In the helicopter-
"I'm sorry, Captain," said
Erica Spears, "I couldn't make that last part out. I've got to set down now. Over and out." She shut off the radio. "If we land at the T-Bone we could get killed, or they might not let us take off again. I don't like being on foot any more than you do, but I just don't trust those military guys. I know their type all too well. We're setting down here."
Erica put the chopper down in the clearing
with the ease that comes from experience. She then shut off the engine and emerged with
Michael and
Kimberly.
"I can run a mile in five minutes," she said. "I think you two can move pretty fast too going by what I saw in Brownson. I don't want to leave the chopper unguarded, but those things are only interested in eating people and they should leave it alone if nobody's there. If there are any nasty people in the area, chances are they won't know how to fly this thing. We can flag down the truck when it passes us and explain things. Let's go!"
"Okay," said
Kimberly, "I'm with you. I should really get a doctor to look at my bite, and I'm not going to find one around here."
(
Michael, roll Spot Hidden.)
On Route 30-
So far, only silence came from the CB.
Joe Barring saw in the truck's rear view mirror that the ghouls that they had passed were slowly but surely following them. Most of them were shambling along, but a few were running at quite a clip. Even so, they couldn't hope to match the rig's pace.
(
Joe Barring, roll Idea. If you tell
Wallace about this, he should then roll Idea as well.)
West of the motel-
While
Thayer worked on reinforcing the partially barricaded stairs,
Alanen reached his destination and readied his second Claymore. He
started to place it.
(
McCain and
Ortega, roll Spot Hidden.)
On the roof of the motel-
Sergeant Black and
Airman Sheen watched the helicopter descend and land. Through their scopes they could see three people get out, but couldn't make out much from this distance. From ground level they wouldn't have been visible at all now, but up in their perch the snipers could still make them out.
(
Black and
Sheen may both roll Spot Hidden if they want to take another look around the area, but anyone who does this cannot watch the people at the chopper at the same time.)
In the comm room-
Airman Alexandria Mikhalin examined the communications gear, but
it was unlike anything she was used to. "I'm not sure how to work this yet," she said. "It's a wonder it even works at all after all these years." She grinned at
Lewis. "Glad we've got you around."
"That's a real bummer," said
Goldberg. "Then again, today's been one enormous bummer. Well, at least their chances are better than mine. I'm going to turn into one of them, I know it. If I last how long my buddy did, I've got a little more than an hour left. Do you want to do that relay thing?"
Malone looked at the tools. "Oh, that's what they were trying to do," she said. "They wanted to set up a relay so another station could talk directly with Warren. That will no longer be necessary. We are here to maintain this station for as long as possible, but any intelligence you can provide us would be most appreciated,
Mr. Goldberg. You said these infected people are already dead?"
"Yeah,
Stephanie realized it when I told her how their heads kept biting even after being cut off and their eyes were red. I don't understand all that science stuff, but she sure does. Do you know about the mosquitos?"
"Are you saying mosquitos can spread the infection?"
"No. I mean they might, I dunno. I'm not talking about your garden variety mosquitos. These things are huge and they come from outer space, man!"
"I...see. Have you been ingesting any mind-altering substances, by any chance?"
"Well, not since last night. I'm clean now, I swear! Look, those things are real! I'm not the only one who's seen 'em. They came out of those meteorite things, and their sting will kill you and turn you into one of those walking corpses."
"Stay on the line. We'll be in touch.
Malone out." She had
Lewis cut the connection, then asked him and
Mikhalin: "Can we believe a word this guy says?"
Outside the room,
Igor Malanowski continued fiddling with the radio, but he had no more luck than he had had earlier.
Suddenly, the teletype came to life and the ticker began to run. A piece of paper came out, and
Mikhalin picked it up and read the text. She exhaled sharply. "Ma'am," she said, "a missile launch was just detected in the eastern Mediterranean."
"Just one?" asked
Malone.
"Just one detected...so far."
The officer nodded. "
Lewis, see what you can find out about that."
(
Mikhalin, roll Electronics again to familiarize yourself with the system.
Lewis, roll Computer Use to try to track the source of the missile launch.)
Southeast of the motel-
Airman Phillips reached the woman's body and looked it over, but
he couldn't tell much from his cursory inspection. He
could see no indication of whether or not she was infected. "I can't tell anything from here, Sergeant," he reported. "Maybe the docs can get a closer look later. All I can tell is, she's dead. I hope you were right about her being infected, 'cause I'd hate to think we might have killed an innocent, injured civilian. On my way back." He jogged off towards the motel.
Airman Carlos Duran followed the highway west for about 50 yards, and then placed one of the biohazard warning signs in the middle of the road so that anyone approaching could see it before coming within range of the Claymore. Next he would need to head east and set up a sign in that direction too.
Between the motel and the T-Bone-
"Good thinking,
Ramirez," said
Captain Lereux. "I'd like to talk to this
Dr. Hausmann. Get her out here."
"Captain, that really isn't feasible," said
Stephanie. "She's injured too and isn't in any condition to go anywhere yet. Besides, it's not exactly safe standing out here in the open. Any of you are welcome to come with me and see her."
"Injured, you say? Is she infected?"
"Not to my knowledge," said
Stephanie carefully. "Look, we've wasted enough time here. We need to get back there and help her, and get that computer in her hands so she can find a cure!"
Zorie Spooner nodded. "I don't know why you're so suspicious of
Stephanie.
I think she's only trying to help. There are people who need medical treatment."
Lereux frowned at her. "I did not ask for your opinion. I know you're not military, but as long as you're attached to my unit you will respect my decisions." He turned to
Angela Blanco. "Doctor, see that your assistant understands this. If you want to go examine the civilians, nobody is stopping you, but these computers stay with me until I can be sure of what's on them."
"Sir, what if
Stephanie is right?" said
Lt. Blanco. "We can't afford unnecessary delays in dealing with this crisis. It'll take hours to search those hard drives thoroughly."
He looked at the screen. "Judging from what's on this text file, I don't think we need to worry.
Dr. Hausmann appears to be a complete loon."
"If you knew her," said
Stephanie, "you wouldn't say that. She's brilliant and quite sane, I assure you."
"Did you read this?"
"I only got a brief glimpse of it before you yanked it away from me, but she left me that note so I could finish her work in the event of her death. It's quite personal, and even I shouldn't be reading it at this time. As for the...other things, I take her at her word. After everything I've seen today, I can believe them."
Meanwhile,
Mr. Foo spoke to
Ramirez. "Thank you,
Mr. Ramirez," he said. "I am practically good as new. Not much of the shrapnel hit me. Those are excellent questions you asked. I mentioned the satchel charge and the M-16/203 already. Their leader,
Buzz also had an M79 grenade launcher and a heavy pistol. The others had shotguns, and they all had hand grenades. They came and left in a white pickup truck. I don't know where they got all of that fancy hardware, but it sure wasn't in any surplus store. I know that
Buzz,
Horst, and some of the other PMS members are former military.
Maybe they still had connections. I did not see which direction they left in, as I was otherwise occupied at the time, but I'd imagine they returned to their compound."
"I was up on the roof and I saw them leave," added
Stephanie. "They followed that dirt road to the north."
"Yes, that leads to the compound. If you follow the road a few miles, past Route 30 and the river, you'll come to a turnoff to the northwest with a warning sign. That leads right to it."
"That's all we need," muttered
Lereux. "A bunch of racist nutjobs with heavy firepower. Well, if they show up here they'll be sorry they ever messed with the United States Air Force. If they don't, they're no concern of mine."
He went back to inspecting the contents of the laptop. "What the- Why the hell does
Hausmann have a state-of-the-art decryption program on her computer? You said she's with the CDC, but this is something even the NSA would be drooling over."
"I didn't even know it was there," said
Stephanie. "Anyway, you saw what her note said."
"I don't believe that for a second. Those are the ravings of a madwoman, or at best an elaborate cover story. I want answers, and I want them now!"
(
Zorie Spooner, roll Idea.)
Near the junkyard-
"Yeah," said
David, "let's get this show on the road. The sooner we get going, the sooner we reach Idaho. There will be time for fun and games later." He led
Alice and
Jimmy around the north side of the diner, and they came out on the west, close to the dirt road. The garage was just south of them, with
Wallace's tanker parked partway out of one of the bays. The junkyard entrance was to the north.
(
Alice, roll Listen. Since she doesn't have the skill, roll against the base skill of 25%.)
Luke's patrol route also took him to the west side of the T-Bone, around the southwest corner and close to the gas pumps and garage entrance.
(
Luke, roll Listen.)
East of the diner-
Randall turned to
Willie and
Samantha. "Maybe there's something we could be doing to help out," he said. "I'm kind of curious to see what's downstairs myself. Anyone interested in tagging along?"
Mrs. Foo shook her head. "I sorry, but I too old for that sort of thing." She looked around the corner again. "There's my husband and
Missy Ellen! They with those people in orange suits. They look like they coming here, but they stop. Why they stop?"
"Maybe I could go have a chat with them," suggested
Rosie.
On the roof of the T-Bone-
Beth looked all around, cradling her rifle nervously. She
saw the helicopter land in the clearing about a mile to the north. "Hey!" she called to those on the east side of the diner below her. "A chopper just landed nearby, to the north. Could be that State Police chopper the others were talking about."
In the diner-
"Hazardous?" asked
Robert. "Well, the whole world is hazardous. Actually, the diner was rather sturdy. It was built to withstand tornados, after all, but a block of C-4 will damage just about anything. The garage is still intact, though, as is that underground prison. When we're done here, you want to go back and check it out some more?"
Gary looked over his work approvingly. "I'll just be another minute or so," he said. He examined the work
Robert and
Duke had been doing. "Looks like you two are about done there. Good job. If you want to go down and look around, that's fine. We also have to think about the food in the fridge and freezers. It'll go bad if we don't get some power on there soon. You said there was a generator downstairs, so maybe we can run a line upstairs and juice the cold storage unit. I think
David also mentioned something about generators in his truck, but we might need those where we're going."
Underneath the T-Bone-
Kerry continued to drink the soda. Some color was returning to her face, but her stare was just as blank as ever.
"Why don't I head on up with the weapons?" said
Mitchell, picking up the second crate of guns. "You can come up whenever you're ready."
"Sounds good," said
Bo, nodding.
Mitchell started up the stairs, while
Dr. Hausmann opened up the medical kit and examined his wound, clicking her tongue. She
had the bullet out in short order. Then she put fresh bandages on the wound, and
patched it up almost completely. "Thanks, that helped a lot. Now it's just a bit sore." He put his vest and shirt back on.
"The soreness will last for a day or two, but you will be okay. Just try not to get shot again."
"I'll do my best," he said, grinning. With her and
Sally's help, he stood back up and dusted himself off.
"You want to keep it, as a souvenir?"
Dr. Hausmann offered him the flattened .357 slug.
"Nah, toss it. It's just extra weight. I'd rather carry ammo I can still use."