Play@YSDC

On the roof-
It was too dark for Sally to see anything in the surrounding area, but she was sure there was nothing within a few yards of the station.

In the ranger station-
Raquel continued to weep.

Outside the ranger station-
"I'm terrified of them too," said Julie, "but I'm still willing to risk facing them to save others. I understand why you don't want to go after them, and I don't expect you to. Please don't be mad at Dan. He saved you, remember? If it weren't for him, they'd still have you - and they'd have me too." She hurried off after Katarina, not wanting to let her go on her own.

South of the ranger station-
Katarina found Mutt's body easily enough. One of his legs had been severed by the grenade blast. There was no sign of any guns, but Katarina still held Doc's gun. In fact, Mutt's entire belt was gone. Deadeye and Nitro had to have taken it when they searched his body earlier, but she still hoped she might find something of use.

Julie arrived a few seconds later. The sight of the corpse was just a bit too much for her, and she shuddered a little. She raised her bow, nocked an arrow, and took aim at his head. "He doesn't look like he's going to get back up anytime soon," she said.

OOC,[b]Katarina[/b], there's no need to roll Sanity, as you've already seen him (and killed him, for that matter). If you wish to search the body, roll Spot Hidden. If you instead want to shoot at its head, you may fire up to two shots. If you want to actually walk up to the corpse and press the barrel to its head, you cannot miss, but you'll still need to roll in case of a Malfunction. If you want to shoot him from a "safe" distance of several feet, then you'll be at point blank range. This will double the base skill of 20 to 40, but there is also the -5 penalty for aiming at the head, which gives you a 35% chance to hit for each shot.

"Zoe, can we just talk about this for a moment. Arguing amongst ourselves will not help us in any way"

"I'm sorry," she mutters. "I'm sorry! -- I've had a bad year. And this red party dress I'm wearing is not helping my mood at all."

The two bullets thud in the dirt on either side of Mutt's head. Katarina paused, watching Mutt. The zombies all seemed attracted to sound and light before. Surely if anything would wake him up, it would be gun shots.

Dan's challenging, angry stare softens as Zoe starts to calm down. "Zoe, whether or not you think Lara screwed up or not, we can't let those murderous fiends have her. We can either work together and fight to survive, or we can die fighting each other".

Zoe-

"Yeah, you're right, Dan; but I still ain't chasing after Lara (not that you are asking me to). Let me stock up the ranger station with food and stuff. You'll be welcome when you return back here after the skinhead hunt. I'll brew some coffee and await your successful return!"

Dan makes eye contact with Zoe and nods his agreement.

"Is everyone doing okay?", he asks loud enough for everyone to hear while looking around at everyone while walking over to Mutt's corpse.

"I'm fine up here" Sally said. "I really can't see shit in this darkness, though, so the sooner you all get back up here, the better I will feel."

South of the ranger station-
Julie loosed her arrow, which struck Mutt in the head with deadly accuracy. The feathered shaft drove through his eye and into his brain. "I'm fine too, Dan," she said, "thanks to you. There, I don't think he'll be getting back up."

Just as Dan joined Julie and Katarina, the ground began to tremble slightly.

Outside the ranger station-
Zoe stood at the bottom of the stairs as she watched Dan walk away. Before she could head back up, she felt the ground begin to shake.

In the ranger station-
Raquel sat up when the ground shook, blinking tears from her eyes. "What was that?" she said.

On the roof-
As Sally maintained her watch on the rooftop, she too felt the eerily familiar tremor - and she knew exactly what it portended. It couldn't be happening again, could it? Not here! Not now!

OOC,And...cliffhanger! :twisted: Congratulations everyone for surviving Chapter 5! When Chapter 6 starts, we'll pick up exactly where we left off. I'll post instructions for making skill experience rolls in the OOC thread when I have time.

OOC,The story continues in the Sword section of Chapter 6, found on the link below.

Ranger Danger