On the motel balcony-
Hockey swiveled the barrel of his SAW, pointing it downwards at the ghoul and spraying ten bullets at it as it passed underneath.
The burst hit it with
only one round, but
it was enough to take down the creature.
He didn't get a chance to relax, however. While
no more runners came out of the grass yet, a pack of
five coyotes sprang from the grass and quickly bounded across the open ground towards the motel, quickly closing to within ten yards. Their eyes were the color of blood, blood that dripped from their gaping mouths.
"No!" cried
Captain Lereux,
shocked by the sight. Panic threatened to seize him,
but he barely maintained his grip on himself. He fired a burst at the lead coyote
with uncanny accuracy, hitting
with two bullets and
wounding it grievously - but the creature was still coming.
Duran screamed in fright,
disturbed by the terrible vision coming towards him at incredible speed. He opened fire as well,
and he too had perfect aim, adrenaline coursing through him and bestowing him with almost superhuman ability.
Two of his shots struck home on a second dog,
punching through its gut and nearly killing it. Nearly wasn't quite good enough, however.
(
Hockey, roll Sanity. If you succeed, you may fire up to 20 bullets in all at either a single coyote or divided between the two that
Malone wounded. Remember that there is a -15% penalty to hit them in the first place, leaving his base chance to hit at 65%. I'd forgotten to include it in the notes for
Lereux's and
Duran's shots, but they both rolled a 1 anyway. There is also a +5% bonus for each bullet beyond the first on a particular target. A burst of 6 or more would give him the maximum chance to hit of 90%. The first one has 10 HP remaining, and the second has only 2 HP left. 40 or more damage is a guaranteed kill on the fifth one. The coyotes are spread out as well, so he can only hit two of them with the burst, and these two are at the ones that
Malone wounded. The first of those has 10 HP left, and the second has 14 HP left and has also taken 4 damage to the head. If he shoots at one of the first two badly wounded coyotes or the unharmed one, he cannot also target any of the others. As before, I can make the rolls for you if you tell me how you want to distribute the bullets.)
On the motel's roof-
Thayer fired a burst at the dogs, but
they were moving too fast for him to hit. He cursed a blue streak, his muscles tightening and his face twitching.
Both snipers still lay on the roof with their eyes closed, oblivious to the nightmare unfolding below.
On the west side of the motel-
Cole emerged from the motel room just in time to see the coyotes burst from the grass and the zombie on the ground lunge at
Malanowski a second time.
It grabbed him by the ankle, dragging the sobbing man down and almost wrapping its arms around him. He
ignored the coyotes if he noticed them at all and
managed to wriggle free, however.
Phillips wailed,
his eyes bulging when he saw the coyotes, but could not move to help.
(
Cole, roll Sanity again. If you remain sane, you have one round to act before the coyotes reach the motel and can attack. If you attack, you cannot also Dodge or parry with the rifle. If you move, you can still do both and you should roll a few Dodge rolls and one Parry roll in advance - using Rifle skill - just in case. Remember that your body armor gives a -10% penalty to Dodge. You cannot retreat all the way up the stairs because of the people and equipment on it, but you could retreat most of the way up.
The coyotes are too close to use a hand grenade, as
Cole and other friendlies would be within the blast radius. There is also no time for a precision aimed shot with the rifle, so you can only hit the head by chance. You can fire the M203, but it is still risky. If you undershoot, you may catch yourself and/or others in the blast. Base chance to hit is 25%, but it is doubled to 50% for firing at the ground near the targets. If you miss you may still damage them; I'll let you know. You can target the ground between the two coyotes that
Malone shot below and do 3d6 to each of them if you hit - these are the same two that
Hockey could shoot at together. You can also target the ground between the other two nearly destroyed coyotes and do 1d6 damage to one and 2d6 damage to another if you hit.)
On the motel stairs-
Lt. Malone's steadfast resolve
finally crumbled when she saw the coyotes coming.
She screamed in terror,
with certain knowledge that all was now lost. Releasing the comm gear, she unshouldered her MP-5 and opened fire on the coyotes,
determined to go out in a blaze of glory. Her madness also
fueled her shooting abilities to astounding levels as she
hosed down two of them with a hail of lead.
Five rounds hit one creature, one of them blowing through its chest, and four hit another. The first coyote
was severely damaged, and one of its legs was crippled. The second was
hit in the stomach, as well as
the head and leg. Both were slowed down, but not stopped.
Mikhalin remained steady, and
so did Zorie Spooner. However, they were hard pressed to hold onto the gear and keep it from tumbling down the stairs.
(
Lewis, roll Sanity. Since you've lost 3 Sanity recently from seeing zombies, treat any loss of more than 7 points as 7. If you stay sane, roll STR x 5 to try to keep the equipment from falling.)
Between the motel and the T-Bone-
McCain kept running, and had covered about two-thirds of the distance to the motel. He could hear the screams and the gunfire. Though he could not see what was happening on the other side of the motel, he knew it was bad.
At the helicopter-
"I'm going to go round up my passengers," said
Erica Spears to
Ortega. "Take care of yourself." She jogged towards the garage.
Outside the garage-
"There are a bunch of grenades in that crate down in the basement!"
Samantha called up to
Alice. "If you're going to blow yourself up, though, try to make sure none of us are nearby." She ran around the north side of the diner as
Erica neared the garage door.
In the garage-
"We weren't going to take your truck,
Wallace," said
David as he worked. "We were all planning to evacuate as a group, and we thought you'd come with us. Yeah, it was
Alice's idea to head for her parents' ranch up in Idaho. She mapped out a route earlier. She's not the boss of me, though. Plenty of other fish in the sea. Well, not so many now, but still enough for me. We don't have to go to Idaho if she doesn't want us to. I'm sure there are other places we could head that are closer. Got anywhere in mind?"
The others also continued repairing the truck.
On the roof of the diner-
"Thanks," said
Azadeh, lowering the bag slowly over the edge of the roof, "I'm aware that it's unstable. That's why I asked
Samantha to come over here on the ground, so I don't have to cross the roof. If it broke underfoot, the fall could kill me in my condition.
"I could work on the truck myself, since I am an engineer, but I'm also one of the best shooters we've got. It would be best if I'm up here when those things come into range. Good thinking on the barricade, though. Maybe we can construct some kind of hatch that we can open and close as needed. I'll tell
Samantha about it when she gets here."
In the warehouse-
"Yes, I agree,"
Lt. Blanco told
Ramirez. "Once the comm gear is up and running again, we need to ask Warren to send more supplies for these people as well as for ourselves. Additional personnel would be nice too, if they can spare them." The two of them started up the stairs, and
Baldwin and
Willie went after them.
Robert looked over at
Beth. "Hey, you okay?" he asked. "
You seem a little nervous."
"Yeah," she said, hugging herself. "I guess I'm just kind of scared, that's all."
"Hey, we're going to make it through this."
"If you say so."
In the cell block-
"One dead rat, coming up," said
Duke. He took aim at the rat and fired,
but the bullet struck the concrete floor harmlessly.
The rat squeaked with alarm and bolted for the hole, staggering a little as it went. "Ah, crap," said
Randall, bringing up his own rifle and taking a shot. He
nailed it perfectly,
blowing its guts out and stopping it cold. "Got 'im." He called down the hall. "It's okay, just killing a rat as a precaution!"
In the guard room-
"I thought of shooting the lock," said
Gary, "but it's too risky. We think
Mr. Foo might be able to pick the lock, though, so we're on our way to ask him. We need to get the power hooked up fast so the food doesn't go bad, so we don't have time to read that diary at the moment. Maybe you should show it to the others. Have you found any keys?" He and
Ellen proceeded into the hallway.
(
Jim Kerr, roll Idea about the ring of twelve keys you found earlier in the guard room.)
In the kitchen-
"Well?" said
Kimberly.
Lynne's eyes narrowed. "What were you doing going through my purse?" she asked.
"I was putting your gun in there after you dropped it, for safe keeping, when I happened to see this. Now quit changing the subject and tell me what you're doing with it!"
"Look, it isn't mine, okay?"
"Then why was it in your purse?"
Lynne sighed. "It belonged to that
Azadeh woman. I found it in her purse."
"And what were
you doing going through her purse?"
"I was looking for some ID to find out who she was, when I happened to see it," she said, imitating
Kimberly's tone.
"And you didn't tell anyone you'd found it?"
"I was going to, honest! It just slipped my mind and I got distracted.
Rosie, you know what a scatterbrain I am."
"Well, that's true," said
Rosie.
"Maybe," said
Kimberly, "or maybe you just wanted to steal it. Either way,
I believe you. I'm going to go have a word with
Azadeh. Anyone know where she is?" She returned the purse, but kept the suppressor.
"I think she was in the warehouse earlier," said
Rosie. "Come on,
Lynne, let's get you out of here before more hungry rats show up." She and
Sally helped
Lynne up from the table.
"Where's
Duke?" asked
Lynne. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine," said
Kimberly. "The others are fine too. Nobody got bitten." She walked out into the hall, following
Dr. Hausmann.
In the hallway-
Gary and
Ellen made their way through the hall. "
Mr. Foo!" called
Ellen. "Do you know how to pick a lock, by any chance?"
Dr. Hausmann and
Kimberly returned to the reception area.
In the reception area-
"As a matter of fact, I can," replied
Mr. Foo. He shook hands with
Stephanie. "I wish you the best of luck,
Miss Bridges, and to all your companions."
"To you as well," said
Stephanie. "Thank you again for everything." She put the power cord for the computer in one of her lab coat's many pockets, then closed the laptop and wrapped it back up with the foil. Since it would look funny if she were walking around with her hand under her coat, she slipped it off of her shoulders and folded it around the computer. Underneath it she wore a pair of gray slacks and a sleeveless black blouse with a deep V-neck.
"Wow," said
Bo.
Stephanie blushed. "I, uh, had brought this to Cheyenne for a conference," she said. "There's a jacket that goes with it, but I ended up leaving it behind. I was in a hurry and just grabbed the first clothes within reach."
"Well, you certainly made a great choice."
Mrs. Foo nodded. "You very pretty lady, Missy
Stephanie," she said. "Goodbye and stay safe."
Jenny went up to
Stephanie and hugged her. "I'm sure going to miss you," she said. "You're so awesome. I don't know what we'll do without you."
"Oh, I think you'll manage just fine,
Jenny," said
Stephanie, patting her on the back. "I didn't know until this morning what I was capable of. You've got what it takes too." She checked to make sure the lab coat's pockets were secured, and then picked up the bundle with the computer and tucked it under her arm. "I'm ready to go,
Brigetta."
"I'll do my best,"
Jenny said. She helped
Mr. Foo into the hallway. "I'll go with you. I want to see what's down here."
Gary walked into the room and approached
Bo. "This rifle belonged to one of your people?" he asked.
"Ja," said
Dr. Hausmann. "That was
Sean's. Can we have it back before we go?"
"Well, it isn't really mine, so okay. I don't like the idea of not having a gun, though. Does anyone else have a long arm I can use?"
"You can have this shotgun, I guess," said
Kerry. "I don't really like guns anyway, to tell the truth."
"All right, thanks."
Gary gave
Bo the Marlin and his extra .444 ammo, and then took the shotgun and shells from
Kerry.
"I could use some 12 gauge shells myself," said
Kimberly. "I'm down to my last seven.
Lynne's going to be okay. I found this in her purse when she was unconscious." She held up the silencer. "She told me she took it from
Azadeh. Anyone seen her?"
"
Azadeh went upstairs with me," said
Kerry. "She climbed up onto the roof. Is she in trouble?"
