying to take me down, make it all look like an accident, bunch of zombies eat me, nobody left to tell anyone about what you did, RIGHT BIRNIE?!" "Wh-who?!" "YOUR BOSS! I know you, I know all of you, all you fuckers down at the police station all in Birnie's special little unit, wanting to look all good and clean so nobody'll find out about the fucking ecstasy tablets he was hiding in that car, or the cameras, or the raids, or any of the shit he did!" "I don't know who the hell you're talking about," said FG, "I am the last person to get involved with the police, believe me!" "Then where you taking that kid huh?! Where's he going with you?!" "That's none of your business freak!" "I'M NOT A FREAK YOU FUCKING PIG!" Hiding behind the aisles, they had not realised that the boy had snuck up closer in order to come slamming down on their heads with a metal baseball bat. Crushing down hard upon a TV, the raptors and Michael dodged out to another aisle to hide, with plastic and circuits flying out like shrapnel. "You fucking cops took everything from me. EVERYTHING! My family never did anything to you, all I wanted was to sit at home, play videogames and nothing else! I NEVER ASKED FOR ANYTHING, BUT YOU FUCKING WANT TO RUIN MY LIFE, BECAUSE I WAS HAPPY! ALL OF YOU!" "Roy," murmured James, "take Michael and sneak to that closet over there, keep him safe while I take this guy." "Alrigh'," said Roy, "watch yersel' alrigh'?" James nodded and called out to Luke from a different position, wishing desperately he had a gun himself. "Where do you think we're taking Michael then?! Let's hear your side of the story!" "You all know what we could do to you and your boss. All we did was find out a little something unusual JUST because my dad's a mechanic and HAPPENED to find a bunch of drugs that YOUR BOSS planted! All we did was report it, but YOU FUCKERS made us look like some kinda Mister Big operation!" "Seriously!? That sucks, seriously, that's fucking awful but I'm not with them, I swear." "BULLSHIT! You bring the zombies here so your friends at the station can get away, you could have lead them anywhere but NO! You lead them toward ME so you'd make sure there'd be none of us left! YOU TOOK AWAY MY FAMILY YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!"

James knew that he was coming closer, and dodged the moment he heard the swing of a bat striking into another display, crunching against plastic once part of a stereo, made in China. He stood up daringly, stepping far enough away to make it difficult for Luke to use his handgun. "Listen, look I dunno who the fuck you are, but I am NOT with the police, okay, I didn't know you were here, I'm sorry, if you wanna come with us to safety we can-" "NO!" He fired two shots, none of which hit anywhere near FG as the youth struggled to handle the gun's recoil. "THAT'S WHAT THEY SAID WHEN THEY BROKE INTO MY HOME AND TOOK MY LIFE AWAY! EVERYONE I KNOW IS GONE, I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER ANYTHING ANYMORE, AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR FUCKING BOSS!" "I DON'T KNOW WHO HE IS!" "LIAR! YOU FUCKING LIAR I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU AND BIRNIE, JUST LIKE HIS FUCKING FRIENDS WHO TRIED YESTERDAY! I'LL MAKE HIM PAY FOR WHAT HE DID TO MY FAMILY!" Another firing of bullets came, the raptor dodging between aisles to keep himself a constant moving target. The fact that the teenager was both shaking with psychotic fury as well as being completely unused to wielding a gun, helped things immensely to avoid being shot at. TVs, VCRs, stereos and movie cases were shot up, but never the raptor who waited for the click of an empty handgun. James suddenly rushed out with scissors ready, leaping from the stock shelves to come crashing down onto Luke, who swung crazily with the bat. The swing of the bat only threw the scissors off-target, for it did not prevent the raptor from slamming down on top of him to let loose a flurry of punches, slamming his clawed fist repeatedly into his face. The kid however was burning with rage, screaming as he kicked hard upwards into FG's chest, before rolling over with him on top to return the favour with his own bloodied hands. Shrieking with murder, Luke swung up high with his bat ready to come down, before James shot him full in the face with a blast of fire to force him off. Crying at the hot flames to his face, the teenager desperately covered himself with his hands before FG kicked him hard to the side, reaching for his scissors before swinging down diagonally. He scarred Luke's face before he had a chance to get up, the youth not even flinching as he swung forwards psychotically with the bat. Swing after swing he made, screaming violently as he chased FG throughout the store, forcing him back with unladen fury as he striked TVs and speakers with reckless abandon.

Sparks of plastic and circuits would make James flinch, but the human barely tried to avoid being hurt, even when James managed to thrust right into Luke's shoulder as he fell back screeching. In response he threw his bat hard, hurling it towards FG to crack him hard upon the head before bullrushing him hard. Gutpunching him furiously, the teenager grabbed him by the chest to slam his head repeatedly into a counter, screaming his fury with every pounding of his head. "YOU! FUCKING! ASSHOLE! I'LL! FUCKING! KILL YOU!" James groaned as he struggled with a blinding headache, seeing red drip down from his face as he tried to move away with a stumbling gait while Luke picked up his bat. "This is for my mom you son of a BITCH!" Before he could even get close however, the youth was suddenly blindsided by a TV that slammed into his head, crashing down to the floor as FG heard Roy cry out: "FG!" "Nnnngh..." "GET BEHIND THUH COUNTER, NOW!" He did as he was ordered, stumbling towards the counter with blurry vision until his blood-bruised head could correct itself through the pain. Luke slowly got up with his own blinding headache, his own head bloodied with plastic sticking out of his pale skin. He turned towards the black raptor, standing before the window that he knew began to show signs of cracking from the many undead pushing hard against it. "You...s-so you wanna backup huh? Heh...always watching each other's backs you fucking cops." "Ah dunno whut happened to you kid," said Roy firmly, "but you got one chance to stop all this shit now 'fore it's too late. Ah don' wanna hafta hurt you." "Maybe YOU don't, but Birnie will! You're not gonna let me leave this city so why should I let you?!" "Cuz ahm not with thuh police! Kid, ah swear, we all wanna get outta here, why can't we work together an' get out together?!" "BECAUSE YOU FUCKERS KILLED MY FAMILY!" Screaming with his bat, Luke charged towards Roy blindly in vain, swinging straight for his head. Roy didn't even bring out his Great Knife, waiting for the right opportunity to duck beneath the furious swing and gut punch the youth straight in the stomach. Bending over hard from the brutal blow, he was given one last chance to cease his fighting as Roy stood waiting. He got up and rushed into MG, slamming him against the sturdy plateglass window with hands around his neck. Feeling the young hands trying to strangle his neck, Roy shoved both arms away from his neck by slamming his own arms against them from inside, spreading them out fast in an outwards motion. In the briefest moment of stumbling back, the teenage psychopath saw one single black fist come straight for him. He fell backwards hard, his head cracking against the sharp edge of a sturdy display shelf. A weakening whimper was the only thing left as he fell to the floor, the back of his head scraping against the shelf metal.

Blood started to pool from him, unmoving and soon silent with a deep wound from the back of his head. Roy realised what he had done as his head sank with his heart. He shuddered with distaste, trying to mentally appease forgiveness to some unknown force he felt was judging him. "...god...dammit. ...stupid kid. Why'd you have to do this?" Trying to be at the very least respectful, he stepped around Luke's body as he looked through his pockets. The key to the fire exit was in one of them, taking it before heading to the store closet to grab Michael. "Hey there man, you alrigh'?" "A-ah huh," said Michael. "...whut happened to that other guy?" "...he's all knocked out, got tired all swingin' and rantin' like a crazy ass. Now come on, we got thuh key so we can get outta here." "Okay...you can tell me he's dead you know." "...fine. He's dead. Now come on, we can't stay here any longer." Softly taking the boy by the hand, Roy proceeded towards the counter where FG was recovering. Thankfully he was alright, despite a part of Roy wanting to wish that he wasn't. Other than some dark bruises showing bloodier spots, he would live. James simply nodded at Roy in mutual thanks, asking: "We good to go?" "Yeah, he had thuh key on 'im." "Good. ...I got a couple of guns, one he dropped and another back there." "Yeah?" "The store room's got a few bodies back there...police officers." "...god damn. Alrigh', take all you need an' let's go, now." Getting back onto his feet, the raptor headed towards the fire exit and unlocked it at last, heading onto the back streets behind the electronics mart and locking it firmly behind them. The walking dead would find themselves hard pressed to break through a fire exit door of all things even with their combined strength. Already they could hear the sounds of cracking glass from within the store not more than a few minutes later. With the way south now clear, James, Roy and Michael made their way around the store to come out from far behind the zombie horde itself, heading past the city hall and towards the police station. They did not want to take chances with the remaining survivors within, so they planned to keep skirting round them out of sight. The last few remaining zombies that were still in the southern streets, were easily disposed of by both raptors with their blades. The time was now around 12pm, the high point of noon where both the living and the dead could see for miles.

Normally this would not be too bad a thing considering the zombies were incredibly slow and therefore easy to outrun so long as you never reached a dead end. But just when they thought they found themselves in a safe area of peace, within an empty longer street at the back of the electronic store, they heard a strange sound coming from ahead of them. A sound that Roy was all-too familiar with. "Hold up." He had them wait as he tried to listen further. It was an odd sound, rhythmic even of a constant clo-clack, clo-clack that was steadily approaching them. James and Michael took a little longer in knowing what it was. "Is that...a horse?" asked Michael. "...sounds like it." "Wh-whut...whassit doing here?" "Must be one of thuh police horses. There." He pointed towards an alley opening where a large dark hoof poked out from, followed by a spindly brown leg far too emaciated and riddled with muscular distortion to ever be considered healthy. Another leg soon followed of the same condition. Then a large chest torn of its flesh and riddled with bullet wounds to even reveal some of the bone underneath. Lastly, there came the head. The ears were now gone, ripped or rotted away, its eyes glassy and almost-white like death itself, a sneer eternally scarred upon its long brown muzzle revealing the broken blood-red teeth. Spittle dripped from its snout, as it spotted the potential of three new creatures to become its prey. "...oh...fuck, no." Roy was shaking with horror, moreso than FG had ever seen him before, the sight of the rotting horse slowly walking towards them making it all the more terrifying. For starters it was somehow huge, twice as tall as a man at least, its long rigid neck and twisted legs keeping a thick dead body upright as it neighed a vile scream. A scream not unlike the sound of a mare being ripped apart by wolves, which made Roy turn weak at the knees and start breathing raggedly. "...Roy." "Wh-wh-whut?" "That thing is coming for us and we need to run. Now." "A-a-ah know...we need to hide, any ideas?" "No...we jus-SHIT!"

Suddenly from behind there came a clattering of hooves, before a violent shriek almost came down upon their heads as the three of them dispersed. A second horse was now upon them, the first one also charging towards them as the undead beasts started their assault. One of them went for Roy, who ran desperately towards a large dumpster next to a sturdily-welded drainpipe. James grabbed Michael to run towards a narrow alleyway, hoping it would be too tight for the horse to go through. But things only became more difficult once they found a third horse had come from the east to join them. Even though they were dead, their speed was just as monstrously fast as they had been alive. Occasionally the beasts rushed in front of them to spook their prey, circling them like a corral as their shrieks resonated together, like a pack of banshees upon the moors. James tried to fight them off, wielding his scissors to strike and lunge straight into the legs, but they were too fast for him to even touch, their bodies too high to strike. Deadened muscle throbbed around them as the horses closed in on James and Michael, until one stormed straight towards them with bloodied crushing hooves. He grabbed the boy and quickly dodged, using all of his reflexes to evade one, two, three screaming horses of the apocalypse. At one point they cut too close, knocking James on the right shoulder as he spun and fell with Michael on top of him. As he was about to dodge a pair of rearing hooves, the darkening noon above the shrieking mare, a roar of fury came down from above. Roy landed hard upon one of the horses' backs, slamming his feet upon it as he leapt from the top of a building, swinging his Great Knife straight at the horse's head to decapitate it halfway. The thick dead muscular neck took some effort to cleave clean through, as the horse screamed with outstretched twisted teeth and eyes blinded by death. Roy screamed in turn, both with fury and with sorrow as he clenched his eyes hard. The other horses looked towards him as he made sure the first one was dead, crying out: "GO, NOW!"

James and Michael took the cue and ran towards the narrow alleyway between buildings, squeezing their way in as the horses focused their attention on Roy. Leaping from the horse he killed, he stood waiting for the last two to come charging, the beasts galloping one at a time as he readied his great blade. With his greater strength, he was able to swiftly dodge and swing hard across their legs, cracking the spindly knees and crippling one of the undead horses, the scream echoing throughout the streets as its head cracked onto the pavement. The third and final horse, its senses dead forevermore, saw only rage and destruction as it charged towards Roy. Pulling out the handgun FG had given to him from the store, he fired a few warning shots to confuse it, two of them piercing straight into the head to stun it temporarily as he dodged once more before a crippling blow. His blade tore through the back legs of the horse, a shriek of agony as it fell onto its front legs, further crippling it before laying onto the ground. James could only watch as the black raptor walked up to both creatures, staring down unto their bloated tongues and shivering neighs. His heart ached somehow for them, more than anything else he had seen here as he sighed heavily. Their legs struggled to move, twisting further with each effort they made, pain barely registered in their rotting minds as Roy said unto them: "You never wanted this didn't you? ...ah know. All you did wuz follow orders an' keep thuh peace like any good steed would've. ...ahm sorry." He raised his Great Knife high above the first horse's pale eye, struggling to hold himself firm before coming down hard upon its neck. Even when the throat had been completely severed off from the head itself, it still would scream at him in the last moments before death. He shuddered before dealing with the last one, killing the same way as fast as possible with decapitation. Blood barely spilled from the long-dead body as he slipped a hand into his satchel, rubbing his horseshoe within. "Forgive me Lizbeth. They were in agony longer than they had to be." When the coast was clear, James walked out of the narrow alley all the more curious of his ally. Seeing him try to clear his thoughts, the raptor in brown asked: "You alright?" "...yeah. You?" "Yeah uh...nice work with them man, coming from above like that." "They were too tall to fight on thuh ground," he said without emotion. "Ah had to." "No, you did the right thing." "...you got no fuckin' right to tell me whut's right." "Look, I-...fine, whatever." "Where's Michael?" "Huh?" Looking behind him, he saw no trace of the boy, thinking he was still back in the alleyway hiding away. But the alley itself was empty of all things living. One of Michael's shoes had been left behind, a blue sleek trainer with velcro strips. "...no. N-no, NO!"

He ran to the other end of the alleyway, fast as he could despite squirming his way through the narrow passageway as he found himself coming back out at Warren Street. The zombie horde still remained north at the front of the electronics store, but to the south was something even stranger. A large armoured van, with several men in brown-and-blue outfits bundling someone into the back. James recognised who it was even without seeing only one shoe on his foot. "MICHAEL!" The moment he tried to run towards them, the men opened fire fast, handguns with the occasional rifle turning towards him with a hail of bullets as he tried desperately to dodge back, pulling up his shield quickly from his nanos. The tetra-block shield that poured forth from his wrist managed to help guard against some bullets, but they became one too many once they started aiming at his legs, one or two even scarring across his thighs. As he backed into the alleyway once more, he could barely hear Michael screaming out for help, before the vehicle closed and drove off towards the west of the city. "MICHAAAAAAEL! NOOOOOOO!" Struggling to comprehend what had just happened, James fell back against the alley wall and grabbed his head with both hands screaming, crying out his fury as Roy came running up from the passageway. "Wh-whut happened?!" "MICHAEL! THEY TOOK HIM, THEY FUCKING TOOK HIM!" "Who?!" "I DUNNO, SOME GUYS IN A FUCKING ARMOURED VAN, COPS MAYBE!" "Whut?! Seriously?!" "They went down that way, fucking shot at me and everything, he was screaming for help Roy! We gotta find him!" "Woah woah hold up man, we can't just go runnin' off an-" "NO!" Grabbing Roy hard before thrusting him up against the wall, the raptor screamed with a fearful fury into his face. "I am NOT losing him, I promised I would get him out of here and I FUCKING WILL! If you do anything to stop me I will fucking rape you dead before I throw you to the fucking zombies YOU HEAR ME?!" "WH-WHUT THE FUCK MAN, CALM DOWN! We'll find him, we just gotta wait an' set up a-" "NO, I CAN'T WAIT! WE CAN'T WAIT OR ELSE HE'S GONNA BE DEAD! I WON'T LOSE ANOTHER KID, I FUCKING WON'T ROY!" "...wait, whut you mean another?" "NEVER MIND, COME ON!" "H-HEY, WAIT!" James ran off in the direction of the armoured vehicle, desperate to find Michael again as the zombie horde had noticed somewhat the argument from downwind, a few of them turning with interest. One or two stragglers tried to wander off back to the police station, but the raptors had already long gone as they slipped through towards the somewhere north of the city hall.

With the majority of the zombies they knew now up in the north, the southern streets were for now a little more clear down the length of Wallace Street, as well as only leaving a small number in the branching streets they now walked through. A bright light guided them towards one street in particular, a gas station owned by a company called STAGLA. The piercing fluorescent lights had attracted a small group of the undead, which both James and Roy carved through with ease using both strength in their blades and firepower with their nanos. Cars and a single bus were both wrecked and deserted around the gas station, which remained surprisingly unblemished with four fuel pumps beneath the glaring white forecourt. The station itself was quite large, offering also a garage for service and repairs to one's car. The shutters were open, the place seemingly uninhabited for now as James crawled over the wrecked vehicles all around. "I know it came through here." "How thuh hell did it come through here, can't get through any of these damn cars without climbin' on 'em." "But it went down this way, at least past city hall SOMEWHERE, I'm not giving up." "Ah wanna find Michael too, but we can't just run off in one direction without a plan. An' we need to get outta here by 9pm." "You mean 8pm," corrected FG. "Well...yeah, but also 9pm." "Why?" "...okay, ah didn't wanna say it before cuz ah thought we didn't have to worry about it. But, ah found out sumthin' else while ah wuz here." "What's that?" "...thuh government are gonna shut down thuh city tonight. They're sendin' in thuh U.S. Army to quarantine thuh city an' contain thuh virus that's in here. Meaning that no one else gets in...or out." "...great. Just...great." James threw up his hands in disgust. "Even in another fucking dimension, there's the army again just TRYING to fuck with me." "Well, technically the A.R.M.E aren't-" "I KNOW OKAY!? You of all people don't have to tell me that!" "Fine fine whutever...point is, thuh deadline is tonight at 9pm." "Well that's not gonna be a problem, Michael's parents set us a deadline at 8pm." "Exactly. So we all best make ourselves scarce before any of them come down here." "Right, good. ...what's that?" A scuttering came from the interior of the gas station, the sound of something being knocked over making them curious for what was inside. James for once decided to bring out his handgun, one of two taken from the electronics mart as he neatly opened the glass door. It seemed to be a small basic shop, a counter with some basic purchases to the left along with a vending machine to their right. A small table with three chairs sat also to the right for customers to relax.

As they approached the desk however to see what was in the doorway past the back of it, something red flied out at them, leaping over FG and landing straight onto Roy's face. "AUGH FUCK DAMMIT!" Landing against the vending machine, Roy pushed the thing off as best as he could, the creature appearing to be some form of skinless quadruped with an exposed brain, no eyes and a huge piercing set of claws on each foot. Hissing with a long slathering tongue, it leapt up at Roy once more and began slobbering all over him, the raptor trying to aim without risk of wounding his ally. The tongue was surprisingly vicious, stabbing left and right as it aimed for Roy's face. "S-STAND STILL!" "AH CAN'T, F-FUCKIN' FREAKY-ASS BITCH WITH ITS TONGUE LICKIN' ALL OVER ME, GUUUH!" "THROW IT OFF AGAIN!" "NNNNRAAAH!" The creature hissed and desperately tried to claw at him, but Roy had its arms well-gripped with his own hands as all it could do was drool its thick tongue all over his face. He grunted and shivered, trying not to let any of the saliva get through as he finally kicked the beast off. The moment it was off his body, James fired upon it with extreme prejudice, emptying half a clip into it. This still did not kill it, as it tried to attack Roy once more who dodged out of the small building to head back outside, keeping out of the thing's range with its absurdly huge claws. Swinging through the doorframe with huge scars left within it, the monster leapt into the forecourt with some struggle, the bullets in its body slowing it down. It gave Roy enough time to bring out his own gun and finish it off with his own half of a clip. The beast shuddered and died at last, falling onto a puddle of its own blood in the corner of the room. Roy panted hard, his face dripping with saliva as James could not help but smirk. "...hhhh...wh-whut? Hhhhh...whut's so funny?" "N-nothing I...I always thought you were straight." "F-fuck you! That thing wuz goin' all over mah face!" "Well it's dead now...you always remember your first tongue-kissing." "That's NOT funny man, ah coulda been infected!" "Relax, it didn't bite or gouge you right?" "No...but saliva still counts don't it?" "Not unless it's gone under your skin...kinky." "F-fuck you, god dammit ah hate this fuckin' city." "Sorry...dammit, I thought someone was here." "Hello?!" A voice came from the doorway beyond the counter, as FG replied: "HEY, someone there?!" "Y-yeah! You alright?!" "There was some kinda thing with a long-ass tongue but we killed it!" "Aw fuck thank god, that thing almost killed me!" Walking out from the doorway was a face that, while was unfamiliar to FG, was most certainly familiar to MG. Despite wearing a lot less orange in favour of a blue jumpsuit, Roy and the human who stepped out recognised each other immediately. Short black hair and pale skin. "OH GOD, NO!" "W-wait hold up!"

The man immediately ran back into the doorway with Roy chasing after to just see him hide behind a tirepile in the corner of the room. The doorway lead to a small garage, the shutter door open where a somewhat-decent red car without wheels was now facing, held up on hydraulics for examination. Various tools and fittings laid on metallic shelves and odd piles all around the pale yellow walls and floor, old oil slicks and jumper cables lying everywhere like the blood and veins of many a vehicle that had been amputated here. Roy also noticed another man that jumped into hiding behind the raised red car, his whimpering panic giving him away as the black raptor cried: "Ahm not gonna hurt you! We just came here to find someone!" "I didn't do anything!" called out one man. "I swear, I didn't do nothing, I-i-i didn't even drop any litter like you told me too!" "Ah don't care, we're not here to hurt you ah swear! We're just lookin' fer a kid who got grabbed an' we need sum help." "...r-really?" "Sum guys kidnapped a kid around here an' we saw 'em come down this way. We need sum help...any kind you can give we'd appreciate." "...a kid?" The man climbed out from behind the tires and softly stepped out in front of MG. His hands were filthy with axel grease, the clear signs of recent maintenance and repair. "Shit that's bad, what happened?" "Yer uh...Henman, right?" "Y-yeah, Chris Henman...my dad used to own this place, part of a company chain he got hired into...was hoping I could find him." "He here too?" "No...I think he got out quick, his car's not here." "Ah hope so. Lissen, me an' mah friend, thuh other guy in thuh costume, we're lookin' fer an armoured van that passed by here, sum guys grabbed a kid that we were protectin' an' just drove off. You seen anythin' like that?" "Seriously? ...armoured van sounds like police stuff." "Maybe it wuz, maybe not." "They looked like police," said FG. "They had brown and blue outfits and all of them had guns, at least one or two had assault rifles." "Brown and blue?" asked Chris. "...sounds like the drug squad of the RPD, they wear those." "Drug squad?" "Yeah...hey maybe this guy can help, Brad come out, it's cool!" "H-huh?!" said the other man hiding. "It's okay dude, they're friends!" "...really?" Softly standing up before them, was another panicky caucasian man with brown hair, wearing a yellow sleeveless jacket and cargo camouflage pants. He looked like he was from the military, which intrigued James further as the man walked closer towards them. "You uh...you look pretty weird but you're human right?" "Yeah," said FG, "don't worry these are costumes...we were part of a circus coming up here." "...I didn't hear about a circus but the way you guys look I'm surprised you haven't been shot yet." "Haha, yeaaaaah we know, but it gives us a bit of armour, we went ahead of the circus group to advertise it first, scope out the crowd and such." "Right...that makes sense. I'm Brad. Brad Vickers." "I'm James Campbell and-" "Roy MacGregor," said MG, "you with thuh police?" "Yeah...not that it's gonna do much good in this city now. I used to be with the S.T.A.R.S. Special Tactics and Rescue Service." "So...you're like, SWAT team?" "Kinda...but we're all gone now...all of us...disbanded even." Brad sighed and sat down on a large tire, clasping his head in his shaking hands. "I should never have sided with the chief, dammit. Everything's gone to hell because of this." "So, if you're a cop," said FG, "do you know anything about what the hell's going on with this city?" "I know a lot more than I want to. You know Umbrella right?" "Kinda hard to escape that name here." "Well...they're the guys that caused all this." Both raptors looked at each other, somehow not surprised after all their guesswork as Roy asked: "How did this all happen?"

"...how much time you got?"