Black and Yellow

[Neil Musial]

Neil had always hated the Pittsburgh Port Authority. He found them to be slow, over priced, and generally good at nothing except wasting money.

However, the North Shore Connector was brilliant.

All he to do was slip down to the T station and head through the tunnel, under the river, and pop out on the North Shore. Now once he did that, it was a different situation entirely.

Apparently, the zombies had overrun a Steeler game. Neil couldn't believe that with all going on, the NFL had let a game get played but he figured it had occured the night before things hit him and the news had just kept it quiet.

But that meant that the North Shore was crawling with zombies.

Neil made his way up and out of the station. A zombie wearing a black and gold knit hat that he could not ID as male or female reached up for him. It was all it could do, it was missing its legs. Neil kicked it in the head with one boot and the thing rolled down the stairs into the station.

At the top of the stairs, Neil slunk against a wall and looked around. To his left was the casino and the science center. Both had not been investigated for supplies simply because of the zed population. Neil was hoping to take out enough of the creatures that he could actually get into Heinz Field. There had to be plenty in there. Chips...water...beer.

Mmmm beer....

Neil sighed at the memory. He needed to make himself a decision about which way to go. He could run to the right, but he could already see an undead Casey Hampton lurking near the street and figured no good could come from that direction. Instead, he headed straight, away from the masses of zombies.

They hadn't noticed him yet. But if they did, he was prepared to start shooting. He'd learned how to keep a safe distance and stealth on his side.

[Robert Wittmann]

Robert had a very interesting view.

The top of the Science Center gave an overview of the sparse open area around. The space was covered with plenty of black and gold. And red, of course... Hats, shirts, Terrible Towles, you name it. If fleas could be Steeler fans, this is what it would look like.

Wasn't one of my best ideas either...

He had thought the Science Center, being a science center and all, would have some useful things in it. Was easy enough to get in. The door was already open. While it had some wonderful displays and some rather interesting facts, it was more show than practical. There was little he could do science with. He frowned again at the school bus.

The bus was in back, propped against the entry gate. Someone tried to beat a hasty retreat only to find the occupants had turned. It was the outflow of these likely teen age zombies that had him pinned in. The young ones moved faster. Either that, or they simply frightened him enough to make him see things that weren't real. Either way, the bike path in the back was his way back to the Cardello Building... his 'home' for the time.

One dumb idea deserves another. What can possibly go wrong?

He shuddered. He knew exactly how badly this can go wrong. But two nights was enough. He had to get out of here.

He had a rope to toss down the back. It was ready to go. It was attached to a large pendulum. He had fond memories of that as a kid. It was meant to show the rotation of the earth. They would set up pegs, and one would get knocked down every hour...

Not the time to be nostalgic.

The rope was close to the height of the building. Or so he thought. Made sense, at least. He'd be jumping perhaps a story, but better than jumping the however many stories it was tall. But that was part two.

Part one dangled in front of him.

It was one of those carry bag alarms. You put the lanyard around your wrist, then shove the alarm in the bag. Pull the lanyard, and the squeal of the alarm would go off. He found a length of network cable, stripped it to the eight wires inside, and made a long length of copper from it. The lanyard was attached to this. The other copper end was attached to this wrist.

He began lowering it down the north side of the building slowly, going over in his head just how many things can go wrong with this. Was the battery still OK? Will the lanyard pull off properly? Will the thing survive impact? So many questions... until he was at the end of his line.

Yeah... what could possibly go wrong..?

He jerked the chord.

wwwwEEEE EEEEEEuuuuu wwwEEEEEEEEEEuuu

"Loud! Very loud!", he blurted out, tossing the attached wire over the side. What seemed to him a tide of black and gold began pouring from the stadium and all of the current wanderers were now very much interested in the new piece of excitement that pierced the now normal quiet.

"Not good. This is really not good..."

He looked over the southward side. All of the children were shamble-running towards the front.

Ok, maybe not such a bad idea. Maybe.

He tossed the rope over the side, grimaced as he saw how high the rope end was off the ground, steeled his nerves, and went over.

[Neil Musial]

Neil had just finished bashing a female zombie wearing a Tilted Kilt uniform in the face with the end of his rifle. The second she hit the ground, Neil pulled a crow bar from his belt and jammed it through her eye socket.

That did the trick. Neil shook his head.

"Never did like that place."

Up ahead, the highway on ramps were jammed with dead cars. But surprisingly enough, Neil didn't see any zeds that way. He figured they had all migrated onto the bridge and ripped apart stranded drivers and were either chilling in the city or were well on their way up the interstate.

Neil set his eyes on a Wendy's. Wendy's, yes. Wendy's would have food supplies he could carry back. Granted, it was not the stadium, or the casino, or the-.

wwwwEEEE EEEEEEuuuuu wwwEEEEEEEEEEuuu

Science center.

Neil nearly jumped out of his skin. Something was now making an ungodly loud noise. And noise, in the event of zombies was bad. Well, sort of.

In Neil's case, all of the zombies near the stadium were now flocking towards the science center. Something must have triggered an alarm over there and now it was calling the zombies right to it-leaving the stadium all alone for supplies. He just had to wait and-.

And someone went over the side of the Science Center's building.

"Son of a bitch." Neil shook his head. If a living human had just jumped off of that building, and they were still alive, they were a buffet for that crew. Neil at least owed it to the person to put a bullet in their head if they were seriously injured.

And if they weren't seriously injured that was a big help too.

But how to get to the person? There was a wave of black and gold between them. Neil glanced again at the stadium. If he could get inside and start picking off a few, he could at least make his presence known if the other was alive. And if nothing else, he could start clearing the stadium to search for supplies.

Ok, game on.

Neil broke into a run. He shot down a few zombies, but quickly reached one of the maintenance exits of the stadium. The gate was open and he slipped in quickly. An undead usher in a Heinz Field polo came up to him, but didn't ask for a ticket and Neil only offered a bullet to the head.

Come on buddy, be alert enough to hear me.... Neil thought as he began to carefully pick his way towards the main hallways of the stadium.

[Robert Wittmann]

Hanging over the side of the building by the rope, Robert realized just how difficult making this climb was going to be. He'd done the window washing gig not that long ago, and knew having some kind of harness was the way to go.

Should have thought of that earlier...

He managed to convince the rope around his leg, then squished the rope between his feet.

"Just a little friction. Slow and steady"

But slow and steady was too slow. The burning from the rope was telling him he was going too fast, but there wasn't exactly time to waste. At the end of the rope, he wasn't quite sure how far he had left to go, but going back up wasn't an option.

3... 2... 1... Go!

He tried to steady himself as the ground came to meet him. He expected to land and roll forward. Just had to tilt forward when he hit and...

Smack. Bang. Thump.

The forward roll turned into a crumple. He could taste dirt, and there were sharp pains through his legs and upper body. "Let's not do that again", he chided himself. He hit the ground so hard it sounded like a gunshot.

Bang!

No, that was a gunshot. Since when did zombies...

"No... that's a person. I has to be. A person?!"

Realizing the sounds were on the other side of the building, he paused in thought.

I can't go back now... I probably royally screwed that person's day.

Bang!

"Or they could be taking out the horde themselves. Sounds like it's around the stadium."

He did want to check the stadium. They had to have non-perishable food in the place. Probably quite a bit. He thought of how long a large can of nacho cheese could last him. He gave his legs a quick feel.

Nothing serious. I'll feel it tomorrow. I better pace myself.

He scurried down the bike trail, now devoid of zombies and made it to the small amphitheater. He heard another crack of gunfire, this time muffled.

Alright, whomever it is, they're definitely in the stadium

"Just gotta get there before they..."

The alarm stopped.

"........ do that. Shit!"

He picked up the pace. The green around the amphitheater would keep him covered from being seen by zombies, and the bike trail went to where the ducky tours would come back on land. That was also conveniently where the path lead to the front gate of the stadium. Rounding the corner of the bike trail, he almost skidded into a zombie. It immediately turned revealing a Browns jersey.

"No wonder you didn't join the rest. Have to say I'll enjoy this..."

In a long practiced action, he had the small sledge in his hands. Zombies are thankfully dumb, and easily fall for the same trick repeatedly. Rob lunged straight for the zombie. It lurched forward, arms stretched. In a swinging arc from held behind, he brought the hammer up to the base of the zombie's fetid jaw. A satisfying crunch noted the hammer's passing as the zombie's head jostled back. It wavered off balance as Rob followed the blow with a shove. The zombie sprawled back and flattened itself on the ground. Before it could attempt to get up, Rob brought the hammer down on it's skull

Crunch.

No more movement. He quickly wiped off the hammer on the jersey.

Alright, I didn't enjoy that... even if he was a Browns fan...

And there it was... Heinz Stadium in full splendor. And now, to try and cross the plaza without getting the full attention of the horde now congregated around the Science Center and the western side of the stadium.

[Neil Musial]

Neil had made it to the first level of the stadium. And to his surprise, the zombies weren't massive inside. They had probably figured their best chance for a hot meal was outside and not hanging out inside.

As he came around the corner of a concession stand, he almost ran smack into a little boy in a Jeff Reed jersey. The problem was the little boy was missing an arm and had gray-white skin. He stared at Neil for a second before he growled and began to advance.

"Jesus Christ." Neil kicked the undead kid in the chest and sent him flying towards a stand of napkins and condiments. Then he crossed over and ran the crowbar through the kid's eye.

"Sorry dude." Neil looked down at the corpse and felt the sadness he was accustomed to when he saw a zombie child. But then he remembered there was a living person outside and hundreds of zombies outside and he needed to do something now.

Without the stadium being properly locked down, picking a high point and shooting at the undead bastards wasn't a great idea. They'd hear him, turn, moan and then start shambling back into the stadium. Neil did not want that. Under any case. So a distraction was in order.

His best option was fire. But he needed something to start one. Neil slipped into the nearest concession stand. He was sure all of the grills were electric powered, so the thought of propane was not a good option. But there was some ant repellent (which made Old Neil who had attended so many games feel slightly sick) but the aerosol can warned "FLAMABLE" and that was good enough for him.

Grabbing the can, Neil headed out and reached into the nearest souvenir stand. He grabbed the first t shirt his hand fell on it. With a quick squirt of repellent on a ripped piece of t shirt, Neil used the end of the crowbar to punch a hole into the can. He jammed the shirt inside and reached into the pocket of his backpack for a lighter. Lighting the fabric, he threw it over the side of the stadium and into traffic.

Zombies nearby paused and looked, confused. Then one of them touched it, and the flame caught on its shirt. Soon the dry corpse had shot up in flames. Neil could only hope that he caught his friends-or some of the cars-with him.

[Robert Wittmann]

What I really need is a distraction.... but where...

As if an answer to his unspoken question, Rob saw a mote of fire blaze from the first floor and into the crowd of zombies. Be it the sight of the new thing, or the tinking sound of whatever it was landing, made no difference. They had a new shiny object to play with. Even better, one that isn't him.

I'm really hoping zombies haven't figured out how to play with fire...

Keeping low and quiet, he scurried into the stadium.

His previous plan seems to have worked amusingly well. For the time the alarm was blaring, all available zombies poured out of the stadium making this spot clear. He imagined not every one of them came out, but the lack of zombies in this area was a welcome sight. He hung a right towards the spiral ramp. If the person that he was fairly sure was there, he'd likely run into him. Hopefully not literally.

Is it wrong to hope for some nacho cheese..?

When he got to the first floor, his eyes caught glimpse of the concession stands. It's at this point he realized he hadn't eaten anything in days.

"Fooooood...", he said in a relieved sigh, his stomach audibly agreeing with his statement, and absently grabbed for anything that remotely looked edible.

[Neil Musial]

Neil had been watching from the lower level when he spied a figure scampering into the stadium. It was moving far too quickly to be a zombie, so Neil figured he'd been successful.

He headed in the direction he figured the figure had gone in. Pausing, he glanced out over the seats to take in the field. The field had a smattering of zombies milling around on it, but they hadn't noticed him and weren't heading in his direction, so he figured he'd let them wander for the moment.

From one of the concession stands, Neil heard a noise and swung around instinctively with rifle raised. But from what he could tell, he had just found the person he'd helped into the stadium. Who seemed to be in hot pursuit of food.

"Zombies, man, they creep me out." Neil crossed to the counter and took a package of peanuts from the rack.

[Robert Wittmann]

"Zombies, man, they creep me out."

"Yeah, especially how they move. It's so..."

Robert froze for a moment nearly dropping the bag of something he was about to shove in his mouth. He jerked, then quickly turned to the voice. "Yeah, um... hi?"

He quickly eyed up the man. He was grabbing a bag of peanuts. Last person he met talked to him standing behind his gun. This one was thankfully not as paranoid as the last.

"Jerkily.", he continued, "It's an unnatural movement. Freaks me out every time I see it." He dusted off his green work uniform as best as possible. "Sorry if I look like a pile of shit, but I just came from the roof of the Science Center. For a supposed place of science, there wasn't squat useful in the place and was covered with zombie kids. Kids! They freak me out the most!"

He stopped and sighed. Don't talk the poor guy's ear off. I know it's been a while since you saw a person.

[Neil Musial]

Neil tore open his bag of peanuts, grabbed one, cracked the shell and popped it into his mouth. Stale, yes, but a peanut was a peanut.

Tossing the shells on the floor, Neil chuckled.

"Yeah. There are times I think the sound of their shuffling feet will drive me insane. I hear it at night while I'm trying to sleep. In my dreams I yell "pick your feet up!" because God knows you can't yell it at them."

He ate another peanut. The man wasn't armed with a gun and he hadn't threatened to shoot him, so so far so good.

Neil's mind went to beer. He wondered if there was beer around here. He walked all the way into the concession stand and looked around.

"The roof of the science center? What exactly were you doing up there?"

A long dead cooler sat to his right. Neil opened it and squinted inside. Yep, that was an Iron City. Neil pulled out two, set one on the counter and twisted the cap off his own.

"I can't stand zombie kids. I took out a little tike in his Jeff Reed jersey on my way up here. There's a few down on the field, but I'm guessing they have no idea we're up here. Think we should probably keep it that way."

[Robert Wittmann]

Well, knew there was a reason I wanted to eventually come here.

Robert opened the bottle, masking the quick release of gas as best as he could, and placed the cap on the counter.

"I was hoping the place would have... you know, sciency stuff." He popped open a bag of chips and shoved some into his mouth. "Mmmm... Holy crap that's good. So, yeah, I managed to get in there easily but in the process disturbed a bus full of deadite kiddies. The little freaks had me on the upper office floor for two days. That's when I found the little bag alarm and gave it a shot. Guessing you heard that little bit of foolishness, eh?"

He strode into the concession stand and looked briefly around, noting some more bags of junk food that were hopefully still good

"Dare I ask how you wound up here?"

[Neil Musial]

Neil took a drink of his beer. It was warm, and not as good as it once had been, but it was beer and that was good enough for him.

He shook his head at the other man's tale as he ate another peanut and looked around his surroundings. He was fairly certain he saw something shambling a good ways down the corridor, but he saw no reason to look into it as long as it was alone.

"So I'm guessing it was too overrun to really get close enough to search for food or water?"

Neil thought any building in the city with a snack bar was worth at least trying, unless it was overrun with dead kids. Now he was thinking maybe they should just torch the science center. He'd take it up with Mayor Luke some other time.

"Dare I ask how you wound up here?"

"I'm on a supply mission." Neil rolled his eyes. " Sorry, I hate using the word mission. Let's just say I'm looking for supplies. My group's set up in the Steel Building. We've been there for awhile now."

[Robert Wittmann]

"So I'm guessing it was too overrun to really get close enough to search for food or water?"

Rob took a swig of tepid beer. "First place I went was the little stand in there. Looks like it was pre-ransacked. If that's a word. "Maybe the kids chowed down there before they went deadite? Either way, place isn't much good to anyone right now.

" Sorry, I hate using the word mission. Let's just say I'm looking for supplies. My group's set up in the Steel Building. We've been there for awhile now."

Deciding it was time to finish it off, he chugged the rest of the beer.

Huh... other people...

He hadn't considered the thought of other people being alive. Sure, there were some hastily made barriers across the river towards downtown, but he remembered hearing gunfire, screams, then perpetual silence from there.

"Steel Building, huh?" He whistled through his teeth. "Must have a hell of a view. Well, if you're looking for provisions, the larger concession stands ought to have cans." He immediately started towards one.

"Dibs on nacho cheese. If we find some."

[Neil Musial]

So the science center was useless. Neil raised an eyebrow.

"Feel like burning the sucker down?" He chuckled. He stuffed the remaining bag of peanuts into his pocket and downed his beer.

"Steel Building, huh?"

"Yep, Steel Building." Neil nodded as he trailed after the other man. "My group managed to get into the city from Crafton after our safety center was overrun. I wanted to get to the highest point I could, and well, that was it. We cleared the things out and made ourselves a pretty good life up there. Nothing's gotten up there. We've been using the tunnels to get to the other areas and get supplies. I took the North Shore connector over myself."

Neil wandered into one of the larger concession stands, but something caught his eye. He walked over to one of the vendor stands and grabbed a Steelers teddy bear and shoved it into his back pack. He liked to bring back trinkets whenever he could. It made things easier.

Dibs on nacho cheese. If we find some.""

"Oh I bet we'll find something. That was this place's speciality. Shame it would take us forever to get to the baseball stadium. That place is probably loaded up too."

[Robert Wittmann]

"Feel like burning the sucker down?"

"Well, I had wondered how exactly we're going to get out of here. Drawing the horde right to it's door probably didn't do us many favors on that part. However...", Rob wandered to the side of the building, "Your earlier handywork makes me wonder if they wouldn't be a moth to a flame..."

"Yep, Steel Building."

He listened to the man's story somewhat shocked. The only other survivors he knew were in the old jail up the trail, and well, he knew how that turned out.

Yeah... they turned into a buffet. Good people too...

"That's... kind of amazing. I've been hunkered at my old workplace alone for what seemed like ages trying to make some kind of living space. I found a ton of solar panels in the electric supply warehouse right next to me. Managed to hook up a couple of things. Basic stuff. Small electric cookers, couple of lights, nothing major. I was hoping to get a bank of batteries from the auto parts places. Been a bit too many of them running about..."

Seems one of the peanut gallery has taken notice and started shambling in their direction.

"Looks like we made a friend", he said sliding the hammer from his belt and in his best yinzer voice continued, "I'm sure one of these places has a Stillers duffle bag annat."

He walked into the center of the walkway and looked around for more 'friends', then squared up to the ever eager oncoming zombie.

"Gather some stuff and tell me more about this pyrotechnic plan of yours."

[Neil Musial]

"Your earlier handywork makes me wonder if they wouldn't be a moth to a flame..."

Neil chuckled softly.

"Well, I try my best. We get some of those cars on the street to go up and we can get out of here without too much trouble. I basically ran through those things without incident because they were all caught up in your alarm at the science center."

"That's... kind of amazing. I've been hunkered at my old workplace alone for what seemed like ages trying to make some kind of living space. I found a ton of solar panels in the electric supply warehouse right next to me. Managed to hook up a couple of things. Basic stuff. Small electric cookers, couple of lights, nothing major. I was hoping to get a bank of batteries from the auto parts places. Been a bit too many of them running about..."

"Workplace huh? You're lucky. I was IN my office when those things took it down in 20 minutes."

Neil shuddered slightly at that memory. He'd seen a lot, but it was still the memory of the people he'd said hi to on a daily basis getting eaten right in front of him as they ran for their lives that got him.

Mmmm eletricity.

That thought was almost as enticing as the beer, but Neil was distracted as the zombie shambled up towards the other man.

Gather some stuff and tell me more about this pyrotechnic plan of yours."

Neil really hoped the other guy had this as he did not want to fire a shot. But he focused himself on slipping into one of the concession stands and beginning to fill his backpack with bottled water, Twizzlers, peanuts, and whatever else he could grab.