Mal wakes up in a foreign environment, unknown of what is around him.  After a moment, he regains his orient and finds himself in the middle of a street, covered with debri.  It is night, and there are pieces of cloth, blood on the street as well.  In some places, Mal can see bits of torn paper.  To his right, he sees a sporting goods store, door open.  On the other side, he'd find a gun store with the window broken through completely already.

I shake my head as I stand up, trying to clear the fuzz that associates a new world.  What happened before?  Did I get killed or... no, it felt different.  Did that man send me away somehow?

I reach down to my pants, ensuring that my knife is still safely tucked within them.  Seeing it is, I decide to check the sporting goods store, as the door is already open.  I walk slowly and fairly cautiously, still on-nerve from what happened before.

Malachai walks into the sporting goods store to find the place was pretty much already emptied.  He just found a hardwood bat lying on teh ground, all of the racks and containers knocked over.  Someone came in and out in a rush.  In the corner of his eye, Malachai naturally notices a cash register on top of the counter to his left.

I slug the bat over my shoulder in my left hand, eyeing the store nervously.  Something is very strange in this world.  I walk over to the cash register and empty it out, checking dates to get some sort of an idea what time frame I'm in.

After finishing that, I give the store one last look-over before walking out and into the gun store; although that's probably been looted as well, based on that broken window.

In the register, Malachai found $99 inside, easily stuffing it into his back pocket.  The years on them varied, but they looked modern.  Behind the register was a callender which stops in October, 2003.  If it were looked at closer, he'd find that there were no plans after that.

Accross the street, Malachai's hairs raise as he enters the gun store.  Something isn't right, as he finds nothing remaining in the store.  There is blood around the place, like something went on here.  Turning around, Malachai sees someone accross the street from him, rounding a street corner slowly.  From the distance, he can't tell anything accept the general shape of a man and some blood on his shirt, on the shoulder.

"Hey!"  I shout as I walk back out of the store and towards the man.  "Hey, buddy!  Can you tell me what's going on?"  The man makes me nervous because of the blood, but hopefully he'll be able to tell me what's going on.  And that's something I'd really like to know...

OoC: Why'd you tell me an IF thing?  I didn't actually look at the calender, so I wouldn't know that.

But no biggie.

;)

The man looks at you directly, in a jerking motion.  Craning his head to the side, he begins to run at you.  As he charges, you can see he has a rabid look about his face.

Ah, crap.  Instinctively, I began stepping backwards.  I raise the bat into a swinging position, and as he nears me I swing it, aiming at his head.

"What's wrong with you?"  I yell at him as he comes towards me.

Mal readies his bat, focusing on the man charging him.  He reels the bat back and swings at his head with it, missing high.  The man grabs Mal, pushing backwards trying to bite at him.  Malachai knows that in a few moment's he'll fall over (the bat is still in his hand btw).

"What the ****, man!?"  Letting go of the bat with my right hand (but still holding it with my left) and throw my elbow out, aiming to catch him in the jaw.

Afterwards, I shoot my foot out, catching it behind the man's ankle and pulling it in, hoping to push him down.  I could be very screwed here...

As Mal stretches his foot out, it works opposite as he expected.  In the end, he ends up tripped over, face down on the street, the man coming down on his back now-fast.

"Crap!"  I yell in anger as I try to roll out of the way and gain access to my knife.  If I manage to get it, I ram it in the general direction of his face.

If I can't roll away, though, then I'm going to try grabbing his head and ramming it into the concret.  "What's wrong with you!?"

Malachai rolled perfectly out of the man's way, him coming to the ground fast.  The speed of the man was a miscalculation on Mal's part for the stab.  He ended up hitting the man in the right shoulder, closer to Mal's side.  The man looked to Mal and leapt at him again.  They were back like they were earlier, the man pressing forward like a rabid boar at Mal, Malachai's knife still in his back.  You are standing.

(sorry, stabbed in the back heh...i'll shut up, nvm)
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:41, Sat 25 Feb 2006.

As the man rushes towards me again, I lash out with my fist, aiming to hit his jaw.  What's with this guy?  It's like he doesn't even feel the knife!  I back away from him, trying to spot my bat on the ground as I do so.

OoC: That would've been nice to know before.

XD
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:44, Sat 25 Feb 2006.

Malachai barely misses with his punchm hitting him in the arm corresponding to the knife.  Mal quickly spots the bat out in the open, just past the man.

This is starting to piss me off!  I try to run past the man and grab the bat as I shake off my hand from the blow.  If I make it, a blow to the back of his head sounds good.  Otherwise, well... another fist might hit this time.

OoC: The dice hate me today.  >_<

Malachai runs past the man with ease, getting his hand on the bat.  Grabbing the bat, Malachai swings around, using the bat at the same time.  The sweet, sweet feeling of the collision raises his spirits as he finds the man hit straight in the head.  The man falls to the ground, motionless, knife still protruding out of his back.

Through the tussle, Malachai hadn't noticed what was going on down the street.  He now sees another man, about 50 yards off shrieking.  The shrieking attracts others from his direction.  Three more join him, making four running from about 50 yards away towards Malachai about 5 yards a second.

The feeling of elation fills me as the man falls, only to be instantly replaced with fear.  Ah, crap...  I grab my knife out of the man's back and then run down the street, bat in one hand and knife in the other.

As I run, I look for any sort of building that I could hole up in, or any sort of long-range weapon I could use.  Even something that I could push in their way to slow them down would be good.

Malachai keeps running, but not nearly as fast as these demons.  He looks around nervously when he rounds a corner, and finds a Dollar General.  It was the best thing around, so he goes inside.

The initial sight of the store is desolate and most of the food is gone, all but the perishables it seems.

I rush inside the store and look around, quickly assuring that it's empty.  If it isn't, I'll keep running, but as long as it is...

I push everything over that I can, blockading the entrances (except the back entrance if there is one).  Hopefully the men won't find me in here.

Sitting down for a second, I try to calm my breathing and figure out what's going on.

Malachai manages to put carts and a rack of DVDs in front of the entrance, which is sliding doors, by the time they get there.  None of the men see him inside of the Dollar General, but he knows that if they did, his fortifications wouldn't have mattered at all.  Now he was there, in a Dollar General, feeling threats all around him, but not understanding any of it.

I flick my knife along the floor, cleaning it.  Sitting there, I hold my head in my hands, still puzzling it over.  "Zombies?"  I ask myself quietly.  "It seems like I landed in a B horror movie."

Seeing no other option, I decide to summon my water sprite and send him on a little scouting mission to see what he can find out.

Mal summons the sprite with no problems, just feeling a little less energetic.  The sprite goes around the store, confirming no one's precense there.  It didn't look thoroughly, and now it is flying in front of the sliding door.

(Well you have a sprite, now what are you going to do with it?)

I tell Kyrio (the water sprite) to be careful as he looks around for any sort of better hiding spot, other people, or really anything that could be useful for me.

As it goes out there, I look around the store for some source of water (and food would be nice, as well).

Malachai looks around the place for some food, going into the food aisle.  All of the snacks are gone, and all of the food in the place is molded.  The only thing that seems to be working in the place is the water fountain and there are freezers in the back of the place.  Still, Malachai can't keep his mind away from the doors, and the weak fortifications on them.

Kyrio returns, only to relay information that it is a dead world and only the crazies from before are around, a large group of them off a small distance away, just wondering around.  He is relayed information there are about 50 in the group, but others are just scattered everywhere.

I thank Kyrio, then ask him to go out the back door and scout out that area.

I take a drink from the fountain and then look for some sort of bottle or jug where I can store more water.  I also look in the freezers to see if there's anything in there that could be thawed and would later be edible.

Malachai finds numerous emptied gaterade and power drink bottles lying around the place in that aisle.  The only thing left in the freezers is a jug of milk, which looks very discolored.

Kyrio checks the back and finds there is no hostility.  When the sprite returns, after saying that, tells Malachai that it thought it saw shadows moving out there, but couldn't have been sure.

Thanking Kyrio, I dismiss him back to his realm.  I fill up a couple bottles full of water and put them in my pockets (PT... I'm assuming these have pockets...) if I can't find a bag of some sort.

Finishing that, I walk out of the back; bat in one hand and knife in the other and then walk down the alley, opposite of the direction the zombies were heading in.

Walking outside, about a block down, Malachai hears something behind him.  Kyrio must have been wrong about their direction.  He turned around to see dozens of them rounding the corner coming towards him, unsure of if they saw him or not.

Ah, crap.  I drop the bag of water bottles that I'm holding, content with the one in my pocket.  I begin running, hoping to find another place to hide or at least get away from that group.

Mal ran down the street, faster without the waterbottles.  The fiends catch sight of the running and start chasing in your direction.  When you turn a corner up ahead and keep running, you are pulled into a small alley, a large cloth comes over you.  "Shh.."  Malachai can tell that it's a girl's voice.  After a moment, he hears the crazies run past.

I squirm for a second before giving in.  I stay quiet, my knife and bat at my sides.  Fine, I'll play along with your game, just get this stupid thing off my head.  For the time being I have to trust this person; with my life, unfortunately.

Pulling the cloth off, which she was wearing, being under there with you during the hiding, she pushes you hard against the wall, hurting the back of your head some when it hits.  She begins to pull out a knife from a strap slung onto her belt.

I look at her nervously as I shake my head to clear it.  "Hey, whoa, whoa," I say to her, dropping my bat and sheathing my knife (but keeping my hand on it in case she attacks).  "Listen, I don't want any trouble.  Now, come on, what would killing me gain you?"

OoC: What cloth?  :D :D

*cough*

The girl puts her knife back in her sheath and slaps you.  She signals for you to come with her with her hands, to where the zombies had just come around the corner from.  She goes to the corner, crouching down, and looks down the street.

I look at her strangely after she slaps me, and then shrug it off.  What's with that girl?  I walk up behind her, staying a couple feet back, and crouch down as well.  I keep quiet, not quite sure if that was why she slapped me.

The girl puts a finger up (one second).  A zombie comes by, catching sight of the two of you as she runs out towards it.  The man opens his mouth, about to hollar as she comes up bearing a knife and stabbing it into the man's neck.  She then side-steps, kicking him down while pulling out the knife.  After he's on the ground, she follows up with stabbing him in the head.

After that, she signals to you to follow her.  You two make it accross the street into a dark building.  She opens a door that leads to a narrow hallway.

OOC: She just got killer rolls man lol.

I step into the hallway after her and close the door.  I whisper "Can we talk now?" to her.

OoC: Pfft, I coulda done that, and summoned my fire sprite and gotten him to burn the zombie from the inside out.

<_<

>_>

She goes back further, down the hallway, and into a small room.  It has a cruddy couch in the corner and a table in the middle.  There is no fridge and doesn't look like a decent place to live.  There appears to be no other rooms.  After she gets there, she takes her cloak off and drops a bag on the floor, revealing her in a black sleeveless turtleneck and dark green pants.  "Who are you and what the hell are you doing out here?"  She puts it simply, looking at him like he's a moron.

I take a step back, holding out my hands.  "My name's Malachai, what's yours?  And as for what I'm doing here... beats me.  I versed here like my last few worlds, so I know jack all about this place.  What are those things?  Zombies?"  I shrug my shoulders, trying to show her I really don't know much about this place yet.

"What are you, high?"  is her only response to that, not believing his story very well.  She starts emptying the bag, getting out three jugs of water and some non-molded bread.

"High?  Nope, don't think so.  Can't even remember the last time I had Tylenol.  And that isn't really fair, ya know.  Yeah, I suppose my story's a little kooky, but I've had a kooky last few months.  So what am I supposed to say?"  I look around the room a bit closer, wondering if this is where she lives.  "And you still haven't told me your name."

"Neither did you..."  She takes her belt off, putting it on the counter and bows her head for a moment.  After that, she breaks part of the bread off and begins eating it, still seeming to wait for anything he had to say.  She doesn't offer him any food or water.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:54, Sat 25 Feb 2006.

I look at her strangely.  Is she part deaf or something?  I sigh and continue.  "Like I said before, my name's Malachai.  I said that 30 seconds ago to you."

"Sorry," she says, standing up and walking over to him now.  When she reaches him, she pushes him against the wall.  "I guess that I forgot while you were giving away our position out there!  We're lucky as hell only one came over and none of them screeched.  You just endangered the person who saved you, and you endangered her shelter, Malachai!"  Giving up with being enraged, she sat back down at her table and pulled out some candles and matches from her bag, throwing them off to the side of the table.  "My name is Rachel..  I'm under training right now.  Why are you alone out here?"

"Well, I'm sorry for endangering you."  I brush myself off, hoping the wall was reasonably clean as well.  "I'm alone because I'm new here.  I know you don't believe me, but can you play along that I just came from another world?"  She's not going to believe me... not in a million years.  But I really don't care at this point.

I pull the water bottle out of my pocket and take a sip.  "Okay, let's say you don't beleive me.  In that case, let's just go with I've been wandering around alone for a while.  That's close enough to reality."

"That is the only thing I can come up with.." she begins, taking a drink out of one of her jugs of water.  "but your other story is more believable..and I guess I will believe it instead.  And in which case, I'm sorry that you had to pop up here."

"Okay, I can go with that."  I motion towards a chair.  "You mind if I sit down?  And don't be sorry.  I've fought worse things than those creatures."  I remember the vampires and shudder.

"So, what exactly are they?  Zombies?  And what's happening here?"

"Ten years ago, I was seven.  There was a viral outbreak accross the nation, which spread to the world."  She looked down, reminescing.  "Right now, I'm under training to join a group of the survivors called the Seven Lions, 'SL' for short.  We have a small civilization elsewhere, so far we only have maybe 70 people.  We're unsure about others accross the world if any are alive.  The Seven Lions are meant to protect our life and gather resources to make it a living miniature ecosystem.  Training is surviving out here for 25 days.  They won't let me back in until 10 more days."  She looks to Malachai, cocking an eye.  "So go ahead then, what's your story?  Mine's the same as everyone else's around these parts."  She said everything so monotonously, as if her and everyone else had long ago come to terms with their present situation.

"Do you want the true story or the one you'll believe?"  I grin at her.  Bet she'll pick the one she believes, but their way works.

"Go with the true one, I wouldn't believe you could survive so long on your own wandering around out here.."  You can see that she was turning thoughts around in her mind, trying to discover the true reason how you ended up there, but she makes a point that she'll hear you out nonetheless.

Well, that's surprising.  I breathe in before starting.  "Okay, short version.  I used to live on a different earth, I died there and got sent somewhere else.  Rinse and repeat a few times, and I end up here.  Last world... hmm... there were vampires there.  Werewolves, too.  Crazy place."  I laugh quietly.  "Well, that's the incredibly condensed version.  I can't really offer you much proof besides my word, though.  Unless you know of another verser here, you're just going to have to believe me... or not believe me."

"I'll believe you, but just because there's NO other way..."  She finishes the small piece of bread in her hands, stuffing the rest in her bag.  Rachel turns off the light and heads over to the couch and puts the bag under her head, pulling the water and holding the jug in her arms.  "I'm going to sleep now, if you want to you can sleep on the floor.  We're heading back to Domus in ten more days."  The room is pitch black, but you generally know the ground you're standing on is the open space in the floor.

I form a mental picture in my mind of the room.  Finishing that, I walk to what I hope is a wall away from the door.  Perhaps I should have brought out one of the sprites?  Nah, I can do that another time if I really feel the need.  Lying down there, I face away (at least I hope) from Rachel and summon my water sprite.  I tell him to hide somewhere in the room and alert me if there's any danger.  If Rachel wakes up, he should just leave this world.

OoC: Okay, in real life I have got a photographic memory of surroundings (if I've been there once, I can remember everything down to the tiniest detail).  And Mal is simple a dopppleganger of myself.  So... yeah, he shouldn't have too much trouble with this.

You sleep like a baby all night, feeling in the morning your strength completely rejuvinated.  The only thing is that your stomache is empty, and it begins telling you so in the morning, growling.  Rachel is still sleeping on the couch.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:27, Sun 26 Feb 2006.

I wake up, looking around to make sure nothing was amiss.  I call Kyrio over to me  and dismiss him, thanking him for watching over me in the night.  My stomach grumbling, I take a swig of water and then look hungrily over at the bread.  No... it's not mine.  Instead, I take a seat and wait for Rachel to wake up before asking if I could eat anything.

She wakes up.  Sorry for the bluntness, but yeah.  That's pretty much all that happens.  Oh and she says, "So you're awake then?"  She looks at you a little suspiciously but you can see in her face that she quickly discards anything like that.

"Yes, I'm awake.  And hungry.  Could I at least have a piece of bread or something?"  I could easily make it throughout the day without food, but an empty stomach leads to mistakes, and mistakes led to dying; which isn't fun.

"Do you have any plans for the day, too?  Or are you just going to camp out here?"

Rachel gets out the bread and tosses him a small chunk.  "In payment, you're coming out with me tonight for scavanging."  She continues, making it simpler, "or you won't stay here anymore and you'll have to find your own way around.  Okay?"

I smile at her.  "No, that's okay, I'll come.  I'd rather move around than just stay in one place, anyways."  I take the piece of bread and swallow it in a few mouthfulls, cringing at its plainess.  "What are we doing till then?"

"Well we have about six hours until night.."  She obviously has an excellent internal clock and continues.  "You are going to be quiet, but ask questions when neccessary, and until night time I'm going to explain to you what you need to know about these things."

You guys talk about more than just the zombies for a while, you see her actually smile at some points, but the main things you pick up on are as follows:

Zombies don't see dull colors so well (stick with brown, black, dark green, and gray); Zombies need to be hit in the head; Fire doesn't do much to them accept make them on fire.

Catching you up on history, you learn that the people of this verse refer to the start of the outbreak as "The Coming," and talk about it regularly as if it wasn't as bad as it is now.  No one knows whythe outbreak happened, but no one really cares anymore.  Their current leader is Greg Black, a man who just wondered into town five years ago covered in blood, zombie blood.  He began the organization that Rachel is currently trying to get into.  There are 3 phases of the training: Training, 25 Days Alone, and what they call "Ascension."

After all of that, her internal clock goes off that its dark and she gets her things on.  "You might want to stay close, because I only have one cloak to hide from them with.  We'll have to share it if too many come by."

"Sure thing."  I look down at my clothes.  Well, reasonably subdued.  I should be good.  I ensure my knife is sheathed and grab my bat from its resting place and sling it over my shoulder.  "I'm ready," I inform Rachel as I stand by the door and wait for her.

After Rachel made sure her weapons were on her as well, she began to walk outdoors.  "Don't talk unless I start talking.."  She had said she was well trained.  Right then, they walked down the hallway an out into the world that Malachai had entered just the other day, a dead, dark place.

As they walk outside, they spot seven of the fiends down on their left.  They hear a screech and see the fiends charge.  Not bothering for stealth anymore, Rachel practically yells at him, "We have to lead them away from the shelter!" and starts running, expecting him to follow.

OOC: Wow, that roll was mean...

"All right, then!"  Grinning, I take off after Rachel, keeping pace as I pull my knife out with my spare hand, making the weight on both arms more equal.  "How fast do those things run, anyways?"

"Three yards a second now, four seconds in: 5 yards a second," she says instantly, the numbers memorized.  She already had her knife pulled out and ready.  "After this corner up here, we bottleneck ourselves in a door on the corner and kill them."

"Sounds like fun," I tell her, my breath becoming slightly laboured.  I round the corner, going through the door and stepping to one side of it.  My knife is up and ready, waiting for the first zombie to come through.

The two make it into the door and ready themselves.  As the first rounds himself into the room, Rachel strikes first, hitting him in the chest.  you managed to finish him off, a straight shot up through his cheek.  The next came: a woman.  This one Rachel kicks in the legs, letting you go down for the kill, stabbing her in the back of the head.  For the next, it comes as you're killing the woman.  She manages to Stab him through the jaw and kick him out of the door.  "Bat!"  She commands you, staying in front of the door, waiting for the others.

I hand her the bat and flick my knife, cleaning the blood off of it.  Man this feels good... adrenaline is underrated.  I put my back back against the wall, waiting for the next zombie to come in.

Rachel naturally catches the bat while sheathing her knife simotaniously.  With a short pause, she puts simply. "Get ready to fall back to the next door.  They've gathered force.  That's what gaps between waves mean."  For once, she looked nervous in front of him.  "I've never fought more than a few at a time.."  You can tell that she's uncertain about things now, scared.

She's nervous... perhaps?  No, it would be best not to.  I shake my head at the thought of summoning a sprite.  Rachel had said fire was useless against the things, and I don't know what Kyrio could possibly do to them.  "Take a deep breath; there can't be an unlimited number of these things.  At least not right in this area."  I take a step towards the next door, still facing towards the door the zombies are coming from, however.  I look around for any sort of thing I could use to blockade this entrance, or even if there's something made of wood that if destroyed would block the entrance.

The two stay in the room for a few seconds, but in the middle of your sentence you two hear a shout outside.  "Come on you bastards!  Bring it on!"  Rachel looks questioning, less nervous though, constantly calculating it in her mind.  After a moment, she steps outside and you see her eyes widen.

I look out the door with her.  "What is it?"  I ask as I look for myself.

When you get outside, you see why she was so suprised.  Outside, you find another boy, about 16 by the looks of him, but a little taller.  He is wearing a bright orange shirt, and a black hoodless cloak.  Weaponless, he charges at a remaining zombie, putting his arms to his shoulder and ducking as he gets right on it.  Instantly, the boy fades and reappears above the zombie, kicking it in the back of the head hard, knocking it forward.  After that, he lands on fours and pulls out a gun, fluently shooting the monster in the head.  Holstering the weapon, he put his hand through his hair, smiling.  He doesn't notice the two of you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:30, Sun 26 Feb 2006.

I look at the boy strangely.  Another verser?  Immediately pops into my mind.  "Hey!"  I call to him.  "Hey, you!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:31, Sun 26 Feb 2006.

Rachel hits you in the back of the head.  "Shut up."

The boy pulls out his gun, a colt (9mm), pointing it at the two of you.  After he points it at you, he turns his head.  "What?"  It was his only question, smirking at the fact that there were spectators during the fight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Sun 26 Feb 2006.

I look at him strangely, walking forward despite the gun.  "What?  Actually, nothing."  I stop walking.  "You want to just part ways, verser?  I have no problems with that."

I shrug my shoulders.

The boy glares for a moment at you, then smirks.  "Well that would be a wasted bullet, wouldn't it?"  Still smiling some, he approaches you two, putting the gun away on his way over.  "Zombies?"  He cocks an eyebrow at you, smiling on one side a little more than the other, like it was a stupid idea of a world, whoever made the verses.

I grin.  So he is a verser... huh.  "Well, it would be a waste on me, but not my friend here.  Zombies?  Eh, sure, why not?  I mean, you got vamps and werewolfs in another world, so what's wrong with zombies?  It is a little odd, though."  I sheathe my knife, feeling a bit safer but still cautious of him.  "Why are you here, then?  Or did you recently come like me?"

"Heh..."  He looks at you like he has it all figured out.  "I just felt like having some fun with these things.  It took me a second to figure out they were zombies though.."  He looks back to you, answering the question now.  "I got here by making a stupid mistake.  I turn my back for one second and bam, shot in the back."

Rachel is just standing there, awestrucken by everything she had just seen.

"Heh, that's always how it happens."  I stop and think.  "Well, not for me, but I suppose it could've happened a few times."  I laugh quitely for a second.  "What's your name, then?  Mine is Malachai."

He looks to you, "You can call me Pollux.."

Rachel seems like she's finally grasping the situation as she speaks up, a look of hostility now on her face.  "So you two suddenly are buddies because you're some versers!  He just had a gun at us.."  She glares at the Pollux for a moment.  "Thank you for saving us, but I could have handled them."

I look at Rachel strangely.  No, you couldn't.  You were scared.  You would have died if you were alone; probably both of us would have.  "Yes, actually, me and Pollux are buddies now that we're versers.  Or at least we're semi-friendly.  And as I remember, you were ready to kill me yesterday for no big reason."  I look back at Pollux.  "How'd you do that teleporting thing?  Haven't seen that before."  I suddenly realize the rest of the situation.

"It's actually best we be moving, ya know.  Before more zombies come."

"Well it's like you feel yourself in another place.  You really have to concentrate on it, and it helps a lot to look at the spot."  He starts, but then his ears pirk, as he continues slower.  "I can't really do it...backwards.."

The shout you did earlier must have stirred something up.  Numerous zombies are now running from down the street behind you, too many.

Rachel simply puts it as, "No.." but with new confidence stands her ground, glaring at them.  She moves to hand the bat back to you and pulls her knife out again.  The numbers of enemies you see are countless, at least fifty filling the streets after you.  Rachel finishes, hollaring at you, "They must gather somewhere around here..That's why you don't shout!"

Right now, the whole group of them is about 70 yards away, coming in fast, as she said, 5 yards a second.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:08, Sun 26 Feb 2006.

"Crap, crap, crap!"  My voices become slightly wavy as it rises.  "We got to get out of here," I say through clenched teeth.  "Like a minute ago?"  I begin running backwards, pulling Rachel along by her arm.  "Come on, come on!"  As I move, I try to summon my fire sprite and get him to do whatever possible to slow the zombies down.

"I second that motion.."  Pollux suddenly doesn't seem as cocky as he did a second ago, following your lead, running headlong behind you.

Rachel struggles against you, not running.  You see her, clearly not seeing a point to struggle against the odds.  (They're half way closer now...35 yards away about.)

"Come on, Rachel!"  I scream at her.  "Pollux, go, we'll be right behind you!"  In frustration, I slap Rachel hard across the face.  "Run, you idiot!  Run!"  I pull her along again, pulling my knife out with my spare hand as I do so.

She shakes her head and starts running with you, keeping her knife out.  The zombies are about 15 feet away now as you make it to where her shelter is, but you know that they will see you go inside.

OoC: Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on... I'm confused.

Okay, I thought we were a fair distance from the shelter, and the zombies were coming from the general direction of the shelter, and we were running away from it.  Like...

shelter
 |
 V
 o . . . . . zombies . . . . .
. . . . . . .        . . . . .
. . . . . . .        . . . . .
               us

                |
                |
                V
          direction we're running
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:56, Sun 26 Feb 2006.

Swap where zombies are, where you are, and the direction you're running and you've got it.

OoC: Okay, then.

IC: We're going to need that shelter later...  "This way," I tell Rachel as I lead her away from the shelter.

She follow you and you're now caught up with Pollux.  The zombies round he next corner after you three, almost on top of you now, still running full speed.

This isn't going so well.  "Pollux," I ask him between strained breaths.  "Have you got anything to slow them down?  I've got nothin'."  I continue running, looking for any sort of bottleneck we can travel through or building we could possibly take at least a short break in.

At first glance, you don't see anything new.  Of course there are doors everywhere-its a city, but you have no idea if any of them lead into a good fallback point.

"I don't know, there is something, but I'm not the fluent with it.  I'll give it a shot though, keep running.."  Pollux replies to you, running forward and you can tell, as he teleports forward to gain some ground.  With that, he turns back and waits for you to pass as he raises his hands, shouting, "Leo Flammae!"  A lion comes from between his hands, Pollux in utter awe of it himself.  The lion charges into the zombies, lighting them ablaze and stalling them.

OOC: You're sooo lucky.  He got a crappy role for being able to do a power that could slow them down, but he rolled less than ten for the percentile.

"Good job," I call back to him, slightly in awe myself.  Deciding we need a break, I decide to look for any sort of building that looks like a reasonable hiding place and then head there.

You see up ahead more closed doors, unsure if what is safe and what isn't.  The best judge of it you can make is a multi-story building in this urban environment, but still slightly thin.  It is a few yards up and on your right.

Rachel, after waking up from her dazed state of seeing that, speaks up.  "They're distracted for a second, so we should hide, not flood them into a secluded area.."

Pollux, not knowing himself what to do, is only looking at his hands in awe.  You can tell he hasn't done that too many times before, suprised that it came out flawlessly.

"Come on, Pollux!"  I call to him as I grab Rachel's hand and pull her into that thin building.  I hope they'll ignore us after this...

The three of you run into the building, Rachel following you the whole way for some reason (that roll was good back there..lol).  You go into the building, Rachel after you.  Finally Pollux gets in, closing the door behind him and putting his weight against it.  There's a small window in the wall next to the door he's looking out through.  The building, as you see, has the door and staircases that lead up (duh).

I stop to catch my breath, panting for a few seconds before returning to a more normal breathing pattern.  "We should blockade that door and go up to the next floor."  I begin looking around for something to block the door with.  "Rachel, could you scout upstairs quickly?"

Rachel goes upstairs as you find a couch, a mini-fridge, a small TV, and a coffee table inside the room.  There isn't anything else you can block the door with unless you break the stair railing off.

Coming back a few moments later, she says, "Clear up here."

Pollux continues to look out the window, smiling at the fact of his summoning the lion.

I pat Pollux on the back.  "Good job with that, man, you saved our bacon.  Now help me with this couch."  I walk over to the couch and begin dragging it towards the door.

You lift the couch with ease and get it in front of the door in about five seconds.  Pollux's ear twiches as he says, "The lion's almost out of fire.." and presses the couch a little tighter against the door.

"That's fine," I tell him.  Concentrating for a second, I summon my fire sprite.  Completing that, I tell him to go and light whatever he can out there on fire.  If he gets in danger, he should dissapear.  Seeing him leave, I nod to Pollux.  "We should head upstairs now."

The sprite healthily looks at you and then disappears.  You can feel it doing a great job out there, even though you have no real way of knowing.  You feel some sort of connection to it.  All of you head upstairs, to a window that Rachel is barely daring to look out of.  The room up there is a one-person bedroom.  It has a bed and a bedside counter.  There's a chair and desk up there as well, right beside the window to outside.

"How are you doing, Rachel?"  I ask her as I walk up beside and look out the window to see how my fire sprite is doing.

OoC: I'm gonna have to dig through my old thread and find out the sprite's name.

:P

Or, PT, do you remember?

The sprite manages to light the lion back on fire and keeps him lit as the lion bursts more powerful attacks on the zombies.  Though the zombies keep getting up, there's usually a large number of them on the ground.  They see this last for about 2 minutes until the lion dissipates and the sprite flees, vanishing.  You see the zombies start to move on down the street, forgetting about you because of the 'fight.'

I sigh and bow my head for a second before raising it.  "It seems we're safe.  Are both of you all right?"  I ask the two before I take a seat.  After they answer, I plan on asking Pollux if he could try explaining that teleportation move again.

"I'll trade it for that faerie you summoned.."  He puts it simply, smiling to you.  You can tell he values the technique, but you can't tell whether he's joking or not.

I look at him sternly for a second before relaxing.  "Summoning a sprite isn't something you can just teach shortly.  It took me months of constant studying and practice just to be able to summon one.  If I could, though, I would teach you."  I smile at him.  "I almost died in the process, as well, so mull on that."

"Heh, I'll take those chances."  He laughes some, at the thought of you almost dieing.  "Well you know that lion back there?  I wasn't supposed to be able to do that until at least a year from now.  It as just in last desperation back there, so I consider myself lucky."  Pollux is smiling wide, still in awe of his summoning.  "Well since mine can be taught fairly quickly, but not necessarily perfected quickly, do you want me to go first?"

Rachel is sitting in the corner of the room, keeping an ear out downstairs while listening to you two's conversation.

I shrug.  "I'm honestly sorry, but, I don't honestly know how I can teach you to summon sprites.  I can try, I suppose.  But, yes, you go first."  I sit back to wait upon the lesson.

"Well basically..."  He begins, after thinking for a short time whether or not to tell you.  "...you focus on one point a distance away from you, and you try to feel yourself in the other spot.  I've known it for a few months now.  At first it took me about a minute to teleport,"  He disappears, reappearing next to Rachel, arms crossed, "unlike now."  He smirks.  "You try, just right there."  Pollux points at a blank spot in the middle of the room.

"Okay," I say slowly.  I calm myself, slowing my breathing and concentrating on nothing besides that spot.  I begin to try what he says, to "feel" myself over there.  A minute... it took him a minute... give it tim...

You focus hard on the spot, but can't manage to get it for a minute, not really understanding.  You try again, looking harder at the spot than you had before.  Again, you fail miserably.  After a moment, you move your neck around, trying to relax more naturally.  Focusing one last time, you try to teleport, failing again.  When you try another, Rachel speaks up, "Well this is taking a while, you mind if I try too?"

I shrug.  "I don't mind."  I shake my head to clear it and finish off my water.  Okay, let's try again.  I try to teleport again, hoping above all it would work.

After three more tries, on the fourth you can feel yourself fade a little, but can't make it through the reappearing part. You felt like you were sooo close to it, but couldn't push all the way throught he technique.  Pollux compliments you, "That was pretty good, you almost faded all the way, you just came back too soon."  Rachel cocks an eyebrow, not even getting nearly that close the entire time.

I continue trying, not planning on stopping until I teleport at least once.

You try for an hour.  By the time you're through, you decide to do it once more, just in case you could succeed.  A new energy brews in you as you focus for about a minute in a half.  You feel yourself vanishing, your mind seperating and moving itself to another place, then you lose control.  You find yourself in the middle of the floor, but trip and fall on your face.  Rachel smiles some, along with Pollux.  He says, "Good job, don't worry, you'll get better at it.  Is there anywhere we can go for the night...?"

I smile, rubbing my face with my hand and standing back up.  "We could go to Rachel's hideout, if she doesn't mind."  I shrug my shoulders.  "We led the zombies in the opposite direction, so that would work.  But this place does seem relatively secure, as well, and I can always set my sprites on watch."

Pollux nods to the idea of staying here, folling your lead for now.  Rachel, however agreeing, speaks up.  "Well it sounds like a good idea, because my place really isn't that good, but we came out for more food.  I can't last my ten more days without more food than that bread in my hideout."

"Well, we can see what we can find here for food, but I think we'll have to hole up here for the night at least."  Bowing my head for a second, I summon both my sprites and set them on watch at the entrances and inform them to tell us at the mere hint of danger.

After doing that, I begin looking around to see if I can find any food or supplies.

You look through the cupboards and even the mini-fridge to find food.  You end up finding bread which not all of it is molded.  Taking the moldy stuff off, you have more than enough for three people.  You, however, don't find any water or drinks.

I break the bread apart, giving a piece to Rachel and Pollux.  I wish I still had my water.  I call over Kyrio.  "Kyrio," I begin as I kneel down to his level.  "Do you think you could form water somehow?  I know we've tried this before in a way, but it didn't work so well.  Think you could just try filling a glass or something?"

You summon Kyrio, slightly distracted as you hold your waterbottle out for Kyrio to fill.  Out of the corner of your eye though, you see Pollux wobble some, sweating a little.  After a moment or two, you see him collapse.  Rachel goes over to him, feeling his pulse.  "He's all right," she opens his mouth, "just dehydrated.."

"Come on, Kyrio," I urge him, my voice rising slightly.  "Come on, buddy, just a bit of water..."

OoC: I'd already summoned him...

*cough*

After a little bit of time, Kyrio releases water into your waterbottle, filling it all the way to the top, it overflowing some.  Clearly Kyrio is used to releasing a little bit more water than that.

I smile.  "Thank Kyrio."  Walking over to Pollux, I try to get him to drink some of the water.

OoC: Got no more ideas for the night... wanna just GE it till the morning or something?

Okay, nothing happens during the night.  You guys assume that he just collapsed because of the summoning being a little too much for him right then, tired him out a lot.  He is fine though, got back up pretty quickly once you gave him some water.  Okay, so it's morning man, and you don't see anything in the room that's worth noting.  Everyone's still there and she still has nine days to go.

OoC: ECKS FRIGGIN DEE

XD

IC: I... I...

Yeah, okay...

"Anyone have any ideas?"

And... I... like... ummm...

I demand you spawn me a muffin!  Chocolate chip and butterscotch!

Rachel wakes up after you speak, kind of suprised and cautiously.  You can tell it was noise, probably how she was raised.  "We should go get more food.  Combined with the stuff we have here and back at my place, we should have enough to get through the rest of the nine days as long as we ration it out."  She looks a little brighter, but not much more.  "With you two, I think we can risk going in the daylight.."  She smiles a little, but quickly stops.

Pollux remains undecided, saying to you, "Heh..What do you think?

I nod.  "Yeah, we should probably go back and get the food from your place," I say in agreement.  I call back my sprites, dismissing my fire sprite and then asking Kyrio to go and scout out the area between here and Rachel's hiding place.

OoC: No... bolding... speech...

*siezures*

Rachel shakes her head a little.  "That would be enough for maybe two people max until we can go back.  I mean that we need to go out and get more food, not just the food I've stored."

Pollux raises an eyebrow, looking to Rachel.  "Wait a second, are you telling me there's somewhere else that is safe to 'go back' to?"  He looks to you, with a different, hopeful, look on his face.  "Well maybe this place isn't that bad after all.  Why don't we just head back now?"

"No," I tell Pollux, shaking my head.  "We'll wait for Kyrio to check the area out first before going anywhere."  I sigh.  "I suppose you're right; we will need to go and scavenge some more."

Before Kyrio even returns, you suddenly feel like the area is safe.  When the sprite comes back, it reports likewise to your feelings of it just moments before.

"All right, then," I say as I gather my gear and prepare to leave.  "We should go about for a little foraging, then."

Okay everyone's ready to follow you outside.  You go outside.  A fiend that Kyrio apparently missed rounds the corner, not really noticing the three of you coming out of the door yet.  Pollux pulls his gun out.

I hold my hand out, stopping Pollux from firing.  "Hey, Kyrio," I say to him not very loudly, but loud enough for him to hear.  I dimsmiss him when he notices me (unless he has something important to say) and then I continue on to the scavenging.

OoC: Your post was kind of convuluted there.

OOC: Better convulted than not there at all.

You proceed to walk out in broad daylight when you find an area with a Wendey's (fast foods place) and a Kroger's (grocery store).  Currently you only see two fiends on the street.

OoC: I know what a Wendy's is.  ¬_¬

IC: "Come on," I say to Rachel and Pollux quietly.  "Let's go and check out that store." (Kroger's)

The door opens easily and you see a store that already looks sacked, but there's always the chance that something could be in there.  The store looks about half the size of a Wal-Mart.  As you finish your enterance, Pollux in the back looking around outside, you think you hear some noises as if someone/thing were already in the store.  Your nerves tingle, basically.

"Careful," I whisper to our small group.  Looking around for a second, I summon my fire sprite to see if he could bring some more light to the store.  If all's well, we'll start looking for supplies.

Otherwise, well... time to get creative.

You find that your worries became reality as fifteen fiends come out of the aisles to you right, screeching at your prescense.  Naturally, you see Rachel pull our her knife and Pollux pulls out his gun.  He points it at the charging fiends, about 25 feet away now and coming fast.  You don't see any coming from your flanks, being at the side of the building basically.  To your back is a fruit section with table (things) out, already raided.  Meat is right next to you, (if you're facing the fiends, the section is to your left and its frozen food.

Well, we came here... so let's not leave empty handed.  I command my fire sprite to distract them however he can, and quickly run to grab a handful of frozen meat before moving back towards the door.  "Come on!"  I say to Pollux and Rachel.  "We've got to get out of here!"

Okay you have to break hard plastic or jump the counter before you can get to the meat.  Just tell me if you still want to do it.  Of course, what you do will change how long it takes you to get the meat.

Life... meat... hmmm... tough choice.

Meat.  No, wait!  Life.  I'll run.

¬_¬

Okay you run out the door to find that your sprite was able to hold off about five of them as the last ten keep chasing after you.  Along the street, you see that Wendy's and some other doors along the street.  You feel like the sprite can't last much longer holding off the few that it is.

I dismiss the sprite, running through the street as I do.  "Let's duck in here!"  I say as I move to the Wendy's to check it out.  If it isn't safe I keep running.  If it is, well... time to hole in a bit.

You look inside Wendeys to find one zombie inside.  Pollux pulls out his gun instantly and points it towards the fiend, firing after teleporting closer.  From a new distance of about 4 yards from it, he hits it square in the head with a single shot.  Pollux checks behind the counter, the Wendy's already viewed by you mostly in the rush as 'clear'.  The ten fiends, followed by five scorched ones, charge you.  (You're still outside-he teleported through the glass).

"Go!"  I yell to Rachel and push her towards the store as I walk backwards, keeping myself facing the zombies.  "Cover me, Pollux!"  I yell to him as I pull out my knife and ready my bat, preparing to take out any that come near me as I try to back into the restaurant.  "Rachel, find us some way out of here!"

Pollux fires eight shots past you, only landing four shots in the zombies' heads, two in their arms, pointless wounds.  You can hear Pollux empty the clip and reload.  Rachel checks elsewhere.

Now there are only (lol word choice) six zombies running on you.  You manage to bottleneck them in the doorway of Wendy's for now, only having to manage two at a time.  Pollux hasn't reloaded yet.