Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 2:28 PM Central Time - Airfield 10 miles SW of Kearney, Nebraska
On the third floor-
Corporal Anthony Gardner and Erica Spears reached the third floor landing just a few seconds before Kathryn McCoy arrived from below. Gardner had his pistol in one hand and Erica's arm gripped in his other. Erica was wearing the pants from her flight suit and an olive green tank top, and her wrists were duct taped behind her back.

Gardner smiled wide when he saw Kathryn. "Ah, there you are, Kathryn," he said. "I don't know how you got out of the duct tape; I had you wrapped up pretty tight. I swear you must be double jointed. That's the last time I take my eyes off of you. You know, I'm trying to be nice to you, but you're not making it easy. You could have screwed everything up with your pitiful escape attempt. Now put down that extinguisher, start walking upstairs, and don't try anything stupid. We'll be right behind you." He got on the radio. "Nice work, Alvarez, I've got her. Go back down and take the other girls to the warehouse. The sooner you get that second barrel, the sooner we can get out of here."

(The computers are on the fourth floor. You didn't know Gardner was on the stairs and on his way down because you failed your Listen roll. Gardner, however, managed to make his even at half skill and with his helmet. Yes, you still have the stapler and the pens. The stapler is big and hard to hide, but luckily Gardner was inattentive. This is just a minor update, in the middle of the round. I'll let you know when you reach the fourth floor.)

On the third floor-
Kathryn started walking up the stairs towards the fourth floor. Gardner ushered Erica up the stairs behind her, admiring Kathryn's curves as he went. He was so distracted that he had eyes for little else.

When they were about halfway to the fourth floor, Gardner heard something in his earpiece. "I'm further up the stairwell, Alvarez," he replied over the radio. "I couldn't see you, but I did manage to hear you over that deafening alarm. No time to talk now, but I'll see you after the enemy is dealt with and you've brought back the fuel. New plan: when you get down to the first floor, go out the back door, back up Flynn, and shoot those things before they arrive. I'm bringing our guests up to the roof so I can fire too. I think we can stop the infected before they do too much damage. The first barrel should be more than halfway loaded by now. If we have to we can take off without the second one, but we wouldn't have enough range to get all the way to Warren AFB."

On the fourth floor-
Gardner followed Kathryn upstairs, pulling Erica with him. He heard more messages over the radio when he reached the fourth floor landing. "You've got to stop them, Alvarez!" he replied. "Hold them off!" He quickened his step. "Come on, ladies, keep going up."

"What´s happening down there? Weren´t we leaving?" Kathryn asks from her elevated position a few steps up.

On the stairs-
"Not just yet," said Gardner. "There's a little trouble below, but it's nothing Alvarez and Dawkins can't handle, with a little help from me. We're going up to the roof first so I can shoot."

Kat hurried up the stairs towaards the platform on top. She had used it frequently this summer to better the tan on her lithe legs now in plain view of Gardner. If the bastard was going to shoot from the roof, she´d get a chance to put a ball point pen where it hurt.

On the fifth floor-
Gardner brought Erica and Kathryn up to the fifth floor landing, outside the control room. The stairs continued up to the roof. "Keep going, girls," he said, eyeing Kathryn's long legs. "We're almost there."

Kathryn continued up the stairs to the roof. A plan, a desperate one - but still a plan, was coming to her. Taking point up the last bit she brought out three pens, bundling them to a pointy tripple fistful of ink fangs. The door up top was rigged with a heavy automatic shutting device to make sure the door to the roof never remained open, disregardless how sloppy the tower crew was. When she and Erica have passed the heavy door she would slam the door at Gardner should he get a hand or leg between the door she´d nail it with the ball pens.
To make Gardner relax she´d use her charm and hold up the door letting Mr. Handsome up with a welcoming. "Come here hunky!" and wink with her heavy lashes. Should need be she´ll even stoop to adjust the laces of the sneakers. Exposing the cleavage beneath the now barely buttoned blouse.

As Kat closed in on the the roof exit door, she turned around almost rubbing her chest at Garners´s nose..."Yes, watch your step now, Erica. It can be windy up here." Trying to talk around the problem at hand she continues..: "So the chopper will pick us up here...on the roof, yes?" She went through the plan in her head and got a grip around the pens.

(1 percent from a special success...)

(My Internet connection is acting up and I can't get to Invisible Castle currently. I'll roll physical dice instead and put the results in spoiler tags. Feel free to open them up if you want to look at them.)
On the tower roof-
"No," said Gardner, "we're going to have to get down to the helipad later."

"Right," said Erica to Kathryn with a knowing nod. "I hear you."

As the three of them reached the open access door at the top of the stairs, Gardner got excited when Kathryn brushed up against him and slackened his grip on Erica's arm. Both women passed through the door, and Kathryn started to slam it shut in Gardner's face. He moved quickly, however, and rammed the door with his shoulder before she could fully close it, using his superior strength to shove it open and knock her back. He growled angrily as he pointed his pistol at her. "That's strike two," he said. "One more and you're out, got it?"

Dawkins saw this unfold as she ejected her rifle's empty magazine. She heard shouting below, but could not make out the words being said.

(At this point, we'll go to a single combat round's worth of actions per major update.)

Sensing the luck was running through Kat´s fingers she counted the odds for actually being able to do some damage to the too strong and to fast NG. Hoping for the other women up top to choose sides quickly. She decided to hold it for now. Knowing she would never leave this tower if she didn´t get Gardner out of the equation. She was dead weight. This was not the time to get more foolish...Hopefully an opportunity would present itself quickly. Holding her clenched fist behind her back she spent the coming seconds observing the other women up top as well as Gardner. If an opening came - if he looked away or directed the gun away from her, she´d stab him fiercely. "You can´t blame a girl for trying!"

On the tower roof-
"Oh, but I can," said Gardner, aiming the pistol at Kathryn. "Good thing you're so sexy, or I'd have already shot you. Now put your hands up."

Before she raises her hands she sticks the pens into the small of her back. Then she complies. "Now what?"

On the tower roof-
Gardner did not notice Kathryn's suspicious movements, as he was too focused on her chest. "We're going to let that alarm keep ringing," he said. "That way the elevator won't work and anyone who wants to get upstairs will be slowed down. You'll stay up here with Dawkins while I bring Erica down by way of the fire escape and get the chopper's engine warmed up. Dawkins, keep an eye on Kathryn, but be careful. She's a feisty one. I'll let you know when it's safe for you two to follow." He kicked shut the access door, and it automatically locked. It could be opened from the roof, but not from within. Then he grabbed Erica by the arm again.

The pilot would be needed to fly the chopper. So Erica would not risk getting killed. Kat didn´t rate her own value high, well she had assets but not enough to grant her a seat in the chopper. She waited for Gardner to start down the fire escape.

-------------------

Standing with arms raised she asked Dawkins in a hushed voice, "Are we waiting for those two to fly away from this house of Babel." She looked at Dawkins... "If something comes up those stairs I need a weapon. Two guns are better than one... How can you let that pig of a man boss you around?"

While reloading her weapon, Dawkins scans the all around the airfield and around the helicopter for signs of more infected.
"First of all, I'm done taking orders from that pig," Dawkins says to Kathryn while sliding another round into the magazine. "Secondly, I doubt he's flying anywhere," She says coldly as she finishes reloading her M24 and slams the magazine into place.
"I'd love to give you a weapon, but this bad boy is not much good at close range so I'm gonna need my side arm. However, this may help you more than those pens you got in your ass crack." she says as she hands Kathry her combat knife. "Don't worry, I won't let him lay a hand on you."

Kat sighs in relief and accepts the combat knife. She scans the roof for an electric outlet or something else to help her short circuit the power. As she finds no way of shutting the alarm down, she waits by the door.

(Assuming enough time has passed, this will be the actions of Kat whenever they fit in.)

Having accepted the knife from Dawkins. Quickly looking for an electrical outlet and finding none. She contemplated what to to. To follow after Gardner and Erica was suicide. He´d blow her away for being obedient, again. If she recollected correctly the door was their only way off this tower - it was just to open it. Airport regulations dictated that it should be accessible from outside manually and only from the inside by tower control admin. She had to make Alvarez know his boss was coming down. Maybe he could get the drop on him. To Dawkins she finally said. "I´ve worked here long enough to know it´s past my time I left."

EDIT: I guess this is over the top and will paste this in later if the situation allows it.

[She opened the access door, inside there was a fire alarm button. She hit it three times to override the alarm. The sirens came to a stop. This was what the fire intructor had told the tower staff when it was installed in December.
In the silence after the alarm she listened for someone in the stairs. At first only the elevator´s buzzing was heard. Probably Alvarez had left the tower... Or he was awfully quiet.]

(OOC: Not sure how many actions we have so I will wait for Mr.Handy to let me know if I spoted any more infected)

(OOC: That´s why I stated "When the time is up", Sorry for being so eager to jump off of the rickety tower, Mr. Handy.)

On the tower roof-
Gardner pulled Erica over to the east side of the roof and started down the stairs with her, leaving Simone Dawkins and Kathryn McCoy alone on the roof.

Dawkins finished reloading her rifle. Looking around, she saw no movement near the helicopter, and Stephanie Bridges and Dr. Hausmann were nowhere in sight either. To the east, she saw only the two infected people she had wounded previously. One of them was loping towards the warehouses but was moving fairly slowly and was still a few hundred yards out. The other one was crawling across the open ground just west of the wide open Warehouse 1. There was no movement inside the warehouse either.

Kathryn opened the access door leading back inside. Gunfire echoed up from far, far below, but other than that she could only hear the fire alarm.

(Dawkins, you may fire one shot this round at either of the zombies. Both have taken damage to the head already, and if you hit either one you're guaranteed to kill it with the minimum damage, so there is no need to roll for damage.

Kathryn, you may move down the stairs to the fifth floor landing this round if you wish. You will be able to enter the control room and shut off the fire alarm in the following round, but not this one.

Gardner and Erica Spears are moving to this thread: Beauty and the Beast. Dawkins and Kathryn McCoy remain in the current thread.)

'Looks like the helo crew overpowered Avarez and Flynn,' Dawkins thought to herself, noticing the empty warehouse and the missing ladies. 'Either that or they're all working together.'

"Hey! Don't go running off just yet" Dawkins said as Kathryn made a move towards the stairwell. "Gardner said to leave the alarm going. If you go and shut it off, he'll know I'm on your side. Besides, I still have some work to do up here." Dawkins raised her M24 and sent a round sailing towards the closes infected. The round slammed into the creatures head ,droping it dead. Again.

"Alright, lets hold it here then." Kat stays in the open door and keeps an ear for steps coming up the tower stairs, knife ready.

On the tower roof-
A shotgun blast and a few more pistol shots rang out down below, and then all was silent but for the alarm. The remaining ghoul continued to approach the warehouses and was now a couple hundred yards east of them.

(You've got five combat rounds to act now. Dawkins you may fire up to twice more at the last zombie.

Kathryn, roll Listen at half skill.)

Gracefully working the bolt of her rifle, Dawkins chambered another round and took aim and the last of the approaching infected. The bullet entered its right eye and exploded out the back of its head. The creture fell like a marionette with its strings cut.

"Okay, lets head downstairs and see if we can't help the others." Dawkins said to Kathryn.

As she started to descend, checking the way down before dawkins, she only heard the alarm. Not wearing combat gear gave her more mobility than the weapon laden Dawkins.

Dawkins motioned for Kathryn to hold on once more. "Hang on, those were gun shots down stairs. Alvarez and the group from the hanger may be battling it out. I don't know what side Avarez is on, but if he is on our side, we should warn him that Gardner is on his way down."

Dawkins keyed her radio: "Alvarez, Flynn; Are you two okay down there? Those running rott bags didn't cause any trouble down there, did they? I've got Kathryn up here with me and Gardner is on his way down the fire escape with the pilot, heading to the chopper."

Turning back the Kathryn, she said "Okay, you go ahead and run down there to the others. Let them know I've had an ass full of that mainiac Gardner and that he needs to be stopped. Tell them to key their radios twice, then change to channel 16 so we can communicate without Gardner hearing. I'm going to stay up here where I am most usefull. I'll keep an eye out for more infected and my crosshairs on Gardner. Watch out for Gardner, though. I am not sure if he can re-enter the tower via the stair well. I'd hate to have him catch you running down to the others. One more thing: See if you can use those pens to prop the door open so you can get back up here if needed without knocking."

With that, Dawkins sauntered over to the side of the tower with the fire escape and nonchalantly leaned out to see how far down Gardner was while pretending to scan the area for infected.

Kat puts the pens in the hinged side of the door, hindering it from closing. "Good idea, Dawkins!" Then she started down the stairs to see what was cooking down below...

On the tower roof-
Dawkins leaned over the edge of the roof and glanced down.

(Dawkins is moving to this thread: Beauty and the Beast. You may read the first posts in that thread as well if you wish, but you don't have to. Please stop reading the current thread at this point.

Kathryn remains in the current thread.)

On the stairs-
Kathryn descended the top flight of stairs and reached the fifth floor landing outside the control room without incident.

(Kathryn, roll Listen at half skill again.)

Heading further down she tries to hear what´s happening... Hopefully this new acquaintance with the female NG would pan out better than her XO. Gripping the knife tightly she walks towards the lower floor anticipating trouble.

Control Tower, fifth floor.

As she hesitates by the control room Kat decides to take the time to shut down the alarm. She enters the control room.

In the control room-
Kathryn entered the control room, which looked exactly like she left it. The duct tape that had once bound her was in a pile on the floor near her station. She made her way over and entered the code to deactivate the alarm. The shrill fire alarm finally stopped.

(Kathryn, roll Listen - this time at full skill.)

The alarm dies off and she´s able to discern some of the activity in the tower´s nether regions. With scary clarity...

In the control room-
Kathryn could hear two sets of footsteps above, coming down the stairs. She also heard three pairs of footsteps coming up from a couple of floors down. All of them were moving at high speed.

(Where´s the elevator? What floor? Should the elevator be ready she´ll hit the button for the machine shop.)
Kathryn checks the elevator. If it´s not there she´ll head downwards shouting "Tower personnel, control officer McCoy, coming down!" She tries to sound official and not at all scared...

(Well, then it will be to close for the runners from topside. She´ll do the running down routine shouting tower personnel as described above.)

On the stairs-
Gardner grimaced when he heard something on the radio as he descended from the roof, but he didn't hear anyone below him on the stairs.

Kathryn raced across the control room and out the door, onto the fifth floor landing. She noticed that the elevator was still on the floor below and was about to start downstairs and shout her message when Gardner arrived from above a few seconds behind her, dragging Erica with him. He pointed his pistol at Kathryn. "Drop the knife," he hissed, "don't make a sound, and put your hands up - or you're one dead hottie."

(Kathryn, roll Listen again.)

Kat hears something.
(What´s Kat´s target skill to throw the knife or stab the NG? Don´t want to be handled anymore. So she´ll try to at least hurt him.)

On the tower stairs-
Kathryn could hear three sets of footsteps coming up from the floor below. They were trying to move stealthily, but not well enough to stop her from hearing them.

(The base chance to attack with a knife is 25%, which is also the base skill for Throw. Either way, Gardner has better Dex than you, and his pistol can shoot twice. That means he'll get both shots off before you even have a chance to attack. You could try to Dodge the first one, but not the second - this would also mean you would be unable to attack this round, though you could still run. If you still want to attack, let me know.)

Seeing the difficulty in attacking the NG, Kat decides to throw herself into the control room again. Hoping for Gardner to become occupied with the threat from below. She does drop the knife, thus half hearted obeys the officer.

On the stairs-
"Good girl," whispered Gardner, listening closely. He jabbed the elevator call button with his elbow and then bent down to retrieve the knife, keeping the pistol trained on Kathryn the whole time. By the time he stood back up and stuck it in his pack a few seconds later, the elevator arrived and the doors slid open. He propped the doors open with one foot. "Inside."

(If you want to flee to the control room, roll Dodge.)

On the stairs-

When Gardner kicks the elevator button Kathrynmakes the plunge. She dives for the cover of the wall shielding off the computer room from the staircase/elevator.
(Now to the actual dodging of bullets...Next roll?)

(That is what that roll was for, sort of, so there's no need to roll anything else. Only it's not a bullet you're trying to avoid, exactly. You'll see. Just be glad you got that great success!)

On the fifth floor-
Kathryn dived back through the open door to the control room and rolled around the corner with lightning speed, waiting for a shot that never came. Instead, Gardner grinned evilly and took a hand grenade from his belt. He pulled the pin with his teeth and spat it out, then gently rolled the grenade along the landing so that it went down the stairs, right into the path of the people coming up. Then he snagged Erica's waist and yanked her back into the elevator and hit a button. A look of pure terror crossed Erica's face as the doors shut them in and the elevator car began to descend...

(Gardner and Erica Spears are moving to this thread: Abducted. Kathryn remains in the current thread.)

Trooper Rick Brenner raced up the stairs in a panic when he saw the grenade rolling towards him, trying desperately to get clear of the blast radius before it detonated, but he was too slow. Trooper Bo Richards didn't have much luck either, nor did Sergeant Diane Ford. The grenade bounced right amongst them and then exploded! Rick Brenner was slain instantly, his right leg blown off. Bo Richards had his head blown asunder from the blast. Diane Ford's left leg was shredded, and she collapsed, bleeding to death.

The dust settled from the explosion. Kathryn emerged miraculously unscathed, her quick actions shielding her from the sharpnel. While she was free from Gardner's awful clutches, poor Erica was not so lucky...and now three State Troopers who had been on their way to rescue her lay dead or dying a little below the landing.

(Kathryn, roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 1/1d6. Also, roll Listen.

Note that Kathryn does not know that the dead can rise up as zombies. As far as she knows, the zombies are just infected with something.)

On the fifth floor, control room-

McCoy hurriedly headed for the roof once more. The blast must have taken the people going up. She didn´t think of them, mostly relieved that she was relatively out of harms way (Gardner´s way). The stairs must be shattered...the best option to use the fire escape and see what happened to Dawkins up top. As her thoughts raced it occured to her that she just had to restart the fire alarm to stop the elevator...The downside to this was that Erica would be trapped too. Nah, better to leave that trail of thought. She started hurriedly up the stairs . listening through the smoking stairwell

On the fifth floor-
When Kathryn left the control room, she could see through the smoke and dust kicked up by the grenade that the stairs were not blocked off. They were made of concrete and, while damaged, were not destroyed. Rick Brenner and Bo Richards were definitely dead, but Diane Ford was alive - though only barely so. Kathryn heard the elevator stop two floors below. Then it started moving back up...

(You may change your mind about your action at this point. If you want to try to save Diane, you'll need to make a First Aid roll. The base skill is 30%, and if you succeed she gets back 1d3 HP. She needs at least 2 HP recovered to survive. If you leave her to her fate, you must make another Sanity roll with a loss of 1/1d4. If you try to save her but fail, there is no Sanity penalty.)

On the fifth floor-

Kathryn sees the wounded trooper and tries to stabilize her. She uses her blouse to stop the blood flow being unable to aptly aid the woman. "Medic! She´s hurt bad!" Up close and personally with the carnage in the stairway she tries to keep concentrated on the woman´s wounds.

On the fifth floor-
Try as she might, there was nothing Kathryn could do to save Diane as she bled out on the stairs. She couldn't help but wonder if this might not have happened if she had simply gotten on the elevator in the first place - and then the elevator arrived on the fifth floor and the doors slid open.

(Kathryn is moving to this thread: Abducted. You may read the initial post, but you are not required to do so.)