[After Nexus and others just left N. Horizon for scavenging...]
In an underground bunker in N. Horizon.
In a room, a long rectangular table is placed, where men in different dresses with tattoos are sitting when a person at the head of the table starts to speak.
Person A: We can't just reach the city gates and travel to the beyond on our legs. We are going to need vehicles. Many of them.
Person B: We don't have those many vehicles, Bose. and even if we have, we are going to need too much juice to leave this place and venture beyond.
Bose: We don't need to search the vehicles and juice ourselves, Jack. We already have ready-made ones right here.
Jack: You mean, the ones stored by other survivors? But that could cause destruction all around the base. and the other survivors may come after us, affecting our mission and causing possible losses.
Suddenly Vinnie pushes the rooms doors and enters, starting to talk to everyone as he starts taking his seat at the head of the table as Bose stands and starts standing behind Vinnie.
Vinnie: You don't have to worry about the survivors, Jack. By the time we take their cars and juice, they would be wailing under rubble.
Suddenly people start to enter, carrying boxes of explosives, and start to split and distribute them to every leader present in the room. Jack, seeing this, starts to understand Vinnie's thoughts and starts to get excited at the possible carnage of their next actions.
Vinnie: Send your people to different residential areas and fix these explosives in areas with large population densities; when they go off, the survivors would be busy searching for their supplies and their teams. so we-
when suddenly he is cut off by Jack.
Jack: And I will stay behind to enj—I mean, take care of anybody that comes after us!!
Bose: No shit. Jack. We don't need a madman telling our whereabouts after he is put down by an angry crowd.
Jack: Damnit, Bose. You lack fun. Bastard.
Vinnie: Ok, shut it. That is the plan. You follow it.
Everybody starts to leave, taking with them the explosives.
[After every body left...]
Jack: Don't worry, boss, our plan will be successful.
Vinnie: Yeah, we should also prepare. We will use these idiots as the bait for the bloom and escape while they distract the bloom. Idiots.
Vinnie starts to leave the room standing from his seat, and Bose starts to follow him out of the room.
Night cloaked the settlement, but violence illuminated the darkness. Members of the gang scattered throughout the streets, planting explosives with reckless abandon.
Men sprinted down an alleyway, dodging trash cans and leaping over puddles. He clutched a backpack full of dynamite, his eyes fixed on the settlement's central hub.
"Move, move, move!" he yelled into his phone, coordinating with his crew.
A person took a wrong turn, stumbling into a group of settlement guards. A shootout erupted, the person's pistol firing wildly as he desperately tried to escape.
Person A: Mike, I got pinned down!
Mike (panicking): "Hold on, Joey! I'm almost there!"
Another person planted explosives in the settlement's fuel depot, laughing maniacally as he ignited the fuse.
"This is going to be beautiful!" he shouted, fleeing the scene.
But he didn't notice the settlement's other resident gang closing in.
His scream echoing through the streets as the other gang's leader, Victor Martinez, stabbed him repeatedly.
"You scum!" Victor snarled, kicking his lifeless body.
As the explosives began to detonate, the settlement descended into chaos. Sirens blared, people screamed, and gunfire echo through the streets.
Bombing Victor and his gang into the skies and falling hard onto the road. Victor gets up and sits shakily on the ground, looking to the fire now blazing into the sky and the flame drops falling from the sky, petrol stored for emergencies now streaking through the sky, burning and igniting everything.
Victor: What have you done?
and falls powerlessly on the land. Breathless and life-drained. dead.
Mike's phone crackled, Joey's voice faint.
Joey: Vinnie...I'm hit...can't make it...
But he didn't get a reply. It came to him that he had been abandoned by his team. He starts to laugh at his deathbed in madness. When suddenly.
Joey: Blow it all to hell!
Igniting the final explosive. Taking everything around him. His dead body and the guard team that was confronting him.
The settlement's central hub erupted in a blaze of fire and smoke, the night consumed by chaos.
The night shattered with a deafening boom. Flames engulfed the settlement's central hub, casting flickering shadows on terrified faces.
Pandemonium erupted. Gang members scrambled, screaming, as rubble rained down. Survivors running around searching for what was left of theirs. Family, supplies, vehicles, anything of use. other gangs searching for cause of fire and the bombs when, firing his pistol wildly. Vinnie La Rosa stumbled through the chaos, his ears ringing with screams and gunfire. Making him relish in the chaos he has caused.
Vinnie: Search for their vehicles and fuel. And supplies.
Gunfire peppered the air:
Rat-a-tat-tat.
Crack-crack-crack.
Screams mingled with the symphony of death, adding to the despair spreading in N. Horizon, spelling its imminent end.
Person (1): No! My brother!
Person (2): Mama!
Person (3): Ahhh!
Bodies flashed in the strobe-like light:
A young girl, her eyes wide, fled past Vinnie, blood streaming down her face.
A gang member stumbled, gut-shot, clutching his abdomen.
A Reaper, ablaze, ran screaming, flames consuming his tattoos.
Joey's lifeless body lay crushed beneath rubble, eyes frozen.
Victor's character remains smoldered, unrecognizable.
Vinnie's gaze locked onto a gang leader, Martinez, firing an AK-47.
Martinez (roaring): You did this!
bullets whizzing past Vinnie.
Vinnie returned fire, pistol emptying.
Click-click-click.
A member grabbed Vinnie's arm.
member A: We gotta get out! Now!
As they fled, the settlement's fuel depot detonated, sending a fireball soaring into the night sky.
The blast wave knocked Martinez off his feet. He landed hard, ears bleeding.
Through the din, Vinnie heard Martinez's maniacal laughter:
"This is hell!"
Martinez struggled up, eyes scanning the devastation.
Bodies burning.
Buildings collapsing.
The settlement's very fabric unraveling.
Martinez: Retreat!
Martinez screamed, fleeing into the darkness.
The bombing's aftermath was a vision of hell.
Vinnie and his gang regrouped at the gates of the settlement, with trucks and fuel in the tow, ready to escape from the hell they created.
Vinnie: Khahahhaah... lets go boys... we are leaving this shithole!!!!
The gang: yes, boss!!!!!
They start their vehicles and rush out of the settlements, crashing the gates as they rush through them. Kicking clouds of dust and rubble up.
[Present ...]
Nexus, Luna, and Horvath sit on rubble. Martinez and his gang are standing opposite them. when Martinez starts to speak.
Martinez: I need your help, as you are the only people still alive with any strength.
Luna: What is it?
Martinez : I want to rebuild this place with your help. I want you to maintain order and regroup those survivors. We would need fodder for any future wars.
Horvath: We will be leaving!!
Martinez: That's surprising... then I have a mission for you. Don't worry, I would pay you upfront. You don't need to come back for the payment.
Luna: What is it??
Martinez: Kill Vinnie and his Gang.
Nexus: What will we get??
Martinez: A Car and
Nexus: not enough
Martinez: and fuel enough for you to leave the city if you are still alive.
Luna: done.
Horvath takes the keys, and the group starts to walk to the car. a modified Chevrolet with guns and armor. When suddenly Martinez talks.
Martinez: I wish you all the best.
They start the car and drive it through the settlement, and while driving through the settlement, Luna starts to dive into her memories of when her father was still alive protecting her.
{Memories}
Training Days
Eight years ago...
Luna's eyes sparkled as she watched her father, Marcus, demonstrate a combat move. She was only 12, but her determination rivaled his.
Marcus (gently): Okay, kiddo! Now it's your turn.
Luna nodded, mimicking his stance. Her small fists clenched.
Marcus (chuckling): Not like that. You'll break your wrists.
He adjusted her grip, guiding her through the motion.
Marcus: Feel the balance? The power?
Luna's face lit up.
Marcus (beaming): That's my girl.
Their makeshift training area, a cleared patch of wood behind their cabin, echoed with the sounds of rustling leaves and snapping twigs.
Luna's mother, Rachel, watched from the porch, a mix of concern and pride etched on her face.
As the sun dipped, casting long shadows, Marcus taught Luna how to disarm an opponent, how to use her agility, and how to strike with precision.
Marcus (seriously): Never back down, Luna, but never seek violence either.
Luna's gaze locked onto his.
Luna: I won't, Dad.
Marcus wrapped his arms around her.
Marcus: I know you won't.
Rachel approached, placing a hand on Marcus's shoulder.
Rachel: She's growing up, Marcus.
Marcus smiled, his eyes misting.
Marcus: She's going to change the world.
Lena looked up at her parents, her heart swelling with love and determination.
[When suddenly the memory fades and changes to another scene.]
The family of three huddled together, fleeing the overrun city. Marcus, his wife Rachel, and their 16-year-old daughter Luna had managed to evade the undead hordes thus far.
but fate caught up with them on a deserted highway.
A horde of mutates, their eyes vacant, skin gray and decaying, closed in.
Marcus grabbed Luna's arm. shouting while running.
Marcus: Run.
Rachel lagged behind, her eyes locked on a mutate, its hands grasping towards her as she ran behind.
Marcus (shouting): Rachel!!!!
She turned, a mutate biting into her arm.
Marcus (shouting): No!!!!
Rachel's gaze met John's, tears streaming down her face.
Rachel: Take Sarah. Save her.
Marcus's world crumbled.
With strength born of desperation, Rachel fought off the zombies, buying time for Marcus and Luna to escape.
As they fled, Marcus heard Rachel's screams fade into the distance.
Luna's grip on his hand tightened. "Dad...."
Marcus's vision blurred, his heart shattered.
[The memory fades and jumps to another.]
Marcus lay on a makeshift bed, wounds festering. Fever consumed him.
Luna tended to him, tears streaming down her face.
Luna: Dad, please...don't leave me...
Marcus's voice weakened. "I'm sorry, baby. I should've saved her."
Days passed, Marcus's condition worsening.
Luna read to him and held his hand, but the infection spread.
One day, John released his last breath.
Sarah cradled his head, her heart shattered.
When she sees a letter folded in his hand, clutching it.
"My dearest Luna,
You're grown now. Strong. Resourceful.
Don't burden yourself with me. Live.
Find safety. Find happiness.
Your mother's sacrifice won't be in vain.
I love you.
Dad"
Tears streamed down Luna's face as she read.
She felt a voice whisper in her ear.
"I love you, baby..."
Alone now, Luna steeled herself for the unforgiving world.
{memory ends....}
Horvath hands Luna a piece of cloth, saying.
Horvath: Tears.. wipe them.
Luna proceeds to wipe her tears when she hears Nexus say a word. out of character.
Nexus: Let it flow. Helps relieve the pain.
Both Horvath and Luna are stunned when they hear it.
Luna: Hm.. It's awkward and doesn't suit you.
Horvath: definitely..
Nexus, not knowing why he said that word, turns around and watches the scenery. when suddenly laughter starts to sound in the car. Both Luna and Horvath start to laugh watching him turn around and return to his position, watching the scenery.
Just with a smile on his lips, unknown to both Horvath and Luna and new to Nexus, who for the first time in his life smiled.
As you know already, cats don't laugh!!!!!
To be Continued!!!