Z-Day - 5:07 PM Central Time - Tariq and Erin's House, Omaha, Nebraska On the roof-
"We will come down," called Samir from the roof.
"Firearms?!" said Erin, taken aback. "Tariq, what are you talking about? You brought guns into our house?!" She climbed down the ladder.
Samir turned to Rashad and whispered in his ear.
Rashad Sadiq,"We need to talk later," [b]Samir[/b] hissed. "You, me, and [b]Tariq[/b]. No one else."
In front of Tariq's house-
When Erin reached the foot of the ladder, she ran over and gave Ali a huge hug. He pressed himself against his mother. "I was so worried about you, Mom," said Ali.
"Not as worried as I was," said Erin, tears in her eyes. She looked at Tariq over Ali's shoulder with a mix of emotions. "You have some 'splainin' to do."
Murray sat at Alvin's side, wagging his tail. Lori stood aside and watched the exchange, not wanting to get involved.
Rashad nodded nonchalantly to Samir, disguising it as a stretch. He waves down to Tariq and Ali. It is good to see you are well. Tell me, did you see any crazy people on your way here? A while ago they just dropped dead suddenly, along with the power and my watch.
"Yes, I certainly do. But you're safe, and Ali's safe, and that's what matters to me."
He spends a moment of relief just looking at his wife and son together.
"The trouble isn't over. For our safety, I concealed some guns and ammunition in our house a long time ago. I didn't know this was going to happen, but I was always worried that something terrible might, so I wanted to have the tools for defense. I didn't tell you about them, because I knew they would just worry you, and I didn't think Ali was old enough for a while."
"Let's go inside," Tariq suggests. "I didn't see any more -uh- madmen on the way, just corpses, but I think I know why. Ali can explain about the EMP and the scientists at the high school while I get the weapons. Everyone at the high school also missed lunch, and I didn't see a lot of food on the roof, so perhaps we can try to eat what's in the fridge before it goes bad. Power might not come on again for a long time."
OOC,Actually, everyone at the school did have lunch.
On the roof-
"Let's go down," said Samir to Rashad. He climbed down the ladder and soon reached the ground.
In front of Tariq's house-
"I can't believe you kept this from me!" said Erin to Tariq, her hands on her hips. She wasn't about to just let this drop. "How could you do this? How could you bring guns in our house and not even tell me?! My God, what if Ali had found them? What were you thinking?!"
"It's okay, Mom," said Ali. "I know how to use a gun safely. Dad taught me."
"WHAT?!"
"He took me to a pistol range a few times. It was fun!"
"I can't believe you did this! And what if you had found them years ago, when you were too young to know how to handle a gun?!" She rounded on Tariq. "How many guns have you hidden in the house? Are they even legal?! Don't you realize how much trouble you could have gotten into if they'd been found? You could have been deported, or worse! You know what some of my clients have been through because of the Patriot Act. I might have had to defend you in court, and as good as I am, I don't win every time."
Lori just stood with Alvin and Murray, watching the scene unfold. Alvin looked down the street, but the area was deserted.
OOC,[b]Tariq[/b], roll Persuade or Fast Talk if you want to mollify [b]Erin[/b]. The base skills are 15% and 5%, respectively. Nobody else can make this roll except [b]Ali[/b]. Fast Talk will only be temporary, but Persuade will convince her indefinitely if successful.
Rashad grins to Samir. Maybe it would be safer up here, hell hath no fury and all that. Nevertheless he climbs down the ladder. So it was an EMP? That makes no sense. These are people, not machines. How come we weren't hurt by the EMP if that's what killed them?
OOC, Tariq gave Alvin pistol lessons! I didn't think that happened - perhaps Tariq should know about the portions of other character's secrets that pertain to things he has said and done to them. Looks like I'm in hot water, anyway. That was a Fast Talk roll, by the way.
"I have a license! They are all perfectly legal! And I hid them too well for Ali to find them - maybe even too well for the police, and wouldn't they need a warrant, anyway? I just wanted to know I could keep everyone safe, no matter what happened." Tariq protests, but his words fall on deaf ears.
Tariq al-Tikriti,You're right, I'm sorry I missed that one. There are many characters with various interconnected secrets, and that one slipped by me. [b]Ali[/b] does have some Handgun skill, though [b]Tariq[/b] doesn't know the exact score. He does know that his son has a good amount of talent for an amateur. He is a decent shot, and has the potential to one day be as good as his father.
[b]Tariq[/b]'s in plenty of trouble with his wife simply for having the guns in the house and not telling her about them. Having taken their son to a firing range isn't going to make his situation any worse.
"Even if the...current problem hadn't happened, Ali's school is still a dangerous place! There was a student planning a shooting today!Since I'm not going to be secretive about these things anymore, you can see the explosives he had beofre he met me."
In front of Tariq's house-
"Geez!" said Erin, gaping at the pipe bombs in the bag. "Are those even safe to carry around?!"
"Mom, I know you're upset," said Ali, "but we're going to need those guns to protect ourselves. It is good that dad has them, and that he taught me to use one safely."
"Well...I suppose you're right. What hurts me most is that he kept the truth from me. Come on, let's get inside." She took out her keys and unlocked the front door.
"Yes, I agree," said Samir. "What was that about scientists and an EMP? Is this a terrorist attack, and how did the EMP kill them? It should be harmless."
"They're already dead! I was helping the scientists, and they think that aliens are behind it all. They reanimated all the dead bodies, and they sent these mosquito-like things in meteors to kill lots of people so they'd rise up. They used electricity to make them get up and start eating people somehow, and Mr. Donnelly made an electromagnetic pulse device to disrupt the process and disable them."
"Let me the get the rest of the firearms, and I'll lay them out on the table. You can come with me to see how I hid them," Tariq says, and goes to get them.
Rashad stares incredulously at Tariq.Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that some giant alien mosquitoes which came down in meteors and killed a bunch of people so the aliens could reanimate them with electricity? So, are they dead for good now or what? He casts a nervous look at the prone infected.
In front of Tariq's house- Murray and Lori followed Alvin inside.
"That's what the scientists said," said Ali. "They sent some sort of signal into space to trick the aliens into thinking their job was done and going away, and then they started the EMP device. Now the dead will stay down, at least within the affected area, but that's probably not more than a mile or two. They'll still be up and about everywhere else." He went inside after his father, and Erin was right behind him.
"Come, let's go inside," said Samir to Rashad before he too entered the house.
In the living room- Tariq entered his living room, and the others started to come in after him. "Okay, let's go get the guns," said Erin.
OOC,[b]Tariq[/b], you may describe your living room and the layout of your house if you wish. Where are you going first?
Rashad cautiously follows Samir. If only the ones within a mile or two are, uh, dead, than does that mean the ones in the rest of the city are still functioning?
"I know even less than Ali. One of the scientists told me that they sent a signal to a satellite that would stop the dead from reanimating, but wouldn't do anything about the dead that were already walking. They said that electrical impulses were responsible for reanimating the corpses, and so an EMP should disable them. Then, when they set off a homemade EMP at the high school, all the dead fell down. If they really were living dead, which I only have people's words for. Although I know something big is happening."
Tariq continues into the basement. He removes a pair of screwdrivers from his workbench, using the Phillips to unscrew the back panel of the old, nonfunctional refrigerator he uses as a cabinet. Then he slips the flathead between the metal panels and pries the back loose, revealing a large secret compartment.
"Alright, anyone else feel safe carrying a gun? I have an Uzi and an AK-47 here."
In the living room- Murray, Erin, Ali, Lori, and Samir folllowed the others downstairs. "It wasn't a satellite," said Ali as he descended the stairs. "They broadcast the signal directly into space, to the alien spaceships or whatever. They just used the satellite dish to do it. Satellites haven't been working all day."
In the basement-
"I certainly don't," said Erin, her frown deepening. "And I know there's no way either one of those weapons is legal! Tariq, where did you even get them?!"
"I could use the AK-47," said Samir. "I'm a good shot with a rifle."
"I'm not much good with a gun," said Lori. "I'll just stick with my knives."
"Arf!" barked Murray, clearly unable to use a gun.
"Woah, cool!" said Ali, peering around his father at the cache of weapons. In addition to the Uzi and the AK-47, there were boxes of ammo containing 20 full magazines for each as well as nearly a hundred magazines of .32 ACP ammo designed for a handgun, though there was no gun visible to go with them. There was also another box labeled "DANGER" - as if the other contents of the secret compartment weren't dangerous enough.
Tariq al-Tikriti,The box contains the explosives, timers, and detonators. All but one of your .32 magazines are here as you specified - that one magazine is loaded in the Sig. You didn't say where the suppressor for it is, but I'd guess it's with the Sig too. There's a suppressor for the Uzi too, inside a box of ammo.
OOC,Note that when firing the Uzi in single shot mode, you use Handgun skill (base of 20%). Submachine gun skill (base of 15%) is used when firing bursts, though it's easy to get bonuses when doing so by firing extra bullets. The AK-47 uses Rifle skill whether firing a single shot or a burst. I'll post the stats in the weapons section of the Locations and Weapons thread.
"Actually, both of them are. I bought them at gun shows."
OOC-Mr. Handy Only,I am pretty sure about this. At the present (2009), fully automatic weapons are legal in the U.S. Since ZA is set in the nebulous near-future, it is possible that a ban will be enacted, but as of now Tariq could own much worse without a problem. And I really can't imagine he smuggled them with him when he immigrated to the U.S., which gives him a choice between having acquired them via expensive, difficult, and illegal means or cheaper, easier, legal means, and he isn't an idiot.
"The box holds some demolition equipment. I know it says danger, but modern explosives are actually very safe - without the detonators, you could whack the C-4 in there with a hammer, or even light it on fire, and it wouldn't explode, just burn."
OOC,I'm not sure who gets the AK-47. [b]Tariq[/b] will have to specify to whom he's giving it.
Tariq al-Tikriti,Technically, you are correct. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does specify that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The use of the word "arms" means that this extends beyond just firearms; it refers to any weapon in use at the time. In that sense, you'd also have the right to own explosives, a machine gun, a howitzer, or even a tank. However, there are a number of federal, state, and local laws that do infringe on these rights that the courts have allowed to stand. [b]Erin[/b] is a good lawyer, but she knows how the system works too. The suppressors are blatantly illegal under the National Firearms Act of 1934, as are what are classified as "machine guns." This is legally defined as any firearm that can fire more than one bullet per trigger pull (i.e., any fully automatic weapon, even if it has a burst limiter). Both the Uzi and the AK-47 fall under this definition. There are some loopholes (they would have to have been imported into the USA prior to 1968, for starters), but this is a very murky legal area, and the system would not look kindly on an Iraqi who was found to possess these weapons, as [b]Erin[/b] well knows.
OOC,Mr. Handy Only: Funny - I haven't actually researched this (web searching for information on how to acquire illegal weapons might give someone in the government the wrong idea), but I have seen both print and television news articles about the legal sale of automatic assault rifles to licensed U.S. citizens. Are you sure the laws haven't changed in the last few years?
OOC,Sorry I forgot to say who gets the AK-47. I was thinking about it and then I had to get off in a hurry.
"Ali, these are not cool. These are tools for self-defense that I wish I had never needed."
Tariq places the Grease gun on the old wooden table he uses for a basement workbench. It stands out against the cheap tools and other evidence of inexpert fumblings at DIY projects. He follows it with the Uzi, then takes down the AK-47 and loads it.
"You have combat experience, Alvin?" he asks.
OOC,Tariq is now holding the AK-47. He does not intend to give it to anyone yet.
Alvin smiled and said, "I was a recan specialist and a sniper back in Nam from 1965-1969. If you let me use the weapon I can teach others how to use it or any other weapon as well. I have killed my share of men."
Tariq al-Tikriti,I didn't use web searches. All I did was use knowledge I already had combined with looking at pages describing gun control legislation on Wikipedia and following a few links. The laws have changed in the last few years, but they changed to make the sale of automatic weapons easier. The "Assault Weapons Ban" of 1994 not only prohibited AK-47s by name (though knockoffs were developed specifically to bypass the ban), it also for the first time prohibited many varieties of merely semiautomatic weapons. The ban expired in 2004, however, so it is no longer in effect. While the 1934 NFA does ban gun ownership among certain classifications of people (surprisingly, [b]Tariq[/b] would not have been excluded before he became a U.S. citizen, though he would have been had he entered the country illegally) and the 1968 GCA puts more restrictions in place, it is possible to legally purchase fully automatic weapons under certain circumstances. If a weapon was imported prior to 1968, or if it was manufactured domestically before a certain date in 1986, then it falls outside of the various restrictions. Both the AK-47 and Uzi are old enough to have been imported into the country before 1968, and [b]Tariq[/b] could very well have purchased them legally. They would be expensive, but not as costly as they'd be on the street. Many returning veterans brought back captured AK-47s from Vietnam, so there would be some available on the market. I'll have [b]Erin[/b] make a Law roll to see what she knows about the relevant legislation.
"Sorry, Father," said Ali, lowering his head.
"I have killed my share as well," said Samir to Alvin, "as Tariq well knows, and I've done it more recently. Your enemies used the AK-47 against you, but I've used the AK-47 myself in the war against Iran."
Erinthought a little. "I guess it is possible that you could have purchased them legally," she said, "but I'm still upset that you kept them from me. And explosives too! How long have these been down here?"
Handy,I noticed something here. With his age only being 58, either Alvin lied about his age to enlist in Nam or lied about ever serving in Nam as there is no way he would have been able to serve as he was too young, unless the events of this game took place around 2006 which you have said that the game is sometime in the near future. Am I correct in this speculation and if so can I play with it like maybe having him make some mistake some time in talking on the war? But if so then where did he serve as he does have combat experience right?
Alvin Drummond,If you remember, it was 2006 in the real world when the game started, but there's no problem with [b]Alvin[/b]'s age. If the game takes place in 2010, for example, he could still have been born in late 1951. This would make him 18 in 1969, and the U.S. was in Vietnam until early 1973, which is plenty of time and still allows the timeframe to be moved further out. [b]Alvin[/b] could simply have gotten the years during which he served wrong. Yes, he does have combat experience.
"I got them after we bought the house, and I knew I would have a safe place to keep them. You have every right to be upset at me for this. If we ever get back to normal."
"I think I too have had more than enough experience with an AK-47, as you well know, Rashad. I'll hold on to my own gun for the moment. I'm afraid I don't have either .357 or.38 rounds, but you can take the Uzi. I have plenty of ammo for that. There is also the Grease gun. I have a handgun I keep upstairs, where I can get at it faster - I'll pick it up when we're done here, which should be soon. If there really is something as strange as living dead occuring, I'm not too sure how long I want to be underground."
After a moment, Tariq produces a large kitchen knife and sets it on the work table.
"I grabbed this when we were almost attacked in the school kitchen. I suppose I won't need it now."
Then he starts taking the ammunition for the AK-47 and the handgun.
Mr. Handy Only,Has Tariq taught Ali how to use anything other than a handgun?
In the basement-
"Looks like we had the same idea," said Erin, showing the knife she had taken from her own kitchen. "This was all I had. That's another reason you should have told me about the guns. If these two guys hadn't been here...well, I guess I probably would have been trapped on the roof all the same, but I could have been killed easily. Why do we even need all of these weapons? Isn't it over, at least locally?"
"Mom, not everyone out there is going to be peaceful," said Ali. "There are desperate people out there, and there isn't going to be enough food and water for everyone for long even after all of the deaths today. Farms aren't going to be producing much food, and there's no easy way to get it to market. We already had some incidents at school, and that was while we were still under siege."
"You'd think people would realize there's been enough killing. Are you all right, Ali?" Erin gave him a hug.
"I'm fine, Mom. I wasn't anywhere near that stuff when it was happening. I was helping the scientists."
Tariq al-Tikriti,[b]Ali[/b] only has points in Handgun, not in other types of firearms. He didn't know about the weapons cache either.
OOC,Once you've taken whatever stuff you want from the basement, you can move back to the ground floor this turn.
"It isn't mine, but on loan from Erica at the high school - and I don't have any ammunition for it. I don't have a problem with you using it until we meet her again."
After Tariq takes the ammunition, he heads upstairs.
In the basement- Erin, Ali, Lori, Murray, and Samir followed the others upstairs, while Rashad remained in the basement.
In the living room- Tariq and the others emerged from the basement, returning to the living room.
OOC,That is a bit much for [b]Tariq[/b] to carry. You could give [b]Rashad[/b] (or someone else) either the box with the C-4 or the pack full of pipe bombs and carry the rest of it, though. You do have ammo for the Grease gun, by the way. It's in the weapons list.
Rashad grabs the Uzi and as much ammo as he can carry, stuffing the magazines in his jacket along with the revolver. He hefts the submachine gun and smiles. Tariq, what about these explosives? And this other gun?
Tariq al-Tikriti,Yes, you can be in the basement with him if you want. I thought you wanted to head upstairs, but you can stay down there and talk to him in private. You can use a spoiler button with both of your characters' names in it and none of the others so that the players of other characters aren't allowed to read what you say in private.
Handy Only,I don't think the other players would understand not to read the button, since they (hopefully) haven't read the private OOC buttons.
"We only have a little while - if we don't come up in a natural amount of time, they'll suspect something. Tell me what my orders are, sir. Oh, and I'd rather you carry the C-4 and I take the second gun, so we both have two firearms and some explosives, but however you wish," Tariq says.
OOC,Remember that when you see a spoiler button with the names of characters not including your own, you are not allowed to read it. This applies even when these buttons are in posts by other players, as well as posts by the Keeper. This allows conversations to be held in private without using PMs and ensures that the Keeper can read them too. Buttons marked OOC such as this one can and should be read by everyone.
Tariq al-Tikriti and Rashad Sadiq,"We only have a little while," said [b]Tariq[/b] to [b]Rashad[/b], "if we don't come up in a natural amount of time, they'll suspect something. Tell me what my orders are, sir. Oh, and I'd rather you carry the C-4 and I take the second gun, so we both have two firearms and some explosives, but however you wish."
Tariq,[b]Rashad[/b] grabs the C-4 and stows it away in his coat.[color=#0000BF] Samir was the one who said the phrase, so I expect he'll know about what's going on than I do.[/color]
Rashad and Handy,Tariq says, "That was an unfortunate misjudgement on my part. I'll try to talk privately with Samir at the next opportunity." He takes the Grease gun.
Tariq returns to the living room.
"I have one more gun, upstairs, in my bedroom. I think I will go retrieve it. I still haven't eaten since breakfast, so after that I think I will take something to eat and we can discuss our plans."
In the living room-
The Uzi felt light in Rashad's hands - a bit too light. It obviously wasn't loaded. There were only twenty magazines containing forty rounds each, all of which he was able to carry.
"But Father, didn't you have lunch with the rest of us at school?" asked Ali. "I know you served it to us. Even so, I am getting hungry."
"I haven't eaten since breakfast either," said Erin. "I'm sure we could all use dinner. You were always better in the kitchen than I was, Tariq, but I can help prepare it if you like." She knelt down and petted Murray. "I hope you like human food, because we don't have any dog food."
OOC,I am very certain that Tariq did not serve lunch. When I started playing him, lunch was still being prepared in the kitchen. Then, all of us in the kitchen ran because zombies were banging on the door. We took some food with us, but never got a chance to eat. At no point did the students come into the cafeteria and eat lunch.
"I'm torn between wanting to be fast so that we have time to act and wanting to make something good since the power is out. Since all the meat in the refrigerator has had some time to thaw, maybe I'll be able to grill it fast. But first, let me get that handgun."
He heads upstairs and returns with a loaded handgun.
"While I'm preparing the food, I'll explain what I've been thinking. Violence, corpses, and general danger is going to be highest in the cities. In a few days, unless things get better fast, cities are also going to have some major sanitation problems. The best bet is get out of Omaha, either for a less affected area of the country or for a smaller town."
OOC,You were preparing dinner at the start of Chapter 4, not lunch. Lunch had been served well before Chapter 4 started; it just feels like more time has gone by.
You cannot go upstairs, retrieve the gun, and return all in one round. You can get up there this round, but you won't be able to get back until the following round.
OOC,I'm fine with that. I was trying to not hold everyone else up, but Tariq is now in his bedroom with the handgun, about to return.
Thanks for clarifying about lunch. I'm not sure why a school cafeteria would be serving dinner, but I'll see if I can go back and edit all my posts in which I mention lunch.
In the living room-
"That's good," said Erin to Alvin. "Uh, he is housebroken, right?"
"It would have been nice on the roof," said Samir to Rashad, "but at least we have it now."
"We could have had it on the roof if I'd actually known about it," said Erin.
"Try not to be so hard on Tariq. He was trying to protect you. Where we come from, it is a different culture, as you well know."
In the bedroom- Tariq broke open the hidden compartment in the wall beside the bed and reclaimed his handgun.
OOC,You don't have to go searching through all your posts to edit them if you don't want. There are actually some schools that serve dinner in addition to breakfast and lunch under normal circumstances. Brooks High is not one of them, but today is not normal. Everyone had to remain in the school due to the zombie siege (school hours were already over when Chapter 4 started), so they were preparing dinner for the people who were stuck there.
Rashad clears his throat. So... you say this EMP killed those things right? But just the ones in a limited range? Does that mean we should be worried about more coming here that didn't get hit by the EMP, and if they do come can you make another EMP burst?
In the living room-
"The device fires off an EMP at regular intervals," explained Ali, "so if any of them stray into the area of effect, they'll be taken down fast as long as it continues to work."
In the living room-
"So, what do we do now?" asked Lori.
"Tariq, you said you were going to make us dinner, right?" asked Erin.
"Or we could go back to the school for dinner," suggested Ali. "They're going to have this big dinner to celebrate our victory, and Amelia's going to cook as much perishable food there as she can. They said they're going to serve it at 5:30. I think we can still make it in time if we leave soon." He checked his digital watch, but then saw that the display was blank and realized that the EMP had fried it.
"Now that I think of it, the school will be safer, and Amelia is a much better chef than I am. Erin, what do you think? Would you rather we stay or go?"
In the living room-
"I agree, let's go to the school," said Erin, "but you're a pretty good cook yourself, Tariq. Of course, I've never tasted Amelia's cooking."
"Then you're in for a treat," said Ali, already licking his lips.
"Yes," said Samir. "I am curious to learn more about these scientists and this device, and dinner sounds enticing."
Since everyone was in agreement, they all went out the front door.
In front of Tariq's house-
Once everyone had left the house, Erin locked the front door. This was sensible in normal times, but was even more important now when looters could be roaming about, especially as it was going to get dark soon. It was still not yet half past five, but by 7:00 the sun would go down. Even without the dead roaming the city's streets, the night would bring problems all its own.
"Let's go," said Ali, getting on his bike.
OOC,It will take about ten minutes to reach the school. There are things currently going on there that need to be resolved before you arrive, but it may be possible to fast forward at some point. In the meantime, feel free to talk to each other, and I'll have the NPCs respond.
"I'm worried about the house," Tariq says, "but if order - and sanitation - isn't restored soon, the bodies in the streets will make the whole city uninhabitable. If we want to survive, then we'll probably have to head for the country sooner or later. Still, let's see what the school and the night has in store for us. It will be interesting to talk to the scientists again - if their devices fail, I have a plan to do something about the zombies that I think you'll appreciate, Samir."
"Well, I've been told that the...the zombies were attracted to heat and sound. Its the way that they find people." Tariq explains to everyone.
"If the device fails and they all get back up, we can only run for so long, and it would take a very long time, not to mention a lot of danger, to kill them all again by hand.
But if we know what attracts them, we could set a trap - create something hot enough and loud enough to attract every zombie in Omaha. And then, when we have them all in one place, blow them to pieces with preplanted explosives.
It would take a lot more than a few pounds of C4, so we would need to do some improvising. I'm thinking that the loudest things we can find in the city would either be aircraft or industrial equipment. "
On the street-
"No, they are dead for good," said Ali, "but only within a mile or two. It's beyond that range that we'd have to worry about them again. Even if the EMP device fails, the ones that went down won't get back up again."
"Still, the plan would help cleanse other areas," said Samir. "We just need a large quantity of explosives. Perhaps we could find them at a construction site. They are used to demolish old buildings. Barrels of jet fuel might be of use too, and those could be found at an airport."
Alvin said, "you know i do not mind going to jail again...I have been there many times...but I would think that the airports would be well guarded by millitary troops and I do not wish to be shot but whatever you all want is fine by me."
"Depending on how bad the situation gets, the military might even be willing to help us. If not, well, of course we aren't going to do anything they don't want us to.
I didn't realize that they were down for good, though. I'll check with the scientists when we get back. I'm afraid Omaha is large enough that there may still be enough walking dead to make my plan necessary."
On the street-
"Yes, we'll need to find out what the situation is in Omaha, how many people have died, and how far the device's range extends," said Samir. "Then we can decide what must be done."
"I can't believe we're actually talking about this," said Erin. "I can't believe this is even happening."
Rashad shakes his head. I think we should just concentrate on making it to the school. I don't like the idea of sitting around in the dark with these fucking cannibals around.
OOC,It's still light out. It actually won't get dark for another hour or two.
Tariq al-Tikriti/Lori Desmond/Erin Halloran,About two blocks west of the school, [b]Tariq[/b], [b]Lori[/b], and [b]Erin[/b] caught a glimpse of a car in the distance ahead of them, coming from the school. It was a red 1965 Ford Mustang, somewhat battered. It turned the corner about a block away, heading north, and was soon gone from sight. They couldn't quite make out the details of the occupants, but there were five of them and they looked young.
"That jerkwad Chuck Lubachek has an old red Mustang," said Lori Desmond. "Not too many of them around here, so that's probably it. Wonder where he's going?"
The group continued down the street to the intersection a block away from the school. By the time they reached it, the Mustang was out of visual range. The school could now be seen in the distance to the east.
Tariq al-Tikriti/Lori Desmond/Erin Halloran,[b]Adam Donnelly[/b] was visible on the east side of the roof, looking over the edge and downward. He appeared to be talking to people on that side of the school, but the building was blocking the view of anyone there.
On the road- Tariq and the others soon reached the southwest corner of the school's perimeter fence. At this point everyone could see Adam Donnelly. There were holes in the west side of the fence that had been torn by the zombies earlier. They could be used to gain entry to school grounds. There was also a much larger hole in the south side of the fence, near the southeast corner.
Tariq al-Tikriti,[b]Tariq[/b] heard [b]Adam Donnelly[/b] call down to whoever was on the east side of the school: "Hey, everyone! I can see that [b]Tariq[/b], [b]Ali[/b], and [b]Lori[/b] are back! [b]Alvin[/b] and [b]Murray[/b] are with them, and so are a pretty blonde and a couple of Middle Eastern-looking men. I don't recognize them." He could also hear voices of people talking on the east side of the school, but he wasn't close enough to make out what they were saying. If he wanted to get closer to them, his best bet would be to head for the big hole in the eastern portion of the south side of the fence.
OOC,Anyone else who makes a successful Listen roll may click and read the above spoiler button. Note the edit in my post above. The big hole is near the southeast corner, not the southwest corner.
Alvin Drummond,Because you critically succeeded, you were actually able to hear what the people on the east side of the school are discussing. Apparrently some of the students had murdered [b]Chuck Lubachek[/b], kidnapped someone named [b]Erica[/b], and escaped. They are trying to decide what to do and the possibility of trading something for her.
OOC,Everyone is moving to the following thread. Do not read any posts above the one in the link.