Play@YSDC

The gunfire at the motel and the helicopter died down and ceased. Luke concentrated on shooting his targets.

(Counting the last two rounds and this one, you now have up to seven shots, if you need that many, to get five hits and finish off the crawlers.)

Luke easily finishes off the crawlers and does a weapon's check (including X+1 reload).

Luke easily finished off the last of the crawling zombies, swapped out his partially used magazine for a full one, and inspected his weapon. Everything was still in good working order. The rifle would have to be cleaned eventually, but it didn't need it yet. In fact, it would run out of ammo before that would become necessary - he was down to 111 7.62mm NATO rounds in all. He was also starting to feel fatigued - he had been up here shooting for nearly three hours.

Luke checks on the downed aircraft once again.

The plume of smoke rising from the wreck was getting thicker and blacker, and Luke could clearly see flames licking at the metal. Five men were still near it, and they were very hurriedly getting away, running towards the motel and the people gathered in the parking lot.

The fire expanded until it reached the leaking fuel from the helicopter's fuel tank, and the wreckage went up in a massive fireball, spraying flaming debris all around. Fortunately everyone was well clear of it and nobody was injured further. The chopper continued to burn, and secondary explosions from ammo cooking off followed.

Gunfire also erupted from the motel, but Luke could not see from his position who was shooting or what their targets were.

Luke figures they're just blasting more zombies and goes back to his little vantage point overlooking the plains. He sits down to take a rest while still looking out for suspicious movement.

Looking back to the east, Luke could see that the horde coming from that direction was now about a mile and a third from the ruined diner.

(If you want to start shooting at them, you have five combat rounds. However, at this range you would be firing at 1/4 skill, with the -5% penalty applied after your skill is quartered. Since ammo is limited, you may prefer to wait. When they get within one mile, your skill will only be halved. When they get within half a mile, you will be able to use your full skill.)

Luke gets back up with a grunt and turns to the motel. He lets out a sharp whistle in the hope of getting the attention of the USAF snipers, or alternatively other USAF personnel.

The snipers continued to shoot at targets to the west of the motel. If they had heard Luke's whistle over the noise of their own gunfire, they gave no indication. The shooting continued, and it sounded like more people were firing now. The flaming wreck continued to burn, the fire spreading and the black smoke thickening.

Luke saw a group of six zombies come into view near the flaming wreckage of the helicopter, moving slowly. They were closing in on the northwest corner of the parking lot and had only become visible beyond the edge of the motel now. The intensity of the gunfire coming from the motel increased.

(Luke, roll Sanity. Presuming you remain sane, you have five combat rounds if you wish to fire at them.)

"Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling, voices crying
Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come" Luke sings as he shoots the incoming zombies, quoting Johnny Cash's 'The Man Comes Around', rather than the Book of Revelations.

"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him." he adds while overlooking the carnage he left behind.

OCC:
San 99 (1d100=65)
aimed headshots (80%-5%), 6 zombies (1d100=29, 2d6 4=12, 1d100=13, 2d6 4=13, 1d100=1, 2d6 4=11, 1d100=21, 2d6 4=9, 1d100=13, 2d6 4=10)

Luke saw the zombies he shot fall, and gunfire from the motel brought down the sixth one. Soon the shooting stopped, and then the convoy of motorcycles and light trucks he had seen approach from the south earlier came around the northern side of the motel and into the parking lot on the east side. Some of them parked there, and the rest continued eastwards, towards the diner.

(Luke, roll Spot Hidden.)

Luke is too busy reloading to notice anything.

Luke watched four people climb the ladders on the east side of the motel to the balcony - a man and a woman in flight suits, then Lt. Blanco and Zorie Spooner. The old female biker parked near the ladders and also started up. The SUV and the truck with the horse trailer remained in the parking lot. All of the other vehicles approached the garage.

(Luke is moving to this thread: Blue Plate Special)