Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 6:10 PM Central Time - Brooks High School, Omaha, Nebraska
On the roof-
Dr. Helene Saunders stood on the roof of Brooks High School, keeping an eye on the EMP device. It was still humming smoothly, firing off an electromagnetic pulse at regular intervals in order to disable any animated corpses that wandered into its area of effect, which stretched for over a mile at the heart of Omaha. She was also looking around the neighborhood from her high vantage point to see if anyone approached the school. The zombies weren't the only threat they had faced today - far from it. The sun was getting lower and lower, and the sky would start to darken within an hour. She didn't want to think about what night would bring. She finished her gumbo, and now she had to wait for someone to bring her dinner.

On the roof-
Dr. Saunders took a good look around. She noticed some activity about a block to the west, centered around an RV that had been stopped in the middle of the street. A man was taking cover behind it, and another man and a woman, both wearing suits, were approaching him.

On the roof-
Dr. Saunders watched as the two suits talked to the man, but they were much too far away for her to make out what they were saying. They seemed to be showing him badges.

On the roof-
The man in the suit entered the RV while the woman talked to the other man. Dr. Saunders waved to them to try to attract their attention.

On the roof-
The woman pointed at the school and waved back to Dr. Saunders. Then two more people approached the RV from the west, both of them in black suits and sunglasses. One was a man with short black hair, the other a woman with red shoulder-length hair. The redhead took out a badge of her own and showed it to the two people already outside the RV.

On the roof-
Dr. Saunders watched the man come back out of the RV and join the discussion.

On the roof-
Dr. Saunders watched the group of five walk the block or so to the school, soon nearing the chain link fence. She waved to the new arrivals. "I'm Dr. Helene Saunders," she called down to them. "Welcome to Brooks High School. There are a bunch of us still alive here."

"How many are you, what's the situation like in the building...is it safe for you to come to us?" asked one of the suit-wearing men.

"There's a few dozen of us," answered Dr. Saunders. "Most of the others are in the cafeteria eating dinner. We had a lot of trouble here earlier, but things are calmer now. I'm glad you're here. I can't come down to you, unfortunately. Can't leave my post. But you can come on in." She looked over the north side of the roof. "There's some folks coming out the back door now, You should enter that way." She called down. "We have some visitors! They look friendly!"

Tariq came onto the roof from the access door, carrying a tray.

On the roof-
Tariq handed Dr. Saunders a plate of food from the tray. It was still steaming. "Here's your dinner, Doctor," he said.

"Thank you, Tariq," she said as she took it and began to eat.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you about this EMP device. I'm curious about it."

"What did you want to know?" she asked between mouthfuls of spicy fried chicken.

Below, the group of newcomers entered through a hole in the fence and made its way past the baseball diamond west of the school.

On the roof-
"How reliable is it?" asked Tariq. "Are you sure it will keep working?"

"Oh, yes," said Dr. Saunders. "it's been working so far, and I'm keeping an eye on it. You don't need to worry on that score." She watched as the new arrivals rounded the corner and reached the rear parking lot.

On the roof-
"I see," said Tariq, looking down at the parking lot too. "I suppose our new visitors will want some supper. I'd better return to the kitchen." He went back downstairs, leaving Dr. Saunders alone.

OOC,[b]Tariq[/b] is moving to the thread linked below. His player, if he ever has one again, must stop reading the current thread at this point and may not read posts above the one in the link. [b]Dr. Saunders[/b] remains in the current thread.

Bus

On the roof-
Much time passed uneventfully before Dr. Saunders heard several gunshots in the distance. She moved to the north end of the roof and called down to the people in the parking lot: "I hear shooting in the distance to the west!"

On the roof-
Below, Donald said "What?"

"Are you sure?" said Rashad. "I don't hear a thing."

"Shooting off to the west? That's where they took John Lee!" Donald said with a look of concern. "We really should check it out. Poor guy, probably didn't stand a chance at a fair trial." He called up to the roof. "Are there any weapons up there? Firearms? Those feds were packing so we need to be prepared."

"I've got my shotgun and a .45," said Jack Brunner.

Helene looked around. "Nothing up here," she called down, "and I'm unarmed. But I know Rachel's got some heavy firepower."

"Yeah, I've got my Desert Eagle and my Uzi," said Rachel.

The shooting continued, but the intensity of the gunfire was reduced.

On the roof-
"We should go right away..." said Donald. "Any chance I can borrow that Desert Eagle, Rachel?" He paused for a moment before looking Jack's way. "On second thought...I could use that shotgun much better...if you wouldn't mind lending it to me."

"Yeah, you can borrow it," said Jack, handing Donald the shotgun and an open box half-filled with shells as he walked with him and Rachel around the northwest corner of the school. "If stuff keeps happening like this, we'll never get the bus fixed."

On the roof-
As Helene watched, she saw the sun sink below the horizon. Then she spotted Rachel, Donald, Jerry, and the others returning from the west. It had been a long day, and she had made it through, but what horrors would tomorrow bring?

OOC,Congratulations on surviving Chapter 6! It will probably be a few weeks before Chapter 7 starts, but in the meantime you may continue to post. Chapter 7 will pick up the following morning. If there's anything you plan to do tonight besides sleep, let me know here.

OOC,The story continues in the Omaha section of Chapter 7, in the following thread.

Dawn