Leroy in the End Game

[paradys]

Leroy hears Joel and realises that hes talking sense but.. he has to know. He steps out of the ambulance and moves forward a couple of paces.

"Hey Cynthia, its alright, its Leroy. Why don't you show me your face huh, so I know who I'm talking to."

[Laraqua]

Cynthia whirls and fumbles around in her handbag. She withdraws a black marker and hurries back toward the hospital, her right arm passing through Leroy. She appears intent on doing something.

[paradys]

Leroy shivers as her arm passes through him, but what suprises him most is how unsuprised he is.

She seems lost and confused, he thinks, just like us. I know, just know, she wants something from me but what is it, what is it she's trying to tell me?

He looks at the horizon where Cynthia was staring before, then examines the car, and finally watches her walk towards the hospital. He feels desperate to follow her but knows he has to help Joel get to the gift shop as well. He carries on watching Cynthia to see what she does.

[ImpInTraining]

With the silver blankets gone, Joel finds a whole stack of other blankets and puts a thick wool blanket to use, wrapping it around himself.

[Laraqua]

Cynthia steps inside the hospital and moves to the wall. He can't be sure as it's very dark and the ash obscures his vision, but she appears to be writing something. The air is very thick. Even with his sleeve pressed against his nose and mouth, he feels like choking (OC. you never said it was against your nose and mouth but I'm assuming you wouldn't wanna swallow people ash).

[paradys]

ooc: Mr Handys right, I did post that Leroy was wearing his surgical mask, though he might have had to lift it up to talk to people. How far are we now from the hospital? If we're fairly near, Leroy will go back to the ambulance, tell everyone to stay put and not to panic and go after Cynthia to see what she's writing.

I suppose leroy himself doesn't know what the ash is, that would probably er upset him. Still i imagine he's getting covered with the stuff, poor sod.

[Laraqua]

OC: You didn't get very far. Most of the cars in the car park didn't get very far, either and they're packed in pretty tight. Also, Leroy probably does know ... he saw the people get turned INTO ash, stripped bare.

[ImpInTraining]

"Hey ... um... Obi Wan... there's a lot of useful stuff back here, let me know if you want any of it." Joel starts rambling off the inventory in the ambulance again:

• at least 4 different types of backboards,
• neck braces,
• splints,
• traction devices,
• heart monitors,
• drug box (probably 100 different types of medicine),
• oxygen tank,
• cannulas that go with the oxygen tank,
• IV setups,
• IVs,
• saline,
• 2 or 3 of the silver blankets that look like tin foil,
• about 8 other blankets,
• a whole stack of sheets,
• a whole stack of towels,
• a whole stack of wash cloths,
• sanitizer,
• gloves,
• 4 or 5 quarts of sterile water,
• eye cups,
• 1 box each size of rubber gloves (small/medium/large),
• 2-3 regular flashlights,
• 2 pen flashlights (for checking pupil response),
• O2 Meters,
• stethoscopes,
• Blood pressure monitors,
• tool box full of tools of all different types,
• rock salt,
• stretcher,
• clipboards,
• papers,
• book on drugs,
• spit and puke bins,
• alcohol,
• bandaids,
• betadine,
• maternity delivery kit,
• defibrillator,
• male and female pee pots,
• small shovel,
• rope,
• spider straps (for restraining to the stretcher / backboard),
• head chucks,
• pillows,
• hard hats,
• caution tape (the yellow 'catch your eye' kind),
• glucose monitor,
• cotton balls,
• gauze,
• ace bandages (elastic kind),
• heating packs (pop and go),
• cold packs (pop and go),
• flares for road accidents,
• charcoal,
• syrup of ipecac,
• scissors,
• hazardous waste bin,
• two-way radios,
• regular radios,
• 1 box of face masks to prevent contagion
• a cell phone.

ooc: Laraqua, feel free to correct me in this. You said it was all there, wasn't sure if I should take off the two silver blankets, one box of masks and one box of rubber gloves.

Joel helps himself to one of the flashlights, and keeps flares, the heat packs, blankets, and two-way radios handy. He checks the cell phone for reception.

ooc: only edited to correct a dozen spelling errors.

[paradys]

Leroy pokes his head back into the ambulance.

"Hey Joel, you need to mind the fort here for two minutes. I have to go speak to Cynthia..its hard to explain, but I think she's got something important to say. I'll tell you more when I get back."

With that he disappears and runs back into the hospital, trying to ignore the subconcious feeling of disgust he feels as the ash brushes his skin, and also ignore the fact that he's starting to shake with cold. Once inside, he shines the torch around the lobby then points it in Cynthias direction.

[ImpInTraining]

When Leroy tucks his head into the ambulance, Joel shoves a two-way radio to him, and says "Here... use this to keep in touch. Don't turn it up too loud. Use channel 1." He hands the other over to Louie. As Leroy starts heading back to the hospital, Joel whispers, "Good luck."

[Laraqua]

Cynthia writes on the wall with the black marker.

Leroy,
if you get this
meet me
I'm going home.
Cynthia.

[paradys]

When Leroy gets back in the ambulance he is deep thought. The two way radio he has put into whatever spare pocket he has. He closes the door and sits there for a while. After a while he notices he is still shaking.

"Say Joel pass me one of those blankets."

He wraps it around himself but figures this will make it awkward to drive, so he borrows Joels knife and cuts a hole in the middle, making a kind of poncho.

"Clint Eastwood" he grins. "Pretty cool huh? So...first we drive over to the gift shop, see who's there. After that..I got a message from Cynthia, said she wants to meet me back home, on the old estate. Thats my plan, but if you want I'll take you back upstairs to the others first. I don't think..well, my guess is this thing with Cynthia is going to be pretty weird, seeing as she's getting in touch with us from the spirit plane...I don't expect you to believe that of course..but right now its the only way I have to explain things.." He trails off.

[ImpInTraining]

Joel says, "Ain't no way I'm going back up in that hospital. I'll take my chances back at your estate... unless mum has somewhere better to go." He shook his head and said, "I can't believe they're actually going to try to fly a helicopter in this mess. Those poor children."

[Laraqua]

The sound of the helicopter's spinning rotors reach their ears from the rooftop.

[ImpInTraining]

Joel says from the back, "We should get moving. I don't want to be near the impact site when that thing comes down."

ooc: Any word on the cell reception of the phone found in the ambulance?

[paradys]

Leroy looks up and tries to make out the helicopter. The thought of it plummeting to the ground full of children makes him feel sick, but all that now seems out of their hands. He puts the ambulance into gear and tries to get his bearings. Secretly hes glad that Joel has decided to stick with him and guesses that Louis too is along for the ride. He manoveurs the ambulance as fast as seems safe through the carpark.

"Just a small word of warning," he says, trying not to look at Joel. "I don't know what we're going to find in the gift shop. Probably everythings okay, but you should be prepared for..for bad news." He coughs, and is about to mention that he still has his mobile on him, but the idea of announcing their arrival makes him nervous, so he decides not to mention it. "If we find your mothers phone..I mean if she has it on her" - cough - "we can get Sarahs number off it, let everyone know where we're going."

[ImpInTraining]

Joel doesn't respond. He stares out into the ash-blown world through the windows of the ambulance wishing beyond hope that his mother is ok.

[Laraqua]

"Yeah, let's find your mother," says Louie, frowning.

The ambulance inches forward but has to nudge its way passed several vehicles as it moves toward the right of the hospital. The congestion here is pretty bad. It is possible the ambulance will become stuck if it is forced to go too far.

[paradys]

ooc: is the ambulance just having trouble getting to the gift shop or is it going to be unable to get out of the car park altogether?

[paradys]

"The streets are going to be jammed like this all over London" says Leroy.

He starts to realise that the ambulance isn't going to make it very far. Bearing that it mind he considers using it ram their way through the congested vehichles as far as the gift shop. Hes not bothered about trashing the ambulance but doesn't like the idea of getting stuck and making a lot of noise while they're at it. The alternative is to make it to the gift shop on foot, as quickly as they can through the packed cars, then later look for something bigger they can use to get through traffic. Something articulated. He starts to scan the car park.

"What do you two think? Want to make a break for it? The gift shops about two minutes away."