Not a moment those words were said, a loud forties woman's voice came from behind them.

“ Hold it right there. You ain’t going nowhere.”

David stopped and turned to see the woman from before looking at the three.

“ Why?”

The moment David said the word he knew he made a mistake.

[Charisma check failed]

“ After what happened we want you here when the police get here so they can question you.”

David paused for a moment and turned around fully to face her.

“ Seriously, I am probably the only reason you do not have a full blown riot out there right now. Now, I am tired, I am annoyed, and I am leaving.”

David turns again to leave again but feels something tug on his arm.

“ I can not allow that.”

David ignores her hold as he nearly throws her off her feet as he moves forward again with the trolly.

“ My contract specifically states that I have the right to defend my property as I see fit in the case of a terrorist attack. I am getting my people and property out of here.”

[Mercantile check... Merchant bonus activated. Check passed]

[Skill gained {contract}]

David ignores the pop ups as he starts to catch up to his team. It is not till the door to the main showfloor that he catches up with one of the guards talking to Rick.

“ ...out there. Some of those people have turned into their costumes. On the north side there is a bunch of robe wearing Jedi wannabe’s with lightsabers fighting the stormtroopers in the Star Wars Convention area. The anime freaks are attacking anyone in a monster getup with magic of all things. I do not recommend going...”

The guard did not get to finish as a blood curdling scream rang out from behind them. The whole room seemed to find the fortyish year old woman before someone bit her neck from behind. The guards did not hesitate to start threatening her attacker as her body hit the floor. David will never forget the day he looked into those voidless white eyes of the monster that went instantly for another person. As the guards unloaded their tasers into the attacker David looked upon the woman as her skin started to visibly change from the pale white it was to a deep green.

“ Oh, fuck me.” was all he managed as she looked around her then grabbed the leg of one of the approaching guards and bit into it.

“ Through the door now!”

That seemed to have been a signal for the rest of the room to panic. Following his own advice, Rick went through the doors first as John followed behind. David did not go far as he quickly took a pair of poles used to fence off the door for the security check and watched as those caught in the wrong spot or were just too slow be tackled by the recently turned green. There were about ten non-infected people in the room left when David saw the green skins were moving toward him. In an act that would cause David to regret for the rest of his life, he pulled the doors closed and started tying them shut.

When David turned around he entered what appeared to be a warzone. To the north flashes of light could be seen hitting displays, leaving burning holes. To the west, near the entrances to the Halo presentation room, he saw green skin people starting to storm toward the fantasy cosplayers. He could only watch as one skinly clad woman with an oversized bone sword swung it taking out ten before the hoard rushed her as she could not backswing all that fast. Even with that though he saw a few of the backstage hands running that direction scared witless.

“ David, which way do we go?”

David turned the opposite way toward the east where he could hear gunfire. On a hunch he checked something.

“ Check coms: military.”

[coms found: 1 ‘Charles Roughnecks’]

“ Connect to Charles Roughnecks.”

“ ...live forever. Hold your ground. And who the fuck just connected to my com line.”

David hesitated a moment and pointed toward the people with the guns.

“ This is Specialist D of Spartan company. The Halo presentation has been infested with undead. Right now they are focusing on fantasy cosplayers. I got about 20 civs...”

David looked behind him to find that number had grown. A lot of scared people who had been hiding from the fighting saw the big man in power armor leading a bunch of people away from the loons and decided to follow him. He quickly pointed to a big guy in a pink muscle shirt with the word ‘broney’ and a rainbow behind it. The guy got the idea to start pushing the trolley as he drew the Ka Bar from his back.

“ I see you, specialist. Pick up all you can and we will keep you safe?”

David almost laughed at that as some asshole in a clown outfit with a chainsaw both covered in blood came for him. He somehow doubted the blood was not real at this point.

Using the blade of the Ka Bar as a shield, the chainsaw slammed into it hard enough to snap the chain, causing it to whip around and leave a scratch from his right knee to his armpit before it came back down to whip the right shoulder of the clown hard enough to almost cut him in half. David could only watch as the clown took a step back in surprise as his right chest started splitting away from the left. It was a day of sights David nor many others would ever forget.