Play@YSDC

Z-Day - 10:14 AM Central Time - In the helicopter, northwest of Brownson
In the helicopter-
Erica pulled back on the stick until the helicopter rose to a comfortable altitude and leveled off. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!" she called over the noise of the rotors, banking the chopper to the east.

"How much fuel did you manage to get aboard?" asked Bob.

"Close to ninety percent. We'll come up about thirty miles short of Omaha with what we've got aboard, so we'll have to find somewhere to refuel en route."

"It would have been less if it hadn't been for Sean. That was a close one, but he made sure we got out. It's too bad he didn't make it..."

"We can't afford a close shave like that again; there's not enough of us to fight off more zombies. You'll have to choose a refuel place very carefully." Says Brigetta.

Stephanie slightly nods in agreement.

OOC,has anyone from the chopper done visit CDC before?

ooc,Is the centre in the countryside or a zombie-infested town area in Omaha?

Brigetta considers the practicalities of getting to the centre unscathed.

"Erica we must land somewhere safe for the extra fuel so we can land on the CRC building. We can't hope to get through the city on the ground." Brigetta says.

10:15 AM
In the helicopter-
"You got that right," said Erica, opening the throttle. The chopper sped off to the east to the north of Brownson, following Route 30. "Boy am I glad we're in the air! I didn't like being on the ground one bit. I know of several airfields between here and Omaha, and at least one of them should still be operational and have the fuel we need. I didn't have the fuel to get anywhere else before, but I do now, thanks to you...and Sean. Without him and his rifle, we wouldn't have had much chance down there."

The helicopter had a GPS navigation system, and Bob was able to bring up a map of Nebraska.

"The GPS satellite system hasn't been working for a while," explained Erica, "but the maps are still stored in memory; they just can't be updated. Should still be fine for our purposes. There are two airfields I have in mind that are 200 and 210 miles from the T-Bone, respectively, and we have fuel for almost 370 miles. Omaha is almost 400 miles away, so there's no way around refueling." She indicated the airfields on the map, in central Nebraska near Kearney, but not too near. The closer one was several miles south of I-80, on the other side of a lake. "This is the one I'm aiming for first. If it's been overrun, we'll try for the second. We can try to raise them on the radio when we get closer, and we'll keep an eye out for alternatives."

10:16 AM
In the helicopter-
"The flight to Omaha should take about three hours," said Erica as she sped east, "but that's not counting the time it takes to refuel. The airfields I have in mind are well away from any urban areas, which will help."

The helicopter approached Sidney, flying past it from the north. Some of the fires had died down, having burned themselves out, though many were still going. Wrecked vehicles littered the streets below, and ghouls were crawling all over them searching for their next meal. More of them streamed out of the ruined city in all directions. Even from high above, the sorry state of Sidney was evident.

A streak of orange shot upwards across the sky to the right of the chopper. "That was a signal flare!" Erica said.

OOC,Everyone may roll Spot Hidden. The base skill is 25%.

"Do we need to worry about it?" Stephanie replies back to Erica.

ooc,spot hidden; [dice]0[/dice]

"We can't afford to worry about it." States Brigetta.

Spot hidden,[dice]0[/dice]

10:17 AM
In the helicopter-
Stephanie knew enough about Sidney to identify the building based on its location and height. It was the headquarters of Cabela's, the large company that sold camping, hiking, and hunting gear.

"That's Cabela's," said Erica, also recognizing it. "Their headquarters is in Sidney. Makes sense that somebody would survive there. Plenty of guns and ammo. Brigetta's right, though, there's nothing we can do. We don't have time or much room to spare, and it's too dangerous. Even if we could pick up one person, we couldn't fit any more, and there might be some violent disagreement as to who gets to be aboard, including us. They're probably well armed, and they could take over this chopper by force. There's no way I'm landing there." Erica kept the chopper on its eastward course and quickly left Sidney behind, flying over the eastern edge of the ruined city. More ghouls were heading away in that direction too.

"I'm so glad we're not trying to drive through that," said Bob.

"I think that makes all of us," said Erica. "Say, how about I put some music on? It's going to be a long flight." She took out a CD and put it in the player, and soon the strains of "Don't Fear the Reaper" filled the cabin.

10:18 AM
In the helicopter-
Erica flew eastward over farmland. There were just as many of the undead heading east out of Sidney as there were going west. A short distance ahead, a few deserted-looking streets and buildings became visible on their left. "We're coming up on Sunol," she said. "It's a small town on Route 30 about six miles east of where we started." She frowned. "Looks pretty well trashed, too. Not as bad as Sidney, but it's a lot smaller."

Brigetta got to work on her laptop during the flight. It would be a long enough flight that she expected to be able to finish by the time they reached Omaha when factoring in the time spent refueling. There was a power outlet in the cockpit into which Bob plugged the power cord when she passed it to him. That would keep her laptop fully charged and not drain its battery.

Brigetta worked hard, focused on her laptop. She ordered all her findings and summerised them scientifically and in layman's terms. This was in case she herself didn't make it; maybe someone else could carry on her work. She also disabled the laptop security so it was easy to access. She then started writing out the method for the cure.

10:19 AM
In the helicopter-
The chopper zoomed by Sunol in an instant, and then it was gone. The town was nothing more than a blip on the map.