Ask [Ord Mantell] Bunch'a Biters

[Myrna Vel]

Myr had no karking idea what the hell just happened.

She had come because there was a job offering of a small, sweet setup with a twist; she had to participate on one of the most dangerous unheard of swoop-bike races, called the Trencher. Spanning across multiple junkyards and abandoned causeways, she might'a considered choosin' somethin' else; but when credits were slim and packin' juice for the ship was getting costly, could ya really afford to get picky by this point? She was all set up with her sweet baby, about to take a couple spinnies against some local boy toy, when the unexpected happened.

They were all lined up. The eyes that tuned in were mostly drifter types; some law sniffers here and there, but this was a private event, sponsored by some of the local bosses to keep their cred line alive on a cheap holo broadcast. But she was sittin' there, mindin' her own, when one schutta stumbled into the causeway. "Git ootta the way, ya crazy bas--" she almost shouted, when she saw something that riveted her to her seat in shock.

He looked... wrong. Sickly, sweaty, and even from all that distance she could see that he looked dead white, eyes rolled back and body twitching in place. She felt her stomach turn, but for some reason she couldn't look away. But when one 'officer' approached, she was about to gun it to ram the guy off, as did a couple other racers... when this funky dude.

Just. Kriffin'. Bit him!

She let out a short yelp at the sight of it... and turned tail. Suddenly, she heard a roar, joined by others... and had to look back.

More had begun to chomp, and others began to flee.

That was the last thing she could remember fer sure. But now she had ta get to an escape... no biter creepazoids were gonna get a redheaded meal today. Instead she simply began gunning it, weaving frantically away from the crowd. From the sounds of it, not many other drivers were as lucky.

"Git ta' kriff outta my way!" She bellowed in a panic, hoping by some twisted sense a' fate someone had the foresight to allow some way off this backwards planet! But it looked like people were headin' towards the docks, so she just started gunning and followed them. And prayed to whatever the kark was out there that she could make it out and still have enough creds to last the next race or odd bit o' business.

@Raydo

 

[Nick Shaw]

He leaned against the rails, the metallic fingers on his right hand clicking against the rail. He had been traveling to various planets around the expansion region looking for signs of the plague. He had heard reports of possible sightings of an outbreak on Ord Mantell a couple of weeks ago.

So far he had found nothing but a healthy underground racing scene. There would have been a time when he would have cared for such things, and maybe there would be time for that later but for now, the Galaxy faced a much larger threat which made illegal racing petty.

He fit right in with the other observers. He had been working alone in the various underground scenes across the Galaxy for years. Maybe it was time to move on to the next sighting reports, this seemed to have been a dead end.

Nick was about to leave when there was a commotion from further down the track. Fights were common at these sorts of things so it didn't surprise him. He was about to look away when he looked a bit more closely as one of the individuals bit down on the neck of the other.

Panic started to build quickly. In a city as big as this, containment would be impossible with no resources. His only hope was to get as many people out as he could.

He needed a vehicle, he had walked here and he would need to be fast if there was any hope at all. A speeder tried to break free of the crowd but one of the creatures was in the speeder with the man. It latched on to him and he lost control as he screamed in the pain. He crashed as he tried trashing away from the monster.

Nick ran forward, pulling his blaster and dealing with the zombie in the back seat before shooting the driver who was already dead. He pulled both from the speeder and climbed in, ready to speed towards the spaceport.

 

[Myrna Vel]

"AY!"

One of the freaky biter dudes got way too close for her liking; she panicked, swinging the speeder sideways and nearly sideswiping some dude who was definitely not in racer duds speeding off, and barely managed to pull her blaster out to fire a shot when the zomb-guy stumbled and slumped over. She didn't even have time to think before gunning it, her whole body vibrating as sweat broke down her spine and her heart pounded hard and fast in her chest.

"Hol' up, pal!" she shouted to the other swooper ahead of her; kriff the guy was good. She had to dodge and weave to get closer, but there seemed to be more of 'em shufflin' through, and she could feel the panic overwhelming her and shorting her focus. "Ya kno' where any escape is?!"

Hopefully this dude wasn't as lost as she was; there were other survivors, sure, but this guy seemed to know where he was going, and this was just about the safest bet for survivability as the small redhead could consider. Two heads were better than one, after all. And she'd be damned if she was going to die in some backwater junker planet to a bunch o' creepers that looked like they shuffled outta one of her favorite holovids.

@Raydo

 

[Nick Shaw]

He was about to bolt towards the spaceport when someone called out. She ran towards the speeder, being chased by one of the creatures. As she reached the speeder he raised his blaster in her direction. "Get down!" he said, firing towards the zombie behind her. It caught the creature in the head, killing it instantly.

"Get in," he said before slamming the throttle down. The scene was quickly devolving into pure chaos. Nick had seen it before, there would be no stopping the spread throughout the city. Their only hope was to gather all the survivors they could.

He pulled out his comm. "This is Sector Ranger Nick Shaw calling any local security forces. We need to evacuate anyone we can. Converge on the spaceport and begin securing it. We will have to hold off the best we can there." he said.

"Did they bite you?" he asked the woman as he swerved to miss a small group of the zombies in the street. There was no cure for getting bitten, besides the crude one that had been used on him, and that cost him his arm.

 

[Myrna Vel]

She skidded to a halt right as he raised his blaster, ducking down with her arms over his head as he fired, then scrambling back, eyes wide in a panic. "AH, kark, dammit!" she shrieked, not even pausing to stare too long at the shot creeper dude before remembering she had her own blaster, and leapt in nimbly behind him.

She didn't need to be told twice.

Her heart was poundin' like some wild drum, her breathing ached her chest, but his words, almost snatched away in the wind, caused her to freeze behind him, internally groaning. Dang coppahs and their reach... wait. Did he kno' aboot this shiteshow? An' if so, was he a guy that knew about these freaky biters?

"Huh?" His question snapped her out of her rambling thoughts, and her helmeted head shook back and forth rapidly. "Uh-uh, no nips here, nope, I'm 'bout as untapped as an'--" she yelped when one dude stumbled close, slammed away by the shell of this guy's recent acquirement ehicle. "Ya said ranger? Wha' t'a kriff ya doin' so far from home? Or d'ya do this kina thing fer sport an' such?"

She knew she was talking a mile a minute, but she still had her blaster on hand and she wouldn't hesitate to gun down any zombs that came shufflin' in their way. Though then again, they could simply ram 'em…

@Raydo

 

[Nick Shaw]

"Investigating reports of odd behavior in the population." he said honestly. "Turns out they were accurate, if not understated." he continued. He swerved, of the creatures slamming into the front left side of the speeder. A blackish, dark red blood splattered on the windshield of the speeder making it difficult to see.

Today was not turning out to be a good day. He slowed to about half the speed we had been traveling as he worked to release the windshield.

There was a sudden thud at the back of the speeder as one of the creatures had landed on the back of the speeder, and now was scrambling forward. He had seen reports that as the virus progressed it mutated the victim's body more and more. This thing almost didn't look humanoid any more. It had elongated arms and legs with long claws on both hands and feet.

Claws dug into the back of the speeder as it pulled itself forward. Nick tried to glance back but had to keep his eyes on the path ahead. "You gotta get that thing off the speeder." he said to the woman.

 

[Myrna Vel]

Well, wasn't he just a basket o' sunshine and roses? 'Investigating reports', that sounded like a fancy Core World way o' sayin' none yer dang business, kid, she thought bitterly to herself, scowling beneath her helmet. She flinched back as one shuffler spattered dark-lookin' ooze over the windshield, and she could suddenly feel her stomach roiling at the sight of it.

She'd seen plenty o' blood before, sure, but that was just sickening. Ironic, too, that she could feel sick at all, considerin' she was runnin' on empty herself since last night.

At the thud, she twisted around and yelped again, already whipping her blaster around when he seemed to just calmly state she had to fire at it. No karkin' duh, she almost responded, but there wasn't time. That thing... eergh. She aimed a hit at the thing's head, and it sheared off a chunk, but held on. She growled, and fired three more times, first one at its' head again, then two more at its' hand-claws to release it from the back. It tumbled back with an inhuman wail, and she shuddered, gripping her pistol tight.

She loved a good horror vid, but this was strait outta' kriffin' nightmare. "Wha' t'a hell d'ya mean, 'odd behavior?" if she had a free hand to make air quotes, she would. "Tis ain't no kriffin' rave, bud, this a survival vid of Zombs 101. I'm pret' sure these guys ain't yer average shuffle-deader, yeah?"

She risked a glance back, and saw the thing left holes and deep scratches where it clawed before, and shuddered. "Gotta get a clear view," she said matter-of-factly, and though they seemed to outpace most of the stumblin' crowd, that didn't mean more weren't incoming.

If she were watching this in a holovid, she'd have been delighted. But as it was, she wasn't certain she liked being the girl in this holovid equation.

@Raydo

 

[Nick Shaw]

"And they will only get worse as this thing spreads." he said taking his blaster and shooting the bolts that held the windshield on. He pushed it out with a grunt as it flipped out and over the speeder.

"If you have any family here, they need to get to the spaceport right now." he said glancing back at her. He didn't know how long they had, but if his previous experience applied here they only had hours before escape would be impossible.

As they came around the corner, he spotted a young boy cowering near a light post up ahead. He knew he had to stop. "I am going to slow up when we get to that kid, I need you to jump out and grab him." he said pointing the kid out. "I'll cover you." he said as they approached. There were already some of the slower creatures moving towards the kid.

He slammed into three of them as they pulled up and fired his blaster at the others, though given his position his accuracy was not great.

 

[Myrna Vel]

Somehow, this felt like something outta 'The Shuffling Dead'. If he was the cop... what did that make her? The charming side-kick? The do-gooder that gets shafted jus' before they get ta safety? "Nah, got no one," she answered, giving him a sideways glance.

Grab a kid? Oh yeah, that always ended well, din' it?

Right as he pulled up she leaned forward, gripping the kid by his shirt and yanking him in. She immediately began checking him over, and the kid started sobbing, trying to slap her hands away and squirming about. "NO! I wan' my mom, stop--"

"Shut up!" she snapped in frustration, checking his stomach, sides, arms, legs, neck. Nothing, not even a scrape. She gave him a solid shake, brown eyes peering through her helmet. "Calm down kid. 'Ey, cop!" she twisted to the ranger, "Gun 'er up, we ain't got time fer bonus hits."

However, if that kid somehow began to turn on her, she wouldn't hesitate to yeet that little bastard towards the shufflers. She weren't goin' ta lose her charms to some ankle-biter, no way.

@Raydo