Play@YSDC

On the streets-
Sergeant McGregor followed John Lake as he pedaled through the ruined streets of Omaha. Fires burned in various buildings, but at least they seemed unlikely to spread further. He couldn't help but wonder how - or if - the fire department was holding out. There were bodies on the street here and there, some showing signs of injury, others not. Wrecked cars clogged the streets in some places, but it was easy to navigate around them on the bikes. They found no sign of anyone living as they rode.

Outside the field office-
Ten minutes later, the two men arrived in the parking lot of the DEA field office, which was inside a tall office building. It too was the scene of violence. Some more bodies lay in the lot with bulletholes in their heads, but not anywhere near as many as outside the police station. Lake didn't know whether that was a good sign or a bad one. The glass front doors had been smashed to pieces, and beyond them trails of blood were visible in the lobby.

Lake pulled out his pistol and held it to his side right side pushing the left front door open with his left hand and looking around the lobby.

Outside the field office-
Sergeant McGregor drew his service revolver and also cautiously proceeded inside, leaving the bikes outside.

In the lobby-
The huge lobby appeared to be deserted, though there were bloodstains on the tiled floor. Potted plants stood in the corners, undisturbed. The security desk was unmanned, and behind it was a bank of elevators. To the left, at the back of the lobby, a door led to the stairwell.

"And to think I was going to retire next week," said McGregor. He carefully approached the desk and peeked behind it. "We're clear." He pushed the button to call the elevator a few times, but nothing happened. "Yeah, didn't think that would work. Looks like we're taking the stairs."

John Lake knew that the DEA field office was only one of many offices in this federal building. It was on the tenth floor, so it would be quite a hike.

John "....Damn...." he whispered to himself. He walked towards the stairwell and opened it ready to begin the march to the tenth floor.

In the field office-
Lake and McGregor made their way up nine flights of stairs. By the time they reached the landing on the tenth floor, McGregor was huffing. "Not as young as I used to be," he said.

Both men emerged from the stairwell and into the main area of the field office. It too was deserted, devoid of all life. No bodies were to be found out there, though they hadn't checked individual offices yet. At least it wasn't a mess like the lobby, and it looked much like he had left it this morning, other than the lack of people. Had everyone evacuated the office, or had they all been infected?

"HELLO!?" John shouted down the office to see if anything would hear him.

In the field office-
There was no answer to John's call. Sergeant McGregor cautiously peeked into the offices, his pistol at the ready. "They're all empty," he said. "Whoever was here must have left in a hurry. There were a couple of partially filled cups of coffee on the desks. It's gone cold at this point, so they left a while ago. Anything you need here, or should we go?"

"Nothing I can think of" John said. "Where should we go though?"

In the field office-
"Back to the precinct," said McGregor, taking a drink at the water cooler. He handed John a second conical cup full out water. "Drink up now, it's a long walk down. When we get back, we can report that we didn't find anything, and then we can find out what the other groups learned and decide what to do next from there." He led the way back down the nine flights of stairs and outside.

Outside the field office-
The bikes were still there waiting for them when Sergeant McGregor and John Lake got back outside. The sun was lower in the sky now, but there was still about an hour and a half of daylight.

"We should hurry, I dont want to be stuck out on the street at night if more of these things appear." Lake said getting on the bike and heading back towards the precinct.

Outside the field office-
"Yeah, I hear ya," said McGregor, straddling his own bike and following John. They took the same route they had used to reach the field office.

In the parking lot-
Ten minutes later, John Lake and Sergeant McGregor reached the police station's parking lot. The other bikes that had been taken by the officers who had gone out scouting were all now back in the rack, and the two men returned their own bikes as well. "It's past 5:30," said McGregor, checking his watch. "Let's go in and report to the captain."

Lake nodded and walked towards the building to meet with the capitan.

In the lobby-
John Lake and Sergeant McGregor entered the police station. There was a female sergeant sitting behind the front desk, sorting through paperwork. She looked up when they entered. "Welcome back, guys," she said. "We were beginning to worry about you."

"We had to go up nine flights of stairs to the field office with no elevators, and then back down again," said McGregor. "Where's the captain?"

"She's in the operations room." The other sergeant pointed to a door behind her, and the two men walked in.

In the operations room-
Lake and McGregor saw that the operations room was very busy. Captain Blake was pacing back and forth in front of a street map of Omaha with various multicolored pins stuck in it all around the precinct's location. Officers were walking back and forth on various errands, and some were conversing in small groups or sitting and drinking coffee.

Sergeant McGregor saluted. "We're back, ma'am," he said. "Unfortunately, we found nothing much of interest."

Captain Blake returned the salute. "I'm glad you made it in one piece," she said. "You look exhausted. Why don't you have a seat while I fill you in?"

"Thanks, ma'am. My dogs are killing me." McGregor collapsed into an empty chair.

"The other groups that went out didn't have much luck either. All four of the nearest precincts were overrun, with no survivors found inside. Small groups of civilians were found alive en route, and they've been instructed to remain indoors. We've made a note of their locations and we'll be collecting water, food, and medical supplies and bringing them out to them this evening. They've completed an autopsy on one the infected people, and there are some very odd results. This particular body went down less than an hour ago with all the others, but according to the pathologist, the time of death is sometime this morning, around 10 or 11! Not only that, but the cause of death was extreme blood loss. The corpse had very little blood left inside it when we found it."

Lake was intrigued by the description of the infected.

"If it had died earlier why did it decide to drop only an hour ago?" he asked wondering if the Capitan had more information of the infected.

In the operations room-
"I know," said Captain Blake, "it doesn't make any sense, but there you have it. They're doing an autopsy on a second body right now."

"Yeah, it has to be some kind of mistake," said Sergeant McGregor. "Dead bodies don't get up and walk around, much less try to chew your face off. Maybe in the movies, sure, but not in real life!"

Lake laughed nervously. "Yea just the movies" he thought to himself.

"So whats our next move in the mean time?" he asked the Captain.

In the operations room-
"Well," said Captain Blake, "earlier you expressed interest in checking out Brooks High School. You could find out if there are survivors there. Maybe those scientists have some ideas or have figured something out about what's going on."

"I don't think I can make the trip, ma'am," said McGregor. "I'm not as young as I used to be, and I'm bushed."

"That's fine, Sergeant. I need you here anyway. I can find someone else to go with if you like and if you're willing to go, Agent Lake. Also, there may be a couple of police officers in the area. In addition to the undercover detective you already know about, Officer Kate Wheeler was on foot patrol not far from the school. We haven't heard from her since all hell broke loose, but it's possible that she's still alive. If you could make contact with them and fill them in, I'd appreciate it."

In the operations room-
"Can I get something to eat first?" asked John Lake. "I'm starving."

"Yeah, I could use some chow too," said Sergeant McGregor.

"Of course," said Captain Blake. "I'll have something brought in." She signalled to an officer to fetch some food. "You can head over to the school after dinner. We don't want to wait too long, though. Anything could be happening out there, and daylight won't last much longer. I don't even want to think about what will happen when it gets dark."

OOC,Thus ends Chapter 5. Chapter 6 will pick up again after dinner.

OOC,The story continues in the Omaha section of Chapter 6, in the thread linked below.

Law and Order