Juan, Chris K

The first couple of hours of the scavenging trip are neither particularly eventful nor bountiful. The walkers are light on the streets, with the occasional straggler easily dispatched by scavengers carrying melee weapons. The group passes by a grocery store and a few corner convenience stores, which have been thoroughly picked clean of any food, but contain some possibly useful leftover goods such as lighters, ballcaps and sunglasses, or kitchen goods like paper towels or can openers. One hole-in-the-wall convenience store had a meth pipe and half-full baggie behind the counter. The group also finds a small but decently-stocked convenience store, and while the more advanced tools like blowtorches seem to have been carried off, Thomas is still excited by the supplies and tools left over.

Chuck is attentive and his instructions are clear - so clear, in fact, they tend towards micromanagement. Scarcely five minutes go by, even moving from place to place, that he doesn't tell someone to do something. Everyone gets a turn, as well, with Chuck having given everyone at least one order by the time the first hour is up.

It's past noon when the group spots something clearly out of place - a hand-painted A-frame sign standing in the middle of an intersection, clearly placed there after the dead rose. In a combination of brightly-coloured text, it reads:

Chris made sure he picked up the meth pipe and baggie. He didn't intend to use it, but wouldn't want anyone else to either, though he would probably trade it, if someone wanted it outside this group.

When he saw the sign he held up his hand, and got everyone to wait.

He looked at the sign for quite a while, obviously longer than it took to read, as he pondered his next move.

ooc

Is the school on our route?

Are ballcaps base ball caps? Thats what google suggests.

In terms of findings, is there anything we might have found that could be worth trading?

Juan was doing plenty of chain smashing and hook piecing on the local dead folk. He snags himself a pair of sunglasses, and one for Vivian as well. Then he gathers whatever else he finds and puts it on 'the pile'.

Upon seeing the sign, he rubs his chin. Thinking he may finally get himself a gun...

Ooc-how many survival units did we score from searching?

Juan, Chris K

Checking the map, there appears to be two facilities located more or less straight south of the party's current position: Lonoke High School and the more simply named Lonoke School. They're already marked for exploration, as schools are likely locations to be used as emergency aid stations.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 4):

Jaun keeps searching, hoping to find something good.

OOC:
10:48, Today: Juan rolled 14 using 1d20+6.  Search.

Juan, Chris K

Juan finds little at the intersection; while someone obviously placed this sign after the dead rose, they didn't leave much right here. He did find some things in the previous hours of searching, but somehow feels as if Lady Luck has been stingy with him.

Chris looked at the others, and the meagre results of their scavenging so far, and scratched his head.

He motions Chuck over and says "The Schools are on our route, but obviously we'll not get anything from them now. Might be worth checking out what this trading post is like. Might be able to get some information, if nothing else, so we'll carry on the route, ok?"

Once Chuck was back with his group, Chris motioned everyone to move off

ooc


08:17, Today: Chris K rolled 14 using 2d10+5.  searching. I thought rolls were 2d10 not 1d20?

In reply to Chris K (msg # 7):


Ooc:

08:26, Today: Juan rolled 15 using 2d10+6.  Rolling search correctly. Heh.

When should I spend the points? I assume it would cost less points to get a gun in a area where it would be more natural to find one? What sort of gear could be gotten at 'discount' in this area.

Juan, Chris K

Before reaching Lonoke School, the group hits a few more points marked on the map - two churches and a police station. The police department is a surprisingly small and unsurprisingly empty building squeezed into onto a street corner. All of the weapons, cars, and equipment were probably taken long ago, either by the police themselves or others raiding the building. Every desk drawer, file cabinet, and other container hangs open, as the location was clearly searched repeatedly and exhaustively by others in the preceding weeks. The two churches both look like they were once emergency aid stations, now abandoned; one looks like someone deliberately packed up everything useful and left in an orderly fashion, but the other is a scene of chaos, either torn apart by the ravenous dead or opportunistic living. Both have been carefully picked over for supplies.

Perhaps the most telling sign that these locations were exhausted long ago is the paucity of undead they find at the sites. Generally, choice locations tend to retain at least a modest collection of walkers simply because a lot of people tend to gather and die at them, but the group only finds occasional - and easily dispatched - shambling figures. Thomas and Chuck are both on the ball, pointing out walkers almost immediately, and the melee-wielding members of the group manage to take them out without any shots fired.

Juan and Chris K can both hear pessimistic mutters from their groups after the last bust, but Chuck immediately clamps down on any dissent in his line.

"We're wasting our time with this day-one shit," Leslie gripes after the second church. "All the good stuff's in someone's house by now. We should look for some please surrounded by biter corpses."

"Yeah, right," Clyde answers her. "You know what look a lot like biter corpses? Scavenger corpses."

However, when the group finally reaches Lonoke School, everyone can tell things are different. From a distance, they can see several cars, trucks, and even farm equipment parked in the parking lot and surrounding streets. When they get closer, they see that the windows have crudely but effectively reinforced with bars and grates to prevent anyone from getting in or out without using the doors. However, they don't see any people.

A hand-painted banner hangs above the entrance. It looks like the sort of thing the school would use to announce a bake sale, but instead reads:

Chris used the scope on his M4 to check out the area of the school, to see if he can spot any signs of life, and also look around for any biters.

he hears the rumblings of discontent, but ignores them. People had a chance to input to the plan, they should have done it then. Though he realises they probably have a point.

He motions Chuck and the rest of the other Group over

"Anyone want to go in and do some shopping? I think it might be worth checking this out, but if the everyone else wants to move on we can do that."

ooc
Am asusming the M4 has some sort of scope on it - correct me if thats wrong

In reply to Chris K (msg # 10):

"I do! I'm sick of being the only person here without a gun." Juan volunteered. Granted the chain was far better and quieter when dealing with the muertos,  but he was looking for something with more range. Or if he had to deal with people. He nodded to Vivian, knowing she wanted some supplies as well.

OOC: In this sort of place, I figure a hunting rifle would not be too out of place. One with a decent scope even. Or a crossbow! Gotta love the classics!  Oooh, much better idea! High powered hunting sling shot/wrist rocket! With my high strength, it could do serious damage-and it would be really silent! I would not have to worry about ammo! skip that, just saw the rules for slingshots. Lets go back to silenced hunting rifle or crossbow. Maybe a pair of knives balanced for throwing, survival rations for hunters on a long term animal hunt, roll up waterproof sleeping bag, duct tape! Lots and lots of duct tape! And a duffel bag I could sling over my shoulder. First aid kit and flashlight with a weapon clamp.

Ok, I have further sorted it.

1-balanced throwing knives
2-First aid kit
3-Duffle bag.
4-Waterproof sleeping bag.
5-Survival rations.

This message was last edited by the player at 22:36, Thu 25 Oct 2018.

Juan, Chris K

"Not a chance we're passing this up," Chuck says with a hand motion, as if physically waving the concept away. "Whatever we want, we'll find it in there. Heck, it's probably the reason we've found nothing good so far! We're going in."

"I don't have a gun," Leslie tells Juan, raising her voice to be heard in the other line.

"I left mine with my wife," Thomas adds, hefting the ball-peen hammer. "I can't shoot straight anyway."

Though they don't speak up, Juan sees a couple other scavengers with no guns: Gloria, standing just behind Vivian, and the crowbar-wielding woman at the end of Chris K's line.

The blond man, at the back of Chuck's line, looks at the collected vehicles and then back at the school's entrance. Frowning, he pats a hand down on the shoulder of the boy at his side. "Stick close to me, Seb."

"I know," the boy says, annoyed.

Juan, Chris K

"Lotta folk lookin' like they drove here today," the blond man says, gesturing towards the vehicles. "So why don't we see anyone?"

"That's a good point." Juan said. He got his chain ready, and started to move towards the vechiles in question. He might be able to notice if there where any tracks leading somewhere...

Chris Stood up quickly, as Juan moved off, as if about to say something to him, but then thought better of it.

He looked at Blondie and said "Good point. Could be a trap. Or just full of biters instead of shoppers. I think we should treat this like the scavenging. Some of us go in to check it out, some of us stay out here on watch. Chuck, you guys take watch. Make sure one of you is covering that guy " he gestures towards Juan

He motions to his group "I think we should check out the vehicles as well before we go in, ok? Same order as before. Thomas - your up."

Chris waited for Thomas to move forward towards the vehicles, then followed him, his weapon readied. As well as scoping this time, he was listening for any noise.

ooc

08:15, Today: Chris K rolled 25 using 2d10+5.  Scoping and listening.


This message was last edited by the player at 08:16, Mon 29 Oct 2018.

Juan, Chris K

"Hold it!" Chuck stops Juan as soon as he starts towards the vehicles. "We move when I say we move."

He glances over at Chris K before turning to the line as a whole. "No one go wandering off. That's how we get separated, lost, and dead. We keep this tight and we all get home alive, right?"

"Mm-hmm," Vivian answers non-noncommittally, while Gloria looks away and mutters something indistinct. The blond man in man just looks unimpressed.


"Right," Chuck nods, then turns back to his group. "Let's run the perimeter, see if there's anyone around back while they check that out. Juan, you want to take point?"

Thomas leads the group towards the vehicles, ball-peen hammer at the ready. Instead of keeping an eye on anything in the distance, he focuses on the visual cover closest to him, as if he expects something to pop out and rush him.

As a group, the vehicles look varied and disparate. If this is a trap, they devoted an awful lot of resources to simply having empty vehicles here. There doesn't seem to be anyone inside. There's not much obvious here; it would take an in-depth search to learn more.

Chris stopped Thomas and calls back to Chuck "Check out the vehicles thoroughly too, ok?" he waits for a thumbs up or acknowledgement and turns back to the Thomas "Ok Thomas, we'll head for the main entrance."

He glances over his shoulder at the others in his group and gives the thumbs up before he pats Thomas on the shoulder, "Ok move out"

Juan looked back at the man after he was told to stop. He shrugged and did as instructed. He kept his chain handy however, just in case. More importantly he kept Vivian in his field of view.

Juan

"You got it," Chuck nods at Chris K. He looks back at his line and motions towards the vehicles. "Let's go!"

As they near the vehicles, Chuck speaks up again. "Don't open anything yet - just peek in the windows. Don't move on 'til you're sure it's clear! And check underneath, too, so you don't get your ankles bit!"

He starts pointing to individual people, and then to sections of the parking lot. "You, you, and you - " he says, pointing out Juan, Vivian, and Gloria, " - check these here. You, you, and you..."

Juan, Vivian, and Gloria are directed to a corner of the lot crowded with over a dozen cars. The market must be popular - the vehicles are really crowded together, some double-parked, and even here they range from cars to vans to trucks to farm equipment. Some of them have clearly been modified for dealing with walker hordes, either with tougher tires, reinforced bumpers, or just having been jacked up several inches.

Gloria peeks over her shoulder, then speaks quietly to Juan and Vivian. "So what do you think of our fearless leader?"

"Sure keeping us idiots on a short leash," Vivian mutters.


Chris K

"Aye-aye, Cap'n," Thomas grins, then leads the group to the school's front entrance. No one hails them as they get close, and Thomas walks right up to the front doors without any response. He pauses at the entrance, checking to make sure the others are behind him, before he tries the handle. The door is unlocked.

The entrance is mostly glass, making it easy to tell that the section immediately past the doors is empty. Thomas steps inside; his hammer hangs at his side, but the way his fingers twiddle nervously at it makes it clear he's ready to bring it up at a moment's notice. Nonetheless, nothing happens as he steps into the school.

A sizable lobby gives way to multiple locker-lined hallways. Near the ceiling hangs the school's name and motto, but the bulletin boards in reach of the floor are covered with hand-written signs and ads, usually on A4 printer paper. Signs are papered over the hallways as well, though they're not readable from the entrance. Off to one side is the entrance to the principal's office.

Aside from Chris K's group, there is no one to be seen and nothing to be heard.

Chris looks around and mutters "I really don't like this"

He tries to make out if any of the corridors look clearer than any other - less dust, or rubbish about, which suggests its been used more.

He motions Mason up and says to him "You stay here with Fran, Leslie and Lauren. Me, Clyde and Thomas will check the principals office is clear.  Might be a map of the school in there before we move off. Ok?"

Assuming Mason is ok with that, Chris will move up with Thomas and Clyde. At the door he says

"Ok. Thomas you open it from one side, Clyde you be ready with your bat the other, I'll stand just back from the door but most visible, so anything coming out will see me. Ok, when I say Thomas, open the door." Chris slings his M4 and takes out his nightstick. He moves forward and listens at the door.

ooc
15:03, Today: Chris K rolled 13 using 2d10+5.  Checking corridors.

15:02, Today: Chris K rolled 18 using 2d10+5.  listening.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 19):

Jaun stashed away his new gear, most of it in his new duffle bag. The five throwing knives he kept in a inner pocket of his leather jacket for quick use. Before he went over to scout, he even did a few practice throws-and was deadly as even. More importantly, they where very quiet.

OOC:
11:12, Today: Juan rolled 17 using 2d10+7.  Practice knife throwing.


He gets the blade back from the nearby tree he test-threw at. Nodding, he then did as instructed and rejoined Gloria and Vivian.

"Well, he takes this seriously. That means he gives a shit at least." He shrugged in response to Gloria's question. He does look at a few of the cars and wondered if any of the car alarms still worked. "Stay clear of this stuff, it could be rigged." He gestured at the vehicles.

Juan

"Rigged?" Vivian looks up at Juan with a raised eyebrow. "Like, to explode?"

Gloria looks up, surveying the cars as a whole, then gives a shrug. "Eh. Lots of sickos out there. It could happen."

Vivian looks dubious nonetheless, but refrains from putting her hands on any cars, as does Gloria. This reduces all examination to peeking through the windows, and even a thorough check does not take more than a minute. Before long, the three are on the last cars, when Vivian suddenly rears back from hers, a station wagon with heavy scratches in the paint on each side.

"Shit!" Vivian exclaims, her lip curling in distaste. "That's just..."

With another sneer of disgust, she turns away from the car, fuming. Gloria saddles up to the window and looks inside with a frown. Inside is the corpse of an emaciated dog in the back seat, ribs straining against its flank. The windows are cracked open an inch, so it didn't suffocate or overheat; all evidence suggested it starved to death.

Chris K

If anything, the corridors are unnaturally clean, as if someone is still sweeping the floors. it's difficult to tell how recently they were used, but none look any more or less traveled than the other.


"You're the boss," Mason says nonchalantly.

Leslie is a bit more disgruntled. "All the girls stay back where it's safe, huh?" she mutters to Fran and Lauren. "I came here to be get away from that crap." Fran looks over at Lauren with a she's right, you know look - which is so overt that it might be tongue-in-cheek - but Lauren ignores both of the others, her eyes watching the hallways.

Thomas and Clyde take up position on both sides of the door, while Chris K listens. After a few moments of silence, he picks out the quiet sound of movement - something fast, but low, almost certainly not human or walker. His best guess from sound alone would be a rat or squirrel, or possibly a cat or small dog. He definitely doesn't hear any people inside.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 22):

Juan moves over to Vivian and lightly touches her shoulder to make sure she is ok. Upon seeing what she was looking at, he shakes his head sadly. "Belive it or not, this is actually a good sign." He says. "Those things would stick close to any source of meat. Even one they could not reach. That means this place was clear of them of quite some time."

Stepping back, Chris lifts his night stick and nods at Thomas

Juan

"You sure about that?" Gloria asks in her Missourian accent. "I don't think they eat anything they didn't kill themselves. I seen them walk right past the fresh body of a guy with his brains blown out."

"No..." Vivian mutters, turning back to the car, her teeth tightly grit. "Not after it was dead. Look at it. It must have been trapped and alive for days, just...abandoned, dying slowly of thirst and hunger. He means nothing came by for all of that time, or they'd have gone through the window and eaten it. But they didn't."

She crosses her arms with a scowl. "That would've been too quick and easy."

After a moment, she looks up at Juan out of the corner of her eye. After a few seconds, she asks in a strange tone of voice, "What do you think is a worse way to die, Juan? A quick, violent murder? Or a few extra hours or days of suffering?"

Chris K

Thomas nods back, then turns the knob and mule kicks the door open hard enough for it to swing around and whack against the wall. Thomas slides around the doorframe, hammer at the ready, and cries, "Fresh meat! Come and get it!"

Clyde is in a moment after him, weapon at the ready, but with no one-liner. Nothing jumps out at either of the men, but frenzied scratching at one corner of the room moves to another corner, with Chris K glimpsing a couple of rats before they disappear into a hole in the wall.

It's difficult to tell how much of the principal's office remains of its original design, and how much was rearranged by the school's new owners. A pile of useless computer towers, monitors, and keyboards has been pushed into one corner, while all the desks are covered with pens, pencils, and papers. A look at the papers suggests that most are ledgers or inventory lists correlating to room numbers. They seem to be clearly dated, with the latest ones dating to approximately three weeks ago, assuming Chris K hasn't drastically miscounted the number of days since the dead rose.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 25):

"I dont know anymore." Juan shrugged. "Yeah, back in the day the quick death sounds better...but if it ment turning into one of those things? And you dont know how much of the person is left inside that rotting skull? I might do the slow painful way if it meant I did not have to come back as a murtoe."

Chris took a sharp in take of breath when the guys moved in. Not what he meant to happen. He'd have to explain better. It had been a while since he'd had a team, he'd forgotton how people interpreted plans differently.

Looking at the paper work he tried to make out, which rooms, if any, were still occupied at the last date, and if there were any storage rooms noted down. He also quickly scanned the office walls to see if he could find a map of the school.

"This stuff could be useful" he said to the other two. "Thomas - can you look for a map in the desks?Or anything else might be useful? And Clyde - let Mason know its all clear here please, and then keep watch on the door."

ooc
Trying to decipher room contents.
09:58, Today: Chris K rolled 12 using 2d10. + 1/2 Int? so +2? = 14 total

Juan

Vivian frowns silently for a moment, so deep in thought that she almost leans on the car before she catches herself. After a moment, she shakes her head.

"No, there...can't be anything left of someone in there. Brain damage starts after three minutes without air. You're already losing personality. And they don't rise for...an hour at least. Right?"

Vivian looks back at Gloria, who shrugs. "I've seen them get up real quick. Fastest was...five minutes, maybe? And their arms and legs still work, so maybe their brains don't go like they did before."

"That..." Vivian crosses her arms and grits her teeth. "That doesn't matter anyway. There's no way the slow, painful way will stop you from coming back. There's only one way to stop it, and that's pretty quick. You know?"

She looks up at Juan grimly, then pauses. "Wait. Do you know? That everyone comes back?"

Chris K

"Aye-aye," Thomas calls, striding among the desks. He runs his fingers along the length of each one as he passes, eyes scanning over the documents.

Clyde looks at the door, then back at Chris K, then back at the door. "Sure," he says, then moves to the doorway and says "All clear," to someone outside. With that done, he leans against the doorframe and crosses his arms.

"No, he wants me here," he says to someone Chris K can't see, but is presumably the same person he was talking to before. "Guess he doesn't trust you guys to hold the line."

Chris K looks through some of the documents, getting an idea of what passed through here. Whoever was running this operation kept meticulous records. He barely has time to check a few before Thomas is striding up to him, paper in hand.

"Found a map!" he says eagerly, then lays it out on the desk in front of Chris K without asking. "It's even got who was doing what where."

The map appears to show the floorplan of the school. Many of the rooms are marked with names and a bulleted list of what's being sold. Classrooms look like they were given out to individual sellers of large or specialized products, such as bricks, lumber, or farming equipment - apparently, the people of Lonoke faced the apocalypse with unusual industriousness. The teacher's lounge is simply marked RED LIGHT, with no further explanation. The library and gymnasium, however, appear to have both been converted into bazaars, with multiple sellers of hot sellers like food, medicine, and firearms.

Chris looked at Clyde, when he spoke and thought "Dick", but said nothing.

When Thomas came up he looked at the map and his face lit up "Excellent Thomas, thats the jackpot we need." and clapped him on the back.

He located the Principals office on the map, and then worked out a route to the nearest location likely to have food and water.

He looked up at Clyde and said "Clyde can you step outside and call all the guys over, please. We'll have a huddle outside the door"

Once he had finished checking the map Chris stepped outside to join the others.

He spread the map on the ground in front of them, and asked them all to gather round.

"Thomas hit the jackpot, here. That map" he pointed at it "shows the layout of the school and who was selling what where. For now we'll just head to the nearest location"He knelt down and pointed at the map "Where theres likely to be food and water. And weapons. We can come back for other gear later."

He picked up the map and stood up, and looked at them all "Everyone ok? We'll move out as before, same order, but keep a bit closer. Thomas - make sure you check all corners, and doorways. If theres any rotters in side rooms we'll ignore them, unless they're a threat. Our goal is to get some supplies, enough for a couple of days and then head back."

He clicked his teeth "dammit. I forgot to see how many people we need stuff for. Any of you guys have an idea of how many people came with you? My guess is maybe 30?"

In reply to Snicker (msg # 28):

"They gotta bite you, right?" Juan replied. He paused. "It happened to some of my gang. One guy got bit, he got a fever, and then he died...and turned into one of those things."

He looked at Vivian, what she was saying hitting him suddenly. "Are you saying everybody comes back!? No matter what!?" He looked like he did not belive her...or did not want to.

Ooc-is Chris K interacting with my group now?
This message was last edited by the player at 11:08, Thu 08 Nov 2018.

ooc
Nope - meant the rest of his group outside the office, but in the school

Juan

Vivian frowns sympathetically, then glances at Gloria, who shrugs.

"No, the bite just kills you," Vivian says with a sigh. "But you come back anyway. Everyone who dies, for any reason - everyone I've seen, anyway - comes back. No matter what."

"Unless you take out the head!" Gloria adds, tapping the side of her skull for emphasis.

"Right," Vivian says. "So if you don't want to come back, better get someone to shoot you in the head after you're gone. Or, you could always put the gun in your own mouth, but..." She gives a very mirthless smile. "...kind of a waste of your last moments, huh?"

Gloria looks at Vivian. "Hey, you think people who died before this came back too? Like there's been people in graveyards thumping on the insides of their coffin for a couple of months?"

Vivian grimaces. "I really hope there's nothing left of you when you come back."

Chris K

Clyde looks back out the door and makes a hand motion. "Whoop! Break camp, everyone. Move in."

A careful inspection of the map with the rest of the group suggests that, while there is a little crossover between individual suppliers, most of the food and water dealers were placed in the library and most of the weapon dealers were placed in the gymnasium, and they're located in different wings of the school. The school's layout is uncomplicated, with pretty much one path from one end to the other and the principal's office in the middle, so if they want to load up at the first location they go to, it'll probably be food and water or weapons, not both.

No one seems to disagree when Chris K draws a path to the library. They have plenty of weapons to go around, but no one arrived with any food.


The group glances at each other, some members making vaguely affirmative noises but no one committing to a number. Lauren and Fran simply watch the others expectantly.

"We don't know how many are going to stay," Mason says after a few seconds. "The military personnel, in particular. But we can approximate thirty."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 32):

Juan raises an eyebrow. "Well, this conversation is getting a little too...cheery for me." He shook his head. "And if it gets anymore like this I am gonna need beer. Which I have not had in months."

He wanted to ask about Vee's big secret she seemed to think made her the most horrible person in the world. However Gloria was right there, which meant she would not speak about it. "How about we check some of the other buildings? Might be soemthing worthwhile in there..."

Juan

Vivian looks up at the nearest buildings. "Could be. They might've used this place to store - "

"Y'all done here?" Chuck strolls up, most of the team at his back. Behind then, Juan can see a few car doors hanging open; either they were lucky enough to avoid any car alarms, or someone in the group knew how to avoid or disable them before they started opening up the vehicles.

Chuck along Juan's section of cars and doesn't wait for an answer. "We're going to check out the rest of the perimeter. It'll be good to have you in front again, Juan. Everyone get back in position."

Chris nodded at Mason. "Ok so we'l assume thirty and get more than that if we can."

"So moving in here we'll do things slightly different, and stagger our selves on each side of the corridor, that way we should be ok from both sides."

He gets everyone to form up and then gives Thomas the nod to move off

In reply to Snicker (msg # 34):

Juan nodded. "Gotcha hefe." Of course, Juan wanted Vivan behind the 'front lines' of his postion. He could rationalize it by saying she was better with guns than hand to hand, but the truth was it was less risky for her.

He also did not want to infantilize her, which might insult her. However, Chuck could take the blame for that.

"You watch my back, ok? Let me go ahead, like the bossman says..." he said to Vee.

Juan

"That's the plan," Vivian says, eyeing Chuck carefully. If Chuck picks up on anything from either of them, he gives no indication of it, falling into place behind Juan.

The vehicles thin out as they get away from the parking lot, though they still see a few parked on the side of the road or brazenly on the school's unkempt lawn. There's not much to see on the school itself; the makeshift reinforcements make it hard to see through the windows, and there's no one and nothing visible outside. A lone soccer ball lies in the overgrown grass fields, possibly unmoved for weeks.

Walking the perimeter of the school property, Juan turns a corner and sees figures. About 150 feet down the street, he sees an overturned truck. It looks like it was driving, took a turn too fast and crashed. Milling around the truck are a half dozen standing figures. From the distance, it's impossible to be sure, but their languid body language seems to suggest they're walkers.

Chris K

As instructed, Chris K's team splits further into two lines, with one on each side of the hall. Classrooms are located on both sides of the hall, and a peek inside each shows desks pushed to the side of the room to make room for goods such as lumber or machine parts. Most doors have handwritten signs with a name and a list of goods, or at least a one-word description of that room's specialty.

Occasionally, items have been left out in the hallway itself, usually on an abandoned dolly or the like. Most are easy to identify - engines, tires, and so on - but some are more specialized or mysterious, such as unlabeled metal gas cylinders up against the wall. They are so unassuming that the group ignores the first one, just outside the entrance lobby, but when they pass a second in a hall corner, Thomas taps on it curiously with his hammer. It rings hollow, and he can do nothing but look over at Chris K and shrug.

Finally, the group reaches the library. Thomas pauses at the entrance, waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. The door is already open. Inside, Chris K can see tables laden with various supplies and bookshelves still stocked with children's reading material, plus useless computer equipment pushed into a far corner. At first glance, he doesn't see any walkers, but there's a lot of visual cover in there.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 37):

He hissed at the others to get thier attention. He steps back around the corner, so he can look at the walkers without exposing most of his body. "About six, around the truck. We could handle them nice and quiet, but we need to make sure there is not a bigger group about 1st."

Chris looks at the doors to see if they open in or out, or both ways. He motions in Thomas and Clyde, and Mason

Keeping his voice low he says"Ok. Same as before, one of you on each side," he points at Thomas and Clyde "I'll make some noise to attract out any walkers in there. As they come through the doors they're yours. Melee only. Watch out for each other - as in don't hit each other. Also watch me - I'll let you know how many are coming. ok?"

He turns to Mason

"Mason,  I want your guys to act as back up to Clyde and Thomas, if they need help - help them - though I will too obviously. But your team also needs to watch our backs in case the noise attracts walkers from outside the hall. How you divide them up is up to you. Hand to hand weapons by preference." Looking at all three he says "That seem ok to you?"

Juan

Chuck narrows his eyes, then peeks around the corner. "We can take out six quiet enough. Just hard to sneak up on the middle of the street without 'em seeing us."

He turns back, evaluates the group for a moment, and then points to the back half. "Y'all circle around and make sure there ain't a bigger group just around the corner. If it's safe, get on the other side of 'em and get their attention. We'll come up from behind and take 'em out." Turning, he indicates Juan, Vivian, and Gloria with his finger. "You three are with me."

The others move to and behind the buildings on the other side of the street and pass out of sight. For the next several minutes, Juan sees and hears nothing from them, but notices Chuck getting more and more agitated, waiting impatiently for some sort of signal. Finally, Juan sees one of the men step out from behind a building at the other end of the street, waving his arms. The distance is far enough that it takes several seconds for one of the walkers to notice, but once it starts moving, the others catch on quickly, turning to shuffle towards the figure.

"Now," Chuck whispers, turning the corner and quietly skulking towards the walkers.

Chris K

"On my way," says Thomas quietly. He and Clyde takes up positions on either side of the library entrance: a single door of standard width, obviously designed to accommodate people entering and exiting single-file. It opens outward, and is propped open with a hinged piece of metal similar to a kickstand screwed to the bottom of the door.

Mason surveys the door for a moment before answering Chris K. "I think more than three people on that door would get in each other's way. I want...you..." he says, pointing at Fran.

"Fran," Lauren says.

"Fran, stay there and help them. The rest of us will watch the hallway. Just fall back and call for us if you get overwhelmed. We're a lot faster than they are."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 40):

Juan nodded to Chuck, and proceeded to move in step with the other man. Despite Juan's size, he was very agile and moved with the grace of a big cat.

As a result he was utterly silent as he moved towards the small group of the dead. He did not have to get too close, as his throwing knives have him even more reach than decent length of the chain.

ooc-16:05, Today: Juan rolled 27 using 2d10+7.  Stealth. possible crit.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:10, Sat 17 Nov 2018.

Chris waited for everyone to get into position. As he waited, he slung his M4 behind him and got out his nightstick and bowie knife. When he thought everyone was ready, he glanced round, catching sight of CLyde, Thomas, Fran and Mason, and nodding at each in turn.

Once he was sure they were ready, he started tapping the knife against the night stick. Quietly at first

tap tap tap tap

then a pause and a listen

then tap tap tap tap tap, again a pause and a listen

He carried on at the same volume 4 times, and if nothing was heard, started again tapping a little louder, for four times. He kept this cycle up until he thought he could hear something. He kept looking at the others as well, in case they heard something

ooc
not sure how many listen rolls I need to do. Heres a bunch.

10:58, Today: Chris K rolled 8 using 2d10.  Listen1 . Forgot bonus this should be 13

10:59, Today: Chris K rolled 16 using 2d10+5.  Listen 2.

10:59, Today: Chris K rolled 10 using 2d10+5.  listen 3.

10:59, Today: Chris K rolled 15 using 2d10+5.  listen 4.

Juan

Juan's uncanny stealth makes him all the more aware of the noise the others are making. Gloria, Vivian, and Chuck, though careful, still produce the occasional scuff or kicked errant piece of gravel as they approach the truck. Fortunately, none of these walkers seem particularly attentive, and Juan gets within throwing range without being noticed.

Gloria and Chuck must get closer with their melee weapons, as they have no way to silently kill an enemy at range, while Vivian hangs close to Juan, her pistol held at low ready. She glances over at him just as the furthest walker, shuffling towards the far-off distraction, finally starts to groan. The others quickly follow suit, the sound growing in volume.

Chris K

The others match Chris K's gaze, with Thomas, Fran, and Mason returning his nod. Once Chris K starts tapping his weapons together, they are primed for action. The first taps are so quiet, it's hard to tell if they even reach the back of the library, and they garner no response. The second, louder, set get no response either.

This goes on for several more rounds. Clyde is the first to get bored, leaning against the wall with his chin on his hand and his elbow on a crouched knee. Fran and Thomas get bored about the same time, the former resting her crowbar on the ground and the later getting restless and fidgety. Mason takes on a relaxed watchfulness, like a hunter in a canopy. By this time, it's clear that if there's anything in the library, it can definitely hear Chris K and has given no response. It'll be difficult for him to get any louder without switching up his noisemaking technique, and if he does so, it won't be a question of whether he's audible in the library but whether he's audible throughout the entire school.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 43):

Juan picks the closest dead thing to Vivan and him, throwing a dagger with a fair degree of silence and a great deal of accuracy. The weapon lodged into the back of the creatures skull, causing it to collapse like a puppet with cut strings.

Ooc: 01:35, Today: Juan rolled 17 using 2d10+7.  Throw dagger. Nice and quiet...

After a while even Chris gets bored.

He turns to Mason and says "Seems clear to me. You guys keep station around the door please"

Turning to the others he says "Ok, lets go in and check it out. Fran youre with us, please, behind Clyde. Watch out for anything under the tables. Remember, what we're after is food and water, so lets concentrate on that."

Sheathing his knife, Chris moves up behind Thomas and follows him in.

Juan

Juan's dagger flies true, sinking into the back of the rear walker's head. It drops without a sound, but doesn't land the same way, audibly thudding on the road. The other walkers don't seem to notice, possibly due to their moaning. Gloria, sneaking up behind another, grabs its shoulder and then sinks her combat knife into the side of its head. She guides it down, giving it a gentler landing than Juan's kill. Chuck secures a kill as well, but not quite as gracefully; his hatchet lands in the walker's skull, but doesn't kill it immediately, and it thuds against the side of the truck as it falls down before he finishes it off with his boot.

The remaining three walkers finally notice the commotion and turn around to face the group, still moaning. Gloria and Chuck ready their weapons and take a cautious step back as the walkers approach, while Vivian raises her pistol and gives Juan an aside glance.

Chris K

Thomas goes ahead as soon as Chris K is finished talking, entering before Chris K can even move up. Fran gives Chris K a salute sloppy enough to earn an ass-reaming from any self-respecting drill sergeant, then waits for him, then Clyde to enter the library ahead of her. There is plenty of visual cover in the library, but everyone is careful and, as per Chris K's instructions, is careful to check under tables. Nothing gives any indication of an incoming attack.

Once inside, Chris K smells the familiar scent of rotting meat, though much fainter than would indicate an entire corpse in the room. As he gets closer to the tables, he sees why: scattered among the goods being sold is - or was - fresh food, mostly game like rabbits or venison but a few fruits and root vegetables as well. It's all spoiled by now, but the air is dry enough in the library that the decomposition process is going slowly and the smell is manageable.

The majority of tables, however, hold preserved food - mostly canned goods, but also preserves, jerky, and even one table full of MREs. There's also tables selling bottled water, sodas, and alcoholic drinks. The ratio is tilted in favour of food over water, but there's still enough here that even the entire group, including Chuck's team, probably can't carry it back in one trip. Without an in-depth audit, it's hard to tell how long it'll last, but at least it should keep Malcolm's community going for the next several days.

There's also other goods, if Chris K is interested, such as salt, spices, and other things that stretch the definition of "food" but are being sold in the library anyway. Of course, there's all the children's books and computers that one could ever want, and a few sundry things that the sellers themselves must have been using - some weapons, trading supplies, and so on. There's even another metal gas cylinder on the far end of the room.

Other than the people Chris K came here with, there is no one in the room, alive or dead. Fran pokes through some canned food, while Clyde inspects the drinks. Thomas, energetic and curious, does a round of all the tables and then starts rummaging through the sellers' abandoned personal effects, apparently looking for a surprise.

Chris looks around and once happy its clear, tells the guys

"Ok - lets start loading up with as much food and water as we can now. MREs and things like that first. But keep your eyes and ears open for any trouble."

He heads back to the door and calls the rest of Mason's team over "All clear in here, theres plenty of food and drink so lets load up with that, and check for any weapon or ammo. Mason, can you tell one of your guys to round up those outside, and get them to come in and load up please"

Chris head back in and loads up with MRE and snack foods, and water - about 2/3 liquid the rest food.

Once thats done he'll head over and check out the gas cylinder, keeping an eye ot for any guns which might have ammo compatible with his M4.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 46):

Seeing the others turn about and head for them, Jaun lets the chain lead itself out with one hand. Then he throws another dagger at any of them heading for Viv, just in case. It goes right into ones forehead, dropping it like the other one.

(OOC:
04:10, Today: Juan rolled 19 using 2d10+7.  Thrown dagger.

Juan

With Gloria and Chuck in striking range, none of the walkers have any interest in Vivian, nor would they have much chance of reaching her from their position. Nonetheless, it's only a second before Gloria catches an opportune second to grab the closest walker to her and push it against a truck, plunging the knife into its skull, and Chuck performs a much cleaner kill on the one nearest him, so Juan has an obvious target. When his knife penetrates its skull, the groaning stops, leaving the group in silence.

Gloria bends over, catching her breath, and wipes off her blade on a corpse's shirt. Chuck puts his hands on his hips and nods.

"Where'd you learn to throw knives like that?" Vivian asks, thumbing the safety on her pistol and tucking it into her jacket pocket.

"Good work, good work," Chuck says. He waves his hand above his head, motioning in the direction of the group that split off, then rubs his palms together. "Y'all did good. Glad to see you can follow instructions. And we did it clean. You hear that? Silence."

Chuck goes quiet, as do Gloria and Vivian. For a second, the air is completely silent. Then, Juan hears a faint crash and ringing from the school.

Chris K

Mason looks over at Lauren and Leslie in a calculating manner, then looks back at Chris K. "It's dangerous to go alone and I don't know them well. I'll go."

Mason heads for the exit while Lauren and Leslie enter the room. Inside, there's plenty of food and water to go around, so Chris K has no trouble filling his back. Weapons are a bit more varied, with surprisingly few rifles; presumably, the people here were armed to defend themselves from living thieves rather than the walking dead, and had carried handguns for a speedy draw or shotguns to avoid overpenetration.

By the time Chris K is walking towards the canister, Thomas and Fran are already investigating, while the others are still gathering food and water.

"See this?" Thomas asks Fran, pointing to the scraps of something on the gas canister's surface. "Think that was the label. Someone must have scraped it off with a knife or something. Why'd they do that?"

Fran shrugs, watching Thomas work, and the electrician continues unabated. He looks up at the top of the canister, where the nozzle has been affixed with some sort of device. "And what the hell is this, anyway? Whatever it is, it's amateur work. Looks ready to pop right off."

Reaching out, he grabs at the device, squinting. "What the - is this a timer? It looks jammed, but - "

Without warning, the device comes off the canister in Thomas's hand, and the canister immediately starts jetting pressurized gas. Thomas and Fran immediately recoil, covering their faces, with Thomas screaming at the top of his lungs. A second later, Chris K - about fifteen feet from the canister, feels an intense burning sensation hit his eyes and throat.

Fran stumbles back blindly, eventually crashing into a table, sending both it, its contents, and herself to the ground. Thomas hits one of the cheap school bookshelves. It wobbles, and in an attempt to escape the gas he pushes against it, sending it crashing against the next one, then the next one, and so on, toppling them like dominoes until the last one hits the window and smashes the glass. At the same time, the device in his hand starts screeching extremely loudly, sounding like a car or fire alarm.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:33, Sat 24 Nov 2018.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 49):

"Had a lot of time as a kid throwing rocks between not going to school and avoiding cops. Then when I finally went to school I was the pitcher on the baseball team." He said as he proceeded to grab the knives from his target's remains. He was about to go into detail when the ringing started.

He quickly headed to the school to see what was happening. There was no way the mindles creatures in the building where organized enough to activate the alarm on purpose...

Chris covers his mouth and yells "Everyone out - Now!" already moving towards the exit as fast as he can.

He shuts his right eye so only has one eye, but as soon as he gets outside the hall, he get some water from his pack and starts rinsing out both eyes.

He starts shouting "Fran! Thomas! Move towards my voice" and repeats it as much as he can, assuming his throat doesn't give out, though he stays clear of the door way as much as he can, hoping the others get out too

Juan

"Hold it!" Chuck orders when Juan starts moving. "We're down half our team. We don't go 'til I say we go."

He turns and waves his hand over his head, trying to signal the men that had circled around to the far end of the road. They're coming, but it'll take a minute. Meanwhile, the ringing from the school continues. It sounds like a fire alarm, which could theoretically still be running off battery power if the school invested in its safety systems. While a fire would be bad news if Chris K's team is still inside the building, the fact that Juan can hear it from this distance implies it could easily signal walkers in the area.

Gloria and Vivian glance at each other. Vivian starts moving towards the school first, followed by Gloria.

"What did I just say?" protests Chuck. "Just wait one goddamned minute!"

Chris K

Chris K's eyes continue to burn after he leaves the room, but flushing his eyes with water reduces it to a tolerable stinging sensation, slightly more severe in his left eye than his right. The ringing is so loud that Chris K can barely hear his own order to get out, and he can't be sure anyone else did. Nonetheless, some of them get the message.

Clyde blurts something that Chris K can't hear, but is obviously "Shit!" before vaulting over a table to flee the room. Leslie is slower, frozen staring at the jetting canister, before she turns her head away in pain as the gas reaches her. This jolts her back to consciousness and she turns for the door as well, covering her face. Both are closer to the exit and get out before Chris K.

Lauren shouts something in Fran's direction, then takes a deep breath and moves towards the other woman. Fran and Thomas get to their feet, but clearly can't see their surroundings, both flailing their arms in front of them in an attempt to get their bearings. Thomas has dropped the device, but it's still incredibly loud even from the library's entrance, and he and Fran definitely can't hear Chris K at their respective ranges.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:33, Wed 28 Nov 2018.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 52):

Juan moved with Vivian, despite his orders. If it came down to choosing between her and almost anyone else, he would always pick her. The idea she might get hurt, or worse, was something that could not be allowed. Besides, somebody had to shut off that damn sound, it would be a dinner bell to anything that might hear it.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Tue 27 Nov 2018.

Chris hands water to Clyde and Leslie "Rinse your eyes" he yells above the noise.

"We need to get the others out and stop that noise. Any ideas?" He yells "ANd what the fuck is that stuff? and why rig it up?" He shakes his head

He quickly scans the nearest tables to see if there is anything like goggles or a mask he could use to protect his eyes, and tries to make out how the others are doing.

ooc

08:55, Today: Chris K rolled 18 using 2d10+5.  looking for useful stuff +5.

Juan

"Get the fuck back here!" Chuck roars angrily, but to no avail. Juan, Vivian, and Gloria leave him behind as they cross the schoolyard. Vivian is the slowest of the three, but Juan and Gloria both match her speed.

The ringing is loudest as Juan passes a particular wing of the school, but any exterior doors there have been chained and padlocked shut. Clearly, someone only wanted one way in or out of the building. As he nears the only open entrance he's seen, Juan runs almost directly into Mason, who is alone.

"Where's Chuck?" he asks quickly, looking over Juan, Gloria, and Vivian. "Rest of the team's inside. Don't know what they did, but it'll bring a horde."

Chris K

"I don't know, fucking mustard gas!" Clyde appears to have avoided most of the gas's caustic effects, but splashes water on his eyes anyway before passing it to Leslie. "Someone must've wanted to kill all these people and take their stuff!"

"We've got to smash that thing!" Leslie splashes water on her eyes, then grinds it in with the heel of her palm. "We just - how are we gonna get to it?"

Lauren has managed to pull Fran halfway to the door, but by now she's visibly suffering too. The two of them run into a table, almost knocking it over, clearly unable to see where they're going. Thomas is making almost no progress at all, and is coughing so hard and fast that he can't get a breath in. He stumbles and looks ready to fall.

The tables themselves are devoted to food and water, nothing useful for protecting one's eyes except to flush them out after exposure, but it's possible the abandoned bags have something.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 55):

"Can you tell me what room they are in? Is there a window or soemthing we could take out?"


Running through the narrow halls of the school sounded like a bad idea, but if they could open the window of the room Chris and the other where in at least they could escape. The fact they where not here with Mason was a bad sign.

Juan readied his chain. Even if the window in question was on the second floor, he could climb there with the weapon. Or just use it to batter down a boarded up window as the case may be.

As for finding the room in question, all he need do was listen for the ringing...

ooc-can Jaun make a perception roll to figure our where ringing is coming from while still outside?

Chris noted one of the bags behind the nearest stall seemed oddly shaped. Taking a gamble, he rushed in and grabbed it, rushing back out. Ripping it open, he found a gas mask.

He quickly rinsed off his face once more, telling the others "I'll get them out, you get ready to rinse off their faces. I'll stop the buzzer too".

Putting on the mask, he gives a thumbs up and then moves into the room towards the nearest person he can see, as he get near he shouts as loud as he can, knowing the mask will muffle his voice "STAY CALM! ILL LEAD YOU OUT!"

Juan

"I left them at the end of that wing," Mason says, pointing over Juan's shoulder. He's indicating the point where Juan had heard the ringing the loudest. "Windows are barred and doors are locked up tight. Amateur work but strong. One way in and out - if they missed an exit, so did we."

"Why aren't they with you?" Vivian asks.

"Don't know," Mason answers. "Sent me to get you. Alarm didn't start until I was at the door."

Chris K

After washing out Clyde and Leslie's eyes, there's not enough water left in the bottle to effectively rinse out Chris K's eyes, but fortunately they don't seem to need it.

"Uh," says Leslie lamely. "I just got food, I don't got any - "

"Here," Clyde interrupts, pulling more bottled water out of his pack and twisting off the cap.

Chris K rushes into the room. Closest to the entrance are Lauren and Fran, who almost made it to the exit before being overcome by the gas. The sclera of both their eyes are a vibrant pink, so thick with tears that they obviously can't see more than a blur even if the gas itself hasn't affected their vision. Both are coughing, and while Lauren is still trying to drag Fran forward, Fran is so overcome that she's struggling to stay upright. Thomas, near the back of the room, is conscious but on his hands and knees, barely dragging himself in a random direction as he coughs and wheezes uncontrollably.

All the while, the alarm continues screaming, making it hard to hear anything else. Combined with the gas mask muffling his voice, Chris K is probably unintelligible even within arm's reach.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 58):

"Fuck!" Juan growled. "There is soemthing wrong if they are not running outside by now. Vivian, you and the others stay out here and signal me if we need to get out in a hurry. Mason, come with me. I might need your help in navigating the place." He starts to move inside, making sure Mason is coming along.

Chris runs to the alarm and use his M4 butt to smash it until it stops ringing, then he grabs Thomas and tries to guide him out, dragging him out if he has to

Juan

"Fuck that," Vivian declares. "I'm going in with you."

"Yeah?" Gloria asks, looking at Vivian, then shrugs. "Okay. Fuck that."

The two women follow behind Juan and Mason. The latter does not object to their presence, whether out of agreement or just expedience. Far behind, Chuck and the others struggle to catch up. It only takes a minute for Juan to round the corner of the school and for the entrance to come into view, at which point Mason skids to a stop.

Through the entrance, the Juan can see several walkers walking past the door towards the source of the noise. Presumably, they were located on the other end of the school; the entrance doesn't provide much of a view, but from what little he can see, there are a lot of them. They haven't noticed Juan or the others yet, but they're going to make a lot of trouble for whoever's at the source of that ringing.

Chris K

Chris K leaves Lauren and Fran to zero in on the alarm. Obviously, it's not hard to find its source, despite the mask obscuring his vision. It wasn't designed to take this sort of brute force, and it comes apart after only a couple of blows. The deafening noise stops, leaving only the ringing in his ears behind.

Chris K definitely drags rather than guides Thomas out; he conscious, but all he can do is to be live weight rather than dead weight. As he pulls Thomas towards the door, Chris K sees Leslie enter the room and grab Lauren, guiding her towards the exit. Lauren is barely upright herself, and Fran seems to be almost as badly off as Thomas.

Finally, everyone gets out of the room at about the same time. Thomas, Lauren, and Leslie are all coughing with varying degrees of intensity, while Fran is doing something similar to coughing but without making any noise. Clyde looks overwhelmed for a moment, then descends on Thomas, pouring water into his eyes.

Pulling off the gas mask, Chris K left it on the top of his head. He pulled out water and helped rinse the others eyes as much he could keeping an eye and ear open for walkers

"We're gonna need to move outa here fast, that noise is gonna draw every walker around. Gonna try something. so keep em peeled."

Chris moved back into the food hall, the gas mask up, and took a few steps, waited a second, then a few more, and so on, moving towards the shattered window. As soon as he felt any effects of the gas he pulled down the  gas mask straight away.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 61):

Juan gestures for his group to stop when the ringing does. He quickly forms a plan in his head

"Ok...they took out the bell. That's good. Now that group of murtoes needs to be lead away or the others will run smack dab into them. I am gonna do that, and use my chain to climb away from them once I find another building to climb. I need you guys to go in after I do that, get the others out, and signal me that it's ok to come back without making any noise." He whispered.

Once his team agrees, he will get his chain ready and prepare to go. He hesitates and looks over and Viv. "Look, I...oh, fuck it." He said, and kissed her.

Then he runs off to call down the horde on himself. Screaming loud enough so eveyone can hear. "HEY! YEAH YOU, YOU DUMB FUCKS! I GOT FRESH LATINO MEAT HERE, NICE AND SPICEY IF YOU CAN GET IT! COME ON, YOU DEAD SIMLEY SCUMSUCKERS!" Once that inspires the creatures to come for him, he starts to lead them away.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:52, Fri 07 Dec 2018.

Juan

Vivian glances at the horde of walkers and frowns. "Make it a big building, there's a lot of don't - "

Vivian instinctively tries to pull away from the kiss, but doesn't fight Juan. Once he's done she looks disgruntled, but resigned, while Gloria glares viciously at him. Mason looks neutral, but glances down at the chain in Juan's hands before looking back up at his face, watching him curiously.

With the alarm gone, nothing holds the walkers' attention besides inertia. Once he starts shouting, the walkers he can hear turn to look at him, then change course to follow him. Gloria, Vivian, and Mason take up hidden positions as walkers flow out of the school doors.

Chris K

Chris K feels his eyes start to sting just a couple of steps past the door. The effects of the gas probably wouldn't even be contained to the room if it weren't for the broken window. The gas canister has stopped hissing, however, so it's only a matter of time before the gas dissipates.

The window's glass is shattered. There's about an inch of space between the glass's former position and the security bars crudely welded into place; enough for the glass to fall to the ground, but not nearly enough for anyone to get in or out. Outside, Chris K sees an overgrown sports field with no human figures, alive or dead.

"Shit," Chris K hears from outside the door, then Clyde's voice shouting into the room. "Whatever you're doing, do it now!"

In reply to Snicker (msg # 64):

Juan shakes his head as he puts two and two togeather. Granted he should have figured it out on his own, but in his defense dead people trying to eat them all where very distracting. All in all, he put it out of his mind for now. He could not worry about it, he had to stay alive.

He gave a few more shouts, just in case the horde got distracted and turned away from him. He needed to give the others as much time as possible. Of course, despite his lead there was still risk.

For example, running into stragglers from the horde who where now just catching up. Last thing he needed was for one of those to jump him and slow him down enough for the horde to catch up. As a result, he kept his eyes forward and making sure he was heading for his target-a tall enough building.

Chris tries to spot any other exits from this side, as he runs back towards Clyde, and readies his baton. Outside he pulls the mask up, and says to Clyde "We can't go through there yet - theres still gas"

Juan

Fortunately, despite the vehicles crowded around the school's entrance, Juan's environment is clear enough that it's unlikely any walker will get the drop on him. Unfortunately, this is a small Midwest town; the tallest building in sight, at two floors, is the school itself. The surrounding area seems to be residential blocks of combat houses, and while Juan could easily get onto a rooftop, it would be almost impossible to get off because any small building could easily be surrounded.


Chris K

"Wow, Bossman with the clutch!" Clyde responds loudly, voice equal parts sarcasm and frustration. He sighs through gritted teeth, turning to look at the end of the hall. "Unless you've got a wild fuckin' plan, it's time to start shooting."

At the end of the hall, about a dozen walkers have already turned the corner and are advancing on the group. It will be several seconds before they get in arm's reach, but the groans and clumsy footsteps from around the corner suggest that there are plenty more where that came from.

Clyde looks unaffected by his brief time in the room, and Leslie seems to have shaken off any effects of the gas. Lauren is draining the last of the water bottle into her eyes, but it's unclear how effective she'll be. Thomas and Fran are lying on the floor or leaning up against a wall, respectively, and are both almost completely incapacitated.

"Fuck you, Clyde" Chris says, and checks behind them

ooc
Are we  in a dead end? or does the corridor continue the other way? If it goes the other way, are there any other doors or walkers that way
This message was last edited by the player at 08:12, Tue 11 Dec 2018.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 67):

Juan knew no building where handy to escape into, but he had seen something before that was almost as useful. A gas station not three blocks north of the school. These things where drawn to heat, movement, and noise. They had no survival instinct or ability to feel pain. A large enough fire would get them off his tail quite nicely...

(Ooc-exxon station 3 blocks north of the high school and Juan has a lighter...)
This message was last edited by the player at 12:12, Tue 11 Dec 2018.

Juan

Juan leads the walkers away from the school, but he doesn't even get past the block before he hears gunfire from behind him. There is still a sizable crowd following him, but at least a few walkers must have somehow missed his distraction.

Fortunately, the gunfire does not distract the walkers following him; indeed, they just seem to make their groans more insistent and hungry. After a few blocks, he reaches the gas station he'd seen while traveling to the school. The station itself is clear of vehicles, though he sees a couple abandoned cars on the curb beside it. He has maybe a minute of lead time on the horde - as much as he could get without risking them losing interest.

Chris K

"Get in line," Clyde grumbles, then raises his rifle. He takes a moment to aim down the sights, then fires at the approaching walkers.

Leslie takes a deep breath, then pocket and pulls something out of her pocket. With a click and a flick of her wrist, it's revealed to a be a rather small-sized - and flimsy-looking - switchblade. Lifting it above her head in anticipation of stabbing downward, she slowly advances towards the walkers.

Lauren empties the water bottle and tosses it aside. Blinking rapidly, she clears her eyes and stands, lifting the revolver. The pink inflammation of her eyes is obvious despite her pained squint; it's clear her vision is impaired at best.

The library is located at the end of this wing of the school. Chris K and the others are trapped between the library's entrance and the approaching walkers. There are a couple of doors on either side of the hallway, but they just lead to more classrooms.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 70):

Juan wastes no time. He breaks into the cashier area where the gas pump controls are. Once he unlocks them, he heads back and uses the gas to spread a line of the fuel in the shape of a circle.

 With one line of gas leading off to the side. Once the horde gets close enough he will use his lighter from hopeful a safe enough distance to light up the path of fuel to the circle he had made. If his luck held, the dead would be drawn into that burning ring of fire-and he could sneak off.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:32, Sun 16 Dec 2018.

Chris grabs Thomas and starts bundling him towards the classroom. "all of you - get in the classrooms, shut the doors and hide. I'll lead them into the hall, and you can get out once they're past"

Juan

The gas station's door is unlocked, but it hardly makes a difference; seemingly every pane of glass is shattered. Inside, shelves are turned over and several of the glass fridge doors have been broken as well. There doesn't seem to be any meaning or purpose behind the destruction, besides for its own sake. Its stocks have been raided, like many other gas stations, but the chaos makes it impossible to tell how thoroughly.

Juan easily accesses the cashier area, but the gas pump controls are unresponsive - the gas station has no power. When he gets outside, he finds the pumps are the same way. The gas station's pumps, like all modern gas pumps, run on electricity.

The horde draws closer.

Chris K

"Are you fucking serious?" Clyde asks, looking over his shoulder at Chris K. "You know you got nowhere to go, right? You can't fight all these!"

By now, the dozen initial walkers are closer to the group. More - another dozen at least - have turned the corner behind them. It's unclear how many walkers are behind them, but there is plenty of groaning coming from down the hall.

"Do you - " Leslie's head swivels back and forth between Chris K and the walkers, agitated. "Do you have a plan to get out? Or are you just gonna - die?"

"Fuck this," Clyde spits, then grabs Thomas's wrist and drags him towards the closest classroom door. As he does so, he shouts at Lauren. "Hey, you! Grab your friend!"

If Chris K means to lead the horde past the classrooms, he'll have to either pull them into a different classroom or into the library behind him. He can break line of sight, but if the walkers try to enter the room behind him, he'll have little room to run, and there's probably enough of them to block off the whole room and prevent him from circling around them.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 73):

Juan tried to figure how much time he had before the shambling masses got to him. Then he noticed a small family restaurant right next to the gas station.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:31, Sun 16 Dec 2018.

Chris looked at Leslie "Not aiming to die, but if you wanna help later, feel free" He took up a position by the door, and lowered his gas mask.

Raising his M4 he aimed and fired at the nearest walkers as the others bundled into the classroom.

Once in he slammed the door behind them and scooted back to the library door, before turning to take aim and fire again, at the walker nearest the door.

ooc
14:52, Today: Chris K rolled 15 using 2d10+6.  First shot.
14:52, Today: Chris K rolled 18 using 2d10+6.  Second shot.

Juan

Juan had to keep the walker horde on a short leash to keep it from wandering off. He has less than a minute before the first line will be on him, assuming he stays in place.

He does not stay in place, instead entering the neighboring restaurant. The front door is closed and may be locked, but the back door hangs open, leading into the kitchen. Juan smells noxious odors from the direction of the refrigerators and walk-in freezer, but the line itself is quite clean; presumably they went through the normal closing and cleaning process on one night, and just never opened again.

Stacked near the door are several stacks of unopened boxes, presumably a recent delivery before the restaurant closed. Each box is marked with the logo of a brand of drain cleaner; if each box is still full, this stockpile could be dozens of gallons of the stuff. A prominent warning label on each box notes that the drain cleaner is extremely toxic, extremely corrosive, and extremely flammable.


Chris K

Lauren and Fran have some trouble reaching the classroom door, but they manage. As everyone gets into the classroom, Clyde looks up at Chris K again and shakes his head. "Hope you know something I don't, man."

As he scoots back towards the library, Chris K notices some walkers still focused on the classroom door, but he starts attracting a lot of attention when he shoots. The first walker falls limp without so much a twitch, pierced through the forehead with Chris K's first bullet, but he pushes himself too far with the second round, sending it over his target's head. The horde, unaffected by the first kill, shambles forward.

Chris K grimaced at Clyde, "I hope this works" he said, his words muffled by the gas mask.

From the library door he fired again, angling the shot away from the classroom the others were in, in case he missed, but he hoped they were down low and out of sight.

ooc
Attack

08:14, Today: Chris K rolled 20 using 2d10+6.

I am not sure how many rounds it will take the walkers to reach Chris, he will keep firing until they are getting close to lunging range, then retreat into the library

So heres some more shooting rolls:
08:16, Today: Chris K rolled 22 using 2d10+6.  Shoot.

08:16, Today: Chris K rolled 18 using 2d10+6.  shoot.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 76):

Juan grabs a table cloth on one of the tables and the boxes of chemicals. Tearing open the cardboard to make sure the bottles are still there, once he confirms that he carries as many of them as he can them back to the gas station.

He knew he did not have a lot of time. Ripping the tablecloth, he stuffs one end soaked in the chemical into an open bottle of the stuff in the box with the others of it's kind. He plans to place the boxes by the gas pump, and use one of the chemicals to create a path of the liquid from the boxes by the pump behind a large bit of cover a car.

Then, when the horde reaches the gas station, he will use his lighter. Setting blaze to the line of chemical so the fire travels from his hiding place to the box with the chemical soaked rags.

With any luck, the explosion would set off the gas remaining in the pumps. And his cover behind the car would keep him from being killed.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:02, Tue 18 Dec 2018.

Juan

With the horde so close, Juan can't get more than a few boxes of the gas pumps before he's overwhelmed, but he makes good use of them - placing them deliberately to transfer as much heat to the gas pump as possible. They're dangerously close when he makes his getaway, dribbling a trail of drain cleaner to his position behind the car. Once he lights his end of the trail, the flames quickly spread back to the gas pump.

There is no way to aerosolize the drain cleaner, so it burns but does not explode. The cardboard boxes blacken and disintegrate almost immediately, and the plastic of the bottles melts soon after, and the burning drain cleaner spreads across the tarmac in a wide puddle. The horde walks through the flaming puddle without pausing. The burning drain cleaner sticks to their shoes and boots and keeps burning, the flames spreading to their pants and truly coming alight.

Finally, the heat is enough to ignite the gas in the pipes within the closest pump, but gas stations are built with safety features for just this sort of situation. The pump itself suddenly bursts with an impressive-looking fireball, but it's over in an instant and the main tank below the station is apparently unaffected. Walkers caught in the fireball are singed, with the clothes of the closest catching alight, but most of the horde is outside the fireball.

It doesn't take long for the puddle of drain cleaner to be consumed, and there's nothing on the asphalt to feed the fire after that. Several of the walkers fall; not dead, in most cases, but with their legs too badly burnt to support their weight anymore. Those with working arms pull themselves across the ground towards Juan, groaning, but pose little threat. The horde has been thinned considerably, but not eliminated; about a dozen walkers, spared the flames, still shamble towards Juan, groaning loudly.

Chris K

Walkers move slowly, but the front line of the mob bearing down on Chris K closes the distance with deceptive speed, as it continues without pause even as he drops individual figures. Chris K is able to kill two more walkers before he must back up into the library or be overwhelmed. By now, the walkers are just feet away; if he runs, he can buy himself another forty feet or so, but after that he'll be out of room.

Down the hall and around the corner, where the walkers had come from, Chris K hears shooting, but the walkers in front of him don't seem to notice.

In reply to Juan (msg # 78):

Juan was going to have to finish off the 12 before rejoining the others. However, given the chain's reach and plenty of space of him to stick and move, he should be ok. He can lead them back to the restaurant while picking them off one by one.

He knew there was none of the creatures in the restaurant, and he would be heading away from the gas station fire and the remains of the explosion. Any new walkers would be drawn to that as opposed to the relative quiet of his chain. Certainly the shooting at the school would draw more towards his friends, sad to say.

Ooc:
05:34, Today: Juan rolled 21 using 2d10+7.  Using chain with reach for ranged attack. Doing one attack and moving.

If we want to speed things along:

05:53, Today: Juan rolled 16,24,22,19,21 using 2d10+7,2d10+7,2d10+7,2d10+7,2d10+7.

05:54, Today: Juan rolled 13,16,25,19,23,25 using 2d10+7,2d10+7,2d10+7,2d10+7,2d10+7,2d10+7.  Final 6.

05:55, Today: Juan rolled 11 using 2d4+4.  Damage roll for the one I rolled a 13 on.


This message was last edited by the player at 20:52, Sat 22 Dec 2018.

Chris runs into the library moving left around the tables in the centre, until he is next to the stacks.

He turns and shoots at the walkers as they start to come through the door, shouting through his mask, hoping to draw them the same way round the tables he came.

ooc

13:34, Today: Chris K rolled 24 using 2d10+6.  shooting.

Juan

Juan's hook and chain is an exotic choice of weapon, but he makes it work. The open space makes it easy enough for keep away from the remaining walkers, and the relative quiet prevents him from attracting any more walkers, at least for the moment. Nonetheless, killing the remaining walkers takes a few minutes of continuous effort, testing his patience and stamina just as much as his strength and skill. By the end, his muscles ache, his blood pounds in his ears, and his nerves are raw from the strain of watching every walker and his surroundings when one slip-up could mean death. If each of his kills hadn't been so well executed, the situation may well have gone very badly, very quickly.

It's only after he's alone in the street, the adrenaline wearing off and the strain of the last few minutes catching up to him, that he spots another figure behind him. This one isn't shambling forward, however; it's peering around the corner of a building at the far end of the block. But as soon as Juan turns in its direction, it darts back behind the corner and out of sight.

Chris K

Despite the library's clutter, Chris K gains ground on the walkers, though that ground is running out. He fires back towards the library's doorway, felling another walker - a scraggly-bearded walker in hunter's orange with no physical trauma excepts for fingertips worn raw - with a shot to the head. Its corpse slumps backward, but is kicked forward onto its face before it can hit the ground by the walkers behind it, pushing into the library.

Chris K yells, but it's not clear whether his yelling is louder than the shooting from the hallway. It's definitely not louder than his own rifle, though, so it probably doesn't matter.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 82):

Juan breathes in and out, trying to get his second wind. He notices the figure, and realizes that was no muerto. He loops his chain around his shoulder bandoleer style once more, and readies a throwing knife as he quickly heads for the building. If they had been friendly, they might have helped him after all.

Chris holds his gorund and fires one more time, aware that he can hear himself talking to himself under his breath, his voice sounding strange in the gas mask.
"I hope this works. I hope this Works"

ooc
10:07, Today: Chris K rolled 20 using 2d10+6.  shooting.

At the end of this round, are all the walkers in or are there more still backed up in the hall?

ARe they all following the same route Chris took through the library?

Juan

Juan's fatigued muscles do not appreciate being pushed into a sprint, but somehow, the prospect of energy lends him enough energy to run for the corner of Highway 31 and College Street. The figure has a lead on him, however, and by the time Juan reaches the corner, the figure has run into the parking lot of a rundown-looking garage and is well out of range of a throwing knife. Juan arrives just in time to see the figure jump up onto a car's hood, then roof, then the roof of a neighboring van, and then leap for the roof of the garage building. Catching the edge of the roof, the figure pulls himself up and on top of the building.

Standing atop the building, the figure turns and looks back in Juan's direction. All Juan can make out, however, is a lean, masculine, dark-skinned figure in a letter jacket. After a moment, the figure turns again and runs across the roof and out of sight.

Chris K

Chris K fells another walker - this one formerly a young woman in a tank top and cutoffs. Once again, it shows no signs of physical trauma until Chris K's bullet blows the back half of her skull open.

By now, a half-dozen other walkers are in the library and advancing on him. With some smart maneuvering, Chris K may be able to get around them and back out into the hall, but he can't see how many more are out there through the doorway. However, the sounds of gunfire are much louder now - it's possible the shooters are right outside, and so the gunfire implies that there are more walkers right outside the door.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 85):

Juan was tempted to follow, but he knew pushing himself to do all that jumping and climbing who ever that was would just wipe him out. He certainly would not have the energy to defend himself if it ment trouble. Then there was the shooting back towards the school where his people where.

He exhales in an annoyed huff. Then he turns away and heads back to the school. Trying to converse his energy in case he had to fight once he got back...
This message was last edited by the player at 12:00, Tue 25 Dec 2018.

Chris fired again, backing up as the zeds got nearer. He was trying to judge when his best chance was for running around the other side and to the door before the remaining zombies could change direction and block him.

ooc

09:35, Today: Chris K rolled 21 using 2d10+6.  shooting.

I assume the gas is not affecting the zombies?
This message was last edited by the player at 10:00, Fri 28 Dec 2018.

Juan

Juan returns to the school, but even from blocks away he can hear the sounds of gunfire. There are so many shots that it's impossible to know how many people are shooting, but it's clearly more than one, and in multiple calibers.

As he moves, Juan can tell the noise is attracting more attention to the school. Through windows, behind fences, and up and down streets, he sees unsteady figures staggering towards the source of the sound.

Chris K

Another walker, a gray-haired woman wearing a vinyl backpack, slumps to the ground after being shot by Chris K's rifle. Moving from one side to the other, he sees a potential opening to run for the door.

As he looks, another walker stumbles through the door, walking in his direction. While he was able to misdirect the walkers already in the room, this one is close enough to potentially grab Chris K as he goes for the door, but he may be able to slip by if he's fast and lucky.

The shooting continues from outside the room.

Jaun tries to keep out of sight of the on coming horde. There where going to be far too many for him to stop. He needed to get to the cars so they could make a getaway.

He was fairly sure Vivan and the others where not doing the shooting, but they may have been forced to given what was happening ing. He had to find them...which meant going back to the school. He had to move fast, but was slowed by trying to keep out of sight. On the plus side, those things where being drawn by the shooting, and where not looking for him.

If he got a chance, he would jump a lone Walker and bash it down quietly. Then coat himself in its liquids in order to blend in and find the others without risk of detection.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:31, Sun 30 Dec 2018.

Taking a gamble, Chris decides to get out whilst the going is good. Hes hoping the corridor is clear enough for him to make it, or at least hold off until help arrives. His 'plan' is seeming less good to him, though, by the second.

He tries to dodge past the final Zed in the room, dodging into the corridor. He makes sure hes well on the other side to the door way, trying to knock it shut behind him as he goes, and turns to look down the corridor.

ooc
21:03, Today: Chris K rolled 19 using 2d10 ((10,9)).

Forgot to add in the Ag/Lk bonus (which is 5) so thats actually 24

Juan

At this moment, the walker response seems relatively spartan; only ones and twos, some of them still locked in yards and houses. In Juan's experience, this amount of sustained sound would garner a more substantial response, but the area's walker density seems lower than usual. It's possible that most of the area's walkers had already merged with the horde in the school.

Nonetheless, Juan manages to isolate and slay a lone walker, coating himself in its guts. Getting a good coat of offal takes a few minutes, especially with no one to help him cover his back. By the time he reaches the school, the shooting seems to have died down.

Chris K

Chris K nimbly avoids the remaining walker, even as it and the others turn towards him. Running through the door, he slams it shut behind him, only to find himself almost directly in the arms of another walker. This one was a tall, overweight man in woodland camouflage. Other walkers are right on its heels, but the sound of shooting is much louder here.

The large walker gets a lucky grab on Chris K's shoulder, clenching a handful of clothing in one fist. The walkers behind it fall to the sound of gunshots, but it pulls Chris K in closer, the other hand grasping at his arm. Suddenly, it reverses directly, throwing its weight against Chris K and slamming him against the now-closed door. He feels the pressure of it leaning against his chest as it growls, but before it can go in for a bite, another gunshot rings out, and a red entrance wound appears on the side of its head. The strength goes out of its grip and it releases Chris K, slumping to the ground.

With the walkers dead, Chris K can see the shooters: both his and Chuck's teams. The ones with guns apparently did the heavy lifting, but some corpses were clearly felled with clubs, knives, and hatchets as well. The shooter that felled the large walker seems to be the boy that was following the blond man, who lowers his rifle to look at Chris K.

Vivian is first to talk, and doesn't spend any time on niceties. "Those are just half of them. Juan led the others off. He's not back yet - we've got to get him."

Chris lifts his gas mask up, and looks round to make sure all his crew are there. He particulalry looks for Thomas and Fran to see how they're doing.

He quickly stashes his mask as he talks "Thanks for the back up guys. Theres more behind this door. Lets wedge them in for now if we can"

He looks at Vivian, then Chuck, and nods "Ok, we go after Juan. But we need to exit here fast. All that noise is gonna bring more interest, and potentially not just walkers. So lets be careful. Chuck, your team lead us out. Clyde, Mason - tail end charlies please. Lets go"

He shoulders his bag and follows on. As he moves he tries to get next to Thomas and Fran and check how they're doing.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 91):

"Motherfucker, and I did all this to myself for nothing!?" The group heard behind them. Sure enough, there was Juan, coated in Walker guts. He growled as he got out his canteen and was about to wash himself off. "Everybody else looks ok? We got what we came for and am good to go?" He briefly looked at Vivain, sighing upon realizing they could not talk what they needed to talk about here.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:58, Sun 06 Jan 2019.

Chris was surprised Jun was back, but also relieved. Npdding at Juam he said "Ok we're all here, lets get out of here now. If we can work out some how on the way back to draw the zeds away from here even better, but we need to lose them as we head back to the hotel. Same groups and set up as before, lets get moving."

Juan, Chris K

Almost everyone, including Clyde and Leslie, are present in the hallway. However, Chris K notices that Fran, Thomas, and Lauren are missing.


"Wedge it?" Gloria looks at the door, then around. "I don't got any wedges. Who's got wedges?"

Something, probably the walker Chris K dodged to escape the library, slams into the door from the other side. The blows don't sound strong enough to break it down, but once the other walkers inside join in, it'll only be a matter of time.

"Let's take 'em!" exclaims the child, his gray eyes glinting with excitement. "We took these ones!"

They certainly did. Dozens of bodies litter the floor, felled by shots to the head. Most, but not all of them show no other signs of trauma, suggesting they were killed by other means. Spent casings skitter across the floor as people shift their feet.


"We got some food and water," Leslie says, but Clyde snorts.

"Not even enough for the night," he grumbles, pointing to the closed library door. "All the rest is still in there."

He turns to Chris K and jerks a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the classroom he'd left Clyde in. "Tom and Fran are fucked. Can't stop coughing and I think they're blind. Lauren can walk but don't know how fast, or long."

"What the fuck did you people do?" Chuck asks, his voice both frustrated and incredulous.

Clyde ignores him. "What's the plan? Someone gonna carry them, or are we just gonna leave them here?"

"I'm not leaving them," Vivian says firmly. Gloria looks over and, with a faintly resigned air, crosses her arms and steps into position beside her.

Clyde shoots Vivian a quick, dismissive look. "That was a rhetorical question, but thanks for contributing."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 95):

"We might be able to put together a make shift stretcher with some local supplies. We gotta get the wounded to someplace safe first. To do that, we may have to use the uh...local camouflage to get by them." He gestures to all the walkers which had been put down for good. "If we can move through the horde safely, we might be able to get our slow moving members without detection."

Juan, Chris K

"Camouflage?" Clyde looks down at the corpses, than back up at Juan. "Fuck does that mean?"

"He's going to cover them in walker blood, like him," Vivian says. "If you smell like them and act like them, they won't bother you."

The members of the group exchange surprised looks. In some of their eyes, Juan and Chris K see wonder, as if this is an answer to their prayers. Others look extremely dubious.

"You didn't tell us about this?" the blond man asks, cocking his head to the side and studying Juan. "What other aces you keeping up your sleeve?"

"Is that safe?" asks one of the men whose name Juan and Chris K do not know. "If they bite you, you get infected, you know? Couldn't this kill us?"

"Fran and Lauren got bullet wounds," Leslie says with a frown. "...I think. Looks like it. I dunno about Thomas."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 97):

"If we can make sure no open wounds are exposed to the air, it should be ok. If we get our wounded back to camp, I can stay here and move amongst them in order to slowly redirect the horde someplace else. Then you guys can come back and we can pack up the supplies you found inside to get to our people." Juan said.

Chris stood up and put his pack on.

He motioned everyone to move away from the library door "We can't go in there " he said jerking a thumb at the library "Theres still gas." he looked at Chuck "thats what happened. Gas and an alarm, Thomas accidentaly triggered it. So if you see any cylinders in the hall or anywhere else, stay the fuck away from them."

He paused and rubbed his chin, and glanced at Clyde "Clydes right, we don't have enough supplies for the night, but we can survive one night a little hungry and come back here first thing tomorrow to clear it out. Thats a gamble, in that all the ruckus might attract other survivors, but we can worry about that later. Priority now is getting our injured to safety, before another horde boxes us in. Chuck, did any of the vehicles outside look like runners?"

Juan, Chris K

Leslie looks at Juan with a quizzical expression. "You can make them move somewhere else? But they don't...talk."

"Naw, they work together," Gloria answers. "I seen it. You get one of them just pushing up on a door, on accident, and then another one sees that and it starts trying to get in, and then more see that...and there weren't even a reason in the first place."

"Whole lot of overthinking goin' on here," the blond man remarks, his lip curling in distaste. "Quicker and easier to just to draw 'em off with noise."


"Well...ain't none of them looked like they won't run, I'll say that," Chuck says with a frown.

"Most of them were probably driven here by these lot," he continues, gesturing to the corpses. "Parked the car and never came back. I figure they ran then, but I don't know how long it's been. And of course...we need keys."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 100):

"Ok, so maybe we do both plans. We get covered in dead stink, and then a small team goes looking for transport while we ready our wounded for travel. Then I pull a big a group as I can and the rest of you head off. Hopefully I can meet up with you all back at camp. If the group I pull is big enough, it might give you enough time to get those supplies..." Juan shrugged.

Chris nodded at Juan "I like that plan, except for the supplies. Forget em. We deal with our injured now as the priority. Chuck - your teams on point for finding transport, my lot, were getting our injured ready to move." He quickly glanced round "If no-ones got any other points lets get on with it. Mason - can you keep a watch while we get prepped please? Clyde - take me to the others so I can see them please?"

Juan, Chris K

"You're not getting that shit on me," says the same man. He eyes the gore coating Juan's body and backs up warily, grimacing. "One of those bites you, you're done. You want to cover me in its blood? That's crazy. And if you put that on someone with wounds, that's double crazy."

No one seems excited at the prospect of slathering themselves up in walker guts, and no one makes the first move to start cutting bodies open.

"Fucking around with dead stink is just gonna take more time," says the blond man, clapping a hand down on the boy's shoulder. "Grab the wounded and just get the fuck out. We already shot our way in. We can shoot our way out, long as we do it fast."


"Hey, I'm here, too," Leslie complains, but Clyde ignores her, guiding Chris K into the classroom where he'd originally left the others. As he does so, Mason nods and jogs down the hall.

As soon as he enters the room, Chris K hears soft, continuous coughing. The sound guides him to Thomas, lying curled up on the floor. He doesn't seem to have much energy for anything besides coughing, and that only because he can't stop. Fran lies on her back, breathing deep regular breaths. Both are conscious, but only vaguely respond to Chris K's presence. Their eyes and cheeks are wet with tears, and watching their movements, Chris K can tell that they can see he's there but not much more than that. Lauren, squeezed into a child-sized desk chair, is in better but still not great condition; she follows his movements with reddened eyes and her movements are calculated, as if she's carefully conserving her energy.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 103):

Juan heads over to the bodies and prepares his knife for the grizzly work. "You wanted a way out, I gave you one!" He snarled at them. "The smell of living blood is gonna call them right to you, and you wont be able to outrun them because of the wounded! Ether smarten up, or get ready to die like those stupid dead things out there! Those are your choices!"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:27, Mon 14 Jan 2019.

Kneeling down, Chris gets some more water bottles out of his bags. He give one each to Fran and Lauren " for your eyes " he says, before approaching Thomas, and talking to him

"Thomas its Chris, I'm gonna rinse out your eyes some more" He starts to rinse Thomas's eyes and turns to Clyde and gives a grimace "We're gonna need something like stretchers, Clyde," he says softly "can you and Leslie see if you can find something. I'll stay with these guys. Let me know when the transports sorted. "

Juan

The stink surrounding Juan redoubles as he opens the corpse's belly, bracking blood and offal spilling onto the school hallway's floor. More than one person groans in disgust. The boy pulls a face, then looks up at the blond man.

"No, Seb," he says gruffly, patting the boy on the shoulder. "We're gettin' out of here. Any of you comin' with, come with."

The man who'd spoken up earlier steps forward, but Chuck claps a hand down on his shoulder.

"Alright, that's enough!" Chuck bellows. He turns in a half-circle indicating everyone with one pointed finger. "No more whining! I'm running this monkey farm now, you bunch of Frankensteins, and I say quit wasting my fucking time!

"Juan!" He turns and looks down at Juan, giving him a firm nod, then shoves the man whose name Juan doesn't know towards him. "Show us how it's done."

"Fuck it," the blond man throws up a hand dismissively. "We're going. If any of you retards make the front door, we'll give you support fire if we're able. C'mon, Seb."

The two hustle down the corridor, turning a corner and out of sight. Chuck fumes, but then glowers at the others, daring them to follow. Some are intimidated. Vivian is not.

"You want me to go with them?" she asks Juan, crouching beside him. "Keep them safe? That kid can't be more than twelve."

Chris K

Lauren is definitely more able than Fran and gets the cap off the water bottle first, but pauses. While Fran's manual dexterity is sufficient to open the water bottle, she's coughing so hard and so continuously that it's hard to keep the water in her eyes. Lauren frowns, then splashes a bit of the water in her eyes before stepping over to Fran.

"Hold it," she says firmly, though gently, and takes Fran's wrist holding the water bottle. She use the remnants of her and Fran's water to rinse Fran's eyes more thoroughly.

Thomas probably gets the best rinse, due to Chris K rinsing his eyes for him and being in a better state than Lauren. He thinks he hears Thomas form a cough into "thanks", but it's hard to be sure - whatever damage the man's suffered to his eyes, his lungs must be worse.

"Where the fuck we going to find stretchers?" Clyde mutters grimly. "It's a fucking school!"

"No, it's a flea market!" Leslie insists. "People were selling things! One of them had to be selling first aid stuff! There's gotta be stretchers, right?"

Clyde pauses, thinking, then scowls. "Fuck! Don't remember where." He turns to Chris K. "Need a minute. We'll find them."

With that, he and Leslie rush out of the room. Chris K also hears some shouting from outside, but it sounds more angry than panicked, so there's probably no walkers here yet.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 106):

Juan pauses, wanting to say something very different to Vivian m, but as usual the timing was bad. Everything was timing after all. "Yeah...but make sure you get your...camo." He sighed, gesturing at the body. Assuming she is game, he demonstrates how best to cover oneself in Walker blood and organs in order to avoid detection.

Resting his hand on Thomas side Chris says "Were' gonna get you out of here Thomas, ok? Just hang in there. I'm just gonna check on the others, but I'm not leaving the room"

Moving over to Fran and Lauren, he offers to help "Hey Lauren let me help. Fran? its Chris, Im gonna rinse your eyes some more ok?" He uses more water to rinse her eyes and then says "Your turn now Lauren ok" He moves between Lauren and the others and speaks more softly to her "How are yo doing? How goods your vision?" as he rinses her eyes more

Juan

"Hold it!" Chuck orders Vivian. "They made their choice! You're staying here and leaving with us."

Vivian ignores him. She looks down at the opened corpse, then shakes her head at Juan. "There's no time, I have to catch up. Whatever happens, happens." She makes eye contact with Juan and holds it a second longer than necessary. "Good luck."

Turning, she breaks into a sprint, chasing the blond man. Gloria doesn't even bother to explain herself before following after her.

"Goddammit!" Chuck shouts. He blasts a breath through his nostrils, then sets his jaw and pulls his gun. The man who had originally complained about the plan takes a step back, his eyes wide.

"No more fucking around, you hear me?!" Chuck shouts, then points at the remaining two men and then down at the corpse. "Cover up, double time! Now! Juan, help them!"

The men, whose names Juan still doesn't know, kneel down next to the corpse and scoop out handfuls of stomach-churning gore. Once they're done, Chuck stows his gun and follows suit. Even with Juan's help, however, it takes time to get a full, even coat of the camouflage. Around the time Chuck is putting the last finishing touches on his coat, Clyde and Leslie return with empty stretchers, followed by Mason. Mason surveys the now filthy men for a moment, then reports:

"It took them a while, but there's a crowd out there now. There's no way out but through them."

Chris K

If Thomas has anything to say, Chris K can't make it out through his coughing. Fran definitely does not. By the time he's done, her eyes are definitely thoroughly rinsed, but Lauren still pushes him away when he approaches.

"To hell with that," she says. Her voice is hoarse, but at least she can breathe without coughing. "I don't need any help, I can see just fine. Focus on getting them out, I'll cover you."

She steps away from him, limping slightly. Finally, Clyde and Leslie return with stretchers. One looks like it was raided from an ambulance, while the other is folding and made of canvas. Nonetheless, both of them look sturdy enough to carry a person. Clyde pulls the wheeled ambulance stretcher to Thomas, while Leslie carries the canvas stretcher to Fran and starts transferring her onto it with Lauren's help.

"Too bad these stretchers are one-use," Clyde mutters. "We'll have to burn them once Juan gets his special sauce on these fuckers."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 109):

Juan was about to forget the plan and head off after Viv. It was only Chuck pulling the gun on the men that made him pause...which of course by then Vivian was gone. He shook with rage, and glared at the men who brought them to this point. He memorized faces, and if anything happened to Vivian, he would make sure the people who caused this would pay.

Once the camo is done, stretchers and people, he gets ready to join those covered in gore. "Just try and relax." He said to the others. "Remember, don't speak, don't move too fast, and you will be fine." Despite that, he had his chain and hook ready to be used as a close up weapon if needed.

Juan, Chris K

Once both Thomas and Fran have been placed on the stretchers, they're transported out to the hallway. While it would probably have been easier to bring them out on their own two feet, this allows the group to appraise the trustworthiness of the stretchers. Fran's folding stretcher makes for a hefty weight, and while Leslie and Lauren can carry her out to the hallway, it's clear it'll be a strain to transport her back to the motel, and will probably have to cycle between multiple stronger group members. Thomas's wheeled stretcher is easier, but whoever is pushing it must be careful to ensure it doesn't go off course like a misbehaving shopping cart.

"Fuck, man," Clyde mutters angrily as he scoops up the gore. "Fucking poison gas and alarm bells. Goddamn Kevin McCallister bullshit. Fuck Arkansas."

Clyde, Leslie, and Lauren get to work on their camouflage. Mason dutifully stands guard at the hall corner until they're done, then starts covering himself in the gore as well. Thomas doesn't seem to have overheard the plans, and with his eyes and nose both ravaged by the boobytrap, doesn't seem to realize what's being slathered on him. Fran is a little more aware, but not helpful; when she sees the gore being carries in her direction, she throws up her hands and shakes her head, trying to ward it off.

Chris tries to calm Fran "Fran, this will help us get you out of here - please let us help you. Ok?" He tries to put the gore on her himself, as well as covering himself and trying to make sure everyone else is well covered.

Once they're covered, he talks to Chuck "Where did the others go? Are they getting the transport?"

In reply to Snicker (msg # 111):

Juan gathered small throwing stones. They would need distractions in order to bypass the horde. He would have to stay on the outskirts of the group. In order using the camo to it's best advantage.

Juan, Chris K

Fran does not seem to heed Chris K's words and continues to struggle against him. Eventually he has to hold down her wrists while Leslie slathers her with rotting gore. She's the last one; when they're finally finished, everyone is covered and stinks to high heaven.

Still being inside, Juan does not find many useful stones. While he can pick stray gravel, probably lodged in someone's shoe treads until they came loose in this hallway, none of them would make useful distractions. Fortunately, by digging through the pockets of the assembled corpses he's able to collect enough adequately sized throwables, such as change, wallets, religious trinkets, family mementos, and other things that would no longer be useful enough to hold onto. He also finds several keyrings, some including car keys.

"A, uh - " Chuck averts his eyes from Chris K before answering. "A few of 'em cut and run. They might get transport for us, but I wouldn't count on it. Lawrence and a couple of the girls. And his boy, obviously."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 114):

Once he has secured his items, and sees everybody ready to go, he prepares to leave with the rest of them. Still, he looks back at the area where the food and such qir supposed to be. "Hey, where was all that stuff we came for anyways?" He asked one of the people who had set off the alarm.

Chris looked at Chuck "Nice. At least we know who we can rely on. So we're clear, as far as I am concerned, they're no longer part of this group, so not our problem. That was THEIR choice. Everyone on board with that? We need to get our injured, and ourselves back. so I need to be able to count on you ok?"

he looks round for nods

He breathed out hard - "So no transport set up. Great." He went to rub his face, but glancing at his gore covered hand thought better of it" We have options. 1) we kill all the dead in there" he motions towards the library "theres gas still in there, but also a broken window, so we could use that as a way to lure the zeds away from the door. I don't like that idea much 2) We go through the front door. Juan, is it?" he looked at Juan for confirmation "Offered to lead the zeds away to clear a path for us. We can then get transport and head off, with Juan looping round to meet us further up. I don't like that option much, either, but it has the advantage of not having to deal with any more gas. Anyone else got any ideas, because if not I suggest we do option 2."

In reply to Chris K (msg # 116):

Juan shrugged his agreement. However, he did state his preference. "We still need those supplies. If we go back with wounded and nothing else we will just be adding to our problems. I think a small group could slip the supplies out after we get the wounded out of here. That gas wont stay around forever, and it could be possible to lure the mess of those fuckers someplace else with noise and heat."

Juan, Chris K


"Yeah," Chuck says, nodding. "Yeah. Don't worry, I'm still here. I got your back."


"Food and water - " Lauren starts to speak, but is suddenly overcome with several loud, hoarse coughs. Once they're done, she sucks in a rattling breath and points at the closed door at the end of the hall. By now, the pounding from the other side has stopped.

"Food and water's in there," she says through grit teeth. "Some kind of poison gas, but it might've cleared out by now."

"Yeah, now's the time to start shopping!" Clyde snaps. "When we've got wounded and AWOL and more of those fuckers every minute! Better make you get as much of this biohazard shit on all the food you grab!"

"We already got a plan!" Chuck raises his voice, his words echoing off of the walls. "Get the wounded out and come back for the supplies later! They're not going to eat it!"


"Wait, wait," says the man who had dissented earlier. He looks about with accusatory eyes. "Juan's gonna lead them away? So - they'll be gone? You mean we covered ourselves with this stuff for nothing?"

HE looked round "We come back for the supplies. We have a little for tonite. We know where it is, and can come straight here and clean the place out, once we've got our wounded out."

Turning to the other guy he said "Not for nothing, we're gonna start moving straight away, but Juans gonna lead them away as well, so we clear the place for our return, but also so we can act more freely. So not for nothng."

He looked round at everyone and said "Ok lets get going - Juan - you're on point, Mason, bring up the rear please, the rest of us, we're on stretcher duty."

Moving over to Thomas Stretcher, Chris slings his rifle and positions himself to pick up the front end ready

In reply to Chris K (msg # 119):

Juan nodded, and started to get moving. There was nothing he could add to Chris's statement. He has summed up the plan perfectly. With any luck, and limited human error, the wounded would be safe. If need be, Juan would use his new thrown distractions to direct the horde away.

Juan, Chris K

Thomas's stretcher doesn't have to be picked up, as it's on wheels. This allows Chris K to control it by himself. Fran's folding stretcher must be carried; Chuck grabs the end at Fran's feet while one of the other men whose name Juan and Chris K don't know grabs the other. Clyde, Leslie, Lauren, and another man make up the middle of the group, while Mason waits patiently for everyone to set off before taking up the rear.

A line of corpses leads back to the entrance, but nothing walking around. It's only when they reach the front doors that first Juan, then Chris K sees the crowd that has assembled outside. It's easily dozens, though less than a hundred, and are congregated around the entrance. A few stand in place, while others slowly shuffle back and forth. None of them seem to notice the disguised people just inside the front door.

Juan looks for any breakable he could find. Away from the stretcher and out of the way of his group. Upon finding such, he would toss one his disposable distraction devices in order to get the horde moving out of thier way.

16:14, Today: Juan rolled 22 using 2d10+8.  Ranged attack for distraction purposes .

Chris begins immediately to see the flaw in his plan. Moving stretchers through a crowd of walkers is not going to be simple, and could cause issues. Still, at least they're being ignored which means Juan can start his work.

Leaving Thomas, He closes to the others and whispers "We'll wait for Juan to clear them a bit before we move out"

He returns to Thomas, and watches Juan doing his stuff.

Juan, Chris K

It's tempting to throw the distraction towards the parking lot, where it's most likely to make the most noise, but that would just draw the walkers to the group's best means of exit. After a bit of looking, the best option Juan can see is one of the school's windows a good distance from the front entrance.

Juan waits for a moment when the closest walkers aren't looking, then hucks his distraction and plays it cool. A couple heads turn at his quick throwing movement, but after a long moment, look away.

Juan's distraction smashes a classroom window. The noise is loud and noticeable, but over in a moment. The closest walkers turn and a couple even shuffle towards the window, but the mob as a whole doesn't move much.

Juan is now outside, though still close to the school's entrance, while Chris K and the others are just inside the front doors.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 124):

His thrown distractions where  it working, so he was gonna have to find another option. He moves slowly away from his group and the streachers. Then, when close to the side of the building he uses his chain once more. As the school was the tallest building in town, it was the one he could climb the simplest.

He whirled the chain, threw it an climbed up. Making sure he headed for a window ledge away from the streachers and everybody else. By the time the horde realized what he was doing, he should be beyond thier reach.

"Move out! I will distract as many as I can!" He yelled, drawing the dead to him and away from the others.

Ooc-06:33, Today: Juan rolled 20 using 2d10+10.  Climbing with 2 resolve spent .
This message was last edited by the player at 11:34, Wed 30 Jan 2019.

Chris watched Juan, and waited for the horde to start moving towards him.

As he waited, he scoped out the vehicles, trying to determine one which was big enough to get everyone in, but not too blocked into manouevre.

Once the horde had thinned out enough for them to get through, he motioned the others to start moving towards the vehicle, and took Thomas out, hoping there was a disabled ramp to wheel him down.

Juan, Chris K

Despite being coated head to toe in putrescent gore, something about Juan seems to tip the walkers off that he's not one of them - perhaps something in his movements or the focus of his attention. As he moves away from the entrance, a head here and there turns to follow him. Most lose interest, but eventually he passes close to one walker - formerly a heavy-set woman of about sixty, clad in a plush pink bathrobe - and its head follows his movements with attention. Stretching out its arms, it stumbles after him with a choked snarl. At this, other heads turn to follow suit.

Juan is close to the wall, now, but without the proportional climbing ability of a spider, he won't be able to throw and ascend the chain without the walker getting close enough to grab him.

Chris K scans the parking lot and streets for a vehicle, but it's hard to find one large enough for the whole group without being blocked in. His eye finally lands on a van, white with Lamarck's Plumbing stenciled on the side in blue, parked on the curb with room to get out onto the road. He sees no other obvious vehicle that will carry the entire group and isn't on the wrong side of a double-parking job.

Seeing the zeds notice Juan, Chris curses under his breath "Shit" moving back towards the others he hiss whispers "That plumbing van" he points "Is where we're heading. Keep an eye on Juan, we might have to go weapons hot if this goes south."

He brings Thomas back to the others so they are all togethor

"Mason, do you think you could move ahead and check the van out?"

In reply to Snicker (msg # 127):

Juan heads for a window, looking for an opening. If he could not get to a climbing position, he could try another track and just get the group to chase him. Once inside the school, he could climb out onto a window and keep with the original plan.

Juan, Chris K

Juan approaches a window. Through the glass, he can tables covered with sellable goods in what used to be a classroom. Like all of the school's other windows, crudely but securely installed security bars prevent anyone from getting in or out.

The bathrobe-clad walker stumbles after him, hands outstretched and growling. Other walkers follow her cue, shuffling towards Juan. Abruptly, one side of the lead walker's head bursts open, rotting brain matter splattering on the ground, followed a half-second after by the crack of a distant rifle shot. The other walkers, however, press forward unabated. Three of them will be within grabbing range of Juan within seconds.

"Oh, fuck," whispers Leslie, watching the walkers close in on Juan. Most of them still are unaware of his presence, but every one that notices him seems to clue in two more.

Mason pushes past the others, clapping one hand on Chris K's shoulder. "Going," he says quietly. He moves quickly and quietly, almost catlike, but this movement does not befit a walker. Despite his disguise, the nearest two walkers turn to look at Mason immediately. At first, they seem merely curious, but when Mason slows to a stop, his uncertain body language is all to human. Their arms reach out as they step towards him.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 130):

Juan decides to make a break for it. He needs to lead the horde away from the school, and maybe he could find someplace to get a hook into on the building. He starts by smashing the nearest thing in the head, and makes a run. Calling out to the horde to follow.

(OOC:
10:21, Today: Juan rolled 23 using 2d10+8.  Using chain as heavy melee weapon.)

Chris hisses at Mason "Get back in  - fast".

He then starts wheeling Thomas past the others and down the corridor, as he moves past them he says "We need to be out of sight for this to work." He parks up Thomas out of line of sight of the entrance lobby, and moves back to a spot where he can see Mason. He grabs the map out of his pocket and starts scanning it for any other exits, keeping an eye on Mason. He also has a quick look round to see if he can see any signs pointing towards other emergency exits.

Juan

Juan punctures the skull of the nearest walker with his hook, and it collapses to the ground without a sound. Almost simultaneously, the heads of the next two nearest walkers pop open as the bathrobe-clad one did before, again punctuated by twin rifle cracks a half-second later.

Unfortunately, he is not nearly clear of the horde, and his humanity is now extremely obvious. He manages to travel along the wall a ways, but the whole of the mob is now converging on him, and there's no obvious safe way to run.

Map: https://files.catbox.moe/mftts6.png

Chris K

Mason immediately turns tail and runs back to the entrance. Most of the group follows Chris K, but Leslie hovers at the entrance, head snapping back and forth between Juan and Chris K.

"But - but you said - !" she stammers, gripping her knife. "He's gonna die out there! We can't just leave him!"

The map helpfully details the school's other exits, along with a note on each that they have been "secured" to prevent shoplifters. Whoever ran this makeshift market put in the effort of securing security bars over the windows, so it's unlikely they forgot any of the obvious doors. If there is another exit out of this school, it can only be one no one expected, or at least one no expected to be vulnerable to thieves.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:20, Thu 07 Feb 2019.

Chris hissed at Leslie "We're leaving no one - trust me! Now get out sight."

Turning to the others he eyed them up. "This has gone south,and we've still got a ways for it to carry it on that way before we get to the Antartic." he grimaced at his crap joke. "Im winging this guys, so you got any ideas pipe up. My new plan. Shooters, with me, will go across the ways and find a classroom so we can cover Juan, in case he needs it. Rest stay here, out of sight. If Juan's plan works, we carry on as before - get to the van and get out. If it doesn't and we need to cover him, we improvise. Thats what I got. Anyone else want to bail at this point? Because our best bet is still togethor."

ooc
I have lost track slightly, but think we have
Leslie - Melee
Mason - shooter
Chuck - Shooter
Clyde - Melee
Thomas and Fran - injured
Random other guy - name not known - weapon?

In reply to Snicker (msg # 133):

Juan is moving, and lashes out with the chain at one of those dead things closes in. It in his way, and it's harder than his usual tactic and standing still and attacking them from a distance. However, he lashes put while swinging the chain around his head, the hook bashing in its skull even as he runs. With the creature out of his way, he can run between two of the things to the east of him. Escaping the main mass of the horde as he runs about the school building. He was looking for a better spot to hook onto with the chain, and now had the space to work. Of course he screams as he does all this, drawing the creatures to him and away from the group.

Juan

Accurately throwing the walker while running is a difficult trick, but the fates smile on Juan and he penetrates the skull of the walker. A yank tears through its brain while pulling him forward, giving him the speed to dart through a closing gap as more hands reach out for him. Two walkers are close enough to put him in jeopardy, but like the others before them, they are felled almost simultaneously to the sounds of twin rifle cracks.

Juan's quick action and covering fire have granted him a few seconds of breathing room, but his conspicuous behaviour - including his constant screaming - ensure it won't last for long.

Map: https://files.catbox.moe/gdbpye.png

Chris K

Leslie looks back out at Juan again, a guilty expression on her face, but then backs up away from the school entrance.

"Who the fuck's gonna bail now?" Clyde gripes, seemingly rhetorically. "Whole reason we're here is 'cuz we stuck around getting our makeup on."

"Shut up, Clyde!" Chuck orders. "You heard the man. Everyone with gun, on us."

Chuck, Clyde, Lauren, Mason, and one of the men Chris K doesn't know are armed with firearms. Clyde and Mason are also armed with a baseball bat and handaxe, respectively, but assume they fall into the "shooter" category nonetheless. Leslie and the other man whose name Chris K doesn't know are only armed with melee weapons. Leslie peers through the barred windows, trying to find an angle to watch Leslie, while the man looks over at Chris K.

"Alright," he says, voice strained but determined. "Who's got the keys for the van?"

"Good question" Chris grimaces "Hopefully they're in it. Chuck - di any of these vehicles have keys in that you can remember?"

Chris check the corridor, and tries to see if there is a class room door nearby. If there is he points at it and says "Chuck, take the Shooters in there and try and get eyes on Juan, without advertising yourselves too much. One of you stay by the door to feed info out here"

To Leslie and the other guy he says "I don't know your name, but we'll stay with the stretchers for now. And watch the doors"

In reply to Snicker (msg # 136):

Still moving, Juan wields the hook directly now. He does not have the space or time to line up a shot while using the reach of the chain. He stays close to the wall, and almost runs into the one boated walker that was in his way. No doubt an ex-gym teacher, still maybe with some residue memories as it shambled by the wall and in the way of Juan's escape.

Jaun runs at the thing, and proceeds to lash out with the hook. Catching it under the chin and shooting the metal spike into its brain. Juan is strong enough to yank his weapon from from the collapsing thing as he moves towards his goal. Still trying to draw the horde behind him as he runs.

OOC: Moving while attacking. Heading for NE most Zed along the wall and past him to escape and draw the horde behind me.

14:44, Today: Juan rolled 8 using 2d6+4.  Heavy melee damage.

14:44, Today: Juan rolled 10 using 2d10+3.  Attack on NE most zed while moving(-5 to roll).
This message was last updated by the player at 20:02, Tue 12 Feb 2019.

Juan

Landing a killing blow without breaking stride is a tall order, even for one as skilled as Juan. His hook goes awry, penetrating some part of the head but failing to kill the walker, which takes the opportunity to grab at Juan. Fortunately, he's able to tear the hook out of its skull, finally causing enough trauma to destroy the brain, without losing much momentum. Moving along the wall, he manages to keep ahead of the next closest walker.

He's bought himself some space. If he's lucky, he can probably throw the hook onto the roof and haul himself out of reach before the walkers can grab him.

The sounds of rifle fire have stopped. However, Juan sees a flash of carrot orange on the other side of the walkers. Vivian steps onto the school property, pistol up and ready to fire. The horde, distracted by Juan, has not noticed her yet, but that may change when she starts shooting.

Chris K

"Buster," the heretofore unnamed, melee-wielding man says gruffly. He's a husky, bearded man who looks like he learned to fight in low-rent bars.


"Not a one," Chuck says. "Those cars weren't abandoned, they were parked. Keys are probably still on whoever drove 'em here."

He snaps his fingers. "But there was a crashed truck out back! We'd have to push it over onto its wheels, but the keys have to still be in there!"

Emboldened, he motions to the other shooters. "Alright! We're getting eyes on Juan! Mason - you stick by the door, feed us intel. Rest of us, find a window that can see him!"

"He was going that way," Leslie adds, pointing down the hall. Mason moves to the front doors again, while Chuck leads the rest down the hallway. They don't get far, however; apparently, a few walkers had followed Mason or Leslie into the school instead of taking Juan's bait. Chuck and the others stay at the entrance to the classroom; the walkers, about a half-dozen of them, have not noticed them yet due to their disguise, but it may be difficult to get past them without being discovered.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 139):

Jaun tossed his hook towards the roof. Getting an excellent hit and feeling the secure link after giving an experimental tug. He then starts climbing, screaming out as he does so. "GET THEM OUT OF HERE! I CAN DISTRACT AS MANY AS I CAN FROM UP HERE! I CAN SLIP OUT OF ON MY OWN LATER!" He yells to anyone who can hear him. Not to mention his cries will draw more of the horde to his position.

OOC:
10:41, Today: Juan rolled 23 using 2d10+10.  Chain climbing roll with 2 resolve.

Juan

Vivian looks from Juan, down to the walkers crowding below him, and back up to Juan again. She grimaces, obviously not happy with the arrangement, but looks back and holds up her hand to stop. Behind her, among the vehicles parked on the street, Juan sees Gloria, who looks much more relived by Juan's plan. With another look at Juan, Vivian steps back onto the street and huddles behind a parked vehicle, out of sight but close enough to join the fight if need be.

Below Juan, the press up against the wall and reinforced windows, their hands reaching up towards him.

Chris K

Chuck glances at Chris K for a long moment, as if waiting for direction, but nothing comes. Finally, he looks at the other shooters. "Well what the hell are you waiting for?" he whispers harshly. "We're wearing this crap for a reason!"

He takes a breath, then steps forward in the direction Leslie indicated earlier. He stays calm and keeps his pace slow, but is clearly eyeing the walkers sidelong as he passes the entrance. The others follow, though none look happy about it. Only Mason, who had different orders, sticks near the classroom entrance with Chris K.

Chuck's body language visibly relaxes when he gets past the walkers, none of which acknowledge him. He reaches another classroom door at the end of the hall and risks a glance back in Chris K's direction. His face is proud and confident for moment - then transitions to shock as the walkers suddenly turn and growl at Clyde, Lauren, and the other man, who are just passing them now. At first, only one reaches out and lunges at them, but as Clyde and Lauren nimbly jump backward and out of reach, the others spot their agile movements and turn to attack as well.

Chris had been thinking, too long, and Chuck went ahead, but well you can't blame a guy for showing initiative. As the Walkers moved on the others, he swore and drawing his knife moved forward, hoping go get an attack in on one of the walkers. As he moved he said loudly, but hopefully not enough to attract those outside "no guns!"

ooc

13:42, Today: Chris K rolled 17 using 2d10+6.  knife attack.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 141):

Juan looks around, making sure there are no ways up to the roof. If there are, he could use his chain to bind the doorway. That being said, it may take a little too much brain power for the dead to figure out a way upstairs. After all, if they where that smart, they would not bother just reaching for him at the ground level. Still, he did not want to take any chances. Besides, any corridor or stairwell that led to the roof would be narrow enough to keep a group of walkers from attacking the door en mass.

Once he was secure, he would prepare a throwing knife and see if anyone was at risk of being jumped despite the walker guts camo. He will keep making noise, trying to draw as many of the things to his elevated postion. Hopefully he could find a way out of here later, but for now getting the wounded out was his first pirority.

OOC-Can I make a throw from here if I see one of the humans in trouble?

Juan

Looking around, Juan spots a door on the roof, presumably used by custodial staff to remove trash. Now that he's looking, he also sees more than a few rubber and tennis balls and one volleyball that seems to have been tossed up here by playing children. The door is in the centre of the roof, implying that the entrance is somewhere in the school itself. It would be simple and easy to chain up the door with his hook and chain, rendering it impossible to open from the inside.

There are plenty of walkers he can throw his knife at, but none of the ones he can see present an active threat to himself or others.


Chris K

Disguised by walker innards, Chris K easily catches the already distracted walker unawares and drives his knife into its head. Beside him, he sees Mason drive his hand-axe down on another walker's skull.

Lauren's revolver is up and ready to fire when Chris K gives his command, but she grimaces and steps back. Clyde drops his rifle and swings his baseball bat, cracking one walker's skull open with an ugly crunching sound. This leaves the three men in reach for the remaining walkers to attack. One lunges for Mason, prompting him to hop back, its fingers trailing on his shoulders. Two attack Chris K, but are far less effective in doing so, as they surge towards him at the same time and only get in each other's way.

Chris takes a step back and picks the bigger looking walker to have a go at

ooc
07:49, Today: Chris K rolled 18 using 2d10+6.  Knife attack.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 144):

Not wanting to use up his precious supply of throwing knives, Juan gathers the wide variety of balls. Granted none of these would be a lethal weapon. However, it may confuse the dead person sudden distracted by a softball to the face. Of course he also chained up the door, just to be safe.

Juan

The door is easily secured, ensuring that no one and nothing will be able to surprise Juan unless they can either climb the school's walls or walk through walls. He also manages to bean a walker in the face with a softball, but they don't seem impressed.

Chris K

Both walkers are around six feet, but the heavier of the two manages to shove the other out of the way with its sizeable beer gut. This puts it right in Chris K's path and makes it easy for him to drive his knife into its head. Mason uses the opportunity to slip behind the other while it's off-balance, driving his hatchet into the side of its skull. It slips and falls, but still squirms after hitting the ground, so he drives his heel down onto its weakened skull, finally silencing it.

With a grunt, Clyde swings his baseball bat at the remaining walker. The blow catches it under the jaw, shattering it. The walkers reels, but before it can catch his balance, Clyde steps forward and slams the bat over the top of its head with a sickening crunch. After that, the hall is quiet again but for the sound of men's heavy breathing.

"Come on, keep it rolling," Chuck breaks the silence, waving everyone over to him.

Chris nods at Clyde, and motions everyone forward."Clyde, can you stay here in case any more come through the door?"

Following up last, Chris makes sure everyone reaches Chuck, and then looks at the nearest doors. He peers through the window of the nearest one checking for Walkers, but also to see if it looks like the windows could give an angle on Juan

If it looks good for both, he opens the door and motions the others in

In reply to Snicker (msg # 147):

"In your pus face, loser!" Juan screams down at the horde. Although the one he naileld in the noggin did not seem very impressed. Still, his job up here was not to end ant of the dead, but distract them.

He could yell now, as if any of them managed to make up to the roof somehow would have to deal with the chained door. Again, he was glad only one of two of them could try and open it-thus making it impossible without tools.

Getting the chain back might be tricky, but Juan could figure that out later if need be. For now, he was here to draw the horde away.

Juan

If the horde was unimpressed by Juan's softball, they are even less impressed by his insults. They reach up at him and snarl as they did before, with about as much impact. Further away, Vivian and Gloria continue to wait behind a parked car, with Gloria visibly getting fidgety.

Juan is holding the group's attention well enough, but as they continue to make noise, more stragglers arrive in ones and twos to join them. Juan can't be sure that the odd walker isn't wandering around the other side of the school or stumbling upon the others.

Chris K

"What, with him?" Clyde jerks a thumb at Mason. "Fuck it. Why not? If anything does come, I'd rather die first than last."

Leslie made a good call. As soon as Chris K looks in the classroom, he can see walkers pressed up against the windows, arms stretched over their heads and growling. Chris K can't see what they're growling at, but from their craned-back heads he can tell it's something above them. The security bars make it unlikely the walkers could get in the window, though it might be possible for them to pull them free of their moorings of a truly incredible number of them put their weight against the bars.

Juan is nowhere to be seen, but Chris K can hear him yelling.

Chris paused at the door, "Theres gotta be someone on the roof." Getting out the map, he said to the others "See if you can get eyes on Juan - and one of you check this room for anything useful"

Looking at the map, Chris tried to see if there was a way up

ooc
Is the school multi story, I don't recall hearing about stairs, and checked the description and it doesn't seem to indicate it

In reply to Snicker (msg # 150):

Juan gestures to those he knows to be human to get out. He especially gestures at Vivian and Gloria. He could figure out how to escape...somehow. Maybe. Right now, all that matters the survival of the group rather than just one.

"Come on, Motherfuckers! Work for it! Up Here!" He calls out.

Juan

At first, Vivian and Gloria ignore Juan's gesturing, but eventually Vivian looks directly at him and pointedly shakes her head no. She looks settled in for the long haul.

Vivian primarily keeps an eye on the walker horde beneath Juan's feet, but occasionally glances around for anything sneaking up on her; Gloria, in contrast, is chiefly focused on watching for stragglers rather than looking at Juan. When she does look in his direction, it seems just to confirm that everything is as she left it.

The walkers are indeed in the same place every time Gloria looks back. As long as Juan keeps yelling, they keep reaching up for him and moaning.

Chris K

"I think he's above us," Chuck says. Lauren presses one side of her face to the glass, craning her head to get an angle, but Chuck grabs her shoulder and pulls her back.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chuck hisses. "Don't get that close. They can still get an arm through those bars."

Chris K's map gives no indication of stairs or a second floor, but only lists the school's "public" rooms such as classrooms, bathrooms, and individual rooms such as the office, gym, and library. "Behind-the-scenes" type rooms such as storage or janitorial closets don't seem to be listed, but he can make some educated guesses on where they might be based on the "empty" gaps in the map.

Chris yells out the window "Juan, is that you on the roof?"

Looking at the others he adds "If hes on the roof, we can't cover him, so get back in the corridor out of sight of these guys" he gestures at the walkers at the window "IF he can lead them clear still, we can make a move out of here"

In reply to Chris K (msg # 154):

"Yeah, its me! Up here! I think I got a football left if you want it!" Jaun replies, looking around for Chris and holding up said football. "I think I got a basketball too if you like..."

Chris sighed with relief "Glad your ok. Were still inside - the disguise didn't work. Can you lure the zeds round the side, then we can get out with the injured."

This time after he spoke, he ducked down out of sight of the zeds, so if Juan started luring them, he wouldn't be a distraction.

Juan proceeds to try to do that very thing. He starts by making sure the dead can see and hear him, and then starts moving towards the sides of the building. So in order to stay close to Jaun and keep him in earshot the dead will be forced to follow.

Juan, Chris K

Chris K notices the others shying away from the windows, either pressing themselves up against the wall or trying to blend in with the room's desks and chairs. A few walkers seem to notice Chris K through the window, especially after he starts shouting, but most of them are too focused on Juan.

As Juan moves, the horde follows, though he has to measure his pace to keep from outrunning them. Pressed up against the wall, they are even less maneuverable than usual, with some walkers tripping over each other in their attempts to follow him. It takes a minute, but eventually Juan pulls most of the walkers well down the wall. At the road, he notices Vivian and Gloria following as well, staying low to keep hidden among the parked vehicles.

A few walkers hang back, however, apparently preferring Chris K to Juan. One, pressing itself right up against the security bars, hammers directly on the window until it cracks, then breaks. Chuck swears softly to himself, watching it carefully. Moaning, it reaches through the bars and into the classroom, carving strips of flesh off of its arm on broken glass, but it can't reach more than a couple feet into the classroom and everyone easily stays out of reach. Three more walkers try to reach past it as well, but of course, aren't any more successful.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 158):

Aside from a few bits of sports equipment, Juan has nothing to hurl down at the dead other than his words. As before, he was loath to waste his knives on so many. Still, he tries to keep the horde drawn to him as much as possible without actually leaving the roof.

Hissing to the others "Stay out of sight" Chris moves out of the room and into the corridor, hoping seeing him move away will draw the walkers away. He goes up the corridor to check the main doors and see how things are doing, asking Clyde "has it cleared enough?"

Juan, Chris K

The walkers are slow learners. Leading them away from the entrance is only a matter of Juan's patience and dedication.

"Clear as it's gonna get," Clyde says, though he doesn't look satisfied. A couple figures lurch through the parking lot, seemingly attracted by the groaning of the mob below Juan. It would be possible to slip by them unnoticed if Chris K and his people are quick and quiet, but there are so few that it may be easier just to kill them.

"Ok Lets move" he says, before poking his head back into Chuck "We're rolling, you guys bring up the rear"

Looking at Mason and Clyde he says "We'll lead, and clear the way. Quietly" he motions to Buster and Leslie to start bringing out the stretchers, as he leads Clyde and Mason outside, engaging any walkers nearby with his knife

ooc

08:23, Today: Chris K rolled 14 using 2d10+6.  attack nearby walker.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 161):

Juan was about out of sports equipment by now. Clearly its distraction value was questionable, but his shouting and swearing was much more effective. He kept moving along the roof, making sure the dead had to follow in order to keep him in line of sight.

Juan, Chris K

Juan's last piece of sports equipment is a purple foam football. It's not very lethal either, but he manages to knock a walker's glasses off, and even small victories are worth celebrating in times like these. More importantly, he continues to lead the walkers away from the others, now closer to the back of the school than the front that Chris K is exiting.

The two walkers are trivial for the group. Chris K himself slightly fumbles the blow, having more trouble penetrating the skull than he anticipated, but he doesn't even get the chance to tell if it killed the walker or not before Mason drives his hatchet more firmly into its head. Though technically quiet, no one even bothers to avoid detection; the walkers moan as they approach, but the group reaching for Juan is already making so much noise that it won't possibly make a difference. In seconds, the walkers are at peace, and the group mills around the van.

"Good work people, we're almost done," Chuck says. Despite his encouraging words, his tone is clipped and hurried. "We just got to get this van started and get out of here."

He pauses expectantly, but no one moves or speaks. The silence stretches on, until Chuck finally continues. "So...how are we gonna do that?"

Chris opens peers in the van and checks for any walkers inside. If its clear, he opens the door and checks the ignition for keys, and also the sun visor, in case anyone had left the keys in there. As he does so he says "Mason, Clyde, keep us safe please. Chuck, Buster - make sure the backs clear. Can anyone hot wire a van?"

In reply to Snicker (msg # 164):

Once it looks like the others can make a break for it, Juan will start thinking about getting himself the hell out of here. He proceeds to look about possible climb down routes...but really the best way could be via the stairs dow through the building.

After all, if the dead retained any thinking ability they would try the stairs. That would require a brain that is not distracted by a man screaming on a roof you can't physically reach.

Juan, Chris K

In theory, Juan could descend from the roof the same way he ascended to it: attaching his hook and chain to the edge. Of course, a delicate operation like that runs the risk of him accidentally falling, which would be embarrassing after all this. The safest route, indeed, would probably be via the stairs. It's also possible that it would be easier to descend from the edge of the roof if there is something he could hop down onto, such as a dumpster or a vehicle, but there are none visible on this side of the building and he'd have to go looking for it.

Everyone steps only far enough from the van to get a clear line of sight on all sides. Chris K sees no walkers inside the vehicle, but when he pulls on the van's door, it's locked.

"Well, can you hotwire it or not?" Buster asks, looking over at Clyde.

"Fuck no!" Clyde scoffs, annoyed.

"I'll give it a shot," Chuck says, looking over his shoulder. "Just some wires, right? I bet I can figure it out."

"Why'd you ask him?" Leslie asks Buster.

"Come the fuck on, you know why," Clyde interjects before Buster can answer. His tone is chiding, but with an undercurrent of cruel amusement. "'Course us urban types know how to steal cars, right, Rusty?"

"I'll figure it out," Chuck reassures Chris K. "It'll just take a minute."

"I - " Thomas immediately descends into a fit of coughing, but pushes himself up from the stretcher. "I can - I can hotwire it."

Buster makes eye contact with Clyde, giving a subtle but smug smile.

"...because I'm an electrician," Thomas continues.

Chris let oout his breath with a hiss "Its locked, dammit" He glanced around "We need something to muffle the sound of glass breaking, anyone got anything?"

Looking at Chuck he said "The way todays going, can you check the tires please? Everyone else shut up and keep watch. We can discuss stereotypes in stressful situations when we're safe" he said looking at Clyde and Buster

Moving over to Thomas he says "Thats great, buddy. Can you do it? Or do you wanna just talk one of us through it?"

In reply to Snicker (msg # 167):

Juan would have to look on the sides of the building later after everyone has gotten away. Right now he was calling the horde to the building, and he had to keep doing so to give them the best chance to escape. If they could get to the escaping already then he could start doing that for himself as well...

Chris K

Chuck circles the van, giving each tire a once-over and a kick. Satisfied, he gives Chris K a thumbs-up.

"Breaking glass ain't a big deal," Chuck says, then gestures in the direction of the mob trying to grab Juan. Though out of sight, the constant moaning of dozens of voices is still very audible. "That mess is still drawing more attention than anything short of a gunshot."

"Can't we use, uh, spark plugs?" Leslie looks around at the other vehicles. "Like the porcelain turns car windows into tissue paper, or something?"

"What?" Chuck shakes his head. "That's the dumbest shit I ever heard."

"Good Point" Chris says to Clyde, and smashes the drivers side window with the butt of his M4. He clears away the jagged pieces around the rim, and reaches in to open the door. Once open, he sweeps the glass as best he can off the seat. He motions to Leslie "Leslie, can you slip through to the back and open the doors, so we can start loading up, and get the passenger door open, too. Clyde, can you give me a hand with Thomas, so we can get this thing started"

He turns to Thomas "Ok how do you wanna do this - you tell us how to do it, or you do it?"

Chris K

"I'll do it," Thomas wheezes. "I can't - I gotta do it."

The driver's side window gives way after a couple of thumps with the M4. Fortunately, there is little risk of jagged glass; like most vehicle windows, it's designed to shatter into tiny pieces rather than large, dangerous shards. Hundreds of tiny glass pellets fall to the van's floor or out onto the parking lot as Chris K sweeps off the seat.

Leslie immediately hops into the van and into the back, popping locks and moving on as other team members open up the doors. Clyde basically lifts Thomas in a bear hug and drops him directly into the driver's seat, then pushes into the back of the vehicle. Soon, everyone but Chris K and Chuck are inside, the latter walking a brisk perimeter around the vehicle in case of walkers.

Thomas is obviously nearly blind, but his hands don't seem to be affected. His fingers finds the wheel first, then grope down towards the steering column and locate the ignition. Pulling a multitool from his belt, Thomas gets to work. A tense minute passes while he fiddles by touch, but no walkers or other dangers arrive before the engine starts.

"Okay!" Thomas shouts, then immediately is overcome with too much coughing to say anything more. Groping blindly, he finds the passenger's side seat, which the others had the foresight to leave empty.

Chuck moves to the rear of the van, nodding at Chris K. "You drive."

Taking one last look round, Chris got the street map out of his pocket, and got in the van. "Good Job, Thomas" he said, and patted the guy on the arm. He quickly glanced at the fuel gauge to see how much fuel they had and then looked at the rear view mirror. "Keep your eyes peeled as we move" He held up the map and said "Someone needs to take this and navigate for me."

As he waited for someone to take the map, he found the horn and tapped it twice, before giving a longer blast - hopefully Juan would get the idea that they were clear and get himself back ok. They should have arranged somewhere to pick him up, but it was too late now. As soon as someone takes the map he starts the van moving going about 20 MPH, until the map reader can orient themselves

Juan, Chris K

Chuck takes the map, opening it up. The group walked to the school, so they know the general direction to go, but the map makes it easier to plot out the most efficient route back to the motel. He picks it up quickly, rattling off street names as he thinks aloud before announcing that he knows where to go. As they leave the school grounds, Chris K can see the growing horde at the base of one wall, with one figure standing atop calling them.

Juan is going quite hoarse by the time he hears the van's horn and sees it pulling away from the school. None of the walkers seem to have noticed it, as they are still focused on him. Vivian and Gloria are still nearby, behind the row of parked vehicles on the road. They look over at the van passing before Vivian looks back at Juan, motioning for him to hurry up and move.

Ramona

As Ramona nears the school, she starts to see signs advertising its presence: either sandwich boards standing in the street, or taped over utility poles. All of them were clearly placed there after the dead rose, and all advertise the same thing: a market at Lonoke School, where anything can be bought and sold. As she gets closer, she sees that this market is popular indeed, with vehicles parked and sometimes double-parked in the parking lot and surrounding road.

At this range, she also hears the moaning of a walker horde. As she gets closer, she sees it: pressed up against one wall of the school, with a lone man standing atop the wall and screaming down at them. As she watches, she hears a car horn - first two short taps, then one longer blast - and a van pulls out of the parking lot around the corner, continuing down the road. It will pass relatively close to her, but from her current position, Ramona is unlikely to be seen unless she chooses to reveal herself.

Closer to the school, Ramona hears something that makes her blood chill: the raspy moans of walking corpses, a lot of them. Her pace quickens when she imagines that Tamara is somewhere close to those sounds. The school comes into view from a nicely concealed position, as does the small ocean of bodies slamming against the wall like a tide on the cliffside. The source of their greed is trivial to pinpoint: it had to be the idiot screeching down at them while his idiot friends rang the dinner horn in a van. Ramona remains hidden until the vehicle passes; these people were not her problem, and seeing as how she assumes they've made her search for Tamara more difficult, helping them isn't a high priority.

As much as Ramona wishes to barge in and find Tamara ASAP, she takes a moment to scope out the surroundings for the quickest or safest way of getting inside. All the while, she staves off worrisome thoughts about her sister's fate.

Chris drives the van, keeping it at a steady 30 - he doesn't want to drive into a car wreck, or bottle themselves up in a dead end.

He checks out the road ahead, trying to anticipate any possible bottle necks and manoeuvre the van clear of them as much as possible.

As he drives, Chris talks to Chuck in the back of the van

"AS we pass anything of interest, might be worth marking it up on the map for later checking, ok Chuck?"

He then raises his voice talking to everyone in the back

"Ok my plan is to get our injured back and drop them off ASAP. I intend to go back and see if we can pick up Juan before it gets dark, and maybe even try and get more supplies from the school. We know the risk from those cylinders, but that place is to much of a gold mine to pass up. Anyone who is willing to come back with me is welcome. We have a map of the layout, so can get it cleared out real neat if we plan it right."

ooc
What sort of time is it? I'm guessing if we used a van, some of us could come back to clear out the school again of some supplies before it gets dark? And what time does it get dark?

In reply to Snicker (msg # 174):

Jaun, glad to stop screaming and rest his voice takes a drink from his canteen. Toasting the horde below him before taking a swig as they howl and moan for his flesh and blood. He toasts a second time to see the van drive away...but frowns upon seeing Vivian and Gloria not inside the van.

He grumbles at the stubbornness, and proceeds to check the other sides of the building. Trying the find a route down via his chain with the least amount of the dead.

Juan

By now, the horde's groaning has attracted more walkers to the school, and Juan can see individual stragglers in every direction. There's no edge of the roof where he's not potentially visible to at least one walker, but they are far enough apart that he can easily stay out of their reach, especially if he uses his current coating of viscera to his advantage. The only truly dangerous place for Juan to get off the roof would be directly in sight of the horde below him.

Chris K

"I'm paying attention," Chuck says, looking out the window for any points of interest. Checking the map, Chris K can tell they'll be passing through unfamiliar streets at first, but once they get close to the motel, they'll be retreading roads they've already explored.

The road immediately surrounding the school is clogged with parked cars, but still passable, and everything past that point is all the more navigable. Chris K has to maneuver around the occasional crashed vehicle or other obstacle, but nothing that challenges his driving skills or forces a detour.


Ramona

One thing Ramona notices is that all visible windows to the school have been blocked off with security bars, meaning it will be impossible to get in or out that way. However, the front door is not blocked. The horde of walkers is around a blind corner, so she could probably reach the front door without attracting their attention, but the front door opens to a parking lot absolutely filled with vehicles, which could be hiding more walkers. If so, however, they can't be more than isolated stragglers.

These better not be Malcolm's people, Ramona thought, viewing the school as a grim open, it was a confidence shaker. What if Tamara was in trouble thanks to these people? Tamara can handle herself, that self-reassurance wasn't without merit; Tamara had gotten through worse. Still, she notes the faces of the people in the van -- they'd get a visitor if anything unfortunate happened to her sister.

Ramona set off toward the front door at a brisk jog, not wanting to waste any time with her search. Every second was a risk that horde wandered over to a bad position. Then, well, Ramona didn't want to consider the worst-case scenario.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 178):

Juan picked the side furthest from the horde. He gathered his chain and proceeded to climb down. He did not rush it, and stayed as silent as possible. Of course, if any of the dead on his side of the building got too close, he would use his throwing knives to silently take them down. This avoiding drawing any attension.

(Ooc-did Juan spot Romana going inside the building?)

Juan

Vivian and Gloria make eye contact with Juan one last time as he turns away, finally shifting position to leave. The horde continues to groan and snarl even after Juan moves out of sight and crosses to the opposite side of the school's rooftop. Nothing bursts out of the door after Juan collects his hook and chain, and he's able to drop down along a wall facing an open athletic field, with no room for walkers to hide. A few shamble across the flat grass and are likely to spot him, but that would be inevitable no matter where he dropped down.

By coincidence, he rappels down in front of a window. As he does, he notices a figure inside, pressed up against the glass. Reflected sunlight makes it hard to make out any details, and at first it looks like another walker that somehow remained trapped inside the school instead of grouping up with the others; however, as he lowers into its field of view, the figure suddenly recoils, apparently surprised by his silent descent. Once he's on the ground he can see it's a black woman somewhere in her twenties with an overladen backpack and a rifle in one hand.

Halfway across the grassy field, Juan hears the moan of a walker recognizing him. The woman glances in its direction, then thumps on the window with her fist. "Wait there!" she shouts, her voice muffled by the glass. "I'll come get you!"

She takes a step back and points at Juan again, like someone telling a dog to stay, and then turns and sprints out the door of the classroom on the other side of the window.


Ramona

Striking while the iron is hot, Ramona jogs for the front door. However, while the horde is out of sight, there are always more walkers on there way. As Ramona nears the school's entrance, a figure lurches out from behind a jacked-up pickup truck. It had been a man, relatively short - about her height - but stocky, with multiple bite marks running up its thick forearms. With a wet growl, it shambles towards her, limping but still quite mobile.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:45, Sun 17 Mar 2019.

When theyre about a block away from the school, Chris says "Cover your ears" and then leans on the horn as he drives, for another block or so.

After he lets up he says "Hopefully that will draw some away from Juan, at least, and we can outrun them in this easily enough."

He keeps his eyes on the road and calls to Chuck "How long do you think it will take to get back to the others?"

He also glances at Thomas and says "How you doing Thomas? Hang in there ok?"

Chris K

Once he's out of the vicinity of the school, nothing can seriously threaten Chris K's vehicle. Time is of the essence, though; even as they drive, they pass yet more straggling walkers heading towards Juan's position.

"Uh - " Chuck squints at the map, his eyes tracing the line of roads from the school to the motel. "Fifteen, twenty minutes to get to the motel? Can't drive too fast with all the shit on the roads nowadays. No ambulance coming if we crash."

Thomas continues to cough and wheeze to himself. He seems to be staying as still as possible to avoid exerting himself, but at Chris K's question, he raises one arm to give a thumbs-up.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 181):

"Well...fuck." Jaun says to himself in a whisper. He wondered of it was the person he chased after before, at the bar near the gas station. They had watched him fight off the last 12 of the horde he had burned, but ran away afterwards. He had been in no shape to chase them, and Chris and the others had needed his help.

He keeps an eye out for Vee and Gloria, but wished they would have left with the others. Maybe upon seeing him climb down away from the horde he distracted was enough for them to finally to to safety. Vee was intensely stubborn, so he kept watch for both.

For now, he waits for the stranger to show up. Clearly if she wished him harm she could have made aouda enough noise to draw more of them to him...or just shoot him. As a result he was going to stay put.

That being said, he gets one of his knives ready. He does not want one of them getting anywhere near him...

The emergence of a walker made Ramona jump back a step; no matter how many times she saw them up close, each one seemed more terrifying than the last. However, she personally believed that it was always in one's best interest to put down these rotting corpses whenever it was safe -- not doing so was an invitation for disaster at the worst possible times.

Readying her crowbar, Ramona took a step forward, raised it, then swung for the fences at the walker's braincase!

Juan

The good news is that the walker will not get near Juan anytime soon. It slowly shuffles across the field at him. Perhaps it is the agony of waiting that makes it seem so, but Juan could swear she is even slower than the average walker, shuffling towards him with a lethargic, gently swaying gait.

The bad news is that while the walker's legs aren't anything impressive, its voice is as loud as any other. It's only one groaning voice, but Juan knows for a fact that there is an entire horde of walkers within earshot, and the sound of that distant groaning is dropping off fast now that they've lost sight of him. Soon, this lone walker will be audible enough for them to hear and investigate.

Ramona

The walker lurches forward unexpectedly, but Ramona's reflexes are far too honed to be suckered by such an uncoordinated attack. The crowbar connects solidly with the walker's temple, splitting the skin and - Ramona feels through the metal - the skull beneath. With another soft moan it slumps to the ground and goes still, brackish fluid slowly drippling out onto the asphalt.

Ramona hears much faster movement from within the school. In seconds, it coalesces into sprinting footsteps, and then Tamara bursts from around a corner. She skids to a stop, then pauses, shock and realization on her face as she spots Ramona.

"Mo!" she calls, then hops out through the door. She has her trusty rifle in one hand and her backpack is noticeably laden. "You won't believe what happened, I'll tell you later. A man's about to die if we don't do something. Come on!"

She motions with her head, then rushes past Ramona, circling around towards the other side of the school building.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 186):

"Shut up!" Jaun hissed quietly. He followed that up with a thrown knife into the thing's eye. That indeed shut it up.

As for it attracting the horde on the other side of the building, he doubted one of them would do so. They where not bees, and given how much noise the moaning shambling horde was making on it's own they would not likely to even hear this one. Still Juan was not eager to test the theory.

He recovered his knife, and looked about for the new woman. If the horde did spill around the edges around the corner of the building he would have to leave.

08:16, Today: Juan rolled 16 using 2d10+7.  Thrown knife.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:09, Tue 19 Mar 2019.

Seeing Tamara again was like a weight lifting off her shoulders, Ramona already felt stupid for doubting her sister's capabilities. She might be able to take more hits, but Tamara had the most heart between the two of them. Unsurprisingly, there was someone that needed to be saved; Ramona just nodded and followed after her sister. Something so trivial as a horde of walkers wouldn't dissuade Tamara from doing the right thing, and nothing would stop Ramona from being there to help out.

Juan, Ramona

Juan scarcely has time to retrieve his knife before the woman rounds the corner. She's been joined by another in the mean time, this one with a crowbar. The two women move in tandem, without speaking or even sharing more than the occasional glance, suggesting they've worked together for some time.

"Wow, you really know how to work a crowd, huh?" the lead woman says. "I'm Tamara, this is Ramona. Don't know if you saw, but I think your people made it out. It's pretty brave, what you did."

She points south. Coincidentally, she's pointing almost directly towards where Juan had been when he first heard the alarm from inside the school. It's also almost the opposite direction from where he last saw Vivian and Gloria. "I don't know the area, but there's some houses down there. If we get past those, we're probably safe. Ramona and I will get you there. We can go our separate ways after that, if you want. Right, Ramona?"

Tamara looks over at Ramona. Her words and body language are hurried enough that she almost certainly doesn't expect more than a nod or shake of the head.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 189):

""Well, I always wanted to DJ-so I figure working with crowds would be good practice." Jaun smirked. "My name's Juan, by the way."

When she suggests they leave, he nods. "Good idea. I should tell you I had to blow up the gas station in that direction." He points. "I do have to find my people at some point. I should tell you there are a lot of us, and you two look like you know what you are doing. We could always use smart people."

He prepares to follow the two women as they head off. He does look for any trace of Vee or Gloria.

Ramona nodded, deferring leadership to Tamara, who usually had a knack for plans and the like. This new guy, Juan, was regarded with a cocked eyebrow. He blew up a gas station? Why in the world would anyone need to do that? It seemed wasteful, honestly. Then again, she didn't know the full story; maybe he had a good reason for it.

With those idle thoughts out of the way, she prepared to follow Tamara's lead, just like always.

Juan, Ramona

"You blew up a gas station?" Tamara asks, raising one eyebrow in a way almost identically to Ramona. "I hope it was for a good cause. No one's making it anymore."

Tamara leads Juan and Ramona south, away from the school. Along the way, they pass the overturned vehicle where Juan, Gloria, Vivian, and Chuck had killed some walkers less than an hour before. Their corpses still litter the area around the crash site. Tamara whistles as they pass. "I passed these guys on the way in. I guess your people took care of them."

By now, the sounds from the school have died down to nothing. Juan and Ramona can see lone walkers on the street, but all of them stand in place, apparently caught between purposeful investigation and aimless wandering. It seems the shift in gears has clouded their perception as well, since none of them notice the trio. Eventually, they reach the row of houses south of the school. Tamara opens the latch to a gate, then leads them into the backyard of one house, closing it behind her.

"I checked this place out before I tried the school," Tamara says as she closes the gate, shooting the others a grin. "It's got fences on all sides so it should still be clear. Be careful, though."

The unmowed grass is getting long, but not enough for a walker to hide unseen, even if lying prone. Nonetheless, Tamara immediately moves to the patio, where the cheap plastic chairs and tables provide no visual cover for walkers to sneak up on her. She sits on the edge of a chair, brimming with energy, and looks up at Juan.

"This is a good place to wait for things to calm down," she says, glancing at Ramona for a moment before looking back at Juan. "It won't take long - they've got short memories. Then it'll be easier to slip out."

"Its not like I did it for fun." Juan smirked. "Let's say I had a large group of things wanting Tex-Mex for dinner, and I decided they would be better off with just a barbecue. Besides, I could not keep running and try to get back to my group with them on my ass."

He looks around the safe haven the two women had found, and nodded at their success. "I am gonna look around for some liquid to wash this crap off at me. Its not doing that much good, and I am pretty sure the smell is getting to me...and no doubt both of you." Any liquid could get the stuff off of him, as clean drinking water was a rare resource these days. "How long would it be before we could go back you think?"

There was comfort in returning to the old routines; Tamara clearly knew what she was doing given their new temporary safe haven. Considering that Ramona had realized her attempt at independence nearly resulted in getting shot, maybe it was for the best that she stuck to following Tamara's instructions. On the patio, Ramona opted not to take a seat. Ever disdainful of staying still, she paced back and forth from one end to the other, eyes glued to the fence. The crowbar was gripped tightly, its curved end dripping with black blood; bashing in a walker head wasn't the same as a fair fistfight, but it gave the boxer those adrenaline rushes she craved. Hopefully, more would show up.

Once that stranger Juan got to talking, Ramona looked at Tamara quizzically, snapping her fingers to get her sister's attention. 'Tex-Mex?' she signed, simple and to the point. The man earned himself another one of Ramona's cock-browed, confused expressions. He expected to just find water lying around? Worse, he was going to waste it on washing himself? Sure, he didn't smell like a spring daisy, but everyone stank to high hell. She turned away from him so he wouldn't see her sign again to Tamara: 'He's wasteful.'

Juan, Ramona

There are no obvious sources of liquid here in the back yard. A green plastic garden hose is curled up next to the house under a wall-mounted spigot, but it's very unlikely there's any water pressure in the plumbing. Juan will most likely have to venture someone else to wash off.

Tamara looks over at Ramona when she snaps her fingers, but just gives a small shrug. The understated response doesn't make it clear whether she has no opinion on Juan's choice of terms or if she hadn't caught the obscure sign. She clearly understands Ramona's second sign, however; she gives Ramona a brief nod of agreement, then waves her middle three fingers by the side of her head for a second before waving her palm at her.

"Not long," Tamara says to Juan. Her leg bounces with nervous energy, but her voice is even. "Fifteen minutes to be safe. You should sit down and rest - both of you. Come on, you don't smell that bad."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 195):

Jaun grunts, but clearly disagrees with Tamara on how bad he smells. Plus just sitting and being still was fairly anathema to his very being. "Ok, ok." He said, and proceeds to take a seat. He wished he could sharpen his hook, but the noise might be too much. Juan tapped his fingers a bit as he waited. "So, where are you two from?" He said quietly, trying to do something with his built up energy.

Juan, Ramona

Tamara hesitates for a moment, glancing at Ramona, but gives Juan a smile when she looks back.

"Illinois," she says. "We've been moving on foot. It's slow, but more reliable than a car. The roads are terrible now. How about you?"

Ramona expressed her annoyance with a huff, Tamara was always telling her not to worry, who in the world would stop worrying nowadays? Juan might not be as dangerous as he appeared, but you didn't have to be healthy or smart to threaten someone. What if they needed water that went to waste? They'd had arguments like this countless times, it was why they were still alone. Another spat wasn't going to solve anything.

In the interest of appeasing Tamara, Ramona took a seat next to her, one hand drumming the table idly. Despite her apparent lack of interest in the talk, the boxer observed her sister as she cooked up some story. Thinking back to the meeting with Malcolm, she was relieved that knowledge of the RV hadn't reached him -- keeping secrets was, ironically, difficult for Ramona. That mobile home was their lifeline, a mystery both sisters went to great pains to keep. Juan couldn't know about it, for his own sake.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 197):

"Houston." Juan said, nodding. "Illinois is a long way from here. I ran out of gas a lot sooner than that sorta distance." He paused.

"You handed someplace else, or are you two sticking around here?" He actually posed that question to Romana, looking in her direction.

Juan, Ramona

"Houston?" Tamara raises an eyebrow, impressed. "You've come pretty far, yourself! Maybe not quite as far as us, but..."

She sighs through her nose, glancing at Ramona. "...far enough to know it doesn't get any better if we go south. I know things fell apart on the east coast before everything went off the air. We could try going west, but I don't think it'll be any better."

She either doesn't notice or doesn't care that Juan asked Ramona. "We don't stay anywhere. We're just looking for anywhere better than what we've seen." She gives a sad smile. "To be honest, this might be the best yet."

Riley

Riley had only recently arrived in Lonoke, but it seemed to be an exciting place. First she'd heard the far off screaming of a fire alarm, and as she grew closer, she'd heard gunfire. When she finally got view of the source - a children's school surrounded by parked vehicles - she'd seen a large man standing on a rooftop, screaming down at a horde of walkers crowding up against the wall below him. Eventually a van had pulled away from the school and the man stepped away from the roof's edge and out of sight.

The walker horde stayed at the base of the wall for a minute, but then started to disperse. This was when it was most dangerous - still packed, but no longer distracted. Riley ducked between some nearby buildings before she was spotted, and was getting distance on the horde when she heard voices from around the corner of a residential home.

"I can't find him," says a women's voice. "He must have gotten out of sight. You can go. I'll keep looking. Gloria, you go with him."

"That's the dumbest fucking thing I ever heard," answers a man's voice. "No wonder you two are joined at the hip, you're both gunning for Darwin awards. If that shit actually works, then he don't need you finding him anyway."

"I'm not keeping you here."

"And I ain't making you come with me. I just want you to know how goddamned brainless you are."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 200):

"Well, you two should check out my group then. Not to brag, but having people you can trust is the most important thing. Plus we could use long range scouts if you two dont feel like staying in one location." Juan said, shrugging. "But you are right, its not any better anyplace else."

Juan looked over at Romona, who had to be the quietest person he had ever met. Granted he knew a little about deaf people, but most of that was a hearsay and not much else. She seemed to be able to hear him just fine. He figured Tamara would tell him when they trusted him more.

It was never clear to her why she'd put the hood over her head thinking that it provided some sort of camouflage effect against the walking dead. The way they were shambling and growling at her proved her wrong.

Riley slipped behind nearby building in hopes of losing their sight on her. When she heard voices around the corner, she quickly threw herself against the wall while holding her breath.

People. She thought, expelling a breath of relief. It sounded like they're arguing about something. Okay, okay. You can do this. She placed her hand over her heart and gave herself an internal pep talk. There were millions of scenarios that ran through her head of how this would end if she chose to reveal herself. Most of them involved being attacked on sight like her previous encounters with strangers. She shook off the thoughts and took a deep breath.

Riley slowly removed the hood that concealed her head. She stepped around the corner to greet the stranger. Both of her hands were up in the air.

"Hello, I'm just passing through. There's a horde coming this way!"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:06, Mon 01 Apr 2019.

Ramona raised her hands to sign out a crude answer for Tamara to relay, only for the elder sister to take the chance away from her. A frown and a roll of the eyes illustrated her annoyance clearly. Sometimes it was tiring, being seen as the little sister that needed to be protected and cared for. Especially since she knew she could take (and dish out) more of a beating than Tamara ever could.

Regardless of her feelings on the matter, she couldn't precisely voice an objection. Well, she could, but her efforts to form coherent words weren't much better than those groans the walkers made. Now that was demoralizing.

Juan's little sales pitch about being in a group made Ramona look at Tamara knowingly, a silent reminder of their many discussions about the merits of staying alone versus seeking out a group. Ramona had been all for isolation, relying on each other to keep alive worked so far, she'd argued. Then again, she had no rebuttal to the possibility of one of them getting ill or injured and being unable to help each other. There were books for that, right?

Juan, Ramona

Tamara glances over at Ramona, giving her a look that only older siblings can give: a knowing, confident expression that says Trust me.

"You're right, Juan: having people you can trust is the most important thing. Ramona and I have that. It's not easy to put that kind of trust in people you've just met, especially now."

Tamara gives Ramona a subtle nod and the same look. Trust me.

"That's why it's a good thing I was listening to your group," she says, looking back at Juan with a smile. "I know what you did for them. It was brave. You all sound like good people. I'll give you guys a shot."

Riley

Riley turns the corner to see more people than the voices had implied: two women, a man, and a child. The child is a boy of about twelve, with a dusting of freckles across his fair-skinned face and black hair peeking out from under his ballcap. He's carrying a rifle, and immediately points it at her as she comes into view.

"Not straight at her, Seb," says the man. The boy lowers the rifle slightly, just enough to not be pointing directly at Riley's feet. The man skin is the same pale colour as the boy's, but he's blond. He also carries a rifle. "People do dumb shit when you point guns at 'em. Just keep it ready."

"They're coming straight here?" asks one of the women. She's paler than the first two - almost cadaverous, with bright orange hair, dense freckles, and a body that looks like it got halfway through puberty and then gave up.

"Did you bring them to us?" accuses the remaining woman. She appears to be Hispanic and looks a little rough around the edges, as if she's had a harder go of it than the others. She steps forward, placing herself in front of the red-haired woman, and puts her hand on the hilt of a sheathed knife. She cocks her head slightly and listens. "I don't hear any moaning..."

In reply to Snicker (msg # 204):

"Cool." Juan says. "I bring in 6 more people I get the company car. Now I just need your credit card info and we can make this offical." He chuckled.

"Seriously, if you where listening in you know why we where at that school. My friends will be coming back after they see to the wounded. There are a lot of supplies we could use in there, and we will share it with you guys weather you go or stay if you can help us get it."

Riley let out a sigh of relief when the strangers did not shoot her on sight. She slowly lowered her arms and turned her body slightly to the side. Even though she's seen children with firearm prior to the outbreak when they're out hunting, it was still disheartening to see what children have to do to protect themselves in the current state of the world. She shifted her attention away from the young boy with the rifle to the woman asking her questions.



"Maybe." Riley pointed her finger at the direction which she came from. "They were gathered around the school back there. There was a man screaming on the roof to get their attention, when he stopped, the horde started moving again. They'll be here in a few minutes. I don't think they spot me, but I wouldn't stick around to find out." She explained what she saw earlier to the strangers.

"I heard gunshots earlier, was that from you guys?"
This message was last updated by the player at 15:36, Thu 04 Apr 2019.

Juan, Ramona

"Thanks, Juan," Tamara says. "The biggest problem with getting those supplies out of the school is how much of it there is. It'll probably take multiple trips if you want to get everything. Moving that many people around is going to attract attention."

She smiles. "We call that a 'problem of plenty'. That's the good type of problem. Right, Ramona?"

Tamara winks at Ramona before standing. "I think we've given those things enough time to wander off. We should look and see if it's safe to leave yet."

Riley

"There's been a lot of shooting," the Hispanic woman says evasively. She shoots the redhead a glance. "That tends to happen nowadays. Hard to keep track of who's doing it."

"That man you saw was with us," the redhead says, stepping forward. "He was distracting them so other people could get away. Did you see where he went?"

"Vivian, they're coming this way," the Hispanic woman urges. "We gotta go!"

"Found us a good route," the man says brusquely, jerking his head in a direction that would lead away from the horde. "Either you follow us or you don't. C'mon, Seb."

"I didn't, sorry." Riley answered truthfully. She wished she had time to get to know these people a bit more before having to make the decision to follow them. With the current state of things, there weren't much time for her to consider her options.

"Lead the way." Riley spoke. She jogged behind the others and kept up the pace.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 207):

"Cool." Juan said, nodding. "If push comes to shove, we may need to fight off that horde. Although given how well getting them to follow me works, if we could lure them into a place that would trap or take them out, it would be much safer for everyone." That plan would have to wait as he got up to follow her and her sister.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:05, Sat 06 Apr 2019.

The younger sister nodded; she was intimately familiar with the problem of plenty. Ramona had forgotten the last time they faced a situation like that. An excess of supplies had always set them up for weeks of stable living, but what Tamara always seemed to forget was the trouble they had to go through for the loot. Large pools of resources meant walkers, which were the reason nobody had ever claimed them. When it wasn't walkers, it was people,  not usually the friendly kind. This highly dangerous supply run didn't look like it'd be any different from the rest.

At Tamara's queue, Ramona stood up and stretched her arms high. It was time to mosey on. She gave a thumbs up once Juan pitched his idea, then pointed at the fence surrounding the yard with her crowbar. A conversation wasn't her strong point, but Ramona still had plans to share. One look at Ramona's cocky expression and Tamara would know a classic that had saved them back in Rockford: the 'fenced sheep technique.'

In reply to Ramona (msg # 210):

Jaun's eyes followed Romana's crowbar. "Nice thinking there. Before we head back, how about we prepare that yard to hold them?" He pointed out.

Juan, Ramona

Tamara looks around, surveying the yard, then gives Ramona a very skeptical frown.

"That's a whole lot of dead for such a little yard," she says. The yard is not actually so little, at least compared to some others Juan and Ramona have seen, but it would nonetheless look pretty full containing the full horde they saw at the school. The fences, too, would not last long if said horde marshaled itself against it.

She looks back at Juan. "Let's get out there first and see if anything needs holding."

Stepping out of the back yard but sticking close to the house allows the group to check the streets without much risk of being seen. There are a few wandering dead, but they are scattered. Both Juan and Ramona recognize of the more distinctive-looking walkers from the horde, suggesting that it has dispersed.

Riley

The man and boy leave, with Riley jogging after. The redhead, Vivian, looks uncertain, but the Hispanic woman looks over at her.

"Juan can look after himself," she says patiently, but firmly. "We've seen him do it. Ain't the whole reason we're out here to look after them?"

Vivian considers this for a moment, then nods. "Yes, it is."

All five migrate out to the street, making distance from the school. Within a few minutes, they see a van approaching. Riley recognizes it as the one she saw leaving the school.

Chris slowed as they approached the group "Those are the guys who ran off and left us. Guessing you still want to stop though, Malcolm?" Chris asked, his voice non-committal.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:59, Mon 08 Apr 2019.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 212):

"Yeah, the fence is not reinforced enough." He said. "Maybe we can use the school itself? Lure them up to the roof so they can fall off trying to reach me. Might take some planning. Elevator shaft would be perfect..."

He keeps following the two sisters even as he considers the idea.

"Yes, Jesus dude, pull over." He says, when the van slows he opens the door and stands up on the vans runner so that the crowd can see him clearly.

"You guys alright, any bites?" He looks at everyone's face to identify them, stopping at the new girl. "Hi." he says, addressing her directly.

"I don't know him well, but the school was surrounded by a lot of them. One capable man isn't going to break through all that by himself. Maybe we can make some noise to draw them away and give him an opening to escape." Riley suggested to the red headed woman. Or, Vivian, as they called her.

Riley spotted the approaching van. She fought the urge to turn and run. "Are they with you?" She asked the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:22, Mon 08 Apr 2019.

Malcolm, Chris K, Riley


Vivian gives a dry chuckle and glances over at Riley. "You'd be surprised. He's got some tricks up his sleeve."


No one answers for a moment, but Riley can feel tension rising in the others. After a few seconds, however, the man relaxes. "Yup. I see Malcolm and Chris in the front."

Once the van stops, Caroline steps out of her seat, approaching the door. She doesn't exit the vehicle, but she locks her eyes on the blond man, who gives her a small, businesslike nod in response.

"No bites!" the boy says excitedly. "None of us! We left Juan and he might'a got bit, but we didn't see it none! We just met this girl but she don't look bit. Maybe under her clothes, though."

"Juan's still back there," Vivian says, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. "I don't know where exactly."

"Lots of dead fuckers, too!" the boy continues. "New girl said they're coming this way! I can hold 'em off while you look!"

Juan, Ramona

"No, we should get them away from the school," Tamara says, shaking her head. "Let's keep it simple. Don't go looking for trouble."

Her words seem to be a reply to Juan, but she looks pointedly at Ramona as she says the last sentence, her words taking on a chastising edge. She lets her words hang in the air for a moment before looking back at Juan.

"You said your friends are coming back, right? Where did you agree to meet up?"

Chris also looks at the blond man and says "Glad your safe. The rest of us made it ok, too, if your interested. We're off back to get Juan."

He keeps his eyes on the Blond guy and adds "If they're lots of the zeds on the way hop in. But we're getting Juan. If you don't wanna be part of that team, feel free to keep walking away"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:26, Tue 09 Apr 2019.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 217):

"Well, we did not agree to meet anywhere. However, I know they are not leaving those supplies. We got kids back at our camp so we need them. So we would meet up near the school, if not at it."

He paused. "You know, there may be a simpler way of taking out the Horde. Any one of us could kill them one at a time. We just have to make sure that it stays that way.

How about this? I lead them back to an elevated platform they can't climb or reach, and we just pick them off until they are down to a manageable number? If we get tired, we rest, and then finish it. We just need someplace high enough..."

"No bites here. I made sure of that." Riley smiled at the boy. Her voice carried by a hint of confidence and pride. She stepped towards the van. An introduction was in order.

"Hey there! I'm Riley. I ran into the others earlier." She waved her hand at the driver and passengers of the van.

A frown surfaced when Riley overheard the young boy swearing. She studied the expression on the other adults, wondering if this was a tolerated behavior for young children in the group.
This message was last updated by the player at 19:43, Tue 09 Apr 2019.

"Riley," Malcolm repeated the name as if committing it to memory. "I'm Malcolm, nice to meet you. We're part of a larger group but right now we're headed towards the horde to try and get some supplies and our guy back. Dunno what your plans are but if you want you can hop in too, you alone or got a group?" He asks.

"I'm alone." Riley answered. "You guys seem decent." She took a good look around at the new faces, trying to familiarize herself with them. "Yeah, sure, I'll come along."

Riley stood there for a moment, recognizing the functioning vehicle and what it could do for the group. She placed a hand on her hip, leaning slightly to one side."You know, I bet you can draw most of them away with that van. The rest of us can go on foot and see if we can reach Juan."

Malcolm shrugged, he wasn't gonna question how quickly people attached themselves to groups considering his actions the past few months. The more the merrier.

"Thats actually my plan, I've done it before and I think it'll work." He waves at everyone to get into the vehicle as he talks.

"Dunno if they told you but theres supplies in that school Juan is. We need to get them but I guess it's lined with traps."

As usual, Tamara had to go and poke holes through Ramona's plan. Annoyingly, the younger sister only started to notice how flimsy the fence looked after it had been pointed out. Naturally, Tamara wasn't content with tearing down that attempt to contribute alone; she had to go and insinuate things that, while true, weren't appropriate to talk about in front of a stranger. Ramona glared at Tamara, and made a quick sign: "It finds me," she lied, but it wasn't like her amateur burglary was going to be found out.

Perhaps it was fortunate that Juan interrupted this spat in the making with something that took Ramona by surprise. Gesturing at Juan, Ramona looked at her sister in disbelief, "No meeting place?" she signed. Agreeing on a place to meet was the most basic of basics, how in the Hell had these people managed to screw THAT up?

With a roll of her eyes, Ramona didn't wait for an answer before setting off toward the gate. Unlike some people, she could roll with a bit of improvisation. When had that ever failed her?

Malcolm, Chris K, Riley

Vivian looks irked at the kid swearing, and Riley sees a brown-skinned teenager in the van lean forward in her seat to get a look, an expression of bemused disbelief on her face. None of the others seem fazed.

"Don't tell me you're all okay, yet," the blond man says, pointing off-handedly at Chris K. "Give it a week. See how many survive gettin' that shit all on you. Then we'll talk.

"C'mon, Seb." The blond man steps into the van, followed by the boy. The man gives Chris K another side-eye as he settles into a seat. "Seb and I gave Juan some fire support when his plan fucked up, by the way. How much you done for him so far?"

"What are these traps?" Vivian asks. "I know there was an alarm involved, but what exactly happened?"

Juan, Ramona

Tamara answers Ramona's first sign with a somewhat patronizing look and one of her own.  At the second sign, she looks more troubled and can provide a subtle shrug in response. Her troubled expression grows at Juan's plan.

"Like I said, don't go looking for trouble," she says. This time, it's clearly directed at Juan. "It doesn't matter how many you kill. There's always going to be more. Once we find your friends, we can plan how to get the supplies out of the school."

The streets still contain scattered walkers, just as they did before. Given the perceptive powers of most walkers, it will be possible to sneak past with a bit of luck if the group keeps its distance.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 225):

Juan shrugged. "We are gonna have to deal with them sooner or later if we want that stuff." He said. "We tried to get people out using the blood and guts camo and that stuff fails pretty quick. No way of knowing what movement will give you away..."

Catching the Blond guys eye Chris says "Came back for him. You were still just gonna leave him. But we can argue about this bullshit after we got him."

He glances at Vivian and adds "The traps we saw were gas canisters, a few very obvious ones around the place. They didn't go off until Thomas examined one. So steer clear and we should be ok"

He waits until everyones in,and then says to Malcolm "Ok, where to from here?"

"Traps? Those supplies don't belong to someone else do they?"

Riley stepped into the van after the others. She was glad there were still people around in this area. She listened to the conversation, trying to learn as much about these people as she could.

"Lock it up." He said to both Chris and the blond man. Then looked to the new girl and Sid. "Riley right? I don't know if they belong to anyone, I wasn't there. If there ain't no one there then its ours as far as I'm concerned. I got too many mouths to fee to let those supplies go. Which brings me to my second point. I don't know what kinda gas it was but ain't there a chance it's still like, there?" He asks.

"I don't remember much from chemistry class but if its gas in a room with no working ventilation then it can probably just sit there for a long while. Whats to say we won't walk right into it again?" He asks. Pulling out the map again and ponting own the road.

"Just keep heading in that direction, Chris." He says.

At Juan's comments, Ramona is taken aback. Once again, she faced her sister, looking thoroughly panicked. "Blood and guts? Crazy people?" she signed, trying not to look at Juan for fear of him noticing her pensiveness. What in the hell did he mean by that?

Malcolm, Chris K, Riley

The blond man locks it up, but clearly thinks little of Chris K's retort. He looks over at Caroline, who looks back, but the boy doesn't seem to notice their exchange.

"They don't belong to no one no more!" the boy turns in his seat to look at Riley. "It was like a flea market! You could buy and sell anything, even sex, but now they're all dead! We shot 'em all!"

Vivian clears her throat. "Seb means they died before we got here, then got up, then we shot them."

"We sure did!" Seb continues. "The other set off a trap with an alarm, so all those dead fucks went after it, and we snuck up behind and genocided 'em! They didn't even know we were there until half of 'em were dead!"

It's only another minute or two before the school is in sight. The occupants of the van catch sight of it at about two blocks away. The building itself is relatively nondescript, but the mess of vehicles parked in and around the parking lot makes it clear this was a place of some importance. The walkers are relatively thick in the streets here; not quite a horde, but still dense enough that they could gather into a mob rather quickly if provoked.

Juan, Ramona

Tamara gives Ramona another look. This time, she doesn't make any sort of hand signal. The concerned expression on her face is enough.

"I don't know anything about blood and guts camo," she says, stating each word plainly and clearly. "We can lead them away with noise. That's what brought them here in the first place. If you want to fight them all, you can, but I won't help you. It's too dangerous for me."

She glances at Ramona. There is an affirmative look in her eyes, but it's not clear whether she's asking for confirmation or declaring it. "For us. Anyway, none of this matters until we find your friends. When we do, we can decide on our plan."

Chris pulls up in the middle of the road, and puts on the hand brake. Leaning on the steering wheel he says "When we left Juan was on the roof on the far side, having drawn all the zeds round there. It looks like he no longer is, or might be hiding, coz they seem more dispersed. We're gonna need to check around for Juan though"

He reaches into his pocket and gets the map out, spreading it out on the steering wheel and motioning Malcolm to look.

"We were in here" he points at the library "when the alarm triggered. There was food and stuff in there, but thats where the gas was, so I am not sure how safe that will be. Might be coated with the stuff. Theres also some zeds we locked in there we would have to deal with. The other main point of interest is here" he points at the Gym " which seems to be where the weapons were, but possibly also food etc. We didn't check that. All the rest are worth checking, but I think we should probably focus on food and weapons today. Once we find Juan."

He leans back and looks at Malcolm "So my thoughts. Someone drives the van around honking the horn to draw the zeds away from the school. A team go in and check for Juan and supplies. They pile stuff up here " he points to the entrance "the van comes back. We load it all up and drive off into the sunset before the following zeds catch up. As we drive off we make a lot of noise so the zeds don't all pool up round the school. If anyone gets seperated, we pick somewhere we noted on the way here for them to get too, and we can pick them up from there."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:20, Thu 11 Apr 2019.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 231):

Juan seemed surprised. "You dont think I get this messed up for fun, do you?" He smirked, gesturing at the gore on his clothes.

 "Those things, they ID each other by smell. If you smell like one of them enough, and move silently and slowly, they will ignore you. Move too fast, and they figure it out. It works well enough when I am alone, but with groups of other living people it does not work so well."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:47, Thu 11 Apr 2019.

"That's... very descriptive and impressive, Seb." Riley was hesitant to respond. "How old are you?" She asked, this question had been on her mind for a while.

Riley listened attentively to Chris's explanation of the layout of the area. "I'll join the others to find Juan. I kind of want to meet him myself after all the things I've heard." She volunteered herself.

"Oh my god, this place is a gold mine." Malcolm says, looking out at the cars. He only returns his attention to inside the van when Chris pulls out the map.

"Guns at a flea market? Man the south is such a wild place. Alright, a couple things then. Sid, Kale, listen up."

"The plans good Chris but a couple things. Have any of you tested those cars to see if they work? I know how to hotwire, I just need something small like a screwdriver and it's easy as can be. We need vehicles, hell it sounds like everything we need is in there." Mal thinks for a moment.

"Our main goal is Juan, so how 'bout. Chris you stay with the van. Get real close and blare the horn then just reverse outta here. We'll take some cover and hide while the horde moves away. Then we go in, we gonna work in two teams here alright?" He says, looking back to the crowd inside the van.

"Kale, Seb and Lawrence. You head towards the gym. Remember we're looking for Juan but if you don't see him start checking the weapons and loading them at the entrance. I know you guys know your guns so I trust you to prioritize what we need and ammunition and all of that. If for whatever reason it gets hairy you back out immediately you understand, no heroics."

"As for me, Chris I know you're comfortable driving but I'd like someone whose been in there to help out. I'd like for me you, Sid and Vivian and Riley to go check out the gas area and look for Juan there. Same deal as before, stack the supplies by the entrance."

He looks to the last two. "I know what you're both capable of. But If you could handle the van part and be back in like ten to fifteen minutes thats what we need. Do any of you got any complaints." He looks at his audience.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:43, Thu 11 Apr 2019.

In a time like this, Ramona wished she could speak, Juan could've used someone talking some sense into him. Putting aside the smell, getting that black blood anywhere near you was like playing with fire as far as she was concerned. Tamara wasn't raising any objections, however, and that silent acceptance kowtowed Ramona back onto the problem at hand. If Juan wanted to wear walker cologne, that was on him.

At Tamara's reiteration of the plan, it couldn't be helped; Ramona smirked at the look her sister gave -- was that a challenge? For all of Tamara's intelligence, her endurance wasn't up to par, which is something Ramona had always leveraged against her, citing the numerous times a strong arm had saved their bacon when good plans went to Hell. Needless to say, Tamara was lucky her young sister's smug grin was just that, a silent, knowing look.

They'd spent enough time talking. Beckoning for the two to follow, Ramona crouched low and started walking a fair distance away from the aimless walkers pockmarking the streets. She gripped her crowbar tightly in anticipation.

Malcolm, Chris K, Riley

"Old enough," Seb tells Riley with a smirk.

"Twelve," Caroline answers, looking over at Riley. Seb frowns at her, but Caroline doesn't react. "Seb is twelve."

"And he knows more at that age than half the men you ever met!" the blond man announces proudly.

"Yes, he does," Caroline says, giving a small, but proud smile.

"Anyway, we checked the cars some," the blond man continues, turning to Malcolm. "We didn't open 'em up just in case of alarms. This van was one of 'em, though, so I figure most'll work. Anyway, we'll get the ammo you need. There probably ain't any more biters in there, but if there are, we won't start any fights we don't got to. Right, Seb?"

"Right!" Seb announces enthusiastically.

"Seb, what was the last thing your father said?" Caroline asks.

"We won't start any...oh." Seb wilts slightly, but still seems game.

"Five of us are looking for Juan and only three are looking for ammo?" Sid asks. "Shouldn't we, like, go fifty-fifty?"

"I ain't taking the Californian to get guns," the blond man interjects.

Juan, Ramona

Tamara looks down at Juan's healthy coating of unhealthy gore, wrinkling her nose. "I just thought you had a big day. We'll...keep that trick in mind."

Tamara made eye contact with Ramona again. While she didn't seem interested in talking sense into anyone, she looked about as eager to wear walker cologne as Ramona. Instead, she stays low, following after Ramona. The closest walkers are still far enough that they're unlikely to spot the group unless they draw attention to themselves.

"We can get back to the school the way we came," Tamara whispers. "Juan, if your people are looking for you, they'll be there, right?"

Chris listens to Malcolm and nods. He looks vaguely quizzical when he seems to contradict himself - Chris can't stay with the van and go with him - but doesn't make a fuss.

"I'll happily tag along with you. But best we change out driver here, right?"

Folding the map and pocketing it, Chris checked the rear view mirrors and looked around before getting out the cab, grabbing his gear, and making his way round to the side of the van and opening the door to get in

"So which of you wants to drive?" He asks as he gets in.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:00, Fri 12 Apr 2019.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 237):



Then he looks down at his gore covering. "I knew you thought I smelled bad!" He chuckled. "Yep. I told them not to worry about me and just go for the supplies...but they don't listen so good." He grinned.

"He is very brave, more so than some men I knew." Riley glanced at the boy one last time. She gave him a gentle smile before returning her focus to the task at hand.

"I'm ready. I don't have a gun on me, but I do have this." Riley pulled out the stick from her backpack, revealing its true nature, a baseball bat. The tip of it was covered in dried blood. She already lost count of how many heads she had to bash with this thing.

Riley took a moment to look around her surroundings, searching for any sort of landmark. "Where should meet up if things go south?"

Ramona swiveled around to Tamara and Juan, the latter of whom she glared at fiercely, a hand raised as if she were ready to strike him. She didn't, years of disciplined training had tempered her issues with anger -- mostly. If anything, it taught her that knowing when to throw a punch was vastly more important than how hard you could hit someone. Her fist uncurled, and she slowly raised an index finger to her lips, "Shhhhhh..." she whispered, pointing to the walkers some ways in the distance. With that, she turned around and continued her steady gait back toward the school -- back to those delicious supplies, and a bunch of people who might think covering themselves in walker guts was a good idea.

"Alright, then lets do this." he gets out of the van and scans the area for a place to hold up while the van does it's job.

Malcolm, Chris K, Riley

Caroline and the blond man exchange looks. Something seems to pass unspoken between them, and after a moment, Caroline looks over at Chris K. "I'll drive," she says.

"Good, 'cause I'm going with Viv," Gloria says, hopping out of the van. She looks over at Riley. "How about...if we get separated, we go where we got picked up by the van. We all know where that is."

Once everyone is out, Caroline drives the van towards the school. She starts attracting attention almost immediately, but continues until she's directly in front of the school, then leans on the horn. She holds it for several seconds, allowing the walkers to congregate, then drives in the opposite direction, away from the group. The horn slowly fades as she pulls the crowd away from the school. It takes a couple of minutes before the walkers get their asses in gear, but eventually the front of the school looks clear.

Juan, Ramona

Juan, Ramona, and Tamara are almost halfway to the school when they suddenly hear a horn blaring from the opposite side of the property. It holds, and holds, and holds, and all the nearby walkers on the street shuffle towards it. Eventually, the origin of the sound starts to move, but not quickly, and the walkers continue up the street towards the front end of the school, leaving Juan, Ramona, and Tamara behind.

Now it was Malcolms turn to give someone the side eye Glaring at Gloria for being unable to follow a simple plan. for as great as Vivian could be, it sucked that Gloria was constantly at here heels.

hispanics

Crouched away from the shamblers Mal took a few breathes to steady himself, feeling spikes of pain when he expanded his lunged and pulled his fresh wounds taut. He pulled a few bullets out of his pistol magazine as noise makers. With Sid wielding his knife he didn't have a melee weapon but thankfully everyone around him did.

When the coast was clear Mal stood up, nodding his head at the group.

"Lets go to work."

Chris nodded at Malcolm and said "As the regular around here, makes sense I take point ok?"

Without waiting for a reply, Chris starts moving cautiously forward. He keeps to the side of the road, checking alleyways before he crosses them, but apart form that just checking doors and windows are secured before moving past them. He walks fairly quickly, checking behind every so often to make sure the others can keep up.

Once he gets to the cars parked in front of the school he pauses, so everyone gets togethor.

"I'll go ahead and check the entrance, and if its clear I'll wave you guys up." he says to Malcolm, before moving up to check out the entrance way of the school.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 243):

While glad to see the horde go, he was not sure who was leading them away. Maybe the people who set those traps in the first place. They certainly would not be happy seeing thieves trying to steal their supplies.

"We need to be careful. I don't know whose driving that car. It could be my people...but it also may not be." He whispered to the two sisters.

The blaring horn initially startled Ramona, who had long since been conditioned to bolt at the first sign of loud noises. However, she noticed the walkers advancing away from them, meaning that some unknown savior had seriously saved their bacon. Signaling for Juan and Tamara to keep moving, Ramona continued on towards the school, where hopefully they could snatch some supplies unmolested for once.

In reply to Ramona (msg # 247):

"Be careful. There are traps and alarms in there. We need to wait for my people." He whispered to Ramona and her sister.

"Sure, just don't get us killed, I'll be pissed." Mal says, deferring to him with a grin. Stacking up behind Chris, Mal makes his way behind him. Pistol in one hand with a fistful of bullets in the other. He crouches down and watches the sandy mop top bob up and down as Chris checks the entrance. He waits for the signal. Keeping his closed fist up for the others to signify not to move.

Malcolm, Juan, Chris K, Ramona, Riley

Fortunately, walkers lack the intelligence to set deliberate ambushes, and Chris K sees no signs of remaining threats. All of them seem to have followed the distraction, as intended. The others move up with Malcolm; Sid has her head on a swivel, watching the nearby cars warily, but the others have all been here before and are more comfortable.

When Chris K reaches the entrance, he spots a fresh corpse next to the door, but no other signs of immediate danger. Soon after, however, both he and Malcolm spot a figure turning the corner of the school. It is female, and while it moves cautiously, they can see enough to tell it's clearly not a walker. After a moment, Malcolm realizes its Ramona.

After turning the corner, Ramona realizes that there is an unfamiliar man near the entrance to the school. Further observation reveals that there are more people further back, and she recognizes one as Malcolm, the man from the motel.

Next around the corner are another two figures. One, a young woman, is unknown to almost everyone, but Juan is unmistakable.

Chris blows out a breath and looks at Malcolm smiling "Well that was easier than I dared hope, thank fuck. "

Getting up from his crouch Chris, goes inside and moves forward towards Juan, smiling. As he gets closer he says "Juan! Glad your ok" in a loud whisper, and holds out his hand to be shaken "Plan worked, everyones back getting treated" Motioning over his shoulder "We came back to look for you and check this place out."

Chris is average height, but fairly stocky - looking like muscle rather than fat, with sandy hair. He is wearing work trousers, with padding at the knees, work boots, and a lumberjack shirt. Hes carrying an M4, with a rucksack on his back.

In reply to Chris K (msg # 251):

Jaun grabs Chris' shoulder in a friendly way, and grins at the other man. "Awesome." He says quietly. "This is Romona and Tamara. Met them after I got off the roof. They can help us get the goodies inside." He looks around. "You run into Vivian or Gloria? I told them to go, but I did not expect them to listen." He looked around for the two women he mentioned.

Malcolm puts his fist down, pointing to Juan and Ramona. "I really don't believe this." The kid says incredulously, getting up and moving over to the trio of new comers. "I guess if anyone was gonna survive it'd be you Juan. Happy to see you're not hurt." He looks at Ramona now.

"So we meet again, tell me you're not taking Juan hostage now are you?" he asks in a light, mocking tone.

Riley moved in with the others at the signal. Lucky for them, the group reunited with the others. She spotted a large man with a mildly intimidating appearance. She assumed him to be Juan.

The dirty blonde haired girl in blue hooded sweater approached the man. "You must be Juan, I heard a lot about you." She extended her hand to the man. "I'm Riley, I ran into Vivian and your people a while back."

"If that also means saving my ass, I will take it." Juan chuckled. He then looks between Ramona and Malcolm. "So, you two know each other? I hope it was a better situation than this..."




Jaun nods, and takes her hand with his. He sort of towers over her, but does not seem like he is trying to. His appearance is not helped by the repeatedly broken and then reset nose, or the dangerous looking chain and hook he was wearing around his torso bandoleer style.

His eyes light up when she mentions a familiar name to him. "Viv and Gloria ok? They actually in a safe place and not coming after me? I'm shocked. They never do what I ask...well, almost never I guess."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:06, Tue 16 Apr 2019.

"No, they're here looking for you too." Riley chuckled lightly and gestured her hand at Vivian. "You're quite the ladies man, everyone's looking for you." She left him with a smile and a chance to catch up with the others.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
OOC: I'm pretty sure she's with us, she was in our group when we had everyone split.

---

Riley shifted her attention to the two other new faces. "Hello." She greeted. "I'm Riley, nice to meet you two." She offered her hand to the two like she did with Juan.

At first, Ramona froze upon sighting the unfamiliar faces poised to enter the school, but when she spots the spectacled, gangly-bodied man among them, she relaxed and rose to her full height. Malcolm's question was met with a slight smile, an aside glance to Juan, and her palm raising up flat -- a 'so-so' gesture. Then she realized Tamara was close, the boxer's hand lowers; Ramona tried her best to appear apologetic when she signed out an explanation; "Strangers, misunderstanding". All in all, between a normal conversation, being saved from a horde of walkers, and eating stale chips with flat soda on the side, Ramona wasn't feeling too negatively about these people. How much of that could be attributed to their moral compasses instead of Malcolm's influence was still up in the air.

In spite of this ostensibly positive encounter, it was clear that these people weren't just here for Juan. Thus, when some girl named Riley approached with an introduction in mind, Ramona brushed her hand aside and marched toward the school doors with a single-minded focus that Tamara would know all too well. She wanted to get first dibs on those supplies, and she beckoned her sister to come to along.

Malcolm, Juan, Chris K, Ramona, Riley

"Juan!" Vivian waves, shooting Juan a genuine smile of relief. Gloria is also there. "I lost sight of you, but I figured you'd be okay. You even made friends...despite your cologne."

"You must be the group our hostage was talking about," the woman says, shaking Riley's hand. She is young, soft-faced, and African-American. Her eyes are tired but kind. "I'm Tamara. This is Ramona."

She looks over her shoulder at Ramona, seeing her walking into the school. "Please, Ramona, you're embarrassing me."

"No, I'm with her," says Sid. "This is where the supplies are, right? Can we just go in and get the stuff?"

"Sid's right. We're on the clock here. pick ups in about fifteen minutes. I want this school fuckin' emptied by that time." He said, pointing to the school. "Food, guns, medical supplies. I want all of it and a screw driver too. Lets get this done and go home." He said, following the mute into the school.

As people started to move Chris let out a fairly loud "HISST!" as people looked around he said "This place is booby trapped. Stay away from any gas canisters. And watch out - there may be other traps." He looks round at people hoping to get nods of understanding before adding "And the library at least has zeds in it" He follows after Malcolm catching up to him and adding "I don't think 15 minutes will allow us to clear this place, seriously, but we can have a good go"

ooc

which way is Ramona heading - for the Gym end or library end?

In reply to Snicker (msg # 258):

Juan sees Viv and feels a great relief sweep over him. She was fine, so was Gloria. Plus, she did not seem to hate him. That was good given his stupidity from before-but he did not fully blame himself. After all, she could have just told him. She seemed hellbent to keep secrets that really did not matter...expect maybe to her.

Granted Juan wanted to be more between him and her, but that was clearly not gonna happen. Despite that, both her and Gloria went out of their way to make sure he was ok.

Loyalty. Its the only thing in this world that matters, kid. You gotta remember that. Old Bob had said the last day he had been alive. Which oddly enough had not been due to this nightmare world at all. He had been shot by Razor, for reasons of betrayal. Making the man who preached loyalty disloyal. Juan never really got over Bob's betrayal...or Razor's.

"I'm...I'm glad you guys are ok." He says to Gloria and Viv, his voice sounding with real emotion. When she makes her joke about his smell, he restrains a loud laugh just in time. "Well, clearly all the ladies love the smell of rotting meat. I wish I had known that before...works so much better than Axe body spray."

He looks over at Ramona and Chris heading for the inside. "Come on, we need to go." He gestured with his head to follow the two, but does not move until he is sure Gloria and Vee are walking along with him. He did not want to loose track of the two again until they where all safe once more. As close as they got to safe anyways.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:56, Wed 17 Apr 2019.

"Uh, excuse me? I was talking to you." Riley called out to the woman walking away from her. She felt someone taking her hand. Naturally, she turned back to the other woman and returned the handshake.

Did she say hostage?

"Good to meet you, Tamara." Riley politely responded. "Let's help with the supplies. Must be a lot if you guys went through all these trouble to get to it." She followed the others into the building.

Fifteen minutes. Huh, I've done more with less. Riley thought to herself.

Malcolm, Juan, Chris K, Ramona, Riley


"You're glad?" Vivian tells Juan. "You're the one who decided to play the decoy...twice."

"Don't do anything stupid," Kale says dryly and he, Lawrence, and Seb break off towards the other end of the school. Moving quickly, the remaining group - Malcolm, Juan, Chris K, Ramona, Riley, Gloria, Sid, Vivian, and Tamara - move through the hallways towards the library. Most rooms they pass have yet more goods within them, though generally goods less immediately useful than food - clothing, tools, lumber, and more.

Occasionally, they pass gas canisters in the halls as well. Chris K now knows to recognize the electronic device that had released the gas and rang an alarm in the library. A couple of these canisters have said device at their base, caught in the crook between the canister and the wall, but none have them affixed to their valves as the device had been in the library.

Once they reach the library, the door is still closed. Chris K remembers that there are a half-dozen walkers on the other side; all that remains is to decide how to deal with them.

In reply to Snicker (msg # 263):

"Well, you know what they say about a stupid idea that works? It's not so stupid." He paused, and then made a half-and-half gesture with his hand. "Maybe a bit extra stupid..." He shrugged.

He let the conversation lapse due to them following Chris. When he pauses at the door, Juan sees the look on his face and gets the hooked chain ready...

"Well shit, no one told me they'd be in here too." Mal comments, looking at the door. He turns back to his group.

"I don't have a weapon for this, me and anyone else can stick here at the door in case things get silly, but there should be enough of us to get the five or six of them in there yeah?" He asks aloud.

"You take point, big guy." He says to Juan. "Give the word and we open the door and you guys with bats and shit file in, pick a guy and take him out."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:34, Fri 19 Apr 2019.

In reply to Malcolm (msg # 265):

Juan nods, takes out one of his throwing knives and hands it to Malcolm. "I want that back." He whispered, pointing at the knife. He then takes his position before the door, reading his chain in his left hand, the length wrapped around his fist. His other hand held the sharped hook at the ready, and he waited for Chris's signal.

He planned to use the doorway to limit the amount of them that could get to him at once. That way he should be safe enough before they could reach him. Still, he waited to proceed for Chris' signal.

"We have enough of us to take them out." Riley commented and gripped her baseball bat. She assumed her swinging stance near the door, ready to bash the heads of the monstrosity on the other side.

"Thanks, pal." Malcolm whispered back. In truth he was hoping to sit this one out as his body screamed in protest at his every move. He turned the knife out just like he would with his switchblade and with his free hand patted his wounded chest. He couldn't take it easy just yet.

Chris looks slightly askance at Malcolm "Pretty sure I mentioned we'd locked some up in there. But before we wander in, thats also where the gas went off. I wanna see if it affected them, might be useful to know" he shrugged " Or not. But either way, we need to be sure the gas is clear before we wander in. Better still. We open the door, and bring them to us. Only a couple at a time through the door, and we can mob them for a change. And if the gas isn't clear, I found one mask so one of us can go in and pick up gear.

After he had spoken, Chris peered through the glass on the door to see how the zeds had been affected  - or not - by the gas.

The school halls were almost haunting in their emptiness and decay, to say nothing of the unpleasant memories merely being in a school raised up like an ugly corpse nobody wanted to look at. Clutching her crowbar with an iron grip, Ramona felt the growing urge to bash a decomposing skull in -- it'd be a nice change of pace from skulking around. With all these people, that endeavor was looking feasible.

That chance came once the motley crew arrived at the library, where a half baker's dozen of shambling biters wandered around the room -- the irony of mindless monsters occupying a place of learning was not lost on this woman. However, there was an excess of talking, planning, strategizing, something about gas affecting walkers? Ramona shot an aside glance to Tamara, signing out "What?" and rolling her eyes. These people were overcomplicating things and straight-up misunderstanding others -- walkers didn't get killed by gas. Clearly, these people needed a fire under their asses.

Without warning, she stepped forward and slammed her foot into the door's press-bar, kicking it wide open with a sizable noise. She motioned for everyone to back up with a broad, vicious grin that betrayed how nice it felt to kick open a door again. Raising her crowbar, she waited for one of the walkers to funnel into their hallway and into the range of her weapon.

Malcolm, Juan, Chris K, Ramona, Riley


The others get ready for action as well. Sid and Gloria both hold knives at the ready, while Vivian and Tamara both have guns and stand further back. Both hold the weapons at waist-level, not wanting to fire off and attract yet another horde unless absolutely necessary.

The door has no press-bar, and according to Chris K's memory, opens outward. Ramona's kick does not open it but does provide a sizable noise. Peering through the glass, Chris K sees the six walkers he left behind turn and investigate the noise.

The lead walker, a gray-haired woman wearing a vinyl backpack, walks full-tilt into a table laden with supplies. The table skids an inch, then catches on the carpet and falls on its side, scattering the supplies across the floor. The walker trips over the table and falls face-first on the ground. It starts to get up, but another walker trips over it as well, while a third trips again on the table, sprawling.

Even by walker standards, this is exceptional clumsiness. Looking closer, Chris K sees that each walker's eyes are clouded with cataracts. Those weren't there before.

"Looks like the gas has blinded them. Which should make this easier, but we still need to be wary in case theres enough gas in there to affect us." Looking at Ramona he says "We'll open the door towards us and I'll go in first, that way if theres still gas I can mask up before it affects me. If theres no gas, we can just move in and clear house"

As he spoke, Chris retrieved the gas mask from his pack, and positioned it half strapped on on his head, so he could pull it down quickly if needed. Putting his pack back on, he slings his M4 and draws his bowie knife, before opening the door, stepping through and shutting it behind him. He moves as quickly as he can away from the door towards the smashed window, keeping clear of the zeds, and ready to pull the mask down if he feels any sting. He also watches out for any more canisters as he moves.

"Jesus, fuck!" Mal jumped at the sudden noise of Ramona going full tilt into a door. He looked to Tamara for explanation. Then looks back and studies Chris as he moves into the room.

"Christ, I hope what that shit does to you ain't permanent." he said to no one in particular, thinking back to Fran and the others who took the worst of it.

Upon hearing there may be a blinding gas in the room, Juan backs up and let's the people with the gear for the job go to work. He gets a throwing knife ready, just in case of the dead stumbles this way. However, he found it unlikely they would be much of a threat without eyes.

Riley waited patiently for one of the group to open the door. When the rude woman delivered the kick to the door, Riley's eyes darted around the others. Maybe there was a valid reason behind her initial rudeness earlier.

Riley shifted a few steps to get closer to Malcolm. Given by his reaction, he seemed to be the only one who might knew what was going on with the girl. She lowered her voice and spoke to him discreetly.

 Mal whispers back while watching Chris.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 06:30, Sun 21 Apr 2019.

Malcolm, Juan, Chris K, Ramona, Riley

Tamara gives Ramona a slightly condescending look, the sort that only older siblings can give. Malcolm makes eye contact her, but she breaks it, trying to look innocent but unable to hide a slight smirk.

Chris K moves through the door, closing it behind him. Once again, the walkers clearly react to the noise, but have difficulty tracking his position afterwards. In addition to their clumsiness, they are less aggressive than usual; Chris K is still covered in odoriferous gore, so the walkers are unable to track him by sight or smell. They can clearly hear his footsteps, but they don't seem to be able to tell they're human footsteps, so they're only as curious towards him as they would be towards any noise.

Even after entering the room, the air does not irritate Chris K's eyes or his lungs. The air has a harsh smell to it, but it's simultaneously a bit cooler and fresher than the air in the hall, a quality that increases as he gets closer to the broken window.

If looks could kill, the group would have dropped dead on the spot from Ramona's glare. How in the world was she supposed to see in the darkness? Library doors always opened both ways, and it wasn't her fault this specific one was designed differently. The noise served as a good distraction for the biters on the other side of the door, as well as a hint of some kind of danger if the gas mask was any indication. Those were the excuses Ramona told herself -- and wished she could tell others -- to excuse her embarrassing misjudgment. For now, she merely scowled and pointedly refused to look at Tamara, who was looking smug and condescending most likely.

Not content to just stand by and let one person deal with less than a greater baker's dozen of zombies, Ramona tapped on the door with her crowbar. The cataract-biters had crappy vision, meaning that noise was the best way to keep them off gas mask.

Juan waits for an opening until he has a clear shot. He plans on using his throwing knife from the relative safety of the hallway, given any gas that had been In the room has not affected Ramona.

As soon as he had a clear target, he would take down any Walker who was stumbling near Chris. Not that they intentionally tried to avoid his throwing knives in the past, but this may actually be harder. After all, they kept falling down...

ooc-13:17, Today: Juan rolled 21 using 2d10+7.  Thrown knife at soonest opportunity .
This message was last edited by the player at 17:17, Sun 21 Apr 2019.

Chris looks back at the door and motions people to come in, continuing round to the other side of the room, he makes sure he is behind a line of tables, so they are between him and the zeds. Once there, he pauses and then says "Hey guys. Dinner is served. Come and get it, if you can catch it". As the zeds start moving towards him he keeps speaking "here kitty kitty kitty"

The kid looked on at what Juan was doing, an eyebrow peaked in curiosity. "Oh, I see." With the metal chain draped around him and turning out knives it seemed like something out of an action movie.

Mal stepped away to have a clear shot at one of the shamblers that was on the ground, with a head in sight Mal takes aim with the knife and flings it forward.