Karen having gathered up just about every container not already full and in use filled them with water before setting them aside and began to double bag whatever can goods and other food stuffs the others didn't snag first. However much she wished to be of assistance Karen knew that there was little she could offer besides a polite smile and a good word every once in a while. However the others already planning their next move began to talk it over in the front room of Nephi's little house.

Over hearing Monica and Jane talking a line of thought of herself sharing a shower with Nephi entered her head, but knowing how shy he was around her already, the tiny hope for such an intimate moment fled out the window. But still, looking down at herself she couldn't help but feel dirty and sweaty, especially after all they had to do. Stripping off the practice uniform Karen turned to Mon and Jane before they leave. "I suppose there's not enough room for three, but I'm certain we could all do with a shower, so please try not to hog it too much ok?" She asked, trying to be a tease as she leaned over the counter of Nephi's kitchenette.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:55, Fri 03 Sept 2010.

Jane pondered Karen's words for a second, her eyes darting from her to Geoff to Nephi, then sighed: "Yeah, I don't think we could work more than two people in a shower today... Maybe next time." She winked at Karen.

"We'll try to be quick. Nephi, if you have anything for me to wear, I'll be very grateful..." With just about any other male, her tone would have implied something else. Nephi was one of the few exceptions to Jane's "anything that moves doesn't move fast enough" attitude.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:09, Fri 03 Sept 2010.

Nephi thought carefully, and looked appraisingly at the girls.  He said doubtfully "Hmmm.  I kinda doubt I have anything that'll fit, but you might be lucky.  You're welcome to take a look through the drawers though, I've already packed what I want, and I need to quickly do something before you get in the bathroom."

To everyone in general he said "Please don't interupt me once I start praying.  I'm going to Bless the doors and windows to make the place more secure, and it's going to take a fair bit out of me.  I'll also be concentrating hard, and any interuption would mean at least needing to start again."

Allan returned to Nephi's apartment. "It's going to take at least an hour to bless the unicat, but I think it should be done. Nephi's car won't take quite as long, and we should be able to bless both vehicles at the same time. Blessing the apartment will take much longer. Since we won't be staying here, I'm not sure that would be the best use of our time. If we need a place to bed down for the night, the unicat would be much safer. The windows are burglar-proof, so it will be nearly impossible for the undead to break in. The cat is built like a fortress on wheels, and it has enough room to sleep 5 or 6."

"That may be so, but at the very least Blessing the apartment will give everyone time to get cleaned up in relative safety while I recover."

"I think we should all get some rest, Rev... Uh, Allan. You more than most." Jane realized, with a weird feeling, that she was coming off as the caertaker of the group - a role that she wasn't quite used to filling.

Still, none of them had slept in, what, 20 hours? If Nephi could make the apartment safe, getting a few hours of rest sounded like a very good idea, especially for the miracle workers: those were exactly the guy you did NOT want falling over with exhaustion at the worst possible moment...
This message was last edited by the player at 12:40, Mon 06 Sept 2010.

Allan shook his head at Jane. "I appreciate your concern, but I doubt sleep would come right now, even if I tried." Turning to Nephi, Allan said, "It will take me an hour to bless the unicat. You can bless your car at the same time. That gives everyone else more than enough time to clean up. I don't see the point in spending an additional hour blessing this apartment, when we don't intend to stay here. You'd be better off spending that hour driving or sleeping." Allan's voice got quieter. "I'm not comfortable having people rest in the apartment. If the situation outside changes, we could end up having to repeat that scene at the doctor's house of fighting our way to the vehicles. That didn't go well last time. We ended up leaving people behind. We should finish our business here as quickly as possible, and then return to the vehicles."

Allan stood up and walked over to Nephi. "I packed one of these in my backpack, and the other was..." He cut himself off and simply handed Nephi a hand-held two-way radio. "You should keep this one with you in your car, and I'll have the other one on in the unicat. We might as well use them as long as we can keep them charged." Allan handed Nephi a small cord. "Plug it into your car. That will keep it charged during the drive."

Nephi took the radio and cord, and said "Thanks for this Allan.  It'll help."  He thought for a moment before continuing "It won't take me anywhere near that long to Bless my car, so I'm going to do that.  While I'm out, why don't you guys take a vote on whether we push on now or sleep for a few hours?"  He grabbed his bag and began walking to the door.

Geoff switched magazines and used his emptiest magazine to top up the other mag. He looked up and said, "I'm for pushing on, we need to see if Fort Monroe is a viable position for defence. If we leave now we might get there by dawn."

"It don't matter to me," Monica said. "Stay or go, just as long as we all stay together this time."

She stood up and motioned to Jane. "Let's go raid Nephi's closet. I should be able to find something that will work, but I'm not so sure about you, my friend. You're a little more endowed than me." Turning to Karen, she added. "We can try to find something for you, too."

Allan looked up at the trio of women. "There is some women's clothing in the unicat. You're welcome to whatever you can use." He stood up and made his way toward the door. "Traveling at night isn't ideal, but I think we should keep moving. The longer we wait, the more infected we're likely to encounter."

"I'm going to see to the blessing. You should grab extra blankets or sleeping bags for those that want to sleep in the cat." He stepped outside and made his way to the large vehicle.

"Thank you Monica, I'd appreciate that." Karen added as either the others finished their shower or prepared to take one, she didn't see them go yet, but not being particular aware of her surroundings, particulary in such a safe place with Nephi nearby, Karen couldn't be too sure.

Geoff sat down wherever he could in the tiny apartment and said, "If we are heading to Fort Monroe, we might want to have some more firepower, there's a Police Precinct on the way, the detour wouldn't be a huge one. If you agree, I'd like for us to check it out."

Monica nodded at Geoff. "More weapons and ammo would be great. My uncle Tony always said, ya can't have too much firepower. Don't think I really believed him until now." She ducked into Nephi's room and grabbed a few random shirts and pants. She returned to the living room and handed some pieces of clothing to both of the other women. "Come on girlfriend," she said to Jane. "Unless you'd rather share a shower with Geoff."

Not that Jane would have minded sharing a shower with Geoff, but...

"What if one thing leads to another and we spend two hours in the shower?" She grinned. "Maybe next time..."

Besides, she thought Monica needed her friend more than Geoff needed his lover - and Oh My Goodness was she really becoming the caretaker of the group? That was so out of character for her...

Monica gave her a friend a nod, and tried not to be jealous that Jane still had Geoff around to tempt her. She briefly wondered what Hector was doing at the moment, but then she pushed the thought, and her feelings, aside. At least Hector was still alive, which was more than could be said about the reverend's wife. Monica chose to hold onto the idea that Hector and Eddie would be alright at the Doc's house. They had to be. She remained deep in her thoughts as she followed Jane into the bathroom.

The shower lasted slightly longer than anticipated, mostly because Jane had decided that her friend needed to relax and unwind, and Jane took pride on knowing exactly how to make people relax and unwind - irrespective of gender and sexual persuasion.

Of course, this being Monica, she would stop at stage 1. Now, Karen, on the other hand... Well, some other day.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Mon 20 Sept 2010.

With Allan's permission, Karen looked in Xynthia's wardrobe searching for some clothes that would fit, and found that the Reverend's wife was pretty much her exact same size. She picked up a change of clothing for herself, and, after a moment, a couple of Xynthia's more flowing skirts for the other girls - just in case.

It was just as well, since, when Jane and Monica came out of the shower, it turned out that Nephi's trousers would just about fit on Monica, but were a bit too short for Jane.

Luckily, while she was a full six inches taller than Xynthia, Jane had about the same hip size, and Xynthia's skirts adapted reasonably well to her figure; they did show a significantly larger amount of legs than they were originally intended to, but not nearly as much as some of Jane's normal clothing.

"You're braver than me," Monica whispered to Jane. "Feels a little soon to be wearin' stuff that belonged to the guy's poor, dead wife. But maybe that just makes you the practical one." Monica's tone wasn't one of passing judgment. She actually admired her friend for being able to do what needed to be done to survive. "It's not like the stuff will do Xynthia any good now, and no sense in letting it go to waste."

"You're next." Monica handed a fresh towel to Karen. "Didn't realize how much I needed that." She looked incredibly refreshed, as if the shower had washed away a fair amount of her tension. "Let's gather whatever blankets and pillows we can find."

"We don't know that she's dead yet, you know..." Jane's tone was pensive: "I don't think she is: the zombies kinda seemed to like her. It was us that they wanted dead."

A moment later, she shivered: "Except for that black thing... That really wanted everything dead, the deader the better. What the hell was it anyway?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:26, Tue 21 Sept 2010.

Monica gave Jane a nod. "Death would probably be better than... whatever happened to the reverend's wife. And I have no idea what that other thing was. I just know I don't wanna run into it again."

Nephi walked a little unsteadily back into the apartment, having packed his gear in the car and successfully Blessed it.  As he started walking towards his room, aiming to remove the dirty uniform and collapse on his bed, he said "Wow, that took a little more then I thought it would.  Someone do me a favor and wake me up in half an hour please."

"Thanks Monica." Karen replied as she took the towel and walked toward the bathroom in time to see and hear Nephi come in. Leaning out of the lavatory as he spoke Karen made a mental note to wake him up a little later after her shower, and with a hidden smile Karen sets about cleaning the grime off her body and soul.

Jane had had a half-mind of stopping at the nearest mall and grab some clothes - right now, she didn't even have a change of underwear - but there was still a dumb spot in her leg from where the zombie's poison had paralyzed it, and she knew that she may not be as lucky the next time.

By the time Karen came out of the shower, they had finished packing as much useful stuff as possible to carry away. "I think we are about done here... Should we wake up Nephi?"

Geoff looked at the others and asked, "Do we want to head straight for Fort Monroe or do you want to swing by a local Precinct to see if we can pick up some guns and ammunition?"