IC-OVER-Abducted(Anthony Gardner/Erica Spears/Kathryn McCoy)

[Dave Syrinx]

Kat is relieved by the free hands. Well free of the cuffs at least... She held Gardner´s hand tightly. "I hear you 'Tony - but I really hope you´ll muster enough trust in me when the shit hits tha fan. As things are going right now, I don´t expect anything to be a trip in the park. And yes, some clean clothes sounds lovely, honey!"

[Mr. Handy]

In the bedroom-
Gardner walked Kathryn out of the bathroom, then opened the door to the walk-in closet. "When it does hit the fan," he said, "I will protect you." He sent her ahead of him into the closet while he remained in the doorway, blocking it. He reluctantly released her hand, then pointed out the clothes. "There are a couple of suitcases here too, so we'll be able to bring several changes with us. The owners of this house must not have felt they had time to pack anything. Looks like they just got in their car and split. If they were chased out, it looks like the ones chasing them simply followed them and left the house alone, but we'll still need to be careful checking out the barn." He indicated a red halter top, a short black skirt, and a pair of beige sandals. "Those would look real good on you, darling."

[Dave Syrinx]

She looks at the proposed attire and nods, "Yes, hon, I´ll slip it on." She
lets the halterneck top flow over her neck and down across her breats. Then she pulls up the skirt over her hips. It´s a tight fit, but will have to do... "I´ll take these two belts too, for utilities, OK?" She crosses the belts, cowboywise, and lets the top cover them. "The sandals look swell but I prefer these Gloria Gainers! Less fashion - more apt for our task of hauling all the way to WAFB." She looks at Anthony and slings the sandla around her neck. "These babies, I´ll save for a special occasion." She winks at Gardner and grabs a pair of denim and a thick grey sweater. The white letters 69 across the chest. "Never mind the suitcases, I´m travelling light." Hesitating she adds, "Any grub in the cupboards by the way?" The shower had made her hungry. The distant memories of that farm all years ago felt like they happened to someone else.

[Mr. Handy]

In the farmhouse-
"Yeah, there's plenty of food in the kitchen," said Gardner. "Come on, baby, let's go chow down." He slipped an arm around Kathryn and led her out of the bedroom, through the living room and dining room, and into the kitchen area. He checked his watch. "It's getting close to 1600 hours. Why don't I cook us something? What are you in the mood for?"

[Dave Syrinx]

In the farmhouse kitchen-

"Cook? Nah grab some crisp bread and salami and get going! The smoke from the chimney will tell a tale - we don´t want to be told." She opens a cabinet, "Some of these canned beans and an opener....Then we´re set." Is he for real? "Got to make sure the barn is not full of people hiding...or infected things, then I´ll share a meal - somewhere safe." She looks at the variety of knives lining the work bench. A bag of pepper catches her eyes. "May I take this? It will do wonders to the beans and could help in close quarters. Will also destroy our scent if they got houds trailing us."

[Mr. Handy]

In the farmhouse-
"Yeah, we don't have time for me to cook anything," said Gardner. "Too bad. And I'll be the one to collect and carry everything. Just leave it all where it is. I'll go back and get it all after I put you back in the car. Let's go." He steered Kathryn back to the garage, opened the rear door of the police car, and motioned for her to get back inside.

[Dave Syrinx]

She reaches for the pepper, ignoring the knives and holds it in her open palm as she passes Gardner and gets into the back seat, once again.

[Mr. Handy]

In the garage-
"I said not to take anything," said Gardner suspiciously. "Put the pepper down and slide away from it."

[Dave Syrinx]

Kat puts the bag of pepper down and lithely slides away a few feet.

[Mr. Handy]

In the farmhouse-
Gardner took the bag of pepper, then locked Kathryn in the back of the police car again. He returned to the kitchen and began collecting things and loading them in a bag.

(Kathryn and Gardner, both of you roll Listen. Gardner has a -5% penalty from his helmet. At this point I'm going to wait for Laraqua to return. She said last week that she should have more time starting Wednesday.)

[Dave Syrinx]

From her solace in the back seat Kat hears something from outside the car. She motions to Gardner to be still and listen. She tries to make out where the sound came from.

(Sure thing!)

[Mr. Handy]

(Gardner was in the kitchen, so he would not be able to see her motion. I'll NPC him for this round and roll Listen for him, but now I'll wait for Laraqua to take him over. He critically failed his roll, so I'll PM you what you heard.)

In the farmhouse-
Gardner was too preoccupied to hear a thing. He finished collecting foodstuffs, drinks, utensils, a can opener, and the like in his bag, then returned to the garage.

[Dave Syrinx]

Seeing Gardner rummaging through the kitchen Kat waits for him to return. He´s probably low on sugar, that´s why he´s so erratic. She looks at the garage door, dead still, waiting for the, not to soon, recon trip to the barn.

[Dave Syrinx]

As soon as Gardner reappears in the garage, Kat motions for him to stay quiet and listen for sounds outside. She makes a sign of a steering wheel.

[Laraqua]

Gardner pauses, looking confused, and strains his ears to catch sound of whatever she heard.

[Dave Syrinx]

"A heavy vehicle on the road." Kat says to the NG. "What are you going to do?"

[Mr. Handy]

In the garage-
The sound Kathryn had heard earlier had gone past the farm and was no longer audible. There remained only silence.

[Dave Syrinx]

Kat sits dead still in the car, contemplating the last hours of events. I wonder where Erica and the others are headed? Did they take the shortest route to WAFB... Had the girls in the chopper mentioned something about Omaha while negotiating the chopper with Gardner ?

She thinks of the first contact with Erica,

A call had come over the airfield frequency,
"This is NSP Seven-Eight-Romeo to tower. Do you copy? Over." ,the woman had said.

"This is the tower! I read you loud and clear, over."

"This is Trooper Erica Spears of the Nebraska State Police. My bird's going to need some more fuel to stay afloat. Do you have any to spare, and is your facility secure for landing? Over."

"Yes, we're secure here. The National Guard is holding down the fort. As for fuel, we've got plenty of that left. It's aircraft that are in short supply. Uh, what's your location and ETA? Over."

"Can you guarantee we'll get the fuel?"

"Also, there's another airfield about ten miles east of your position, not far from Kearney. Do you know if that one's still operational, just in case it isn't safe to land by the time we get to yours?"

"That one's been overrun," Kat had replied. "We got a distress call from them a couple hours ago telling us that they were about to fall, and they haven't responded to us since then. Hold on, the National Guard commander is here. You can talk to him now."

"Well, howdy, darling. I'm Anthony Gardner from the National Guard. I'm the one in charge here. I can give you my personal assurance that there will be fuel for your bird. We'd be glad to help out our friends in the Nebraska State Police."

She had been intimidated by Gardner to lure the chopper to the airfield. In the light of all the strange things that had happened with the dead walking and everything she couldn´t really blame the NG for taking extreme measures. His CO had been killed and a lot lay on his shoulders. However it didn´t give him an excuse to act as cruel as he had in the tower. The poor souls had surrendered and he just shot them. And Dawkins too...

The flashback is over and she once again finds herself in the backseat. She makes a quick inventory; the top, skirt and the two belts, sneakers with laces. (The digital is it still laying in the backseat?) Nothing more but a better equipped and cleaner Kat in the backseat. At least on the surface...

She strains her ears to make out another trace of the vehicle that had passed or maybe footsteps.

[Mr. Handy]

(The digital camera would only still be in the backseat if you left it there before getting out of the car. Otherwise, it would still be in the pocket of your old clothes on the bathroom floor. I'll post for Gardner this round, but I really need Laraqua to return before going any farther.)

In the farmhouse-
Kathryn could hear nothing outside, no vehicles and no footsteps. Gardner went back to the living room and started peeking out the windows, first on the south side of the house and then the west side. He saw everything there was to see.

[Dave Syrinx]

(I´d guess the digital is still in the backseat. Gardner didn't want it for the shower scene, soo..)

Adding the digital to the inventory, Kathryn sits and waits for something to happen. She figures one of the belts would do as a whip with the buckle as deadweight to make some impact...She tries it from one end of the backseat to the other.