Robert Valentine (Dr.Peterson)

[Priest]

As you carefully pick you way to the slighty open door, it opens a few more inches and a hand appears with a finger crooked beckoning you forward.

Further along the corridor you can see in the dim light of a shattered window a figure dressed in what looks like a ragged hospital gown. At present it has its back toward you, but from its alert positioning you are sure it is listening. It is female and something, maybe the colour or lenght of hair makes you think of Andrea.

Without alerting the figure you make it to the door and silently slip within. The room is in total darkness, but you know and feel that you are not alone.

"Keep quiet and don't move until I lock the door"

You hear a soft click followed by another and the room is suddenly bathed in a soft white light. As your vision adjusts to the brightness you can see a female dressed in a bloodstained and torn nurses uniform. She must have seen the questions on your face, "Don't worry this blood aint mine, although the torn clothes are". She smiles, grimly, and you can tell by the strained gaunt look, the dark circles beneath her eyes and the disheveled appearance of her curly hair, that humour might not be best placed at the moment.
"Name is Bernice Cummings", but you had already seen that displayed on her blood stained name tag. "Saw you through the window. Figured you'd be coming up here, you're wife was up here...Andrea Valentine Room 309 right?"

[DrPeterson]

Robert nods absently and speaks in a low voice:

Bernice, yes, ...Andrea, where is she? What does this mean?

He holds up Andrea's clipboard, indicating the relocated to central.

"Is she alright? What happened here? Where is everyone?"


He can't seem to shake the image of the female figure from his mind. She looked so...

[Priest]

Bernice looks momentarrily at the clipboard, "It was pretty bad here" she keeps her voice low, barely above a whisper, "At first it seemed like a bad flu virus, people got sick, they got worse, they died. But they didn't stay dead" she pauses as if to allow that final statement time to sink in.

"Oh I know its hard to believe, impossible perhaps? But after a short time of being certified dead, the corpses got back up and started killing people." she drags a hand across a sweating brow, "Then those the killed got back up and joined in the killing, It was like something out of a horror film or some Bible prophecy, you know the one about there being no more room in hell"

From a nearby desk she takes a plastic cup half full of water and takes a sip. You can see a water dispenser in the far corner almost empty. "Anyway at first we tried to help" she shrugs, "Lost a lot of friends and collegues that way. Many of them are still out there walking around"

"Then the military arrived, national guard I think, some of them are out there too. Anyway the military evacuated those they could to Central Hospital, it seems your wife was one of them..."

She stops abruptly as the door handle suddenly turns. "Shhhh"

In the silence the only sounds you hear are the slow rattle of the door handle and a low moning sound from beyond...

[DrPeterson]

Robert's eyes widen as he watches the doorknob rattle. His knuckles turn white as he grabs hard onto both the revolver and the maglite.

He doesn't move, holding his breath as he slowly raises the flashlight, ready to crack the skull of anything or anyone that may enter the room.

[Priest]

As you watch the slowly turning door handle, breath held in in anticipation, it quickly becomes obvious that Bernice had dropped the lock so no one was coming through that door without smashing their way in. Within moments the handle stopped its futile turning and the moaning sound ceased as if whoever had been outside had given up and left. However some inner sixth sense seems to warn you that whoever it was still waited beyond, listening.

One look at the strain showing on the face of the nurse shows you that she is only just managing to keep control.

Looking around the room which was obviously some kind of office, from the medical garb and equipment you think a doctor's office maybe, there seems to be just the two exits, the door and the window...

[DrPeterson]

Deputy Valentine felt a heavy bead of sweat run down his face, the tickling sensation almost unbearable as they waited for the seconds to tick by and the rattling of the door to stop.


After waiting several minutes, or was it hours, Robert swallows deeply, forcing his muscles to relax. He slides both the gun and the torch into their holsters and forces a smile of relief at Bernice.

He then quietly slides over to the window, hoping to find a fire escape, a tall tree or truck somewhere near it.

[Priest]

Peeking through the blinds, you can see your truck near the front car park and guess this was the window you had seen someone watching you as you entered the building.

The window is hermetically sealed, it seems the only way through it is by breaking the glass. Although on the third floor the construction of the building looks to be climable, to a popint where dropping on to the roof of one of the trucks parked out front would be possible.

It is still light enough outside to see that there are no signs of people out front of the hospital. Yet from the direction of the city centre you can see a huge pall of black smoke.

The window has prety good soundproofing, but even through that you can hear the muffled sounds of gunfire, as well as the muted thrum of a large chopper close by.

Bernice moves slowly and quietly to stand beside you, though her attention is kept firmly on the door, "If we smash the glass those things will know we're in here, We'll probably have seconds to escape" She sounds scared, although still speaking in a tight whisper the rise and fall of her vocal inflections tells you that she might break at an time.

With an almost inevitability the door handle begins to turn again, and the moaning resumes this time accompanied by others.
As you watch the door begins to bow inward as someone begins to push against it.

Your mind flashes back to the figure in the corridor, Perhaps it was Andrea...

[DrPeterson]

Deputy Valentine thinking:   Andrea! Please be alive...

"Look, that's my truck out there."

Robert puts a reassuring hand on the doubtful nurse's shoulder, trying to ignore the pounding on the door.

"I'm going to smash the window and I'm going to need you to climb out with me and head down towards my car. We're getting out of here Bernice, we're getting out."

Persuasion,[dice]0[/dice][dice]1[/dice] Add this to the 6 already rolled:[dice]2[/dice]

He lets his words sink in for the briefest of moments and then pulls out his torch again and smashes the window.

[Priest]

You can tell by Bernice's reaction to your idea that she is not totally convinced, so when you suddenly smash the window, she lets out a high pitched howl of fear, which along with the sound of breaking glass almost deadens the sound of sudden urgent pounding at the door.

With a resounding crash the door flies open with enough force to send plaster flying from the wall as it crashes into it. Immediately following the opening of the door it is filled with several shambling figures who push and tear at each other in their attempts to enter. One looks like the female patient you had seen earlier, you notice that from the front she looks nothing like Andrea, the other is dressed in blood soaked and torn military camouflage fatigues. From where his stomach should have been a long length of blackish pink intestine trails behind him. More follow, Where the hell did they come from? You notice that they seem to look at you with white unseeing eyes, yet you're sure they see you perfectly. With a groan the female wins the pushing game and slowly, but steadily advances into the room.

"Oh Jesus we're dead" whimpers Bernice crossing herself as a chill breeze sweeps through the shattered window...

OOC:   To climb you roll STR d4-2 and a Wild Dice d6-2 the TN is 3 (this is because using a skill, in this case climbing, without having put points into it is the Controlling Attribute -2. You still get the Wild Dice as youre a Wild Card but also at -2.) However remember that maximums roll again and add, also that if you roll awfully you can spend a Bennie to re-roll (hopefully for a better score) you currently have 3 Bennie points. If you do fall, you can minimise damage by spending Bennies as well. Don't worry about Bernice I will roll for her

[DrPeterson]

"Out the window, Bernice! Now!"

OOC:   Should Bernice hesitate, Robert will give her an "encouraging" nudge, he is a hero after all.

Deputy Valentine crawls out of the window as fast as he can, lowering himself down.

Climbing: Not so great,[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]

Re-roll using a bennie point,[dice]2[/dice][dice]3[/dice]

Unfortunately he catches his hand on one of the shards of the window pane, the sudden stream of blood makes his hand too slippery and he loses his grip...

OOC:   That's going to hurt

[Priest]

Getting through the window was simple, even with the spur to your activity by the advance of the dead. Bernice moved as fast as you without the need for your assistance.

It was once outside the window that your troubles had begun. What had seemed like a simple climb ended with a quick descent onto the roof of one of the military trucks. Luckilly it had a canvas roof so your fall was minimised by its elasticity.

Above you the figure of Bernice, clinging to the stonework like some kind of fly, steadily progresses downwards. However it is not the nurse who catches your attention from your supine position on the trucks roof, but the sudden appearance of the female from the corridor at the now open window. Without a word or sound of any kind she thrusts her head and shoulders through the opening and topples out, missing the truck upon which you lie by inches. She hits the tarmac of the parking lot with an ominous crunch of breaking bones. a sound quickly followed by a sliding sound towards the truck.

Things are now becoming silly as the guy in the military fatigues follows suit, his unravelling intestines following him like some uncoiling safety rope...

OOC:   Please make a guts roll for this sight.

OOC:   The distance from the window sill to the top of the truck parked below is about ten feet so Falling Damage is 1d6+1 per ten feet. However as the top of the truck is canvas I will take off the +1. So your damage is 1d6 → [2] = (2) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4292960/ You character then takes 2 points of damage from the fall. In this situation the damage is unimportant resulting in little more than a few bruises and a slight limp that may reduce your speed temporarily.

[DrPeterson]

OOC:   I'll take the damage, I'm a man, yeah!

Robert exhales in relief, but is hit by a wave of revulsion as he hears the sickening thud and crunch with which the woman and nurse crash to the ground.

He scrambles up and tries to make his way out of the truck and towards his as fast as he can.

"Quickly, Bernice, get down here!"

Guts (4),[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]

[Priest]

Bernice drops the last couple of feet to the top of the truck. she peers over the side to where the female and the soldier are slowly scrabbling their way towards the truck seemingly unfazed by the fall. but unable to rise to their feet.

"I think we'd better get to your truck fast before more of them find their way out the window" She looks over to where you are rubbing at your leg, "You okay?"

As you slide down from the truck to the road you can see the position of the two from above. Although they are moving towards you against all the laws of nature, the speed they are moving at presents little danger. Your main concern as you limp towards your waiting pick up, followed by Bernice, who continues to cast worried looks back towards the hospital, is the loud howling moan that they are emmitting. Moans that are drawing others from buildings adjacent to the street.

You are some twenty feet from your vehicle when three men run into the street before you, they carry a mixture of baseball bats and other wooden clubs. "Quick!" shouts one of them, "Theres one of the bastards get him boys!"

You realise that he is refering to you, no doubt your limp has them thinking your one of the dead...

[DrPeterson]

OOC:   That's an interesting development.

"Fuck! Bernice, get to my truck."

Robert pulls his gun and fires it in the air as a warning shot. That moaning was alerting whatever was around to their presence here anyway.

He raises his voice and shouts in a commanding tone at the three men.

"I am deputy Robert Valentine, stop right where you are or I'll be forced to shoot you!"

In a more controlled voice, he continues:

That hospital is crawling with those things, if you put down your weapons you ride with me and the nurse to Central.

[Priest]

The gun seems to have been a big persauder.

OOC:   Roll for intimidation. For you without the skill that's Spirit (d8) -2 and d6 Wild D -2 TN 4. However the gun helps, big time so ignore the -2 it becomes +2.

[DrPeterson]

Intimidate 6!,[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]

[Priest]

Before the sound of the gunshot has faded the three men have thrown their weapons to the floor, "Shit" shouts the one who had spoken before, "Its a cop".
As one they all turn and run back towards the buildings from which they must of come. Straight into the arms of a large group of emerging dead.

Knowing there is nothing you can do with one pistol, you quickly snatch open the door of your truck leaning across the passenger seat to open the other door. Eyes filled with terror Bernice jumps inside and slams the door shut.

As you start the engine the last sounds you hear from the desperate struggle that is taking place several yards away are the horrified screams of the three men who you had just disarmed...

[DrPeterson]

Robert curses as he pushes the pedal to the metal.

"Damn fools!"

As he drives away from the carnage, heading towards the Central Hospital, he picks up his radio.

"This is Deputy Robert Valentine en route to Central Hospital. If there is anybody hearing this, do not go to Mercy Hospital. I repeat, do not go to Mercy Hospital, it has been overrun..."

Keeping his eyes on the road, he nevertheless glance at Bernice with a hint of a comforting smile.


"Don't worry, Bernice, we're on our way to a safe spot. We'll be just fine."

[Priest]

Within seconds the horror of hospital is left behind. The streets seem ominously silent and empty, but you get that feeling that eyes watch from the windows of darkened buildings.

Suddenly in answer to your calls on the radio, Mike Reece answers. "Listen Bob, no time for explanations, things are going to shit. We've lost the city. Get Andrea and get out. Raleigh is lost, get the hell out..."

With that the radio becomes nothing but static, all stations seem the same.

From beside you comes a muffled sobbing as Bernice begins to come to terms with the situation.

You reach the intersection, as you slow to take a right towards the Centre, and the main hospital, you see the abandoned, blood covered remains of a taxi and still burning pickup truck. You swing right and see a small group of limping and shambling people emerging from a small alleyway between two buildings. At the throb of your engine they turn as if drawn towards it and begin stumbling after you towards the City Centre...

[DrPeterson]

"Mike? Mike! Damn it!"

Robert hits the dashboard as the radio turns to static.

They drive past the intersection and Robert stares at the crowd they are drawing.

''Those things are everywhere..."

He puts a hand on Bernice's shoulder, trying to console her and trying to find some human presence himself.

"Do you have someone...out there, I mean?"