Day -4
Turn 4
Little
You gather what you want to keep from the bowling alley, and look outside around your barricades. There are a couple zombies around the shady parts of the parking lot, and one dragging itself along the parking lot leaving a broad trail in the snow. It looks like both of its legs are mangled.
You decide to leave the barricades where they are, and just prop one of the metal side doors open so you can return (Smart). You peek out the side door and see a zombie munching on something by a dumpster. It seems kind of busy. You quietly close the door on a wooden chair leg so it doesn’t close all the way. It’s the kind of door that has a push bar on the inside but a lock on the outside, and you still don’t have keys for the building.
The dawning day is cloudy and crisp. It’s a little windy. You move on before the zombie notices you, but you trip over some garbage in the snow (Clumsy) and it turns to look at you. Its face and front are covered in fresh blood, and it’s holding some kind of bird in its hands. It stands up stiffly and starts shambling toward you. You pick up the pace and get away from it. Once you’re at the street, you look back across the parking lot and see the zombie has stopped walking and is munching on its dead bird again.
You check out a few neighboring buildings. There’s a laser hair removal shop, a hair salon, a sheepskin dealer, a dollar store, a couple bars, and a bunch of houses. You decide to check out the dollar store. Looking in, it contains a couple zombies shambling around the aisles. You have food and water so you don’t really need to go in. And you’re still freaked out by that dream. You look around, don’t see any zombies outside, and try to open the door. Locked.
Well, the whole front of the store is windowed. You could just bash one of them in. But again, you don’t really need any food and your bags are full. You pass the dollar store and continue to some houses.
You search a couple houses and find: some canned food and a backpack, a large kitchen knife, a nice pocket knife, a GPS (which can’t connect to service), a pair of binoculars, and plenty of garden tools if you care to take them.
Also, one house has a set of solar cells on the roof. The controls are built into the breaker box on the side of the house. You don’t know enough about electrical work to disengage the system and move it, but you do realize how dangerous it would be for the inexperienced (Smart). You make a note of the neighborhood and move on.
You stop searching houses and move on to the fire station. Up ahead you see the fire truck outside, and plenty of corpses lying all around. There are footprints in the snow, but they have a bit of fallen snow in them. The prints lead up to the fire station. There are plenty of prints around the station.
Torak
You get into the magazine room, which has a separate door and can be locked. Of course, you don’t have the keys, even though you looked around, so you can’t lock it. But you drag in a heavy wooden table to move in front of the door to block it. You get some sleep on the hard grey carpet, using a bundle of local newspapers as a pillow.
A while later you wake up. You don’t hear anything in the building. You drag the table aside and make a quick check. Your truck is still there at the window, the front doors are still closed and whole, and you don’t see any zombies in the library.
You look around for some books on zombies. The online library catalog isn’t working, you can’t even connect to the Internet, so you fall back on the card catalog. It was elementary school the last time you did this. You don’t find anything worthwhile.
You get no answer when you yell out for people in the library. So you wander around a little more, and grab your bundle of newspapers. It seems a shame to burn all this up, but there are copies elsewhere anyway, and you need to make some kind of signal for other survivors. You set about making small fires in stacks of books. The fire spreads reasonably quickly, and the high ceiling is soon full of smoke. You continue setting fires until you start coughing and choking on the smoke (Healthy). But you do manage to set the fires up very well, since you have experience camping (Medieval Faire Re-enactor).
You get over to the window you broke, and wriggle your way out of it into your truck. In the process you break the surrounding windows. You drive a short distance off, a little uphill into the residential area. You see some zombies perk up, but they shamble into the street and look all around, huffing and moaning. They don’t go inside the library.
Within 20 minutes the library is ablaze. The brickwork doesn’t catch on fire, but the roof is wood and steel, and there were a lot of interior furnishings.
You wait a little while but nobody comes. A zombie that snuck up somehow crashes into your door, clawing at the window. You fire up the engine and drive forward into the main street, striking another zombie. You turn right and go a short way down the road, turn around, and return. You still see nobody coming. You continue this pattern of stopping when there are no zombies around and moving on when they show up for about an hour. Nobody comes. You end up running over five zombies.
Nilocy
You pack up some things that you have lying around the house: winter clothing, 4 bottles of water, 3 large oil-can Rockstars, and two boxes of Cliff bars. You clean out your medicine cabinet, take a box of band-aids and two ace bandage wraps, and a city map. Of course you strap on your gun and pocket your spare bullets. You have some space left, so you take a small album of family photos, your Blackberry, a pocket CD player with headphones, and a few CDs.
You get outside, looking around for zombies, your gun in your right hand and your rucksack in the other. You see a couple on the street, but none right near you. You holster your gun, fumble with your keys, and hop in the van. You drop the rucksack in the seat next to you. You glance into the back through the crawlspace hatch and see the two bench seats along the sides of the back of the van. The weapon racks are all empty – the team loaded up before getting out. You start the engine and it doesn’t turn over. It’s out of fuel. You get out and go back inside, scavenging the hose from your hanging shower head and cleaning out a milk jug from the garbage. You get back outside, carrying nothing but your siphon and your pistol.
Looking around at the cars nearby you see that all their gas caps are open. Someone beat you to it already. Then again, maybe someone stole the gas because of the high prices even before the zombie apocalypse.
You walk down the street, passing the nice houses your neighbors used to live in. You find a neighbor who you know leaves his garage unlocked. His garage is below street level, down a short concrete ramp. You open up his garage door and search around for a gas can. You find one: a small red plastic gas can for his lawnmower. It has barely enough for your van to get around town, but it’s something. As you turn to leave the garage, you see four zombies shambling down the ramp around his snow-covered car.
You fire two shots into its chest and one into its head. You know from past experience that body shots don’t do much to them, but the stray bullet into its head drops it after it takes another step. You retreat a little into the garage, steady your aim, and fire a single shot into the head of the other zombie shambling on that side of your neighbor’s Volvo. Again, it drops almost right away. You rush past the two downed zombies carrying your gun, siphon, and gas can. You slip a little getting up the slope, and are surprised by a zombie at the top. You scuttle back and fire two shots, one missing, one striking it in the mouth. You hurry past without stopping to see if it died.
You get back to the van, hurriedly empty the can into your tank, get inside, and start the engine. While the van is warming up you change clips and pocket the mostly-empty clip.
You drive away in the bulky van, your tank hovering around Empty, as zombies shamble down the street after you.
Kiseith
You, Kim, and Gregory are up in the loft above the fire station. Kim has returned to talking about things that don’t matter right now. Gregory is warily eyeing her. He has his helmet and gauntlets off. You ask if Kim needs any medicine, and she replies that they’re just about out of regular painkillers. She would go to search, but she isn’t very mobile right now and she wants to stay to wait for Malcolm. You look over at Gregory and ask if he wants to come help you search. He thinks about it for a moment, and agrees. He puts on the rest of his armor, empties his backpack on the floor, and leaves his bag. You take the hint and leave your backpack full of gas cans.
Once the two of you get outside, and find no zombies in the immediate vicinity, you start off toward the nearest building. Gregory raises his visor as he walks with you in the morning light, and starts voicing his concerns.
Gregory asks you what’s wrong with Kim and where the bloody water came from. You reply that Kim hurt her leg and she was taking care of it.
Gregory is convinced that Kim’s injury is dangerous. If she were bitten by a zombie, doesn’t that mean she would turn into a zombie too? Are they just going to wait for her to turn in the middle of the night and eat them? Gregory thinks the two of you should take pre-emptive action. He asks if you’ve seen the wound. You haven’t, actually.
You search the first house and find some buffered aspirin, clean cloth, and rubbing alcohol. As you walk back, you start to get irritated with Gregory. He’s really abrasive, and has nothing good to say about Kim. And you like Kim. You decide to ask Kim about it but you don’t want to kill her unless she turns into a zombie. Maybe it doesn’t work the way Gregory thinks?
The two of you get back to the fire station and head upstairs. Kim is lying on the couch, her hand on her leg. Gregory takes off his helmet but not his gauntlets.
“We want to see your leg” he says. Kim narrows her eyes. “It’s alright, I’m taking care of it, I have paramedic training and I think it’ll be okay”. Gregory just repeats himself, “We want to see your leg”.
Kim looks at you. “What’s going on here? If you think I can’t keep up then just leave and I’ll wait here alone”. You start to reply, but Gregory interrupts. “Look, just take off your pants and we can be done with this”. And he steps forward.
Kim stops. She looks a suddenly shocked and afraid. You realize her misunderstanding just as she grabs the rifle and shoots at Gregory. Howling in pain, Gregory stabs Kim through the stomach with his sword. Kim kicks him off with her good leg and shoots at him again, missing, then drops the rifle and groans, holding her bleeding midsection. Blood pools at the seat of the couch, and drips off the side. Gregory is taking off his gauntlets and then his breastplate. It’s a glancing wound in the side, and there’s no bullet. He looks up at you, holding some of the scavenged cloth at his side. He looks grim. “Had to be done, you know it.” It sounds like he would say more, but he’s concentrating on his side.
You look over at Kim. She’s dead, her eyes vacant.
Gregory is fixing up a wrapped bandage all around his chest. He’ll probably be fine. You drag Kim downstairs, and realize the two zombies are still sitting in the middle of the fire station garage. You drag them out the side door and throw them up against the cone-shaped juniper trees outside. You go back for Kim. You can’t believe she’s dead. And Gregory killed her! You use your kitchen knife to cut the leg of her jeans so you can see the wound. It’s a bullet hole. And Gregory killed her.
Dreadfang
You, Kim, and Erik are up in the loft above the fire station. Kim has returned to talking about things that don’t matter right now. You can’t tell what her wound could be, it might be a bite. But she has her jeans on and she’s disposed of the bowl and washed out the cloth. Your helmet and gauntlets are off. You consider taking off more armor, but if things go south with Kim and possibly Erik you don’t want to be vulnerable. Plus it’s a pain to get the stuff on and off.
Erik asks if Kim needs any medicine, and she replies that they’re just about out of regular painkillers. She would go to search, but she isn’t very mobile right now and she wants to stay to wait for Malcolm. Erik looks over at you and asks if you want to come help him search. You thinks about it for a moment, and realize this would be a good way to talk with Erik about Kim. You put on the rest of your armor, empty your backpack on the floor to make room for loot, and leave your bag. Erik picks up way too many weapons but at least he leaves his heavy backpack.
Once the two of you get outside, and find no zombies in the immediate vicinity, you start off toward the nearest building. You raise your visor as you walks with Erik in the morning light, and start voicing your concerns.
You ask Erik what’s wrong with Kim and where the bloody water came from. He replies that Kim hurt her leg and she was taking care of it.
You try to convince Erik that Kim’s wound in dangerous. If she were bitten by a zombie, doesn’t that mean she would turn into a zombie too? Are they just going to wait for her to turn in the middle of the night and eat them? You say that the two of you should take pre-emptive action. Has Erik seen the wound? He thinks, and shakes his head.
You search the first house and find some buffered aspirin, clean cloth, and rubbing alcohol. As you walk back, you let Erik think about what you said.
The two of you get back to the fire station and head upstairs. Kim is lying on the couch, her hand on her leg. You take off your helmet but not your gauntlets.
You ask Kim to see her leg. Kim narrows her eyes. “It’s alright, I’m taking care of it, I have paramedic training and I think it’ll be okay”. You say it again, pretty politely you think, seeing as how the situation is so dangerous.
Kim looks at Erik, standing there. “What’s going on here? If you think I can’t keep up then just leave and I’ll wait here alone”. You say to Kim “Look, just take off your pants and we can be done with this”. You step forward.
Kim stops. She looks a suddenly shocked and afraid. She knows she was bitten and what it means for her! She grabs the rifle and shoots at you. The bullet zings on the metal, but you feel a burning pain in your side. You jump forward and stab Kim through the stomach with your sword. Kim kicks you off with her good leg and shoots at you again, and you don’t feel anything this time. She drops the rifle and groans, holding her bleeding midsection. Blood pools at the seat of the couch, and drips off the side.
You take off your gauntlets and then your breastplate. It’s a glancing wound in the side, and there’s no bullet. You grab some of the scavenged cloth and look up at Erik. “Had to be done, you know it.” You want to say something about how she would have turned into a zombie and killed both of you, but for some reason it doesn’t come out. She might have turned into a zombie later, but when you killed her she was a regular person. A doomed person, but you’ve never killed a person before. You fix up a bandage all the way around your chest to stop the bleeding. This is going to put a crimp in your fighting, but it’s not a big deal. Dying is worse.
Erik takes Kim’s body downstairs, mumbling about how he wants it out of the room. You hear him downstairs at the metal side door, then you hear him wandering around in the garage below doing something.
You haven’t had a chance to look around the fire station. Up here there’s a fridge with some food and drink in it. Downstairs there’s probably a lot more in the way of tools, maybe fuel. Kim had brought up all the medical supplies from the fire station, and most of it is still there.
You’re pretty tired.
Aqizzar
You honk your horn excitedly. With the double barrier of automatic glass doors and the noise the guy is probably making inside, he doesn’t seem to hear you. You drive the truck up to the first door, so it opens, then you lay on the horn over and over. Inside, the man in the yellow hat looks up. He’s covered in zombie gore, and his axe has bits and pieces sticking to it. He stares at you for a moment, and goes around the side of the pile of supplies to come outside.
As he rounds the corner, you see he’s now carrying a shotgun and the axe. He’s certainly not pointing it at you, and you’d do the same if you were in his place.
He suggests you park it and come inside. He claims to have taken out all the zombies in the store, on the main area at least. The two of you go back inside and the man starts cleaning himself up. He introduces himself as Jano. Huzzah, Aqizzar and Sir Edmund have found each other!
It becomes pretty clear that Jano has a lot of supplies here at the hardware store but it’s not yet fortified and he has little food. It’s more likely that survivors would come here than your auto shop. The two of you need to figure out whether you’re going back to the auto shop or staying at the hardware store, or going somewhere else. (I’ll give you more time on your next turn since this one was short)
Jano tells you what he’s done so far. Summary: he came here to the hardware store, slept in the manager’s office for a while, and came down to kill a mess of zombies.
You’re pretty tired.
Sir Edmund
You hear honking from outside. You look up to see a tow truck nose-in at the retail entrance, with the first automatic door open for it. You stare, in a “We’re Saved!” moment, and then decide to go out and say hello. You go around the pile of supplies and pick up your shotgun.
You get out there and see that the truck has a driver and nobody else. No zombies around. You suggest that he park it and come inside. You boast that you’ve taken out all the zombies in the store, on the main area at least. The two of you go back inside and you start cleaning yourself up. The tow truck driver introduces himself as Aq Lisnoe in a thick Aussie accent. Huzzah, Sir Edmund and Aqizzar have found each other!
It becomes pretty clear that Aq has a lot of food, and a secure auto shop to the west of the landfill. It’s more likely that survivors would come here than his auto shop. Plus while you haven’t barricaded yet this place has a lot of good materials. The two of you need to figure out whether you’re going back to the auto shop or staying at the hardware store, or going somewhere else. (I’ll give you more time on your next turn since this one was short)
Aq tells you what he’s done so far. Summary: he looted a couple houses, looted a gas station, drove around looking for survivors by trying to find lots of slain zombies in one place, and then came up here.
Immortal
You check out the bike shop. You can easily smash a window and get in. You manage to find a mountain bike that works for you, and a helmet, and you get outside again. You have to walk the bike uphill a ways, but after that it turns level. You’re able to stay well away from zombies and ride straight south. You see the hospital district looming ahead among the trees lining the streets.
You take a few spills here and there, but you quickly get the hang of riding in the snow (Skilled: Athletics).
You pass the hospitals, and continue south. You pass a large open-space park that’s all grassy hills and scattered large trees. You get to the jail, directly behind the courthouse, which is adjacent to the police headquarters. There’s a huge parking lot in back packed with cars. The area is residential, and you see many zombies shambling around between the hospital, park, and jail.
You slide sideways with your foot out down the ramp leading to the parking lot, right yourself, and ride up to the rear entrance. The power is still on inside. You climb the five concrete steps to the covered area right outside the rear entrance. You use your code on the keypad to get in, leaving your bike and helmet behind on the ground.
Once inside, there is a security door ahead of you that must be opened from inside a control room. That control room is to your right, behind a reinforced glass window with a small drawer for passing things back and forth. There are signs on the walls saying weapons are prohibited in the prison and to surrender all kinds of contraband. There is a strong door leading from the airlock room you’re in to the control room. You check the door. It’s locked. And you don’t have the keys to the door access room.
You know there isn’t a way to climb onto the roof. The front entrance is locked down worse than this.
You peek in at the control room. The closed-circuit TV cameras show the surrounding neighborhood from the perspective of the jail. In the parking lot, you can see your bike at the back door. You notice that there is some kind of rope strung from between the jail roof and the courthouse roof. You can’t get any more detail than that. But you know compared to the jail, the courthouse is a piece of cake to get into. They even have glass doors in the glass front of the building.
Huzzah! Sir Edmund and Aqizzar have found each other!
As always, talk about whatever. It will really help you figure out what your action post will be if you guys RP with the players you're with. Otherwise I'll just kind of blend them in a way that fulfills both at least a little.
Author
Topic: My Little Zombie Apocalypse (Read 44493 times)