ICC- Zombie Apocalypse- At the Truck Stop

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OOC: Wow, a lot going on - and we still have a lot of characters in game. This is gong fine :)



IC:

Garage
Jim looked around. He couldn´t see what was attacking Earl, but from the scream, Earl was in trouble - and that meant all of them were next on line.

So Jim decided to do something. He could not just move the truck back, or he risked hurting the other people. He got out of the truck and as fast as possible, he will try to go to a spot where he can see the creature and shoot its head.

OOC: Roll for this action
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=575149


IC:
In the Diner

Samantha understood (ooc: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=575113) what Dr. Haussman said, and approached her; Gently she said:

"Here, let me help you! I can dress and tend to your wound."

At the same time, she was aware that something was going on outside.
"Can anybody tell what is happening outside, now?"

OOC: Her weapon is still near her, right?
 
OCC- It sure would be a pisser for anyone to lose an arm. Sean will still memorize the combination, but if his arm gets severed he's probably dead anyway. By the way, since Sean isn't really my character and Zoe and Stompie have each lost one, if either of you want to take him over let me and Welsh know.

IC-
In the diner-
"Incoming?!" said Sean as Luke and Charlie breezed past. "I'll be with you guys soon! Ladies, look after Dr. Hausmann while I'm gone. I'll need someone to go out to the chopper in the parking lot and warn Jim Kerr. David, come with me for a minute."

Sean led David after Luke and Charlie. When he was sure Hammond and Rita couldn't hear them, he spoke quietly to him: "We don't have enough guns for everyone right now, and we sure could use more ammo. What Hammond is doing with a bunch of guns isn't important now, but we're going to need them if we're to survive, and it sounds like we need 'em fast. I need you to help me get them and arm everyone before talking to Earl."

In the communications room-
"Oh boy," said Stephanie when she heard the news from Italy. She quickly called back Major Andrews and filled him in on everything she'd learned, starting with that. "I don't know who's responsible yet, but I'll keep my ears peeled for any more intelligence. Even if we get help, it'll take us at least 45 minutes to move the apparatus upstairs and get it running again, maybe more. I'd guess it would take at least that long to get it back to Warren AFB and set it up, but at least we wouldn't have to contend with stairs. The dish is huge, but maybe it can be secured to a chopper's underside if it doesn't fit inside." Mr. Foo told her the dimensions of the dish, and she relayed the information to Major Andrews. "That's a long time to be off the air either way, but at the moment we need to keep it running anyway considering what just happened. Eventually it'll have to be moved, though. I'll keep you posted. Over." She resumed monitoring the world situation while Mr. Foo tinkered with Dr. Hausmann's laptop.

Between the motel and the truck stop-
Mrs. Foo steered the Outback towards the road that separated the motel from the T-Bone. She wasn't used to driving; her husband usually drove, since he was an excellent driver. For such a short trip, though, she could get by well enough. The priest sat beside her, his calm demeanor helping her to stay level-headed.

At the garage-
"Stay behind me, Bob," said Bo, trying to move past him and aiming his shotgun at the thing that had just chomped down on Boss Earl's arm. He had to be careful not to hit Earl or anyone else in the garage, and especially to avoid hitting anything containing fuel.
 
The road North-

Michael sees Alex trough his rear mirror and thinks "How can it be! I watched him die in fron of me, unless... those things don't really kill you, but do something else to you"

"I am not going to stop for him... too dangerous." Yet Alex seems to be runing at an almost unhuman speed, in fact he is now closing the vehicle.

As Alex closes up, Michael does not likes what he sees in his rear mirror, Alex seems.. possesed. Perhaps now it's time to pick up speed.

Inside the TV van-

As tisha is slowing down. Michael: "There, pull over the cafe and the gas pumps".

Willie thinks they might find some refuge near those buildings, or perhaps no refuge at all and they would have to keep moving. In either case it was better to reach the cafe before the mod did.

The headless bodie sitting next to tisha keeps moving, at the moment it's a bit freaky, but it is geting worse since it does not seem to stop.
 
On the road north-

Michael picks up speed and feels his car bump along the gravel road, increasing the distance between him an Alex. Yet even as he moves away, a glance to the rearview mirror reveals that Alex is still chasing. On the edges he can also see what looks like Felice approaching the road. Furtheraway, the Latham family is up and following Alex.

In the news van/ Parking Lot-

Mrs. Foo and Father McCormick pull to a stop in the parking lot as the news van comes in.

Tisha begins to ease up on the steering wheel and pulls off the highway into the T-Bone. She is still driving too fast as she enters the parking lot but breaks hard.

When the van stops she puts her head against the steering wheel and begins to shake and cry. Willie has seen this before, from other journalists who had just suffered a traumatic experience. It's stress letting itself go.


Outside the Diner-
OCC- Sean walks David outside?

IC Hammond watched David walk out. "Where the hell are you going with him?" Asked Hammond.

"I'll be back." Says David.

When Sean speaks his peace, David hesitates from continuing. "Finally he says. See the thing is, that if I help you than I could incriminate myself. What happens when this is over, there is no more emergency and I'm a swinging dick to the law? You've seen the people Hammond associates with, right? Horst was a righteous fuck, as far as I'm concerned, but Hammond is all about the money, him and Rita especially. I drive a truck but I'd prefer not to see what they load in it, if you get my meaning. Problem is that Hammond has got be by the nads...Money, debt. Gambling debts.... and Hammond, well, he knows people that might want me to make some payments and will leave me all broken up if I don't. Sure this shit's all emergency, but if I turn Hammond on you, what's to stop Hammond from making a few calls. Fuck, I could end up in a dumpster if I help you out. That don't mean that I don't want to help you folks out, but that I have to think of my longer-term interests."

Inside the Diner-

Samantha listens as Dr. Haussman explains what needs to be done. Based on what Dr. Haussman can figure out, she's got a fracture in a number of places, and bone has been crushed. It will require a lot of special medical treatment to restore the arm. But the problem seems to be internal bleeding and infection.

Hammond watches Luke and Charlie come in. "Charlie, now what do you think you're doing and were the hell you think you're going?"

Charlie doesn't break stride, "To the roof boss. We got some bad folk comin' in. I figure on shootin em."

Rita gasps, "Shoot em? What the hell for."

"Bad white folks. As an Indian I can't pass this up."

In the Communications Room-

Another US Base, an airforce base in Germany, just went nuclear. Then another base in England and one in Spain. That said, the US fleet in the Med seems to be intact. Reports of a US naval vessel firing its guns into Naples Italy. US Base in Norway just went nuclear. Base in Iceland is overrun. Base at Thule Alaska is fine and is on high alert. Base in Scotland seems to be in quarentine.

Nuclear blast in Marsailles.
No news from Vienna, Zurich, Venice, Malan. News traffic from civil authorities suggest mass civilian riots, many dead, overwhelmed authorities. Military cannot hold.

There is a knock on the door.
"Hello, this is Azadeh. They have asked me to guard the premises and I just walked a perimeter. Can I speak to you please?"

In the garage-

Earl screams as blood gushes from his opened wrist. The older man tries to escape, but there is no place to run in the narrow space between the wall and the truck.

The creature is upon him, grabbing Earl and pulling him towards. The creature takes a deep bite into Earl's neck, and from the truck Jim and Mitchell can see blood spray out on the truck's hood. Earl's cry become a gurgle as blood floods his lungs. Earl is very aware as life drains from him and the world goes dark that he is being consumed and is certain that his soul is damned.

Inside the truck Jim and Mitchell try to escape, try to take the gun out, but in their desperate hate to flee, the truck the rifle becomes difficult to move within the trucks narrow confines. Mitchell gets the passenger door of the truck open and essentially fall out to the floor, Jim follows desperate to escape. But now on the opposite side of the truck from the creature, they no longer have a clear shot.

Dave sees Earl's throat get torn open by the creature bite, hears the gurgle and sees Earl's death rattle. The creature is still busy consuming the older man as Dave approaches with the wrench. He can see Bob on the other side with the shotgun aimed. Whether the creature cares about either is unclear as its attention seems focused on the man in its arms, and as it begins to consume.

In the diner and in the parking lot-
Everyone hears Earl cry out in pain and terror, forcing all to stop what they are doing.
 
OCC - Welsh, Bob has a Beretta, no shotgun (sadly). Bo does.

In the garage -

As Dave's senses return, he decides that it's safer to let the trooper deal with it. There is nothing he can do for Earl. He wouldn't want to get caught in the crossfire, so he stays back, but ready to defend himself if the thing were to lunge at him.

Bob is still dazed by the shock of seeing the zombie.


Topside: the diner's roof-

Charlie leads Luke topside and Luke immediatly goes to the corner of the roof facing the incoming zombies.

Luke remains calm and in control, but hurries nonetheless. He quickly unfolds the sleeping bag and lays it on the roof together with the sniper ammo. He lays the shotgun next to him, opens the sniper bag and removes the rifle, unfolding the bipod. Then he lies down on the sleeping bag, shoulders the sniperrifle, locks&loads and flips up the plastic scope protection caps. He estimates the distance using the ranging markings on his scope.

OCC - How close did they get & how many are we talking about Welsh? (and yes, i need to temporize Luke a lil' now)
 
@ Suaside-

OCC-
This of course takes a bit of time for Charlie to drop the ceiling ladder, open the lock, lead Luke up, then Luke gets set up. Say 4 minutes + about 2 minutes for the earlier conversation and movement?

News Van has reached the parking lot.

Say the runners are within minutes and fairly visible. Let's assume within a half mile. Record distance runners do it in little less than two minutes, so let say two 1/2 minutes. And lets say... hmmmm.. 1/10 of zombies are runners, and about 200 zombies on the pile up. = 20.

The walkers will take more time to get there, but will come in greater numbers.
 
OCC- I had originally intended for Sean to lead David after Luke and Charlie, in the hopes that if David cooperated they could get the guns right away. Also, David already cleared what they were doing with Hammond earlier: going to the garage to explain matters to Earl. As it is, they'll probably run off in that direction now that they've heard Earl's death cry.

Bo succeeded with his Shotgun roll and impales (7% roll vs. 61% skill): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=580608

Bo caused 30 damage to the junkyard zombie with his shotgun: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=580611

Bo hit the zombie in the head through sheer luck (1 on roll of 1d8): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=580617

Mr. Foo succeeded at his Psychology roll on Azadeh (34% roll vs. 82% skill): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=580658

To keep things moving quickly, I'm going to proceed as if Mr. Foo believes Azadeh can be trusted. If for some reason he feels she can't be (which I think is unlikely), let me know and I'll edit.

IC-
In the garage-
Bo moved past Bob, who was just stood there in shock, as Earl fell screaming. Dave backed away while gripping his wrench, and Bo's line of fire was now clear. He squeezed the trigger, and the blast hit the creature right in the head with incredible force.

In the diner-
"We'll talk later!" said Sean to David as he heard Earl's scream. "Sounds like there's trouble in the garage! Let's go!" He ran towards the garage, picking up his pace when the he heard the shotgun fire.

In the parking lot-
Mrs. Foo parked the Outback near the diner's door as Earl cried out. She and the priest opened their doors and got out. Then they heard the roar of the shotgun.

"Sweet Mary, Jesus, and Joseph!" said Father McCormick. "What in Creation was that?"

"Trouble," said Mrs. Foo, closing her door. The priest did likewise. She pointed to the battered news van. "Let's help them, get them inside." She clicked the button on her remote that locked the Outback's doors.

In the motel-
Mr. Foo sighed. His secret world just kept getting visitors. As much as he wished for privacy, this was impossible under the circumstances. Given what was happening, secrecy didn't seem to matter much any more. Azadeh seemed a decent sort, and he felt they had something in common. Both of them had to flee their homelands after they had been taken over by some of the most evil men of their time, though Azadeh couldn't have been much older than a baby when the Ayatollahs took over Iran, if she had even been born yet by then. He paused from his work on the laptop, stood, and unlocked and opened the door.

"Please, come in," he said. "I apologize, but I must repair this computer so I'll have to work and talk at the same time." He resumed his seat and picked up his tools again, leaving the door wide open - something he had never done before.

Stephanie called back Major Andrews and gave the reports from Europe to him. "This is real bad, Major," she said. "That's five bases in Europe that have been nuked so far, counting the one in Italy."

"I wouldn't put it past Russia," said Mr. Foo. "I'm not quite 100% certain it's them, but who else could it be? There's a remote chance that it's China - what's left of it. Terrorists might have a few nukes, but such an attack would require much sophistication and advance planning. I can't believe we wouldn't have caught wind of it, and they'd be more likely to use their nukes here in the U.S."

Stephanie relayed Mr. Foo's analysis to Major Andrews. "I'm not sure how the nukes were delivered yet. Could be missiles, could've come in by sea or overland. I'll try to find out. The last I heard the President was being evacuated to a secure location in West Virginia. I don't know if he's arrived yet, but I'm going to try to contact them."
 
In the garage

Since JIM did not have a clear shot, he decided to back away and get out of the garage. He sees Sean running.

"Back off!", Jim yells, "there´s some kind of zombie here, and it´s eating Earl!"

Jim looks back at the garage, If it seems humanly possible to help the people there against the monster, he will give all his support. If his help does not seem necessary, he´ll dash to the diner, to be part of the defense in there.

In the diner
SAMANTHA tends to dr. Haussman fractures the best she can, due to the circunstances (OOC: I am not sure what we have of medical supplies and instruments). She uses what is avaiable and proper to the condition of the patient.

But when she hears the scream, can´t help but shiver.

OOC: If Samantha has finished, she ´ll go to the window to see what happened. If not, she will ask what´s going on, while finishing her work.
 
In the garage -

OCC - due to Mr. Handy's rolls I guess it's safe to assume the following:

Dave sees the zombies head pop like a watermelon at a shooting extravaganza. Bo's shot was devestating. Dave feels lucky he wasn't standing close, or he'd be picking skullfragments off his shirt.

"Cool." Dave mumbles, clearly impressed, letting the wrench dangle by his side.

In the whole ordeal Dave cant help but remember Army of Darkness, where Ash wrecks havoc with his doublebarreled 'boomstick' and smiles. What a kickass movie...

He then quoted a metalband called Rob Zombie:
"And out of the darkness, the Zombie did call.
True pain and suffering he brought to them all.
Away ran the children to hide in their beds,
for fear that the devil would chop off their heads."

While doing so, he instinctively tries not to look at what remains of his former boss to spare himself the agony. The trooper would deal with it if there was anything that could be done, but Dave was pretty sure that ship had sailed.

Either way, judging from what Dave had heard as the zombie walked into the room, good ol' Earl had some skellies in his closet. The old man probably got what he deserved. This probably was a case of poetic justice...

In the meanwhile, Bob is slowly getting out of his mesmerised state.


Topside: the diner's roof -

OCC - me bored, me shoot stuff. let's start this turkeyshoot...

Luke fiddles with his scope and Charlie hears the distinct clicks of the range setting wheel on the scope. Luke briefly studies the grass near the highway, trying to get an idea of the wind direction and strength. It's at that moment he hears the shotgun from the garage, but he remains focused on the task at hand. There are enough people down there to deal with whatever goes on down there. Yet again he fails to realise (Idea 60 roll vs 45 stat) that zombies could be coming from the other side as well.

He picks the closest running zombie, carefully leading him with his sights. He'd prefer not to look at the zombie itself, to spare himself the horror, but he has to to make sure the runner is indeed a zombie and not a person running away from the zombies. While he was able to live with the initial shock of seeing them through his binoculars, seeing them through his scope does result in a small mental shock (Sanity failure: 94 roll vs 90 stat).

To recover, he bows his head and closes his eyes briefly, trying to clear his mind of the thoughts and implications. Luke is not a religious man, but he believes strongly in Mother Earth and whatever those things are, they certainly don't belong here. They're an abomination, a travesty to Nature. Hence, it is his duty to do what he does best and shoot these bastards to Kingdom Come.

He steadies his hand, exhales, and squeezes off a practise shot aimed at the upper torso of the runner, to check the windage. The shot cracks through the relative silence at the truckstop. If anyone still had doubts about the seriousness of their predicament, Luke hoped the two shots would jumpstart them into action.

Luke carefully follows the shot, seeing if his estimate of the speed of the runner and the windage were correct.
 
In the garage-

Bo’s shotgun blows the zombie’s head apart and it falls with a rattle to the floor.

Jim seems uncertain as to what to do.

Baldwin calls out to Bo, “Hey man… don’t forget we got that date with a chopper..”

Earl’s body continues to bleed through the arm and the torn throat.


In the Diner-

Samantha realizes that working on Dr. Haussman’s broken arm will take some time and effort. They will need to sterilize instruments and need a relatively clean place to do the work.

Many of the others are shocked at the sound of sudden gunfire. Robert and Duke followed by Beth go to check out what is happening in the garage.

Rita looks to Hammond. "That sounded like Earl..."

"Yeah...." Says Hammond. "And it didn't sound too good either."


On the rooftop

Luke begins to shoot.
OCC- Suaside, you can roll these.

Charlie comes up nearby bringing his two rifles and a blanket. He adjusts his site on the Remington rifle and takes a prone position.

In the Communications Room-

Andrews sends back a response. “Can you confirm any source for the nuclear strikes? Why would the Russians nuke bases on the mainland and leave nuclear weapon fleets untouched? Do you have any mention of hits on our SLBMs?”

There are no records of attack on US ballistic missile submarines. Indeed, except where naval forces are near ports, there have been no attacks on US naval assets. In fact there are no reports of any air-to-air combat over Europe or, at least in Asia, where US forces are engaged with other powers.

Stephanie reports this.

Andrews sends back a response. “This might be protocol in the event of an attack on a nuclear site. If the CO expects the base to be captured by hostile forces, he may elect to detonate his weapons or detonate his weapons above the site in order to prevent capture.”

Azadeh steps into the room. “I just walked the perimeter and I am worried that we are very vulnerable. There is a large group of people heading our way from the East, but so far I see nothing coming from the other directions. Even so I only have this.” She holds up her pistol, "which doesn't have much range."

Then seeing the communications gear. “What is all of this? Can you tell me if there have been detonations in the Middle East. My father’s family lives in Tehran?”

Tehran was vaporized, although it is unclear who.

“Was it the Israelis?” She asks. “Could this have been a preemptive hit on Iran’s nuclear program?”
 
In the garage-
"Stay away from Earl's corpse!" said Bo, training his shotgun on Earl's body. A fresh shell was already ready to fire. "He may get up and try to eat someone. I already saw it happen once. Anyone with a gun, help me cover him, but keep your distance."

(OCC- Bo is standing almost as far as he can from Earl while still being able to get the point blank bonus with precision aim; he is aiming now but holding his fire for now unless Earl makes any post-mortem moves. Since his Dex is 13, this would be around 25 feet.)

"Bob, you and Gary should get that fuel loaded on the truck." Bo called to Baldwin. "Everything's under control here now! I blew the thing's head off, but it's too late for Earl. I've got him covered in case he doesn't know how to stay dead. The fuel's on its way, and I'll be with you soon. Stay with the truck. Hammond will probably come over soon to see what happened." Baldwin would hopefully know to stay out of sight if Hammond came by, and the rig's mirrors should give him some warning.

Bo spoke to Wallace without taking his eyes off of Earl's body. "Wallace, I know you put your badge away a long time ago, but I'd like to deputize you. I have to head to Brownson for a bit to help a stranded State Police chopper get here. Sean Blank will fill you in on the situation. You should collect your rifle and ammo when you have a free moment."

"I wonder who the dead guy was and what he was doing in the junkyard. Tough to ID him now that he no longer has a face." Bo eyed the now headless body while continuing to watch Earl. "Looks like I'm not the first to shoot him. He's got a gunshot wound in the chest too, but it isn't bleeding. That may be what killed him in the first place. He's got coveralls on - did he used to work here, maybe? Anyone recognize him? If we're real lucky and whoever killed him was real dumb, there'll still be a nametag or some ID on him, but I wouldn't count on it."

Next he spoke to Dave and Mitchell. "Sorry I didn't get here in time to save your boss, guys, though I'll understand if you won't miss him much. Now that you don't have a boss, though, maybe you'd like to do some work for the U.S. government and the State Police. We may be able to get that State Police chopper here, but in case we can't we'll want the one that's here repaired. Our earlier offer still stands: 25 thousand bucks. Only now instead of Earl getting all of it and only paying you guys a pittance, it'll be split evenly among everyone who helps Bob with the repairs. That's over eight grand each for you two and Gary if you both help. After it's done or it's not needed any more, you should work on Wallace's truck next. If we need to evacuate, we'll need the gas in the tanker." He spoke to Jim. "I don't remember seeing you around before, but if you've got any mechanical skills you're welcome to help."

In the parking lot-
Mrs. Foo led Father McCormick over to the news van, where the terrified reporter sat sobbing in the driver's seat. The cameraman next to her seemed more collected.

"There, there, my child," said the priest. "Have faith in the Lord, for He is in control. Everything is going to be okay."

"Please to come inside with us," said Mrs. Foo. "We have plan to get through this. We stick together, we stay alive. You hurt?"

Sean raced out the front door of the diner, the rifle already in his hands, and ran full tilt towards the garage. He hoped David was behind him, but he wasn't about to waste time looking back to make sure.

In the motel-
Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, that makes a lot more sense, Major," she said. "That must be what happened. If those bases were about to be overrun, it makes a morbid kind of sense that the COs would detonate a nuke and destroy their stockpiles rather than leave them lying around. I haven't heard of infected people using weapons, but I can see why you wouldn't want to leave loose nukes unguarded. I'm glad you know these protocols. Over."

Mr. Foo nodded as he tinkered with the laptop. "If it were the Russians," he said, 'they wouldn't have left the Sixth Fleet intact. As for this place, it's a secret CIA surveillance post. Or at least, it was a secret. Given what's going on, I don't suppose that matters so much. If you're going to defend this place, you have a right to know what it is you're defending."

"And the MP-5?"

"An old friend from my days as a field operative. I haven't been in the field for decades, but I still have the SMG for site security. I also have a pistol. Miss Bridges, do you know how to use a gun?"

"I'm a fair shot with a handgun," Stephanie said.

"Here, you can borrow mine." He removed the concealed holster with the P10 pistol from under his jacket and handed it and its extra ammo to her. She put the holster on under her lab coat and put the clips in her pockets as she spoke.

"Thanks. As for the Middle East, a lot of nukes have been going off in cities there and everything's very murky. There might be a regional war going on there. I'm sorry about your father's family. I'm not sure who nuked Tehran. It's possible that Iranians already had at least one nuke and used it on themselves, like the Chinese did, to suppress all the berserk people in the cities. Maybe Israel nuked Tehran, but I don't know if it was preemptive or not. Tel Aviv was nuked too, as were Cairo, Damascus, and pretty much any city of decent size in the area."

"If Israel were targeting Iran's nuclear program," said Mr. Foo, "they probably would use conventional weapons if they were striking first and they certainly would have hit targets besides Tehran. That program is scattered in at least twenty locations. I think they have other things on their plate at the moment, though. I don't expect anyone's going to manufacture a new nuclear weapon any time soon, if ever. The world's industrial infrastructure is crippled."
 
In the garage -

"I think this is way past a money issue now. Survival is more like it." Dave says "I'll be right back."

Dave runs out to his van to get some gear. He puts on a pair of jeans and his black leather punk jacket. He also grabs his baseball bat before returning.

Bob is now out of his mesmerised state and starts going back to work on the fuel loading.


Topside: the diner's roof -

Luke sees his bullet miss by a longshot due to the extreme range (about 800m) and wind on the open plains. He makes a mental note of the deviation and looks if the zombie has any kind of reaction to the shot.

"Hey Cochise, we got a pretty strong wind coming from west by south west. Bare it in mind when you shoot." Luke says to Charlie "And those running zombs are pretty dang fast, I'll tell ye."

Luke makes the necessary adjustments to his scope to compensate for the windage. He then chambers the next round, pops out the clip, loads 2 extra bullets into it and lays out his reserve clips ready for grabs, while he waits for the runner to get closer so that he can have a cleaner shot.
 
OOC: Hey all, hope you had a nice weekend!

IC:

In the Junkyard

Jim listended to Bo, and without a blink said:

"Mechanical skills? Sir, I can fix anything. Gimme a room with all the parts, and I can assemble a car from scratch." He lowers his gun and opens a smile. "Money is welcome. Jim is my name. I think it´s the beggining of a great friendship." Jim was to puts his hand forward, as to shake his. But since Bo was busy aiming at the bastered-headed zombie, JIM aimed his weapon at the zombie too and says:
"I am covering you. What next?" he looked around, then at Bo.

In the Diner

Samantha said, to any who would hear there:
"Folks, I will need your help. I have to sterylize instruments, and I need a clean place to work on Dr. Hammond. Can you guys keep, ow, hold the fort while I do that? Later I will help you too. Also, can I use that table there?" as she said the last sentence, she looked at the diner´s owner.

OOC: There must be some table clean or "easily cleanable" to do the job.
 
On the road North-

Michael cannot believe what he sees. This things transform you into something else, a whole family who just died now running after his car. Then the porsche girl appears at one side of the road. But, was she just wounded? Or was she one of them now? No way to be sure. And again, where for crying out loud was this road taking him?

(OOC: Michael rolls idea: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=586253 and fails)

On the parking lot-

Willie is guessing that they won't be able to stay there for too long, as those thing approach, he wants to take Tisha and that freaky headless corpse out of the van ASAP. So he gets out the van, and reaches the front passenger's seat, takes the seat belt off and the body comes out of the van by himself, with the arms extended forward trying to reach for Willie, but as willie steps aside in horror, the corpse does not correct his course and falls after a few steps only to keep rattling on the pavement.
 
OCC- I'm going ahead and rolling Sanity for Mrs. Foo and Father McCormick for seeing Thomas's headless corpse, since I'm sure it'll be necessary.

Mrs. Foo succeeded at her Sanity roll (14% roll vs. 55% stat): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=586374

Father McCormick succeeded at his Sanity roll (37% roll vs. 90% stat): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=586378

The motel across the road has plenty of clean rooms to work on Dr. Hausmann's arm. Mrs. Foo will be sure to point this out once she gets inside. Also, remember that the first aid kit from Bo's cruiser is in the diner, as are Kimberly's medications.

IC-
In the garage-
"Thank you, Jim," said Bo. "Glad to have you aboard. I'd shake your hand, but I need them both right now to hold my shotgun steady. Are you a new hire here at the garage or something? Once Earl's body is no longer a threat, go talk to Bob and he'll get you started and tell you what needs doing. If that gun you're holding is Wallace's, you should probably give it back to him at that point. Earl's got a shotgun around here somewhere that might be of use. We'll need to keep the garage secure while you guys work in case any more 'zombies,' for want of a better term, show up. Those dogs can help warn you if there's trouble." He continued keeping a wary eye on Earl.

In the parking lot-
Mrs. Foo gasped when she saw Thomas's headless body, his neck just a bloody stump, but she remained calm. The horrors she had witnessed in China in her youth had steeled her somewhat against such things. Father McCormick crossed himself, but remained as unflappable as always. They both helped Willie lead Tisha out of the van and towards the diner. The rifle shot from the roof reminded them of the approaching danger, and they quickened their pace.

In the motel-
"Please let us know when a decision has been made about whether you're going to pick up the equipment, Major," said Stephanie. "We're sitting ducks downstairs. Only three of us are armed: Mr. Foo has an MP-5 and two of us have pistols. It would take us hours to get it upstairs right now, so we'll have to wait until more people arrive from the diner before we could try it anyway. We wouldn't want to have to move it twice, so we'll wait for the decision. Either way, it's a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour before it can be up and running at its new location. If you do decide to send people to get it, we'll keep it downstairs and running until they arrive."

"You know," said Mr. Foo as he worked on the computer's innards, "there are a number of other surveillance outposts like this one. Most of them were still operational when I first logged on this morning, in fact. Perhaps one of them could supply intelligence to Warren AFB while this one is offline."

"Good idea! I'll try to get in touch with them and see if any of the others can do it." Stephanie told Major Andrews about Mr. Foo's plan and began trying to contact another CIA listening post.
 
In the Comm Room-

Mr. Foo has luck. It seems the laptop can be repaired and it is a matter of downloading the information from the Hardrive to his own PC. A matter that will take a few minutes.

Also it seems that another relay station, one located in Hawaii is operational. The man on one of the island- Hau‘oli Ka‘eo Kalama Goldberg is up and operation, but unfortunately he seems either drunk or stoned.

Andrews replies. "Still uncertain what the CO plans to do...."

In the Garage-

Hammond walks in with David the Horny truck driver. Hammond has his .357 in hand and the gun is pointed in Bo and Jim's general direction.

"What the hell happened to Earl?" He demands? "Holy Hoppin Shee-it...." He says, and pauses as he takes in the gruesome remains. Then he looks at the dead headless creature. "Looks like someone put buckshot through a melon. Why ain't you boys helping out Earl? My Brother-in-Laws hurt."

At that moment, Earl sits up and turns towards Jim and Bo.

(Being ready, Jim and Bo get the shot... that said, it is possible that Hammond thinks Earl is not a monster, and may fire on you should you shoot his brother-in-law).

Both dogs are growling at Earl.
In the Patrol Car-

Over the radio, "This is Erica Spears. I am within 8 minutes of my destination. I hope you boys are there..."


In the Parking Lot-

Mrs. Foo and Father McCormick help get Tisha, who is quite hysterical, get out of the van. Willie helps, but the sound of gunfire and experience has Willie look down the highway,... He sees about 20 of those things racing down the highway towards them. More are further behind....

On the road North-

Micheal continues to drive North, aware that he is being chased. Finally the road reaches a juncture. He can go East or West along a dirt road. There is no sign on this road.

In the Diner-

Rosie says to Samantha. "Probably the best place to work is the kitchen. There is a table in there and some knives if you need them, plus hot water. The table would work....

The other people in the diner are doing different things. Kimberly has left and goes into the parking lot for her car, as do Robert, Duke and Beth.

No sign of Flip.

(More later)
 
OCC- Wallace should be able to get a shot off too, since he had his .357 Magnum out when he came in and Bo gave the order to cover Earl. Also, is Sean there yet? If so, he should get a shot too. Of course, given my rolls below I doubt it matters. How did David and Hammond get there ahead of him when he left first?

Bo succeeded with his Shotgun roll and impales again (12% roll vs. 61% skill, though point blank bonus applies - not that it matters): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=589864

Bo caused 24 damage to Zombie Earl with his shotgun: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=589872

Bo happened to hit the zombie in the head again (roll of 1 on 1d8): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=589873

I'm glad I'm using Invisible Castle - this streak of luck is unbelievable!

IC-
In the comm room-
"I'm almost done here," said Mr. Foo. "It'll just take a few more minutes." He connected the hard drive to his PC and began to download the data.

"That's the best news I've heard all day!" said Stephanie.

"You know, that young Marine Alex has been camping outside in a tent. He may have left some weapons there. In an emergency maybe we could borrow them and leave a note to let him know why we're using them and that he can have them back once he returns."

Stephanie rolled her eyes at the intoxicated ramblings of the Hawaiian CIA operator. The poor guy must not have been able to cope with the day's events and gotten himself smashed - either that or he never took his work seriously to begin with. She spoke to him slowly and clearly. "Please try to stay focused on your job, Mr. Goldberg," said Stephanie. "Is there anyone else there with you I can speak to? Over." While she waited for a reply, she continued searching for other operational stations and let the CDC in Omaha know the latest and that the laptop repairs were nearly finished. "Say, Mr. Foo, what kind of bandwidth does this network have? I wonder if we can send the data over it directly to Omaha, and how long it would take. I'd guess it would take quite a long time, though. This equipment looks older than I am."

(OCC- Is this possible, and how long would it take to transmit the data?)

In the garage-
Bo had only seconds to act, and he had seen what these zombies were capable of. He would rather take his chances on his vest protecting him from Hammond's .357 if he decided to do something stupid. "He's already dead, just like Horst!" shouted Bo. "Look at the dogs, they can sense it!" Then he fired his shotgun again, popping Earl the zombie's head just as easily as he had done to the zombie that had killed him.

In the diner-
"Hurry!" said Mrs. Foo. "They coming!" She held the door open while the priest and the cameraman each took one of Tisha's arms and ushered her inside. Mrs. Foo followed right behind them. "Trouble coming!" she announced.

"I'm not sure how aware you are of the day's events," said Father McCormick, "but a whole bunch of people are running this way down the highway and I believe they mean us harm. This place isn't very safe. Those windows and that door won't keep them out long."

Mrs. Foo nodded. "Motel much safer. Plenty of rooms upstairs easier to defend. We leave right now, we can get there. If not have own cars, my Outback seats seven." She noticed Dr. Hausmann with her broken arm. "Ooh, that look bad. You need ride?"
 
In the garage.
OCC- Ah.. Sean... Wasn't sure where he was going. He was aiming at Earl... Boy, I was hoping this wasn't going to happen but....

IC-

Boss Hammond sees Earl's head come apart to Bo's blast, turns to Bo and says, "You son-of-a-bitch." and fires his pistol at Bo.

Bo feels like his chest suddenly feel as if it received a blow from Mike Tyson. He feels his feet come off the ground, the shotgun fall from his hands, and then discovers its very hard to breath as he sees the terrible wound in his chest.. He tries to breath and finds it difficult. His lungs are filling with blood.

(Edit- OCC- Bo's Kelvar takes some of the force of the bullet and slows it down, but being light Kelvar it doesn't fully stop the blow. The vest takes 5 points of damage, leaving Bo with five points of damage. The force of the blow has stunned and knocked the wind out of him, thus he's non-functioning and bleeding, but the wound is not immediately life-threatening).

Hammond's shot is a reflex reaction to seeing his brother-in-law shot. Sean Blank fires in reflex as the State Trooper falls to the floor.

The shot almost hits Hammond. Fired from the hip, it narrowly misses and punctures a can of oil.

Hammond. returns fire on Blank and Blanks upper arm explodes in blood and ruined muscle. His useless arm drops the rifle as the force of the .357 knocks Sean to the floor.

Both dogs flee from the garage as the sound of gunfire resounds in their sensitive ears.

Jim remains standing with Wallace's rifle in his hand as Wallace is in the garage with his own pistol drawn. However, the truck lies between him and Earl, and he cannot get a clear shot.

David has returned with baseball bat in hand, having not yet gone to get Earl's shotgun.

Dave the trucker is behind Hammond, also with his gun drawn, but his gun hand wavers.

"Shit Hammond, what the fuck you shot a trooper for?" Demands David.

Hammond seems unsure, "It was self-defense, damn it. He shot Earl."

Gary and Mitchell are trying to back his way out of the garage in order to avoid being hit by gunfire and in the process block Bob's line of sight.

(OCC- Jim and Wallace can try to shoot Hammond... or might try to reason with him first.)

In the Kitchen's walk-in-

Flip is still watching to see if Horst will make any sudden moves when the walk-in door opens and Flip sees the business end of .38 is pointed at him. Bud, the private investigator steps inside.

"Punk, I was hoping to question your boss, so I'll guess you'll have to do.." He opens up a picture from the wallet. "Tell me where this girl is, and if you give me the wrong answer, so help me, I'll kill you."

Flip roll Know, and if that fails, roll Idea.

In the Kitchen itself-

Alice has joined Dr. Haussman and Samantha, "I'll boil some water so we can sterilize tools. I think there are some clean towels we can use as bandages if we need too."

Sally the nurse has also joined. "I can assist. Not bad in medicine and first aid. Perhaps I should lead this and you can assist?" She asks Samantha.

Dr. Haussman is about to instruct Samantha on what to do when she hears the guns going off from the garage.

In the Diner-

Willie, Tisha, Father McCormich and Mrs. Foo have just entered. Tisha is difficult to move as she seems to have had something of an emotional breakdown after her near death experience on the highway.

Rita at the cash register looks at Mrs. Foo. "Who the hell said you're the boss around here. Besides, how long you figure you're going to hold out with out food? All the food is here. You expect us to give it to you? I don't think so. You expect us just to get up and leave?"

The waitresses had been busy cleaning up the diner from the earlier mess. Rosie looks out the window and sees the runners approaching. "Looks like people running down the highway from Brownson."

Beth looks at Ashley and Lynne and tries to talk reason to him. "Look, I don't know what to tell you, but that asshole Hammond and that bitch Rita are going to screw you both if they havent' already. I can smell the stink on them but if they are holding back on something, it could get us all killed. So help us out here and tell me what you know."

Ashely looks at Lynne uncertain. Lynne shakes her head. "I ain't tell you shit. I don't know you." She says with a smirk.

But Ashley, perhaps seeing that Thomas did not return with the news crew, has second thoughts. "Yeah... Hammond, Earl and Rita are up to something. Not sure what, but they are hiding out stuff in the basement. Hammond and Horst used to work together, and if you want to know what I think. It's drugs and guns. Military guns."

On the Rooftop.

Charlie shoots down his Remington at the creatures running towards the T-Bone.

The first three shots are at extreme range do not hit any of the targets. "Fuck." But on the next three shots, he hits two of his targets, both squarely in the chest.

"Got 'em, but damn, they ain't goin down." Says Charlie. "I got 'em in the chest square. They should go down.."

Indeed, both creatures are no longer running but are still standing and now stumbling towards the T-Bone.

In the Comm Room,

Azadeh steps out of the room, drawing her pistol and apparently to resume her perimeter guard. "I'll check the tent to see if he has any weapons with him."

As she steps away, Ellen Cody runs inside. "You have to see this. They're comin down the highway! We've got two of the stairways barricaded, but I doubt it will be able to stop them."

OCC- No way to transmit data to Omaha, sorry,

Hau‘oli Ka‘eo Kalama Goldberg calls back. "I'm alone and I got to tell, this is some pretty fucked up shit! My partner got bitten by one of them things and is lookin pretty sick. I had to beat the fucker off him with a machete. Damn thing was still bitten Bob even if I hacked the fucker's head off! What the hell is going on over there! It's a damn shitty day for quitting 'Shrooms, I tell ya."

In the Parking lot,

Kimberly is removing a SPAS-12

swatshotgunspas12.jpg


from her trunk when she hears the gunshots going off in the garage. "Oh shit. That's not good."

Duke and Robert are unpacking a pair of baseball bats. "Wow. Nice Shotgun." Says Duke, "You got another piece?"

"I got another if you can use it."

"I can use a pistol." Says Robert.

"Here." She passes him a Ruger 9 mm. "Ever work for the Federal Government?"

"Nope."

"Well you do now." She says, flashing them her ID which shows DEA. "You both are officially deputized. Follow my move and watch my ass."

Randall, who has also retreaved a bat from his car, joins them as they approach the garage.

Jim Kerr, monitoring the radio. "This is Joe Barring. Sorry for being off the road but I ran into some trouble changin' tire. I am enroute to the Brownson airfield, over."

Also Erica Spears calls in. "This is Erica Spears. You guys are lucky that my gas is holding out but it looks like there are some fires in Brownson. I am about 6 minutes out.[/url]
 
In the garage -

"Lower your fucking gun or I'll have to ventilate your fucking airhead!" Bob yells clearly angered from behind Gary and Mitchell as they run past "We're dealing with motherfucking zombies here, you moronic piece of slag. What the cop shot wasn't anyone's fucking brother. Now cool it before we all buy the farm! We need to get the cop fixed up and get the truck moving or we'll be sending that pilot into a freaking deathtrap. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!"

"Get the docs out here!" he yells at Gary and Mitchell.

Dave in the meanwhile is already running for the diner to get help.

OCC - welsh, Dave was the mech, David was used as the trucker, you switched em over again.
(and btw since Bob is a big guy, I'm guessing this could be rather intimidating to have him yell like that, although it's obviously not the best way to calm someone down.)


On the roof -

Luke is impressed that the indian landed some successful hits from that distance, but it obviously didn't help much.

Now that they've gotten closer, he decides to go for the head. He quickly checks the range again, exhales, and slowly squeezes the trigger. Once again, the bullet misses it's mark. However, he carefully observes the error and corrects it after chambering another around (Shot: Success 1d100=28 vs 50%CTH).

The bullet hits the zombie's head and causes heavy damage (2d6+3=11).

OCC - any extra damage for being a headshot?
 
OCC- EDIT: Forgot to add the link

Stephanie made her Know roll (84% roll vs. 90% stat): http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=595042

IC-
In the garage-
Bo had known that the .357 Magnum was, as Dirty Harry said, "the most powerful handgun in the world." He'd even fired one at a range once and it did indeed have quite a kick. But he didn't truly appreciate its raw power until he was shot by one. The impact had knocked him off his feet and the pain was agonizing even though his Kevlar vest had partially protected him. He knew he wouldn't be able to make it to Brownson in time. Wallace could go in his place perhaps, but the more immediate problem of Hammond still remained.

Sean's arm hung limply at his side. Even if he had still held his rifle, he would have been unable to fire it again. There was little he could do but try to talk Hammond down and, possibly, distract him. "Dammit, Hammond, put that thing down before someone else gets hurt!" he yelled. "Whatever that thing was, it wasn't Earl any more. Trooper Richards just saved all our lives. There's a whole slew more of them heading straight for the T-Bone, and you just shot the one guy who was kicking their butts! Think about Rita and the waitresses back at the diner. They're in danger and we need to protect them. Plus, you've only got four bullets left. You can't kill all of us, and even if you did we'd just rise up and eat you."

In the diner-
"Aha!" said Mrs. Foo. "I knew it! I knew they crooks. I come with, I help. We need those guns fast." Mrs. Foo followed Beth and Ashley.

In the comm room-
"I'm just finishing up," said Mr. Foo as he finalized the repairs. "I'll be out shortly. Miss Bridges, call Major Andrews and tell him. Ellen, you and Miss Cooper keep working. Make sure all the supplies are upstairs."

Stephanie nodded and called Warren AFB back. "Major, we've got infected people coming down the highway towards our position!" she said. "We're not done barricading yet. If you could send us any backup, we can really use it! I found another CIA listening post in Hawaii that's running and may be able to send you intelligence while we're offline, but they've got problems too." She filled him in. "The operator's partner was bitten and must be infected. Any advice for him? I'll let you know when we learn more. Over."

Next, Stephanie called back Hau'oli Ka'eo Kalama Goldberg. "It's a crappy day period, but it's good that you're quitting. We're all going to need our heads clear. I know the chemistry behind addiction and withdrawal. It's rough, but worth it in the end. Mr. Foo and I are at a station inside a motel in southwestern Nebraska and we've been talking to Major Andrews at Warren AFB. I'm sorry to tell you this, but your friend Bob is infected. The Major told me that the disease that's causing this spreads by biting and Bob will become like the thing that bit him. You're going to have to make sure he doesn't bite you once he turns and avoid infection at all costs.

"How secure is your location? If you have any guns and ammo, you'll want to get them. A machete isn't going to be enough. Are you far from populated areas? Have you seen any other things like the one that bit Bob? You need to keep your station running at all costs. Our station is in danger, and we've got infected people heading our way. I need you to talk to Warren AFB and feed them intelligence about what's going on all around the world while we're offline. They need constant info in case someone launches on us. They may be able to send a chopper to pick up our comm gear, or if not we'll have to try to move it upstairs. Either way, we'll be offline for at least 45 to 60 minutes. And if we get overrun, we'll be off the air for good. Do you think you can stay operational that long?

Stephanie thought for a moment. "You said it was still biting your friend even after you cut off its head?" Her eyes lit up. "I bet it's a form of galvanism! Luigi Galvani was an 18th century Italian scientist who discovered the electrical nature of animal life. In the 1780's he observed that an electrical charge sent through a dead frog's nerve endings caused its leg to jerk as if it were alive! Hey, there was also a French scientist, Antoine Lavoisier, who was beheaded in the French Revolution. When he went to the guillotine, he did one last experiment. He told the executioner that he would try to blink after he was decapitated and asked him to count how many times he managed it. He blinked a dozen times! I've got to let the CDC know about this. Please let me know your status. Over."

Stephanie called Omaha back and told the Crisis Response Center the latest news and her hypothesis about galvanism.
 
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