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

[aeons_crackshot]

Thankfully, no one loses their shirt over the course of the night.

Annabelle has eaten far worse things than MREs, so she scarfs the..whatever it's supposed to be down with hardly a pause.

[pheliskougra]

The package says 'meatloaf with gravy', the contents tasting more 'meatlike with sludge'... you're sure there's a law somewhere about feeding people crap like this.

Ah well.

Monica and Ted are ready to go.

[aeons_crackshot]

"I think you'd best take point, Ted," Annabelle begins. "I don't know where we're going after all."

And Monica's gun is, well, pathetic.

[pheliskougra]

"Watch my back, then..." Well, at least Monica has a gun. Ted carries a baseball bat.

Come to think of it, the bat is a better choice than the little peashooter.

Jackson will open the gate after they check the street, and Ted gives his father a tight hug. Not a goodbye hug, no, just a 'see you later, after this risky thing I'll attempt' hug.

[aeons_crackshot]

Of course. Goodbye hugs are a way to tempt fate.

Annabelle follows, watching his back. And their sides, and their front and rear too. She believes in being thorough.

[pheliskougra]

You and your group meet with just a few shamblers on the way, all easily dispatched.

As Ted said, four blocks up north, at the beginning of the Old Road, there is the hunting and fishing store.

Good news, it seems intact. Un-looted.

Bad news, it seems locked up pretty tightly.

[aeons_crackshot]

Time for plan B, then: Breaking and Entering.

Annabelle looks around for potential weak points in the building's security.

[pheliskougra]

A bit of force in a back door would probably work... or climb and enter thru the ceiling too, with the advantage that a ceiling-entrance would not make the building vulnerable for shamblers.

It all depends on how broken and looted you want to leave the place as, after you get what you need.

[aeons_crackshot]

"The roof looks like the place to start to me, that way nothing will wander in behind us while we're looking for things."

Annabelle IS capable of thinking ahead, no matter what her smart ass teammates may say.

[pheliskougra]

Ted gives a nod, and after checking the alley, climbs on a dumpster: from there he can help Monica into the roof, while you keep watch, then you while Monica keeps watch, then haul himself up while both keep watch.

Once up, Ted will work into breaking open a ventilation duct so they can shimmy in, taking care for not making too much noise.

Last thing they need is attracting shamblers, right?

[aeons_crackshot]

Definitely.

Annabelle keeps a sharp eye out for trouble while Ted works on the ventilation duct.

She'll make shimmying in look ridiculously easy, once they get that far.

[pheliskougra]

Monica will have not much trouble either.

Ted will have to squeeze in a bit, and will get a scrape or two on the way down, but besides that... they're in.

Ooh, candy store. There are heavy 'hunting revolvers', shotguns and hunting rifles, a very nice selection for fending off zombie hordes.

[aeons_crackshot]

This is Annabelle's face once she sees what's outside the duct: :-D

There are guns, lots of shiny, shiny guns. She eyes the shotguns and rifles with a practiced eye.

[pheliskougra]

It's a well-stocked hunting place, everything simple and functional.

Ted gets to work, gathering a roll of rope and a big backpack. They will need you to shoot off the locks of the displays, and once that's done, the young man gathers a scoped hunting rifle, two revolvers, two shotguns, and then ammo.

A lot of it.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle approves. Once she's taken care of the locks, she gets started on getting loaded for bear zombie.

Hm. Shotgun, rifle, crap-ton of ammo.....

[pheliskougra]

Hopefully you'll not mind carrying an extra shotgun and revolver, right? After all, it's good to have extras.

Ted will drag a table display under the air vent, and drag himself up and out with the rope. Then, the group can haul their 'supplies' up at their leisure, and stuff the backpacks full once they are on the roof again.

[aeons_crackshot]

Mind? Hah. The day Annabelle turns down extra weapons will be the day hell freezes over.

Annabelle hauls herself up the rope and starts packing the backpacks. Every now and then though, she stops to take a quick glance all around the area.

[pheliskougra]

Crap.

There's a half-dozen shamblers on the street: they don't seem to have noticed the group yet, but they surely will when the living climb down...

[aeons_crackshot]

On the plus side, the living have Annabelle Newfield on their side. And Annabelle has a shiny new rifle and lots and lots of ammunition.

It's not looking so good for team zombie....

[pheliskougra]

That being the case, you can provide clean-up and cover while Ted and Monica lower the backpacks and then climb down.

Then it's your turn while they provide cover. Damn, it seems more and more shamblers are coming to join the party.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle curses a bit internally. Damn it, how may of them can there BE?!

Annabelle just starts capping zombies, one after the other. It's almost monotonous, really.

[pheliskougra]

Dozens? Hundreds? There's about a dozen near when you start shooting. And the big issue is how the rifle holds only five bullets, so by the time the dozen has been trimmed down to 'two', more shamblers are arriving, attracted by the noise.

By then, Ted made his way down, and uses a rifle to help trim down opposition. Monica makes her way down and uses a shotgun on two zombies in the alley.

[aeons_crackshot]

Yay, teamwork! Annabelle starts swearing aloud now, more out of frustration than fear.

Why is is always zombies, damn it!

[pheliskougra]

Why always snakes, Indy?

Hmm, Ted obviously has skill and experience with guns, since he manages to score neck and head shots fairly consistently. Monica goes for center of mass, and more often than not needs two shots to drop a zombie.

See, the shotguns also have only five shots, which means she needs to go for reload a lot.

[aeons_crackshot]

Well, she DOES carry a whip.....

"Aim for the head!" Annabelle barks in Monica's direction. "Center mass only works if the damn things aren't already dead!"

And this has bee your Life Lesson for the day, kids!