"Hey, Ivan." Alfred peeked his floppy-eared head out of the backpack to ask the large Russian student.
"Da?"
"What are we doing here in the boiler room anyway?" Ivan stopped his swift run in favor of walking into the hot, subterranean room. Steam shot out at random intervals from the various pipes, all sourcing from the massive boiler in the center.
"Ah, well allow me to explain." Ivan began, setting the backpack down and taking Alfred out in favor of rummaging around for something, "First off, you should probably go do your business; it has been a long trip. Secondly, while killing all of the corpses we have come across, I have been doing some calculations..." He pulled out a simple rag, "And it is seeming that the ratio of dead to living is fairly abysmal. So... I've decided to simply blow up this building and see if there are any survivors in the city!"
Alfred, who had just come back from taking a leak on the boiler, yelped, "WHAT?"
Indeed, Ivan was now holding a large bottle of vodka: the label reading some random Russian phrases followed by '190% Proof'. "This should do the trick." He opened the bottle, about to stuff the rag inside... When he had a thought.
"No use in wasting good alcohol." He then knocked back a heavy swig of the strong liquor, Alfred gaping,
"That... is impossible."
Not deterred in the least, Ivan swallowed what he had in his mouth before stuffing the rag inside the bottle and then took a lighter from his pocket: letting the flame catch the rag. "Alright little one," He quickly grabbed Alfred and plopped him into the backpack, "Let us get out of here before this place is blown to kingdom-come!"
Ivan ran to the door before he hurled the Molotov cocktail into the room and bolted down the hall as soon as possible.
Alfred almost thought that the make-shift explosive was a dud, nothing was happening and they were already down the hall-
The entire school quaked, flames rushing down the hall after the young zombie-hunter picking up his pace as the scorching heat grew ever closer: Alfred ducking into the backpack when the heat became too much. "Ivan... Hurry up!"
Ivan looked around as he ran, knowing that he wouldn't be able to avoid the flames for too long. His lavender eyes keyed in on a window. Not thinking twice, his boot-clad feet kicked out the glass and he quickly jumped out: flames exploding behind him.
"Shit!" He gritted out as he landed in a bush. "Fredka, are you alright?"
"Mrm..." The puppy groaned, "I've been better... But, hell, I'm still alive right? It's just that I'm getting used to having an extra line of bone coming out of my ass."
"Dorogoy..." Ivan chuckled, "I thought that after all of the time we have spent together, such things would not bother you." If puppies could blush, Alfred would be crimson,
"Fucking... Ivan, what next?"
The cream-haired male looked around, giving a content sigh as the sounds of hunting had ceased: the sounds of burning and the building falling apart behind him. But, even though the corpses of the school had been dealt with, there was the rest of Sacramento to deal with.
A new problem arose: transportation. "Let us see..." He reached into the backpack and pulled out a map of the city. There were many places he could go that would have a lot of people, but he mostly wanted to see how the other participants of his craft were doing. "Hm... If we go counter-clockwise..." He reached for a red marker and circled a few buildings before he nodded, "Alright, the first stop shall be the Golden Dragon House."
"You mean Yao's place?" Alfred asked from inside the backpack. Ivan nodded, taking a few steps into the school's parking lot. "That's kind of far big guy."
Just then, two motorcycles drove up: each piloted by an undead police officer. "How very convenient!" Ivan laughed, Alfred tossing him his handgun. Once it was in hand, Ivan carefully took aim before taking fire: one corpse cop falling off of his bike and knocking off the other.
The machines came close, Ivan jumping into the air and landing onto the seat of one of them. "Ivan, you sure you can drive this thing?" Alfred asked, the Russian replying,
"Sure! It is just like riding a bike, yes?" He revved up the engine, the vehicle speeding forward.
"Grand Theft Auto, eat your heart out..!" Alfred howled as Ivan rode the motorcycle into the city.
Sure enough, the corpses had the lion's share reign of the city: devouring unfortunate victims in rabid gangs. "Dorogoy!" Ivan called back, the puppy barking back,
"Yeah?"
"There should be some C4 in there. I can not afford to stop and mix more cocktails, so we will have to revert to those." Alfred gulped and dug around, soon finding the explosives, "Be sure to keep the remote handy..."
The blonde puppy began tossing the small bricks of explosives at random, corpses confused as to what was being thrown their way.
"Now, I've been told I give a killer blow-job," Alfred smirked, pressing his paw against the remote once Ivan had driven a good distance. All at once, a series of explosions began: corpses (and a few civilians) being blown apart and buildings being reduced to rubble. "But this is ridiculous!" Ivan couldn't help it: he laughed all the way until the motorcycle came to a slow stop in front of their location.
It was an ornate building decorated with the spiraling bodies of two golden dragons over the roof. "Wow..." Alfred whistled as Ivan parked the bike and walked to the door, "I always wondered what it would be like to eat here. Man, but the lines are always so long and there's no way in hell I'm paying 15 bucks for a fucking egg-roll."
"That is a shame," Ivan sighed, "Yao makes some of the best food on the Western Coast. It's not Russian, but it's still pretty good and-"
He quickly whipped to the right, avoiding two bodies that were flung out of the door. "The hell?" Alfred barked, yelping as Ivan rushed inside. Immediately, the pup's eyes went wide as he whispered, "You've got to be shitting me..."
Inside the restaurant, among red velvet and golden curtains, a swarm of corpses that had once been chefs were limping and charging towards a lone figure who stood in the middle of the chaos.
A slim body frame, milky pale skin, and brown hair tied in a loose pony-tail kept up a defensive stance as Wang Yao watched the corpses around him with careful eyes.
Two charged forward, the red silk of Yao's blouse rippling as he jumped into action: kicking one away and snapping the neck of another.
"It's like watching Jackie Chan on steroids..." Alfred gulped as more zombies rushed forward, Yao making quick work of them with very impressive Kung Fu skills.
"Well, it is to be imagined," Ivan explained, dodging a flying corpse, "Yao has been in the business of hunting the supernatural for over 4000 years."
Cue record scratch.
"Wait," Alfred shook his head, ears flopping, "What?"
"AAH!" That yell ripped their attention back to the fight at hand, Yao screaming, sharp teeth being exposed,
"I'VE HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH OF THIS, ARU-YO!" A sudden rush of golden flames surrounded the Chinese male, rising up into a spinning pillar of fire.
It quickly broke apart, revealing the body of a long, massive dragon: crimson scales shining in the restaurant lighting and black fringes waving in a none-existent breeze. With a loud roar, Yao flew forward: exhaling golden flames on certain groups of the corpses, devouring others.
It was a flurry of draconian hunting and when the spectacle was done, Ivan walked into the now-calm dining hall and called out, "Yao, my friend!" The dragon blinked, its wispy mustache dancing in the air before he flew over, laughing,
"Ivan! So nice of you to come and visit me, aru!" The dragon stayed in a bit of a float in front of Ivan as his voice echoed through the room, "I would offer you something to eat, but I wasn't expecting such an infestation of the undead today."
"It is more than alright," Ivan shook his head, "But, listen, I am in a bit of a predicament..."
"Oh?" Yao's eyes widened, giving Ivan the go ahead to reach into his bag and pull out Alfred by the scruff of his neck. "Ah..." The dragon hummed as he inspected the pup, "A soul-transfusion spell... And the ethereal stitching is so fine! You've gotten better over the years, aru..."
"Um..." Alfred frowned, "Can we get to the matter of changing me back?"
"Oh, yes." Yao shook his head from the onslaught of cuteness, "Well, I would love to help, I really would... But with the onslaught of the undead, the streams of mystic energies in this city have been thrown out of whack."
Ivan nodded, "That would be explaining why we did not sense this coming." Yao lowered his head and looked Alfred dead in the eyes, dragon to puppy,
"We will change you back, don't worry. But I will need help Ivan," He looked to the Russian, "A body-morphing spell is a heavy endeavor. If you can retrieve your father, Seren, Aldric, and Arthur, we might be able to reverse this... Once the undead have been brought down to a manageable degree, aru-yo."
"I see..." The cream-haired male hummed before nodding with a smile, "Then I shall get started on finding them." The dragon in front of them nodded before stating,
"Well then, Ivan, Alfred, I will see you then. Stay safe."
And with that, Yao flew off, crashing through the restaurant's ceiling: a flourish of fireworks exploding in his wake. "Well Gung Hay Fat Choy..." Alfred whispered.
"Alfred!" Ivan gasped, smiling, "I did not know you knew Chinese! Nihao! 如何在这个下午呢? 您是否想要吃点儿什么吗? 怎么你的家人呢 (How are you this afternoon? Would you like something to eat? How's your family?)"
"Ivan..." Alfred frowned, "I don't know Chinese, I only knew that phrase."
"You are simply too cute for words!" Ivan laughed, placing Alfred back into his backpack as he walked back outside to the motorcycle. "But I am thinking that you want to get in your own body as quickly as possible, yes?"
Alfred sighed, reclining into the bag, "You took the words right out of my mouth big guy."
"So..." Alfred asked as the motorcycle drove along the street, "Yao was kinda cool about the whole me being turned into a dog thing." Ivan hummed,
"Well, he is one of the elder monster hunters in the world. The only others close to him are being my father and his crush that he won't acknowledge he has a crush on Seren."
"Oh, you mean that jungle lady that teaches at the University?" Alfred asked, Ivan frowning,
"Political-correctness, sunflower, please." Alfred rolled his eyes, about to say something else when his stomach growled. The hungry puppy sighed, "You don't happen to have anything edible in this bag, do you? I'd be good with some jerky!"
"Dorogoy..." Ivan chuckled. The little puppy on his back was being so cute! "You keep acting so adorable and I might have to consider bestiality."
"Wow Ivan, um..." Alfred whined, sinking back into the backpack, "TMI...Kind of..." Then...
You've got your short, sad life left...
That's what I'm counting on...
I used to want you dead but,
Now I only want you gone...
"Really Ivan?" Alfred frowned, the Russian male smiling,
"Well, I... Oh, just toss it to me!" The cell-phone was thrown into the air, Ivan catching it and holding it to his ear with his shoulder, "Katyusha?"
"Vanya!" The voice of his older sister could be heard through the speaker, "Oh, I am so happy to hear from you! Are you alright? Do you have enough sweaters? What about hot chocolate? Tea? Warmed vodka?"
"Sister wait!" Ivan tried to get his sister to calm down, "Calm yourself down and – Wait, why are you listing things that we would need on a trip to the mountains?" Katyusha took a deep breath, the sound of an inflating paper-bag in the background, before she continued,
"Well, I patched into the Pentagon's main-frame, we were running low on ammo and rifles, and I stumbled upon their military plans. It is seeming that they have caught wind of the situation here in Sacramento: they are planning a missile-assault!"
"Well, good!" Ivan laughed, "Maybe some of their stray shots will take out a swarm or two of the zombies!"
"Nyet Vanya..." Katyusha sighed, "One of their scientists, if we can call them that, thinks that the sudden up rise in zombies is because of the temperature and-"
"Ivan, hate to interrupt you and your sister's conversation," Alfred barked, pointing a paw towards the sky, "But incoming at ten and 3 o'clock!"
With piercing whistles shredding through the air, a series of ballistics missiles flew towards the city: each bearing a snowflake marking to show what they were meant for. "Damn it!" Ivan revved the motorcycle up, driving it towards an old, abandoned gas-station.
"Hey, uh," Alfred gulped, "I may have fallen asleep in Physics class, but full-on momentum against a sturdy building don't seem to add up and – IVAN!" Ivan was hardly listening as he drove the motorcycle into the abandoned building: crashing in just as the missiles landed outside, covering everything in a wave of sub-zero, icy winds.
When the explosions subsided and the chaos had been reduced to a more manageable state, Ivan slowly rolled the bike outside and looked around the now-frozen city. "Fuck me..." Alfred gulped, peeking his head out of the backpack, "Did the government really think that this would stop the zombies? It looks like they might have just killed off everyone who might have still been alive."
"Let us not focus on such stupidity." Ivan sighed, his breath creating a small cloud in the crisp air, "Come along, our next stop is the Lion heart Military Academy."
"Oh," Alfred asked, "That's where Ludwig and Gilbert go, right?"
"And where their father Aldric teaches, da." Ivan nodded, hopping back onto the bike and carefully driving through the icy surfaces that the roads and sidewalks had become.
The Russian male's heart had been somewhat hardened by this new development. The government had no idea what danger they had put everyone in this city. Because, contrary to common belief, the undead didn't perish in the cold...
They thrived in it.
Before he could tell left from right, Ivan had been tackled to the ground by a group of... undead cheerleaders? When the bike had crashed and rolled to a stop they began ripping at his school clothes, desperate to get to the flesh beneath: Ivan struggling to fight the off all the while. "Damn it!" He gritted out, turning his face when one of the corpses leaned in close: her rancid breath filling his nose, "I have seen more than enough hentai to know where this is going!"
In the feeding frenzy, Alfred was yanked out of the backpack and tossed eight feet away. "Shit!" He shook his head, ears flopping, to regain his senses before barking in a panic, "Ivan!" The corpses weren't deterred in the least, keeping on with their vicious onslaught.
But then...
By some random burst of amethyst-shaded energy, the cheerleaders were thrown back, leaving Alfred to whisper, "What the hell?"
Ivan's body slowly stood to its feet, as if being controlled by a foreign force. The new energy was still swirling around, his tattered clothes shifting into a thick, black leather ensemble that clung to every muscle of the Russian's body. After a few more seconds, Ivan opened his eyes: deep pools reflecting the energies circling him.
"Whoa." Alfred gulped, looking between his legs when he felt himself getting aroused by Ivan's new look. But Ivan didn't have the time to model. The cream-haired student bolted forward, at least twice as fast as before, grabbing a corpse and slamming her face-first into the ground.
He then snatched a shot-gun, that had been engraved with swirling, fiery designs, from his bag and began firing at will at the remaining zombies: each of them exploding into flames on impact. When the last of the corpses had fallen over in a flaming pile, Ivan slowly walked over to the shivering puppy and asked, "Are you alright?"
Alfred nodded, still quaking even as Ivan picked him up, "I could ask the same about you big guy. Nice threads."
"Oh, thank you!" Ivan was right back to his cheery self, "This is my monster-slaying outfit - phase 1! Simple, to the point... I enjoy it quite a lot. Also, the assortment of polymers and thickly-coiled materials makes sure that blood and all sorts of other unsightly materials simply slide right off!" He chuckled to himself, "But enough talk of clothing." He tossed Alfred into the backpack and went to retrieve the bike. "Onward to Lion heart!" The bike was revved up, Ivan speeding off.
"Hey, how much gas is left in this thing anyway?" Alfred asked.
3... 2... 1...
Ivan slowly reversed the vehicle back to the abandoned gas-station.
After 'borrowing' the remaining gas from the gas-station, Ivan was driving the motorcycle down a crowded freeway: occasionally ramming the bike into zombies that got in the way or whacking them away with his pipe.
A few moments of this and something new happened. "Braginski!" Both Ivan and Alfred looked up and saw what appeared to be a young British male with short, blonde hair riding an emerald-shaded alicorn: the creature flapping its large, gossamer wings in the air to keep its beautiful body afloat, "This is all your fault, isn't it?" Ivan stopped the bike once he was in a clear area so he could yell back,
"If I caused this, why would I have to have turned my boyfriend into a dog?" The look on the Brit's face was worthy of Monty Python.
"WHAT?" He shrieked, directing the alicorn to hover a bit close to the two on the ground. "Oh good God, Alfred what has he done to you?" Alfred could only give a nervous chuckle,
"Well, if its either this or being dead, chasing my own tail three hours out of the day doesn't seem too bad." Arthur still was unsure. But then a thought popped into his head as he hummed,
"Actually, you know, I might have a spell that would transform me into a dog for an hour or two..."
"Arthur!" Ivan snapped, "Enough of your sexual fantasies that shall never happen unless it involves a threesome! I am needing you to gather in the park at the edge of town so you can help us get Alfred back to normal!"
At the new revelation, a haughty chuckle fell from Arthur's lips, "Oh, Braginski... Your family would be lost without mine, wouldn't it?" But, not to worry, Ivan had his own comeback,
"I would almost consider agreeing to that if Kirklands were hunters, But as of now you all are just a misfit collection of wizards, witches, and magicians who don't know what they want to do with their lives!"
"I hate you... so much right now! I would consider killing you but I have bigger fish to fry on the west side of the city! Good-bye Alfred, I'll keep looking into that spell! Oh, and just signal for me when you find the others so we can get you back to normal!"
As the alicorn flapped its powerful wings to carry itself through the air, Alfred waved a paw to the retreating form, sighing, "Good to know..."
The motorcycle's engine slowed as Ivan parked it outside the gates of the large, green and white Academy: the roaring lion-statue in front telling them that they were in the right place. "Now we just need to find Ludwig and Gilbert so they can help us find their father."
No sooner had he said that did the western half of the Academy explode in a rush of flames: rubble raining everywhere.
"DAMN IT GILBERT, HE SAID NO DYNAMITE!" A furious voice roared as zombies ran out of the burning building. Three men, two blonde, one albino, were fast on their heels, though, each firing off hundreds of rounds from automatic rifles.
"Damn it." The older blonde with long hair, some of it tied into a braid on the left side of his face, gritted his teeth as he ripped out the empty ammo-cartridge from his gun and shoved a new one in: firing another round of shots. "Ludwig! They're trying to leave via the north gate since someone," He gritted towards the messy-haired albino who was trying to shot down zombies as the stormed out of the building, "Didn't listen to me concerning the dynamite!"
"Ja." Ludwig, the blonde with his hair slicked back, nodded as he ran forward: shooting as he moved.
"Oh." Ivan blinked after a moment, "I should be helping." Alfred whined, moving out of the way when Ivan reached into the backpack and retrieved a military-grade flame-thrower.
"Hey!" The blonde puppy barked, "You're like The Pyro in TF2! He's my favorite next to The Soldier!"
"Meh..." Ivan hummed, hefting up the weapon, "I prefer The Heavy myself..." Ivan slipped the gas-mask over his face before he ran forward: incinerating any and all of the corpses he came across. The commotion got Aldric's attention as he looked around and saw the young monster-slayer in the midst of the carnage.
"Oh great." Gilbert huffed, "Here comes Ivan to steal the action!"
Aldric shook his head before cuffing the teen over the back of the head, snapping, "Get back to work!"
The last zombie fell over when Aldric shot a bullet right between its eyes, the older blonde walking over to the Russian teen and asking, "It's odd for your family to come to this side of town Ivan. This is Beilschmidt hunting territory after all. But then again," He folded his arms as he thought out loud, "This sudden uprising in the undead is odd as well. All in all, a very odd day..."
"Look at him talking about odd," Alfred frowned, "Hey buddy, you're not the one who has to worry about whether rubbing your ass against the carpet means you have worms or that its just itchy!"
"Whoa!" Gilbert pushed his father aside to look at the puppy, cackling all the while, "Oh Mein Gott, is that Alfred? What the fuck, man?"
"If you must know," Ivan frowned, "He was bitten by one of the corpses and this was my only option for saving him."
Aldric looked at the puppy before sighing, "I can't help until the zombies are gone Ivan. Have you talked to the others?"
"Arthur and Yao, yes." Ivan explained, "I still have to find out where Seren and my father are." Aldric hummed as he tried to recall something,
"I received a phone call from Winter just before those damn missiles hit. He was going to meet Seren at the to see if your younger sister and her class are alright. There was supposed to be a field trip today, remember?"
A frustrated groan rolled up from Ivan as he put the flame-thrower away, "This day has been nothing but trouble for me! Alfred!" The puppy perked up its ears, "We are going to the mall!"
"Sweet!" The puppy barked, "Because, you know, there's this new game I've been meaning to pick up from GameStop-"
"We are not going for fun dorogoy." The cream-haired male sighed, Alfred yelping,
"Oh God, we're not going shoe-shopping, are we?"
Ludwig huffed, "Not even I'm that sadistic." Ivan rolled his eyes before running back to the motorcycle and revving up the engine: his new destination clear.
A/N:
Aldric is Germania, btw.
So, one more chapter! Reviews help me write faster so, if you feel like it, leave some feedback please...
-Tyranno's girl.