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Ireland, 2029


It's been 20 years since the outbreak at PCR hospital. Not much is really known about how it all got started, or what happened within the walls of the hospital, or even about the strange evil that spread over the city from its doors... all I know is that things have gotten worse lately. The country went bankrupt, and ever since, we've had no National Guard. The division was cut from the military expenses, and police forces were replaced with a lower number of volunteers trying to keep order. The volunteers are Grinders. You might wonder why they're called that- well, I'll tell you this: there are a lot of drugs that will make you pick and scratch, but the one they government gives them causes you to grind your teeth until they're almost gone. Their overall appearance becomes quite ghastly, actually, but it's the teeth grinding that makes most people nervous. Unlike Police, The Grinders ride through the cities on motorcycles, almost like a traveling gang. I would like to say that most are just good guys, trying to keep the peace and ensure justice- but that would be a lie. They would just as soon kill you as listen to you whine about how your neighbor slashed your tires and emptied your gas tank. In fact, they were probably the one behind the crime in the first place. Most people pack guns if they can find them. Otherwise you carry a baseball bat. Or a really big rock....

The only redeeming quality of Grinders is that they will often grenade the s**t out of.... well.... for lack of a better word, zombies, at the last minute. Zombies are what happened at PCR back in the day. We don't really have a cure yet, but there is a rumor that the doctor responsible for the outbreak wasted all of the possible antidote trying to find a last minute solution. Zombies in rl, unlike in the movies, tend to change much more slowly. They think that the actual virus can lie dormant for up to 5 years, which makes all this s**t that much harder to figure out. Once full blown BBDS (Body and Brain Deterioration Syndrome) sets in, you'll definitely notice. Until then, you'd swear the poor ******** just had a high fever and was probably just having a bad trip. The strangest side effect of the virus is that in addition to the skin rotting and turning a sick green colour, the body also tend to shrink up quite a bit, as a result of rapid aging. Usually Zombies are around 2-3 feet tall, which makes most of us call them Leprezombs. We try to make fun of this, but be warned: Leprezombs will ******** YOUR s**t UP. PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE.

ZYAT: A young woman, maybe 24 years old, streches her long, shapely leg from the stirrup of her motorcycle and lands her boot on the broken asphalt of the neglected intersection. Did she really hear someone? Or was it just the building tension which had her nervous?

MACROSS ZERO: In a dark alley, a nervous shuffling drags toward an old, broken road. Was that a bike? Another run-in with the Grinders was just what he needed today. One only has so many gold watches. Then they want...favors for safety, and there was no way he was walking that path again,

ZYAT: "I did hear someone... I just hope it's not... ugh. I'm so tired of running. I'm not even that old and I'm already worn out." She waits a few moments, then kills the engine. In the dark silence of the street, the street lamps long burned out, the woman waits for another sound... her heart races as she waits- then suddenly, she hears another small sound. "Better not stay here for too long... gotta keep moving... I just thought maybe, maybe someone was still around..."

MACROSS ZERO: It stopped. God damn it. He knew they must have found him. I was only a matter of time. He always had something, after all, and they knew it. He had given out the last of his morphine today, and he knew the ruined hospital stores were rapidly thinning. With a deep sigh he moved into the lane. "Alright, you got me. What's it gonna be today?"

ZYAT: OH s**t-
her hand moves blazingly fast toward the ignition before she recognizes that the figure moving toward her poses no immediate threat.

Jesus christ- you scared the s**t out of me. Are you a civilian?

She eyes the dark figure tensely as he stands on the sidewalk, exposed to any predator. "Who is this person? i can't believe he's just standing around out on the street at night. I thought this was a quarantined sector of the state! He appears normal enough... but there's no doubt in my mind that he's a carrier. I'd better watch out.

MACROSS ZERO: "Yeah. I run an, ah, delivery service out here. I'd tell you it gets dangerous out here, but from the look of you, you already know. You...look familiar. Have we met?" He stepped closer. Tall, thin, around twenty. Short, dark hair covered half his face.

ZYAT: Her senses immediately put her on edge.
Listen, a*****e, if you think I'm just some cheap-
She takes a closer look- "Oh my god... I think we do know eachother..." Moving her hand slowly toward his face, she hesitates before moving the hair away from his face. She recognizes him immediately, but wishes she hadn't. She drops her hand and turns her face away, the rare human contact the only thing keeping her glued to the spot.

MACROSS ZERO: "D...Doctor? Are you serious?" He was shocked. After twenty years, it couldn't be. She looked just like he remembered. "I think...I, no, you couldn't. You weren't infected were you?"
His contact with the creature had apparent side effects, the most notable being the utter lack of one eye, generally covered by his hair.

ZYAT: No... I'm.. her daughter.
"His depth perception must me off since he seems to have lost an eye... maybe he doesn't recognize me..." She attempts to avoid eye contact, but the unexpected stranger woas not done examining her face. He gently touches her chin and turns her face in his direction. "Why am I not punching him?"
Why are you- a sudden noise catches the attention of the two figures in the street.

... Get on the bike. We have to leave.

MACROSS ZERO: "Ah, well that makes sense. You aren't mine are you? Memory been a bit fuzzy lately. I've got a glass..." It occurs to him that now is not the time. "Bike. Yes. Thank you." He clumsily slides aboard.

ZYAT: The young woman stares wide-eyed into the darkness of the decroded suburb, knowing full well that something was nearby. Something evil, in fact. She holds her aluminum baseball bat in one hand as she turns the key in the ignition with the other. The second she feels Zero's arms around her waist, she lifts her boot off the ground and is off through the city once again- a tree limb still shaking in her peripheral vision.

"You really don't remember me, do you? Well, I'm definitely NOT your daughter, if that's what you're getting at. My mother never gave birth to me- she extracted her own DNA to make a sperm to impregnate a colleague. It was an experiment in human cloning. Looks like it worked pretty well. Listen, I shouldn't yell like this over the engine- we need to keep close watch to make sure we're not being followed. Here's where I shut the ******** up so we don't get killed."

Another tree limb bobs up and down to her left, as if something was perched there only a moment ago.... "Oh s**t.... we were still for too long. I'm sure they noticed us----" Suddenly, a strange creature darts out from a side street at the motorcycle, lunging with great speed for the two passengers. The woman swerves with skill and doubles back toward the small green offender and readies her baseball bat- SSHHHHHPING!/ CRACK! She makes solid impact with the thing's skull, the recoil sending the vehicle off-balance for a split second, adding to the disorientation.

******** THIS s**t- WE'RE GETTING BACK ON THE HIGHWAY!!!

MACROSS ZERO: Zero watched the tiny green, bloodied lump bounce behind them. It had been a while since he saw one. He supposed he was due. From the inside of his coat he drew a rusty bloodied crow bar.
"You worry about driving! I'll take these shits!"
He tried to think back. Old as the Doc's daughter/clone looked he must have been working the lab when she was...born? Crafted? Easy-Baked? She mentioned sperms and eggs and such, but on a night like this two and two could easily make some sort of pastry.

ZYAT: All I know is that you better ******** aim well, because the first time you miss one of those sons of bitches, I will personally throw you of my bike and be gone.
As she speeds from the city that she once knew so well, she encounters an unusual fog rolling in. Awww s**t- this fog looks bad.... we need to get out of the damned city and back on the road- but I can't see a ******** thing- where are we??? What time is it? Where is the moon? Which way is north?? I have no way of knowing where anything is! I'll just have to travel in one direction and hope I get back on the highway....

Well, Dr. Zyat and I are damn near identical, so I've been told. And I'm warning you, I have most of her memories. You see, her expiriment wasn't merely to make a body like her own. It was to literally make a copy of herself. As I said, it mostly worked, but there had to be a secondary host, so, I'm half someone else too- only I didn't get their memories... it's complicated and I'm starting to go hoarse- suffice it to say that I remember you- from her memories. My memories....

MACROSS ZERO: "That's pretty damn cool. I had no idea she...uhm, you were working on something so incredible"
The wind, harsh on his face reminded him that, not so long ago, it wouldn't have been a big deal. His sensations had dulled quite a-

"********!!"
The rotted green terror leaped out from behind a lamppost toward the bike. Zero took a single swing and bashed it into the ground. "Nothing like watchin' 'em roll, huh?"

ZYAT: It never ceases to freak me the ******** out when one comes out of the woodwork. Alhtough, I've noticed I haven't seen many around lately- it concerns me. I know they're not dying out... so they must be... collecting somewhere... but where?

Just before the young woman could say another word, she felt a strange sensation throughout her entire body; the road ahead, concealed by a thick fog, was completely caved in- a treacherous drop-off from which a fall was unlikely to be survived. She braked hard, jerking the wheel to the right, but the back tire began to slip from the edge of the cliff, bits of gravel breaking orbit and falling silently to the eerie and unexplainable chasm below.

Holy s**t! Jump off- JUMP OFF!!!

The woman threw her body from the motorcycle, her body's innate senses careful not to exert unnecesary force onto the bike itself, for fear of pushing it to its doom with greater speed.

On the ground, her face slightly bloodied from contact with the asphalt, the young woman regained her consciousness and realized that her reunited counterpart (not to mention her vehicle) were nowhere in sight.

Oh s**t.... she looks around ... Oh s**t..... Ooooooh s**t.

Hesitant to call out into the darkness, she waited a moment to listen for any sign of movement.... nothing. Only a creeping, deluding silence. No Zero... no leprezombs... no... no..... NO WEAPONS.

Oh this is bad. I'm ********.

END PAGES 115-116 PROSTHETIC CAROUSEL RABBI

MACROSS ZERO: (Brilliant! I got an idea!)

Zero slowly regained consciousness. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought the leg next the the old pine could be his. Luckily, after a quick exam, the shoes didn't match. That being the case, however, where the hell was his leg? He moved to stand.

No such luck. He collapses nearly as soon as he stood. The previously missing leg lay before him, painful and inert. Here he realized that, once again, he was alone. Obviously it wasn't the first time-twenty years was a long time and people came and went. Quite a few were dead, more than one by his hand. He sighed deeply and crawled toward a fallen branch.Better straighten it out, he thought. Splint it. It's gonna hurt though. Better stay quiet.

He drew in a deep breath and held it. The leg needed to be set before he could even start wrapping it. He took several more breaths in preparation, and in a single twist righted his shattered leg. Through the excruciating pain he let slip a muffled whisper, winced, and took to tearing his shirt for use ans a wrap.

That's when his crowbar fell from the above branch, striking him soundly in the ankle.

"FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCC.........."



ZYAT:
The young woman heard a small, distant noise; for all it was worth, it could have either been a baby, breathing softly while sleeping or a semi-truck, plowing through the first story of the empire state building, killing everyone in its path.

Trying to stay calm, she stood up as quietly as possible and neared the edge of the cliff, a hitch in her step as she moved closer. Looking down, she saw that an eerie, malignant cloak of fog made it impossible to gauge the depth of the crater, newly gouged into the flesh of the land.

"What the ******** am I going to do? I have no motorcycle, I have no weapon. WHAT THE ********!"

She knew that there was a good chance, maybe a 50/50 that all hope was lost. There wasn't enough time to scour the abandoned houses for tools that might be of use- Leprezombs surely had caught her scent and were on their way to feast on her... she shuddered. Best not to think about it. She stepped closer to the edge of the cliff, eyes closed, a lump caught in her throat. So this was it... dying by the hand of the abominations in green, or dying by the hand of the decroded earth. That's variety for ya.

Recalling the state of the world, she jumped; without regret.


MACROSS ZERO:
A noise broke the night air. A scream, perhaps, or an ill wind blowing in the trees. "Well, ******** me." Zero thought to himself. It didn't sound quite like the leprezombs. They had a distinct, cackling call that seemed to echo, no matter where they weree. "Or maybe there are just that many..."Zero mumbled. Whatever it was, it landed with a soft thud around fifty feet behind him.


ZYAT:
Thankfully the fog hid her face, because when her fall broke, it broke on the disloccated seat of her motorcycle. Indeed, the young woman's face was in a sort of frozen "OOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW......" as she felt her lower back throb in mild agony.

Oh God... I'm still alive. Oh s**t- Oh s**t........

"M-macrooooosssss??????????!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you hear meeeeeeeee?!!"


MACROSS ZERO:
That same familiar voice came to him through the fog. Almost musical.
"Doctor? Is that you? He waved his arm in the air and looked around. "I'm over here! I..I don't think I can stand." Just like his previous eye, the leg was probably permanently useless now. Whatever was wrong with him had more or less frozen him in time. Mostly. He would need to be preserved again soon.
"I think I see you! This way!"


ZYAT:
"Er.... I don't think I can move either, Macross.... wait- hold on---"
Slithering off of the broken seat, the woman rolls onto her side, biting her lip and breathing heavily. She reaches for the pocket under the seat.... groping around, her fingers found what she had an image of in her mind; the last of her cocaine store. "Oh hell yeah- this should do the trick..."
She pressed the bag up to her nose, like some sort of demented feedbag, and snarked up a bit of the stimulant, plastic clingling to her nostrils. Reeling from the inital inhalation, she tears the bag away from her face and waits for the effects to kick in; the effects which will enable her to overcome her pain for a short while, at least, long enough to get her a** off the ground and see if the bike still worked.

"I'm hitting up the 'ol crack baggy! Wait a minute- I'll be right there!"

After several moments, her whole body seemed to heave with dangerous, unnatural energy. She got up- something didn't feel right, but it felt far away, like another organism crawling on her lower back, she looked, no, it was just her back, alright. "At least it's not broken..."

She ran to her bike, trying hard to focus. She looked aorund on the ground for the ignition lock- found it. She tried the ignition. Holy s**t.... it works! It works!!!

After another moment, she had shakily assembled the motorcycle and straddled it, ready to collect Macross.

She helps him up, rather roughly, and mumbles incoherently at him before speeding off.


MACROSS ZERO:
"Thanks...really ********' ow." He dug in his coat pockets. Anything, anything to stop the headache. He tries to keep his eye on their surroundings, but the blood running down his face had a certain opacity to it, that lack of clarity the comes with a gaping head-wound. He put his face on Zyat's shoulder.

"We gotta get to a hospital or somethin'. I can't...can't even see anymore."


ZYAT:
Thankfully, the years of snorting crack had enabled her to comrehend what others were saying during her high.

"Hospital hospital hospital.... closest hospital.... ********. Th--th - that's th-the city... the one w-we just came from- ********, MAN- WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO GO BACK TO SEE IF THERE'S SOME s**t THAT CAN FIX YOU UP!"

She was beginning to freak out.

Calming down a second later, she tried explaining more.

"There's no hospitals. really. Out.. there. Do you think there's still some s**t to use in the hospital?"


MACROSS ZERO:
"s**t. Of course there isn't. Cleaned most of 'em myself. This...this is ironic, isn't it? I think so. I'm getting better. Wind I think. Let's jusst get somewhere safe. "
He almost thought he felt an itch where his missing eye would be. But, no, it couldn't be.
"I think we're in trouble. I got a bad feeling" Without realizing that this was the wrong thing to say to a crackhead, he began to slip from consciousness.


ZYAT:
"I've been traveling for days.... there's no 'safe place' for like, a hundered miles." Not telling him anything further, all cracked out, she stayed slose to the cliff wall and followed it, to see if there was a route that might take hem to the top again. Her fuel was low... they would have to enter the city for more.

A half hour later, the cliff wall became so low that a person might be able to.... clim... up.......

"Macross" she nudged him awake, "Hey- I'm going to lift you up there. When you're up there, I'm going to hand you by motorcycle- it's not that heavy- it's on par with a dirtbike- and then you'll help me up- think you can do it?"


MACROSS ZERO:
He roused easily. The pain now only a dull ache in his leg, Zero nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."
With significant effort and assistance, Zero climbed the wall and oriented himself to pull the motorcycle. "So, what's the plan from here? We seem kind of boned"


ZYAT:
"'Boned'?" asked the woman. "What a guy. Can't stop thinking about sex for half a second- even when the goddamn world is falling apart."

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a peculiar light in the sky. Like the northern lights, there was a sort of... rainbow... in the sky....

"Macross... do you... see... oh wait- no... you can't. There's a sort of rainbow in the sky..."

She thought a moment, the stilless of the night sending shivers up her spine.

"After we get feul from town.... we're following that damned rainbow."


MACROSS ZERO:
"Oh, come on, you should know better than that. And a rainbow?" Zero know a thing or two about coke. Seeing rainbows wouldn't be all that interesting under normal circumstances, but here it was almost cruel. He humored her, and lo, there was a shimmering god-damn rainbow.
"Huh. That's new. Think we'll find their pot o' gold?"


ZYAT:
"Couldn't hurt to try.

I'm gonna let you take the wheel- you man it by hand- quit being perverted- so no worries about your leg for this. I'll be the demolition on back- this crack is wearing off and it's hard to turn with my back all ******** up."


MACROSS ZERO:
"Hm. Alright. Should I follow the rainbow and fuel on the way, or do you know anywhere specific? I was on foot, mostly. Never paid attention to this kinda thing."


ZYAT:
She stares at Macross for a minute.... then kisses him gently on the neck, dried blood pervading her senses.

"...I can see why she like you so much."

After a quiet moment, "Head back to the city where I found you- we need to feul up. After that, we'll head south- toward the rainbow.... they say you can never reach the end. But I have a feeling we will."

The true weight of her last statement caused a great sadness to swell up in her eyes. She had never known a world that was beautiful or peaceful. Why was she even bothering to try and save it? Riding on the back of the motorcycle, toward uncertainty, she felt that even if she died, that would be okay too. Anything to make the fear stop.....

MACROSS ZERO:
A sensation of indescribable nostalgia washed over him. It had been a long time since something someone said had gone so far over his head. Emotional ineptitude, thy name is Macross.
He looked at the rainbow one more time and mentally retraced their steps. "Hold tight. I know just where we're heading."

There were few lamps on the road that remained lit. Even that was surprising, though, and a blessing. He stayed close to them, making his was through desolate, forgotten avenues to an old Quik Stop. "I used to love this place." he said. "Had the best nachos. Wonder if the machine still works." He realized the likelihood of his precious machine being carted off long ago and frowned.

"You know how to get the pumps going? I haven't dealt with one o' these in years."



ZYAT:
"I feel... really unsafe- I wish we had a minute to think... pumps. right then. I've got this."
She hobbled, back stiff, toward the pump; a strange tension in the atmosphere building, like a calm before the storm.

Loosening the pump, the noise is just enough to cover the sound of an approaching LEPREZOMB OMFG- but the beast merely passes at breakneck speed, dazed, eyes blank.

"What the ********?! It just... passed by us?! We've gotta follow that ********' rainbow!!!!!!"


MACROSS ZERO:
"That...it just can't be good, can it?" His missing eye itched more than ever. Worse than the day those leprezombs stole it from him. He stood close to Zyat, ready to defend at a moment's notice.
"What could be there? I don't know that I want to know. You almost done here?"


ZYAT:
Squeezes the trigger of the pump faster; gasoline kicks back from the tank.


"Dammit dammit--- I'm trying to fill this b***h up- but she's gotta take it slow- STOP BEING PERVERTED I DIDN'T MEAN IT THAT WAY- we'll be done in a........ holy s**t.."

she looks at the sky.... huge, bizzarely coloured lights swirl in an abnormal and immense fashion- the sky flashes with lightning- it is apparent that a huge storm is brewing.

"Macross.... I just ant you to know.... we could die tonight. DO you realize that?"


MACROSS ZERO:
"Who's the pervert? I probably woulda never thought of-" He follows her gaze upward. For the first time in nearly two decades Zero remembers that night in the hospital In the brief second he can see it all, just as it was.
He turns to Zyat, allowing the full weight of her remark sink in on him. He smiles grimly. "You don't get it, do you? Babe, I've been dead for twenty years, it hasn't stopped me yet. So let's hit these ******** where it's gonna hurt-right in the shriveled green junk."
(It's like I'm a Bruce Campbell fan or something)


ZYAT:
"Have you ever had sex on a moving motorcycle in a post-apocalyptic world?"


MACROSS ZERO:
"Is that what you were getting at? No, I can't say that I have."
"But, wait-who'd steer? You know, I don't think it really matters..."

ZYAT:
"Well... neither have I..."

The residual attraction to macross zero, leftover from her predecessor's memories, was causing her to lose sight of the obvious danger of their world.

"I guess there won't... ever be time for that now.... you don't even know my name!"

She looks down and laughs bitterly.

"You have no idea what my life- what my lives have been like. I may be Zyat's creation, but I never even knew her. I can't tell if my attraction to you is mine or.. hers. I hate this life. I wish I could just, forget hers and live mine. But I can't. I'm thinking with a borrowed brain, loving with a borrowed heart- if I had sex, would I be having sex with a borrowed body?"

Too tough to cry and too heartbroken to move, she stood, gasoline pouring idly from the pump, causing pools of it to collect on the pavement; now cracked from years of neglect.

"Please give me anything - even just a word- that might make my wasted life a little easier to bear, macross. I'm not afraid to die- that's what really frightens me. Is there nothing about this life to love?"

MACROSS ZERO:
He thought about it. There wasn't any point in lying to her-they were probably going to die, and that's all there was. But still, he couldn't bring himself to say it. By the time he started talking, he was aware that he believed everything he would say.
"Yeah. Yeah, there is. There's always gonna be something, even if it's just you. I mean, look how far you've come. You wake up to this mess, and what happens? You tough up and live with it. Certainly something to be proud of. Yeah, when you think you got nothing, remember-You got you."
He hoped desperately she hadn't seen whatever he was sure he was plagiarizing from.

ZYAT:
She considered it a moment.

"I... understand now."

There was a long silence between the two, if you would call the sound of a tremendous rainbow tornado building in the distance, "silence".

"... Again, I can see why she loved you... and now I'm sure I love you for a different reason. Let's go- we've got a** to kick."

As she mounts teh noble steed newly filled, she whistles a familiar tune. From under her breathe, you can almost make out the words, "Wan Di is his name. Waaan Di is his name. Wan you Wan me Wan Di..."

She revvs the engine.

"It's showtime at the Apollo, ********! LET'S TOAST THESE LAMEASS BASTARDS!!!"

As soon as macross mounts the bike, the two peel out, sparks from the tires igniting the feul on the pavement. In just moments, the Quik Stop goes up in flames, like the lives of the two motorcycle passengers.


MACROSS ZERO:
A smile on Zero's face, he holds tightly as the two blaze on toward oblivion. Today's been a big day. Like history repeating itself, the day's highs and lows have been far more extreme than any of those he'd seen. The big difference was this time, it could end. Twenty years had left him bitter, but his companion brought out something in him he'd almost forgotten.

"We haven't got a single weapon, do we?"


ZYAT:

"Er- no. Not a single one."

It's not as if she hadn't thought of that, but she didn't care. She would worry about it later. Right now, her borrowed lover sitting close behind her, the wind whipping through her hair, her leather boots heavy on the stirrups, and all hell breakin gloose; nothing mattered. "Bring on the eye of the storm" she thought, "I'm ready for anything."

Little did the two know, they were being followed by predators- of the human variety....



MACROSS ZERO:

"Er- no. Not a single one."

It's not as if she hadn't thought of that, but she didn't care. She would worry about it later. Right now, her borrowed lover sitting close behind her, the wind whipping through her hair, her leather boots heavy on the stirrups, and all hell breakin gloose; nothing mattered. "Bring on the eye of the storm" she thought, "I'm ready for anything."

Little did the two know, they were being followed by predators- of the human variety....

END PAGES 117=120