IC-Hold Down the Fort(various)

[Starspawn338]

Mitchell goes up and looks around for ways to block the stairs.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,I'm sorry, I'd missed that. :oops: I edited my posts above to fix it. I had also messed up [b]Samantha[/b]'s progress, but I edited and fixed that last night. [b]Gary[/b], you'll reach the top of the stairs in the next update.

[aine]

Samantha keeps look out over the field of long grass. She speaks loudly so Gary can hear her.
"Do you think the compound is easier to defend than here? I think there are a few people still inside; we couldn't just leave them here on their own. There's that daft old biddy for starters running about, I just hope she stays up here doing laps.

My main concern is that more zombies could appear any minute through this grass. I reckon there must be access to the roof because I saw a heap of radio gear up there. I'd say that's where we should go.
If it wasn't for the flying aliens."

spot hidden,40[dice]0[/dice]

[Leonulf]

Jenny looks at the furniture back in the motel room but isn't too sure about moving it to set up any barricades herself so goes back to the balcony to check for hostiles. She also tries to keep an ear open to make sure nothing comes in from behind into the room.

Listen (45%),[dice]0[/dice]

[Mr. Handy]

10:12 AM
In the motel lobby-
"Actually, the fever's a good sign," said Cathy. "It shows that his immune system is working to fight off the infection. Raising the body temperature is part of how it works. The fever is not life-threatening in and of itself at the temperature it's at right now." She lowered her voice. "There are more people outside the front door."

"One of them's Kimberly, one of our guests," said Mr. Foo. "I recognize her voice." He and Scotty began moving the barricade away again.

OOC,[b]Mr. Foo[/b]'s Listen roll (58% skill) in the lobby: [dice]0[/dice] [b]Cathy[/b]'s Listen roll (60% skill) in the lobby: [dice]1[/dice] [b]Scotty[/b]'s Listen roll (25% base skill) in the lobby: [dice]2[/dice]

In the private room-
"I'm sorry, sir," said Major Andrews after a pause. "We don't even know what this infection is. Until several hours ago, we'd never heard of it. It takes much longer than that to develop a cure. We're not sure whether or not touch spreads the infection yet, but we're not taking any chances, and neither should you. The bite is confirmed to spread it. We've had...casualties."

On the motel balcony, southwest corner-
Mitchell, Ellen, and Gary reached the top of the stairs and joined the others. There was nothing out on the balcony that looked like it could be used to block off the stairs, but there were several doors along the west side of the motel that led to rooms where furniture could be found. Ms. Foo and Ellen had keys to the rooms. Samantha could see no movement.

Jenny Cooper,Even from here, [b]Jenny[/b] could hear footsteps approaching the front door of the motel, on the east side.

OOC,Everyone other than [b]Samantha[/b] may also roll Spot Hidden. The base skill is 25%.

[Silver Priest]

Assuming Tony hears Cathy's explanation, it puts him in slightly better spirits.

"I was afraid of that," he admits to Andrews. "I'll keep a close watch on him and my wife, and make sure no one else directly touches him until we know for sure that doesn't spread it. I'll monitor both of their conditions and report back if anything changes. I'm trying... I'm trying to be realistic about things, Major. But I can't give up on him just yet. If nothing else my wife knows enough about medicine. If she can delay the infection indefinitely that could be invaluable information for all of us."

Once Andrews responds he terminates the call and heads back out.

[Starspawn338]

OOC,Spot Hidden 85 [dice]0[/dice]

"You got the keys? Start unlocking the doors up here."
Mitchell will start dragging furniture out onto the balcony to block off the other stairs.

[Starspawn338]

Gary looks around and shakes his head.
"This ain't no good. There's too many ways to get up here and nothing to defend. It looks like Custer's last stand."

OOC,Spot Hidden 50 [dice]0[/dice]

[Leonulf]

Jenny hearing a sound of footsteps splits her attention between the door and the balcony.

Spot Hidden (35%),[dice]0[/dice]

[aine]

Samantha looks around, assessing the area.
"You are probably right,Gary. You want to make a dash for the compound? You know where it is? We'd have to get all these people into your truck."
She's not too happy about the idea, it's only the worry about the flying insects that forces her to consider the options.

[Mr. Handy]

10:13 AM
In the private room-
"Understood," said Major Andrews. "I'm sure our medical people will want to speak to her and get some firsthand information. They should arrive in 25 minutes. Keep us posted. Andrews out."

Tony returned to the lobby.

In the motel lobby-
There was a knock on the front door, and a man asked "Is everyone okay inside?"

"Mostly," said Mr. Foo. "Just a minute, we're unblocking the door." He and Scotty finished moving the barricade aside.

"Mom, am I gonna die?" asked Bobby.

"Everybody's going to die, Bobby," said Cathy, her eyes filling with tears.

"I know that. I meant soon."

"So did I..." Cathy, starting to weep.

Mr. Foo opened the front door, revealing Hammond, Jimmy, Wallace Red Crow, Trooper Bo Richards, Kimberly, and Jim Kerr outside near Michael's corpse. They were all armed.

In front of the motel-
Jim Kerr could easily see that Michael wasn't going to get back up again. His head had been splattered, and there was nothing left of it. He heard the voices in the lobby, and soon enough the front door opened.

On the motel balcony-
Ellen unlocked the door to the nearest room and led Mitchell inside. Ms. Foo, Samantha, Jenny, Gary, and the dogs remained outside.

Gary,[b]Gary[/b] could see [b]Luke[/b] trudging toward them from the west down the highway. He had a rifle and a shotgun, and he would arrive in about a minute. Looking to the east, he saw two figures about a mile away, running toward the truck stop very fast. At their current pace, they would arrive in about five minutes.

In the motel room-
The motel room had enough furniture to fully block the nearest stairwell, but it would take a while to complete the barricade.

"We'll get it done faster if we work together," said Ellen.

OOC,[b]Mitchell[/b], please roll STR x 5 to start barricading.

[Silver Priest]

Tony comes back into the room, smile pasted onto his face. He's always been a bit of a go-getter, and he's planning to ride that as far as it can take him now.

"Help is on the way," He reports to his family. " Cath, The military is very interested in whatever you can tell them about the infection. We have to be careful not to let anyone touch Bobby until we know how this spreads."

His smile fades when he hears Bobby ask his mother the question, and her answer. Gently he tries rubbing her back. "You heard what your mom said, sport. You having a fever is a good sign. Means your body is fighting off the infection. Besides, you saw Mr. Foo after he was shot earlier! Your mom saved his life. I'm confident we got to you in time. We just have to figure out how to treat you, but you're in good hands,so just hang in there."

Persuade 40%,Trying to persuade the family. and cheer them up. If Fast Talk might work I'll use that, as it's 20 percent better. [dice]0[/dice]

When he sees the newcomers he gives a nod and a smile that's only slightly forced.

"Are we glad to see you. Listen, we've been in touch with the air force, and they're sending help that should be here in less than half an hour. But unfortunately, we're expecting more of these sick ah, people, maybe twenty of them or so. We need to reinforce and hold this area until help arrives. You all look like you're capable-- I hope we can count on your help."

[Starspawn338]

"You are probably right,Gary. You want to make a dash for the compound? You know where it is? We'd have to get all these people into your truck."

"No, I don't know where the compound is and I'm not sure taking everyone there is the right idea given how them skinheads acted here." Gary says as he keeps watching for more of the infected.

"But I know they ran off with some women hostages and I just don't think I can just let that go. I was hoping to get the highway patrol to back a rescue mission. I was also thinking he might know the way."

[Starspawn338]

"You folks doing okay in here?" Jim looks into the room. "It sounded like you have some injured."

[Starspawn338]

OOC,Strength 70 [dice]0[/dice]

Mitchell starts dragging furniture from the first room to block one set of stairs.

[Leonulf]

Jimmy moves over to Gary "You know what? It doesn't sit right with me either, I may be young and inexperienced but living rough has got me good at sneaking about and remaining out of sight. Please take me with you if your going, I can help - I could try and scout out or distract them or something. Either way the more of us the stronger we will be."

[aine]

"In that case, we stop here for the moment. I'll start patrolling around the balcony but we must keep an eye on this field of long grass as anything can creep right up in it. There's no chance of burning it I suppose?" Samantha looks at Gary.

Also, Jenny has my shotgun but probably can't use it if she's building defenses. You are welcome to use it, if you know how. I've got the cartridges here."

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,[b]Jimmy[/b] is in front of the motel, on the east side. [b]Gary[/b] and [b]Samantha[/b] are on the southwest corner of the motel balcony. They can't even see each other from their current positions.

[Silver Priest]

"My son Bobby was bitten by one of these things." Tony tells Jim. "But my wife's a doctor and looking after him. Everything will be alright." It seems somewhat obvious that the man is trying to convince himself of this.

[Mr. Handy]

10:14 AM
In the motel lobby-
Hammond, Jimmy, Wallace, Bo, Kimberly, and Jim Kerr entered the motel. Then Mr. Foo and Scotty closed the front door and began replacing the barricade. Bobby had a bandage on his face over where his nose used to be. They could see two more dead bodies in the lobby, their heads blown clean off of them. "You have to shoot them in the head," explained Scotty.

"Yes, or stab or bludgeon them in the head," said Mr. Foo.

"What's the use?!" sobbed Cathy. "What's even the point any more?"

"Actually, we won't be staying long," said Kimberly. "Those skinheads took two women hostage from the diner and escaped back to their compound with them. We're going to mount a rescue mission, but we need a vehicle to get there quickly. There was a pickup truck they had left behind, but Gary must have driven it somewhere. He was going to go with us, but we had to take care of the ones still in the T-Bone first. When we came out, he was gone."

"I tangled with them myself," said Mr. Foo. "Their sniper gave me this." He patted his bandaged chest. "Not before I killed the one with the detonator, though. I stopped him from blowing the pumps, but one of the others must have recovered the detonator and used it. I'd go with you, but not only am I wounded, I also need to defend the motel, at least until relief gets here."

"Those women may not have that long. Who knows what those creeps are doing to them even now?"

"Let me help kick their butts!" said Bobby. "Just give me a pistol!"

OOC,Fast Talk would work, but that roll still fails.

Behind the motel-
Luke trudged off of the highway from the west and crossed the open ground to the southwest corner of the motel. He carried a rifle and had a shotgun slung over his back. There were also a handgun and a knife on his belt. "Hello!" he called up to the balcony as he neared the stairs. "What's going on here?"

In the motel room-
Ellen tried to move the furniture, but she wasn't making much progress.

OOC,[b]Ellen[/b]'s STR x 5 roll (50% stat) to move the furniture: [dice]0[/dice]

On the motel balcony-
Ms. Foo, Jenny, Gary, and the dogs remained at the top of the stairs.

Mitchell hurriedly dragged furniture out of the motel room and used it to start barricading the southwest stairs, but he still had a long way to go.

Samantha walked around the motel balcony to the east and reached the southeast corner.

OOC,[b]Samantha[/b], please roll Spot Hidden.

Jenny Cooper,[b]Jenny[/b] did remember where the compound was. She had passed the turnoff to it about five miles north along the dirt road, just a mile south of where she had found the "meteorite."