Day -4
Turn 5
Immortal
You go back out the rear entrance of the jail. A couple zombies are shambling around, and perk up when they spot you. You run along the back of the building, turn the corner, and run down the block to the front of the courthouse. It’s a huge white building, U-shaped with the courtyard leading to the main entrance. Said main entrance is a wall of glass windows in panels 5’ wide by 12’ tall. The doors are also glass. They’re whole. Inside you see some shamblers and scattered huddles of cloth and blankets on the polished marble floor.
You get up to the doors, and find them unlocked. Inside is a small foyer enclosed by glass. Beyond the next set of doors is an x-ray machine to put your briefcase through and a metal detection arch. You slide around it, not wanting to set it off if it is still active.
You hit the stairs, and find them empty. You get up to one floor short of the roof, and the stairs run out. You peek out the heavy metal door’s little glass window. It looks like office space partially under construction, a cafeteria, and a sign across from you with an arrow pointing to the roof access.
The cafeteria is littered with broken zombies groping around the floor, and a couple shambling zombies. There are also a lot of unmoving bodies on the floor and sitting in seats at the cafeteria tables.
You pop open the door, a katana in hand, and see the way to the stairs up is choked with hacked-up and battered zombies. As you run past, they feebly claw at the air and your legs. You open the metal door marked “Roof” and get inside. The stairs don’t go down. You start heading upward and reach the roof soon after.
The roof is covered with bodies. Someone used white paint on the black roof to mark out a “HELP” sign. The rope strung between here and the jail swings slowly in the breeze.
You put away your katana and test out the rope. It looks like it’s made of prison bedsheets. It’s secured on both sides by tying it off very securely. You wouldn’t have a problem crossing over.
You secure your equipment and test it out. The rope is strong. You hang with your arms and legs holding the rope, and inch your way across without taking any chances. You make it across after what seems like an eternity (Skilled: Athletics).
The roof of the prison is clear of zombies. The door leading down has been propped open. Now that you’re in familiar territory, you get down into the upper part of the prison complex where the guard facilities are found. You reach the armory and find the door propped open with the two supervisor keys in the dual locks.
Inside, the armory has been looted of rifles and rifle ammunition, and much of the riot gear. You outfit yourself with a suit of light riot gear, including helmet and clear shield. You pick up a walkie-talkie radio unit. You find the chest piece and the helmet from a second suit.
There’s a pump-action shotgun with a 10-shot capacity, six boxes of rubber slugs, and six boxes of bean bag slugs.
There are three crates with twenty canisters of tear gas each, with two grenade launchers that fire them, and each launcher has a 10-canister capacity drum.
There are five TASER pistols. Each one fires just one shot and the range is very short, as the TASER dart is attached to the gun by a wire. There are ten spare TASER batteries and twenty single-dart cartridges.
All the guns are unloaded except the TASERS which each have a battery pack in the handle and a dart cartridge installed.
You take a moment to drink some water and eat some cheese, saltines, and an apple.
What will you take, and what do you do now?
Torak
You drive to a small gas station in the nearby residential area. It has just one pump stand, double-sided to serve two customers at once. There are eight corpses lying outside. The convenience store inside is barricaded with shelves, but the windows are all smashed in. Inside you see four zombies shambling around.
You park the truck and take a look around. Parked on the street nearby is a contractor’s truck. A portable generator in the back has an external tank for easy refueling. You check and find it to be gasoline-powered. The tank is full, and counts as an entire gas can.
You try the station’s pump. This one is pay-first too, and it’s having a similar communication error as the last one.
You get things from the contractor’s truck that would work as a gas tank siphon, and you loot the gas from its tank into one of your empty cans. You do the same to a couple nearby vehicles, and end up with a full gas can.
You get back into the truck, and munch on some junk food and water. You haven’t seen any survivors yet, and the zombies in the neighborhood are starting to filter in toward you. You drive away, take a pass near the library, and see nobody. It doesn’t look like the fire will spread beyond the library, though it’s still on fire. As you pass by, the roof caves in.
Nilocy
You drive toward the station. It’s on a grassy rise, with a broad entrance road curving up to a parking lot for 10 cars. There’s a chain-link fence with barbed wire atop it for holding garbage cans, a similar fence around a parking lot and garage, and the station itself attached to the fence. There are security cameras watching every angle.
You park in front, get out, and approach the front door you’re your keys in one hand and your pistol in the other.
When you open the door, you see the rotting corpses of two police officers, two of your friends. Well. The guy with the desk job was a dick, but they were still your comrades. And next you notice a youth with dark hair sitting at a desk at the back of the room. He has looted weapons in front of him on the desk and he’s wearing a police vest. But, he is alive. You enter the building, and close the door behind you. It takes effort to not point your gun at him. If this wasn’t such a strange situation you’d be arresting him right now. He introduces himself as Drake. Awesome! Nilocy and Pnx have found each other!
Drake is a wiry, agile young man. The two of you make it clear that you’re both just interested in survival. It looks like he looted the storeroom pretty hard, but there’s probably something else up there. You spot the storeroom keys still on their peg behind the security desk. You go upstairs, and notice that the storeroom door has not been smashed open. He picked the lock! That lock was supposedly a very good one, and he picked it! You decide you’ll have to be careful around him. You grab a Kevlar vest, a second pistol, a rifle, and the rest of the pistol and rifle ammunition. Drake gives you two pistol magazines for your guns when you come back downstairs. You suggest the two of you ride in your van, but say it’s just about out of gas. Drake smiles and hold up the undercover ops Mustang keys. Both of you shout “driver!” at the same time. You grin and bluff “I’ve got dibs, besides I’m the offensive driver, remember?” He seems to buy it.
Drake mentions that you have to pick someone up. You agree, but where will the three of you go next?
You run out to grab some important gear from the van. You spot some zombies shambling around below. They seem kind of interested in the two of you, especially when the black GT glides around the side and parks on the outside of the van. He gets out and helps you put things in the trunk and throw them in the back seat.
You grab a rifle and a box of bullets, and brace yourself against the car. Taking careful aim, you pick off zombies one by one until the slope and the street are littered with corpses and the snow is stained with their black blood.
Pnx
You get up to the back door of the police station. There’s a window in the metal door, and you see inside a reception area with desks around and a couple offices closed off by glass walls. A hall leads to the back stairs past a desk with closed-circuit TVs arranged above it. There’s also a break room with a fridge, microwave, and a vending machine. Near the front is a second stairway leading down.
You pick the lock with some substantial effort (Dextrous, Skilled: Lockpicking). You get inside and close the door quietly behind you.
As you get a little farther inside, you see two zombies shambling toward you from the left, where you couldn’t see, near a door marked “Restroom”. One wears a dark blue police uniform and the other wears black slacks and an iridescent blue shirt with black tie. Both have holstered pistols, the first at his hip and the second below his armpit.
You take no chances, firing your heavy pistol at the second zombie and hitting him in the chest twice. It stumbles back slightly, but keeps coming. You fire twice more, missing once and hitting it in the jaw once. The jaw snaps apart, and flesh blasts out of the right side of its neck. Still they both advance. You back up and get a desk between you, firing three more shots at its head, missing once and hitting twice. The zombie drops as soon as you hit its head, and it seems like its skull was filled with a strange black goop. Looks like it was the head shot that did it. You take careful aim and blast the second zombie in the head, killing it immediately.
You listen for a moment, to see if anyone is coming. You reload 8 bullets into your pistol from the loose bullets in your pockets.
You look down the stairway at the front. Down there you hear moaning and rattling, and you can just barely see a whitewashed concrete prison area. You go around and check out the security desk and find that all the CCTV cameras are still working. Behind the desk are keys, one of which has a Mustang handle. You grab it and head upstairs. You find more offices and a couple holding rooms. There’s also a storage room for evidence, weapons, spare chairs, etc. It’s locked but you pick it open (Dextrous, Skilled: Lockpicking). You holster your Desert Eagle and grab a rifle, three boxes of rifle ammunition, two Kevlar vests, and two boxes of .357 ammunition for your gun. You put on the vest now, and drag the rest of it downstairs. As you pass the CCTV desk, you spot movement outside. A black van labeled SWAT in white block letters is parked out front and a woman is approaching with keys in her hand.
At first, you panic. You’ve broken into a police station, you’re carrying and wearing stolen police equipment, and you’re about to leave in a $40,000 police car. And then you realize, even if she is a police officer, chances are she will help you because she wants both of you to survive. You set down the guns and ammunition, and the spare vest, and you take the Eagle out of its holster and set it on the desk behind all the other stuff.
She opens up the front door with her keys, sees you, and stares suspiciously for a moment. She keeps her eye on you as she closes the door behind her and pockets her keys. She has a pistol in the other hand, which she doesn’t point at you.
The two of you quickly resolve that you’re out to help each other and the only crimes right now are against the living. She introduces herself as Caitlin. Awesome! Pnx and Nilocy have found each other!
Caitlin is an average-looking woman, very fit, and seems to know her way around the station. She goes upstairs, and returns wearing a Kevlar vest and carrying a second pistol at her hip and a rifle in her hands. She has brought down the rest of the rifle and pistol ammunition. You gather the magazines from the two dead policemen, which fit her guns but not yours. She suggests the two of you ride in her van, but says it’s just about out of gas. You smile and hold up the Mustang keys. Her eyebrows raise and her lips “ooh” in surprise. She looks at you, and both of you shout “driver!” at the same time. She grins and says “I’ve got dibs, besides I’m the offensive driver, remember?” She seems like an authority, which you generally despised before, but in person it’s difficult to say no. Plus, she’s kind of cute. Wait … you’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and that’s what you’re thinking about? Priorities, man!
At that moment you think of the boy in the teriyaki shop. Caitlin didn’t think to ask what the second vest was for. You mention that you have to pick someone up. She agrees, but where will the three of you go next?
Caitlin runs out to grab some important gear from the van. You go out back and get in the Mustang. When you get in and turn it on, the engine roars to life like a dragon escaping its crate. You effortlessly pull out of the parking lot, through the open gate, and up to the van. The leather seats are warming as you get out to help Caitlin put things in the trunk and throw them in the back seat.
Caitlin spots some zombies shambling up the slope. She leaves you to pack, grabs a rifle and a box of bullets, and braces herself against the car. She takes careful aim and picks off zombies one by one until the slope and the street are littered with corpses and the snow is stained with their black blood.
Kagus
You give a pistol clip to Agnes, and tell her to stay inside the car with Bernadine. You tell her to keep the doors locked until you get back with the medicine, and to keep the car shut off and to keep the windows closed.
You circle around and check the other entrances. They’re either locked up tight, open only outward, or are too far away to be much use. You return to the emergency entrance. Agnes is holding the pistol with both hands, keeping watch.
You get inside the hospital and prop open the automatic doors. The zombies start perking up and coming toward you. Jimmy doesn’t seem like a particularly good shot, nor very good in hand-to-hand. So you go the safer route and hand him your crowbar, telling him to start whacking and you’ll cover him. If a zombie gets too close, you’ll shoot it with your pistol. Jimmy doesn’t like the idea, but he agrees.
This works for the first couple zombies, and you get inside and to the elevator. Pretty soon just about every bundle on the ground is rustling around, but you call the elevator and wait. Jimmy is cracking skulls and you’re keeping a sharp eye out. You shoot four zombies, using six shots, by the time the elevator opens. Inside there’s a zombie wearing nothing but a paper gown, standing next to a bloodstained gurney, chowing down on the remains of a man in scrubs. It turns sharply to you, quite quickly, and leaps out the elevator. Jimmy falls back and screams, and you fire two shots into it. Your magazine is empty, and the zombie is shot in the head once. Black blood pours out of the head wound, but the zombie is still up, snarling and clawing at you. You stagger back and Jimmy cracks it over the back of the head with his crowbar. The zombie shrieks and convulses, and you kick it down to the ground. It vomits blood and chunks, and picks itself up off the ground. You unsling your shotgun and blast it in the head, dropping it immediately. Jimmy and you leap into the elevator as the doors close.
There’s a floor directory in the elevator. You hit the correct floor for the pharmacy. You look at Jimmy, and he’s shaking. You stop the elevator, change magazines, and refill the empty magazine. After you’re ready, you restart the elevator and reach the pharmacy floor.
The halls are white and the ceilings green, lit by fluorescent lights. The end of the hallway is carpeted into the room beyond. Two zombies turn toward you and stagger slowly down the hall. Jimmy doesn’t take his place in front of you, and you have to shoot them both with your pistol. You look at Jimmy. He’s clutching the crowbar in both hands. Right now, he’s just following you. But you sure don’t want to switch roles, and have him shoot you accidentally while you’re grappling with a zombie.
The pharmacy holds a number of body parts strewn around. Nobody is in the back, but it looks like it’s been raided. You find Bernadine’s medicine, and load up a bag with all the narcotics you can find. You also grab a big red emergency medical kit that probably holds a lot of great stuff. You get back to the elevator and it’s still on your floor. You get in and head back down to the ground floor.
On the way down, you tell Jimmy that the ground floor is probably going to be bad. He needs to wake up and do his job. He puts the crowbar on the gurney and pulls the pistol, shaking his head. He says he’ll just keep back and shoot too. You grab your crowbar back and put it in the shotgun sling. You’re now holding the shotgun in one hand and your pistol in the other.
The doors slide open. There is a solid wall of zombies, apparently the ones that were previously huddled on the floor inactive. You blast the crowd with your shotgun and overturn the gurney in front of the doors. The zombies recoil from the blast and start clawing their way in. They keep the doors from closing.
You fire from your pistol into the heads closest to you, eight shots. Eight zombies go down, piling up on the outside of the gurney. Jimmy recovers from his shock and fires into the crowd, not taking his time, emptying his magazine and taking down three zombies. You reload the pistol with your second magazine while he’s firing, and shoot carefully while he reloads. You shout for him to aim better and shoot slower. You fire eight more shots, and only six kills because a zombie smacked your hand at the last second once and one zombie tripped another a second time. You pocket the pistol where your other magazine sits and pump the shotgun. You aim at head level, firing again into the mob. The inside of the elevator is splattered with gore, and the zombies seem to be thinning out. You pump and fire again, and Jimmy takes his time with the next magazine and drops five zombies. There is a slope of rotting flesh from above the gurney down into the hallway. The elevator doors try to close again.
You peek out. There are no standing zombies, though a couple hands in the pile are weakly waving around. You pump the shotgun, sling it, grab your crowbar, and climb over the corpse pile. Jimmy follows.
You quickly get out, back to the car, beaning a zombie with your crowbar on the way. You get in the driver seat, Jimmy in the front passenger seat. You start the car and drive away. A couple zombies are filtering out of the hospital emergency room doors.
Bernadine seems to be having serious baby pains. You ask, and she says her water hasn’t broken yet.
You stop in an open, clear parking lot and take stock of your weapons. Jimmy has a pistol with no bullets. Agnes has a pistol with ten. (You gave one of Jimmy’s to her, remember?) You have a shotgun with 4 shells loaded and a pistol with two full 8-round magazines and nine loose bullets. At this rate, you’re going to need to stock up somewhere. But at least food isn’t a problem and the SUV has half a tank of gas.
The four of you eat, mostly junk food that the others had in the SUV already.
Aqizzar
The two of you decide to stay here for the moment, you get some rest in the office upstairs, while Jano barricades. He explains that he’s a carpenter by trade, and it won’t take long. After you wake up, the two of you can decide what to do next.
You head upstairs to sleep. The stairs are concrete, doubling back before reaching the top. The little office is cozy, and you can see out onto the checkout area through black plastic windows. You take a nip from the bottle of Wild Turkey Jano left out, and snooze for a while.
You come down after a couple hours and find that Jano has built four large wooden barricades, pushed one against the retail entrance, and the contractor entrance, and the rear delivery entrance, and backed them up with bags of soil, dry concrete, concrete blocks and pavers, and riding lawnmowers. The last barricade is built into the front of a forklift, which can move it forward and back at the garden entrance. It’s currently up against the entrance. It definitely looks like you’d need a few people to take one down, and it would take a while. Jano looks exhausted but happy. The two of you eat lunch and talk about what to do next.
Sir Edmund
The two of you decide to stay here for the moment, Aq getting some rest in the office upstairs, while you barricade. You explain that you’re a carpenter by trade, and it won’t take long. After he wakes up, the two of you can decide what to do next.
Aq heads upstairs to sleep, mumbling his agreement incoherently.
You build four large wooden barricades. You pushed one against the retail entrance, and the contractor entrance, and the rear delivery entrance, and backed them up with bags of soil, dry concrete, concrete blocks and pavers, and riding lawnmowers. The last barricade is built into the front of a forklift, which can move it forward and back at the garden entrance. It’s currently up against the entrance. It definitely looks like you’d need a few people to take one down, and it would take a while (Skilled: Carpentry). Before you’re really done, Aq comes down and seems like he wants to get moving. He looks over your barricades and seems impressed though. The two of you eat lunch and talk about what to do next. You’re getting kind of irritated with Aq’s accent but at least you can kind of understand him a little.
Keiseth
You slam the door open, and stride in telling Gregory that he killed Kim and that her leg wound was a bullet hole. He doesn’t try to deny it or make excuses. He just falls to his knees and weeps, holding his arms at his sides. "Strike then, if you think you must...for I would do it myself, had I not feared it so” he says.
You want to, so badly. You draw your sword from its scabbard, clattering a little. It feels so light. You walk forward, and Gregory is looking down at the ground. As he sees your feet he cringes, and turns his head to the side. Tears well up in your eyes. You can’t just leave without doing anything, it would dishonor Kim’s memory. But can you really kill this man? Your brief time with Kim flashes through your mind, her determination, her hope, her unwavering love and loyalty even to death. And in your mind you are empty, not even a white space, not even an echo in a fogbank. The great curved sword slices down and cuts into the collarbone of Gregory, and it snaps off at the handle. Pieces of cheap metal fall out of the handle followed by the round guard, which clangs dully on the hard floor. Gregory bleeds from his neck, a slow trickle, and both of you stare dumbfounded at the broken sword.
Gregory looks up at you. You see the determination to die is no longer in his eyes. There is nothing to say. The noose had broken. If ever there was a sign of a second chance, of a chance at redemption, this was it.
The two of you pack up your equipment and get ready to leave. You bring Kim outside and lay her on a stack of freshly-cut juniper trees, and cover her with more. You douse her pyre with two cans of gasoline and step back as you light it.
From the west a young man approaches carrying a shotgun and a backpack, encrusted with snow. He respectfully stands back from the pyre when he recognizes what it is, though he’s obviously very cold. Minutes later, when you prepare to leave, he introduces himself as Josh.
Keiseth and Dreadfang have found Little.
Dreadfang
Erik slams the door open, and strides in telling you that you killed Kim and that her leg wound was a bullet hole. Regret washes over you, and you remember killing the monster your wife had become. You fall to your knees and weep, holding your arms at your sides. "Strike then, if you think you must...for I would do it myself, had I not feared it so” you say. You look down at the floor.
You hear Erik draw his sword and shuffle forward. All you can hope for at this point is that it ends quickly. When you see his feet, you cringe and turn your head. Moments pass. Suddenly he slashes at your neck and you feel an explosion of pain, as if you were just struck by a bowling ball. But you’re alive, and you hear metal clattering on the floor.
You bleed from your neck, a slow trickle, and both of you stare dumbfounded at the broken sword. He struck you, but the sword shattered.
You look up at Erik. There is nothing to say. The noose had broken. If ever there was a sign of a second chance, of a chance at redemption, this was it. You feel too much to describe, a fearful hope, but a terrible weight. You killed a woman who was full of life and wanted nothing more than to live and find her husband. You might as well have torn her throat out, for all the difference there is between you and one of the monsters outside in the snow.
The two of you pack up your equipment and get ready to leave. Erik brings Kim outside and lays her on a stack of freshly-cut juniper trees, and covers her with more. He douses her pyre with two cans of gasoline and step back as he lights it.
From the west a young man approaches carrying a shotgun and a backpack, encrusted with snow. He respectfully stands back from the pyre when he recognizes what it is, though he’s obviously very cold. Minutes later, when you prepare to leave, he introduces himself as Josh.
Keiseth and Dreadfang have found Little.
Little
You watch as two people leave the fire station. One is carrying a body over his shoulder, the other is wearing metal armor like a knight in a fairy tale. The first sets the body down on a stack of trees and lays more trees on it, douses it with gasoline, and lights it on fire.
You walk up carefully, trying not to disturb them. You make sure to hold the barrel of your shotgun low. They look at you as you approach, then back to the pyre. You wait for them to start moving again, and introduce yourself.
Little has found Keiseth and Dreadfang.
(This is kind of a crappy turn for you. I’ll give the three of you more time in Turn 6)
Awesome! Nilocy and Pnx have found each other!
Keiseth, Dreadfang, and Little have found each other.
(Agh typos)
Quick head count:
Nilocy + Pnx
Keiseth + Dreadfang + Little
Torak
Immortal
Aqizzar + Sir Edmund
(Indonesian War Minister)
(Qwertyuiopas)
Author
Topic: My Little Zombie Apocalypse (Read 44497 times)