IC-OMAHA-Field Trip(Everyone else)

[Garrett]

Ryuu's smile melts down into a knowing, sympathetic grin. "You've lost something or someone very important to you haven't you?" he asks.

[Mr. Handy]

In the bus-
Jack nodded morosely. "My whole family," he said. "My wife, our five children. Why couldn't they have started up that EMP thing sooner?"

[ImpInTraining]

Ryuu knew that Donald was an elderly man, kept to himself mostly, and didn't seem to have any connections nor did he seem overly concerned about relatives that may or may not still be alive. It may have come up at some point in casual conversation that he had lived a long and lonely life as the school janitor and cartaker for quite some time. Although old, he was quite capable with mechanical things. Working on heavy machinery and all his yard work kept him in decent shape for an older guy.

Honestly, Donald didn't have any idea why he was going with the others except to work on the bus should they need it. He was good at what he did and doing it kept his mind off of all the other weirdness going on.

Donald estimated the time it would take to finish repairs and mentioned it to the others so they could be ready when it was time to roll. If anyone was just standing around, he suggested to them, "Why don't you scout about and see if there is any evidence of who put these traps here and why?" He expected the search to be fruitless, but in times like this it helped people to keep their mind occupied with something rather than let them toil over things over wich they have no control.

[Garrett]

Ryuu nods and puts a hand on the mans shoulder. "I can't imagine anything worse then losing my family, that-that's what I needed from you. I need someone to help me save my family,-" Ryuu doesn't have to try very hard to make his voice start shaking, he takes a deep breath before he continues. "-my innocent little sisters, my brother, my old man, they could all be fighting for their lives right now while I'm three states away on a fucking vacation!" He punctioates the sentence by slamming his fist down on the metal bus. "...or worse they could already be, dea-" Ryuu's voice cracks on the last word and he leans his head down, 'hiding' the tears in his eyes.

[Mr. Handy]

In the bus-
Jack started to weep, the tears flowing freely. "It's too late to save my family," he said, drying his eyes on his sleeve, "but maybe I can still save yours. Where do they live? I'll go with you."

Outside the bus-
Donald guessed that changing the tires would be completed a little before 1:00 PM. There was still time to reach the base before it got dark, as long as there were no further delays. When Amelia finished with the meat and hides from the coyotes, she took a look around for evidence, but she was just wasting her time. Jerry went back outside to have a look around, and he noticed something. He scouted some distance to the west before returning.

"There's tire tracks leading off to the west, the way we're going," said Jerry. "Someone was parked on the crest of the hill up there and pulled out in a hurry. That's why the tracks are still vsiible. They look to be about a day old and made by a standard-sized car. It also looks like a couple of people climbed up the support column here to the overpass above us."

OOC,There's no need to roll anything to convince [b]Jack[/b]. You found the right guy and said exactly the right things. There was some speculation back in the middle of page 5 about who may have set the trap and why, if you look back. [b]Dr. Smith[/b] will share his ideas about that with [b]Donald[/b] and the others working on the bus. The Track rolls made at that time were to look for more evidence, but only those who initially left the bus had tried then.

[Garrett]

Sweet. Ryuu thinks to himself pridefully. He lets a few tears fall down his face as he looks up, "God bless you sir, I know there's no replacing what you've lost; but you'll always have a place in my family for this." He coughs deeply to compose himself before continuing. "Like I said we're like, three states away. It's about 15 hours by car or a few days by foot, I already convinced the scientist girl to turn off the EMP so we can get a car. I just needed someone to come with me so we can drive constantly, avoid the zombies ya know. As long as we pick the right car we should be able to do it with only one or two stops for gas." After hearing Jack's response Ryuu goes back to the Iraquian he spoke to earlier. "Excuse me sir, but I was wondering if I could take advantage of the generosity you displayed earlier and take those extra clips after all, being that I'll be leaving soon."

[ImpInTraining]

Donald continued to work dilligently on the tire. He figured Dr. Smith was right about his theory (once he heard about the earlier conversation) and stated passively, "I guess it was the soldiers from the truck that climbed the columns, probably in search of another operational vehicle. If they're still around and notice our bus is operational, they may try to comandeer us."

[Mr. Handy]

In the bus-
"Of course," said Tariq to Ryuu, handing over a few .32 magazines. "Will three be enough?"

"We can't shut off the EMP device until the bus is moving again," said Stephanie, "but if you want to set off now, you can get out of its range before too long. It's close to ground level, so its effective range is reduced to less than a mile, I'd guess about half a mile. We came from the east, so you wouldn't want to look in that direction, and we'll be going west once the tires are replaced. You could follow the north-south highway on that overpass, though. Holdrege is a decent-sized town not far to the north, so you may be able to get a car there, but it could also be dangerous."

Outside the bus-
"Yeah, it must have been Alvarez and Flynn," said Dr. Smith. "I can't imagine they'd still be around here, though. If they couldn't find any other transport up there, they'd have moved on to look for it elsewhere and get back on Gardner's trail. I'd guess it was Gardner parked up on that hill. He just couldn't resist sticking around to watch his trap at work. Either that or he wanted them to see him to keep them from paying attention to anything else. Either way, it sure as hell worked. Gardner's the one you've really got to worry about, if he's still in the area." Dr. Smith shuddered. "He shot our original pilot in the head, cool as you please. And I don't even want to think about what he's done with that poor girl."

[Garrett]

"Three should be fine, thank you so much sir." Ryuu says earnestly. "If things ever settle down and you ever find yourself in Chicago look up the Kin family, I'll pay you back for this." Ryuu decides that heading north would probably be the best idea if a town was really nearby. After putting the clips away, one in his pocket and two in his backpack, and donning his backpack he asks Jack if he's ready to go. If so he heads up the interstate, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might pose a threat.

[ImpInTraining]

Donald considers talking to the men about their dangerous decision, but he knows well enough that they know well enough what dangers lie ahead. "Good luck to you, may God favor your path," Donald told Ryuu as he left the bus.

[Garrett]

"And yours as well!" Ryuu calls back as he keeps moving.
ooc-is there a concrete shoulder or something that I could duck under, you know to stay out of sight? Or anything that would justify a sneak roll while I'm moving out in the open?

[Mr. Handy]

In the bus-
"The best of luck to you, my friend," said Tariq to Ryuu as he left the bus. "May you find your family and keep them safe."

Jack followed Ryuu out the door.

Outside the bus-
Jack shook Donald's hand with a strong grip. "Well, I guess this is goodbye," he said. "If we survive the trip to Chicago, maybe I'll head out your way sometime and look you up. I'm sure I'll need the shotgun and shells you borrowed from me on the road ahead. You've got a whole busload of people with you, but it's just going to be the two of us out there." Once he got back his gun and ammo, he joined Ryuu on the journey north. The two of them vanished from sight before long as they hiked beneath the overpass, which kept them in the shade and hidden from view.

OOC,[b]Jack Brunner[/b] and [b]Ryuu Kin[/b] are moving to the thread linked below. Please stop reading the current thread at this point. All other characters remain in the current thread.

The Road to Hell

Less than half an hour after Ryuu and Jack had left, Donald and the other mechanics finished replacing the tires. "All right," said Becky. "Let's get this show on the road."

[ImpInTraining]

Satisfied, Donald put his tools away and made sure the tire puncture strip was no longer a threat for further traffic through this area before getting back on the bus.

[Mr. Handy]

In the bus-
Once everyone was safely aboard, Becky shifted the bus into gear. It went on to the west, passing dirt roads that intersected it going north and south and plenty of farms with fields full of wavy corn. This continued for almost 25 more minutes without anything interesting visible.

OOC,[b]Donald[/b], please roll Luck and Spot Hidden.

[ImpInTraining]

ooc,Forgive me... I had these rolls done yesterday, but my phone decided to reboot itself as I was almost finished posting. So I decided to wait until I had computer access.

Luck - success!,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3937122/]Luck (60% ) (1d100=18)[/url]

Spot hidden - fail,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3937131/]Spot Hidden (25% ) (1d100=54)[/url]

Donald looked out at the fields and thought of better times.

[Mr. Handy]

On the bus-
Becky drove onwards, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. She continued down the road for another mile and a quarter, passing another farm. At this one, there was an RV parked in the driveway that looked badly damaged and had some bullet holes in it. A few dead bodies lay on the lawn in front of the farmhouse, one of them missing both legs.

OOC,That's okay. I didn't have time to update on Thursday anyway. [b]Donald[/b], please roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 1/1d4+1.

[ImpInTraining]

Sanity check - success (lose 1),[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3950116/]Sanity (61%) (1d100=50)[/url]

OOC,One might think we'd be desensitzed to normal death scenes somewhat after all the death we've experienced over the past few days. How long have we been dealing with the Zombie Apocalypse?

Donald looked at the RV scene only for a few fleeting moments before looking away at the request of the contents of his stomach.

[Mr. Handy]

On the bus-
Becky only cringed a little when she saw the scene and kept going. Over half an hour went by without incident.

OOC,This is only the second day; the whole thing started yesterday morning. There are rules to account for "getting used to awfulness," but they require you to have lost the maximum Sanity in total for seeing whatever it is fairly recently, and you've lost none today until now. Eventually, the hardening does wear off, as you never really get used to seeing dead bodies everywhere. Seeing them wherever you go only reinforces the horror that has befallen the world. I didn't have you roll Sanity at all for the scene at the National Guard checkpoint on the outskirts of Omaha. This isn't a typical death scene; one of the bodies has no legs, and none of the ways in which that could have happened are particularly pleasant to consider. [b]Donald[/b], please roll Luck.

[ImpInTraining]

ooc,Yeah ok. Just heard someone implying it would be hard to find sustenance at some point. Seems to me the stores would still be pretty well stocked at this point for the most part. I just wanted to get my ducks in order.

Luck - fail,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3970706/]Luck (60%) (1d100=74)[/url]

[Mr. Handy]

On the road-
An hour later, the bus had made it as far west as Ogallala, passing somewhat to the south of the city. Becky turned left, heading south on Big Mac Road. "We're going to need to find some fuel soon," she commented. "Tank's running low."

OOC,You have enough food from the school aboard the bus to last a while, but it is a good idea to be on the lookout for more. [b]Donald[/b], please roll Spot Hidden.