In reply to Lorenzo (msg # 71):

The ones that didn't follow Lorenzo, Sarah tried to smash. With her heavy pipe she lifted a swing here and a swirl there. Each time putting her weight into it and each time being sure not to fall over as she did in the store. She made good work of the creatures.

With their combined effort it would seems Sarah and Lorenzo took a decent amount of threat away from the situation.

When she was done with those zombies she chased after Lorenzo, hitting the beasts from behind "Thought you could use the help" she said as she smashed the legs of one of the ghouls "I think we did quite a bit back there, lets go clean up."

Karen had been trying to take zombies out quietly and carefully in an attempt to avoid the predicament pretty much everyone else found themselves in. But alas, she too found herself soon overwhelmed by the horde. Carefully calculated swings of her nightstick soon gave way to panicked flailing, just trying to make enough room to move. Karen's eyes went to the police car, an item reminding her of the past, giving her almost a moment of nostalgia had she not been preoccupied as she was. It was a symbol to her of safety, authority, and pride. But there was no time now for such pangs of days gone by. Now she landed a strike square into the jawbone of one nasty walker, dislodging the thing in a grotesque flapping charade. Karen swung again to land a blow on the head of another, but carelessly exposed her back. Cold claws clamped her flannel covered shoulder, jerking her off balance and towards the fangs of a monster. The horridly off coloured teeth pinched down upon the soft fleshy part of Karen's left shoulder, just above her deltoid muscle. The pain was tremendous. Karen screamed in both pain and terror, a scream shrill and loud enough to alert those around her, both living and dead. With all the adrenaline induced might she could summon, Karen whipped the baton backwards with her right arm to loose the teeth clamped upon her.

In reply to Sam (msg # 66):

Sam And Bill and whoever else was out there cleared the area around the car leaving a mound of twice dead bodies. All the while Bohannon sat uselessly inside the car, watching. As the others were completing their work, Bohannon came to the sudden and crushing conclusion that he was stuck. The Sheriff's keys were in the front of the car, the cowboy was in the back, and all the doors were once again locked. "Howdy yerself! I hate to be a bother, but if y'all got a minute, you wanna let me outta here?" He asked of the other men in the least sincere polite tone he could muster.

Quickly scanning the aisles Hank realized the tool selection available wasn't what he was hoping. Most of the large tools were taken, though there were a couple "child" sized ones left. They may not have been the best but they were better then nothing. Grabbing two small shovels, one with a plastic head, a full sized branch clipper, and a metal rake he glanced back as Ricky opened the rear door and light spilled in. Squinting slightly he continued on to the lighting aisle.

Luckily in a world overrun by zombies lighting fell next to survival. Given the situation outside he grabbed a box of electrical wire, the other stuff he had in mind could hopefully be scavenged but the less wire cutting the better. Heading back to Ricky he gave a slight shrug at his haul. Hopefully we'll be able to hit the houses at some point, they're probably better stocked then this place by now.

There were too many of them and despite Dominic’s best efforts to cut them down and Lorenzo’s attempt to draw them away more and more were heading towards Luke and himself; threatening to cut them off from the others. Backing away from a pair of rotting Zed’s clad in the remains of a green uniform the hardware store down the road perhaps? Dom could just about make out Bill and Sam at the police car talking to whoever was inside, and Lorenzo and the Asian chick whose name currently escaped him outside of the hardware store making up the much needed support. Unfortunately for Dom there was a small horde of Zed’s between him and them meaning that he would have to either find a way through or around them. Quickly opting for the latter of the two options he quickly seeks out an escape route; finding an alley down the side of the store he’d just raided “Bill! Get the group together, we’ll meet you at the hardware store...if we’re not with you in ten, get the hell out of here and head home!” Dominic shouted at the top of his lungs no longer caring about attracting the Zed’s attention as it was already too late for that “Come on Luke let’s get the hell out of here!” he called to the younger man as he turned and headed for the alley: using his sword to cut down one of the green clad zombies as he silently prayed that it wouldn’t be a dead end.
Even in his weakened state Dominic was still able to outpace the shambling dead but they would be hot on his trail. The thought prompting him to move faster still as he dived down the narrow litter strewn alleyway; vaulting a fallen dustbin before then breaking out into the small employees car park at the rear of the store.
Pausing long enough to make sure that there were no dead lurking nearby Dominic heads in the direction of the hardware store where with any luck the rest of the group would be waiting. Once he’d rejoined the others he’d come up with a plan of action but until then he had a lot more running to do.

In reply to Sarah Mills (msg # 76):

There was a metric assload of ghouls, but at least they were slow. Slow and dumb. Lorenzo managed to down a few, swearing under his breath all the while. It annoyed him to see his efforts weren't making much of a dent in the sheer amount of them. Was everyone who lived in this hick town shambling around right now? It was ridiculous. He was going to collapse from the exertion of cracking so many of the beasts without any proper nutrition in him before one actually got the jump on him. Or so he told himself. He wasn't gonna end up ripped to shreds like Cruz had been. He wrenched his machete from one of the beast's skulls with a sickly squelching noise and stumbled back, taking a stance, his dark eyes darting over the undead crowd in something that almost resembled panic. He had a temporary breather to choose his next target. Or tuck tail and run. Which wasn't going to happen.



Lorenzo's head whipped toward the sound of Sarah's voice, his body still poised to attack. For a second it looked like he actually was going to. His gaze flicked over the small woman, looking very much like a gory, pissed off animal stuck between fight or flight. Then his posture relaxed slightly and he scoffed when he realized Sarah wasn't some corpse that had snuck up on him.

"Doctor Love's still having some trouble," he said and spat on the ground, nodding to Dom and Luke in the distance. He took a deep breath and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, scanning the impromptu killing floor. "Sarah, we hafta-"

A shrill scream emits from Karen, and Lorenzo turns to see her struggling with one of those dead assholes. There was no way he could reach her without piling through a mess of those creatures, but if there was one thing Lorenzo was, it was a dumb, stubborn, angry son of a bitch. He didn't know Karen well at all, and to be frank she seemed like a mopey drag, but he had to at least try to help her. Any loss they had today, he viewed as a personal defeat between himself and those dead freaks, and they could be damn sure he was keeping score.

"Goddamn, this is fucking retarded!" he snapped, the familiar feeling of plain, blind anger tightening his chest. Effectively, it made him zero in on Karen, and he doesn't notice Dom darting off down the alleyway. He shouldered past Sarah, hoping he'd be able to hack his way to Karen in time.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:54, Tue 23 June 2015.

When Lorenzo passed Sarah due to Karen's scream for help a million thoughts swam through her mind. Most of them revolved around never seeing someone get bit, personally. She didn't know if this was a sickness, hell she never thought to ask if getting bitten gets you.. gets you turned into one of those things. It was something that gave her pause, but only briefly as she fought more fiercely when she realized she had no idea if a bite would turn her.

She mentally berated herself for being so dumb. How careless she was before.

She started swinging her pipe, which by now was caked in blood and tissue. Her smaller arms getting tired from swinging such a large weapon. Sarah wanted to move to Karen and follow Lorenzo, but she was lagging behind. While Sarah was safe, she couldn't get to Karen quickly.

Finally she reached Karen, or the zombies around her at least, she trailed behind Lorenzo but she swung at them with just as much zeal as she could muster.

"Karen, we got you!" Sarah yelled to her hoping Karen could get the creatures off of herself whilst they fought their way to her.

In reply to Benson Bohannon (msg # 78):

Sam was able to clear out a small area for himself next to the vehicle, with Bill fighting by his side though the southerner wasn't about to put his faith in an old drunk. The grizzly survivor kicked one small(compared to Sam) biter to the asphalt, a withered femur snapping, leaving the walker down but not out. One long stride forward and Sam raised a knee and slammed his heavy boot down on the..possibly blonde walker's head. "Cover me you old sonofabitch." Sam ordered to his elderly companion as he turned back to the police car. Benson's words earned a stream of what may or might not have been tobacco juice from Sam's mouth, the dark saliva splattering the car window so he didn't have to look at Benson for a moment.

Right then he heard Dominic's call, a little peeved that the guy assumed Bill was in charge of the operation. After a quick glance to the mass of walkers all around them, Sam made quick on getting himself, and, if he had time, the other two out as well.

"Get clear of the glass, Eastwood!" Sam exclaimed, raising his viking axe and swinging it solidly into the back passenger side window. The glass bent inward, smashing but not breaking, the sharp blade clear on Benson's end, if he hadn't hit the guy. Placing one foot on the side of the cruiser, Sam pulled the weapon back with a mighty jerk, yanking the entire plane of cobwebbed glass right out of the window frame, giving Benson a way out.

"You owe me now." Sam stated strangely serious rather than the usual sarcastic.

In reply to Dominic Dubreton (msg # 80):

Luke was quick after Dominic once they decided to break off, unable to help much from where they were. As they ran Luke sweated profusely, anxious and afraid, even after all the months since the beginning. Back at Fort Dixie he hadn't had to come close to the walkers except on patrol, he'd rarely been a raider. Times changed.

As they darted down an alleyway, moving to meet the others, Luke would bump into a trashcan, making a loud racket before cursing under his breath, and reinvigorating his escape.
Glad that Dominic knew which way to go despite the danger and stress, Luke was able to focus on just putting one foot in front of the other. No doubt Dominic's experience as a medic had him trained to such decisive action. "Game over man, game over! Who let those things out of the bar!?" Luke exclaimed none too calmly, looking a bit out of sorts, his eyes panicky.

Spinning around Dominic seized the panicking young man by his shirt collar; twisting the fabric tight about his throat and dragging him close so that he was mere inches from the Frenchman's face and staring directly into his "It doesn't matter! Now keep it together or I swear to God I will drop you, you understand me!" he growled angrily. The last thing he needed was for Luke to start panicking, he needed him to watch his back, not bolt like a startled rabbit at the first sign of trouble. Releasing his grip on Luke’s shirt and taking a step back Dominic continues speaking to him but in a much calmer and more reassuring tone of voice "we're going to be ok, just stay calm and we'll both get out of here alive" with his pep talk finished Dominic turns his attention back to the task at hand; escaping the undead.
The parking lot was small and contained only an old Buick, which if they got the chance could be worth checking out, but was useless for the time being.
Straight ahead of him there was a tall brick wall whilst to his left there was the car parks entrance that would lead straight back onto the main street they'd just fled. So it was the narrow alleyway to the right that he headed for; signalling for Luke to follow him as he went.
Dark, cramped and stinking of refuse Dominic hoped that the alley would lead him to the rear of the hardware store like he thought it would and not a dead end as he doubted the dead would allow them to double back and try again if it was.
In the distance, muffled by the walls of the alley he could hear the others still hacking away at the dead. He hoped that they would be alright, he'd promised Mahmoud that he would bring them all back and although he knew no real blame would be given if he didn't he didn't want to go there if he could help it, they'd already lost too many people over the past couple of months and he didn't want to lose anymore.
Breaking out into what looked like the stores loading bay Dominic wasted no time in racing up to the door at the back of the building; swearing loudly when he found it locked.
There was no way out of here, the gate was chained shut and topped with razor wire and the roller shutter door would be far too heavy for them to lift, assuming of course that the security conscious owners hadn't bolted it shut.
With no other options and the Zed's closing in he takes a step back and kicks the door with all his might.

In reply to Sam (msg # 83):

The strike to the window had not in fact set off the alarm, a series of events once and for all confirming not only that the car was dead and useless, but also that the windows were not bullet proof, as Bohannon had hoped. The cowboy climbed out the window only a third as gracefully as a Nascar driver, falling on his ass and then standing back up. He dusted himself off, sending tiny bits of tempered glass every which way.

"Thanks Hoss." He said to his fellow Southerners, surveying the gruesome scene. "Well Captain Kidd, where to? Back to ship or back to jail?" Bohannon asked as he scooped his machete up off the ground.

In reply to Sarah Mills (msg # 82):

Karen was now in full panic. she had freed herself from the zombie's mouth, but fear of what damage had been done overcame her. Kicking one walker in the gut, Karen made enough room to bolt down the street towards Sarah and Lorenzo. A very big part of her wanted to run the other way. to lose control of herself, succumb to fear and panic and rage and hide in some alley way and wait to die alone. But Karen didn't want to die alone. So straight to Sarah's arms she ran, not for comfort, but for a place to check her wounds. Karen reached Sarah and Lorenzo, taking cover behind a parked truck, trusting Lorenzo would offer some safety. Karen dropped to her knees beside Sarah, peeling off her flannel shirt and pulling her tank top down under her arm. Blood soaked both layers, both spatter from the fight, and from the monster's mouth.

"AM I BIT???" Karen demanded from Sarah as she herself tried to look at the back of her own shoulder. What Sarah would find is a very large and rapidly darkening blood blister under and on either side of Karen's bra strap. The three layers between teeth and skin seemed to have stopped the thing's teeth from piercing Karen's skin.

Crouched by the police car, Bill clutched his red fire axe with both hands. His shoulder still hurt from swinging the axe into the walkers, but there was nothing he could do. Play through the pain, that's what his High School coach used to tell him.
He heard Dominic's call and surveyed the scene. Bill saw Lorenzo, Sarah, and Ricky down by the hardware store. He saw Gary wandering on the other side of the street by the convenience store. Walkers crowded the street between them. Getting this group together would not be easy.

Sam smashed the window of the police cruiser, and Bill fended off a lone walker that had marched up behind the trio of Southerners. "I don't know about fighting through that hoard, why don't we go up a block and try to go around them. We can't stay here."

Around the corner of the store, a pair of walkers emerged, and Gary began to wonder about his choice of weapon. He glanced at the window washer in his hand. He hadn't been thinking when he came out of the store. He was distracted, and now he was in a two on one fight with a pair of walkers armed with a window washer.

Gary swung the washer into the rotten skull of the walker on the right. The head, the part with the sponge, broke from the handle as the undead body recoiled from the relatively serious blow. Oh shit , Gary thought. This was worse than he imagined.

The walker on the left leaned in to bite Gary. He he stuck the handle, relatively sharp, through it's open mouth, and the walker was paralysed. Gary jerked the little black handle out, breaking the walker's skull. One down.

Turning around Gary saw Luke and Dominic running down the ally behind the hardware store the kids had just come out of. Gary charged the last walker, stabbed him through the skull like the first, and ran toward the hardware store. He wasn't sure who too follow, but he had to move.
Behind him, walkers tripped over each other heading toward them.

"Get back inside! Get inside!" He shouted to the younger Caravan members, waving his arms in the direction of the store.

Lorenzo only granted Karen a cursory glance as the woman pushed by him, followed by one of the ghouls that had been at risk of surrounding her. He was much too focused on wanting to pummel the infected, and it wasn't quite clear whether that was due to an inherent bloodlust or from the desire to protect the two women crouched behind him. A tight knot of anger had worked its way into the man's gut, and if there was no one around to tell him what to do, or to base his actions on what he thought they'd want him to do, he might have continued to pick fights regardless of his exhaustion.

Wiping a combination of sweat and dark gore from his brow, the stocky man waited for the creature to close the distance toward him before driving the machete deep into the former-woman's head with two rapid hacks. He wrenched the blade free and took a stance by the truck, vaguely aware of Karen shouting. Lorenzo didn't turn to face the woman, though in ordinary circumstances would have been thrilled to gawk at her stripping down, and instead continued to watch the infected shambling about the street, reminiscent of a very angry, very protective dog.

"Hurry it up, ladies," he growled, still surveying the street. He glanced back to the gas station, noting the crates of supplies he had moved outside. "Everyone's splitting, and we gotta grab those boxes and gardening shit or this whole trip was fuckin' pointless."

For them to come all this way, for Karen to get bit, only to come back to the rest of their group empty-handed wasn't something Lorenzo could handle. His stubbornness and pride wouldn't allow for it. He wasn't sure where Doctor Love and that fucking moustache guy had scampered away to, but when he found them he had half the mind to knock their two heads together for taking off. Risk assessment was obviously not his strong suit, which is why he had never been the plan guy.

In reply to Dominic Dubreton (msg # 85):

Luke froze up as Dominic grabbed him about the shirt, pulling the material from its tucked in state on the trimly (if dirtily) dressed young man. Their raid leader's strong words distracted him from his frantic thoughts, his own dark brown eyes unblinkingly staring back at Dominic, believing everything the medic was saying. Despite the flight response wracking his rattled form, his survival instinct told him to obey lest he be left behind. Dominic would get him through this. When the doc released him, they shared a quiet moment and tone, and Luke finally seemed to regain his composure, if just a little. "O-Okay, okay.. I get it."

The mustached millennial was close behind Dominic as they hurled themselves along, trying to find a way out of the area. The sounds of their companions fighting for their lives and supplies bounced off of the walls of the narrow alleyway, with shadows casting large, grotesque figures along the cavernous bricks surrounding them.

Keeping a look out as Dominic tried to find a way past some locks, spotting some of the undead beginning to follow them from the alleyway they had just departed. Stay calm stay calm stay calm.. Luke tried to rally, backing up closer to Dominic as the other booted in the door. If unsuccessful, Luke would add his own foot to the cause.

In reply to Benson Bohannon (msg # 86):
In reply to Bill (msg # 88):

"Funny guy says funny things." Sam replied dryly to Benson's words, spitting dark juice-like saliva at the corpse of a walker near the three. They had earned some breathing room, but they were still blocked from the others by a swell of biters that were collecting around their allies, as well as edging closer to the three sons of the South.

Gauging the situation with the wherewithal of a soldier, Sam snorted in part disdain for the threat to his mortality, and because it was part of his usual countenance. It was a quasi-answer to Bill's suggestion. "Lets get a move on, meet the other's back at the compound, if they survive that is.. They're on their own."

Holding his long viking style axe aloft in both hands, Sam turned away from the ongoing skirmish, nodding Benson and Bill along with him. Though large, Sam could move quick with his long legged strides, and they were soon disappearing from the police car and sheriff's office, with a few slow walkers in cold pursuit.

-Escape from A Town Called Slaughter

Dominic’s foot slammed into the door rattling it in its frame prompting him to kick it again to much the same effect. Obviously realising that their lives depended on opening this door Luke joined him at this point; the blows they rained on the door punctuating the groans of the Zed’s as they neared the end of the alleyway, effectively trapping their prey within the fenced off loading area.
Could they fight them off and double back? Dominic considered the idea for all of three seconds before turning round and booting the door again this time producing a loud splintering noise. A further two blows sent it crashing against the back wall as the lock finally gave up under the onslaught. Without even looking over his shoulder Dominic knew that the Zeds would be close and so wasted no time bursting through the now open door and running as quickly as fatigue would allow him through storeroom and into the main part of the store; waiting just long enough for Luke to follow him in before slamming the door shut behind him “Merde...that was close” he breathed heavily as he leant against the door in a effort to catch his breath If I’d realised this going to happen I’d have never started smoking he thought to himself as he heard the scratching of fingernails against the door behind him. Then again if he’d realised if this going to happen he would have also bought himself a shotgun and a whole heap of survival gear too.
Out of breath and with his heart threatening to burst out of his chest in a manner reminiscent to a certain alien film Dominic leant against the door and looked out across the ransacked hardware store to see if any of the others were around before offering Luke a weary smile “see mon ami...I told you we’d be alright” he said as he waited for his adrenaline high to wear off a touch before moving on.
With the zeds no longer hot on his trail Dominic moved through the store at more cautious pace not wanting to use up what little energy he had by pointlessly dashing through the store and no doubt into the waiting arms of any undead lurking within the dark shadowy aisles.
Upon reaching the front of the store he found the scene out front much the same as he’d left it, with Lorenzo and Sarah fighting the Zeds in front of the barbers and Gary a short distance away doing much the same. Sam, Bill and whoever has been the police car; Bohannon at a guess meanwhile were gone and he had no idea where Ricky and Hank were “Leave them alone Lorenzo!” Dominic shouted hoping to stop the guy from wading into another mob of Zeds “...grab your stuff it’s time to get the hell out of here!” he said as he moved over to join the others; pausing long enough to remove the head from a zed that had been threatening to get in the way before continuing on “Is everyone alright? Where’s Hank and Ricky?”

Hank took a step back as Gary came running into the store. Here. He held out the metal shovel to the older man. They would need everyone equipped with something better then a knife if they were going to get out the town. Moving to the side of the doorway he put his loot down and brought his crowbar up, waiting for the first of Gary's followers to show. We need to find a way to funnel these things.

Ricky could hear Dominic shouting inside the hardware store. He made his way towards the voice, calling out in reply. "I found a side exit, some kind of emergency door. Leads to an alley, fences still up but it doesn't really give us much wiggle room to dodge the dead. I think the front might be our best bet. Looks like you guys cleared out enough for us to run."

No sooner had Dom asked the question, he heard Ricky's voice shouting out from within the shop. Rushing over to the doorway so as to be heard better he quickly shouts back in reply "No! the alley is crawling with Zeds, grab your stuff and meet us out front we'll hold them off" they should be able to hold out long enough for Hank and Ricky to reach them now that they were all together again; his sword making short work of yet another walking cadaver.
As soon as Ricky and Hank had joined them, Dominic signalled for them all to get moving, pausing long enough to grab one of the boxes that Lorenzo had found before then heading down the street and out of town. What idiot thought it'd be a good idea to call a town Slaughter anyway?

----> Industrial park compound

Luke managed to make it through the ordeal with enough drive to avoid literally being pulled along. Dominic's words earlier had snapped him to action yet he was running on fumes from the stress of this event, combined with the lack of nutrition for the last many weeks. Before they were able to break free of the clog of undead in the streets the mustachioed youth would bloody his machete much more.

Once relatively clear of the town the blood-splattered hipster was silent, with a vacant stare, but alive.

-to Industrial Park Compound

Lorenzo waited until Sarah and Karen were in the clear before trudging away from the women, having put down two more infected in the time he spent waiting. "Soil. Get the soil," he spat out through his teeth, without looking at them again. Instead he started to wander toward a particularly annoying looking clump of undead, his hand clenching the machete so hard it began to shake. He was mad and he didn't even know why, all he knew was these dead assholes were ruining what was supposed to be a good thing and he was going to make them pay the only way he knew how.

However, he was called off by the sound of the good doctor instructing him to do otherwise. The previous thoughts of wanting to knock the guy's head off a wall subsided after Lorenzo realized he hadn't abandoned them, and the stocky man instead gravitated toward the convenience store. His dark eyes darted in a panic over the dilapidated building, but after a moment he saw the cart pushed unceremoniously aside. He took a staggering amount of the crates in his ropey arms, a feat mostly credited to the adrenaline coursing through him, and piled them carelessly into the cart, repeating the action until he had all he could fit.

Well, the loading job didn't look pretty. And one thought kept running through his mind. This isn't enough. But his forearms were slick with dark gore, as was the front of his shirt, and it seemed the crates were now being given a similar treatment. He wasn't feeling the fatigue yet, but he was ready to leave. Grimacing, he began to push the barely functional cart on his lonesome away from Slaughter- though if he saw anyone straggling he'd wade right back into the fray unless instructed otherwise.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
---> Industrial Compound (probably)

---

Waiting for the two undead to make it through the door Hank crushed the first one's head in as it came through. The second was dispatched as it tried to get up from being tangled in the other's limbs. Following the others he tossed his haul into a relatively empty crate he wondered how much luck they'd have when/if they came back for the houses. Taking a last look back he shook his head. Maybe it's a good thing Tom didn't come.

--->To compound

"Don't need to ask me twice." Ricky muttered back as Dom ordered the group to ready their leave. With hatchet in hand and a pack only slightly heavier than when they first arrived, Ricky was more than eager enough to leave the dead town. *Not the greatest haul, but it's better than nothing.* He followed close behind the others, taking out the stray dead here and there.

>> To: Industrial Park Compound >>