ICC- Zombie Apocalypse- At the Truck Stop

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On the rooftop -

"Hey, girl." Luke says to Ashley "I need your help, fast."

"I need you to reload these clips while I shoot those fuckers." Luke explains and demonstrates "You take the clip, like so and push the bullet down. Then you shove it back and take the next bullet. Easy."

Once that's done with, he shouts down: "There is another zombie loose down there, watch out. We don't know where he went!"

He then resumes fire at the slowly nearing zombies.


Inside the diner -

Dave succeeds at keeping his cool (Sanity against a 50% stat (1d100=47)) and decides to go downstairs to find better weapons as Rita suggests.


In the garage -

"Kid, at the moment, I have ill interest in more trouble." Bob says to Mitchell "I don't feel a need to go poke in a hornets nest for now."

"My priority is to my chopper and getting my passengers out of here, as well as many people I can take with me." he continues "We could use your help fixing the chopper, but you're free to do as you like, of course. Maybe fixing the trucks could be a bigger priority for you."

"Gary, I know you aren't armed, but we're working on that. We'll get you something asap." Bob then turns to Gary "You'll have to rely on me and the others for now."

"But now, we really need to get to work." he says "Time is something we cant afford to waste."
 
Meat Locker

Flip watched in horror, as the door was slammed shut, and locked. If he were to survive, he was going to have to find a way out. he quickly scanned the locker, for any route of escape. All he could come up with, was an air vent, and the front door. The vent was the sorce of the fridgid air being pumped into the locker. He then looked back to horst's lifeless corpse, his eyes drawn to the gapeing hole in his forehead. He then turned quickly, and began to slam on the door. Flip began to scream for help
 
In the Meatlocker-
Flip continues pounding the door. Happily the meatlocker is a frig and not a freezer, although there is a freezer ajoining the frig. Nearby is a can of tomatos. Why would someone put a can of tomatos in a frig?

OCC- Flip can roll an idea of he doesn't realize what to do with the can of tomatos.

In the Kitchen-

Bud steps out of the Walkin with a delighted chuckle. Those in the kitchen can hear the sound of banging on the door and very faintly, screaming..

"Best not open that door. There's a dangerous man inside capable of the worst possible violence. I suspect the man is mentally deranged. I'll make sure the proper authorities are notified." Says Bud. "If he does manage to escape, you'd best shoot him least he cause any more harm."

Dr. Haussman, who had been explaining the procedures to Sally and Samantha now pauses as if uncertain whether this is a good time to operate on her wounded arm. "What's going on? Is there anyone injured? Is Stephanie still at the hotel and what has happened to Sean and Jim?"

Beth is quickly reloading her .38 and says. "I'm not sure, but I know what I just saw and I think it wise we get ready for a big fight. I agree with her," Nodding to Mrs. Foo, "this place can't be defended."

Alice nods. "I think there's safety in numbers. But does the hotel have enough food for all of us? Is there enough time? Is your plan basically to wait out the siege until we're rescued? What if rescue doesn't come?"

"What about medical supplies?" Asks Sally. "Or guns?"

McCormick says, "Rita has some guns and told a couple of young guys were to get them."

"But is she likely to sell us the food or let us bring the guns over?" Asks Sally.

Tisha looks at Willie, "What about Warren. Maybe we can go there. It's a military base."


In the Diner-

Rita is also reloading her pistol. She looks at David. "Aren't you supposed to be working? So what happened in the garage or is it enough that Hammond and Earl got killed."

(OCC- David... are you forgetting about Bo?)

Through the window they can see that the horde of creatures is closing in.

Azadeh comes through the main doors with an AR-15. "You folks alright? Where is Mrs. Foo? Are you evacuating or holding out?"

Rita looks at the mob coming. "What are you planning to eat at the hotel if that's were you want to hold? You sure aren't going to be able to get all the food you need across to the hotel before that bunch gets here."

On the roof.

(OCC- Luke might as well fire off a clip at a time just to save time. Note I didn't take into consideration reload times so that will cut into the number of potential kills. I will let you know when they are within regular range).

Charlie settles back in to begin shooting at the creatures. "Be careful down there. But when you get the chance I got more ammo in my truck. Bring it up as soon as you can.... By the way best you don't go by the News Van."

"Why?"

"Well you were fond of Thomas." Says Charlie.

"He was ok." Says Ashley. "Is he...."

Charlie shrugs. "I don't think he's comin back.... well, I don't think so. But if he does best you run like hell."

Charlie fires his rifle scoring two hits out of four shots. The first shot hits one of the creatures in the head, but it doesn't go down. The second shot drops the creature.

To Luke, "Sometimes the fuckers don't want to go down."

In the garage-

Gary goes into the garage. "We need to work on the helicopter out there now. To be honest, I feel damn exposed. Especially as we got no one watching our back. If you don't help with the repairs, its going to go slowly. Honestly, I don't like the idea of workin' in here with them stiffs."

David is looking at the bodies. "Fuck this, I ain't touchin them. What if its contagious or somethin'. " He looks around the garage and finds a crowbar and a hammer, but he seems reluctant to actually use them. Instead he decides to rely on his pistol.

Mitchell doesn't seem to like what he's hearing from Bob. He replies, "Look, my boss is dead and I don't have any reason to do what you ask me. But, if you want me to help, than you need to promise me that you'll do what you can to help those people at the compound. Those PMS fuckers are bad news and they could kill those people at any time. They come down here in force and we're dead. So that's the deal. My girlfriend's up there and if I have to go it alone, I'll do it."

(OCC- note that Bob has shit for people skills. You might want to try to get someone to convince Mitchell to help out. The guy seems pretty sincere with his concern).

Randall is looking over Bo and is worried about his condition. "He's getting pale. Where the hell is that doctor?"

In the Hallway outside the office-

Lynne hands one of the shotguns to Rosie as she holds onto the 20 gauge. "I think Earl had another pistol somewhere. YOu want me to look for that too?" She asks.

"You better honey." Says Rosie who is about to go up the ladder.

Robert and Duke go into the corridor. "Where's the liquor cabinet?" Robert asks Rosie.

"What do you with it?" Asks Rosie.

"The cashier said that there are more guns underneath. There's a stairwell.."

"If there is I never saw it." Says Rosie.

"Oh I did." Says Lynne. "Earl showed it to me once."

"What the hell was Earl doing showing it to you for?" Asks Rosie.

Lynne turns a bit red with embarrassment.

"You didn't?" Asks Rosie.

Lynne shrugs apologetically.

"Oh what the hell were you thinkin'" Asks Rosie.

"He said that Hammond was thinking of letting me go and I needed this job...." Explains Lynne.

"Well he's dead now." Says Duke. "Now about those guns."

There is a loud banging on the door that leads from the office area to the back.

Lynne says, "I better find that gun."

Rosie nods. "Better." Then to Robert and Duke, "Do you know how to work one of these things?"

In the parking lot-

Jim Kerr hears over the radio, "This is Erica Spears... I'm just about out of fuel. Holy fuck! Look at that. Who the hell nuked Brownson? What the fuck they nuke Brownson for? Jesus look at that... Damn.... I hope your people weren't in that...."

No word from Trooper Joe Barring.

On Route 30 heading for Brownson-

Wallace, Baldwin and Kimberly see a large mushroom cloud rises over what used to be Brownson.

Brownson has, for the most part, been sucked up into a giant fireball or flattened by the concussion of the blast.

In the COmm room-

Maine calls back. "Oh I guess you're right. I know, be a modern strong woman. Ok. But how do I transmit to... where?"

Andrews calls back. "Damn... Well not sure if I can get more help to you in time. Our situation is pretty hairy too . We've lost perimeter on a couple of the missile fields and we're trying to hold on. We lose control of a field.... well, I hope you have a shelter nearby. Not sure if we can relay through to Maine. Our lines do not, say again, do not expand much beyond your position. Is it possible that you provide some kind of transmission relay?.... We can't get through to Nevada at all. Likewise... we'd have to rely on you folks.... You must hold as long as possible.... The Co knows your situation and will try to assist."

Reports-----

CIA still on line. Langely holding on for now. Perimeter security under heavy stress. Unknown how long CIA can hold on.... All available assets deployed to defend but opposition force is high.

President's helicopter is reported missing. Never landed in secured facility in West Virginia.... Unknown

Vice President- location unknown....

Speaker of the House- presumed dead...

President Pro tem...... missing

Secretary of State.... believed to be in Beijing when city destroyed

Secratary of the Treasury.... believed dead

Secretary of Defense.... incapacited, last seen at the Pentagon.

Secretary of the Interior- whereabouts unknown.

Government of Russia- condition unknown- believed non-existent.

Government of China- condition unknown, believed to be in hiding.

Reports. US and Russian naval forces in combat between Florida and Cuba. Apparently Russian forces attempting to evacuate Russians and others from Cuba were contaminated and Russian aircraft crusier Admiral Kuznetsov was overrun by infected persons. The vessel apparently attempted to land in South Florida and was attacked by US naval forces in the vicinity.

OCC- Admiral Kuznetsov? Also Pictures .

Also- USS LOUISIANA lost at sea. Reason unknown. USS Louisiana was supposedly off the coast of Kenya.

ALso - XIA calls CHinese nuclear submarine, sunk by Japanese forces in South China Seas.

Outside the T-Bone-

Jimmy is walking around the side of the T-Bone, looking for any creatures like those he saw in the garage. At first the rifle had felt comfortable in his hands, but then he realizes that he's not familiar with the weapon and isn't even sure he knows where the safety is.

He is thinking this when he turns a corner and sees one of them. This one is dressed like a workman, is rather large, and is pounding a firedoor that leads into the restaurant.

For a moment Jimmy is uncertain what to do.
In that moment, the creature becomes aware of Jimmy and turns.

Jimmy makes his decision quickly. He turns and runs for his life, back to the garage.

The creature is quickly in pursuit.

(OCC- note that the guys on the roof would have to get up from prone positions and find Jimmy and the creature- you don't have enough time to intervene).
 
In the Kitchen-
"Dr. Hausmann, I presume?" said Mrs. Foo. "Missy Stephanie at motel, she fine. My husband fixing your computer. We have medical supplies for first aid, also some food and drink, but not enough for long. I buy whatever Rita willing to sell. I brought money and checkbook. Rita likes money a lot, hopefully more than food. I try to negotiate sale. If anyone here good people person, please to help me convince her. My Outback hold a lot. We have time for maybe one or two trips before they get here, then we must fight. We win, we get the rest later. We lose...then we not need more supplies. They sure hard to kill.

"We not stay in motel longer than have to. My husband have plan to evacuate, form convoy and head north through unpopulated areas. Much of northwest Canada and Alaska empty. We can't count on rescue; bad things happen all over world. My husband and Missy Stephanie communicate with Warren. They under heavy attack, since so close to Cheyenne. My husband also get through to Omaha. We need to buy stuff fast." Mrs. Foo moved towards the door to the store. "Anyone want to talk to Rita with me?"

In the Comm Room-
"It's Warren Air Force Base," Stephanie told the Maine operator, "outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. Hold on, I'm getting a call from them now. Maybe we can work out a way to get your transmissions through. In the meantime, you should secure your cabin. Lock and bar all the doors and windows; if your husband knocks, you can let him in then. If you've got any guns and ammo there, get them ready. How far is your cabin from the nearest town?"

Stephanie answered the call from Major Andrews and told him the latest reports. "Thank you, Major. I thought of using our station as a relay earlier between here and Omaha, so we may be able to do the same thing for Maine. If Mr. Foo and I work together, though, it'll take at least fifteen minutes and we're lucky if we have ten. Once that horde gets here, we'll have to go upstairs and try to fight them off. If we beat them, we can come back down, resume operations, and finish connecting you to Maine. The operator's wife there is willing, and I think she's capable. We'll lock up this room when we leave. If nobody's in it, hopefully the infected people will leave it alone. They seem interested only in attacking people.

"The naval incident off South Florida could get ugly. We could try to talk to the Russians and smooth things over, though their government is believed to be gone and I don't speak Russian."

"Sorry," said Mr. Foo, "neither do I."

"We probably can't do both things at once, though," continued Stephanie. "Maybe the Maine station can speak to you even if you can't reply. I'll try that first. Let me know if you hear her voice. If it doesn't work, shall we get started on setting up a relay? Over."

"Okay, Maine," said Stephanie. "Warren AFB can't call out to anyone but us, but let's see if you can call in. All they need are reports from you, so it's not as vital that you be able to hear them. I'll walk you through the steps I used to call them, and when they're done just try saying hello to Major Andrews. If he hears you, he'll tell me. If not, don't worry. The network's been having lots of problems today and we may still be able to use my station as a relay, but it would take a little while." Stephanie began explaining to the woman what to do to transmit to Warren.
 
OCC - It's Dave. D-A-V-E. ^^

Poor GM's, picking names they always confuse!

and no, Dave did not forget about Bo. 3 pages back, he already informed the 'medical' crew (you said he sees them in the kitchen, therefor it's an 'open' kitchen and Dave yells that people are wounded in the garage and require aid before Rita interrupts him, they ought to be deaf not to hear that). however Dave feels little for grabbing some poor smuck of the medical crew who needs to get her hearing examined and drag her back to the garage while sporting nothing but a baseball bat to defend himself. there is little use and low survivability in that is the shit hits the fan...

as for the reloading, yes, Luke needs the clips (5 rounds / clip) to be reloaded if he wants to keep firing fast. he can insert a bullet one by one by hand, without a clip but that breaks the speed at which he can fire, of course.

and yeah, i know Bob has shitty people skills, but he's also a bear of a man and an officer, so there should be at least some authority radiating from that.


ICC -

In the Diner -

"Working?" Dave halts and stares at Rita "I dunno about you, but I tend to prioritise other things over work when my boss gets bitten by a zombie, dies, turns into a zombie, a firefight ensues and there are people lying wounded on the floor. They need help, I came to get it. Comprende?"

"Anyhow, the pilot sent me to get help. He's taken control of the situtation more or less overthere, since no one else did." he says "I want to go back asap, preferably with help, but first I'd like to arm myself if you don't mind... Especially since the guy on the roof just yelled there is another loose."


On the roof -

"Yeah, but we better take careful aim to bag as many of those fuckers before they get here, or we'll be in a world of hurt." Luke replies "Either way, I need someone to feed me clips, if I'm to down as many of those sods as possible."

"So missy, listen:" Luke says turning to Ashley "I know it's hard to loose someone you care about, but if you freeze now, you're lost."

"If you help us, we can thin out at least half of those fuckers before they get here." he says "If you don't, I guess we'll only get a fourth of them on our own."

"Barricated on the roof, I'm sure we can kill em all eventually, but that takes time, and we'd be totally cut off until then. I'm guessing time is something we don't have." he continues "The army is growing desperate, they already bombed the town overthere. There is no saying what's next. We might even get bombed thinking we were zombs too."

"So, would you please help me by reloading those clips?" Luke said with a 'kind old man voice' while using his 'kind old man smile'.

Luke then resumes firing: He scores three headshots (50% CTH: 10, 9, 43, 57, 89) and does some serious damage with a normal headshot (11) and two impaling headshots (20, 27).


In the garage -

"Yes Gary, I understand, that's why I sent out those two tough guys to get more guns." Bob says "Grab the cops shotgun in the meanwhile if that's going to make you feel better. It doesn't look like he's going to be using it soon anyway.".

"As for you." Bob turns to Mitchell "The only thing I can promise you, is that I'll look into it when we get the chance. My first and foremost objective is to get the doctor out of here and to where she belongs, as she holds a piece of the puzzle. She might very well hold the key to resolving this zombie nonsense. However, chances are good the other pilot will be able to do that faster than me. If so, I will help you, kid."

"You have my word as an officer." Bob says "I too have a wife. And children to boot. There is no other place I'd rather be right now, but we all have responsabilities. Mine is to see Dr Haussman off to her destination. Yours is to rescue your girlfriend."

"However, you don't stand a shadow of a chance if you go in alone, and you know it." he argues.
 
In the kitchen-
Now that the immediate danger had passed, Mrs. Foo recalled what had happened just before. "Hey, didn't Dave say two cops were shot in garage?" she said. Father McCormick nodded. "We should help them first, get them to motel and upstairs before mob gets here. We can take my Outback to garage and then motel. Food can wait, but we need guns now. Someone may have to convince Rita to let us take guns to motel, maybe even come there herself, at least until we beat mob. Other cars in lot can be used to get there fast."
 
In the Comm room-

Maine- “Oh our place is a far cry from the neighbors. Still, I haven’t heard from them all day and that’s unusual because Janey stops by and calls almost all the time by now. Isn’t that strange. Last night she called and said that a meteorite had dropped on her property. It’s a big property, but can you imagine that. OH guns, yes by husband hunts but never lets me touch them. I want to clean them but he says, ‘Maggie, you’re just going to shoot yourself.’ So yeah we have them but I don’t touch them. When he gets back he’ll…. But gosh, he’s been gone awhile.. maybe he’s waiting for the bank to open, don’t ya think?”

Major Andrews- “Only problem is that we’re not in connection with Maine. Perhaps we can relay the signal through you? But there’s more. From what we’ve been able to see, best you avoid all physical contact with the infected. We think this thing is contagious as hell and once you get touched, well…. It’s a bad news. As for the Russians, I’m not sure. We can’t get through to the President. NORAD is out, not sure why. We can’t even call Maine so I don’t know if we can talk to them at all.”

(OCC- Mr. Foo, time to roll on repairs.)

In the Diner-

Rita says, “I told those others were to find guns and I think Rosie and Lynne went and got the shotguns. But if you want food from me, than you better think about defending this place. Next time I have one of those fucking reaching for me, I expect you to use that bat and smash it’s fuckin head in. If you ain’t got balls, I ain’t got use for you. And I ain’t got no use, you ain’t getting any of my food. Comprende smart ass.”

Azadeh doesn’t pay much attention to this discussion. She goes through the diner and into the kitchen, being careful to step around the creature that lies motionless on the floor.

In the kitchen-

Azadeh enters the kitchen and looks at the assorted women and men there. “Does anyone have a gun?” She asks.

Beth holds up a pistol and Bud shows his piece.

Samantha says, “I’m pretty good with a rifle if I got one.”

“I can fire a shotgun and a rifle,” Offers Father McCormick, who then shrugs, “Well I wasn’t always a priest you know and these things, well, it’s not like we’re killing people.”

Alice nods, “I can fire a rifle if I had one.”

Azadeh shrugs. “I heard that they were gathering rifles from here, but I am not sure where. Try the office. There is a mob of about 200 of those… things… coming here. They are nearly a half mile away and you have probably about 5 minutes to get the hell out of here before they arrive. There are two gunmen on the roof plugging away at them, but they won’t get them all in time. I want you,” She says to Bud,“To come with me and watch my back. The rest of you need to get out of here right now. They are digging in at the hotel, and I think you have a better chance there.” To Beth she says, “You see one of those things, shoot for the head. Everyone, remember that, shoot for the head.”


Azadeh then heads for the back door of the kitchen, opens it and begins to close distance with the creatures.

Old Bud steps out the door, his .38 in hand, and sees the mob. “Holy shit.” He says in revulsion, but he manages to keep his fear contained.

Azadeh looks at him carefully, “You ok?”

“Yeah. What’s your plan?”

“These ones are moving pretty slow. I plan on getting close and taking them down from an effective range. Then withdraw to a safe distance and do it again. I figure I am faster then them. But I need you to make sure they don’t get too close.”

Bud nods, “Got it.”

In the hallway of the T-Bone-

Duke reaches for the door to the liquor closet. “It’s locked. Fuck.”

Lynne, about to go search the office pauses. “I can try it if you want?”

Duke shrugs. “Might as well.”

Lynne drops to her knees and takes out a small leather pouch and a couple of small tools and tries to pick the lock, but fails. “Fuck.”

Duke blushes.

“Maybe we should break the door down.” Suggest Robert.

“Or you could get the key from Rita.” Suggests Rosie.

“I can try again.” Offers Lynne.

On route 30 heading for Brownson-
Wallace, Baldwin and Kimberly drive towards a falling cloud of dust. “Hope that isn’t fallout.” Says Baldwin.

“If it were we’d probably be dead by now.” Says Kimberly. “Blast was too small to be an atomic weapon, but damned.”

Under the false darkness of the blast and the cloud of debries that falls down around them they see what is left of the town. Most of it has been sucked into the middle and is now gone. Brownson was never a big town, but there are fires generated by the intense heat.

And there are creatures walking about, horribly burned, their skin charred in ways no human could survive.

In the parking lot-

Jim is still trying to get a signal for Trooper Joe Barrings, but there is no response and he fears the worst. Erica Spears, “I’m a couple of minutes from landing. Damn, looks like Brownson got cleaned out, but I am seeing people. Holy fuck, some of them are still on fire…. Where the hell are your people?”

Jim is about to answer when he sees a pick up truck coming from the north road

On the rooftop-

Charlie continues to shoot, dropping two more. But one shot goes wide and another misfires in his gun. "Shit I got to fix it again." He says.

He takes a glance at Ashley who is still on the roof near the ladder.

For a moment Ashley doesn't seem to know what to do, and looks like she may go back. The girl is clearly afraid and for a moment is uncertain. Is it the thought that Thomas is dead, the danger she has just faced or the horde of ghouls coming towards them?

"Nice going Mr. 'I got a big knife' with size issues." Charlie says to Luke, "You damn near scared her white, if she weren't white already."

Then Charlie says to Ashley,"Girl, get a hold of yourself and load this big old white man's bullet clips so he can kill more of those nasty monsters, ok. Then I want you to go to my truck, you know the one, and get me my ammo."

As he's saying this he sees a truck coming from the North. "Crap. We got trouble."

OCC. Charlie got two of four meaning that there are two more getting through- maximum that Charlie can get is 35. Plus because of the malfunction he will not be able to shoot the next round- and that means at least another 4 will get through.


In the garage- (OCC- nice job Suaside for convincing Mitchell to stay on).

Mitchell nods his head in agreement. “That seems fair. But we need to get to those people at the compound soon as possible. Not sure what those bastards up there will do to them.”

Gary reaches over and takes the shotgun. “We need to get this man looked at. He looks pretty pale.” He says as he looks at Bo.

Randall, next to him nods. “Yeah the sooner the better. Where the hell is that medic. Maybe I should give him that needle to get him out of here?”

Gary shrugs.

At that moment Jimmy comes running into the garage, “Holy shit, holy shit!”

Right behind him comes a creature, this one moving remarkably fast.

(OCC- This one will require the resistance table. Suaside roll Bob against the resistance table to see if he gets a shot in before the zombie goes after someone. Gary and Randall will not be able to get a first shot in. Check http:// www.chaosium.com/forms/resistancetable.pdf)
 
OCC- I already made the repair rolls for Mr. Foo at the beginning, but I've rolled Electrical Repairs for him again here. I also rolled Computer Use for Stephanie so she could start working on setting up the relay, but she failed. Mr. Foo might be able to get started when he finishes with the computer.

Mr. Foo succeeded at his Electrical Repair roll (12% roll vs. 70% skill): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=634404

Stephanie failed her Computer Use roll (87% roll vs. 63% skill): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=634408

IC-
In the Comm Room-
"It's good you're so isolated, Maggie," Stephanie told the Maine operator's wife. "The outbreak is worst in towns and other populated areas. Those meteorites are bad news." Stephanie told her about the swarm of flying creatures that had come out of the one in Canada. "It looks like we're going to have to set up a relay if you're going to talk to Warren AFB. We won't be able to finish before the infected people get here, but if we can stop them we'll be able to resume our work. In the meantime, secure your cabin, lock and bar all your doors and windows, and get those guns ready. Even if you've had no training, it's better than nothing. Whatever happens, don't let any infected people bite you or even touch you."

Stephanie called back Major Andrews. "Thanks for the advice, Major," she said. "We'll get started on setting up that relay between you and Maine. If you want us to try to contact the Russians, though, let us know, and also tell us what information we're authorized to share with them. Letting them know what we've learned of the nature of the crisis would serve as a show of good faith and might help unite them with us against our common enemy."

"We could try to get through to my opposite numbers in the Russian FSB," said Mr. Foo as he worked on the laptop. "They'll have stations similar to this one, and there's a good chance they'll speak English or Chinese since they'd be especially monitoring the U.S., the U.K., and China."

Stephanie passed this suggestion along. "I haven't had time yet to learn the effects of EMPs on the infected, but in case you don't hear from us again let me share my idea. A high altitude nuclear blast would send an EMP over a wide area while causing no direct damage to the ground, though there'd still be fallout. A detonation at 300 miles could blanket the entire continental U.S. and large parts of Canada and Mexico with a pulse, but that would take us off the air so I'd save that for a last resort. I don't even know if it would be effective yet, but maybe the base commanders in Europe had the same thought. I'm going to start working on the relay now, but we won't be able to finish before the enemy arrives. Over."

"An electromagnetic pulse would also fry this computer I've put so much effort into repairing," said Mr. Foo, "and you'd lose all this vital data."

"You're right," said Stephanie as she tinkered with the communications gear. Her eyes sparkled. "Unless we shield the computers with a Faraday cage! Got any aluminum foil?"

"Sure." Mr. Foo told her where to find it. "If it's not there, the others already took it upstairs to the room we're using for storage."

"If we wrap the laptops completely in foil so there are no gaps, a pulse would pass right over them."

"Ah, like it keeps microwaves from heating food wrapped in foil."

"Precisely. Same principle, different form of EM radiation." Stephanie frowned as she tried to start patching Maine through to Warren Air Force Base. The technology was too obsolete, and the impending doom too much of a distraction. "I don't know what's with me today. I'm not getting anywhere with this."

"Don't worry, you've been doing a great job. I'll give it a try as soon as I'm done here. Just putting the finishing touches on it now. I'm more familiar with the apparatus, and you need to get yourself and these computers upstairs soon anyhow."

In the kitchen-
"Don't let them bite either!" said Mrs. Foo as she opened the door leading back to the diner. "People getting guns from basement and I can use pistol, but we need to help cops fast. This way." She dug out her keys as she shuffled towards the front door. "If anyone want to drive, take keys. My Outback parked right outside, and I only slow you down. I get ride back to motel with someone else. Hurry!" She stepped carefully around the dead creature. "Did I hear right that these things already dead? How that possible?"

"There's something similar mentioned in the Book of Revelation," said Father McCormick. He quoted the passage. "'And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.' Until today I never really knew what those verses meant. There can be no doubt that the end times are here. If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ into your hearts, now would be a good time."
 
OCC- while waiting for the others to respond-

North of Brownson-

Michael keeps glancing over his shoulder and rearview mirror quite certain that the Latham Family, Alex and Felice, or more likely whatever it was they became, is still behind him somewhere.

Too much distance now, somewhere in the dust, back on the highway or perhaps running across the plains towards him.

How could they run so fast? Would they ever stop their pursuit.

Go forward, more distance....

Ahead he sees the helicopter near a large empty field that's covered with grass. Nearby are vacant warehouses and the ruins of some kind of tower.

As he drives down the road he notices something else.

On the road pavement, a car has hit a ditch but is now empty. On the blacktop there is something that looks like a bird, except its wings are more like that of an insect or reptile.

It lies on the ground quite motionless.

Further down the road he sees more of them, scattered about. A glance to the sides of the road and there are others.

They look dead.

Ahead the helicopter circles the field and begins to land.

From where he's driving, Michael sees none creatures on the airfield. It looks deserted.

West of Brownson-

On Route 30, the Baldwin's truck continues towards Brownson and the airfield. They can see the helicopter to the north and east, beginning to descend.

As they drive through the devestated ruins of the town, more of them turn in the direction of the truck. Most are staggering, their bodies damaged beyond any human endurance. Others are crawling along the roadside.

Some are horribly burnt.

Others are still burning.

Baldwin remains behind the wheel his hands now on his pistol. "If they get in the way, I'm goin' plow through. But if we get jammed up, you got get 'em off the truck. We get stuck and we're dead."

Kimberly nods, making sure that her shotgun is chambered. "Let's do this." She whispers almost to herself.
 
In the Diner -

"Take a look outside, Rita..." Dave says in disbelief "You want me to club about, hmz 200 or so, zombies to death with a baseball bat while it pretty much required a whole loader of bullets to stop thisone?"

"Are you insane or do you just want to kill us all?"


On the rooftop -

"Well, you'll have to excuse my people skills, mr Moonshine." Luke says as he continues to pop off rounds "I make a livin' shootin' stuff, ye know... Not a lot of gum flappin' required."

He drops another two, brain matter flying all over the place.

"What trouble?" he then asks.


In the garage -

OCC - Bob's resistance roll ( 1d100=28 ), but I have no idea how this works.
 
In the garage-

OCC- Bob succeeds on the resistance roll. You get to shoot first. Shoot quickly! The people in the garage- Mitchell, Gary, Randall, David, Bob and Jimmy. Zombie is going after someone and coming very fast.
 
OCC- sorry Suaside but considering the speed in which the zombie is coming in, you won't have much chance to aim before the zombie is on someone. Shoot quick, no time to aim precisely. I'll allow the damage but not the locations. Roll on the 1d8 twice to figure out where you hit.
 
OCC - localisation on recalled headies (1d8=7, 1d8=3)

don't wanna loose the zomb before it wrecks havoc? hehe. too bad, those were damn lucky shots. sorry for the assumption, but i thought i had a normal turn since i succeeded on the resistance table.
anyhow, this means it's once in the chest (or upper abdomen) and once in the arm.
 
In the garage-
OCC- Thanks Suaside for the recall. I was actually hoping you might score damage in the leg and really slow this fellow down, but this will buy your group a bit more time. I figured the pistol was holstered and not ready so you can think of this as a quick draw against a running zombie.

The ghoul is caught by the punch of the pistol. The hit to its belly stops it, the shot to the arm turns it aside. For a moment the creature sways.

But only a moment.

Then it turns towards the closest available prey, Bo who remains unconscious.

Jimmy finally turns to confront the creature, and seeing that the creature is now going after someone else, lifts up the rifle and fires, but the round goes wide.

Randall, still near Bo, reaches for Sean's rifle, but he will not be able to bring it to bear on time.

Gary seeing the threat of the creature running for Bo, fires the trooper's shotgun. But the blast goes wide.

David has also managed to draw his own pistol and fires at the creature twice also hitting the creature's arm and belly.

The gunshots have not dropped the creature but have slowed it. In that moment, Mitchell has time to lift his bat to swing for the creature's head and connects but perhaps because of the creatures own movement, the blow does not lay the creature down.

Instead, but stepping forward Mitchell has become the closest prey.

The ghoul grabs for Mitchell who tries to spin out of the creatures path, but almost loses his balance on a slick of oil. But in that instance the ghoul seizes only air .


In the diner-
Rita shakes her head. "Cut the crap. You weren't off to fight no zombies when that fucker was reachin' for my feet. So you forget about any future raises, least until I know you can step up and brain one of them fuckers with that baseball bat."

Rosie emerges from the hall. "Rita, you have the key to the liquor closet?"

Rita nods and throws them the keys. "But tell them I am expecting they will defend this place."

Rosie shrugs.


In the hallway-

Lynne tries again, but again fails to pick the lock, but this time almost damages it.

"Sorry. I'm afraid if I try again I might break it."

Duke nods. "Why not try to find that gun?"

Lynne smiles and nods, going back into the office.

Robert looks at the back door. "At least that banging is gone."


On the rooftop-

Charlie nods as he removes the misfired bullet, his eyes glancing at the truck that is approaching from the north.

"Well I guess that would explain our lack of people skills." He says, "The trouble, well, has much to do with those particular people skills."

"You see that truck comin' is owned by the PMS which stands for Prairie Militia Society, a bunch of white supremist scumbags who make a lifestyle out of drug dealing, torture, murder, kidnapping, and more felonies and misdeamenors than you can count. That fellow you shot in the head, was their head honcho."

Charlie removes the bullet and resets himself in a crouch. "My guess is that Horst came to do business with Hammond. Now with all this shit blowin in the wind, they probably came to rescue him from this poor situation in which we find ourselves. I assume they aim to return to him their compound. Of course, once they find he's all fucked up and someone put a bullet in his skill, I reckon they'll want payback."

"I see three or four of 'em. No doubt they will be packing serious firepower."

"So yeah. I'd call it trouble."

In the Comm Room.

Maine hears the news about the strange insects. "Oh my. Oh my! I do hope Howard is safe.... Do you think.... Oh dear... Maybe I should get him, you know. Make sure he knows. He probably doesn't know. Probably went to town and no one there knows either. Someone has to tell them... Yes.. Maybe I should.... Well... Oh dear." Then Maine is cut off.

Major Andrews offers a quick response. "We've got a serious problem at one of our stations.... As for contacting the Russians... if that were possible... EMP, yes, but that sure would screw us pretty good. Our situation is only partially hardened.... Oh damn.... Got to go."

There is silence on the communications system when suddenly they hear.

"Goldberg from Hawaii. Sorry for the silence. My advice, you want these bastards to stop coming after you, use a machete to the head. Still.... damn this hurts like hell."

OCC- did we do how long it would take for Foo to move the comm gear upstairs?

In the Kitchen-

Despite her offer, no one takes the keys. McCormick helps Mrs. Foo to her outback as Samantha and Alice help Haussman get in back. Movement is slow in part because Mrs. Foo is tired and also because of Dr. Haussman's injuries. Beth is last to leave, looking out the back door as Azadeh and Bud move forward towards the coming horde.

No one hears Flip in the meat locker.

Outside Azadeh quickly approaches the horde and closes to within effective range for the rifle before settling into a crouch. She tries to calm her breathing as she fires five times quickly, making four hits and bringing down three She gauges the distance and figures she can fire five more shots before having to retreat.

Behind her, Bud is catching up, his .38 ready, but the creatures are too far away for him to hope for a hit.
 
In the garage -

Bob now takes more precise aim and double taps again. Due to being careful not to hit Mitchell, the first round flies well over the target, but Bob's strong arms easily correct the aim regardless of the recoil (1d100=88, 1d100=6), and hits home hard (impaling headshot 2d10=11).


In the diner -

"A raise?" Dave says with growning disbelief "I think we'd be damn lucky if we get to see nightfall. Let alone morning."

"As for defending the diner?" he adds "As demonstrated, the windows aren't going to hold anything. Either you climb on the roof, or you lock yourself in the meatlocker, or you move to the hotel, or you sink with the ship. Your call."

"Quite frankly, I think you fail to see these are not thieves. They are man-eating zombies. I sincerely doubt they'd be interested in any of your stuff if there were no people here."

"No people, no damage to the diner. They'd just ignore it. If you really want to saveguard the diner, get away from it. A simple plan."

"Now we need to get our asses moving, or we're not even going to survive fifteen minutes..." he concludes as he walks away to (finally) get himself a gun.


On the rooftop -

"When it rains, it pours..." Luke shrugs.

Emptying another clip, he hits three more, taking two right out of the fight, but one stumbles unsure of whether it wants to die yet or not (2d6+3=10, 2d6+3=9, 2d6+3=11).

"Either way, my people skills aren't much to blame for the nazi-muffin." Luke says as he reloads "But I doubt they'd agree to debate about it since their buddy has a gaping hole in his forehead."

"Would it be too much to ask to have their ass eaten by a zombie before they get here? A little miraculous pothole, a spike on the road or a wheel falling off their truck? How about hit by re-entring spacejunk dropping from orbit? Yeah, I like that: junk taken out by junk..."

"But still, it wouldn't be fair to open fire as they approach. And it wouldn't help us that much either..." Luke thinks out loud "If you got some kind of plan, please share it, Chief."

OCC - don't forget to tell me when to raise my chance to hit! (and also call the third zombie: is a 9hp headshot enough for thatone?)
 
OCC- You said it would take a minimum of 45 minutes to move the comm gear upstairs and get it running again, but you never said how much of that time it would take to move it. Needless to say, it would take more time than they've got. This timeframe also presumes that some stronger people are helping them. With just Mr. Foo and Stephanie, you mentioned that it would take about four hours.

IC-
In the Comm Room-
"Aim for their heads!" Stephanie told Major Andrews. "We just heard back from Mr. Goldberg in Hawaii, and that's how he had to take out his infected friend with his machete. We may be able to get in touch with Mr. Foo's counterparts in the FSB, so we'll try. The relay will have to wait until we deal with this batch, but at least we've got plenty of ammo. Over."

"Maggie, stay in your cabin and aim for the head if any infected people show up!" Stephanie told her. "It's not safe to go into town, and we need you here. If your husband's okay, he'll rush home to you as soon as he can. If you leave and he doesn't find you there, he'll be worried. Over."

Stephanie next spoke to Hawaii. "Thank you, Mr. Goldberg, it's good to hear from you. It's better not to get close to them, but we've got guns and we can shoot them in the head. There's a whole bunch coming our way, so we don't have much time. How badly hurt are you? Were you bitten? How much time went by since your friend was bitten before he attacked you?" She told him Major Andrews' advice and about the meteorite with the flying alien creatures. "Did any land near you? Also, are you capable of calling Warren AFB directly? Over."

Finally, Stephanie called the Crisis Response Center in Omaha. "We've got a bunch of infected people a few minutes away," she said, "so we don't have much time. Aim for their heads, and don't let them bite you or even touch you! Also, the meteorites contain swarms of flying extraterrestrial organisms." She reported what had happened in Canada. "The gas inside was a mix of what I believe is sulfur and an unidentified, rust-colored gas. I haven't had a chance to gather enough data on EMPs yet, but harden your electronics if you can. I'm going to wrap our laptops in foil to act as a Faraday cage. Over."

Once she was done talking, Stephanie began to search for operational Russian stations like Mr. Foo's, but she knew there wasn't much time. "I'll take over for you in a minute or so," said Mr. Foo as he put the finishing touches on his repairs. "I'd best do the talking where the Russians are concerned, and you need to get to relative safety."

In the parking lot-
Mrs. Foo got in the driver's seat and started up the Outback. As soon as everyone who was going with her to the garage was aboard, she pulled out and headed for the garage at the maximum safe speed. She wished she had had more practice driving, since she knew they might have to make a fast getaway to the motel before the horde arrived.
 
OCC- @Suaside- Luke gets five more shots before your chance to hit goes up. THen you can tag twenty more at optimum shots. Nice try with the 9 points of damage, alas... it's still coming.

On second thought, ignore the pm on the head shot to the zombie. I will allow it, although really it was the zombie that had the first move this round.
 
OCC- Stephanie failed at her Idea roll (91% roll vs. 75% stat): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=639817

Mr. Foo succeeded at his Idea roll (17% roll vs. 90% stat): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=640315

IC-
In the Comm Room-
"You know," said Mr. Foo as he worked to complete the repairs, "I highly doubt that the alien creatures in the meteorites are the beings truly behind this outbreak. Rather, they are being used as proxies just like the infected humans. This whole thing shows a very calculating intelligence, one that would want to minimize its exposure to risks. Why would they come down personally and endanger themselves, not to mention reveal themselves and allow us the chance to study them, when they can use others to do it for them? It's much like the Soviets used the Vietnamese against the U.S. - and like the U.S. used the Afghans against the Soviets."

Or the Goa'uld using their Jaffa warriors to do their fighting for them on Stargate SG-1! thought Stephanie. "Yeah, I think you're right," she said. "But how can we strike back at the enemy behind the scenes? We have our hands full just staying alive."
 
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