Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 10:30 PM Mountain Time - Warren Air Force Base, west of Cheyenne, Wyoming
On the roof-
Regimental Sergeant Major Raymond Crew paced the roof of the quarantine clinic, keeping an eye on things. At 4:00 PM, Major Jesse Stone and his Security Forces, all of them in orange Racal suits, had entered the clinic and swept it. Stone took command and acted with brutal efficiency. Kowalski had received two bullets in the brain at his direct order. Senior Airman Tom Wu had been lucky that he hadn't been shot out of hand when he had been found cowering in a closet. Everyone had been separated by gender and taken to the appropriate ward. Anyone without an intact Racal suit had been forced to strip, hosed down, and issued flimsy hospital gowns. Their clothing had been taken away and burned, as had all of the bodies. It had taken hours to get the place cleaned and secured. Now the quarantine clinic was surrounded by razor wire, which encircled the parking lot. Within the wire there were two rings of Claymores: one facing outward to prevent any hostiles from gaining entry, and an inner ring directed inwards to prevent anyone from escaping into the base proper. He could see it all from his command post on the clinic's roof, and security was as tight as he could make it. There were now four snipers up on the roof, as two of Stone's SFs had joined Wesson and Smith. They all had orders to shoot anyone attempting to break quarantine on sight.

The last several hours had passed peacefully, though he had still been extremely busy, with only a short break to eat dinner. Now he finally had a moment to relax.

OOC,[b]Crew[/b], roll Spot Hidden and Listen. The base skill levels are 25% for both,

On the roof-
Crew couldn't see much from the roof, but he did hear something: a helicopter flying from the southeast to the northwest.

Major Jesse Stone, who was also at the rooftop command post, heard something on his radio. "Understood, sir," he said. "Over." He paused to listen to a response. Then he switched channels on his radio and spoke so that the staff inside the clinic could hear him, as could Crew and the snipers. "This is Major Stone," he said. "Attention all personnel. A helicopter carrying civilians is going to be landing on the roof soon. Prepare to process them and take them into quarantine. They will all need to be screened thoroughly."

On the roof-
The helicopter flew off to the northwest and was soon no longer audible.

"Okay, everyone," said Major Stone. "When that helicopter lands, our first order of business is to disarm the civilians. Make sure you keep your distance from them. If anyone resists being disarmed, you are authorized to shoot to kill."

On the roof-
Crew heard a loud WHUMP in the distance to the northwest. "Sir!" he said. "I think something's happened with the helicopter!" He peered off in that direction. "I think it's crashed right outside the gates!"

Major Stone spoke on the radio. "Colonel Carmichael," he said. "This is Major Stone. The helicopter you sent appears to have crashed outside the gates."

There was a pause before the colonel replied: "Thank you, Major. I hope you're wrong, but we'd better prepare for the worst. We can't afford to lose any more helicopters - or pilots for that matter. They're irreplaceable. Carmichael out."

Stone addressed the clinic staff on the radio next. "This is Stone. The helicopter sent to pick up the survivors appears to have crashed outside the gates. It will take longer for them to get here, but when they do arrive you'll need to be prepared to receive casualties."

On the roof-
Crew watched the scene at the gates through his sniper rifle's scope. He could see a teenaged girl approaching the gates and talking to the SF troopers on the other side. Two women and a big young man hurried to the wrecked helicopter. "Bloody hell, sir, but it's a right mess!" he said.

On the roof-
Crew saw the three civilians enter the wreckage, followed by another man in a suit and tie. He reported what he observed to Major Stone and the others while he watched.

"Let me know when you see something for me to kill, Sergeant Major," said one of the snipers, Senior Airman Susan van Horn.

On the roof-
"You got it, van Horn," said Crew. He continued to watch. "The two women just came out of the chopper. I think they're wearing helmets, and the blonde's got body armor on too. She's also toting an M4. She didn't have that when she went into the chopper."

"They better not think they can just walk off with military property," said Major Stone, frowning. He always seemed to be frowning, but his scowl had deepened.

On the roof-
"Hummer approaching the gates," reported Crew.

On the roof-
"Those two guys brought a wounded man out of the chopper," said Crew. "Not a moment too soon, too. I can see smoke coming off of it. Chap in a Racal suit just got out of the Humvee."

On the roof-
"Chopper's burning," said Crew. "I think that bird's gonna blow soon."

On the roof-
In the distance, a howitzer barked. A virtual sun exploded to life to the northwest, turning the night sky to day. Staggering down the road to the northwest was a pack of six zombies, one of whom had a wounded head. They were only about 25 yards from the gates.

Raymond Crew gaped in shock, starting to break down. He suddenly snapped and blacked out.

On the roof-
Major Stone knelt over Crew and shook him. "Crew, wake up!" he shouted, but there was no response.

As the light from the starshell faded, a fiery explosion lit up the sky to the northwest! Crew slept right through it. The crashed helicopter had blown up, shredding the gates.

On the roof-
Crew was still unresponsive. "Dammit!" cried Stone. He got on the radio to Carmichael. "This is Major Stone. That explosion was the crashed helicopter going up. The Randall Road gates appear to have been destroyed. Sergeant Major Crew seems to have passed out."

On the roof-
"Major Stone," said Catherine Rourke on the clinic's frequency, "this is Airman Rourke. Captain Kelleher wants to know what's going on, sir."

"Airman, a starshell was fired to light up the area around the rear gates so the infected could be spotted and terminated," said Major Stone. "The helicopter sent to pick up the civilians crashed just outside the gates. That explosion you heard was it going off. The gates were trashed and some SFs on the inside were killed."

Crew slowly came to his senses.

On the roof-
"Are you all right, Sergeant Major?" asked Major Stone, frowning.

"Yes, sir," said Crew sheepishly, standing up. "Sorry, sir."

On the roof-
"Just get back to work," said Major Stone.

"Yes, sir!" said Crew. He began scanning the area of the gates through his scope again. "Two Strykers are on their way to the gates. Must be the rapid response team."

On the roof-
"Rapid response team is deploying, sir," reported Crew. "The civilians are beginning to board the Strykers. There's one guy from the chopper crew."

"Attention all personnel," said Major Stone into his radio. "The civilians should be arriving within a few minutes, along with one survivor from the helicopter crew."

On the roof-
"We've got Strykers inbound," reported Crew.

"Roger that, Major Stone....." said Captain Claire Kelleher on the radio, pausing briefly. "Sir, with the outer perimeter comprimised the infected have a straight line to this compound. Do we have any personnel free to patrol and reinforce the barricades on the ground floor?"

"We have snipers on the roof and SFs patrolling the wire around the clinic," replied Major Stone. "All available personnel are already assigned to that duty. We also have the Claymores even if something were to get through that. And there's a lot of stuff between the gates and the clinic that any infected would go after first. Besides, the gates in question are at the rear of the base, away from the city. The only infected that showed up were the ones chasing the civilians, and they've already been eliminated. There's nothing to worry about, Captain."

On the roof-
Crew watched the Strykers approach the clinic, and soon they were close enough that everyone could see them. They pulled up at the outer perimeter and were allowed through the barricade. "The civilians and the survivor from the helicopter crash have just arrived in the parking lot," reported Major Stone on the radio.

On the roof-
"Keep me updated," said Johansen's voice on the radio.

"Will do, Captain," replied Major Stone. "Stone out."

"I'll take first stag sir" Raymond said to Major Stone, saluting his and shouldering his rifle, trying to appear smart to counteract his earlier uselessness in combat.

On the roof-
"First stag?" asked Major Stone. "Is that what they say in the RAF to refer to first shift? In that case, carry on, Sergeant Major. There are six of us up here, so we'll work in pairs. Senior Airman van Horn, you take first watch with him."

"Yes, sir," said Susan van Horn.

"Smith, Wesson, you've got the middle watch. We'll say that's from 0100 to 0300 hours. Then Dickenson and I wil take last watch until 0500. The rest of us might as well get some shuteye. Sergeant Major, wake me if there's anything that requires my attention."

The rest of the snipers and Major Stone lay down on the sleeping bags they had brought and went to sleep, leaving van Horn and Crew on watch. Time passed, and it was about 11:30 PM now. Susan van Horn looked around alertly, but she hadn't said anything.

OOC,Nothing is going to happen for a while yet, and it's quite possible nothing will happen for the rest of the chapter. You are free to talk to [b]Susan van Horn[/b] if you like.

OOC,Yeah I gathered, I'm just posting to keep in the habit, and yeah stag is British Forces slang, sort for [b]S[/b]tanding[b] T[/b]all [b]A[/b]t [b]G[/b]ate. I'm gonna try and pepper my rping with some proper army jargon, if you're confused by anything but think you character should know it then look it up [url=http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/ARRSEPedia_Intro]here[/url]. :)

Crew paced the rooftop for a short while, keeping one eye on the area around the quarentine zone, although he could have practically done this stag with his eyes closed. He'd taken watch so many times, right through from his cadet exercises to his time in the field, that it was almost instincive for him. He looked over at the Senior Airman, and supposing that they had to do something to pass the time he wandered over and sat down next to her. "It's been pretty intense today hasn't it?" he remarked, looking out towards the gates.

On the roof-
"You can say that again," she replied.

OOC,[b]Raymond Crew[/b], you may roll Spot Hidden if you wish. The base skill is 25%.

OOC,failed lol [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3079836/[/url]

Crew smiled and looked out to from his position again, laying his rifle flat on the roof until he needed it. "Some things don't change at least, officers still spend most of their time flailing around for nothing" Crew said, indicating where the Major lay with his head, "god forbid they actually get something right eh?" he said jokingly, smiling and looking over to Susan.

On the roof-
Crew couldn't make out many details in the area of the gates, but he had heard on the radio that engineers had been sent to build a barricade where the gates had once stood, before the exploding helicopter had destroyed them.

Susan smirked and glanced back at the major, then returned her attention to her rifle scope. "You never know," she said quietly. "He might still be able to hear you."

Crew ran his hand through his greying hair, making another scan of the area ahead of him before turning back to Susan. "If he's got any sense then he'll be grabbing what sleep he can while he can, and if he hasn't then I'm too good at my job for him to kick me out, even if he had that authority and it was viable under these circumstances." He grinned, and tapped his Sergeant Major's pauldrons knowingly "I haven't lasted this long as an NCO without learning a few things. If you don't want to be dicked over by the officers, you make yourself essential to them, that way you get a reputation for being indespensible. Then when your officer bollocks up and tries to scapegoat you, the CO who has to review the mess is more likely to believe your report than theirs."

On the roof-
"Good advice," said Susan with a smile. "I'm good at what I do, but I don't know if I'm that good. Still, after today, anyone who's a damn good shot with a rifle is going to be in pretty high demand. I guess as long as I don't screw up really badly I'll be all right."

OOC,The story continues in the Gold section of Chapter 7, found on the link below.

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