Chapter One: ‘And the dead shall walk the earth’

[Mr. Pear]

Luke stands pinned down looking at the two unexpected guests, his heart beat going even wilder than when amidst the shuffling horrors.
With eyes and mouth wide open his head turns from side to side, hoping to see any clue of an explanation. He grabs his MP5 more tightly and backs away. His bottom lip trembles for a while before he manages to bring forth any sound.
"W w w Wha.. Who.. whe.. wher.. how did you get here?? Are you hurt?"
He scrutinises them carefully to spot any blood stains.

[Priest]

Outside, deck 3: Luke, Marcello, Gabriella, Pedro and Ricky.
There is nothing on either of the two to suggest wounds. They are both dirty and dishevelled looking, but no more than any other person you have come across both infected and un-infected. Luke, Marcello and Gabriella back slowly away from the broken window, Marcello swivelling his head left and right alert for any unexpected movement.
“No we are unhurt, we leave ship – no?”

Ricky, ignoring his daughters excitement at seeing him, begins climbing all over the outside of the lifeboat as if searching for something.

Ricky,there seems to be no way of lowering the lifeboat without a electronic key. Although the boat seems to have its own independent power source, no doubt for lowering it independent of the ships circuits. Opening the locked security panel within the boat reveals a card reader and the usual [i]‘insert card..’[/i] instruction panel.

Pedro: As Ricky focuses his attention on the lifeboat, the child, Katie, turns towards you, “Yes Hector I like him he's funny, I remember seeing him up there moments before the monsters came…” you can see her eyes widen with memories of the event, “But after that all I remember is bangs and screams”.

**********************************

Jonathan, Deck 3, port side.
For a moment you thought it was the doctor Emily, but it couldn’t have been she is long dead.
A few yards down the deserted corridor a closed door bears the sign ‘Lifeboats section C & D’.
You know that the notice on your cabin door had appointed one of the ‘C’ lifeboats for your use. Taking a last quick look back along the corridor, and wondering why they were there, you tighten you grip on Mary and gently and slowly turn the door handle.
The first thing you notice upon opening the door is the smell of fresh, salty air, even more noticeable after your time inside the ship with its ever deepening smells of blood.
Secondly, to your right you can see the welcome shape of the lifeboats.
There are no sounds, other than the muted sounds of the sea and the sick groaning of a ship in despair as the list towards the starboard becomes worse.

[DrPeterson]

Jonathan lets out a sigh of relief and close the door behind him. He puts Mary down and takes her hand, leading her up the sloping passage towards the life boat.

Keep a look-out, Marypumpkin, Papa will try to get this boat open.

He tries to loosen the tarpaulin a bit so he let Mary board the boat and then looks for the release mechanism. Jonathan feels his mind race, occupying itself with a million different things.
Is the boat already listing too far over to the starboard side to lower the escape raft? Was that really Emily, or am I just imagining things? Emily! Where did my ex and son go? Why didn't I join the waiting crowd, I was supposed to wait, wasn't I? An axe! If the release mechanism wasn't powered I'll need a fire axe to cut loose the ropes or the pulley! Why did I give away the gun, that would have worked too! I'm dying for a scotch, oh man, that would be great! Or a steak! A nice rare steak, so bloody...Sasha? Where was she when this whole thing happened? I bet I could have talked that Italian chick into joining up with her, what a party that would have been! I should have waited in the corridor. No no, Mary first, Mary has to live.

[Priest]

Jonathan, Deck 3, port side.
OOC: The above picture is a rough idea of the style of lifeboat, as you can see there is no canvas cover. However with a bit of application, brute strength, you can gain entrance to the boat. You are correct in your assumption that the starboard list of the ship will mess up any launch capability, also given its height above the water any attempt to cut the cables and drop the boat will result in disaster.

As you study the lifeboat for a means of launch, Mary, from within the lifeboat, plucks the sleeve of your shirt.
“Ddddaddy look she’s coming”
Glancing back toward the door to the interior you see the tall blonde woman in the tattered red dress, dragging one twisted leg, limping slowly towards you, at least you think she’s heading towards you of course it may be Mary she’s coming for.
Now able to get a better look at her, you realize any resemblance to the dead doctor is superficial. However there is little doubt that before her meeting with the infected she was a beautiful woman, possibly one of the models that the photographer Luke Hoffman was here to photograph.
However, with the wounds she is carrying there is little chance of her making this months playboy centrefold, To say she has become a hideous mess is an understatement, and the dress is not red, or rather it was not red originally.
As she slowly advances along the sloping deck she starts that awful moaning.
You feel an insistent tug on your sleeve from Mary, “Quickly daddy in here”.
At this moment you realise you are not one of them, whatever you are your still Mary’s father…

[Garrett]

error

[DrPeterson]

Jonathan looked from his daughter to monstrous model and back again. He cursed and smiled at the same time. He sure as hell wasn't one of those shamblers. But he needed time, he needed to figure out a way to get the winch that lowered the raft to work, or to work out the release so that the little life boat wouldn't be dragged down with the sinking ship. Just a little time was all he needed to save his daughter and now this cadaverous cover girl was coming to eat them and there was no way on earth he was going to let that happen.

Mary, lock the door and don't open unless I knock ba, ba, black sheep on the door.

He'd always liked sports and he was a boxer before anything else, so he knew to mind his opponent's feet, and this one was dragging. Poor balance and a listing deck made the perfect combination.
Jonathan Moore lit his cigarette and took a deep drag just as the brain-hungry blonde started her horrible moan. He grinned and started running at her, using the inclination of the deck to increase his momentum and deliver the perfect body slam!

Jonathan's up for a scrap,Basically he wants to knock her down, so she slides into the corner where the floor meets the wall and kick her to bloody pulp when she's trying to get up. Str 3+Brawling 4+ 8 on a d10= 15![url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4207339/[/url]

OOC: Garrett, I think Ricky's nerves are a bit on edge. The zombie you're shooting is on the other side of the ship and threatening to eat Jonathan's daughter.

[Mr. Handy]

"Maybe he still got out, then," says Pedro, deep in thought. "He could have gotten out through the windows on the opposite side of the ship. We should check the port side of the deck."

[Priest]

Outside, Deck 3 starboard, Pedro.
Katie shakes her head seemingly very serious for a six year old, “I don’t think so.”

******************************

Outside, Deck 3 port, Jonathan.
With a wild yell, surprising you with the feeling of excitement that rises with it, you launch yourself in an irresistible rush at the oncoming infected. Without difficulty the combination of your weight, speed, and the bias of the deck smash the limping monstrosity aside and towards the safety rail that protects the unwary passenger from the water far below.
With a rising feeling of triumph you watch as the creature attempts to pull herself upright by use of the rails.
From behind you, in the direction of the lifeboat where you had safely left Mary, comes an agitated knocking, You glance back to see her horrified face pressed against a window in the lifeboats covering, she seems to be looking to your left further along the deck at something. Again, you look towards the place she is looking, further along an open doorway is disgorging infected after infected, many of which are wearing remnants of various uniforms. You recognise the white uniforms of the ships crew, the camouflaged uniforms of the soldiers you had met in engineering mixed with the unconformist uniforms of cruise goers.
You are certain that one of the white uniforms you see is the remains of that worn by Captain Romero, the torn sleeve of its one remaing arm bears the remnants of the braid that had once adorned his perfectly clean uniform. Now it appears little more than a filthy stained rag, stained with blood and goodness knows what else.
Other than the odd inquisitive look thrown in your direction you are ignored, even the slowly rising female seems more interested in the newcomers than her assailant. In a silence unbroken by their customary groans, this new rapidly growing herd moves toward the bow of the ship…

[DrPeterson]

His adrenaline still rushing through his veins, Jonathan tries hard to stay still. For the sake of his daughter, if not for his own, he lets his arms hang limp and stares slack-jawed at the silent herd.
He stands in awe as he recognises some of the crew, the soldiers and Cpt Romero and he can't help but wonder why they are all back up on their feet, hungry for flesh, while he is still alive and more or less okay.
Better than okay even, he'd never felt this alive in his life. Was it because he hadn't died of his wounds? Was that what it took? Maybe he was immune? Maybe he had too much alcohol in his system? Alcohol...that would be nice, he could use a drop of something strong right about now.

[Mr. Handy]

Pedro lowers his head, trying to stop the flood of tears. "I...I can't believe Hector's really gone," he says at last. "I thought he'd be safer on the bridge than where we were going. I never should have left him up there...I never should have brought him on this cruise..." He clears his throat and collects himself. "Thank you, Katie. I'm glad you managed to get out of there. Looks like we're going to need to get off this tub soon. Before we go, we can check that soldier for rations and ammo, but we'll have to be careful - he might not be as dead as he looks. When we're ready to leave in a lifeboat, I can pilot it. I have a little experience boating."

[Mr. Pear]

"Yes, we leave ship! Go to the first life boat in the front, we will board them ASAP!"
Luke motions with his MP5 from the couple of to the life boat, as to get them moving, after which he runs towards it by himself. Already knowing the drill from from forcing the lock for Katie, he quickly opens it up.
"Come on, hurry up! Get inside!" he urges the two, as he runs towards the other boats further away from the bow to do the same. Should anyone else suddenly show up, they can immediately climb to safety.

[kabukiman]

-I think we should go-says Marcello nervous- I don't want to become infected too, and we can't do anything else besides saving us and any person we find.

[Priest]

Outside, Deck 3 port side, Jonathan.

Slowly, at varying speeds of movement, the herd of infected move towards the bow. Even the female now on her feet, limps after the disappearing herd without giving you a glance.
The doorway through which they had shuffled now looks clear, from its position along the deck seeming to tally with the bridge entrance on the starboard side you would imagine that it gives access to the bridge. This idea is reinforced by the numbers of bridge crew amongst the herd…

[DrPeterson]

Jonathan motions to Mary to be stay hidden where she is and he makes his way towards the bridge. If he didn't find anything to help release the escape craft there, he might at least get a decent overview of what was happening on the ship.

[Priest]

Outside, Deck 3 Port side, Jonathan.
With Mary nodding to show that she’s understood the instructions, you creep to the empty doorway. By the time you get there the lone, limping female has almost disappeared around the curve of the bow section.
Beyond the doorway a flight of stairs leads upward, again mirroring the bridge entrance on the opposite side of the ship. Pausing and listening intently, the only noise you can hear is a pounding sound from a distance.
The stairs are dark but at their top more light can be seen. Once at the top a scene of utter carnage and destruction greets your eyes. What had been earlier a picture of cleanliness and efficiency now reminds you of a war zone. The floor is littered by unmoving corpses, parts of limbs, blood in copious amounts liberally coating every surface, vertical or horizontal.
From the amount of spent bullet cases, empty magazines and damage from small explosives you picture that a fierce but futile struggle was made by the paramilitaries, none of whom seem to number amongst the bodies strewn about.
The main wall of the bridge, glass giving 180 degree vision is smashed and blackened. It would seem from the increase in corpses and structural damage, that the final moments of defence took place at the front of the bridge area, As you survey the destruction movement at that point catches your eye. A single corpse its legs and arms missing is struggling to sit up. From the remnants of blood soaked fatigues you reckon this was probably the last of the defenders.
Opposite the stairs which you had just come up, another set lead down, and it is from here that the banging, louder now, is coming. Someone, or something, is banging at a door below.
Other noises make you risk a glance through one of the shattered windows to the starboard deck below.
A group of people are busy with the lifeboats below, as you watch you recognise them as the group you had been with earlier. They seem intent on their tasks, you smile as you recognise the Italian woman. And for a brief moment lose your self in dreams of what if, then with a curse you realise the purpose of the herd that you had watched descend from this bridge…

[Mr. Handy]

"Then we'd better go," says Pedro. He climbs aboard the lifeboat, familiarizing himself with its operation.

[DrPeterson]

Jonathan wanted to shout out for them to hurry up, but they were already getting into the boat and he didn't want to attract even more infected.
Nonetheless he cast a quick glance at the bow of the ship to see how close the herd was before turning around to look for something useful to use as a weapon and something that could help him release the raft, like an emergency release, avoiding the helpless, writhing torso and in the meantime trying to figure out if the banging was the incessant noise the infected would make or if it was a purposeful attempt to knock open the door by someone with a little more heartbeat.

[Priest]

Deck 3, starboard side, Pedro.
Inside the lifeboat looks pretty simple to operate once in the water. However getting it free of the ship is something else. There are controls for lowering, and a separate power source independent of the ships to enable this. However to operate the controls the panel needs unlocking by a master electronic keycard, which, according to the instruction panel, is located on the bridge.
OOC: Please roll 1d10 +6 target 7

********************************

On the bridge, Jonathan.

A quick glance down the stairs reveals that a group of infected have gone down to the door onto the deck, but its closure seems to have halted their progress, The banging sound you had heard had indeed been made by their attempts to smash their way through the door, however the steel construction is defying their efforts.
Looking around the bridge you spot a small cupboard, glass fronted, bearing the slogan ‘In Emergency Smash Glass’. Behind the glass, through smears of blood, you can see a keycard beneath which is a label bearing the words ‘Lifeboat Launch Control’ within the case you can see a neatly folded booklet bearing the word ‘instruction’

[DrPeterson]

Jonathan snorts as he sees the helpless infected pound the door and goes back to the glass casing, he'd always wanted to do this...

He gives a quick jab with his left and shatters the glass, he puts the card to the side and, despite genetic programming, takes the manual and quickly flips through it.

[kabukiman]

Marcello climbs the boat, recovering his confidence. It seems his luck didn't left him after all. He says to Gabriella:
-See, cara mia? As long as you stay near me, nothing hapens to you. We have been in a true hell and survive.
He hopes that with this, she learns her lesson and place...