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]

"I'm not leaving my husband a minute longer alone. I can get to our apartment in three hours, if that much." Technically, plenty of time until sunset.

Not being out in the dark with the zombies, good idea.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods. "You'll have to lead the way."

Yes, she is inviting herself along.

[pheliskougra]

Monica pauses, and blinks: apparently she had forgotten. "Thank you."

Jackson will help pack, and tell about safehouses... HERC and the Military were going to secure some buildings with grating, steel blinds, reinforced doors, to be used as refuges for survivors. All are marked with the same symbol and should have beds, food, water and medical supplies. "Any radio you tune to AM 1200 or FM 100 will catch an HERC broadcast... it has been only a recording about staying indoors and waiting for rescue lately, but who knows?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"Good to know," Annabelle replies with a smile. "Try and stay out of trouble till we get back, eh? One rescue operation is enough for a day," she teases Jackson.

[pheliskougra]

"You take care too, miss." He chuckles and nods. "And if things get dangerous, well, we'll be here a while."

[aeons_crackshot]

"I will," she promises. "Keep the light on for us."

Next up, adventure!

[pheliskougra]

And dangerous adventure.

But, there's any other kind?

As a parting gift, Ed Boone offers you and Monica some bolt cutters and a crowbar. Who knows when breaking and entering might be needed, right? "There's a hardware store not far across the river, you'd do well checking for more tools there."

[aeons_crackshot]

Indeed.

"Good to know. My walking through walls skills are a little rusty."

And by "rusty" she means non-existent.

[pheliskougra]

"Good thing those things out there can't walk through walls either." Ed says, shaking head. "Or do more than try to grab you."

Monica is by the door, waiting...

[aeons_crackshot]

"Damn good thing. Catch you on the flip side, Ed."

Annabelle walks to the door. No point in burning any more daylight.

[pheliskougra]

None, really.

The bolt cutters quickly prove to be really useful: opening the gate on the blocked bridge. securing it closed is a simple matter of 'tying' it with some leftover barned wire.

Monica leads the way out of the bridge, into Tanner Street. "We go down to the end, and turn into 8th Avenue. I like on Brookvale Heights, an apartment building overlooking Canal Park."

[aeons_crackshot]

None of those names mean anything to Annabelle, but she nods in understanding. This place is, thankfully, not her home.

"Is there a canal in Canal Park? That could be useful." Zombies don't swim well, and travel by water can be faster than going overland.

[pheliskougra]

"Yeah, it's actually Whistler's Creek, the Canal was built for flood control back in the 50's. Whistler's Creek meets the Union River down that way." She points eastwards, while the street you're following head North.

Just a block down the street, there's the hardware store Ed mentioned.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods, fixing those directions in her mind, just in case. She grins when they reach the hardware store. "Time for a bit of breaking and entering, I think."

You never know what will come in handy, right?

[pheliskougra]

Monica, maybe surprisingly, does not protest the delay. "We'll probably need some tools to secure the apartment." Yes, she's considering holing out with her husband.

The front door is not locked, fortunately. But as the street outside, the interior is a terrible mess, half looted.

Also, some head-bashed-in-not-undead-anymore-corpses. Four.

Someone kicked ass there and seemingly escaped with an intact hide?

[aeons_crackshot]

So it seems.

"Looks like there's at least one more survivor out there," she says with a fierce smile. "Maybe we'll run into them on the way."

[pheliskougra]

Monica gives a nod, glancing around. "Maybe. What should we take? Hammer, nails, a saw?" Backpacks are loaded up, so being frugal might be a good idea.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Those three, but not much more," Annabelle replies, thinking. "We're about at the limit of what we can carry."

[pheliskougra]

She nods, moving to the right where the nails are. Tools seem to be to the left and back of the store, closer to you.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle picks up a hammer and a saw, then.

She...may be picking them based on weapon utility rather than arts and crafts, we're afraid. What, it's not like she has experience with them in their usual uses!

[pheliskougra]

And while you're picking a good long-handled sturdy hammer... there's a noise coming from the back, like someone dropped something heavy like a cardboard box.

[aeons_crackshot]

An instant later, Annabelle has a gun pointed at the noise. "If you're alive, start talking. Otherwise, I'm clearing this place with bullets."

[pheliskougra]

"YOU are alive?" A female voice calls from the back.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle represses her most sarcastic answer.

"You run into any walking corpses that can talk?"

[pheliskougra]

"They hiss and screech and growl. Not far that much." Very suspicious tone. "If you are alive, look for my glasses: they fell off somewhere near the counter."