Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 4:44 PM Central Time - Downtown Omaha, Nebraska
On the police station roof-
John Lake stood on the roof of the police station where he had been trapped for the last several hours. The horde outside had only grown larger during that time, as more and more of the infected had swarmed the police station. They had forced their way in, smashing down the doors, and the only refuge was on the roof. The interior of the building was crawling with them too, and the barricaded door that led back inside would not hold much longer. The building was surrounded, the city of Omaha lay in ruins, and there seemed to be no hope for the beleagured group of survivors. They were led by Captain Rochelle Blake, a tall black woman in her early forties and the commanding officer of this precinct of the Omaha PD. She had taken charge of the situation with remarkable confidence and skill, and it was thanks to her that anyone had survived at all. There were a couple of dozen police officers up here as well, including two sergeants and a few plainclothes detectives, as well as a handful of civilian workers.

The hammering on the door was getting louder, and though the cops tried to hold it shut, it was clearly about to give way. John realized that this was the end at last. Even with their weapons and the knowledge that they had to shoot these people in the head to get them to go down and stay that way, they wouldn't have a chance against hundreds of them - if not over a thousand by this point.

Then, without any warning or apparent reason, the mobs in the parking lot surrounding the building just fell over. Not one of them was left standing. The battering on the door ceased just as suddenly.

OOC,[b]John Lake[/b], roll Spot Hidden.

John was silent as the sound of bodies falling ended. He looked around at the people around him to see if they were as stunned as him. John then examined his surroundings carefully.

On the roof-
John noticed that at the same instant the infected had fallen over, all of the lights in the buildings that were visible nearby had suddenly gone out.

John took note that all the lights had gone out."Possible connection? Electrically powered? Ill have to investigate further." he thought to himself. He turned to Capitan Rochelle Blake. "Well what now Capitan?" he said walking towards her.

On the roof-
"Good question, Agent Lake," said Captain Blake. "I'm not sure what just happened or why, but I'm not complaining." She took the radio off of her belt and turned it on. "That's strange. It's not working."

One of the sergeants tried his radio too. "Mine's out too, ma'am," he said.

The captain looked skeptically at the access door. "What do you think? Should we risk opening that up and taking a look? We don't know for certain if the ones inside went down, but they sure stopped hammering on the door. We also don't know that they won't get right back up."

OOC,[b]John Lake[/b], roll Idea.

OOC,http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2492973/ I failed.

"I don't think we will ever know unless we open that door. Besides if they do wake up we wont last long up here anyway" John replied to the Capitan. He walked over towards the door while un-holstering his weapon. "If you will allow me to open it....".

On the roof-
The captain drew her service pistol and pointed it at the door, as did some of the other cops on the roof. She nodded once. "You may do the honors," she said.

John nodded and raised his pistol to face the door. He unlocked the door and put his left hand slowly on the handle. Taking a deep breath he quickly swung the door open while stepping back brining his left hand quickly up to grip his pistol.

On the roof-
The officers on the roof shouldered the barricade aside and made room for John to get through. He pulled open the door, and a few bodies that had been leaning on it collapsed and fell inward, but they didn't move. The stairway leading back inside on the other side of the door was similarly strewn with them. One of the cops stepped over to one of the fallen and checked for a pulse. "This one's dead," he said.

A detective checked one of the others. "Him too," she said. "It looks like they're all dead. I think an autopsy is in order to find out the cause of death. How could they all have just suddenly died?"

"Good idea," said Captain Blake. "Let's proceed cautiously. You two, take a look downstairs." The sergeant and the officer she had indicated made their way down, stepping over the corpses. "All clear!" the sergeant called from below. "Nobody down here but more dead people."

Crew still felt a bit nervous about the dead all round. He looked at the people behind him and then slowly started to descend the stairs passing the bottom until he reach the final step. He looked around to see what lay before him.

In the upstairs hall-
Captain Blake walked down the stairs with John Lake, cautiously stepping over the dead and making their way into the hallway on the upper floor. More bodies lay around. The hall was dim, as the lights were now out, but sunlight came down from the open door to the roof to faintly illuminate the area. The stairs continued down to ground level from here. The rest of the people on the roof trickled down to join them.

"Does anyone have a working radio?" asked the captain. She took out her Blackberry and tried it. "This thing's kaput too." She checked her digital watch. "My watch stopped. It's not showing anything."

"I got an old mechanical watch," said the sergeant who had led the way down. He looked at it. "Still running. It's about a quarter to five."

"So it's only electronics, then? And it's not just a power failure. Portable devices are broken too. Maybe it was an electromagnetic pulse? That's harmless to human beings, though. That can't be what killed all of the infected. I know that the CDC set up a Crisis Response Center at Brooks High School this morning. If anyone was working on a solution to this disaster, it would be them. Maybe their scientists can explain what happened."

John looked at the Capitan. "Maybe we should go check out the high school, if they've got a weapon that works it could definitely help us."

In the upstairs hall-
"Right now all we have is speculation," admitted Captain Blake. "Let's not rush off into the unknown just yet before we have a chance to assess the situation. It may still be highly dangerous out there. Someone try a landline phone and see if it works."

An officer ducked into an office. "No dial tone!" she called shortly afterwards, hurrying back.

"I was afraid of that. Okay, people, here's what we'll do. We have to scout the surrounding area and make contact with nearby precincts to see if there are other survivors nearby. Nobody goes anywhere alone. I need four pairs of volunteers. You can try your cars, but they probably won't start if it was an EMP, not with an electronic ignition. If they don't, take bicycles. Head for the closest precincts to the north, south, east, and west. Keep your eyes open on the way, share information when you arrive, and then hurry back to tell us what you've learned. Don't take unnecessary risks." She turned to the female detective who had spoken earlier. "Detective, I need you and the remaining forensic techs to perform an autopsy on one of the bodies. See if you can find out what killed them. We need to do this while there's daylight. In a little over two hours, the sun will be setting."

John was restless from being on the roof for so long. "Capitan I volunteer to go to a precinct."

In the upstairs hall-
"Thank you, Agent Lake," she said. "What might help more is if you go to the DEA field office for me to coordinate with any survivors there. I can send Sergeant McGregor with you." She indicated the sergeant with the working watch, a thirty-year veteran of the Omaha PD. He was getting on in years, but he had plenty of experience.

The field office was about two miles from the station. It was a quick drive, but it would take a little while to get there by bicycle and even longer on foot.

John nodded to the Capitan. "Why dont we try a car first before we head out on foot." John said facing McGregor.

In the upstairs hall-
"That's a good idea," said McGregor. He shook John's hand. "Stick with me and you'll be fine." He saluted Captain Blake. "Ma'am."

"Good luck, both of you," she said, returning the salute.

In the parking lot-
John Lake and Sergeant McGregor went downstairs, along with another eight volunteers who would be checking out nearby precincts. They reached the ground floor, which was just as much a shambles, though there were fewer corpses down here. A short walk down the hall and across the lobby led everyone outside and into the parking lot. More bodies littered the asphalt, but these all had bullet holes in their heads. The survivors on the roof had shot them dead when they had been trying to breach the building. Once the barricades on the doors had given way and the hordes had swarmed inside, it had been too late. If not for the inexplicable miracle, everyone in this building probably would have been eaten by now.

McGregor went over to his squad car, unlocked the door, and then put his keys in the ignition and turned them. The car refused to start, even after a few attempts. "Well, it was worth a try," he said. "Let's go grab a couple of bikes." He led the way to the bicycle rack, where officers who went on bike patrol kept them. The other officers who had come outside were already taking them.

OOC,[b]John Lake[/b], roll Luck to see if there are any bikes left by the time you get to the rack.

In the parking lot-
Fortunately, there were still a few bikes left by the time John Lake and Sergeant McGregor reached the rack. Each of them grabbed a bicycle and got aboard. "Lead the way," said McGregor.

Lake headed towards the DEA office at a fairly light pace making sure that he would try to avoid any cramped places and stay in the open in case he needed to pick up speed.