2019-10-28 - Run Like Hell 5k

August gave serious thought to sexy nurse, but given how easy a Negan costume is for him to put together, he's opted for that once again. It's not the most comfortable thing to run in, but it's a nice cold night, which helps. Strapping the bat to his back for easier carrying is maybe cheating a little, but more than a few fairy wands have been jammed into waist belts, so he figures he's not breaking any rules.

Ironically enough, Andi is dressed in the black and white stripes of a prisoner, a number across her back and everything. It's what one did when they forgot to purchase a costume and everything was already picked through at the stores. She borrowed one unobtrusively from the jail. She's not wearing the slip on shoes though without the laces. She's wearing a pair of hiking boots. This race she's done before, she's ready for the stubbing of the toe on the broken headstones.

Byron has something more extravagant planned for the actual masquerade, so he's not here in full Carnival style costume here this evening. Instead, he's opted for something that allows more mobility and comfort. Donning a Robin Hood-esque costume with a hat that will probably stay on his head during this whole event, a small domino mask and a lightweight bow and quiver on his back, he gives his muscles a little stretch while warming them up. When he sees prisoner Andi, he flashes a grin her way and tips that funny green hat of his. August is given a nod in greeting as well and probably everyone else nearby.

With her short hair and love of unicorns, there are a couple of natural options that Haven could have gone with for a costume for the 5k. She went with none of those, however. Instead she's wearing a pair of form fitting black trousers tucked into big black clompy stompy boots. A long-sleeved furry undershirt is worn under a silver ribbed doublet with some gnarly shoulder pads. A big belt with a gold and black buckle circles her waist, some sort of short three-bladed weapon holstered there. Dying her hair dark brown and tying it back in short braids, she's wearing a forehead prosthetic of ridges and some wickedly wild and fluffed eyebrows. In her mouth, some sharp teeth. Haven? Is a Klingon. She stomps towards the others in her group. "Qa'plah!"

Sutton, who was wearing a head to foot fuzzy bunny costume, not a sexy bunny, abandoned everyone about 2k ago, her 1 foot bunny ears bouncing merrily. It'll be a miracle if she hasn't hotboxed herself into an episode before she makes it to the finish.

Ruiz shows up in a fucking cat costume. Pointy ears on a headband, tail pinned somewhere under his clothing, and cute widdle kitty paws that can be detached from his fingers so he can use his cell phone. Which he's doing right now, probably to send Sutton some sort of angry text message about shoving him into this getup and then abandoning him. Other than the bits of costume, he's in a pair of tear-away track pants, a dark long-sleeved tee shirt and a blue short-sleeved one on top of it.

Once he finds a heat about to start, he shoves his phone away and rolls out his shoulders, a flickered smile given the faces he recognises in the group that's gathered.

August eyes the variety of costumes around him, especially the ones that are shedding. A nod for Andi's cleverly simple option; a thumbs up for Haven's Klingon. He eyes Bubba, makes a note to point out to Lucas that cheating's not going to get them bragging rights. Well, maybe it will. But just as cheaters. Which might be acceptable...

The road was August's slower segment; as they head into the undergrowth and trees, he's far more in his element. And, like Andi, his feet are well protected against ground obstacles. He's making no attempt to break records, so keeps his pace steady, something he can maintain the entire route. He has sponsors for running for the charity, and that'll serve. GHFD can sort out winning or losing on their own.

Young enough, Andi is still able to keep her breath as they continue running. She doesn't actively run as much as she should, but she does hit the gym at the strip mall pretty often. She notices the other costumes, the boots with Haven strike her as difficult to run in. She doesn't race as much as try and pace herself, steady.

One might think "hey, aren't Klingons more about fighting than running?" but they clearly haven't seen Worf bust some moves back in his DS9 and even TNG days. Haven is running evenly, despite the clompy boots, with good form and steady breathing. She runs along the path after Scarecrow, Big Bird, Alexei and Bubba. Death before the dishonor of being beaten by a giant yellow bird man! August is given a solid nod at the thumbs up and she grins, showing off teeth that'd make a Mama Shark proud.

Byron was a daily runner, when time permit anyway. It was the best part of the exercise regimen, in his opinion, especially when you get to run outdoors like this. Who knows, maybe at some point, the route will make him change his mind and wish that he were on an actual treadmill instead. Like many of the others, he's come well prepared with costume mobility and adequate footwear, wearing a pair of black tactical boots.

He keeps good pace, this was just the beginning, so he's still in high spirits. And watching the other costumed runners is rather entertaining. Let them get ahead for the moment, he's only conserving some of his energy.

The captain's definitely conserving energy. He's one of the older competitors, and there's really nothing in his build that screams runner; he's more at home with a punching bag than putting feet to pavement. Rather than engage in chit chat, he keeps to the back of the group to pace himself and focuses on his form. Flop flop flop goes his kitty tail as he jogs. "Not a fucking word, Thorne," as he drifts alongside the man.

"Gonna take all my damned patience not to use this bat on anyone coming at me with silly string," August mutters as they approach the mausoleum. The barbed wire might be plastic, but the bat is really a good old, wooden baseball bat.

It's a wonder that Byron is paying attention to anything around him when there's Kitty de la Vega keeping pace with him. He'll afford the man a roguish smile (looking even more so with that domino mask), There's this looming threat that he might actually say something, like there's something at the tip of his tongue, but he's holding back.

The commotion up ahead is enough to draw some of his attention away from the police Captain, but he doesn't slow down his speed too much. That is until he hears something, it could be nothing. "It sure didn't sound like nothing." He says this part out loud. That's all that he says for a long moment, eyes scanning the area, not at all looking like a man who hasn't had his alarms go off due to something. There's a slow shake of his head now, momentum not stopping, "That... that doesn't sound good at all. If I'm not mistaken and I hope that I am, there's a bunch of people getting murdered over there." He even lifts a hand to point at the mausoleum. "Can't you hear it? The gurgling of blood?"

There's no gun drawn from the prisoner, but when she follows the LEDs she tries to watch for any immediate ambush of silly string bearers. Andi snickers at the words of the Captain to Byron, trying not to laugh too loud. She sobers right up though at the mention of people being murdered. "It's Halloween, maybe its a practical joke. Gohl is gone." She doesn't hear it.

The trucking? Yup, Haven is keeping it on at it, boots or no. Any good beat cop knows how to run in boots. (Any great beat cop knows how to avoid running at all, of course). The toothy smile on her face moments before disappears at the sounds coming from the other side of the mausoleum and she puts on the speed, rushing around the corner to see what there is to see. On the way she digs a flashlight out from somewhere and flicks it on, sweeping the light around. Her other hand? It's on that D'tagh holstered on her belt.

Ruiz slows his roll at the sound that goes up, and gives the area a quick lookabout to get the lay of the land. Who's positioned where, if anyone seems out of place. He doesn't go for his holstered gun yet, but his hackles are definitely up.

August pulls up short. Real, actual zombies. "Well now I fucking wish it was silly string," he says, yanking the baseball bat off his back. He doesn't, however, move into range with any of these things, because he's surrounded by people with guns. And a guy with a crossbow. He'll just be taking friendly fire.

"Give 'em hell, guys," he murmurs, licking his lips and keeping his eyes open for anything trying to rush at them. His gloves hand tightens into a fist, and Ruiz can feel, well, something happen, for certain, not unlike during Gohl's exorcism.

There's a joke somewhere in here about slow and steady winning the race, but de la Vega's not going to be the one to make it. He takes one look at the disturbed gravestones and the zombie.. is that a fucking zombie? being decapitated over there, and draws his sidearm. He takes aim at the zombie using someone's leg as a club, because that's just rude.

The whole scene is taken in via flash light. Zombies. Runners. Open graves. Baring her teeth, Haven pulls the D'tagh from her belt and brandishes it. She howls, because that's what Klingons do mf-er and charges at the one bashing Bubba upside the head, "Hang on Earth Fireman, there is no honor in being killed by the dead!" And she makes with the stabbing of the cranky zombie with what looks suspiciously like a fully functioning replica Klingon weapon and not just some cheap plastic knock-off.

Byron wishes that Andi was right and all of that horrific noise was merely done to lend the race some atmosphere, which it didn't need by the way! The night course the forest and pass a graveyard is scary enough as it is. He's even about to tell her this only to be confronted by the horrors that were tearing into the fire department crew ahead of them, sounds that he only heard from a distance. Did he really bring an actual working crossbow with him? Either way, he unslings the thing off his back and murmurs, "Looks like they are having a blast down there." This is said just a touch wryly to Andi. He might smile over at her to hint that he's joking, but this was no joke. Does he even know how to use this thing? Either way, Thorne loads up his weapon, his eyes focused on one of the various forms in the distance.

Zombies. Yeah great costumes guys. After only a moment, Andi realizes they are real! "What the everloving fuck?" She unholsters her weapon from beneath her black and white striped shirt and takes a few steps forward, going all aggressive on them. "It looks like they are about to have a blast down there. Literally."

August stays back, letting Byron and the cops do the shooting. The zombie injuries blessedly don't hit him, but the ones taken by the living marathoners do, and he sucks in a breath. It's an automatic reaction, healing them; he can't not do it, but he tries not to heal them too much. No need to make it hard to explain things. A little nausea, but nothing serious.

Jawless Horror just lost more than his jaw. His head was blown off too, due to a great shot from the police officer. Proooobably that may cause a panic at the group that may come up behind them. Or the ones further ahead. Zombie matter flies everywhere and lands on most everyone. Especially those fighting more up close and personal. Andi turns only marginally and aims for another of the smelly, rotted nasties.

There's a juicy squelch as the wicked looking three bladed dagger goes into the especially cranky Zombie's eyehole and through what's left of its rotted brains. "Worthless petaQ," she spits, really hamming up her best Klingon impression before jerking the weapon free. Though the rush of battle is upon her, she focusses on the bigger picture and looks off to the sides, looking for any other AmbushZombies.

Ruiz puts two rounds right between the eyes of the zombie using a legbone as a club. The thing's head is blown to messy pieces, its body tumbling free of the firefighter it was trying to clamber on top of. He racks the slide on his gun, adjusts his ears (the kitty ones) and strafes in closer to see if there's anything left to mop up. "What the fuck happened?" he asks Bubba. "They just start crawling out of graves?" A year ago, he'd have called bullshit on this. But now? He just expects things to go sideways whenever possible.

Byron's better with a firearm than he is with a medieval-ish weapon, but that doesn't mean that he won't try. There's so many people in his way, all of them firemen, that he's almost tempted to lower the cross bow and just get in their using a more physical method. Yes, he might hit any one of them, so he's slow to fire. Once he spots an opening though, Byron lets a bolt loose to pierce the Moaner's abdomen, just as he watches the GHFD make short work for the thing when it's hit. "Good work." He calls out to them, giving them a thumbs up. "This, Captain, I believe is called a dream. Not a very good one at that." Seeing another lurker in the mists, he lifts his bow up to take aim.

When more dirt gets overturned and the more dead begin walking, rather than breaking out into an iconic 80's dance routine, Haven gives her head a little shake, braids tossing. "Saw that one coming." She shifts her grip on her knife, reversing it with the blade held out away from her. Several of the dead lurch her way. She holds her free hand out and wiggles her fingers, beckoning them closer. "Perhaps today is a good day to die!"

August coughs when the chubby marathoner goes into a grave, but that's nothing compared to seeing Byron and Ruiz take it where it counts. He doubles over a second, winces, straightens up. "Get up, de la Vega," he mutters under his breath, teeth set.

And now...he's kind of pissed off.

Andi manages to get a hit in but barely. The bitch of a Bart tries to cut her! The fuck!! She aims again, but takes a careful step backwards away from it, so she can try and get a better shot. When she's back far enough she shoots.

When the Zoms come for her, Haven rocks back on one heel, then slide-steps in and shoves her knife as deep into Late-Elroy as it'll go. Unfortunately, it's not enough to stop his Substitutiary Locomotion. She tugs the knife out of the critter's chest cavity just in time to dodge a swipe by the nasty-nailed FemZom. Her other hand goes reaching under her tunic while the one with the blade seeks out another fleshy target. "DO OR DO NOT THERE IS NO TRY!" Okay, now she's mixing up her Sci Fi quotes. But it's life or death battle. It happens.

His crossbow is already up and Byron is taking aim-- that is until he notices movement stirring up the ground and this makes him back up a few steps. "Son of a b--" He staggers a few steps back, but not before shooting off that second bold, the one that spears its next target into the abdomen. He loves those midsection blows. It's then when he's caught off guard, feeling the weight of one of those grotesque things pushing down on him, their fingers clawing into his costume. He collapses in a heap and struggles to pull himself up from beneath that thing without it trying to rip into him again.

He's in pain and he lost his crossbow in that zombie pile over there. "God damn mother fucker" He could go on and he's cursing under his breath, that anger alone makes the air shift heavily, both of his hands now lighting up and crackling with electricity.

Ruiz swivels and pops off a couple of shots at the zombie with its sights set on August. First round misses, second round rips through its arm and manages to slow it down enough for the man to dodge its clumsy attack. Unfortunately, it also allows one of its buddies to get the jump on the cop. He goes down hard under a vicious swing of the thing's club, and doesn't get back up immediately.

August holds up a hand, eyes on one of the zombies. Time to thin the herd. And hey, he even has a way to do that without using his bat. The tear-drop shaped ball of fire that forms in his hand has a faint tinge of lavender to it; he doesn't hold it for long, because it's very real fire. He steps aside to avoid hitting anyone else, and lobs it. It does the job: between Ruiz's shooting and the fireball exploding, the zombie collapses into a burning heap.

But Ruiz isn't looking so hot, so August steps back and concentrates on healing him for a second. "Stay with us," he says, voice low, gaze on the ground so he doesn't have to look at the wounds he can feel.

Shoot, evade, shoot, evade, it's becoming a thing. now. While Andi does manage to avoid getting cut, she also plows a bullet into the head of Butchered Bart. He's still coming though, so she didn't get a good enough hit in. She can't take the time to look at the others yet, but she has faith they are holding their own.

When the Late Elroy comes at her yet again, Haven side-steps, though a side glance has her wondering where DirtyNails got off to. The knife is plunged once again into the zombie, right in his chest cavity. Growling mightily in a Klingon fashion, she yanks it free again and thrusts it at the thing's face this time around. "What do we say to the God of Death?"

For rotting zombies, these monsters are kinda nimble. Byron tries to lash out at the one-eyed Sharon with a crackling fist, but she either stumbles or evades just in time, while scraping her claws against him. These things better not be contagious like zombie movies would like us to believe. In his annoyance, his body throbbing in pain, he looks to want to end this more than anything else, switching up his stance a bit to reflect that. It may be a bad move, but he'll try anything.

August doesn't have time for his usual method of healing, so it's a bit more of a jolt when it lands on Ruiz, like getting splashed with cold water. And with Ruiz no longer dying, August turns his attention to the zombie trying to attack him. "Fuck off, asshole," he growls under his breath, forming another teardrop of fire in his hand.

Whatever it is the zombies are doing, Andi is managing to fend them off pretty well. She's seen those stupid shows and knew zombieism was contagious. She doesn't want to look like that. Evading their attacks seemed easy enough, they weren't exactly moving that quickly!

Late-Elroy is a nimble sort of Deadite. This time, Haven's blow narrowly misses his head and he lurches at her, his swipe going right on past her. A growl of frustration this time, as her delicate dance to the death with the creature keeps on going, but it evaporates when the gloriously fabulous vocals of Freddie f-ing Mercury reach her ears. "Alright you ugly bitch. Let's finish this." If she's batted an eyelash at the, oh, FRIGGIN' MAGIC going off all around her, it doesn't show.

It looks like Byron's own annoyance at that rotting bitch that tried to take a bite out of him paid off. Just seeing that ugly thing's face and that one eye, spurs him into action where he sends a electrified fist right to her jaw, making not only her body stumble back, but sending a jolt through her undead system. However the hell that works! Once she goes down, he sees another there to take her place. "I swear..." He says through gritted teeth, his head shaking. He was running on adrenaline right now, but his body still ached.

Ruiz's vision finally clears enough for him to get a sense of what's happening: he's sprawled on the ground, his pistol just barely in reach, and they're being overrun by fucking zombies. Oh, and he's wearing a pair of cat ears and a tail. Fuck. Apparently that part wasn't a dream. He blinks a couple of times to clear his head, snatches up his gun, and surges back to his feet. Fucking Susan is pissing him off with her persistence, and he decides to give her a facefull of electricity for her troubles.

August staggers as a zombie gets a good, healthy swipe at him. "Yeah you too, asshole," he snarls around the huge furrows running through his jacket (his jacket!!! goddamnit), oozing blood. Another faintly purple-red-orange fireball gets lobbed, and that zombie also catches on fire gloriously. Fire and undead, who knew. (Goddamnit, his jacket.)

Hard to say if that pop of electricity did much damage; undaunted, Ruiz tries again. Electrocuted-fist-to-the-face style.

Though Byron doesn't feel like Robin Hood right now, though he still sort of looks like the bandit prince! A rather bloodied and disheveled version, but more than likely a bandit prince looked this way full time. When the shambler lunges at him, he aims low to shatter the monster's knee, not only breaking those brittle zombie bones, but bringing the thing down into a sizzling heap. He's breathing hard, standing on unsteady feet himself as he views the zombies that remain, before he looks towards those of his own party. They can do this! Queen inspires and Thorne is really on a roll now.

When, in the midst of the life and death dance, Haven gets beaned in the head by Shambling-Nadine in a sidelong attack, she backpedals and withdraws a pistol from beneath her Klingon tunic. Klingon-ridge prosthesis askew, she points the weapon at the Zombie what just whacked her melon and fires.

Another one bites the dust. Just not the one that Andi hits this time. With a curse, she notices one of their own go down and she lifts her pistol to take a careful aim before pulling the trigger. She doesn't talk much while in a gunfight, but she does pay attention to her surroundings.

August focuses on strengthening Byron, because some of these zombies could use a good electrocution. Haven goes down, and he flinches, coughing, but doesn't throw up; better yet, she stands again. So it's her turn to get a bit of a boost when it comes to zombie smashing.

"Hey fucker," Andi isn't about to let the healer of the bunch get hurt any worse than he already is. She tries to get in between him and the zombie after him.

Ruiz's electrically-charged fist to the face seems to have done the trick; half of Susan's jaw is obliterated by his knuckles, which keep right on going to the back of her skull. She collapses, and he switches up to his pistol to take a potshot at one of Haven's attackers.

Haven 's shot hits its mark, though Nadine seems to shrug it off. And Elroy, bastard that he is. Was. Is. Well, he takes the opportunity to club the Rook while she's focussed elsewhere. It knocks her off her feet and into a (recently) opened grave with a THUNK. For a moment, there's silence from within. Then: "FUDGE BISCUITS!" before a hand reaches for the edge of the grave and a muck covered Penelope Haven drags herself halfway out, just enough to raise her pistol with her other hand and take another shot. There's not knowing when to quit. There's stubborn. And then there's Haven.

Byron has no idea that August was giving him a helping hand, because he's on fire now. Well, electricity was coursing through his veins. Slamming his electrified fist into the chest of one of the zombies, it's not enough to stop the creature from taking a swipe or two at Haven. "Get back here!" He calls out, but it's too late. Alas. "How's everyone doing?" He calls out, observing this stand off between cops with pistols now and undead assholes.

The last one goes down and the convict is left there with a smoking barrel. With a half smile, she lowers the dangerous end of her weapon and takes a glance around to make sure everyone else was still standing. Upon seeing nothing else shambling towards them, she reholsters but for a moment leaves the snap undone while she checks on the others. "I'm good, B. You alright? Everyone alive?" Andi gives another wary look around though.

August looks out over the remains of the mess. Christ, he's exhausted. And some of the runners didn't make it. He swallows down bile; can't do anything about them. But...

He sets the bat end down to support himself, concentrates on Ruiz. One at a time. Also he has to fix his jacket. God what a night.

With a wary glance around for any further dead, Haven claws her way fully out of the grave and sits on her butt on the ground. Dead bodies all around. Some fresh. Some super-not. Her gaze levels on Ruiz and she lifts her chin slightly. "Captain Kitty," she says with utter seriousness, "The night is ours." She raises a clenched fist, bares her shark teeth and then leans back against the nearest tombstone and it's reassuring, not at all chilly and only slightly morbid comforting mass.

Ruiz's sporting a nasty gash all the way down the left side of his head, from temple to the nape of his neck. Plenty of blood caked onto his kitty ears and the neck of his tee shirt, with more trickling out of his nose as he shoves his own pistol back into its holster. He toes the downed zombie with his foot, then backs up with a glance shot sidelong to Haven, then August. "What the fuck is wrong with this town?"

August runs a hand over his face after healing Ruiz. He turns to Byron and does the same, eyes half-shut. He's going to sleep for an entire day after this. He barely reacts to the FD runner, just kind of stares after him.

With this concerted effort to take one of the few zombies down, Byron finally has some time to breath once it's over. His chest hurts. Heck, his body hurt with all those claw marks and scrapes tearing into him. "I'm fine." He mutters, looking at the carnage around them. Just then the Fire Department team stirs. Some of them were bleeding like he was! But they seem oblivious and ready to finish the damn race. "Unbelievable." He practically seethes. That's when he notices August coming towards him, only after the fact that Kitty de la Vega seems to be looking much better now. "Hey." He murmurs, before quieting down, letting the guy work his magic. Usually Lilith does this for him... so this is odd. He'll watch Roen do that healing thing. His throat then clears, "Thanks." Then to the others, he can't believe he's saying this, "We have a race to finish."

Several curse words later, Andi takes another look around after the waking. There's relief that not everyone is dead like they were, but she doesn't take any time to celebrate. "Nothing is ever normal in this town." The words sound disgruntled. "Should have fuckin' left with Krissy." Her little sister who wasn't her little sister at all, but a Baxter. But that's another story. She's not going to let the fire department win. Glancing at the others, "Anyone need asssistance to the finish line?" Cause she's willing to help.

Fucking zombies. Fucking concussions. Fucking firefighters. Ruiz really shouldn't keep going after being cracked over the head like he was, but since when does the man make good life decisions? "Catch you at the finish line, Bubba," he mutters at the guy's back, stows his gun, and gets to it.

A brief sit against the tombstone and Haven starts to drag herself to her feet. Byron's words rouse her a bit too. "Not gonna make it that easy for those hosedraggers." She bends down, grabs her flashlight and her D'k'tagh, replacing them on her belt. Then, carefully, she reaches up and adjusts her ridges /just so/ and then she starts running after the Firefighters, arms pumping furiously.