??? THE STREETS - LOWER QUEEN ANNE

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

If the 403 crew were to strike out north on Westlake, they would find themselves moving, appropriately, along the west side of Lake Union. Westlake goes a moderate distance than turns into Nickerson, which extends all the way to the Ballard Bridge.

The wall o' cars effect is worst near Mercer, than the Fremont Bridge, then again near the Ballard Bridge. The only things of note on this street are the AGC building and other businesses near it, the Fremont Bridge, and Seattle Pacific University.

Cormorants love to sit in the bare trees near the water in the winter. Crows savage the zombies near the college. Starlings increase in number toward Interbay.

There is a lot of residential, which means a lot of zombies, but also a diversity of hidden survivors. The boldest can be seen running or bicycling the streets.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

A wet arm slapped the surface of a low dock. Another followed, then the man himself. A naked, elegantly muscled guy pulled himself out of the water, soaking wet.

He reached in and pulled out a wet, miserable dog. It was on the skinny and small side of medium sized, long hair on its droopy ears sodden and dripping. Next, the man pulled out an airtight bag, and shook the water off of it. He stood and stretched.

Nearby, an old man looked at him from a deck chair, taking in the scene with not much more interest in evidence than a single cocked eyebrow.

Naked man -
" 'Allo."

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Old Man-
"Yeah. Um. Hello."


Naked man -
"What is zis area? I swim across from Ba'llard."

The man spoke in a heavy French accent, and unwrapped the plastic bag, removing wrinkled clothing.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Old Man-
"Yer in Interbay. Some'd say Lower Queen Anne. Y'swim from Ballard France, son?"


Naked man -
"Ahaha! No, I live 'ere several year. It is peaceful in Queen Anne? You sit outside with no monster? Ba'llard is no good."

The skinny dog shook its body furiously, spraying droplets all over. It couldn't shake enough though, and looked miserably soggy, its tail looking thin as a rat's with drippy strings of hair hanging off the tip.
The man pulled on his wrinkled black twill pants, not bothering with underpants apparently.

Old Man-
"Naw, it's fucked up around here too. But they don't like the dock as well as the street... Ya go in for the commando?"


French man -
"Mm? Oh I was in French military, not now. *sigh* I 'ad wished there are places without so many monster. C'est dommage."

The man pulled on a crumpled white shirt and shivered a bit in the chilly morning air.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Old Man-
"So even ex-commandos do without shorts. Just don't get a boner when yer talkin' people up. Maybe you could say it's a banana. Wait, we don't have those. Maybe you could say it's a toy banana."

The lil' doggy kept shaking. The man pulled out the last item in the bag, a nearly worn out pair of leather shoes. He sat on the ground and put them on as the dog shuddered in the cold.

French man -
"Ahaha, I would imagine so. Do you live in a settlement? I 'ear of some but never find them."


Old Man-
"No way. People can't be trusted. Buncha shits is all that's left of us. Plus grandstandin' assholes think they're gonna save tha world."


French man -
"Trying to save the world? Where do you see 'zis?"


Old Man-
"Huh? What do you care?"


French man -
"Well, I am looking for the mummy. Do you 'ear about this? No one knows, so far."

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Suddenly the man shifted in his seat, and the little dog stopped shaking, staring intensely at a possible threat.

Old Man-
"Um. Huh. You want the mummy?"


French man -
"Yes, I see it on the video. I want to kill it. I do not know if this will 'elp, but I want to do it. Do you 'ear of it? Or do you know where there is settlement?"

The man started to laugh, which little dog found annoying but non-threatening, because he went back to shivering and shaking.

Old Man-
"Ah, another bird-brained world saver. Hell, I don't remember where the dumbasses said they were. Find one of their stupid fliers and they say on it."


French man -
"Oh well, merci..."

The man walked towards the road in soggy shoes, the wet dog following closely behind. He carried no weapons, or anything else for that matter.

A flier was it?

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

The old man hadn't been lying. There were zombies, and they seemed less interested in the waterfront than the streets. There was a short walk uphill to a main street, and several zombies along the way...

French man-
"Chou, en avant!"

The man gestured to the dog, who went running through the crowd of zombies. The man continued walking casually. The zombies seemed a bit confused by the dog running underfoot.

After a bit of Keystone Cops action, the zombies got a bearing on the nice French cuisine. They went for the Frenchman!

Chou-
"AIP!"

The man cast about, quickening his pace, until he saw a length of wood sticking out of the soft earth on a patch of landscaping, a construction marker for work that would never be done. He pulled the stick from the ground, as the zombies closed in around him.
He jabbed the stick at the closest zombie, hitting it squarely in the chest. He used his strength to shove the former businesswoman back into the others.

French man-
"*whistle* Ici!"

He whistled for the dog to come, and used the stick and his elbows to shove the zombies down an embankment.

The zombies tumbled into a heap and tried to get up in a mostly useless way. Chou caught up and kept vigilant for anything coming close to his master.

There were more zombies up ahead, but the man knew their pace and knew his own. As he went, he used the obstacles such as ditches and cars in the road to confuse them, so that he didn't even need to jog to stay out of arms reach.

There were hundreds of zombies within sight, over a dozen within short range, and several close enough to keep his vigilance and pace sharp and brisk.

He had no idea where to find this flier, but had to make a choice. Go toward the Ballard Bridge, go toward downtown, or go uphill into snarled residential areas...

French man-
"..."

While it seemed as though downtown would be likely to be full of zombies, the other options weren't better. He'd been in residential neighborhoods, they were generally full of starving desperate people, and he had nothing to give them. (Or nothing to have robbed from him...) The bridge was up and snarled with wrecked cars on the Ballard side, why would this site be any better?

Downtown it was.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

                 

               



                                         

Staying on the water side of the wall o' cars kept the zombies more sparse. Indeed, for some of the length of this trip, he was able to use a pedestrian trail on the waterfront. Looking up at the trees, he thought he saw a horde of long-necked vultures in a sparsely foliaged tree, but on closer inspection it was a bunch of black-feathered cormorants.

Ah, the Fremont Bridge. The cars were very dense here. He looked back to the trail. Did it cut under the bridge?

Yes it did! He continued. By the time he passed the AGC building, the air had mostly dried his hair. Chou was looking fluffy again. And the zombies were fewer in number. Could it be possible, downtown was less terrible than the residential areas?

The sparse zombies finally made it possible to slow down and look for the flier. How would he go about that...?

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Urban enclaves could be anywhere, but places designed for living seemed most likely - apartments, hotels. He kept his eyes out...

The Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Could there be people in there? And how would they respond to knocking at the front door in plain view of the zombies?

He thought to himself there was no harm in trying, and no one could have a worse reaction than what he'd seen in Ballard. He picked up Chou and hopped onto a car, walking across roofs to the more zombiriffic side of things. He dropped Chou and moved quickly to the front door of the place. The curtains had all been drawn and the garage door was rolled down - surely signs that the place had people hiding within. Zombies began to advance on him.

                                                                         

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

He tried knocking on the large front door, and failing that, he moved to bang on the rolldown.

French man-
" 'Allo! Anyone?"

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Someone moved a curtain off to the left, a moment passed, and the door opened.

American man-
"Come in, quick! Damn."

                                                                         

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

The man stepped in quickly, Chou was also eager to get away from the creeping creeps.

French man-
"Merci. Sorry to bother."

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

The man closed and blocked the door. Dead hands beat the thick glass from outside. The men quickly moved into the lobby - very dim, with no one else in sight.

American man-
"Jesus christ, no bother. Wow. Hm. What were you doing out there? You don't look like you came to trade... Unless you're offering your bod. Huh huh. Ahem, sorry."


French man-
"Ahaha, perhaps if you had the 'ome address of the mummy. "


American man-
"oO Wow. Oh my god. Hot as hell and French. Did I just pass out while masturbating? What's going on in here?"


French man-
"No, it is real, but you are sweet. I just swim across from Ba'llard. I 'ear something about flyers? Do you know?"

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

American man-
"Not sure what you mean. The accent, I'm sorry."


French man-
"Mn, do you know about a flyer? With information about monster."


American man-
"Oh..."

The man, who was ridiculously tall and skinny, leaned against a counter as they spoke, practically sitting on it. Suddenly, a woman and another man came into the room. She was dark-haired and cranky looking, and he was a punk rocker.

Woman-
"What the hell is going on, Jeffrey?! Why are there zombies trying to beat down my door?"


Jeffrey-
"Oh, excyuuuse me, Katy. I only had to save a sexy French man's life, you know?"


French man-
" 'Allo. I apologize. It's true, Jeffrey 'elps me."


Katy-
"Okaaaay... What are you doing here? Looking for a handout?"


French man-
"Oh no no, I am fine. I 'ear about a flyer, with information. I am looking for something, I want to know more about monster."

People looked at each other, a bit tense, a bit paranoid. But they had no reason to conceal information.

Woman-
"I guess so. We have it in... Wait a minute. The place that made it is, like, less than a mile from here. Why not just go ask them about it?"


French man-
"Oh yes? Where is...?"