The Last Stand

[pheliskougra]

It's a dark stormy night might be a cliché in story-telling, but it's also stark reality now: the patter of heavy rain and the crack of thunder rousing you to conscience.

You are inside your sedan, face-first into the deployed airbag. Your chest hurts a little from the yanking of the seatbelt, but besides that minimal discomfort you seem uninjured.

The car is halfway into a ditch beside the road, the left-side light still on. The engine is stopped, and the whole of the car is askew, stuck in an odd angle. There's a crack on the windshield, passenger side, and the rain is washing off what seems to be blood.

You remember... a person, running into the road right in front of you. No time to stop, and you only had a glimpse before hitting the person, losing control of the car and crashing.

Probably you should do something about your current situation.

Who are you?

Why were you going to Union City?

Comments

[pheliskougra]

There are a couple crates that can be used for such purpose, the three women should have little difficulty going over. On the other side they find one of those safegates, once past it, Monica makes a beeline to her own apartment's door.

Interesting, it's all locked up safe but the secured area looks empty.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Survivor's holed up in your apartment, maybe?" Annabelle asks as Monica works on opening the door.

[pheliskougra]

The woman shrugs a bit, trying to not look too worried: she opens the door and heads in calling for her husband. "Roger? Roger!"

Only silence.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle may be cursing internally as they move into the apartment. She's looking around, trying to piece together what may have happened here.

[pheliskougra]

The apartment... is actually very neat, clean and in order.

Kelly stays by the door.

Monica comes out of the bedroom with a sheet of paper on hands, frowning.

[aeons_crackshot]

Oh great, looks like he left a note. Annabelle represses the urge to bang her head against the wall.

"What is it, Monica?"

[pheliskougra]

"They left downtown." The woman sighs, obviously skipping over the personal parts... mostly. "...I'm leaving this note hoping you will not come here read it, but if you do, we had a very rough couple of days: those things swarmed the front door, and HERC barely managed to hold them back. They were just a squad of five, and there were too many hallways to watch."

She pauses, skipping over another personal part, likely. "...we blocked the rear and side stairwells, and formed a bottleneck we could defend. Overnight, the attacks trickled off, and in the morning an HERC chopper landed on the roof. After they secured floors 5 to 12, they started evacuating people to the Stadium, which is their main base now. I overheard some of them talking about more outbreaks happening up north..."

"More?" Not good news.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle doesn't look pleased at the idea of more outbreaks either. "One thing at a time," she says with a sigh. "Did he say where they were headed, other than downtown?"

[pheliskougra]

Monica nods. "Roger is a doctor. he had the HERC people fly him to the Union General Hospital. He says I should stay here and wait for rescue."

Right, she'll do just that.

Not.

[aeons_crackshot]

"That would be the smart thing to do," she points out. "It's dark now at any rate, and none of us are leaving till the sun comes up, even if I have MAKE you stay put."

No, she's not kidding.

[pheliskougra]

"Second." Says Kelly, from the door. "Do we have water? I mean, running water? I need a bath, or at least a wet-towel scrubbing, after three days hiding from and fighting zombies, I'm smelling like one."

Not far from truth.

Monica opens mouth to argue, but then closes it. "I guess. And if everybody left, we could look for clothes for you." She glances at Annabelle. "You too. We're both the same size or close."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Wouldn't hurt. You never know when extra clothes will come in handy." Bandages, for instance.

[pheliskougra]

So, it's settled. They actually have water, real running water so Kelly can have her shower and scavenge for clean clothes. As darkness falls, Monica digs out some candles for light, and busies herself trying to turn the MRE's into something close to... the appearance of real food.

Having real dishes to eat on helps.

And a bottle of wine is hopefully not unwelcome.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle is very cautious with the wine. (It's only paranoia if you're wrong, right?)

The MRE....appears to be a standard MRE. Although Annabelle isn't sure how you'd be able to TELL if one had been drugged or poisoned.

[pheliskougra]

In this case it is paranoia, because Monica herself has no compunctions about indulging herself and even opening a second bottle.

After the long day they had, the woman needs to relax a bit.

Kelly seems to support the plan, having a third glass and relaxing too.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle relaxes a little herself, although she still drinks less than she would in a non-zombie situation.

Be prepared, and all of that.

[pheliskougra]

After dinner and clean-up, Monica suggests they drag mattresses to the living room and sleep there, near each other.

Just in case of trouble.

Kelly does not oppose the idea, but she might just be interested on the 'sleep on a mattress in a safe place, instead of the stockroom of her ex-place of work.

[aeons_crackshot]

Finally, Monica is having sensible ideas! Annabelle approves. Getting mattresses through doorways isn't something she has a lot of experience with, but she'll manage.

[pheliskougra]

It's not really hard, the big mattress from the master bedroom, the one from the guest room, blankets and pillows... after making sure it's all nicely locked up, they can settle down.

After a minute of quiet, Kelly speaks up, mirth in her voice. "So, who's up for some lesbian experimentation?"

[aeons_crackshot]

After a moment of "...." Annabelle's brain kicks back into gear.

"I dunno, it would be kind of rude to leave Monica out of the proceedings, what with those wedding vows and all."

[pheliskougra]

Kelly actually scoots closer to Anabelle. "She's welcome to join."

Monica... is ignoring the talk, or already asleep in the embrace of Bacchus.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle raises an eyebrow. "Adultery, hm? Shame on you for encouraging such a thing."

Annabelle does not object to Kelly moving closer. "I suppose I could sacrifice myself to save the stain on poor Monica's soul," she teases.

[pheliskougra]

"Sorry." The dark-skinned girl moves closer yet, smiling. "Hiding in a stockroom for days in the middle of zombie apocalypse made me... reconsider social conventions."

She might be serious about the experimentation part.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle might be willing to...experiment herself. (Experimentation is a handy excuse for ineptitude when, well, you've never had sex before, right?)

"Understandable," Annabelle replies with a chuckle. Annabelle's quite close now, if the other girl is inclined to make a move.

[pheliskougra]

Who'd think, she is serious.

Annabelle is kissed, gently, then more intently.

They'll have to be quiet and careful to not disturb Monica, but Kelly is very gentle, and not inexperienced at all.