Squirrel City.

Even from a birds eye view, it wasn't too hard to see the hints of ruin within the large city below.  One would normally expect a bunch of various neutrally colored squares and rectangles, representing buildings, but it could be seen even from that high above that many damaged specks were all over the place.  Smoke rose from some areas, there were no cars driving about the roads, the grass in the park areas was brown and dead as opposed to having a radiant green, the sky was a depressing darkish tan instead of a pretty blue...

This was going to be ugly.

It most likely wasn’t going to be a problem for the second leader of the Springtime Avelle Hunter group; a rather silly name to give one’s bounty hunter group, but it held some sort of symbolism and all which neither Avelle nor her successor Juni was willing to give up.  At least, Juni hoped it wasn't going to be a problem.  She had let Junivelle take over for this mission.  In simple short words, she basically decided that there was no more Miss Nice Gal.  Well... that's what she figured would be the best way to describe it.

The current Avelle that Juni always saw, whom was Juni's imaginary friend or Avelle's ghost come back to haunt her (Juni was still trying to figure out which), told her that with this decision to finally handle the mission the Avelle way, Juni herself would see and realize out the truth about everything.  Sadly, it probably couldn't be much worse than how Juni bungled up the last few supernatural hunter missions.

The large transport helicopter continued to hover over the city as the pilot called out to the large group of people in the back.  "We're at the designated area!"

The really young (ridiculously so) shorthaired blonde beamed.  "Take us down.  We're going to easily mop this up!"

Considering that besides their leader, the group was all-male and ranging from an age range of seventeen to thirty, most of them rather strongly built with a variety of semi-sorta-spiked hairstyles, one might find it odd that they let themselves be led around by a mere sixteen year old.  But even though Juni didn't like to think of herself that way, she was a really cute sixteen-year-old.  In a dark blue spandex cute full body leotard.  With a cute dark blue hat and lil' tie.  So most of them weren't complaining.

Avelle sometimes joked that perhaps most of them had rather sick minds, too.  Though to be fair, some of them really were in it just for the money or adventure and their leader's looks were more cuteness than anything else (Cute being a better definition than fan service because she really wasn't really... endowed enough for that).  Of course, the really really dirty minds wouldn't care as long as it had breasts but Avelle had been smart enough to not recruit any of those types into the group for the most part.  At least, from her experiences, no one really tried to make a scary pass at Juni yet.

One of the bigger men, Rob, a middle-aged one with a low amount of facial hair, spoke up.  "You sure this mission will work out right?"

Rob was short for Roberto or something.  And it really didn't fit his looks as a name.  But no one cared because they got tired of saying the entire word, Roberto, long ago.

"Hey, just remember what Juni told us." Terrace, wearing the red jacket and a much more handsome younger man of barely twenty, replied.  "You have nothing to fear but fear itself.  And if you see fear, then.... um, run like hell or something."

Juni blinked as the helicopter landed and everyone quickly dashed out with his or her various heavy firearms at the ready.  She just realized... that was not a very 'Avelle-like' piece of advice.  "Wait, I said that?"

"Yea."  Terrace confirmed.  "In an oddly..... cute air-headed sort of way."

Several zombies slowly crawled out of the woodwork of the ruined city, but Juni didn't really notice.  She wasn't even paying much attention at the scenery, too busy realizing that she really wasn't handling this in a very Avelle-like way at all.  Especially since she realized that that fear quote mainly related only to economics.

"Hahaha!"  Rob's laughing at the zombies quickly made her remember that they had a job to do.  "We have nothing to fear but fear itse.... wait a minute."

One thing Juni hoped was that at least that statement would be infallible.  After all, how could someone find fear to fear?  Besides civilians who survived but were now cowering in corners.  So as long as all the rest of the hunter group followed that statement, everything should have been all right, despite the large army of lumbering corpses slowly walking towards them amidst the burnt wreckage of the city as their only ride took off to find a safer place to land while it waited for their job to be done.  Right?  Until Juni and the rest of the hunters noticed what Rob was staring at.

One of the zombies used to be a civilian wearing a No Fear T-Shirt.  Though when he/she/it became a zombie, the T-shirt got ripped.  And now it just read Fear.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"  The entire group of hunters besides Juni pointed at that zombie and screamed.  "FEAR!!!"

Was that a bad pun?  Just corny?  Stupid?  As the entire group scattered in all directions screaming like chickens with their noodles cut off, Juni blinked, then sighed.  That... was just dandy.

"I'm sorry Avelle...  I screwed this up before the mission even started..."  The young blonde cursed herself with a another sigh then proceeded to walk off to find the pieces of the scattered group.  The zombies were still lumbering around and several tried to go after her but they were moving too slowly to keep up, even though she was simply walking away.  She glanced back at them, then smiled a bit.  At least she wasn't the only screw-up around.

Silly slow inept zombies.

For as long as I been in this city by the sea,
they done everything in their power to stop me.
They gone too far with their device,
and all of Squirrel City had paid the price.

Some how I’m still alive...
Last woman standing?  Wonder why?
Yet, they’ve taken everything away...
Everything, save angst and pain...

I won’t let them win...

They won’t stop my last eshjgfhsf.

“Oh, snicker doodle!” Bonnie muttered under her breath after slamming against the typewriter keyboard unexpectedly. The typo on the last word had ruined the little poem.  Then again, maybe it was a sign from the Powers That Be.  Here she was, in the mist to a viral epidemic disaster and city-imprisoning blockade, writing a useless poetic record of her account.

As she stood back from the typed rhymes, she asked herself what she was doing?  Maybe, she wanted to leave some sort of account incase she faded and vanished like the countless victims of the zombie-stricken plague.  Even now, the entire city of Squirrel City had replaced honest decent citizens into walking ghouls; a taste of flesh and a thirst for blood engulfed their primal desires against the living.  People, animal, insect... it made no difference in the germ that cursed the lives if many.

Bonnie wondered why her and her puppy, Hari, remained untouched by the venomous strands.  A question better answered later.  Now, she knew she had to gather what every supplies she could carry inside her basket, and work her way from the small motel towards any direction that helped her exit this doomed metropolis.  How such a stealth evil the sweep through this city still remained a question for the young hunter, and finding an answer was the last of her priorities.

It was time for her last escape.

Puttering on the plain yellow scooter, Bonnie sifted herself through the streets of Squirrel City.  In the light of such an alarming and dreaded disaster, she couldn’t help but wonder why other people had not tried to find their way out of the city.  Had she kept up with current news it would had crossed her thoughts that some branch of the military had blockaded the city.  A barrier of force that held the citizens inside rather than keeping others out.  Perhaps the only way to keep the disease from spreading.

From the shattered urbanized backdrop, Bonnie guessed that some people must have tried to escape.  Cars and other vehicles were scattered and slammed against lampposts, flipped on their sides, and smashed into makeshift blocks of metal.  Obviously, all escapes attempts were in vain.  The damaged wreckage and street barriers that were also set in place had blocked off several main avenues.

The girl muttered a defeating sigh under her breath as she read the sign that once pointed the way to the city limits; now with all paths blocked by too many obstacles.  At the exact moment, Hari let out a call as he circled around Bonnie.  She turned defensively and found several victims of the death’s virus.  A dark groaning song echoed from the hoard of flesh-dissolved zombies while the inched towards their next target.

An ordinary person, let alone child, would had reeked with fear and panic by now, completely unprepared to greet a band of the undead.

Baby Bonnie Hood, quite familiar with the drill, was quite prepared.  In a quick draw motion, she removed her Uzi from its resting place inside her basket, and hailed darts of metal at the ghoulish mass. Gapping holes inside their chest blasted open, and several limbs exploded in a montage of gore and decaying flesh.  Wounds that would had undoubtedly killed a living soul, only sought to annoy the undead populace.

They continued forward, undaunted by the threat of firepower.  Bonnie stepped backwards, not removing her line of sight away from the zombies.  If there were fewer zombies, it would have been easier to take them out and addressed each target individually with a more appropriate weapon, such as a shotgun.  However, due to the sheer number in the ranks, it would pointless, as they would easily overtake her.  The best tactic for now is to mow them all with the sub-machine gun and hope to blow off enough body parts... preferable the head.

What she would like to do, is finish them all off.  Kill them all, one of her philosophies in monster slaying.  Bonnie knew that would be impossible, as precious ammunition would run out.  After all this is not some cheap zombie-shoot-them video game where you just fire off screen to instantly re-load.  Bullets were limited, and if Bonnie wanted to make it out it out of here alive, she would need to use her rounds wisely.

Bonnie slowly made her way into a near by alley.  Switching her weapon from semi to burst, she fires a three-round fire towards the legs of the zombies that were in front as they passed through.  Not entirely successful in killing them, as without their leg, the ghouls would just pull themselves with their hands.  But, it would slow them down and if down at a chokepoint, they would not only reduce their own mobility, but the flesh dissolved traffic behind them would experience slight impediment.

Here comes the famous fight or flight instinct, again-- it always kicked in whenever Bonnie found herself cornered.  The wooden door off to her side appeared to be the only available portal of safety. Assuming it can be opened, and nothing that posed a threat loomed on the other end.  Still, the slight possibility of facing another hording menace looked more appealing than the certain possibility of being overtaken by the current advancing one.  Bonnie slammed against the small door, using the momentum of her weight to force it open.

The rundown, bored-up warehouse had provided an excellent refugee from the zombie hoards.

At the moment anyway.

Bonnie did not know why none of them barged inside yet, but given the average estimate of their intelligent it was concluded that the best way to enter the storage warehouse is to open the doors, and flesh stripped ghouls lack the functioning cranium to open such devices.  However, B.B. Hood did not believe in taking a foolish risk, and the barricading chairs and object blocking the door had demonstrated that clearly.

It was a blessing nevertheless, Bonnie had used the time had to gather what she could;  not much other than a map, and an empty first aid kit in the bathroom (not an drastic concern, B.B. owned enough common sense to keep medical supplies stocked inside her basket...), other else of value.  One did not expect to find weapons (especially illegal) lying around in a random footlocker with a dimensional wormhole vortex allowing infinite storage, and some always teleporting the same contents to other similar footlockers in every office in the city.

Meanwhile Hari constantly sniffed the perimeter; dogs supposedly possessed a natural instinct to sense evil demonic creatures.  But, they can hear things that humans cannot, so Bonnie concluded that they could smell things that people cannot.  Well, some demon stench had been strong enough to be picked up by human nasal passages... one often wondered what a demon smells like to a dog.

To her immediate left, another survivor paced with restless anxiety, as this type of situation would easily provoke for a person who most likely never even seen a monster.  Bonnie never understood such denial; monsters are practically everywhere, and they lurk in the urbanized areas more than anywhere.  But, in Squirrel City’s, they seem to lurk in every urbanized area.

As long as she dwelled inside these walls, time is being wasted.  The streets seemed quiet enough, and Bonnie had enough time to gather her thoughts and get a little familiar with the city layout; thanks to the map printed from the bus schedule that was littered among the garbage inside the warehouse.

“We need to start moving...” Bonnie suggested to the nameless individual.

“What!?! Are you crazy??”  The man stuttered, “There are monsters all over the city. I‘m not going out there.”

“Gee... mister, that’s why I wanna get OUT of this city. The sooner we get out of here the better.”

“No way! We’ll be safer in here.”  The fear struck person stepped inside a wall locker and sealed himself inside, “I’m not coming out!”

“Dork!”  Bonnie shouted with a chemistry of frustration and irritation.  Grown-ups can be silly sometimes thinking that just because they appear to be safe now does not mean that the zombies would not eventually find them and force their way through.  She placed her finger to whistle a tooting summon over to Hari.  She knew she was right in this case.

Yet, alas, the debate filled a hollow empty victory being it was an argument of the straw man nature.

Back in the streets of Squirrel City...

The same barren ghost city... in a literal sense.  The mourning war cries of the zombies were all that filled the air.  From the sound of the pitching shrieks, they could be down near the city’s main boulevard.  The back streets and alleyways appeared more empty and quiet, and void of any skin feasting ghouls.

Suddenly, a trashcan got knocked over and a limping zombie walked across the dark empty sidewalk.  Perhaps, the back streets were not so empty after all.  The zombie, due to its IQ that ranged between the number three to five, did not notice the phantom-esque shadow stalking from behind.  It’s arm cloaked in the darkness extended towards the monster, as it summoned a spark of metallic fire.

As the zombie’s head exploded, it was no more among the living... er... undead.  From the hidden corner, Bonnie walked out from the covering darkness.  The few zombies that passed through the backside of the city were easy enough to deal with, which made her decision to travel this path much wiser.  However, she still faced the possible ammunition shortage.

Perhaps she needed to find some more weapons; after all she knew she would have to shoot her way out sometime.  Then the thought had struck her like a metaphoric lightning bolt.  If she read the map correctly, the Squirrel City Police Department was near by.  Cops have weapons, and furthermore, radio equipment and a more accurate map of the city layout.  Everything needed to plan a better escape.

All she had to do was turn right on the next street and...

Oh, crap!

The direct route was blocked off by makeshift barricades and smashed cars.  The only way to reach the station now was to move around the block, climb through the fire escape inside one of the buildings, cut across another alley, and further weaves her way thought the urban maze.

Annoying? Yes. But, not totally impossibly inaccessible. After scaling the small chain link fence, Bonnie made it to the main entrance of the police precinct.  When the fumbling noises of scattering litter being crushed by hammering footsteps broke the silent air, the hunter knew she was not alone.  Hari barked no warning, nor did the stepping sounds resembled anything zombie-like; they were pulsing, hasted, and exhausted beats, not sluggish or dragging.  Yet, her instincts refused to remove her hand from her weapon as she turned to face the footsteps.

A Squirrel City police officer dragged his wounded body from the other end of the street; the stains of blood, weary eyes and moaning marches told his war story again about the advancing zombie horde.

"Little girl... you need to get out of here!"  The officer warned.

Bonnie glared at officer, "That’s what I’ve been trying to do."

"No, you don’t understand... the... the things; it’s after us... it’s going to kill us..."

Before she could inquire exactly what the cop was talking about, the Frankenstein-like slurring roar that echoed from the dark streets soon answered her question.  It stepped from the hidden pathways of the night; a tower ten foot monster build with raw muscling mass that lacked the soft tender shell of nature skin.  It’s skin, brown as the violent earth grounds that spawned him that grinned a barbarically savage grin that constantly flashed with the void of any lips.  Even with two eyes the fiend was still cyclopic in nature;  the left one was sowed shut with wire. White stitches across his face and body added with the dark rugged attire the creature feature completed that image of a savage monster.

The middle-aged police officer became as pale as a ghost under the shadow the creature had cast, engulfing the petrified human as it lurked closer.  His revolver fired off whatever firepower it could muster.  All of it shrugged off.  The left hand that owned a titan’s strength grasped the man’s head like a rip piece of fruit.  A serpent entangled the creature’s right hand and swiftly slivered outward towards the hanging officer.  Under the glimpse of the faint night light, the slime from the dark, blackish brown snake actually revealed itself as a tentacle from the protruding wrist of the savage beast.  It was the last discovery the man made when the serpentine limb ripped through his chest.

The creature’s next victim: B.B. Hood, who stood still like a frozen statue during the whole scene.

Well, she would have if her name was Jennifer Love Hewitt or Neve Campbell, and this setting was some sort of bad B movie.  However, Bonnie had one thing that many heroines trapped in those gore monster horror flicks did not bother to utilize:  common sense.  Such common sense that even animals had:  when the predator beast is making the kill on a helpless prey, the rest run like hell.  This was the one-sided variety of the famous fight or flight decision.  Opening fire on the creature would be ideal; but useless, as she had fewer bullets in her Uzi than that cop did in his service revolver.

Thankfully, the fatality the beast performed against the policeman had given Bonnie enough time to get Hari and hightail out of the scene on her scooter.  Finished with the male adult, the creature watched the human child fleeing.

She did not get far.  A human corpse was hurled in her general direction, causing the impact from the dead projectile had knocked the little girl off her scooter; the pain and collision against the asphalt gave birth to a few bruises and bleeding scrapes. Then the monster ran towards her, to Bonnie’s surprise.  Every zombie walking the street proved to be absent of motor skills and thought, and here the big one clearly demonstrated signs of both agility and strategy.

In anticipation, and a last resort of desperation, Bonnie gathered on of her grenade from her basket arsenal stockpile and rolled it towards the monster.  The monster’s fledging speed provided a miss calculation, and rolled past the demonic muscle mass.  It did not even flinch as the concussion thunder rocked the ground behind him when the hand explosive burst.

Considering how that was her last grenade as well, B.B. was out of options to attack.  Well, she still had her combat knife. Against that thing though?

Bonnie Hood is not that suicidal.

In a hasty flurry, Bonnie reclaimed her standing, and hopped on her motor scooter. The hunter raced under the swing colossal strike from the monster’s blow and retrieved her puppy, who froze solid at the frightening exchange.  Now all she had to do was get away from her pursuer.

Right in front of the front gate of the police, an automobile was flipped on its side, forming an upward slant toward the building. Engaging full speed on her scooter, and the makeshift ramp that was provided, she found her window of opportunity.  That window, she crashed thought being on the second floor.

The pain surging her body was worth it, consider the fatal onslaught that monster would had dished out.

Bonnie stood up, and swept the broken glass away from body.  She was safe for now.

Yet, somehow, she doubted that it was the last of that freak (in case that wasn‘t obvious).

No noises regarding any remote zombie activity was heard through the walls inside the S.C.P.D.  Bonnie debated whether that was a foreshadowing of an ambush or a blessing from the heavens.  She didn’t have time to worry about it.  Instead, she took the opportunity to restock any ammunition and explosives she would need for the battle ahead, as well as tending to her wounds with medical aid and bandages.

With her motorized scooter standing-by in a corner of a sergeant’s office, she stocked her picnic basket with enough rounds and grenades to satisfy any firefight, hoping it would be enough.  Her liberty had even given her chance to secure a G11 rifle; weapons were expensive enough on the black market, so there was no harm in taking one for free since the police won‘t need this.  It would be a severely twisted jinx to have her expended all firepower at the worst possible time.  But, with that done, Bonnie was free to plan her next move.

Unfortunately, with the fallen furniture and barricaded doorways, the task of going from the arms room to the main briefing room (or any room with a better map of the city) proved more taxing than ever.  The majority of the offices and rooms forbid further access as they were walled up from the other side.  Even the bathroom.  Did these people honestly expect to have monsters crawling out of the toilets?

In the back of her thoughts, Bonnie mused the what-if possibility if one of these officers just happened to need to utilize the bathroom.  Maybe they plan secret passages from their base of operations to the rest facilities; it doesn’t make sense for them to just hold it in.

< Hey, there's a chance that I might need to go to the little boys' room in about 45 minutes. I better quit and head for it right now. You cover me. > Her mind imagined what the conversation could have sounded like.

But, to get her focus on track. She systematically and cautiously moved down the empty hallways. Overhead lights flickered on and off like a lightning storm, and adding a lot of darkness inside the corridor; a perfect spot of any zombie to jump out of.

Not a major concern, as zombies were one demon that she could handle; perhaps for being the least cunning of the undead creatures due to their natural representation.  Were-beasts exemplified man’s inner animal desire and natural primal instinct. Vampires and Succubi, on the other end, while they brought out man’s craving for blood, but they represented pent up emotions of lust, passion, and rage inside the human psyche.  Ghosts and phantoms were the spiritual anchors that rather would fight their eternal rest than cling to fabrics of the human world.  Zombies and Ghouls were just the decaying of the human being, mentally and physically. Nothing remains inside a zombie, no passion, no instinct, no desire.

Could that demonic goliath Bonnie encountered at the police station be a zombie?  While physical evidence suggested so, its motivation offered an alibi in explanation. Something about that creature made it more terrifying with this fatal cunning.  The zombies’ sought out human flesh as an instinctive hunger; this monster’s stalking demeanor showed more purpose than instinct. What made it worse was that it was capable of plotting.

Otherwise it would had shown some indications of its activities.  No, instead, an eerie silence filled the law enforcement center.  That made little Bonnie more on-edge; even if fear rarely got into the young hunter, paranoia always had a home in these situations.  The monster was waiting, and Bonnie did not favor that; she never enjoyed being the hunted (otherwise she would had thrown down her weapon long ago).

As she swept though the room with her weapon scanning all the corners, B.B. entered a room that could had once been the office for several policemen. The many cubicle desks, detailed map, board, and equipment looked more tactical than what the standard policeman was associated with. Maybe this was the center for Squirrel City’s SWAT team or something. Looking up, above the chalkboard, a sign with the letters ‘M.A.R.S.’ pretty much told who owned this office.

What the hell MARS stood for was another question.

Bonnie could care less; she had other mysteries to solve.

As she rummaged through the desks, files, and garbage inside offices, she started to wonder just what useful information could be found inside this office?  Maybe she find a key that’ll open a building which just happens to have some secret entrance way to get her where she needed to be.

Nah.

However, this sudden appearance of zombies, mutants, and tentacle monsters couldn’t have gone under the notice of the police.  Something in here could have information pertaining to the mystery.  Criminal files, police reports, witness cases. Somehow, Bonnie would like to know what she could be dealing with.  The possibility of a higher power being involved wouldn’t surprise her, manipulative villains were everywhere.  If she could find out which villain is responsible, maybe there’s a reward poster out there.

Nothing of the sort was found.  This is a police, so where are all the criminal posters?  The city must be cheap is skimp on bounties.  Oh, well.  It was doubtful to see that any of them still alive, with the whole plague.  A lot of reports and claims against a corporation calling itself Parasol (as well as check deposits from the company to some of the bank accounts belonging to several policemen).  Not much reading explained the details or history behind the corporation’s activities.  Bonnie inquired what type of business would run such questionable stuff.  Most of the claims were all medical related.

After studying some of those medical claims, Bonnie couldn’t help but cough.  Hint.  Hint.

She examined her environment further, this time focusing on the map being displayed.  There were quite a few thumbtacks scattered where the main roads would be.  Interesting, how the police, more specially this M.A.R.S. Special Forces SWAT group, or whatever they were, handled the rising zombie problem.  The outcome, sadly, was not such a mystery.  Bonnie could have deducted several reasons that led to failure; the logical one is that they were totally unprepared to handle the undead threat.  A sad reality because adults often refused to believe that monsters and zombies existed.

Taking into account the percentage of civilians turned into walking dead, any blockades against the main streets would have been easily overrun. And it was a common myth that weapons such as firearms were useless against undead creatures, and even Bonnie was aware that there was some truth behind that... if you make the assumption that the undead are like living human beings.  Fatal logic at it’s best.  B.B. would tell you, if you plan to use guns, remember the golden rule of demon slaying: always go for the head.

With the thought tucked away in her minds, Bonnie pulled the map off the wall and placed it in her picnic basket.  Moving her attention towards the individual desks, she did a quick scan.  Her sky blue eyes took in the random items, and nameplates on top of each desk.

On one desk, the team leader had a pack of cigarettes lying on the corner.  Bonnie almost felt bad about doing this, but her rational side explained to her that he would have no further use for them.  So, Bonnie decided to pocket them anyway.  After she secured the tobacco product, footsteps tapped the floor.  They were not loud or thunderous like the monster, or sluggish and dragging like a zombie, they were light, faint.  B.B. did not hesitate to ready her G11 Combat Rifle.  Switching from safe to burst, she took a combat stance.

"Find what you were looking for?" A fairy-like voice spoke from Bonnie’s six.

Pumped with a reflexive instinct, Bonnie turned and aimed her weapon at the white blonde motherly figure that suddenly appeared in the room.

"Fairy Godmother!  Don’t do that!!" B.B. shouted, steaming a vent of anger.  "You almost got a stomach full of lead."

"Is something wrong??" Fairy Godmother asked in a concerning tone; it was the true sympathy voice that did not need to ask if one actually took in the carnage scenery.  But, Bonnie is becoming less and less surprised at the behavior of her elfish guardian.  "Oh, Krispy Kremes!"

Bonnie wondered what caught the attention of her godmother’s attention.  Surely it couldn’t be the disordered mess across the floor, and barricaded doors.  Or the faint drooling moans that filled the streets of . Or even the bulletin board with newspaper headlines like ‘Zombie Sighted Downtown’, ‘Squirrel City Under Martial Law’, and ‘Undead Virus Outbreak’.  Maybe she noticed the dead bodies of blood both zombie and human beings.  Perhaps she asked herself why her progeny was just about to shoot her.

When the pixie woman grabbed for a small box on one of the desks, Bonnie sighed under her breath.  "Donuts, why does a police station seem to have a box of those bakery rings handy?"  B.B. wondered, as she was one who hadn’t heard of the stereotype before.

"Want one, BB?"

"Umm... no thank you."  Her reply was cold and dry like the tundra itself.

"Where are we anyway?" Fairy Godmother asked.

Huh?  Bonnie could not believe it. Here was a magical fairy with the ability to teleport in and out space/time at a whim with no concept of geography?  How did she this job exactly?

Well, that’s not important.  In fact, Godmother’s appearance could be an actual blessing.

"Say, Fairy Godmother?" Bonnie addressed in her sweet childish charm (no mortal had ever resisted her innocent face), "You think you could wipe up something... um, magical and fairy-like to get us of this ghost city?"

"What’s wrong with this place? It’s just a fixer upper."

"So is your brain." The girl muttered under her breath.

Fairy Godmother’s obvious ears had not heard the retort as she placed her index fingers together, then extended them outward to create a magic-wand.  Magical sparks, and shimmering fairy dust created a blinding swirl as it swirled around the entire room.  When the ethereal spell ceased, the entire room transformed into the chaotic trash set-up to a spic and span flare.

"You used your magic to clean the room?" Bonnie placed her hands on her hips as she delivered the sarcastic question.

"The whole building actually..." Godmother explained, "A lot of trash and stuff had blocked the doors, so now they won’t be a problem.... well, I hafta go, but enjoy your wish."

Bonnie shook her head in disappointment once again.  Nothing was accomplished, but no harm was done.

Wait a minute!

What did Fairy Godmother mean about moving the stuff blocking the door?  Bonnie raced to the main lobby, which was not organized and spotless. Moreover, the furniture and shelves that blocked the front door were no longer there. Granted this allowed Bonnie a way to exit the station.

But, when the two large doors shattered in a thousand splinters, it served another purpose.

It allowed the giant tentacle monster to get inside.

"Did you find anyone else?"

"Nope."  Terrace replied to the young cute blonde with a salute.

Juni sighed and kneeled back against the wall of the broken-down abandoned apartment building.  She had managed to gather together a small group consisting of Rob, Jonas, Terrace, and Kerikov, but the rest were missing.

"They're probably all dead."  She muttered to herself.

"Yeeeeeees."  Jonas sarcastically snapped.  "They're all dead because they aren't special elite mercenaries with years of experience!  They're all generic nameless CANNON FODDER meant to be wiped out in droves like PUPPIES!  Look, start thinking a bit more clearly, would you?"

"True."  Juni remarked off to the side, only slightly annoyed with the skinny blonde man's snappish comment.  "I guess I am a bit overreacting.  For some really weird reason, I had a feeling that everyone should be dead already by now, but we don't seem to be doing that badly."

Just then, the monster burst from the air vent and struck!

And had its head blown off by Juni's pistol.  And Jonas's rifle.  And Kerikov's shotgun.  And Jenni's rocket launcher.

Everyone stared at the brownish bare four-legged corpse, the head practically vaporized by the rocket blast.

"So... um... anyone know what it is?"  Terrace remarked.  "Think it's edible?"

After everyone glared at him, he quickly added his "Just kidding" disclaimer.

"Wait..."  The leader paused.  "Was that a rocket launcher that blew up its head?  I don't think any of us here use that weapon."

"Of course one of us does!"  Grinning, Terrace motioned to a young lady in a military police-blue uniform.  "The pretty young girl with the short brown hair and the blue beret uses the launcher!"

Kerikov, perhaps the youngest guy in the group and only slightly older than even Juni, simply snickered behind his shades and tightly wrapped brownish red trench coat as Jonas rolled his eyes.  "You'd be the first to notice when a new female is in the group, wouldn't you, Ter?  Even when we AREN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE ANY OTHER FEMALES IN THE GROUP."

"Besides the ones you invite over for one-night stands..."  Kerikov added with another snicker.  Before everyone glared at him and he quickly looked back with an ignorant, "What?  Oh, I didn't mean that type of stand.  I meant stand as in a job, you know?  And not that kind of job, either.  Oh wait... this is about that Bess incident, isn't it?"

"Hahahaha!"  Rob laughed as Jenni slowly led Juni off to the side.  "You guys are lucky Jettaron isn't here or he'd kick your asses for bringing up that incident."

While the guys joked about ridiculously random things, the new girl quickly pulled out a badge and showed it to Juni, who read it slowly out aloud.

"Jenni Brandiwine, M.A.R.S. agent?"  The hunter leader stared at her in surprise.  "They're sending M.A.R.S. over?  Why?  What possible involvement could that group have in this?  What could be so big for them to get involved?  Oh... and um... what's M.A.R.S.?"

"Military Assault and Rescue Squad."  Jenni's reply was rather matter of factly.

"Eh?"  Juni blinked.  "Isn't that acronym sorta like an oxymoron?"

The MARS agent simply shrugged in response.  "No, M.I. is."

"Huh?"

"Military Intelligence."

"Ah..."  Juni responded with an understanding nod.  "So, what were you doing here?"

"You should just see if you can find your transport and leave."  The badge went back into Jenni's pocket.  "I'll handle this."

"You?  But you're all alone!  You can't do this by yourself!"

"So are you!"  Jenni snapped back.  "All your hunters are dead!"

Juni quickly glanced back at the rest of the group.  Rob had Terrace in a big headlock while Kerikov laughed hysterically and Jonas had his hand to his forehead in embarrassment at the stupidity of the scene.

"Eh?"  The blonde remarked with a blink.  "No they're not."

"Hmm.  They're not."  Jenni glanced over at them but didn't show much emotion with that remark.  Perplexed, she commented, "For some really weird reason, I had a feeling that everyone..."

"Yea, yea, I know."  Juni snapped as she rolled her eyes.  "Just don't..."

"...get in my way."  Jenni completed.  "You're way out of your lea..."

"LOOK!"  By now, Juni was getting really aggravated.  She angrily grabbed Jenni then she shouted to her face, "Can we just quickly decide NOW which one of us gets to be the damn mysterious suicidal overestimating dolt and which one of us gets to be the naive fool played like a puppet by said mysterious dolt?"

"Okay, okay, sheesh!"  Backing up, Jenni quickly brushed herself off.  "I call dolt then.  You get to be puppet, okay?"

"Okay!  That's better!"  Juni quickly regained composure and beamed.  "So, where were we again?  Oh right, you were telling me you were way out of my league."

"I said YOU were way out of MY..."

"Aw..."  Terrace sighed.  "It's the dolt and puppet thing again?  Why can't we team up together?  I wouldn't mind having such a lovely young lady on the team."

Jenni raised an eyebrow at him then glanced over at Juni.  "Um..."

"Huh?  What?"  Puzzled, the blonde quickly glanced around before realizing what Jenni was inquiring about.  She smiled.  "Oh, Terrace?  Don't mind him.  He's just being friendly.  So anyway, I think we can all safely assume that all the civilians are dead thus we did our duty of rescuing one hundred percent of the remaining civilians that were alive!  Which would be zero out of zero but whatever.  Now all we have to do is get out, full party in tow where somehow none of us died yet, and start looking for a way to get out of here."

Just then, another monster would have struck except it looked at its charbroiled companion and decided that maybe charging directly at a group of heavily armed humans wasn't such a good idea.  It did strike Juni as a bit odd how zombie animals seemed to have more common sense than zombie humans.

Terrace looked up at the ceiling as it scampered off and snapped his fingers.

"Drat, I would have easily killed that one with my big-ass sword."  He remarked, before leaning towards Jenni.  "You know..."

"Don't even start."  Jenni snapped.

While Terrace and co played Poke the Monster Corpse with a Stick, Juni and Jenni decided to discuss their short-term plan of action.

"Look, why don't we split up?  You and I go all alone in one direction where you're unprotected and I could easily backstab and kill you, and the guys go off in another direction?"

"AHEM."  Jenni snapped.  "I thought *I* got to be the string pulling dolt, not you."

"Well, you know..."  Juni snapped back.  "They are MY hunters, not yours.  Okay, we compromise.  You get to go with all of the other hunters except one who goes with me to take your place."

Juni didn't know why she was poking Jenni around like this, but it sure was lots of fun.  The annoyed MARS agent put her hand on her hip and frowned.  "How the heck is that a compromise?  Oh, all right.  But only if you get Terrace."

"Fine, fine."  Juni rolled her eyes.  "Still don't see why you don't like him.  Terrace is a really nice guy who's always there for you."

"Does he take orders well?"

"Verily!"

"Really?"  Jenni beamed, before putting her hand to her chin and smiling.  "Hmm.  Maybe I could use him after all.  Fine, you get trench coat boy or something."

A sudden scattering of gunshots distracted everyone.  Jenni quickly readied her pistol and looked around.

"Did you hear that?"

"That machine gunfire?"  Juni looked in the direction of where the noises were coming from.  "You know what that means?"

"Shit!"  A huge big-ass sword almost as big as a human being nearly gave Jenni a heart attack when it was suddenly was ripped out of nowhere as Terrace entered a combat stance.  "These zombies are now armed with assault weapons?"

"Oh shut up!"  As Jenni dizzily backed up in surprise at the ridiculously large weapon, Jonas annoyed bonked Terrace on the head, causing him to quickly put the sword back into the vortex of nothingness from whence it came.  "It means that there ARE some civilians alive.  Which means we can't leave just yet."

While Juni sighed at the knowledge that the mission wasn't over yet, Jenni beamed.  "Sure thing!  This gives me perfect ample time to..."

Everyone stared at her.

"....get to know you better!"  Jenni quickly completed.  "What?  Did you think I'd slip up and reveal that I wanted to kill you all?  Erm, not that that's what I want to do."

"Okay, okay, Kerikov, let's go um... save that person with the machine gun or something."  Juni motioned to the young man in the thin trench coat.  "Everyone else, see if you can find the rest of the hunters, then we can meet back here."

With that, the two groups split off.

Clear.

Finally.

Bonnie cautiously scooted away from the police station; its clean white walls a green thumb compared to the rest of the rust-colored paint-decaying city.  All of the ammunition her Uzi had pumped into that creature surely must have finished it.  B.B. left in too much of a hurry to confirm that it was dead for sure, but it wasn't chasing her.

Considering her crash through a glass window, fending off endless mindless zombies, escaping the clutches of that thing, Baby Bonnie considered herself lucky.  Now, she had to find some her way out of the city.  Of course, that’s been established.

She stopped her scooter, and pulled out the police map.  Studying the routes carefully, she discovered the best path to take.  It was just on the left intersection...

Not again.

“Why does every street leading somewhere out of here had to be blocked off!”

Her fists clenched the map, crinkling in with a grip of anger.  Now, where to go... maybe she could cut across the other side of the street.  But, how?  All of the buildings were side-by-side.  Perhaps she could find an opening.

Bonnie continued to move along her scooter until she heard a noise.

It sounded like flesh was being devoured.  More zombies and they were attacking civilians.  Time for Bonnie to play the heroine.  Who knows, if she could save a bystander, some useful escape information could be gathered.  Plus, it was a good deed.

Bonnie gripped her Uzi; ready to engage the source of the zombie’s feasting.  The local McDonalds.

Ah, sweet succulent flesh.  The teeth ripped into it and took another bite, then chewed intently; slowly salivating as it chomped on the meat of that which was once alive.

"Hey boss, you know you're really freaking me out with the way you're eating that hamburger."

Juni blinked, then from her table at the fast food diner, glanced towards the teen in the trench coat.  Quickly swallowing, she embarrassedly explained, "Well... I'm just trying to go for that allure thing that Avelle had."

"Heh."  Kerikov replied with a grin.  "I'm pretty sure the old boss didn't have anything to do with S&M hamburgers.  What are we doing here at this abandoned McDonald's, anyway?  Shouldn't we be going after that civilian?"

"I was hungry, okay?"  Juni frowned.  "Sheesh.  Can't save machine-gun toting civilians on an empty stomach."

That was when the footsteps were heard.  Kerikov quickly yanked out his shotgun and pointed it at the doorway, ready to fire.  Just as reflexively, Juni whipped out her own handgun and quickly stood up, but unfortunately forgot to properly swallow and ended up chocking on her hamburger instead.  Seeing his boss cough like that, Kerikov was fast at her side to administer the Heimlich maneuver just as the red-hooded young child burst through the door with an Uzi pointed at the two.

Suddenly realizing that there were no zombies in front, the child lowered her Uzi.

"Need help?" B.B. slyishly asked; if this were an anime cartoon, a big ass sweet drop would have appeared on her forehead.

"Nah,"  Kerikov replied as Juni gasped for air.  "I'm just performing my special technique.  Erm, well, not that kind of technique.  Oh wait.  I don't even HAVE a special technique."

Annoyed, Juni quickly elbowed Kerikov lightly in the ribs then glanced at the other young short-haired blonde girl.  Short-haired.  Young.  Blonde.  Striking family resemblance.  Juni was suddenly shocked with the revelation of whom she was looking at!

She quickly saluted.  "Greetings, machine-gun toting civilian!"

Oops, no, there wasn't a striking family resemblance for the most part.

Kerikov raised an eyebrow above one of his shades.  "Greetings wha?"

"Ack!  I mean... um... let's see what Avelle would say at a time like this.  Let me check my notes."  Flipping through a notepad, Juni eventually just gave up and re-pocketed the thing in slight dismay, then glanced at Bonnie.  "Never mind.  I'll just wing it.  So... um... hi!"

Bonnie remained silent for the second, taking in this new development.  Who was Avelle?  What technique?  Who are these people?  This place is just getting stranger and stranger.  She did not know what to expect, but there still wasn't any reason to be rude.

"Hello..." BB returned the greeting...

It did strike Juni as odd that the child didn't seem that scared, considering the situation.  Just perplexed.  Course, later introspection revealed that the fact that said young girl also had an Uzi probably was also really weird, which explained why Kerikov had such an awkward look on his face, but the girl was only a few years younger than Juni, anyway.  Juni was about to respond to the girl with the mandatory "What's your name?" condescending greeting until she remembered she was supposed to be doing this the Avelle way.  She quickly put on her most haughty prose.

"I,"  Juni remarked, "Am the great Junivelle!  Masterless hunter of the ages!  Perhaps you'd care to introduce yourself?"

"Um, no offense boss," came the interruption from the semi-disturbed trench-coater.  "But are you sure that hamburger you were eating was properly cooked?"

Oh forget it.

"Hi!"  Juni beamed.  "I'm Juni!  What's your name?"

Hrm, a sudden shift in personality.  B.B. wondered if that burger the teenager in the trench coat mentioned really was cooked properly, or if it had mad cow disease.  Who knew?  Then again, who was Bonnie to judge?  It's funny, a girl in her early teens claiming to be an important demon hunter in a dramatic speaking.  Almost like a WB show, with what's her name?  Ah, who cares.

"Name's B.B. Hood." Bonnie curtsied and introduced herself in her sweet polite tone.

"Hello, B.B. Hood!"  The other blonde enthusiastically replied with a wave.  "We are the Junivelle hunting group, sent here to this zombie-infested city to save YOU and take you home.  Congratulations!  Thank our employer and make sure to throw in a good word for us so we get paid more money when payday comes around."

"Did my fairy godmother send... ah, never mind!" BB sighed, "Okay... from the top; you came all the way to this city just to save one person?"

"Ah, close I guess.  Missed it by one."  Happily spinning her ketchup-covered gun, Juni quickly put it away then beamed again.  "We were actually sent to save zero people!  Well, we didn't find that out until after we landed.  At any rate, finding out that there actually was a survivor here did change the mission objectives by upping the required rescue count by one, but that's all the more for you to be thankful for our hard work and thus shiny up your evaluation of us when we're done rescuing you, right?"

It's moments like this that made Bonnie feel special.  Well, she should be grateful, but somehow... she wasn't sure.  Why would people come to save zero people?  Someone screwed up, she figured.

Then, a rustling noise stirred from the kitchen area.  All three hunters turned with their respected weapons drawn, anticipating anything to pop out of the area.  Then suddenly, a reddish orb bearing sharp teeth and a green flat top jumped from the refrigerator, a surprising new victim of this demon plague as it transformed man, beast, and now even plants.

"Aaah!!  It's the attack of the killer tomatoes!" Kerikov shouted.

"Killer to-wha?"  As the crazy plant latched onto Kerikov's head, sending the guy running around in a panic, Juni quickly flipped through her notepad again.  "This wasn't in the mission briefing.  Argh!  Stupid Parasol Industries!  I knew I should have stuck to Baxter Corp."

Annoyed, Juni continued to flip through the notepad as Kerikov bashed his head with the killer tomato on it against a table, splattering red plant guts all over the place.

Parasol?

Bonnie remembered that company from all those police claims.  Okay, she needed to ask some questions.  With all the veggie death monsters, now would not be the best time.  Switching her Uzi from burst to single fire, she tried her best to snipe some the tomatoes.  But, they were too fast... and she was missing a lot them.  The red hooded hunter jumped onto another table to avoid being devoured.  Her grandmother always told her to eat her vegetables and it shouldn't be the other way around.

"Um, can you put you notes away and try some." She asked the blonde teen girl.

"Oh, umm... sure." Juni scanned the kitchen and dashed towards the fry cooker.  Using strength slightly higher than you'd expect from a girl as young as her, she yanked the steel grease machine onto the floor, then jumped away as the hot oil splattered on the floors towards the tomatoes.

Upon contact, all the veggies quivered from the burning death... their reddish lust paling into an olive shade.

"Fried green tomatoes." Juni chuckled.  "Tis delish."

With that, Juni began scooping up all the tomatoes into a bag as a confused Bonnie looked on.  The hunter leader of one hunter noticed this and quickly turned around with an embarrassed smile.

"Oh, I'm not that infatuated with eating.   Need to watch my weight after all.  Just gathering them up to take home for bounty collecting purposes."  She shrugged, then put her hand to her chin.  "Though... dunno what the bounty on green plants is these days."

"I'm not sure if these are normal Darkstalkers we're dealing with, boss."  Kerikov muttered as he somehow managed to clean off his shades while wearing them at the same time.  "Never saw killer tomatoes in the catalogue."

"Maybe.  Need to be safe, I guess."  Bag thrown over to Kerikov to catch, Juni put her hand to her hip and looked at the young red rider.  "So, B.B... what does the BB stand for, anyway?"

"Baby Bonnie." Despite the odd fascination to collect these things, at least the activity died down.  When the oil drained into a grate on the floor, she stepped down and sighed with relief, "At least, it's finally over."

"Welcome to McDonalds, can I take your order?" A record voice spoke over the intercom.

"What?" Juni was puzzled by the voice out of nowhere.

"It's just the automated drive through message." Kerikov explained, "It always says that when a car's approaching, or it's malfunctioning."

It was neither.  Through the glass window, the towering fiend that BB thought was dead in the police station crashed.

"No fair, you're supposed to be dead!"  She shouted at the fiend.  It grinned, then growled a demonic curl; its tentacle-extended arm waved like a hungry viper, ready to strike.  Bonnie turned towards Juni.  Normally she wouldn't say anything like this, but since her last attempt wasn't successful, she figured she'd ask.  "Okay, you can save me now."

"Kerikov!"  Juni commanded.  "Futilely blast that monster in the head!"

The other young man slowly turned to Juni and angrily frowned, waving his hand in dismay.  "And make it pissed at me then kill me as an example to you and that little girl of how ferocious and invincible it is?  Hell no!"

Hearing Kerikov scream that, the monster immediately decided to dash towards him first to give him some of that sweet tentacle lovin'!

"SHIT!  GOD DAMMIT!"  Kerikov screamed as he dashed off with what looked to Juni like... a... deformed whachamacallit chasing after him as Bonnie unloaded lead into it all the while.  "They always know to go after the extras, first!"

Shrugging off the bullets, the creature was about to stab Kerikov through with the tentacle arm in the most Freudian of ways until it got shocked by an electricity blast from Juni's customized gun in the buttocks, which.... really aggravated it to say the least.

Juni looked at BB Hood.  "Um... oops?  Maybe we should have just sacrificed Kerikov.  Run?"

Course, there was the fact that the door just happened to be behind that thing.

"Boss!  Use your mach slide ground teleport!"  Kerikov shouted.

"And fail the primary mission objectives!?"  Juni snapped back as the creature approached.  "NEVER!  Avelle would never give up!"

Bonnie continued to keep firing at the creature.  However, it was like using a semi-automatic water pistol rather than a machine gun as the beast shrugged off the bullets.  The monster than turned toward the little girl, and made a charge.  BB quickly leapt out of the way, allowing it to crash into the stove.  The colliding impact ripped the kitchen oven out of the wall, and a thick odorous scent filled the air.

Since the entrance was now opened, the three could have fled, but Bonnie knew that they wouldn't get far.  The creature was fast, and only the girl had a faster mode of transportation other than two feet.

No, she needed to blast it into smithereens.

Bonnie reached into her basket, and gripped another hand grenade. Pulling the pin, she rolled the explosive into the kitchen. The bomb blast expanded with the aid of the combustible gas, consuming the whole restaurant in an aura of flames.

Thankfully, the three humans, and one puppy made it to safety.

As Hari stared upward at her, Juni looked back over the ruins of the McDonalds restaurant.  She quickly breathed a sigh of relief, before glancing down at the dog and jumping back in surprise.  "Ack!  Where did this stray mutt come from?  Not more doggies!  Let's get out of here before this one decides to bite me or something."

"Hari won't bite." Bonnie said, as the dog leap to her side, "And he's not a stray."

"But... but it's a dog!"  Juni protested.  She pondered for a moment, then snapped her fingers.  "Ah ha!  We need to leave him behind because he... um... would be too much trouble to take along or something."

Out of no where, Kerikov asked a question.  "Do dogs count as civilians?"

"I... don't... think so.  But... I guess they might.  Doh!"  Defeated, the hunter leader's shoulders slumped with a sigh, then weakly glanced over towards Bonnie.  "You probably wouldn't leave without your puppy anyway, huh?  Never could understand all these people with their love for those animals.  Guess we should get back to rescuing you.  I think everyone's back at that apartment by now.  Shall we be off?"

All this rescuing talk started to drive Bonnie's nerves.  Little Red Riding Hood never needed rescuing.  It made it sound like she was helpless.  Did they really think of her as a little girl?  Why do people always assume that?  While her inner reflection resembled the teapot, it's best not to lose one's cool.  After all, they might have a way to get out of here, and that's worth a little sacrifice in pride.

"Sure... lead the way." Bonnie gleefully sprang.