Chapter 15

I'm so fucked off with my computer… -does little sacred ritual counting- 1-6ths of it has been totalled. Rank, man. It's psychedelic striping. There must've been a crack in the screen (which I could have actually checked out months ago -.-;;) but now it's… it's…

But then I found out I can minimize things to my new screen sizing. So now I'm quite happy. I can stop beating up my computer now. –huggles computer- I wuv uuuuuuu! ('cos we're both so alone… x(…)

OH AND ABOUT THAT LITTLE FRIEND… ORDEAL. I… I don't really wanna talk about it to anyone but me. I figured if we ignore it, it'll go away by itself. –cough- because I don't think that relationship will last –cough cough-

Murdoc: Hypocrite.

Shadz: whaaaaaaaaat ME? Pfft…

--

Noodle shook her head so violently when they ran as if to shake out the memory of Russel's half-eaten corpse. She was running so fast now she was actually beating 2D's long sprinting legs. She wanted to run away from everything behind her with him. By now she was going so hard that she was afraid she would never be able to stop.

"Which cupboard?" 2D puffed as they swiftly pulled on a corner, their soles almost screeching on the floor. "Where are we… running?" Noodle hastily glanced back at Murdoc who obviously couldn't keep at the same pace of those healthy pro-life living. He didn't make such a smooth curve as the others did and he smashed himself into the wall, releasing something equal to an engrossed grunt.

"How the fuck do I know?" she breathed. "He didn't say." They reached the end of the snaking corridors at the door to the lobby and dashed inside. 2D slammed it shut and would have tried to bolt it up if Noodle hadn't kept on running.

"Get the lift!" 2D yelled at her as it looked like she was darting around in circles.

"Whatever cupboard it is, it could be on this floor!" 2D held himself at the furthermost point of the room from the door Murdoc would momentarily hit. Noodle ran past him and he caught her to make her sit still but they both toppled over to the ground. Very special zombie Murdoc burst through the door. It ripped off the hinges and smacked into the floor with Murdoc clamped onto it. He moaned as he pushed himself up on the rocking plank of wood.

"I said GET THE LIFT!" he screamed at Noodle again and shoved her towards it. She jabbed the button repeatedly and kicked the metallic frame to release her frustration not only with Murdoc, for 2D as well. The lift took it's time and was on the move up to the 1st floor, the ridiculous voice assuring them 'itz comin' up'.

Noodle looked at 2D, "I'm not going to be given the run-around again, 2D, I'm not getting in that elevator." 2D walked up to her, his eyes wide alert and they seemed to be harbouring some distorted grudge or darkness there. He gripped her tightly when Murdoc was just about to steady himself on his feet and 2D mouthed something suspiciously like 'just trust me'. Noodle stared back in fear.

The lift opened, 2D ran inside but pushed Noodle away who tried to follow. "Get back," he gestured the back walls behind her where the lights didn't shine so bright. Murdoc gazed up and just saw Noodle rush around the room. He took a few steps toward her but 2D fumed and slammed his hands on the edge of the doors. He stood between the level and the lift and forced it to stay apart. "MURDOC!" he screamed and the zombie's head snapped at him with surprise. "OVER HERE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" 2D was practically offering himself and Murdoc approached because he couldn't pass off an offer such as 2D (as scrawny as he was).

"That's right…" 2D whispered madly as Murdoc made his way over, "take the bait." 2D prepared himself as he backed into the lift and Murdoc stumbled to the metallic doors. "Take me like you want to, you fucking-" Murdoc let out a low confused squeal as the doors started to close when nothing was blocking their path. 2D's grin fell and he was horrified, as was Noodle when he caught her expression that he knew would be sounded something a little like betrayal when those doors close. And they did.

Murdoc screamed like a banshee when the impatient lift doors caught his arm between them. He tugged to get his arm back as the elevator beeped like some overloaded machine that would explode. The Firestarter bent and cracked his own arm just to get it out and his surviving brain made his pain just as real as before. His arm broke off from the elbow just as a stick would and he squealed at high frequency. 2D watched the arm fall inside his lift as the doors finally closed with the gentle ooze of thick blood pooling on the ground.

"NOO!" 2D screamed and hammered against the walls that beeped and refused prolonged entrance anymore. "Fuck!" He rubbed at his face harshly and paced in circles thinking how screwed his plan got. Well that was, if he had one. And a clever one would have been an even slimmer likelihood. 2D leant his forehead against the slicing cold doors. He looked down and only when he saw the pale arm, fleshy bone sticking out the end and twitching erratically, a smile curled on his smug face. "That didn't go too well, did it…" It's these stupid lifts. God damned machines. Useless, I tell you. But at least now that he's lost his favourite arm, it can give her more of a chance to get away.

Murdoc whimpered and cupped the end of his torn arm that was spurting blood all over him. He turned around in rage and roared as he was going to take it out on Noodle like any bully would do. But Noodle wasn't so scared anymore. She was pissed and that was enough to save her alone. As Murdoc ran after her, one arm outstretched and teeth gritted from the pain, Noodle angrily walked away out of the room, shut the door and locked it behind her.

She couldn't explain it, she couldn't even quite comprehend it. She didn't understand why 2D betrayed her like that, asked her to 'just trust me' and then ditch her for good, get her off his back like she wasn't worth keeping around anymore. Noodle was outraged over something that was practically tip of the iceberg that she could feel her anger melt away into misery. She kept on thinking; he must've left me behind me for a reason…

Oh, for fuck's sake, BUCK UP AND GET YOURSELF OUT OF THERE. You didn't need him anyway, the bloody idiot… You've got it all wrong, he was holding you back.

"He was only trying to protect me. Maybe I was being such a jerk that-"

Have you ever thought that maybe this is still part of his plan, and maybe he still wants you in his trust? Did you ever mull over the possibility that he might've made a mistake?

"He just jumped into the elevator and left without me. I can't see there being a very inventive plan that could have gone wrong inside that."

Well, you still always gotta look out for #1, right? He could sneak up on you at any time…

She scoffed sourly, "and do what? Club me in the back of the head with an amplifier?"

Could happen… Whatever's going on inside that pea-sized brain of his, it's probably nothing too diverse from 'get me the fuck outta here, screw that schizophrenic bitch and her dead playmate'. Eyes on the prize, darling, you're in the race now and you better win whatever it is you're looking for before that other nimrod does. Err… actually, what are you looking for?

She shrugged sadly, continued her walk and began picking a room at random for this search of the impossible. She\wondered if it was the key out of Kong, perhaps it was an escape route? Maybe it could even be some kind of immortal potion Murdoc bargained out of the black market that would return him to life? Who knows what shit it was… But she still couldn't help she would end up being scammed like always from Murdoc. Would she be able to tell what she was looking for anyway? What if it was no use at all? What if it was a last minute apology for stealing her Nintendo and hiding it from her for the last 4 days? (Which she happened to know was him all along) What if that was all she would find?

Noodle searched most of the corridors on the floor and found nothing she believed would be any bit useful. She even tried searching the kitchen and cracking open the bolded 'off-limits' cupboard. She thought, fuck trying to find a crowbar he's already been discarded, what are you hiding? But all that fell out was some more of their strange merchandise they hid for their fans. Noodle stepped out into the smoggy trash air and below her on the landfill was a pile of knifes, scythes, axes, ropes, kitchen appliances, the lot. Even furniture. Onward with the quest.

She turned around and suddenly met Murdoc's estranged misty eyes that managed to eventually find her. He was the only thing that was blocking her path out to the lifts and down to the ground floor where she would find better results. It must be inside Murdoc's treasured 'Bago. 2D must have whatever it is clutched inside his shaky little hands and he's probably running out of Kong crying freedom by now. Some friend…

"Get out of my way," she ordered calmly. Murdoc snarled and she jumped in fright. "I'm serious, don't make me hurt you."

Oh, come on, a little more emotion wouldn't kill you.

"I mean it!" she yelled as he approached, ignoring her warnings. She took in a depth breathe and just as she released it, Murdoc took a roundhouse kick to the face and he stumbled backward from the blow. "I know it's no good, but I'll still beat you senseless if you don't have the sense to get out of my way," she yelled and punched him so his jaw disconnected. It gave a painful crack and suddenly his mouth hung low to one side of his head and he appeared to have jaw lock. She laughed and started punching him again and again until Murdoc caught her fist and while she was momentarily stunned, he tried to bite her.

"GET OFF ME!" she screamed and kicked him in the head. He instantly went down and he was out cold just like that. It was too easy. After a long foreboding silence, she walked over him but just when she thought she was in the clear, he grabbed her foot and she tripped over. She screamed and started randomly kicking the air, hoping to hit him at some time to get up. Murdoc's sick pasty face climbed up to hers and she looked right into him. It was like his sagging skin was ripping like soft tissue and his blood was rotting, black and thick. She put all her might into her last punch and his head literally spun around. His head knocked onto her legs before she sprung up and he should've lost all feeling in his neck by now.

She crept out the door to her get away and when she looked back, he was already standing tall and ripping his own head back into place like nothing ever happened. Noodle's heart raced and she ran to the lifts. As the doors were about to close, Murdoc jumped in between them and they opened again wide enough to let them in. His teeth gnawed and popped and cracked and jerked like he was a demented android and he gargled when she screamed and backed into a corner. The doors closed on them both and the lift descended down as Noodle was out of her skull in absolute dread.

They wrestled each other, Noodle now calling 2D's name and Murdoc breath all over her face. He was still much stronger than her, despite the tragic loss of a limb; although she bent his knuckles back so far they explored new depths of flexibility. She put one hand on his horrid face and the texture was so cold and rough, just like the departed but she could still feel the pulse in his head. Sinking her nails into his flesh so harshly that she tore it off from his cheekbone down on one side. Her throat was so sore from screaming.

The lift doors finally opened and she shoved him back before she made a runner, yelling '2D! 2D!'. Murdoc dropped the flesh from his face and stepped on it as he left the lift. She tore his face off, real good and the meat made a sickening squelch under his Cuban heeled boots. "2D, HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE!" she had fallen victim to hysterics.

She ran through the corridors, not bothering to delicately open or close the doors with Murdoc right on her tail the whole time. Once she reached the carpark, she couldn't help but notice the dribble of dark blood along the floor that grew with each leap she made. There was too much blood, no one could live without it. It looked Murdoc was so close to catching her, he swiped his hand but only clawed her head which only hurt like hell for Noodle. "2D! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" she ran in circles as the Winnebago had no door to shut him out and she kept on running though her feet would fall off any minute. "STUART!" she yelled one more time. Just before she spotted his guilt-ridden face in the doorway and just before he killed the lights and everyone was cast into darkness.

Noodle paused in her tracks and she kept as quiet as she dared. She shivered and the hairs on the back of her neck were on end. She wrapped her hands over her mouth to keep from breathing or hyperventilating. All she could hear was the light engines shut down and shuffling… all around her like they were enclosing in on her. It was like a dozen more shifty people had appeared out of nowhere and surrounded her. Then she felt something icy touch her face and she screamed under the lurking shadows. Suddenly footsteps were racing towards her and she was helpless until something pulled her away in a random direction. Her instincts were to immediately biff them in the chin. And yes, she did know it was 2D who grabbed her.

2D knew exactly where he was going in the dark and he shoved her quietly against a wall, a hand still firmly over her mouth. Noodle didn't realise that 2D wouldn't be grossed out if she licked his fingers. The footsteps were hot on the trail but as soon as the lead stopped sounding, they shuffled aimlessly right pass them.

2D moved and Noodle felt it but any flinch stronger and they would have been figured out already. She silently shifted along the wall with 2D right next to her and it felt like some kind of miracle when her hands caressed the familiar door handle to 2D's room (not exactly a first choice of escape, but still a relief). Noodle must've accidentally taken a step too far when she kicked a device that awoke with beeping and chirping and lit up. It was her lost Nintendo. Murdoc grunted and began to run towards them. 2D didn't hesitate to open the door, shove Noodle and her stupid Nintendo down and shut himself inside. As a bonus, he jammed Murdoc's foot on the way.

2D took the chance to ram and jump on the zombie's toes before he allowed them back to the zombie himself who howled once again. Murdoc was in agony when he fell back on the dirty gravel. And now he'd scraped himself to add further to his injuries… but, good on 'em, good for the sodding living dead bloke who just toppled on his arse… he still had a smile on his broken face.

That is a… that's SUCH a long chapter… wouldn't you agree?

Hmm I just got so into it, y'know? I hope it's not TOTAL shit… hehehe