Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 6:17 PM Mountain Time - Prairie Militia Society Compound
In the movie studio-
"It's okay, Mutt, we've got her!" called a man's voice from the guard room. "We have to evacuate this place now! Grab the girls and let's go!"

"Good job, Doc!" shouted Mutt. "Are you sure we can't hold the compound?"

"Positive! You didn't see the size of that thing, and we've already lost Jeff. Maybe we'll kill it, but they'll keep coming!"

"Damn, you're right. Okay, you and Sally take Lara to the surface. Careful with her, she's the one who killed Jeff. Katarina and I will bring Zoe, and Raquel too if we can find the keys to the cuffs." He went over to the chair where Jeff's clothes lay, but he couldn't find the keys. "Crap, where the hell are they?! Katarina, help me look!"

A loud smash came from the same direction as the breaking rock, followed by a massive explosion and then automatic rifle fire.

OOC,[b]Katarina[/b], if you want to search through the clothes for the handcuff keys, roll Spot Hidden.

Zoe Gallagher,You're stunned for 14 more minutes, including this one.

In the guard room-
"Come on, Sally, there's no time to waste!" shouted Doc after the explosion and the gunfire. "I'll hold onto Lara. You need your hands on your crutches. Let's go!" He took Lara by the arm.

Sally breathed a sigh of relief but now she had to travel with Mutt. 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire' she thought to herself.
"Mutt, we will need more weapons. Can you get into the armory to get us some gear? I can take Katrina and Laura upstairs while Doc gets the other girls. You can get us some weapons and ammo to survive. Sound like a plan?"

In the movie studio-
"I've got the armory keys, but I don't know if we'll have time to stop and grab anything!" called Mutt. "I'll have to move the girls. Doc may be smarter than me, but I've got him beat in the muscles department. If I get a chance, I'll gear up at the armory myself on my way out. There's no time to discuss this, just go!"

In the guard room-
"This way, hurry!" said Doc. He ushered Lara into the short hall on the opposite side of the guard room from the cell block. A metal door was on the left, and a wooden door was on the right. Beyond them were two open doorways without doors. The end of the hall opened up into a reception area. "Just keep going straight ahead."

"Good luck!" Sally said, before huslting off after Doc and Laura. Sally moved as quickly as she could.

Katarina looks for the keys desperately. "We shoot links?" But then she finds the keys.

In the movie studio-
"Good girl!" said Mutt, giving Katarina a quick kiss and taking the keys from her. He unlocked both sets of handcuffs that were chaining Raquel to the bed, pocketed the keys, rolled her onto her belly, and cuffed her arms tight behind her back. He went over to Zoe and did the same to her. Then he knelt and easily scooped Zoe up, slinging her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "I don't think you can manage to carry Raquel. She's a big girl. We'll go back for her later if we have time. Otherwise, if she has any sense she'll follow us when she collects herself. Unless...of course!" He hurried over to a wheeled room service cart that was backstage and laid Zoe down on top of it. "Go on and push her out the door, then turn left and go straight ahead. The stairs may prove a problem later, but at least we can get her that far. I'll grab Raquel."

The automatic gunfire continued for a few seconds from the direction of the elevator, and then it stopped. There was another noise of crunching and breaking rock.

Zoe Gallagher,You're stunned for another 13 minutes, including this one.

In the short hall-
Doc pulled Lara along, waiting for Sally so that he did not end up leaving her behind. "Keep going!" he urged, hurrying for the reception area ahead. A staircase could be seen at the far end, leading up.

Lara looked at him, bewildered and frightened. "What is happening?!" she asked, her ears ringing with the gunfire.

Katarina did as she was told.

Zoe is still confused and helpless from the effects of the gas.

"All hell is breakign lose, is what is happening." Sally said. "We'll explain later, but there is some seriously bad shit going on back there." Sally started breathing heavily due to all the running. "Are you aware that the dead are rising up and attacking the living?" Sally said between breaths.

In the movie studio-
Mutt snatched up Raquel, grunting a little with the effort. "You been putting on weight?" he said as he ran out the exit to the guard room, carrying her over his shoulder with one arm. All she could do was weep.

In the guard room-
Katarina wheeled the cart with Zoe on it out of the door to the movie studio and turned left, heading for the hall leading out. Mutt emerged from the studio with Raquel. From the cell block, they could see Ghost, Nitro, and Deadeye running their way and reloading their rifles. "Did you kill it?" asked Mutt.

"No, but we hurt it real bad!" called Ghost. "We sprayed a lot of lead, but only a few rounds hit it. Then it broke through the floor before we could finish it off."

"I'll unlock the armory on our way out so we can grab some more stuff."

"That thing's under the floor and heading this way!" shouted Deadeye. "What, you want us to be in there grabbing guns and bombs while it bursts up below us? The hell with that, let's just split!"

Zoe Gallagher,You're stunned for 12 more minutes, including this one.

In the reception area-
Doc, Lara, and Sally hurried through the hall and into the reception area, reaching the base of the stairs. "What?!" said Lara. "But that's impossible, like some cheesy horror movie! That's crazy!" She looked imploringly at Doc. "Please tell me she's crazy."

"I'm sorry, Lara, but Sally's saner than any of us," said Doc. "I didn't want to believe it myself, but it's happening. You can depend on Sally. If it weren't for her, we'd all be dead already." He gave Sally a look of admiration. "Come on, let's hurry upstairs."

Sally laughed as she ran: "Well, sane being a relative term, that is. " Sally hurried along as quickly as she could.

In the guard room-
Mutt ran alongside Katarina as she pushed the cart with Zoe down the hall to the left to the reception area. Ghost, Nitro, and Deadeye ran into the guard room a short distance behind them. Mutt unlocked the metal door as he went by, but he kept running.

In the reception area-
Doc, Lara, and Sally hurried up the stairs. Mutt lugged Raquel into the room while Katarina pushed the cart to the base of the stairs, but at this point it would need to be abandoned.

"Leave her here for now, Katarina" said Mutt. "The guys will grab her on their way out. Let's keep going." He spoke into his radio. "Spike, we're all on our way up. We have to evacuate. Make sure the way is clear for us to the vehicles."

OOC,[b]Katarina[/b], if you want to try to carry [b]Zoe[/b] upstairs anyway, make a Resistance Table roll of your STR of 7 against her SIZ of 12. This gives you only a 25% chance. If you fail, neither one of you goes anywhere this turn. You may instead go up the stairs without rolling.

Zoe Gallagher,You're stunned for 11 more minutes, including this one.

In the warehouse-
Doc, Lara, and Sally entered a large underground warehouse with many crates stacked throughout. At the far end of the warehouse was another stairway leading upwards.

Sally looked around as she ran: "What is all of this?"

OOC,Since Laraqua hasn't returned yet, I'll NPC [b]Katarina[/b] until she does and assume she continues to do as she's told for now.

In the reception area-
Mutt, still carrying Raquel, ran up the stairs with Katarina right behind him. Zoe still lay helpless on the cart when Ghost, Nitro, and Deadeye ran in from the hall.

Zoe Gallagher,You're stunned for 10 more minutes, including this one. I had miscalculated the amount of time in the posts above, but I've fixed it.

In the warehouse-
"All sorts of goods," said Doc, running with Sally for the stairs leading to the surface. "No weapons or explosives - those are all kept in the armories - but just about everything else. Electronics, clothes, you name it. Most of it's probably stolen. Hammond and Earl used their trucking business to transport these goods. Some of it would be useful for surviving the current crisis, but we don't have time to stop and root through these crates. Keep moving!" He, Lara, and Sally started up the stairs as Mutt, Raquel, and Katarina arrived from below.

On the stairs-
When Doc, Lara, and Sally reached a landing halfway up the stairs, they heard a shotgun blast ring out from somewhere above.

"Gnnnr." Zoe drools down her cheek.

Sally hustled along as quickly as she could. As she ran, Sally strained to hear the sounds of the worm coming after them, but her footfalls and the sound of her heart beating furiously was all she could hear.

In the reception area-
"Don't fret, Zoe," said Ghost, scooping her up with no problem. "I would never leave behind my favorite girl." He carried her upstairs, with Nitro and Deadeye following him.

In the warehouse-
Mutt lugged Raquel up the stairs leading further up, and Katarina followed along. When the other skinheads entered from below with Zoe, the ground shook again and the sound of breaking rock came from far behind. "It's comin'!" shouted Deadeye. "Hurry, let's beat feet!"

Zoe Gallagher,[b]Zoe[/b] is stunned for 9 more minutes, including this one.

On the stairs-
Doc, Lara, and Sally reached the top of the stairs, which were blocked off by a trapdoor in the ceiling. Doc pushed it open, and the three of them emerged into a room on the surface.

Further down, Mutt, Raquel, and Katarina reached the landing at around the time the gronud trembled. All of them could hear another shotgun blast from somewhere above. Raquel began to recover from the effects of the gas.

In the back room-
Doc, Lara, and Sally found themselves in a small room. Sunlight streamed in through a window in one wall next to an open door leading outside. Both women blinked, relieved to be back on ground level. Sally had only been trapped down there for hours, but this was the first time in months that Lara had seen the sun. The only other exit was a hallway leading further into the building.

"The vehicles are out there," said Doc, pointing to the open door. Then the ground shook again, and another shotgun blast echoed from outside. Spike's agonized, terrified scream came from somewhere outside, though he was not visible through either the door or the window.

"Shit! Don't tell me that big worm is smart enough to have known we were heading for the surface and it got here first?" Sally groanded as she moved to the windows to look outside.
Then another realization hit her " ......or.....there is more than one of them.."

In the warehouse-
Ghost began to carry Zoe up the stairs leading to the surface, Nitro and Deadeye hot on their heels.

Zoe Gallagher,[b]Zoe[/b] is stunned for 8 more minutes, including this one.

On the stairs-
"I can walk now," muttered Raquel in broken English.

"Okay, but you better behave yourself," said Mutt, setting her down on her feet and unslinging his M-16. "Let's get upstairs fast!" He ushered Katarina and Raquel upwards while the others followed further below.

In the back room-
Doc and Lara followed Sally to the window. All of them peered outside, and they quickly saw that the threat was not another worm. A teenage girl, no older than sixteen and completely naked, faced off against Spike near a white van and a white pickup truck parked behind the building. Her eyes were bright red, and blood and chunks of flesh dribbled down her chin. They had been torn from Spike's left arm, which hung uselessly at his side. He gaped, holding his shotgun limply in his right hand, while she attacked him again, only to stumble and fall. But she was not the only walking corpse out there. More buildings were visible in the distance, and a handful of other zombies were making their way steadily closer from amongst them, perhaps drawn by the gunfire.

Lara shrieked in terror, but still retained enough of her faculties not to give in to panic. Doc shrank back in revulsion, but steeled himself against the shocking sight.

Mutt, Katarina, and Raquel emerged from below.

OOC,[b]Sally[/b], roll Sanity for seeing the zombies. Sanity loss is 0/1d10. As long as you don't go temporarily insane, you may act freely.

Sally,Don't forget your +10 bonus. This means your roll only fails on a 97 or higher.

Unfazed by the sight of yet another zombie, Sally steadied herself, held her pistol in both hands and opened the door to the outside. Sally exited to door pistol raised towards the zombie, ready to take a shot at it.
OOC: I do not know if I have enough actions to shoot this round or not so I will wait. If I can shoot, I will edit my post with the roll.

OOC,Since you could go outside as part of last turn's action after looking out the window, we can assume you started the turn out there already and you can take your shot now. You can use normal skill for the zombie attacking [b]Spike[/b], but the nearest of the other zombies is over 30 yards away, so you'd be at half skill for them. Don't forget the -5 penalty for aiming at the head.

Sally,Remember that you also have a +20 bonus for all firearms attacks, so that's a net bonus of +15 to your Handgun skill. If you hit, roll 1d10+2 damage for the .45 pistol.

Exiting the door with her pistol raised, Sally took aim at the zombie attacking Spike and fired. The shot just missed.

In the back room-
Doc and Lara had already followed Sally outside. Mutt followed them, with Katarina and Raquel tagging along. Then the other skinheads emerged through the trapdoor with Zoe.

Zoe Gallagher,[b]Zoe[/b] will be stunned for 7 more minutes, including this one. You may as well make your Sanity roll for seeing the zombies now, since you'll be carried outside.

Behind the building-
In addition to the zombie attacking Spike, now that Sally was outside she could see nine zombies slowly advancing from various directions. Most of them were naked women of Asian or Eastern European descent, but a few of them were skinheads. They were all about 25 yards away now, except for one that was lagging behind.

Doc also fired, and his first bullet hit the zombie in the head, wounding it but not stopping it. It clawed feebly at Spike as it regained its feet.

Mutt gaped in shock when he emerged. "Spike!" he cried. Recovering quickly, he raised his M-16 to his shoulder and put a bullet in the dead girl's brain. She collapsed, down for good. Spike dropped his shotgun and drew his pistol. He fired at the head of one of the other zombies, hitting and wounding it a little.

Katarina swallowed at her first sight of the walking dead, but her strong mind helped her barely withstand the shock. Raquel was not made of stern stuff. She whimpered in panic, overwhelmed by terror and filled with despair.

OOC,[b]Sally[/b], if you wish you may take a shot at one of the other zombies. You may now use your full skill. They are still four rounds away from reaching you. One of the zombies has taken 3 damage to the head, and will need 7 more to finish it off. If you want to try to calm [b]Raquel[/b] down, roll Psychoanalysis instead.

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2136861/]Sanity 37% (1d100=10)[/url]

Zoe's unfocused eyes catch sight of a terrific thing, fortunately the horror of her captivity has blurred her feeling; she is not shocked.

Sally threw up in her mouth a bit at the sight of all the once dead women. 'Mutt is a sicker fuck than I could ever imagin' she thought.
Sally looked towards the vehicles to see how many zombies were between her and freedom.
"We've got a whole lot of company up here" Sally said "and that worm won't be har behind. Let's get to the vehicles. Mutt; you and the boys clear us a path, but try and keep up. We are lightly armed."
OOC: How badly is Spike hurt? Does he look like he will bleed out soon?

OOC,[b]Spike[/b]'s arm is definitely broken, but he doesn't look like he's going to bleed out any time soon. If he takes another hit like that one, he'll probably die.

In the back room-
Ghost rushed outside with Zoe in his arms. Nitro and Deadeye hurried after them.

Behind the building-
The van and the pickup truck were parked right nearby, and none of the zombies were in the way. Once the vehicles were moving, the zombies could easily be avoided. The sun was low in the sky to the west, and there were perhaps only thirty or forty minutes of daylight remaining.

"Yeah, let's get out of here fast!" shouted Mutt. He glanced back when he saw the other skinheads emerge from the back door. "Sally, you and Doc will ride with me in the pickup. You three guys load the girls into the back of the van!"

Ghost coolly hurried over to the van with Zoe. Nitro gulped in fright, but was mostly numb to the shock by now. Deadeye reeled unsteadily, but he too suprressed his fears for the main part. Both of them hurried to the van as well.

It was all too much for Raquel. The horror of the risen dead, some of whom she recognized, was more than she could handle. And now her cruel captors were going to cart off her and her friends to God knows where, and the abuse would continue. And her best friend Alicia was dead. "No mas..." she choked out, tears streaming down her face in a torrent. "No mas!" She rushed towards a cluster of zombies, believing she'd be better off dead.

"Raquel, no!" cried Lara. She rushed to intercept her and tried to grab her arm, but she mistimed her lunge. Katarina tried to stop her too, and she managed to seize the other woman's arm before she could get away.

"Raquel, it's okay," said Doc soothingly. "Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise."

Raquel relaxed and stopped struggling. She nodded, sniffling.

The dead continued to close in. They were now less than twenty yards away, but there was still enough time to get in the vehicles and escape before they arrived. Spike's arm went slack, and he ran for the van too.

Zoe Gallagher,[b]Zoe[/b] is stunned for 6 more minutes, including this one.

Without wasting a moment, Sally moved off to the vehicles as quickly as she could: "Let's move, people!"

Behind the building-
"Spike, you can't come with!" said Ghost. "You've been bit!"

Spike just stared straight ahead, slack-jawed.

Mutt handed Ghost the keys to the van and frowned at Spike. Then he joined Doc and Sally at the pickup truck, the keys to that vehicle already in his hand. "What do you two think? Is there any hope of curing him before he turns into one of those things?"

"It doesn't look good," said Doc. "He's got a couple hours, but without my medical lab I wouldn't bet money on it. Spike! Hey, I need you to focus, man!" Spike remained unresponsive.

Ghost unlocked the van's side door and slid it open. "In you go, girls," he said, placing Zoe inside. She had a sickening sensation of deja vu. This was the van the skinheads had originally used to abduct her. Lara and Katarina helped Raquel inside. The rear compartment was completely enclosed, litlte more than a big, empty metal box, though air did flow through from somewhere when it was closed. Ghost slid the door shut again, leaving the four women in darkness. It locked automatically with an ominous click. There was no locking mechanism on the inside of the van, not even a handle. This van was designed for keeping people inside. Raquel began to weep again.

Ghost raced around to the front of the van and got in the driver's seat. Nitro snatched up Spike's dropped shotgun and slid into the middle of the cab, and Deadeye sat in the shotgun seat. Ghost inserted the key in the ignition and started the engine.

After Mutt unlocked the doors, Doc slid into the middle of the pickup truck's cab and helped Sally into the shotgun seat. "Follow us!" Mutt called to Ghost as he got behind the wwheel and revved up the truck. Spike wandered over to the pickup too. "Should we let him ride in the bed of the truck? If we have to, we can always put a bullet in his head later. Or do we leave him here? Those deadheads will probably go after him instead of us once we're out of range." The zombies were closing in, but they were still ten yards off and there was time to get away.

Zoe Gallagher,[b]Zoe[/b] is stunned for 5 more minutes, including this one.

"Just drive" Sally said to Mutt. "He's as good as dead. There is no cure and he will eventually just turn and attack us all."

"Where will we go?" asked Katarina.

In the van-
"I don't know," said Lara from the darkness, her voice cracking with fear.

"It won't be anywhere good," sobbed Raquel. "Alicia and Mei Ling were the lucky ones..."

The women could feel the van begin to move, only to stop a minute later.

Zoe Gallagher,[b]Zoe[/b] is stunned for 4 more minutes, including this one. However, at this point she may talk to the others in the back of the van, though she cannot take any other action until the effects of the tear gas wear off fully.

In the pickup truck-
"I hate to say it, Mutt," said Doc, "but she's right. I don't like losing Spike either, but he's already gone."

Mutt nodded grimly and pressed down the accelerator, leaving Spike behind. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "At least he'll help cover our escape." Ghost followed behind him in the van. Spike walked after them, but couldn't keep up, and the zombies began to converge on him once the vehicles got far enough away. Both vehicles rounded the corner of the building before the dead reached him, so they did not see his grisly end.

Both vehicles drove around to the front of the building and along a dirt road crossing the compound to the southeast. No more zombies were visible. They seemed to have all been drawn after Spike. The perimeter fence came into view ahead, and the pickup truck came to a halt just within it, in front of a closed gate next to a small sentry hut. The van stoppeed behind it. On the outside of the gate, all along the perimeter, dead bodies lay still. "Deadeye, get the gate open and let's hit the road!" called Mutt.

"Fuck me! I've screwed up, so bad. Alicia is dead, and it was me that blew her brains out," Zoe says in despair.

"So what's the plan?" Sally asked? "Maybe the folks at the diner and motel are still holding up?"

In the van-
"You tried to save her," said Raquel. "Nobody blames you, Zoe."

Lara nodded. It took a moment for her to realize that nobody could see her gesture in the dark. "It was that bastard Jeff's fault," she said. "I'm so sorry about what he did to you, Zoe. I wish we'd gotten there sooner. Alicia told us to shoot, remember?" She held back a sob. "I miss her too."

The van then began moving again.

In the pickup truck-
"Maybe they're still alive there," said Mutt as Deadeye got out of the van and ran into the gatehouse. "Maybe they're not. If they are, they're liable to shoot at us again if we go back that way. If not, there's really nothing for us there." The gate began to slide open.

"Then where do we go?" asked Doc.

"North. More open areas and less people in that direction. We need to stay away from cities. It's worst in the cities." Mutt began to drive forward down the road once the gate had opened wide enough.

Deadeye returned to the van and got back in, and then Ghost drove after the pickup truck.

"Okay," said Doc. "But do you have a destination in mind? It's going to be dark soon."

Mutt nodded. "Once we put enough distance between us and the worm, we'll find a place to hole up for the night. Then in the morning we can continue. There's a group up in Montana, the Aryan Brotherhood. Horst has had contact with them before. They've got a couple of hundred members, or at least they did before all this started. Their compound is well fortified, and they have plenty of ammo, food, water, and supplies, so they should be able to hold out. I expect we'll get there by tomorrow evening. Once we arrive, we'll join up with them."

The pickup truck and van followed the road southeast, leaving the PMS compound behind forever. Soon they reached a junction with another dirt road leading north and south. The road they were on did not continue any further.

"Lara, Raquel, thank you for saying it, about Alicia. The truth is I hoped to save my miserable self after Jeff died, God rot him. If I get a second chance... , there is nothing left for me now," Zoe cries.

"Anybody have the faintest idea about what is going on?"

"No," whispered Katarina. "I lie to men. I be..." She frowned, trying to find the words. "They trust. I lie good. I'm sorry I not help better."

Zoe comments tiredly to Katarina, "All men are beasts, I've said it before, but not to you. Biologically it is true, and take just one step away from our civilised world... well, that is all a man has to do to return to the jungle - survival of the fittest and all that. However, this crew are particularly loathsome!"

"I'm not sure I like the idea of heading to another compound" Sally said. "I'd say your compound was pretty damn fortified, but it didn't matter much to those worms, did it?"
Sally sat, thinking. Finally she said, "Hmm.. I just don't know."

In the van-
The women felt the van make a sharp left turn.

"Sally and Doc said the dead are rising," said Lara. "After what we saw outside...maybe it's true. It's like some horror movie." She wept as well. "I'm finished too. Once we get where we're going, Mutt will kill me, and he'll take his time doing it."

"Don't give up," said Raquel. "There's not as many of them left now. Maybe...maybe we still have a chance."

The van came to a halt after another minute or so.

In the pickup truck-
Mutt turned the wheel hard to the left, driving around the sharp bend. The van followed a short distance behind. "I've never seen their compound," he said, "but from what Horst said it's a lot better equipped than ours was, and they have a lot more people than we did. Plus, we'll be far, far away from those damn worms."

After a minute or so of travel, what looked like a cracked-open, giant green eggshell came into view up ahead beyond a stopped car that blocked the dirt road. Sally recognized the shell as one of the meteorites - it looked just like the one she had seen near the campsite. The car's windows were down, and the engine was still running. On the passenger side was the body of a woman, lying in the mud beside the road. It had been ripped to shreds very brutally. Mutt slammed on the brakes and stopped the truck. The van stopped behind it.

OOC,[b]Sally[/b], roll Sanity for seeing the body. Sanity loss is 1/1d4+1. If you lose 5, it only counts as 4 in this case since you've already lost 1 Sanity for seeing a mangled corpse recently. Also, roll Spot Hidden and Know.

Sally nearly threw up at the sight of the woman, but she held it together.
"Jesus" Sally said quietly. Sally spotted something as she took in the sceen. Then an idea came to her.

In the pickup truck-
Sally recognized the woman as Cathy Latham, who had been staying at the motel with her family and had driven off to see the meteorite. The car was theirs too, but there was no sign of her husband or their two sons. Clutched in what was left of her hand was a small pill bottle. Sally recalled Michael telling her about the family's demise when the meteorite had burst open and the mosquitos had swarmed out. The others had died from the stings, but Cathy hadn't. Instead they had torn her to pieces.

"Cathy..." Sally says quietly, to herself as she stares at the carnage. "We should keep moving. This woman and her family were at the motel and came out here to see the meteorite. Giant mosquitos attacked them and killed them all. The mosquitos may still be around, somewhere."

In the pickup truck-
Doc recoiled when he saw the dead woman and put his arm around Sally protectively. Her presence next to him also comforted him a little and kept him from losing it.

"Those are probably the same ones that attacked the compound this morning," said Mutt, "but, yeah, we gotta get out of here. Hey, Deadeye! Move that hunk of junk that's blocking the road!"

Deadeye got out of the van and ran past the pickup, numbed to the shock of seeing the woman's remains. He got into the Lathams' car and drove it off the road, where it got stuck in the muddy ground. He got out as the pickup truck drove past, then climbed back into the van as it slowly pulled up. Once he was back in the shotgun seat, it picked up speed and continued following the truck.

A short distance further down the road, a Porsche was visible off the edge of the road, wrapped around a tree. The driver's side door was open, but there was nobody in the car and no bodies were around. Sally recognized this vehicle too - it had belonged to Felice Piccone, the beautiful Italian woman who had also been staying at the motel.

OOC,[b]Sally[/b], roll Spot Hidden again.

In the van-
The women remained silent for a minute in the darkness. They heard Mutt's shout, and then one of the van's front doors opening. Shortly afterwards, the van began to move forward again, slowly at first but then picking up speed as the door closed again. The terrible ride into the unknown continued.

Sally took in the scene in fornt of her. She thought to her self as she surveyed the scene: 'I tihnk Felice was a detective of some sort and may have had a gun...'

In the pickup truck-
If there was a gun lying around, Sally couldn't see it from here.

To the girls in the van, "I'll try something..."

Zoe calls out, "Hey, you guys, I need a pee!"

Sally walked up to the wreckage, with her pistol out, and scanned the wreckage.

In the pickup truck-
When Sally indicated that she wanted to stop, Mutt stepped on the brakes and brought the pickup to a halt next to the Porsche. "Okay, but make it fast," he said. "I don't want to stick around this area any longer than I have to."

Sally got out and approached the wrecked car. The driver's door was twisted and partly open, and lying on the seat was a Sig Sauer P-226 9mm automatic, apparently Felice's gun. There was no sign of any extra ammo, but it had a nearly full magazine. Only one shot had been fired, which corresponded to a bullet hole in the passenger side window.

In the van-
"Zoe, no!" hissed Lara. "If they get you alone out there, they'll...you know..."

The van came to a halt again, and Zoe had finally fully recovered from the effects of the tear gas. She found herself able to move freely once more - or at least as freely as someone who had her arms handcuffed behind her back and was locked in a van with no way of unlocking the door from the inside could. Unfortunately, there was no way she could reach the lock on her handcuffs to try to pick it.

"We ain't got time for that, honey!" called Deadeye. "Just hold it in till we stop for the night. It won't be long."

OOC,[b]Zoe[/b], roll Idea. Also, roll either Persuade or Fast Talk to try to convince them to let you out to relieve yourself. [b]Katarina[/b] may try this too.

As Sally bends into the car, she suddenly looks up and says: "What was that?! I heard something over there?!" Indicating the direction opposite where she was.
OOC: Sally is trying to get Mutt to look away from her. When he does, she is going to try and pocket the Sig.

OOC: Are the current weapons for Sally correct? She has grenades?)

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2167458/]Idea 70% (1d100=70)[/url] Ooooh! Mr. Handy, what is the % for Persuade or Fast Talk?

Zoe says, "Pathetic! Anyway, I'm handcuffed."

Persuade roll,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2169126/]Persuade 15% (1d100=8)[/url]

Zoe is persuasive, but what the hell is she gonna do?

In the pickup truck-
"What is it?" asked Mutt, peering off through the trees to the west, toward the sinking sun. When he looked away, Sally slipped the pistol into a large pocket in her khaki shorts. "I can't see anything out there, except the compound in the distance." He turned back. "Still, we'd better get out of here soon. We haven't gone all that far yet. Get back in the truck and let's hit the road."

Ghost and Deadeye got out of the van, which had stopped behind the truck, and started moving around to the side. "What are you two doing?" asked Mutt.

"One of the girls needs to make a pit stop," said Ghost. "I could use one myself."

"We ain't got time for this!"

"Come on, Mutt," said Deadeye. "We've got needs."

"Now is not the time. You'll get a chance when we find a place to stop. We've wasted enough time already. Now get back in the van, you two."

Ghost and Deadeye complied.

OOC,[b]Sally[/b], I still need that Conceal roll.

In the van-
"Well, I don't suppose it will do any harm," said Ghost. "I could stand to drain the snake, now that you mention it."

The women heard the doors open and two men get out, followed by their conversation with Mutt. Then they got back into the van and closed the doors.

"Sorry, babe," said Ghost. "The boss man says there's no time now. We're wasting daylight, and we need to get far enough away. First chance we get, though."

Zoe Gallagher,In a way, it was a good thing that [b]Mutt[/b] hadn't allowed them to stop here. [b]Lara[/b] was right . There was nothing she could have done on her own out there. Trying to run away, especially with her arms cuffed behind her back, would be extremely dangerous. Being separated from the other women was not a good thing. If they were to stand any chance, they would need to work together. While it was impossible for [b]Zoe[/b] to pick the lock on her own handcuffs, [b]Raquel[/b] was also handcuffed. [b]Zoe[/b] might be able to free her by using the hook from a bra as an improvised lockpick. [b]Zoe[/b], roll Locksmith if you want to attempt this.

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2171551/]Locksmith 41% (1d100=40)[/url]

Zoe says, "I'm clutching at straws, I must think! Hey Lara, give me a hook from your bra, I'll try unlocking Raquel's handcuffs."

Sally did her best to slip the gun into her pocket. 'Smooth move' Sally said to herself.
Sally drew her own gun as she moved back to the truck and kept her eyes on the area she had pointed out earlier. "My eyes must be playing tricks on me after being underground for so long" she said as she got into the truck.

In the pickup truck-
Mutt shrugged as he pulled out and drove north along the dirt road, the van following behind. "I'm just glad there wasn't anything out there," he said.

"Well, we've got half an hour of sunlight left, maybe a little less," said Doc. "Let's get as far as we can."

The vehicles continued northwards. Soon the road came to an end when it formed a T-junction with a paved road heading east and west. Sally recalled that Michael had turned right at this point, which eventually had led him to Brownson when he had turned back to the south.

In the van-
The van started moving forward again.

Lara unhooked her bra and let Zoe use its hook as a makeshift lockpick. It took quite a bit of fiddling, but eventually Zoe managed to pick the lock on Raquel's handcuffs.

"Muchas gracias," said Raquel, removing her cuffs and rubbing her sore wrists. "I wish I could return favor."

Lara put her bra back on now that Zoe was done with it. "What's going to happen to us now?" she wondered aloud.

"I wish I knew, Lara. Keep the handcuffs on your wrists. Maybe we'll get a chance to escape," says Zoe without conviction.

Sally looked up and down the road, keeping an eye out for trouble.

In the pickup truck-
The road was clear in both directions. Mutt turned left at the intersection, heading into the sun, and the van followed. After another mile or so, another crossroads loomed ahead. A road heading north and south intersected this one.

In the van-
"Si, you right," said Raquel. She slipped the handcuffs loosely back onto her wrists so that she could slip out of them at will. The van turned left around a corner.

"Escape not enough," said Lara bitterly. "They must die."

"No, too dangerous," said Raquel. "We just have to get away from them." She lay down on the floor of the van, trying to rest during the bumpy ride. Everything that had happened today was overwhelming, even considering what she had been through in the months leading up to it. She began to cry again.

"How far until we reach the other compound?" Sally asked from the passenger seat?
She stared blankly off into the distance, thinking of how best to get out of this situation.... she couldn't let them get to the other compund. Once there, there would be no escape.

Zoe remarks, "Yes, Lara, they deserve death.
"Raquel, our nightmare will end badly, I've no doubt; I long to take 'em with me when I die!"

In the pickup truck-
"It's around 500 miles away," said Mutt. He turned right at the intersection, heading north along a deserted road. The van kept following. "That's too far to make it on a full tank of gas, so we'll need to refuel at some point along the way. We'll probably only get another 25 miles or so before it gets dark, and we'll be spending a lot of tomorrow on the road. We should arrive late tomorrow afternoon if we're lucky, but there could be unexpected delays."

"If we stick to the back roads and avoid cities, we should be fine," said Doc. "So far we haven't run across anything hostile."

For the moment there was nothing Sally could do but wait and watch. So far she had maintained her cover, but how long could she keep up the masquerade? There would be opportunities to do something, perhaps when they stopped for the night, but she knew she was right. Once they reached the other compound, she would be trapped. With just a few skinheads, she had some hope, but what could she do among hundreds? She also knew that whatever she was going to do, she would only get one chance at it. Once she made her move, she could not afford to fail. If things went awry, she could end up dead - or locked in the van with the other women. The horror of the day was sinking in for her, but the horrors of the night still lay ahead.

In the van-
"I wanted to die, back there," said Raquel as the van made a right turn. "I tried to run for those...those things, so they would eat me. I thought that would be better than whatever's in store for me. Maybe I should have..."

"Don't say that," said Lara. "I don't want to die. We will kill them, yes, but they will not kill us."

"But what chance do we have?"

Nobody replied. Katarina hadn't said a word in a while, but there was no question that she was deep in thought, as was Zoe. Their situation seemed hopeless, but the women drew some satisfaction from the fact that the skinheads had taken losses, and there were now just a few of them. Maybe there was still a chance, a glimmer of hope. Mei Ling and Alicia were dead too, however, and without their help their prospects were bleaker. They had gotten out of the compound with their lives, but they were only trading one terrible prison for another. Soon it would be night, and unknown terrors lay ahead. But after everything they had been through, they at least had the comfort that things couldn't possibly get any worse...could they?

OOC,Congratulations on surviving Chapter 4! I'm leaving this thread unlocked, so [b]Sally[/b] can talk to [b]Doc[/b] (and [b]Mutt[/b]) if she wants, and [b]Zoe[/b] and [b]Katarina[/b] can talk to each other as well as [b]Raquel[/b] and [b]Lara[/b]. There won't be any dice rolling until Chapter 5 begins, which should be in early September. The other sections will need a little more time to finish up, but I expect them to be done in early August. Good luck in Chapter 5: Dead of Night - you're going to need it! :twisted:

OOC,Chapter 5: Escape to freedom! :roll:

OOC,The story continues in the Sword section of Chapter 5, found on the links below. [b]Sally[/b] is moving to the following thread.

The Road to Hell

OOC,[b]Zoe[/b], [b]Raquel[/b], [b]Katarina[/b], and [b]Lara[/b] are moving to the following thread.

The Lockbox