revivalproject | What do vegan zombies eat?

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What do vegan zombies eat?

WHO: Leo and YOU
WHERE: all around Temba
WHAT: zombie invasion
WHEN: zombie invasion
WARNINGS: zombie invasion (...likely some gore and violence)

A: Early Invasion

In a way, Leo is almost... relieved. Okay, so that's a weird thing to feel when there are literally undead monsters walking around, but the thing is, zombies are a simple problem. He doesn't have to worry about zombies betraying him, or debating him about innocent until proven guilty, or any other moral quandaries. Zombies want brains. Leo doesn't want his brain to get eaten. This math is simple.

And while it's more than a little disconcerting now to be suddenly cut off from his powers, it doesn't slow down Leo that much. Well, maybe in the literal sense, now that he can no longer teleport, but for actual fighting, Leo has always depended more on his swords and his martial arts than his magic. So cutting zombies down isn't really an issue for him, especially when they're the slow, shambling kind.

It is, however, pretty gross. Leo cringes as he brushes some rotting flesh bits off his arm.

He's here because he heard someone calling for help, or because he saw someone fighting the good fight. Either way, he's here to help!

(And also look for Donnie, because of course they got separated again. But hey, kill two birds with one stone!)

"Need a little help?" he calls out, approaching. "These guys are a little too awake, huh? Never heard that phrase about sleeping when your dead."

B: Late Invasion (cw: tied up zombie brother)

Leo shouldn't be out here. He should be sheltering in the mines, like everyone else.

But here he is, moving with ninja speed and stealth toward one of the abandoned houses. He has a rope slung over his shoulder, and casts furtive glances around to see if he's being followed.

He's pretty good at catching when he is being followed, but with all these zombies around, it's possible to avoid his detection and see what he's up to.

Which is, admittedly, pretty suspicious. What is he doing?

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Crap. Crap crap crap.

Leo grits his teeth, glancing at Donnie. Donnie’s tired, he knows - not that Leo is doing much better himself, but he can handle this. He can - he has to.

Leo steps in front of Donnie, swords gripped tight in his hands.

“I’m gonna cut a path for you, okay? Just keep moving.”

Donnie looks like he'd protest that, but he knows he's not fooling anyone. Leo can literally cut a path for them. The least he can do is make sure nothing fills in the spaces or goes for his brother's back.

"Okay," he says, his own grip tightening around his staff as they come upon the next batch of zombies.

Leo's glad Donnie doesn't give him any push back; that makes this easier.

He starts literally cutting his way through the crowd of zombies, his swords moving as fast as they can. Which is pretty fast; even his physical abilities have gotten an upgrade since the Shredder. But without his powers, he's limited in his ability to crowd control. They will get overwhelmed, eventually.

At least the zombies aren't very smart, and don't have much thought behind their tactics past trying to bite. That's about all Leo has going for him right now, as he makes his slow slow way forward.

Why are there so many here? Do they know..? Donnie's starting to have second thoughts about trying to get into the mines as he wonders if they've just gotten into them already. It's a worrying possibility, but where else do they have to go?

He tries to keep close enough behind Leo without being in the way, using his staff to fend off whatever tries closing the gap between them or coming in from the side. This is absolutely the worst!

Feeling something yank at his hood, Donnie turns to swing his staff about, knocking another zombie back with a sickening crunch. He yelps as his feet trip over the fallen bodies Leo's already cut down, sprawling onto his back. Another zombie all but falls after him, and he brings up his arm to catch its hungry maw, and he's all the more thankful that Tony had the foresight to equip him with his armor's bracers.

Leo is also very grateful for the armor Donnie has, even if he doesn’t know its origins. He just assumes Donnie fashioned it for himself at some point while they were apart.

At the yell, Leo looks back, calling out Donnie’s name as he hurries over to help him up. But without his focus on the road in front of them, more zombies push in to fill up the gap.

“Get off him!” he shouts, cutting back the zombies that flood in between the two of them, trying to get at Donnie while he’s down. He has to hurry - he has to protect his brother!

Man, this was his good hoodie too! Donnie grimaces, not wanting to think about whatever he's lying on as he tries to push away the zombie that's gnawing at his arm. He abandons the grip on his staff to free his hand so he has more ability to shove the decaying body off of him.

He hears Leo, that alone making him try his hardest to get himself free. "Get...off!" The zombie goes tumbling to the side, and Donnie turns to grab his staff again, scrambling to try getting back to his feet. He recoils with a cry at the grasping hands and the slobbering, souless faces that have closed in.

Leo doesn't fully know what's happened when he hears Donnie cry out, but it's enough to trigger something in him; a protective instinct stronger than usually that only comes out when he feels his family is in some kind of mortal peril. He can't see Donnie properly in this thick forest of zombies, so he doesn't know how he is, so he doesn't know what the yelling was for, so-

Gone are the puns and the wisecracks and the quips. Leo is almost eerily silent as he starts hacking faster through the zombies that are between him and his brother, with a ferocious but efficient violence. He can't let something happen to him - not again.

Being unable to tell where Leo is is terrifying, even though he knows his brother has to be somewhere on the other side of all the bodies. He tries to push back and get some space but it's hard to do when he's on the ground and his weapon's hard to use in such close quarters.

It seems like every time he knocks one back, another one is already reaching in to take its place. Kicking at them has a fifty-fifty chance of making them fall towards him, and having more teeth in his face is doing the exact opposite of what he'd prefer. Trying to think tactically has completely slipped from his mind as he desperately smacks at whatever tries grabbing at or biting him. He throws himself into a tight ball on the ground for fear of being dog-piled and buried by moving dead bodies, which has to be ironic somehow.

Leo stops hearing Donnie, much less seeing him, and that only fuels his panicked movements. Where is he!? Wasn’t he behind Leo? Maybe he moved on ahead? Leo’s so turned around in the mob, he isn’t even totally sure which way is forward and which is back. Is he even going the way he thinks he is? Is he going in circles?

He cuts down another zombie and takes a step… and trips over something on the ground, falling forward and landing on his knees.

He doesn’t know what it is at first - certainly doesn’t realize it’s Donnie himself, if the kicking is any indication. Leo is just trying to get up and away, the feel of zombie hands and teeth on his shell fueling his movements.

"OW," comes out as a reflex, because since when did the zombies kick??? It's that weird little detail that actually gets him to unfold from himself just enough to look, seeing a flash of blue and green.

"Le-"

Donnie desperately wants to grab onto his brother and very nearly does, save that that small, yet rationally functioning part of his brain warns him that this would be a terrible idea when they're both in the middle of a zombie mosh pit.

Since when do zombies say “OW!” when you kick them???

Leo’s brain catches up with what’s happening, and he immediately feels terrible. He’s supposed to be helping Donnie, not hurting him himself!

He spins around, half crawling in his scramble to get to Donnie, his swords unwieldy in his hands. It’s a miracle he doesn’t cut either of them as he goes.

“Dee!”

This isn't how zombie apocalypses are supposed to go. If he had his tech working they wouldn't be having such problems. Donnie inwardly curses their unseen tormentors as he tries to get to Leo, feeling his elbow sink deeper than it should into someone's face, but at least it gets them off his back.

He's shaking and his fingers are locked around his staff, more of a hindrance than an asset at the moment, but it's the only thing he has. Seeing Leo gives him a brief second wind, and he swings around his staff with both hands to force some space around them, knocking a few bodies back as he lurches to his feet again. He almost falls again, feeling something scrape against his leg, immediately lashing out with his weapon again without fully looking. Leave me alone! The offending zombie tumbles back, headless.

It's not the smartest thing to grab each other right now, but when Leo gets close enough, he sheathes his shorter sword and grabs for Donnie's free arm. He does not want to get separated again.

He doesn't know what to say or suggest. If he just had his stupid powers back he could just teleport them out of here!

This is sooo dumb. He should be able to do this. He should be able to get them out of this. He should be able to protect one member of his family at least!

Leo growls low in his throat as he fends off another zombie, then frantically draws a circle with his sword. But of course it does nothing, because this stupid storm won't let him!

Donnie practically crashes against Leo once he's pulled over. He's panting hard as he struggles to stay on his feet, glaring daggers at anything trying to approach, not that it makes a difference.

Think Donnie, think..!

He watches Leo attempt to make a portal, willing it to catch. They're on their own he hates feeling like the burden again. What does he have? What can he use? They never had this ninpō stuff before- but then Donnie had working tech!

He tries to push away those thoughts- not helping! Tucking his tech-bō against him, he stuffs his hand into his bag. There has to be something... -!

"Leo, the lighter-" he gasps, his hand closing around a bottle as he pulls it out, flipping the cap open, globs of hand sanitizer oozing from the top. It's not nearly as combustible as he'd prefer, and he has to wonder if setting zombies on fire will really help matters but it's all he's got.

Leo's eyes are wild, and he fights to keep anything back that gets even a little close to them. They aren't advancing now, and he knows that's bad, he knows that's fatal, but what is he supposed to do? He can't face-man his way out of a situation where the enemies don't even talk!

And then, Donnie calls out to him with an idea.

Leo glances at what Donnie has in his hand, registers that they need the lighter, and doesn't waste time on any other questions. He pulls the lighter back out of his pocket, then grabs for the hand sanitizer. Time to light up some zombies... if it will even work.

He has no idea if this is going to work, not at all liking the amount of maybe's but with little other options Donnie is ready to try anything.

The bottle's grabbed far too easily from Donnie's shaky hand, and right off the back it doesn't look like the flames even catch onto the globs that spatter past it to the ground. But it's only until undead feet step through it that the flames begin to lick up instantly once it catches rotting footwear and trailing rags.

Donnie's grasped his staff again, leaning against Leo as he kicks out a foot to topple the burning zombie back towards others, and any others once Leo starts lighting them up. The heat and the light are an instant draw to the ones slow-flailing in a growing bonfire, breaking up some of the attention from them.

Is it... actually working?

Leo lets out a laugh, more disbelieving than anything. The pile of burning bodies around them is an absolute horror show, sure, but he feels momentary triumph that this insane plan actually worked.

He doesn't slow down, throwing out more globs of flaming hand sanitizer, trying to catch more zombies on fire and send them, stumbling, back into the group. Maybe this will be enough! Maybe they can clear the way!

He'd laugh too if he didn't feel like he could cry just as easily, but they're still out here with burning bodies, and he won't allow himself to celebrate just yet. Donnie's too exhausted to expend the effort anyway, so he's more than willing to let Leo handle things. The least he can do is trip up any zombies that get too close.

Slowly but surely, space begins to open up amidst the lumbering, groaning pyres. Donnie points with his tech-bō, the mines just barely visible past the haze of smoke.

Edited 2024-11-04 05:17 (UTC)

There it is! They're going to make it!

Still holding tight on Donnie's arm, Leo starts to haul them both that direction, still knocking aside any zombie that gets too close. They can do this - they're going to make it inside and then everything will be okay!

If they can just make it a few more steps...!

They can make it, they can make it..!

Donnie pushes on with Leo's help, leaving the burning masses in their wake. He hopes the entire city doesn't burn down from walking torches but hopefully they're slow enough that they'll burn out before they get anywhere that might catch fire.

There's a few stragglers still at and within the entrance itself, but it's far more manageable than the numbers that had been amassed prior.

They're almost there, and Donnie's not letting anything else stand between them. He pulls away from Leo as he sucks in a breath, preparing for a final push through as he grips his tech-bō. Looking to Leo, Donnie gives him a nod, readying himself to move when his brother does.

Donnie pulls away, but they’re close now. At the look, Leo nods back, pulling out his second sword again. Just one more push - just one more and they’ll be there!

He’s exhausted, but he gives Donnie a smile anyway. They’re gonna be just fine - he’ll make sure of it.

And with that, he starts taking out the last of the stragglers between them and the door. Time to move!

It's not the most Leo-esque smile but it's still encouraging enough that Donnie summons up his own. They've got this.

His arms are aching, his everything, really, but he moves to keep up with Leo and help clear and keep back anything trying to come from behind. Comparatively it's a much easier fight for how sparse the numbers are, but Donnie knows it's not wise to linger.

Leo's swords make short work of the ones in their path, and soon there's nothing blocking them from getting inside. The dark depths have never been so welcoming!

Leo practically throws himself through the entrance to the mines, back into the dark. He wants to collapse, but he can’t yet - not until Donnie is safe, and not until both of them are past the barrier deeper down the tunnel.

“Dee, come on!” he calls, putting away a sword again so he can reach for his brother.

Donnie nearly falls again, feeling his legs want to give, but he keeps propelling himself forward, throwing a hand out to grab Leo's once they enter the tunnel. He refuses to look back, and while he can barely see anything ahead of them, he trusts his brother to know where they're going from here.

Maybe finally they can rest.

Getting back to the barrier is mostly uneventful, but Leo stays quiet for it anyway. Once they reach it, he climbs up the pile of crates and boards and extends a hand to help Donnie if he needs it.

Once they’re on the other side, Leo stops so he can look Donnie over - not that he can really see anything, in the dark.

“Sorry for kicking you,” he says. Then, “Are you okay?”

What do vegan zombies eat?

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