In the motel-
Lt. Malone and her team wheeled the dolly with the communications unit out the back door of the motel.
On the motel balcony-
"Thank you, Sergeant," replied
Captain Lereux into his throat microphone. "That's fine.
Airman Phillips, you are cleared to return to duty and relieve
Sergeant McCain at the helicopter."
"I'm on my way, sir," answered
Phillips. He and
Zorie Spooner emerged from the motel room.
"Take care of yourself," said
Zorie. "I'm going to go see the captain." She headed off to the north while the medic went down the stairs.
On the west side of the motel-
Lt. Malone locked the back door of the motel behind her and continued helping the others push the dolly towards the only open stairway, on the southwest corner of the motel. They arrived just as
Phillips reached the bottom.
Right at that moment, a
loud explosion came from the field to the west of the staircase, followed by two more in rapid succession in a line leading north. "The Claymores!" shouted
Malanowski.
Then a
single ghoul ran out of the grass near the northwest staircase, turning when it saw the group of people gathered around the other stairs and running towards them with its jaw hanging open hungrily and its eyes twin orbs of pure hate. It was less than twenty yards away and closing fast.
Malone reacted
calmly and professionally. "Incoming!" she shouted.
Alexandria Mikhalin, however,
shivered at the sight, but
she quickly recovered.
Malanowski screamed in terror,
his mind overwhelmed.
He knew this thing should not exist and
sobbed uncontrollably.
Phillips also
panicked,
unable to deal with the image of the horrific creature as it charged towards him.
In his mind, he knew he was doomed. He too
wept like a baby.
(
Lewis, roll Sanity. If you fail, lose 1d10 Sanity, but treat any result of more than 8 as 8 since you've already lost 2 points for seeing a zombie recently. If you lose 5 or more Sanity, roll Idea - if you succeed, you go temporarily insane.)
On the motel balcony-
Zorie Spooner had just reached
Justin Hockey's position when she heard the explosions. She turned just in time to see the zombie spring from the high grass and
shrieked with alarm, but
she did not give in to her fears.
Captain Lereux and
Carlos Duran ran to the northwest corner of the balcony when the Claymores went off, their rifles at the ready.
The captain's eyes bulged,
but he was only startled briefly.
Duran did not seem adversely affected.
(
Hockey, roll Sanity.)
On the motel's roof-
Bobby Sheen turned when he heard the mines detonate, and
he gasped when he saw the ravenous zombie. He dropped his rifle,
mentally stunned.
He clenched his eyes shut, knowing he was doomed. All he could think was that he wished there were a woman up on the roof with him.
Any woman, it didn't matter which one or who was watching. He just wanted one last screw before he went down.
Thayer also spun around at the sound of the blasts, but he was used to the sight of these things and one more didn't faze him. "Yee-haw!" he roared. "It's killin' time!" He shouldered his rifle, took aim at the head of the creature below, and squeezed off a shot. The shot
struck home and
took it out. "Oh, yeah! Who's bad? I'm bad!"
(
Sam Black, roll Sanity.)
In a downstairs motel room-
Cole cut the rope in half with his knife and began tying the chair legs to it. He had finished two of them when he heard the three explosions, followed shortly afterwards by a single rifle shot. He could not see what was going on from inside the room.
At the helicopter-
Erica Spears,
Sergeant McCain, and
Airman Ortega all heard the Claymores going off, but the helicopter and the motel both blocked their field of vision.
On the roof of the garage-
"What the hell was that?" said
Samantha when the Claymores were tripped. She turned to the west, but with the motel in the way she couldn't see what was happening. "That didn't sound good!"
In the garage-
Alice finished repairing her rifle. Wyatt was as good as new, though it currently had only a partial magazine loaded.
"
Jimmy can watch," said
David. "He might learn a few things. I wouldn't recommend that he participate, of course. No offense, kid, she's just too much woman for you to handle at your tender age."
Mitchell wiped the sweat from his face with a rag, smirking behind it so nobody could see. "Well, the place did get blown to hell,
Wallace," he said. "We lost a bunch of people too. I'm glad you made it back here and are watching out for us. We'll have your truck up and running in maybe an hour and forty minutes. Meanwhile, if you see any trouble coming, be ready to close that garage door."
The sound of the distant explosions carried through the open door. They came from the west, but
Wallace couldn't see the other side of the motel.
On the roof of the diner-
"Look," said
Azadeh as she finished cleaning the Grease gun, "I'm willing to give this weapon up, but only if I can get some more ammo for my rifle. Or, failing that, another rifle and ammo to go with it. What I've got left just won't last that long at the rate things are going. See anything?" She swapped out her rifle's magazine and topped off the one she had just removed.
Through his scope,
Luke was able to make out the huge pancake in the distance that used to be Brownson. A little to the west of it he saw a large group of about a hundred people slowly approaching. They were about two and a half miles away, and he wouldn't have been able to see them without his scope. At their current pace, he estimated that they'd arrive in half an hour.
He also saw some movement on the highway. There were a few more of the creatures roaming among the wrecked vehicles that he had been told about, but none of them were any closer than a mile off. A couple of them were feasting on a dead body, as was a dog. Another dog trotted up to them, sniffing around. It looked alive as far as he could tell, though lean and hungry. It sniffed the first dog, but quickly backed away from it. The dog and the ghouls ignored it, however. The new dog circled around to the other side of the body and started to chew on it. Then
Luke heard the blasts far to the west.
In the warehouse-
Baldwin tucked the computer under his arm and headed downstairs to the reception area.
Beth and
Kerry followed him.
In the reception area-
"I hope so too,"
Bo told
Joe. "Yeah, I'm good to go. It won't be any picnic here in the ground, either, of course. If there's room for me in that chopper I wouldn't miss this ride for anything." He glanced at
Stephanie.
Willie left a bag with two soda bottles on the desk. "Here, you can take this with you on the helicopter." He took out a third bottle and set it down. "This one's for the people staying in this room. I've got one more bottle here. Where are the others?"
"Most of them are in the kitchen," said
Michael. He pointed out the door.
Willie nodded and entered the hall.
Baldwin,
Beth, and
Kerry came down the stairs and through the open gate. "I found the laptops," said
Baldwin. "Will this one do?"
Stephanie looked up from her typing. "Great! Just put it in the empty carrying case over there and close it up so
Javier can bring it back with him. I'll hide this one under my lab coat when it's time for us to go."
Baldwin packed the new computer up in the carrying case. "Look, I'm sorry about the doc getting hurt and breaking that computer earlier. I just lost it back there."
"Don't worry about it. Things are turning out all right.
Brigetta's going to be okay, and the computer's working again now. And if I hadn't gone to the motel, I wouldn't have found out some very important things. I might have been killed if I'd stayed here, too."
"And without
Stephanie's fine shooting, I'd be dead now," said
Mr. Foo.
"Thank you. Anyhow, from what little I've heard about
Horst, I think we're better off with him dead."
Kerry nodded numbly. "You're the one who killed
Horst?" she asked.
"Yeah," said
Baldwin. "I killed his cracker ass."
"Then I can't thank you enough. You have no idea what that maniac put me through. I can't believe I've survived everything that's happened to me. I just had a dog almost chomp me in half. I gave it both barrels and it still kept coming."
Beth nodded. "We've had a couple of dogs attack," she said. "They're reanimated just like the humans."
"
Stephanie and I saw one earlier," said
Jenny, "from the motel roof."
"That's right," said
Stephanie. "There were some rats that attacked the people who were exploring this facility, too, also reanimated. Hmm. Those rats had been eating a body that had been reanimated and then shot in the head, right?
I bet the rats got sick and died from it, just like someone who gets bitten. Probably much faster too, considering they're smaller and they actually ingested this stuff. That's really going to mess up the ecosystem.
There's no telling how far this could go. Still, we've got a huge problem. If animals feed on the dead, they'll die and come back too. And there are hundreds of corpses lying around up on the surface!"
In the kitchen-
Lt. Blanco still
could not focus on the task at hand, but
with Sally's able assistance Dr. Hausmann was able to make good progress on
Lynne's splint.
"I saw all right," said
Kimberly. "That rat she was shooting at was moving fast and nipping at her heels. It could have happened to anyone. Besides, can you think of any other reason for
Lynne to have this?" She held up the suppressor.
"Beats me," said
Rosie. "Maybe she stole it. She's not a killer, though."
"Stole it from whom, then? Look, all I know is that when she wakes up, she's got some splainin' to do."
Willie entered, carrying a bottle of soda. "You ladies thirsty?" he asked.
In the office-
While
Max watched attentively,
Jim Kerr finished reading the journal:
December 10th. Airman Benedict was found hanging in one of the cells. Not sure when he deserted his post as his partner had fallen asleep on watch.
December 20th. Airman Houbart was found missing today and could be found nowhere in the base. The Chamber remains closed.
December 21st. Grey has sent us a team of trackers to find Houbart. They think he tried to escape on foot to one of the nearby towns. If so he could be miles away by now. God pray for his soul if he's told anyone about what he's learned.
December 23rd. Houbart has been found north of here near the radar complex. Apparently he broke his leg falling into some gopher hole and died of exposure. They say coyotes had dug him out of the snow and were consuming him.
January 18 1962. Received orders from Grey to prepare for transfer of the base and to wrap up Operation Deep Mole. Informed we are to pack up essential belongings and are to await our replacements. I can't say I am unhappy to be leaving. Not sure who is to follow up or what purpose they may have.
January 23rd. Have informed Grey that base prepared for closure. Am awaiting pick up with remaining staff. Everyone very tense but relieved this operation is finally over.
Close the chamber down. Where the fuck is our relief?
In the cell block-
Ellen Cody shook her head as she walked past
Duke. She had grown up on the A-Team. She could still scarcely believe that
Mr. Foo had lived through similar exciting adventures. He reminded her of Hannibal now that she thought about it.
Yup, he's on the jazz, all right, she thought. She passed through the door at the end of the hall and into the shower room.
As
Duke watched the rat, it scuttled over to
Debbie's body and started to nibble on her arm.
In the prisoners' common area-
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said
Randall. "That's a bit dangerous, isn't it? That bullet could ricochet and hit one of us. Besides, we may need to lock that door again later to keep something nasty out - or in. Why don't we see if we can find someone else who can pick a lock first? Will an extra ten or fifteen minutes cause the food to spoil?"
"Well," said
Gary, "I suppose not. Thirty might be pushing it, though. If there's no other way, I could always get my tools from my truck, or some of
David's hardware supplies, and take this thing apart. That'll take time, though, and going up there might be risky too. Let's head back and see if we can find someone else to help us." He led
Randall back the way they came.
In the prison showers-
Ellen met
Gary and
Randall as they entered from the common area. "You're
Gary, right?" she asked. When he nodded, she continued. "I was hoping to find you. The helicopter landed topside and they're refueling it now. The scientists' group is going to be leaving soon, and that rifle you've got belonged to one of them. They'd like to have it back."
"Well, this is the only gun I've got," he said. "Still, maybe I can find another rifle, or at least a shotgun. You might be able to help me out too - and help all of us out. I need to access the generator so I can power the fridge and keep our food fresh, but it's behind a locked door. You know anything about locks?"
"No, but
Mr. Foo might. It seems like he can do pretty much anything."
