Hearse simply shrugged as Dominic mentioned waiting outside, indicating she was quite used to seeing a fair amount of violence. Once the deed was done, Jonathan would head over to pat him on the shoulder.

- "You did well, my boy. Not much else anyone could have done for him."

Taking a deep sigh, he leaned on his cane for support as he bent down, searching the man's pockets for items that could be of use. The suit looked like an expensive one, and considering he had been on the other side of a keycard-locked door, he figured there was a fair chance of the man carrying some kind of ID or other keycard on him that might get them beyond some of the other doors they were bound to run into.

"Once upon a time I may have tried to save him" Dom quietly replied as he returned his newly acquired gun to it's holster. The grim almost weary look on his face saying that he had long since accepted that you could save precious few in this world they lived in and that you had to pick your battles.

Rifling through the desk drawers Dom would find the usual collection of stationary within them, though he would find a half packet of choc chip cookies, and some paracetamol that he would pocket. Taking two of the cookies he would hold the rest of the packet out towards Johnathan, for him and Hearse to share between them "if you find any medical records let me know, I'm trying to find someone" he said, though he knew it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack and that was assuming she was even in the haystack to begin with.

The lights in the room flicker, reminding everyone that once they go out, you'll be in utter darkness as there are no windows in this room.

Hearse, did a search of her own, going around the room, and found something particularly interesting.  Neither of the two men know precisely what it is, but notice her reaching out from behind her back where she has tucked it away. 


Dominic had been going through the desk, dumping them and found what appears to be a small green journal written in cryptic phrases... code. But why have a personal journal written in code?  Maybe the guy kept a secret stash of cookies somewhere.   There are stacks of paper, some with names, most with terms like "Subject 4324-J."  It quickly becomes obvious that many of these are from groups that were gathered.    As you look, your mind flashes with a fuzzy image of sitting in a room, shouting at someone to release you.  You were strapped in a chair but they were ignoring you, referring to you as a subject and talking about probable exposure and resistances... then the memory is gone.


Johnathan's quick search removes a lanyard with a heavy identity card.  Clearly this will unlock some things.   The computer monitors flicker with images of the chaos below as the men try to navigate the foreign system.   Johnathan doesn't find medical records, but shipping logs.  He begins to grasp that this site is a temporary one, not a permanent one.  Here they do experi-

There is a boom in the distance as the monitor on the left flashes, showing the undead having broken through the doorway using sheer weight and not caring if the ones in the front are ripped apart.  They are now rushing down the hallway that leads to these rooms.  You have seconds left.

One of the others says, "Hey... we go, NOW!"  A hand slaps the wall on top of the "EMERGENCY EXIT PLAN" that indicates the elevator in the main room you first entered... the one that could only be opened by a keycard.

Johnathan doesn't pay Hearse much mind as she stuffs the item under her shirt so it wouldn't fall out if she needed to run. He himself was fairly preoccupied with searching the body, and trying to find information on the computer, the latter task hindered slightly by his fingers not being as fast as they had been back when he was still in his twenties. Or even thirties. But then, the door gave out and the undead began rushing in on the monitor.

- "Agreed. Our John Doe had a keycard, it may open the elevator. But we need to get to it before the power gives out for good!"

He then began heading for the main room as well, following the others and keeping up as best he could despite his bad leg by using his cane and hop stepping to minimize his use of it. He pocketed the keycard and closed the button over the pocket so that it wouldn't fall out, though he would still be able to easily reach for it as soon as they'd make it to the elevator itself. He knew the door needed to be closed before the undead would reach them or they'd just pile into the elevator with them, which would be... detrimental to their continued survival.

Cursing loudly at the  stacks of paperwork Dom would quickly flick through the pages looking for any mentions of a woman in her early thirties with an amputated leg, or anyone in connection to his number; 2112-B, anything that would confirm one way or another whether or not Isabelle was here. He had been taken. He could remember that much, the question was had she?

He would only manage to get through a few pages before he heard someone shouting, causing him to curse again when he saw the zeds breaking through on the monitor ”time to go” he said, snatching the journal and stuffing it into his jacket and zipping it up.

He would give the paperwork one final agonised look before following Jonathan out of the office and quickly moving towards the lift, knowing that they had to move quickly if they were to escape with their lives.

Dominic has only gone through half, and there's more than he can carry.  His experience with zeds means he knows how to get things done and still be smart about it.  He grabs files with even part of the number or mentioning leg, or amputee.  As he runs out the door with the others, he has a good supply of files he can go through at a later date.  If luck is on his side, he'll have the info he needs.

The group realizes there is no chance for stealth.  They run for the elevator as the zombies rip and tear at each other, striving to get to the living; they are restrained by the door, they can't all get through, and there is no such thing as a 'polite zombie' stepping out of the way.  Those who have recently awoke will have a short lived victory.  SOme of them were still looting the storage room.  Others are already firing at zombies.

Jonathan, Hearse, Dominic, and Tom make it to the smallish elevator.

Zombies are rushing at you, tons are trying to get through the door between the catwalk and the vestibule, so that they can then rush at you and the others.   Will you swipe the card and go up, down, or hold the doors open, hoping the others (inactive players) make it to the door?

[This is an OOC decision that can be roleplayed out in-character.  Do you want to drag along the inactive players?  If so, it will be up to you to puppet them.  Otherwise, whomever YOU CHOOSE to get on the elevator with you can make it before the doors close and you make your decision to go up or down.]

Once Johnathan swiped the card to make the elevator doors open, he took note of how long it took the doors to open and, after getting in, would hold the door open for as long as possible to grant the others time to make it in safely. Safely in this case being that he would keep the doors open until he assessed the zombies would be able to make it to the elevator before the door could close -- there would be no saving anyone if the zombies were the ones keeping the door from closing after all.

While he is keeping his fingers hovering above the button to make the elevator go up, and making a mental note of which floor they are currently on, Hearse motioned for the others with them to make a run for it to the elevator, her muteness helping her in not making a sound that could attract the attention of the zombies more than the screaming of recently awakened survivors being eaten alive.

Clutching his bundle of paperwork close to his chest Dom would run down the corridor to the lift and get inside with the others, holding the glock in his other hand as Hearse silently urged the others to get into the lift with them. Mindful of how small the lift car was and how quickly the zeds could move when the urge took them Dom was only willing to wait so long, with life out in zombieland instilling a level of brutality that had kept him alive all this time ”shut the door mon ami” Dominic coldly stated once the black maths made it clear that those still outside wouldn’t reach the lift before zeds did and that they had saved everyone they could.

Once the doors had slid closed and the lift had started to move Dom would return the gun to its holster and breathe a sigh of relief.

Johnathan pressed the door to close the elevator, having come to the same mental calculation as well. There was a moment between the doors closing and the elevator starting to move that the sound of bodies hitting the doors could easily be heard, but the doors were at least sturdy enough to ignore such attempts. Once the elevator got underway, he turned to Dominic.

- "When i checked the computer, most of the entries were shipping logs. There was something about experiments as well, though i did not have the time to read the details."

He looked at the closed door.

- "This is... If i were in charge of a safe area, i would set up testing areas before allowing people i knew were uninfected on to the actual safe area. It may be what the experiments were for. Regardless, it felt like this was a temporary facility, so it's possible they would set up facilities like this to test local regions at a time. Those making it through testing would likely be trained into joining the ranks of those soldiers that abducted us all -- for our own safety, of course."

He smirked at the survivors that had made it to the elevator in time, before letting out an audible sigh.

- "Okay, we're not out of the woods yet. I sent the elevator up, mostly because these zombies don't seem all too capable or interested in running up stairs so we may use that to our advantage. That said, we don't know the situation on the upper floors, so keep ready to hold off zombies until the door closes if we end up in a tight situation. We can't have been the only ones here that tried to make a break for the elevator before realizing they needed a keycard to get in, so a fair few of them may still be roaming around the doors."

[so, who made it and who didn't?]

OOC: I'm going to go out on a limb and say 'as many as we could'?

[ooc: from original post.  The two of you get to decide.  Don't wiffle-waffle, just choose who made it into the elevator with you and if you bring them along, then you post for them in the story later on.]

Also: @Jonathan, you are not on the ground floor, and the zombies came up the stairs here.
 Earlier in the thread, it was also noted that zombies in the stairways had gone upward further.  So they are definitely using stairs.  I don't want you to be 'suddenly surprised' later on.

OOC: Yeah, didn't mean to imply they couldn't get up stairs, just that it'd be harder for them to run up them, and when shuffling around there was a bigger chance they'd fall down a flight compared to walking up one. :)

”Wait! Hold the door, Hold the door! Wait for meee!” the voice had shouted at a pitch and volume that defied all concepts of stealth and self-preservation. There was an almost despairing look on Dom’s face as he heard the voice, already knowing before he leaned around the lift door that he would see a tall, dapper, young man running towards the lift and attracting far too much attention.

Dom would take a moment to quietly marvel at how Luke had managed to survive so long before lunging out of the lift and grabbing the young man by the front of his shirt and hauling him into the already crowded lift with the doors closing behind him ”cutting it fine aren’t we mon ami?” Dom growled looking down at the moustachioed young man currently panting and gasping on floor  in front of him ”I…I…had to…had to find my…Indy’s” he wheezed, with Dom rolling his eyes at the answer before turning his attention to Jonathan.

”So you think there are more of these places? Makes sense I guess…there always were rumours of a Colony” Dominic replied, recalling the rumours and stories he’d heard in the time since the fall of humanity and the disappointments when every single one proved to be a lie ”…did you find any clue as to where it could be?” he continued without much hope. Though considering they felt the need to kidnap their potential recruits he wasn’t certain he wanted to find the place.

With the lift continuing upwards, Dom would take heed of Jonathan’s warning with him unceremoniously hoisting Luke back onto his feet, noting that apart from a rather stylish outfit that he wasn’t carrying any of the things necessary for survival such as weapon, though that wasn’t overly surprising. He would then awkwardly draw his sword within the cramped space in preparation for lift doors to open with Hank and Lorenzo similarly preparing themselves for the possibility of Zeds waiting on the other side of the doors.

Hank stopped rifling as Tom mentioned Luke, briefly trying to push through the drug fog that was blocking out whatever had brought them to here. Was Luke the only other one they brought with them? Did whoever take them find the others? Were any of the people stuck in their room one of theirs... No, he couldn't think about that now. Taking a deep breath he walked over to his brother and gave his shoulder a slight squeeze. We'll mourn later, after we get out of here. Come on. Letting Tom go ahead of him as the group headed out he gave a quick glance back down the hall they came from before following.

Waiting by the door as the others looted the office Hank kept a warry eye on the monitors. Though the boom of the door giving out gave enough warning their time was running short. Running with the others he silently asked for forgiveness for the people stuck in their cells, hoping Luke was the only other Caravan member who had been caught.

Crowding in the elevator with the others he held his crowbar ready, hoping whatever agency that built this facility had cheaped out on building contractors and the doors didn't have pressure sensors. His weapon dropped slightly at the last minute, oddly familiar cry. No...? A look to Tom showed he matched Hank's own confused look. The confusion turned to relief as a body was pulled in to match the voice. While not the best equiped the guy at least could fight, but a small part of him did feel guilty it wasn't New Mexico and and a machete. On the one hand it meant he could have escaped or not been caught, on the other he could have been one who's door didn't open.

Shaking the thought aside he leaned over to Luke as best he could, keeping an eye on the door and crowbar ready. Did you see anyone else?

Holding his hand up in a give me a minute gesture Luke would do his best to get his breath back before replying ”Naw man…I haven’t seen anyone else…I only just saw you guys” he said with a shake of his head that he was none the wiser as to where they were or what was going on.

With the lift eventually coming to a stop, all eyes would turn to the door as a ping signalled that they had reached their floor. With his sword held ready, Dom would brace himself as the doors rumbled open to reveal the lobby and whatever was inside of it.

Johnathan shook his head in response to Dominic's question.

- "I did not, though the computers here are networked, it's possible that, should we come across another working terminal, we can access most of the same files and look into it further. Provided of course we remain undetected."

The doors open and for a moment the light is overwhelming.  The flicker of fluorescents is replaced by daylight and air wafts over you as the loud sound of a helicopter prop pushes the air across the roof toward you.  You have emerged on top of the building which has been constructed with a landing pad.  Across an open expanse of roof sits a helicopter with the blades slowing down from a recent landing.   There is staccato gunfire.   Emerging from the elevator reveals a group of individuals with rifles firing over the edge of the roof towards the ground below.  For the moment, none of them notice you as they could not hear elevator doors over the sounds of their own gunfire and the engine of the helicopter.

Dom would give a nod in response, wishing they’d had a little more time to investigate where they were and who had taken them ”well if we get the chance it’d be worth doing a little digging” he replied, moments before the lift doors started to open.

Greeted with bright, natural light, the sound of engines and gunfire and feel of fresh air on his face, it would take a moment for Dominic’s eyes to adjust and for him to get his bearings before he realised where they were. They were on the roof. And there was a helicopter ”we need to get to that chopper before they realise we’re here” Dominic said, not fancying their chances of fighting the gunmen or talking them out of shooting them.

After looking to see if any of the others had any better ideas, Dominic would step out of the lift and quietly start heading towards the helicopter.

Johnathan leaned closer to Dominic before he would step out of the lift.

- "While i agree with the thought of escaping, i would need to point out that these people bearing small arms would likely take offense to us stealing their method of escape. And while i do not know how to pilot a helicopter, the times i've seen one its takeoff was not particularly fast or silent. We would likely be shot before getting it off the ground."

He then produced the black keycard that had opened the elevator.

- "We do have an advantage that the infected gentleman we took this from was around my own age, so if this is an extraction team we may be able to convince them we are the ones they had been sent to retrieve. Given that this was set up as a temporary location, they may even take us to their permanent base that might have the one you're looking for in it."

Hearing Jonathan’s suggestion, Dominic would hesitate clearly drawn by the idea of finding Isabelle within another facility somewhere. He had also made a very good point about the high probability of the guards gunning them down before they even got off the ground if they tried to steal the helicopter ”I don’t know mon ami…assuming they ignore the fact we look like a group of survivors and not scientists, and you are able to convince them to take us, we’re going to be found out once they get us to this main base of theirs…also if this goes wrong we only have one gun” he said in a low voice, whilst keeping a wary eye on the soldiers ”…the other option is that we rush them from behind and take them by surprise” he suggested with the idea yielding them not only a helicopter but several guns, ammunition and suits of body armour if it worked. Unfortunately they had guns and body armour on their side making such an attack risky at best…

Johnathan nodded in response.

- "Admittedly, the plan would bank on them being partially distracted by what's going on and us getting the benefit of the doubt for wearing clothes as opposed to the gurneys we woke up in. That said, their 'main base' would arguably still be an improvement over our current situation."

He took a deep breath.

- "It's your choice, but i can't help much and if these men had weapons and armor training i'd expect some form of situational awareness as well, and if you're spotted early with that sword in your hands they wouldn't be asking questions."

Dominic would look back at the others to see if they had any suggestions or concerns before turning back to Jonathan ”ok…but this could go very badly, very quickly” Dominic replied as he returned his sword to it’s scabbard. Deciding that trying to bluff their way out of here was probably the least riskiest move they could make at this point in time.

Hank just nodded at Luke's words, taking what little comfort he could in them. If they were grabbed on a supply run then this would have likely been all of them. Which meant the others were probably safe, wondering where they were. Not that they knew themselves. For now there was some hope of finding the others at least.

Blinking at the sudden influx of light as the elevator doors opened he tensed, ready for whatever was on the other side. Listening to Dom and John talk he glanced between the helicopter and men shooting at the ground. Well...they took us for a reason. He didn't like the idea of giving themselves up willingly to people who took them by force but it may be the only way off the roof without a bullet hole. Let's just hope we're more valuble alive. Lacking a scabbard Hank simply held his crowbar at his side, using it to gently keep Tom behind him.

At Dominic and Hank agreeing with his suggestion, he gave them a quick nod.

- "Only right i take the lead then. Be sure to keep your weapons holstered, or at least nonthreatening, it will do more harm than good."

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of the lift and put two fingers in his mouth to let out a sharp whistle, using his other hand to casually hold the black keycard in the air as if it were a means of identifying himself. If the group on the helicopter had decided to land here, they would at the very least been briefed on the keycard system, and a means of accessing the elevator themselves in order to do whatever it was that they had come here to do. And in that lay certain assumptions that might be abused.