James gets behind the wheel of the truck but sees maria in the seat hops into the back after getting his dropped clip

The Ford F150's engine promptly dies....Laney waits in the Ryder truck with the engine on.

[Private to James Herson: You notice a pair of crazies coming from the rail road tracks. They are still a ways off.]

OOC: Maria, I'll need to piloting rolls from you now. 1st to re-start the Ford (which is apparently ending up Found On the Road Dead), and the 2nd to push the Ryder truck.

Laney your piloting roll would occur simultaneously with Maria's 2nd roll.

Also if you screw up a roll, please let the devious GM decide what the outcome is.

Letting out a groan, Maria attempted to restart the Ford and proceed with attempting to free the Ryder from where it had gotten stuck.

23:54, Today: Maria Delores Hernandez rolled 109 using 2d100 ((74,35)).

In reply to Darkside Trooper (msg # 465):

One hand on the steering wheel, the other on the gear selector, Laney prayed because that was all she could do. "My Lord Jesus, help us out here. There are a lot of good people here, show them the path to the promised land..."

Laney hadn't prayed this much since Greg got sick. It hadn't seemed to do a lot of good then, she thought, as her thoughts fled down a dark rabbit hole. But then, they'd had some good years together, no kids but a lot of laughs, and there hadn't been anyone else since he died. If she saved one bullet, for herself, maybe she would see him again? Maybe, maybe not, but hopefully not today.

"Come on, Maria Delores, you can do it, girl!"

"Umm not to say we need to go but we got company" James point to the crazies in the distance

Maria drives behind the Ryder truck and pushes it from beyond/ At the same time Laney guns the accelerator of the Ryder truck.

With a load screech of metal the Ryder truck tears away from the loading dock. The rear bumper and a 3x4 foot section of the cargo box is torn away.

Moving again the two vehicles begin to pull up to western avenue. Ahead Laney can see the girl on her bike but there is a large mob of 20-30 crazies following her.

In reply to Darkside Trooper (msg # 469):

"Yee-Ha! Way to go, Maria!"

Feeling a sense of exhilaration, she edged the truck out onto Western Avenue. Then she spotted the bike courier up ahead.

"Oh... Goddamn you, brave, brave girl."

Laney had hoped the girl would be leading the crazies away on the broad avenue, where they could just drive around them and haul her into the F150 on the fly. Instead, it looked like she was forced to head up the lane between the buildings. The mob of crazies was pretty big, more than she figured they could safely plow through, even from behind. The Ryder truck, maybe, but the Ford would be swamped.

She knew the lane emptied out onto West Desert Inn. Maybe they could meet her on the other side? On the radio she said to Jonathan, "Ace, I see her, she's up between the buildings. I'm going to try and meet her on the other end. I'll go right, you go left along the street. If we make it we'll meet at the intersection of South Highland and West Desert Inn. Maria should know that area, we had a call at the library last week, old guy stroked out looking at porn on the computer."

Driving up behind the mob into the parking lot, she slowed down to a crawl, then lay on the horn. Both to distract them and get them to turn around and stop chasing the girl, and to let the cyclist know they were coming.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/...OC8w&usp=sharing

OOC: let me know if Annabelle turns around!

In reply to Lakeisha 'Laney' Carmichael (msg # 470):

Picking up the hand held radio J.P pushes the button and replies "Ah.. sure I will let Maria know." J.P relays the plan to Maria while trying to keep an eye on their surroundings.

The two vehicles split up. Laney honks the horn and gains the attention of some crazies, but doesn't see the girl on the bicycle.

The Ford F150 goes up Highland drive and almost gets into not one but two front end collisions with other vehicles driving away from W. Desert Inn drive. Once at W. Desert Inn Drive they find it is a quagmire of cars trying to get somewhere, with a number of crazies mixed in attacking people. Some people are abandoning their cars and fleeing on foot. Others are fighting the crazies, some with success and others without much success.

Five crazies exit the stopped traffic and head towards the Ford F150.

OOC: Laney, post in the other thread.

MAP: https://www.google.com/maps/d/...FgixyKU.k8zDM0WJOC8w
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:36, Fri 02 Oct 2015.

Maria felt a little worried when Laney suggested splitting up, but followed the route as requested, hoping she wouldn't run into more of those crazies. She saw what had happened back there in the back of the car with the Bulgarian, but it simply defied medical logic that she could remember. No. No, better just focus on the road and take care of that when they'd have some time to breathe.

"Is Highland Drive clearer Maria ? Do you think you can get down that way ?" J.P tried to crane his neck so he could see better and spot a route. His nerves were shot and he could feel he was probably shaking after nearly being pancaked by other vehicles. If they where still able to come at them perhaps there was a way past.

Ahead, Highland Drive is a mess much like West Inn Drive is. The five crazies continue to approach towards the Ford F150.....

In reply to Darkside Trooper (msg # 475):

"No way through. Lets go back before those crazies are on us." J.P looks around for another route and if he is unable to see anything he will point towards the way they came.

- "Well, we could always run them over..."

Maria paused for a moment, registering what she had just said and shaking her head softly.

- "Ugh... Can't believe i just said that."

Taking a deep breath, she looked around for an alternative way out.

- "Right, any exits? As long as we end up in the same place and have the walkies we should be able to find Laney again."

"Whatever we do we should do it fast or we are going to get overrun" James suggests

- "Ehm..."

Maria looked at the scene on Highland Drive, her nature as an ambulance worker conflicting with her gut telling her to get the hell out now. Her gut eventually winning out (or losing, depending on the interpretation) she slammed the F150 in reverse, making a semi-turn so that she could drive ahead into one of the side streets past either Hangover Heaven or the euphemistically named 'Escape Campervans' to where she could circle around the other side onto Western Avenue.

Depending on how busy those streets were, of course. Odds were the ramp to the West Desert Inn was packed as well, so it was possible she'd have to cross the railroad tracks and reach Sammy Davis Jr. Drive to slip past and under West Desert Inn from there.

Maria turns around and drives down the parking access road/parking lot for Hangover Heaven. The five crazies follow behind the Ford F150. There are several abandoned vehicles that maria has to swerve left and right to avoid hitting them. This causes her to drive a relative slow speed. Luckily she was driving just fast enough to keep the crazies from catching up.

OOC: If I am wrong on players potions in the truck let me know.
Maria: Driving
Jonathon: Passenger seat
James: Back of truck (or are you sitting in the middle seat of the truck?)
Juan: Back of truck
Jose (Juan's son): Lying in the bed of the truck unconscious and still needs more medical attention.

When a crazy gets close to the Ford's tailgate, Juan bashes the person's head in with his base ball bat. Nearby next to his unconscious son is the gardening machete the young man was using as a weapon.

As the Ford F150 drives past 'Hangover Heaven' Juan shouts out to Maria. "Hey chica! That place looks like it has medicine."

Just in case your in the back of the truck there is a melee weapon for you to use, instead of using up bullets.

J.P looked to where Juan had pointed. From the look of the place he doubted they would have medicine looked like a tourist gimmick. He had been handed several brochures on the street for similar things and he just put it in the next bin he walked past.

Either way it was up to Maria as to what they do as she was driving. J.P tried to stay reasonably still as they drove, with his left hand on his ribs making no difference at all.

- "Can't risk it. The freeway's packed with those things, way too close. With them chasing people fleeing their cars you'd have a dozen on top of you before you got your boy halfway there. And even if the doors aren't locked it might be a deathtrap in there for all we know -- Hold on!"

After passing she took a hard left, aiming to continue on her intended route.

- "Soon as we're in a quieter area we'll look for something, 'kay?"

In reply to Maria Delores Hernandez (msg # 483):

J.P looked right expecting maria to turn that way, when she did not he pointed and said "If we go right it will put us past the snarled up traffic, we may even be able to go under the motorway." He points to the large highway emerging upwards to their right.

Maria continued to swerve past abandoned vehicles, trying to keep her attention on the road.

- "What? No, Highland was packed just now and it's going to be chaos with people and crazies alike running off the ramp. I'm going to try and circle around over Sammy Davis using the West Desert Inn parking lot, the guardrail over West Desert Drive should keep most of these crazies from jumping off the bridge."

In reply to Maria Delores Hernandez (msg # 485):

"No not Highland just turn right up ahead and circle around these buildings and we should come up against the overpass going over highland if we can't we can just come back using the car parks."

"If you look at the map we are outside hangover heaven any turn right and we can use the car parks to try and slip under the overpass. It is fenced off with a simple chain link fence with a couple of gates.

- "Yeah, the overpass with people running off it chased by crazies, you feel like running them over? Because i sure as hell don't. Going right back there would take us straight past the slope up to the ramp. I'm all for slipping under the overpass, but Highland's too chaotic right now."

OOC: While I like the character interaction, I think you guys have spoken all you can for the 15 second melee.

Once Laney (in another thread) and James post I can move things forward.