Mark Clodi - Ascension

"Fuck! You coulda pulled it slowly, it's not like it was dislocated!" Stewart said, falling back and cradling one arm with the other.

"Sorry, Jane! I thought…" Max stopped and his body jerked convulsively.

Stewart looked up at him for a moment before he fell over her legs, unconscious. Behind him was a dark haired man in a police uniform, the prongs from a Taser still in his hand, with wires leading to a spot on Max's leg.

"Fuck me."

"No, not unless we're told to. And you wouldn't like that." The man grabbed Max by both of his legs and pulled him from the vehicle. Stewart saw the legs of several men standing outside the car, the men pulled both of Max's hands behind him and double handcuffed them together.

Looking around frantically Stewart saw her gun had been thrown from the vehicle, but her machete had fallen to the ceiling from where she had stashed it in the door.

Outside the car Max was coming around, he was face first in the rubble of the collapsed highway bridge. A moment of struggling and he realized that his hands were cuffed behind his back. There was a group of zombies in uniforms with guns milling about and Max saw two trucks on the street just clear of the rubble. This was all he noticed before Stewart flew out of the car in front of him, machete in hand. The zombie closest to the car had his head sliced horizontally in two just above the bridge of his nose before he even knew what hit him. Stewart vaulted off another gun toting zombie and into a third before the gunfire started.

Max rolled to his back and struggled to sit up, that's when he noticed that Bill and Javier were trussed up not too far away from him. There were two zombies standing above him, one had a length of rope in his hands, obviously getting ready to truss Max up like his friends, in addition to the handcuffs. Max kicked the other man in the knee, buckling it and causing him to drop the Taser he was reloading.

Stewart was unable to get in another killing blow on the remaining half dozen zombies, now that they knew she was there they were reacting quickly. She pushed her machete through the torso of one of them and twisted it as she pulled it out in an effort to slow him down. The zombie standing next to him brought his shotgun up and pointed it in her direction, Stewart was still moving, but it was the zombie dressed as a police officer who knocked the gun sideways and spoiled the shot.

"No guns!" the officer barked, he was limping away from Max and his crew, hearing that order, switched to short clubs. The officer continued to back away and inserted a fresh cartridge into the Taser.

Stewart was fast enough to trade blows with two of the zombies and still get in a few licks of her own, but when the third, a massive man wearing army fatigues stepped up she knew she was in trouble. 'This guy is huge…and as fast as me!' Stewart backed off, looking for a way out. She still hurt, her arm was not fully healed and she was fighting five zombies with Billy clubs. Casting a quick glance behind her she considered flight. The zombie with the Taser didn't try and shoot her with it, instead he shot Max again, sending him into convulsions on the ground. The officer then drew his handgun and stepped over to Bill and Javier.

The army zombie came forward fast and low, swinging to take out Stewart's legs while one of his buddies aimed high. Stewart leaped sideways and lashed out with her weapon, it hit the muscle bound army man mid-chest. There was a loud tearing sound and the blade rebounded from the body armor he was wearing beneath his jacket. Stewart made a clumsily landing and backed another two steps away from the army guy and his buddy. Behind those two the other zombies were fumbling with their belts, it looked like they had Tasers as well.

' I'm not sure how that would affect me, but they have to hit me first.' Stewart thought.

One of the zombies in the second row stepped up with a bottle that looked like a miniature fire extinguisher. 'Surely that's not… Fuck!' The zombie unleashed a torrent of pepper spray onto the area. It was an aerosol type designed to disperse crowds, but it served to blanket a huge swath of ground in a smoke-like cloud that Stewart could not avoid. Instead she charged.

This caught the smaller of the two zombies in front of her by surprise and she lopped through his upraised arm and into his melon like she was chopping wood. Stewart pulled the blade free with a spray of black zombie blood and launched a quick attack on the army zombie. He was, as usual, quicker than he looked. He deflected her blade using the Billy club and punched her in the face with his free hand. The blow sent Stewart reeling back into the cloud of pepper behind her and immediately she felt her eyes swell up and she started coughing. Stewart didn't stop moving; she darted sideways and came through the cloud well out of range of her army nemesis. As soon as she emerged the itching and burning from the pepper spray stopped.

A loud ping sounded and Stewart swept the machete blade in front of her by instinct alone, the blade deflected the metal prongs from a Taser round and earned a respectful eyebrow raise from the army zombie who was coming at her again. Stewart had no interest in fighting him, not until she could clear out his helpers. She dodged towards Bill and tried to circle the big zombie, coming close to the one with the pepper spray. He raised it up to defend himself as Stewart brought her machete down towards him. A bullet struck the machete blade as it descended; Stewart tried to correct it and pull it back on track with the zombie's head, but was only able to sink it into the thing's shoulder, partially severing its arm.

Another gunshot rang out, followed by, "Stop, or I will kill him."

The other zombies halted in their tracks, except for pepper man, he dropped the spray can and stumbled backwards clutching his nearly severed arm. Stewart glanced over to the zombie in the police officer garb and saw that he was pointing his gun at Javier's chest.

"So shoot him, I know what happens if we give up. He's better off dead."

The officer put two bullets into Javier's chest, the young man convulsed upwards and a low moan escaped his gagged mouth. The gun shifted to aim at Bill, "I don't bluff. Drop it and let us take you in."

Stewart was rattled by the casual killing of Javier, the shock must have shown on her face, but she quickly regained her composure, "Nothing's changed except one of us isn't coming back."

"Maybe I'm aiming at the wrong target." The zombie shifted his pistol to aim at Max. The officer watched Stewart's expression and smiled, "I guess I was. Your boyfriend is next little lady, or you come with us and no one else dies."

The Taser caught Stewart in the upper thigh from behind and dropped her like a stone. She fought against the pain of the electricity coursing through her body, but lost control of her limbs and felt the machete being kicked from her hand even as her feet collapsed beneath her. One of the zombies sat on her head while another pulled her arms backward none too gently and locked handcuffs around them.

"Get off my head asshole!" Stewart shouted into the dirt. The zombie didn't move, except maybe to grind himself down harder. Stewart felt her legs being bound up in the rope that had tied Bill and Javier, and then she was turned over and sat up. She saw the police officer looking at her for a moment, then a bag went over her head and she lost even that small privilege.

She could still hear though and their conversation was short and concise.

"Tie him as well, leg shackles for all of them. Clayton get the cuffs and rope off the dead guy." She was pretty sure the officer was calling the shots.

"She about lopped off my arm." said a whiney voice.

"You're fault for letting her get that close. Sentry told you they would be fast." The officer replied.