IC-THRU-The Conqueror Worm(Everyone)

[ryansommer]

With his helmet being more of a hinderence than good, Frank takes it off and scans the area for threats.

[Mr. Handy]

(Removing the helmet takes the whole combat round.

Walkers from the east: 42/85 dead, 1 with 9 damage to head, 1 with 8 damage to head, 1 with 3 damage to head
Runners from the east: 0/10 dead, 1 with no right leg [18 damage], 1 with no right arm [15 damage], 1 with 10 damage to left arm, 1 with 8 damage to head
Crawlers from the east: 3 with 9 damage to head
NW barricade: 6/60 HP left
NE barricade: 25/60 HP left
SW barricade: gone
SE barricade: 32/60 HP left
Room 27 barricade: 12/12 HP left
Luke: 3 damage
Black: 3 damage
Sheen: 5 damage
Malanowski: 9 damage
Cole: 7 damage
Granger: 3 damage

Temporary insanity rounds remaining, not counting this one:
Senior Airman Roger Coltrane: 2
Keith Deeds: 3
Lisa Crow: 2
Colin Lewis: 3
Javier Ramirez: 7
Dr. Dale Owens: 1)

West of the motel-
Frank Hodges removed his helmet and looked around carefully. He just barely caught sight of figures moving slowly through the grassy field. The closest ones were about 60 yards west of his current position and heading for the motel. It would take them a while to reach him, but they'd get there eventually. He couldn't tell how many there were, only that there were at least fifteen and probably more. The worm in the parking lot righted itself and prepared to strike again at the comm room door.

(Hodges, you may act now. You may throw your grenade, shoot, move, or take some other action.)

On the motel balcony-
David fired twice with his pistol at one of the runners that had entered the parking lot to the east, but both bullets missed.

In the comm room-
Lt. Blanco began to treat Lt. Curtis, cleaning and rebandaging his wounds and repairing them a little. Mikhalin finally understood what the Russians were saying. "Sir, the Russians are very concerned about the nuclear detonation they detected," she said, "but they're primarily worried about what our intentions are. If they have any plans of their own, they aren't talking about them. Some of them had previously thought that we hadn't used our nuclear weapons yet because we were incapable of doing so. Now they know we do have the capability, and the hypothesis that we've been holding our nukes back because they think we intend to carry out a first strike against Russia is now gaining credibility."

"Thank you, Airman," said Lt. Curtis. He passed this information on to Lt. Colonel Carmichael.

"I appreciate the intel, Lieutenant," said Carmichael. "Anything you can find out about their intentions would be extremely helpful."

East of the motel-
The two runners with wounded arms reached the northeast stairway and damaged its barricade further. The runner with the head wound got halfway there, and the one that was missing a leg crawled a quarter of the way to the stairs. The other two runners that had bypassed the tripwires, along with Luke, Bill, and the other zombies in the parking lot, converged on the southeast stairs. Luke smashed his way up the stairs, and Bill did likewise alongside him. The barricade was almost halfway destroyed. None of the other four runners had made it to the parking lot yet.

South of the motel-
Lisa ran another fifteen yards south, and Amanda caught up with her and drove alongside her, honking her horn. "Lisa!" she called. "Hop on the back and ride with me! We need to join up with the guys, and you'll never catch up on foot. I know you're afraid. So am I. I'm just as crushed as you are that we've lost people we love. I'm here for you, and I always will be." She didn't seem to be getting through, however. The trucks passed out of view to the south, though their tire tracks were still visible.

The trucks continued south at speed, and were now over a thousand yards south of the motel. The people in them heard Amanda's honk, but they could no longer see the motorcycle or Lisa behind them at this point.

[John Gaunt]

Panic-stricken, Lisa puts her head down, arms pistoning, and continues to flee as fast as her slender legs will carry her.

[ryansommer]

Looks like I am stuck between two fronts, Frank thinks to himself. At least I am fast.
Frank peeked out of hiding briefly to throw his last grenade at the worm. Here goes nothing he thought grimly as he pulled the pin and tossed the grenade. His aim was not on his side and neither was his luck. "Perhaps I'll be going out with a 'bang' afterwards" he quietly said to himself and he prepared for the inevitable.

[Mr. Handy]

(Well, your missed attack wasn't off by enough for the grenade to bounce back and hit you, but you critically failed your Luck roll, so something very bad will happen as a result...

Walkers from the east: 42/85 dead, 1 with 9 damage to head, 1 with 8 damage to head, 1 with 3 damage to head
Runners from the east: 1/10 dead, 1 with no right leg [18 damage], 1 with no right arm [15 damage], 1 with 10 damage to left arm
Crawlers from the east: 3 with 9 damage to head
NW barricade: 6/60 HP left
NE barricade: 16/60 HP left
SW barricade: gone
SE barricade: 21/60 HP left
Luke: 3 damage
Black: 3 damage
Sheen: 5 damage
Malanowski: 9 damage
Cole: 7 damage
Granger: 3 damage

Temporary insanity rounds remaining, not counting this one:
Senior Airman Roger Coltrane: 1
Keith Deeds: 2
Lisa Crow: 1
Colin Lewis: 2
Javier Ramirez: 6
Dr. Dale Owens: 0)

West of the motel-
Frank Hodges watched helplessly as his grenade arced too high and to the left. It landed on the balcony, right outside the comm room door, and there was nothing he could do to stop it from detonating. The door and most of the barricade behind it were blown to bits! Then the worm rose up and struck out with six of its tentacles. The first one broke down what little remained of the barricade, and the other five snaked into the room itself.

Drawn by the sound of the explosion, zombies started to arrive from around the southeast corner. The two uninjured runners that had entered the southeast part of the parking lot, unable to get past the mob around the southeast stairs, had run along the south wall of the motel and moved up the recently cleared southeast stairway.

(Hodges, it's your turn again. You may shoot at one of the zombies. If you're aiming at a zombie's head, you will have to fire a single shot only and take a -5 penalty to hit. Or you may move or take some other action instead.)

On the motel balcony-
David fired one of his last two bullets at the runner with the head wound, hitting it and taking it down before it could reach the motel. On the northeast corner of the balcony, Dr. Dale Owens began coming to his senses.

In the comm room-
The room's occupants gaped in horror when the grenade blew the door apart and the worm finished the job. Alexandria Mikhalin was this close to panic, but she managed to contain her fears. Lt. Curtis was surprisingly calm, though even he was affected slightly. Lt. Doolittle let out a terrified scream, her psyche shattered, though she did not quite realize how doomed she was.

In desperation, the five people in the room fired on the worm with everything they had. Zorie put two bullets very deep into the creature, heavily wounding it. Lt. Doolittle wildly sprayed it on full auto with her MP-5, connecting with only two rounds that caused only a little damage. Lt . Blanco put two bullets into the thing, wounding it moderately. Lt. Curtis also shot it twice, hurting it about the same amount. The creature was near death as five of its tentacles barged into the room, one towards each of the people inside. At the last second, Mikhalin fired a burst from her M-4 that hit with devastating effect. All three rounds struck home and shredded the monster. It let out a pitiful, agonized wail as it fell back, ooze dripping from its many wounds. Its massive carcass collapsed to the parking lot below and lay still, causing the ground to shake with the impact. But the damage had been done...

East of the motel-
Some of the zombies gathered around the southeast stairway began moving around the south side of the motel. Luke further damaged the barricade there, and so did Bill. At the northeast barricade, the runners continued to pound. Two more runners entered the eastern edge of the parking lot, both heading for the northeast stairs. The one-legged zombie was now just 10 yards from those same stairs.

South of the motel-
"Lisa, please get on board!" said Amanda as she continued to drive slowly alongside her, now 150 yards from the motel. "We'll get through this together. We'll survive." But her words only made the young woman even more frightened.

The two trucks were now three quarters of a mile south of the motel.

[ryansommer]

Frank looked on in terrors as the worm attacked the people in the comm room, but was suddently relieved when the worm fell down dead. "Fuck yeah, maybe we have a chance still!" he said in celebration.
He fired one of the fast approaching runners. The round struck it cleanly in the head doing minimal damage.

Looked at the hoard he ahd recently spotted, and gagued their distance to the motel and the time it would take them to reach his position.

[Mr. Handy]

(Walkers from the east: 42/85 dead, 1 with 9 damage to head, 1 with 8 damage to head, 1 with 3 damage to head
Runners from the east: 2/10 dead, 1 with no right leg [18 damage], 1 with no right arm [15 damage], 1 with 10 damage to left arm, 1 with 4 damage to head
Crawlers from the east: 3 with 9 damage to head
NW barricade: 6/60 HP left
NE barricade: 6/60 HP left
SW barricade: gone
SE barricade: 11/60 HP left
Luke: 3 damage
Black: 3 damage
Sheen: 5 damage
Malanowski: 9 damage
Cole: 7 damage
Granger: 3 damage

Temporary insanity rounds remaining, not counting this one:
Senior Airman Roger Coltrane: 0
Keith Deeds: 1
Colin Lewis: 1
Javier Ramirez: 5)

West of the motel-
The zombie that Hodges shot was slowed by its head wound, but it kept climbing the stairs and reached the top. The other runner made it to the top and vanished through the doorway into the comm room. From around the southeast corner, Sergeant Black shambled and reached the base of the stairs. Bobby Sheen, Igor Malanowski, Thomas Cole, Lewie Newton, and Sue Newton were close behind him. After a quick look around, Frank Hodges saw that the mob of zombies coming from the west was now 45 yards from his position. He'd be able to fire five more times without risk before he'd have to move. They had just started coming directly for him, drawn by the sound of the shot he had fired.

(Hodges, you may fire once at one of the zombies now. You may target the one you wounded at the top of the stairs. All of the zombies at the bottom of the stairs except the Newtons are wearing body armor and helmets.)

On the motel balcony-
David raised his shotgun and took aim at the newly arrived runners coming for the northwest stairs. He fired, but the blast went over their heads. "Hey, Doc! Get over here before that barricade goes down! We'll get out of here on this zipline and get to my truck! To the roof first!"

Dr. Owens stumbled south along the balcony until he reached David.

In the comm room-
"We actually killed it," said Lt. Doolittle in disbelief. "I-"

But the people in the room had no chance to even catch their breaths. A ghoul came running into the room at them at high speed. Mikhalin calmly raised her M-4, and Lt. Blanco kept her wits about her. Zorie shuddered, frightened but not paralyzed. Lt. Curtis maintained his steady demeanor, though with difficulty, and Lt. Doolittle was used to the sight of these things already.

Zorie got off one shot, unable to miss from so close, and badly injured its right leg. Lt. Doolittle switch to single shots and put a bullet into its left leg, creasing it as it went past. Lt. Blanco shot it once in the left leg, causing more damage. Lt. Curtis accurately planted a shot in its skull, sending it crashing to the floor. It stopped moving.

Mikhalin stood ready with her M-4 and spoke to Carmichael. "Sir, a grenade just blew open the door to this room and our barricade," she said. "Then that worm tried to get us, but all of us firing together were able to kill it. We all saw it. We also just killed one of those cannibals."

East of the motel-
Ernest Granger, Clarence Deeds, and Joe Soarez all made for the southeast stairway behind Luke, Bill, Cheng, and Applebee. Luke chipped at the barricade a little, and Bill really walloped it. At the northeast corner, the two runners kept bashing the barricade there. There was now very little of it left. The last two runners had not quite reached the parking lot - they were still 40 yards away. The crawling zombie was very close to the northeast stairs now.

South of the motel-
"I'm sorry, Lisa," said Amanda, still driving beside her. "I wish I knew what to say." They were now 165 yards from the motel. Just then, Lisa came to her senses and realized what she had done, leaving Tsuba to has fate.

(Lisa, you are now free to act normally again. No Sanity roll yet, as you don't know for certain that he's dead.)

The trucks were now nearly a mile south of the motel. Coltrane sat up in the back of Colin's truck, bewildered by the change in surroundings.

[ryansommer]

(OOC: I know I can fire a short burst, but is there such a thing as a full burst? Can I unload the rest of my clip on the big group in an error to slow them down?)

[Mr. Handy]

(Not with this weapon. The M-16 you've got, like most of the other rifles used by the USAF characters at the motel, has a built-in burst limiter, so you may only fire single shots or bursts of up to 3 rounds. It will not allow you to fire bursts of more than 3 bullets, and each of these bursts can target a single enemy only. Submachineguns such as the MP-5 often do allow full automatic fire, though the M-11 that Colin Lewis has is a civilian variant that only allows single shot semiautomatic fire and does not allow burst fire at all - it also has a rate of fire of 2, not 3 as I had previously thought. With time, tools, and a Mechanical Repair roll it is possible to modify these weapons, but that's not the sort of thing you can do right now.)

[ryansommer]

(OOC: Okay, understood.)
Seeing the others charge the stairs, Frank did his best to thin the herd. Frank took aim at the runner on the stairs and fired a round that pierced it's skull. The zombie fell to the ground in a heap: dead.

One down, a crap load left to go, Frank though

[John Gaunt]

Regaining her senses, Lisa slows to a jog and looks at Amanda. "Oh God, Mrs. D, we've gotta go back for Tsuba!"

[fulcilives2003]

Lt. Doolitle checked the ammo in her gun and looked around waiting for further instruction.

OOC: so yea im back. woo.

[Mr Zombie killer]

Colin hit the brakes on his truck as he saw Lisa suddenly become one of those worms. He screamed in terror and raised his rifle only to realize it was empty.

[Mr. Handy]

(Walkers from the east: 42/85 dead, 1 with 9 damage to head, 1 with 8 damage to head, 1 with 3 damage to head
Runners from the east: 3/10 dead, 1 with no right leg [18 damage], 1 with no right arm [15 damage], 1 with 10 damage to left arm
Crawlers from the east: 3 with 9 damage to head
NW barricade: 6/60 HP left
NE barricade: gone
SW barricade: gone
SE barricade: 1/60 HP left
Luke: 3 damage
Black: 3 damage
Sheen: 5 damage
Malanowski: 9 damage
Cole: 7 damage
Granger: 3 damage

Temporary insanity rounds remaining, not counting this one:
Javier Ramirez: 4
Lt. Angela Blanco: 5)

West of the motel-
The fast zombie that Hodges shot went down in a heap at the top of the stairs. The other six slowly climbed up the stairs and over the still corpse of their fellow ghoul. They would be at the door to the comm room soon.

(Hodges, you may act again. You may shoot once, move, or do something else.)

In the comm room-
Lt. Doolittle saw that she had eight rounds remaining in her MP-5's magazine and one in the chamber. Her sidearm was still fully loaded with an extra bullet in the chamber.

"At least that's something," replied Carmichael. "Thank God. Anything else to report?"

"Everyone else get out while you can!" ordered Lt. Curtis. "Only one of us needs to be in here to keep communications open as long as possible, and as the CO that should be me. The rest of you save yourselves. I don't think we can hold this place."

"Sir, you still need me," said Mikhalin. "I speak Russian, and you don't. I'll stay."

Curtis frowned, but he knew her logic was correct and he didn't have time to argue. "Okay, let's go! " He led the way out to the balcony, the medical researchers following him.

(Lt. Doolittle, you may follow the others out of the room. If you do, you'll see the zombies, but you will not need to roll Sanity since you've already lost 10 for seeing zombies in this chapter. They're blocking the way south, but you can run north and make it to the center of the west side of the balcony this round. If you try to attack them, they will get to attack you back, so that would not be advisable. You may reload your MP-5 while you run.)

On the motel balcony-
David slung the shotgun across his back, swung onto the ladder, and climbed up to the roof. Dr. Owens was about to follow him when he heard the sound of crunching wood from both the northeast and southeast barricades. Luke hit the southeast one again, and Bill did too. There was only a thin piece of wood remaining. Then one of the runners cracked open the northeast barricade and another emerged from the stairs and leapt for Ramirez's prone form, coming up just short. Two more runners came up the stairs right behind them.

Zorie Spooner saw her former comrades, now undead, as she emerged from the comm room. She refrained from panicking, but ran north along the balcony. Lt. Blanco's eyes widened. She had gotten used to working with these people, and she couldn't believe that they had died. It was too much to bear, and she was certain she would end up just like them. Terrified, she froze and remained standing where she was. Curtis calm as ever, grabbed her arm and dragged her after him. "I'm not leaving you behind!" he shouted.

East of the motel-
The one-legged zombie finally reached the northeast stairs, just as the last two runners arrived from the east, also heading for them. The main horde was still 40 yards from the motel.

South of the motel-
Amanda stopped the motorcycle next to Lisa, sobbing. "I'm so sorry, Lisa," she said. "He...he didn't make it. I barely got out of there myself, and he nearly killed me after he rose up. If I hadn't jammed my carbine in his mouth...he practically broke it in half. It's not your fault, Lisa. He gave his life so that you could escape, and there's no greater proof of his love. There's nothing for us back there. I lost Clarence too, and a few other friends. But Keith and Melinda are still alive, and so is Colin Lewis. We have to follow them. Hopefully they know to turn west eventually and head for Warren AFB, because I don't see how we can catch up to them unless they stop." She patted the seat behind her. "Hop on, they're getting farther ahead."

Almost a mile to the south, Melinda saw Colin just in front of her, but she couldn't see why he had done so. In the back of her truck, Keith finally came to his senses. Colin Lewis blinked twice and suddenly there was no sign of Lisa or the worms, only his truck and Keith's. In fact, all of the worms he had seen all around him were inexplicably gone. Had they ever even been there? Were any of them real? He didn't know. In the bed of his pickup, Coltrane looked around. "You've got to take me back to the motel!" he said. "My guys are back there. How did I get here?" He tried to recall what had happened. "You saved my life back there, didn't you? Thanks, man." He spoke into his radio. "This is Coltrane. I'm not sure where I am or how I got here, but I'm in the back of one of the civilians' trucks. Can anyone read me? What's going on at the motel? Over."

(Keith Deeds and Colin Lewis, you are now yourselves again. Indefinite insanity won't kick in until the end of the chapter, and I'll let you know at that point how it affects you. You may both act freely now. Hodges, Lt. Doolittle, and the other USAF characters at the motel all heard what Coltrane said on the radio. Amanda and Lisa are nearly a mile back, and the group with the trucks can neither see nor hear them.)

[fulcilives2003]

Lt. Doolittle doesn't need to be told twice to run. She bolts for the door while reloading her gun. She's stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the zombies but only for a second before she heads north out onto the balcony. All the while she mutters "Not even supposed to be here. Not even supposed to be here."

[kabukiman]

Melinda stops and ask if he want to join the truck.

[ryansommer]

At the motel-
Frank took aim at one of the walkers going up the stairs and fired. This round, too, stuck the zombie in the head. While the round did a terrible amount of damage, it was not enough to stop the beast.
A few more shots, then I have to get moving, Frank thought to himself.

In the truck-
Finally coming to, Keith looks around expecting zombies all around. "Wha..... what! No..." Noticing that they were far from the motel: "Melinda, we need to go back. My family is back there. We have to see if we can help them."

[Mr Zombie killer]

Colin shook his head and said, "We cannot go back. It will only end in tears there. We need to get to Warren Air Force Base for protection. We have to continue on."

[ryansommer]

In the truck-
"Leaving is not an option. My mother, father and brother are back there. We are going back." Turning towards the cab of the truck, "Melinda, take us back there, okay, darling?"

[Mr. Handy]

(Walkers from the east: 42/85 dead, 1 with 9 damage to head, 1 with 8 damage to head, 1 with 3 damage to head
Runners from the east: 3/10 dead, 1 with no right leg [18 damage], 1 with no right arm [15 damage], 1 with 10 damage to left arm
Crawlers from the east: 3 with 9 damage to head
NW barricade: 6/60 HP left
NE barricade: gone
SW barricade: gone
SE barricade: gone
Luke: 3 damage
Black: 3 damage
Sheen: 5 damage
Malanowski: 9 damage
Cole: 7 damage
Granger: 3 damage
Lewie Newton: 9 damage to head

Temporary insanity rounds remaining, not counting this one:
Javier Ramirez: 3
Airman Alexandria Mikhalin: 10
Lt. Angela Blanco: 4
Lisa Crow: 11
Dr. Dale Owens: 13)

West of the motel-
Hodges put a bullet in Lewie Newton's head, knocking him down onto the balcony. He still was able to crawl on, lagging behind the other zombies. Glancing to the west, Hodges saw that the leading edge of the pack was now 30 yards away from him, but he still had time for a few more shots before he had to move.

(Hodges, you may take another shot now. Any hit to the head would finish off Lewie, though he is now reduced to a crawl. Sue is not wearing a helmet, but the other four zombies you can see on the balcony are all armored.)

On the motel balcony-
Dr. Owens stared horrified as the four runners swarmed over Ramirez, who still lay helpless at the northeast corner. They all bit him, two of them gnawing on his left leg and another chewing his left arm. The one that bit the side of his belly couldn't get through his body armor, but the damage from the other bites was enough to mortally wound him. Then Luke destroyed what little was left of the southeast barricade, and Bill ran past him straight for the doctor, ready to grab him and chow down. Dale avoided his grasping arms, but not his gnashing teeth. The zombie tore a small chunk from his right arm. The veterinarian could not cope with his doom, but retained enough presence of mind to flee. He managed to get onto the ladder and follow David up to the roof.

On the west side of the balcony, Lt. Curtis hauled Lt. Blanco with him as they fled north along the balcony to the northwest corner, following Zorie Spooner. The five standing zombies were just five yards behind them, with Lewie Newton crawling after them another few yards back. They passed by the door of the comm room without paying it any heed. "Coltrane, this is Lt. Curtis," replied the CO on the radio. "We can't hold the motel and we're evacuating, except for Airman Mikhalin who volunteered to stay and work the comm as long as possible. We're going to need a lift."

(Lt. Doolittle, you may make it to the northwest corner of the balcony along with the others this round. If you attack the zombies, they're still close enough to attack you back afterwards. Alternatively, you could leap over the balcony railing to the parking lot below. If you do this, make a Jump roll to avoid taking damage.)

In the comm room-
Mikhalin watched as the zombies streamed past the smashed-open door, frightened beyond reason. She couldn't take it any more, and it finally sank in that she had just sacrificed her life. She heard many voices speaking in Russian - speaking directly to her! Desperately, she grabbed the microphone and spoke to Carmichael. "Sir, this is Airman Mikhalin!" she said quickly. "I volunteered to stay behind so the others could get out. The Russians know we're listening in on them! They know who I am, sir! They said they're going to bury America and rule what's left of the world! All these years they've been lulling us into a false sense of security while they've secretly been planning to take over! Sir, I think they're behind everything that's happened today!"

"Airman, calm down," said Carmichael, skepticism in his voice. "How can the Russians know who you are? Why would they tell you these things if they're true? None of this makes sense. Put Lt. Curtis on."

"Sir, he's gone. They're all gone. I'm the only one left."

On the motel roof-
David stared in shock at the corpse of Brian Kincaid, which had been ripped asunder. He gulped, on the very brink of madness, but he remained in control of himself. Then he caught sight of the SAW lying on the roof. "Whoa, baby!" he said, claiming it for himself. He swallowed his disgust and rooted through Kincaid's pockets, taking his pistol and magazines. He turned around when Dr. Owens clambered onto the roof from below. Dale choked up when he saw the torn young man, becoming violently ill. He almost retained control of his mind, but it slipped away from him. He froze, no longer having a will of his own.

East of the motel-
The crawling zombie started up the northeast stairs, and the two runners arrived at the base of the stairs just behind it. The horde of slower zombies was 30 to 35 yards from the motel.

South of the motel-
Lisa trembled when she learned of Tsuba's death. It was my fault, she thought. I ran out on him again after I swore I wouldn't. Once more she broke down, certain that she had caused her love's demise and, as a result, nearly caused his mother's death too. She gazed at Amanda with blank eyes. She's our leader now. I have to do whatever she does. She got on the back of Amanda's motorcycle.

"It'll be all right," said Amanda as she pulled out and headed south, but Lisa didn't seem to be listening. They were now a few hundred yards south of the motel, but still out of view of the trucks.

Coltrane climbed out of the back of Colin's truck. "You're free to go where you want, sir," he said to him, "but I'm heading back to the motel." He went across to Keith's truck and climbed into the cab. "Thank you, ma'am. If you want to get to safety, you should go with your friend in the other truck and get to Warren AFB. It's about forty miles west of here, and you'll want to stay off the roads."

(Colin, Melinda, and Keith, you may act now. Decide which vehicles you're going in, and whoever is driving each one needs to say which way you're heading. The motel is almost a mile to the north, and Warren AFB is around 40 miles to the west.)