Play@YSDC

Officer Robert Valentine, Wake County Sheriff’s Department

Carefully you move position on the porch roof, just a couple more shingles and it’s finished. Then a couple of jobs on the bedroom and everything’s ready for Andrea’s return from the hospital.

From within the kitchen you can hear the monotone of that new presenter WRAL-TV News has just recruited. His delivery is so bad, he could spoil the second coming, he has a way of firing statistics and such in a way that makes them instantly forgettable; no, WRAL-TV made a bad choice there.

Amidst all the hammering and changing of position making hearing difficult you guess he’s reporting on that flu outbreak that seems to be dominating both the local and National news at the moment. The last advice you had heard was some doctor advising you to take a couple of aspirins and go to bed, but that was this morning and this epidemic, as they were calling it, seemed to change quicker than a Chameleon on heat.

“Hi Bob”
Looking over the fence from your vantage point on the porch roof, you see the familiar, if worried, face of your neighbour Sam Lacey.
“Hi Sam, what’s up?”
“Just heard from Steph that something weird is going on at the hospital. It seems the place has just been taken over by the military authorities, and no ones getting in or out.” Sam pulls his battered Carolina Panthers cap from his head and scratches his hair.
“Must be somit to do with that flu epidemic the news is full of”
For a moment you consider what he is saying, Andrea is in the hospital where Sam’s daughter Steph works as a nurse so if anything weird is going down you need to know. But if anything major was happening your buddies on the force would have told you, given you the heads up, surely.

“Just thought I’d let you know”
He replaces the cap and turns towards his back door, then stops,
“Oh, by the way in case you hadn’t heard the Parkinson’s down at 43 have been quarantined seems they have that flu virus. Probably couldn’t go to the hospital, what with the military taking charge and so on, so they’ve locked themselves in to sweat it out”
With that he continues through his door into the house.

No sooner had Sam departed then the phone rang, damn you thought spitting the roofing nails you had just put between you lips back into the box. With your foot you reached for the top of the stepladder only to hear the answer phone kick in. Someone was leaving a message, it might be important so you begin to slowly climb down from the porch. Then your cell phone begins its tune, you listen as a pre recorded voice tells you.

“In response to the developing situation within the city of Raleigh and its environs, all leave for state security personnel has been cancelled. All personnel have been ordered to report with immediate effect to their nearest office for assignment”

Through the window of your kitchen you can see the TV. You see film of parts of the city in flames as lines of heavily armed police fire tear gas canisters into a slow moving mass of civilians.

You reach through the window and grab a ring of keys from a peg, house keys, garage keys, key to your truck and one to your gun safe where you keep your pistol and a box of spare ammunition.
You have no idea what’s happening but it doesn’t look good and all you can hear is Sam’s voice saying, “something weird is going on at the hospital” the hospital where Andrea is…

Robert quickly runs upstairs to change into his uniform. He runs a hand over his chin and can't help but feel happy he shaved this morning.
He sits on his bed to tie his laces and then takes out his gun, loading six bullets into the well-greased chamber and holstering the piece.
He puts on his coat and hat, picks up the box of spare bullets and heads downstairs.



Robert casts another quick glance at the burning city on the television and then turns it off and heads out to the garage, balancing a cup of coffee on the bullet box.

He gets into his truck, putting the coffee in the cup hold and he stares at the bullet box.

Robert Valentine thinking:   Now why the hell did I bring that along?

He shoves the box under his seat and hits the remote for the garage doors as he starts his engine. He drinks some coffee as he waits for the gate to open and then heads out onto the street, his radio on and his two way radio switched to the Sheriff's Dept. frequency.

"This is Valentine, on my way to the office on Salisbury Street. What's going on out there, guys?"

Salisbury street was near enough to be an okay destination, but close enough to the hospital to allow a drive-by.

For a moment there is no reply, just the hiss and crackle of static. Then the familiar voice of Mike Reece comes from the set,
"Hey Bob, thought you were on leave? Still I guess none of us have leave any more. Officially I'm to tell you that you are to report to Central for re assignment, but unofficially I'm telling you there aint no central any more we lost contact with that a while back. The situation is shit. Something wierd is happening people are being attacked at random by, I don't know what. You shoot these perps and they simply take the bullet and get right on back to what they were doing..."

For a few moments the signal was lost in a burst of static that sounded like gunfire,
"Sorry about that. Look we can't hold them so were pulling back to Kennedy Plaza, if you can make it, see you there. But Bob, get Andrea first, get her safe..."

The radio goes dead...

Robert smiles, glad to hear Mike's voice.

"Mike! So good to hear you."

He furrows his brow as he takes in the report.

"What? Is it an attack? The Chinese? Mike?"

He fidgets with the buttons of the receiver until he hears Mike again.

"Listen, I'm picking up Andrea first and then I'm coming to the Plaza."

"Mike? Mike? Damn it!"

Robert cinematically shifts gear and kicks down on the gas pedal. Glancing at the Parkinson's place as he tears past.

OOC:   If he has one of those cool sirens and stick-to-rooftop lights in his civilian car, he'll use them too, for added cinematics

You notice that the curtains are still tightly drawn inthe parkinsons house, and that todays copy of the newspaper still rests on the porch floor where it had been tossed by the nepaper boy.

With your sirens blaring and the emergency lights flashing you coast the pick up to a halt outside the hospital front doors.

Something looks odd. The doors with their black sun reflective glass stand wide and in the emergency car park just outside three ambulances, their back doors flung open, wait beside four heavy duty military trucks.
You see no sign of staff either hospital or military, thinking about it you hadn't seen any people for some time now.
As you look closer you notice that several of the windows on various floors look smashed. In fact on the third you can see half closed blinds poking beyond the window testiment to the lack of glass.
Strange, you think, the rooms are all environmentaly controlled the windows are not designed to be opened either something had gone wrong with the aircon or there was trouble.

Looking real hard at the window with the blinds you see, or think you see;
Andrea's room is on third.

You flick the switch on your dash that kills the horns and lights, now the only thing that disturbs the silence of the hospital building is the rumble of the pick ups engine...

Robert kills the engine and gets out of the car, checking his belt to see if he's got everything there, including, 2 quick-loaders of spare ammo.

He approaches the hospital cautiously, casting a glance up to the third floor every now and then, checking to see if the figure is still there or if he can see movement in Andrea's room.

Perception check (5!),[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4267856/]perception (1d6=5, 1d6=4)[/url]

As you move towards the main entrance there is no movement to attract your attention. Now with no engine noise the silence is almost deafening the caw of a lone crow makes you jump.

As you had noted before the double doors are open and the corridor beyond empty. The only sound you can hear within the hospital is a buzz of strip lighting and a distant dinging sound, like the sound elevator doors make when they open. A sound that goes on and on but without direction.

Several yards inside the corridor is an untended enquiries desk. A desk top strip light leans at a drunken angle its light directed on a solitary pool of blood which from its semi congealed nature had been there a while.
On the desk top amidst a pile of papers a solitary plastic vending machine cup lies on its side its contents now just a drying stain. Next to it you see a telephone its handset partially lifted as if carelessly replaced.

Of the military presence that Sam’s daughter Steph had spoke of there is no sign other than the four trucks parked outside…

Robert Valentine thinking:   Where is everyone?

Robert avoids stepping in the puddle and he makes for the dinging sound coming from elevators. He is looking around for any signs of military intervention, bullet holes, empty shells, grenade pins, blast marks, empty flashbang cartridges,... As he moves forward, he slowly draws the .45 and unlocks the safety.

All seems oddly quiet, other than the annoying ding of the elevator the only sound you hear is your footsteps, and the too loud click of your .45s safety being released.
Of any expected hospital noises, the bleep of monitors, the sound of trolleys being moved, the noises made by staff and patients, there is a distinct lack. The resulting silence is oppressing.

As you carefully progress down the corridor towards the corridor intersection where you know you will find the elevators, you pass several rooms, each of which although empty and cold seem normal there is no sign of anything untoward having happened.

From what you are seeing so far, other that the blood and the slightly messy state of the enquiries desk, it looks as if all the staff and patients simply got up and left.

Eventually you arrive at the elevators and immediately see the reason for the dinging of the door. A trolley has been lodged half into the elevator thereby stopping the doors from closing with the resulting ding each time they try to shut.

OOC:   There are three elevators in a row the repeatedly opening and closing one is in the middle. You can use your Investigation skill as you go d6 (don’t forget you wild dice roll of d6) Target Number is 4 but the higher you roll the better.

OOC:   I made the test with a 5! Investigating (1d6=5, 1d6=4)

Valentine thinking:   What the hell happened here...

Deputy Valentine casts a quick glance in the elevator, hoping he won't see any blood or gore in there. He draws his maglite and moves towards the stairwell. He knew better than to use elevators in cases of emergency and besides, someone had blocked those doors on purpose.

Valentine thinking:   But what purpose?

Other than the trolley blocking the entrance to the elevator, it is empty and as clean as elsewhere you have seen so far. The only sign of wrongness, other than the oppressive quiet, was the pool of drying blood near the enquiry desk.
As you start to move towards the stairwell some instinct causes you to look back to the enquiry desk near the front doors. From where you are you can see that a light is blinking on and off steadily on the telephone base unit. Strange, you think, that wasn’t there before.

There is no noise, no audible warning, just a small yellow flashing light…

This empty hospital is giving Deputy Valentine the creeps. He tries to block out the sound of the elevators and returns to the desk, trying to figure out where the blood could have come from.

Dice,I'm going to assume it either requires no roll or an investigation roll, so here it is: [dice]0[/dice] Hooray, a six, this roll adds to the 6: [dice]1[/dice] uhm, okay, this roll adds to the result of 12 [dice]2[/dice] Okay, so in the end, I rolled a 14 :D

Robert leans over the counter and picks up the receiver, pushing the button to accept the incoming call.

From the reciever you hear a whispered voice, probably female but you can't be sure.
"Is that's the cop, you need to be quiet. You don't want to make any noise, noise attracts them. There are a couple of us, mostly nurses, trapped in a private room up here on three."
Beside the voice you can hear the sound of someone sobbing quietly,
"Watch out for two, that's where the soldiers penned them before they pulled out. I have to go now, in case they hear me, good luck, you'll need it"
With a click the line goes dead.

Questions race through your mind, chief of them where is Andrea, her room was up on three?

Deputy Valentine thinking:   Noise attracts them? Who are they?

Valentine looks at the receiver and puts it down, he had to get up to three as quick as he could.

He turns and, avoiding the blood, walks back towards the stair case. He flicks on his flashlight, takes a deep breath and opens the door, ready to head upstairs.

Inside the stairwell it is very dark, lucky you brought the flashlight. As you begin the climb up the stairs from the first floor, the silence becomes almost deafening and your heart is beating so loud that you are sure others can hear it.

Boom - ba, boom - ba,boom....

Far above you you can see a sqare of light, no doubt from a skylight at the top of the stairwell, how many floors has this place got? is it five or six?

Slowly making as little noise as you can in the echoing stairwell you eventually arrive at a landing with a door marked 'Floor 2 Wards..." not your destination but the voice on the phone had warned you of this floor.

The door has a round porthole window, its glass wired and marked safety glass. Keeping your flashlight shielded you risk a quick glance through the glass, which seems to have been smeared with something making vision difficult. But it is enough for you to see;
Whatever they are they seem to be busy. You look down and see that someone has used cable ties to lock the door shut. They aint getting out of there in a hurry.
As you turn to move away from the door to begin climbing the next flight of stairs, one of them, the nearest, turns and looks straight at you. For a moment you feel that he knows you are there, but you aren't aware that you have made any noise and between you and him stands a heavy duty fire door...

OOC:   Please make a Guts check for what you're seeing; 1d8 for guts !d6 (wild dice) You need a 4 minimum on either dice. Dont forget maximums roll again and add.

Guts (12!),[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice] Hooray, here's an additional d8: [dice]2[/dice]

Robert fights the urge to violently recoil from the door. Instead, he slowly slides to the side and towards the staircase going up.

Deputy Valentine thinking:   What the hell was that? They were tearing those people to shreds...

He slowly backs away from the door, one step at a time, after having taken a few steps he turns around and rushes up to the third floor, fearing what he'll find there.

Deputy Valentine thinking:   I'm coming [b]Andrea[/b]!

As you hurry up the stairs to the landing which will give you access to floor 3, Andrea’s floor, you hear from behind a heavy thudding, and recognise the sound of someone trying to bust down a door. Well at least the cable will hold them for a while.

The door to floor 3 is exactly the same as that to 2 but without the adornment of cable ties or blood smears, in fact it looks wedged partially open by a discarded sneaker, the rubber soled variety favoured by hospital staff.

Creeping the last few steps you peer cautiously through the glass porthole. Noting the utter destruction that greets your vision.
Here the walls are splattered with a combination of blood, bullet holes in long lines and the black scorch marks of low yield explosives. A few strip lights remain functioning but in a flickering non consistent manner.

If you were beginning to be creeped out before you are really getting worried now. At the far end of the long corridor an abandoned nurses station draws your attention amidst all the debris several sheets of paper have been taped to the wall above. On them someone has drawn a big arrow in marker, big enough for you to see it easily from the doorway, beneath it someone has scrawled in huge letters ‘THIS WAY. FOR GODS SAKE HURRY’

You look at the tiled carpet flooring of the corridor noting the covering of plaster, glass and pieces of medical equipment. Getting from here to there quietly is going to be fun.

As if in answer your eye catches movement in one of the private rooms that flank the corridor, someone or something is inside…

OOC:   To move quietly from the doorway to the nurses station requires Stealth which you do not have. So for you it means an untrained Agility roll at -2 this -2 mod applies to both your d8 and d6 dice. So you need to roll a d8-2 and a d6-2 and make your TN of 4, maximum rules apply so good luck.

Sneak roll (5! Hooray!),[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]

Robert stealthily squeezes through the door. He slowly makes his way through the rubble strewn corridor, trying not to make a sound. His heart is throbbing in his ears and he feels beads of sweat run down his cheeks.
He goes around the room with the movement in as wide an arch as he can and goes to follow the instructions on the trolley. Should he pass by Andrea's room, he won't be able to resist the temptation to cast a look inside.

Taking great care you move toward the nurses station with its note. Several times the crunch of crushed glass or plaster makes you freeze, blood pumping in your ears, alert for any indication that your movements have alerted the occupant of the room to your presence.

Yet It seems you have not and in a series of slow, heart stopping, stages, you make the abandoned station.

Inside the area looks a mess as if the result of some mad party. Empty plastic water cups lie strewn haphazardly around the floor. In a corner the empty cylinder of the water cooler lies almost empty, water stains showing the fate of the majority of its contents.

Sheets of paper, many bearing various figures and graphs, are scattered on almost every surface. Clipboards hang precariously from several holders each marked with a name, room number, and a summation of illness or injury. Luckilly the dim light cast by the remaining strip lighting denies you sight of what else might be staining the floor tiles, though the occasional reflection of the flickering flourescents proveide an indication of what it might be.

One board catches your eye 'Andrea Carole Valentine - Room 309 - Pregnancy Complications'. I Notes in various hands report on the progress of various tests and observations carried out since her admittance, including a final note by Dr Prashma indicating her discharge tomorrow. Beneath in large red letters someone has scrawled 'relocated to central' there is no date, time or indication of who had authorised this 'relocation'.

To your right further along the corridor in the direction indicated by the note, there is a muffled click and a door gently opens a few inches. In the resulting gap you can see a single eye looking straight at you,
"Shhh!!"

Robert ruefully looks at the intended discharge date and sighs. He looks up as the door opens a bit and, taking Andrea's tablet along, he slowly moves to the door, millions of questions burning in his mind.

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?"

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...

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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

"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

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.

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]

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...

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.

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.

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...

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."

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...

"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?"

You are aware of Bernice slowly nodding her head, "Yeah a husband and two children, but they're in Atlanta visiting Tom's mum and dad. I guess they're safe there well away from this", she nods towards the street.
"Never thought this would happen and so fast, no one even knows what it is or where it came from" She grabs your arm in a tight grip, "Dead folks don't get up and come back to life, do they?"

Obviously talking is helping, her voice is starting to seem more measured, stronger.
"I know the Bible talks about the resurrection of the flesh, but this isn't the way I figured it'd be...This aint the last days is it?"

No matter how you hit and curse the radio gives nothing but static. The closer you get to the centre the more choked the roads become with vehicles some obviously abandoned, others wrecks many of which still smoulder. As you pass the engine noise seems to be drawing an ever increasing horde of the shambling, limping and staggering dead. Men, women and children, some walk some crawl. A few wear military or emergency uniforms, but most wear the tattered and bloodstained clothing of the civilian populace.

From the windscreen you can see plumes of black smoke rising from various parts of the Cities skyline. Overhead the occasional whap-whap of hellicopter rotors attest to the continued military presence. It would seem that not everyone has given up the City. Ahead and above you an attack hellicopter grows larger as it heads towards you. Its progress becomes almost mesmerising, as if it will lull you too sleep. Then suddenly sparkles of white light blossom below its belly and the road in front of you suddenly erupts into geysers of fire.
Jesus H Christ, you think, miniguns...

OOC:   I need a Driving Roll from you to avoid the minigunfire. Your skill is d4 (Don't forget your Wild Dice d6) the TN is 4.

"Atlanta, that's good. The CDC is in Atlanta. I'm sure they'll have figured out what this is by now. I wouldn't know about the Bible though, maybe it's a virus or terrorists. It could be the Chinese too..."

Valentine thinking:   I sure hope it's not the End of Days, we can't do anything about that.

Look at all these...people...where do they keep coming from?


Valentine tries to focus on the road again, but his attention is quickly drawn by the helicopter.

"The army! We're in the clea..."


He tries to avoid the gunfire and maintain control of the wheel, but to no avail.

Driving,[dice]0[/dice] [dice]1[/dice]

With a curse you try to avoid the stream of bullets. Jinking the truck left then right the heavy gunfire seems impossible to avoid. With a roar of tortured steel the left side of the pick up's bonnet disapears as if it had never been. At the same moment the heavy vehicle swerves left and you know that the front left tyre has gone.

"Hold on to something", you shout as the vehicle begins to turn over.

The awful rolling sensation stops and for a few moments your head spins with noise and the sensations of falling. Then you realise you are still alive and hanging upside down from your seat belt. From beside you a low moan indicates that Bernice is till alive too.

As you listen, your head slowly clearing you hear the departing hellicopters rotors. Obviously having done whatever his work was he's leaving.

OOC:   Luckily you have a four inch jack knife in your trouser pocket.

OOC:   How will that help me upturn the car?

Robert lets out a few moans and grunts as he fishes for his pocket knife. He cuts himself loose and lets out an "oof!" as he is released. He then proceeds to quickly cut Bernice loose, allowing himself a look out the window to ascertain the position of the shamblers outside.

While Bernice struggles to free herself of the straps, you can see that the horde of infected that have been following your car have closed off any avenue of escape to the rear and are slowly moving towards your upturned vehicle.

To your left a row of silent apartment buildings seems like your nearest route to safety. Bernice is whimpering beside you, "Dear God, save us"

You estimate that you are two streets from Mercy Hospital and probably ten or more from Central and Andrea. You know that they have an emergency hellicopter at Mercy...

Robert helps Bernice get free from her bonds and then pulls her out of the car.
Before leaving, he leans in and recovers the box of ammunition.

Valentine thinking:   I'll find you, Andrea, I swear I will!

"Central is at least ten blocks away...I say we make for Mercy Hospital and see if we can contact people there."


He takes Bernice by the arm and starts moving her in the direction of Mercy and away from the zombies.

Just across from you a door opens in a building and a young boy appears momentarily, he seems to be carrying some kind of M16, which looks incongrously too big for him.

You estimate that the door that has been opened is about forty yards from where you are. A quick look at the ever nearing horde shows that you will easily make the door before them.

Robert suddenly smiles, about as confused by seeing the kid with the machine gun as he is elated to see another human being.

Listen kid, don't shoot, okay? I'm with the Sheriff's Department and Bernice here is a nurse, I'm sure we can help each other. Just let us in, okay?

Realising there is little time to spare for conversational niceties you and Bernice begin to move towards the doorway. From behind the kid a young woman, also carrying some kind of militery rifle, appears and shouts, "Over here, quick"

Robert quickly enters the building, suspiciously eyeing the machine guns in the hands of those children.

"Thank you, those things were hot on our tails."