"Cheer up, DeSanto... We are young, handsome, and don't forget alive. Apparently the zombies have all decided to look for less combative prey, so I think we can proceed with the original plan. Ah, thank you doctor." Eddie accepted one of the coffee mugs Anton had brought back from the kitchen and took a sip.

His eyes widened just a little, and he looked over at the young physician - but did not comment.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:50, Wed 06 Oct 2010.

Hector took a sip, which quickly became a gulp, then practically downing his whole cup o' joe, "Damn.....that's good stuff! I didn't know you Americans actually knew what good coffee was, but this.........damn. Makes you almost forget about the whole Army of Darkness thing."

Anton smiled at him and repied: "Well, you know, dad's a doctor, I'm a doctor, mom's a nurse, caffeine is sort of a core food group for my family. And it seems the zombies have left, so perhaps the outbreak is over."

"Has anyone tried the phones, the television, or maybe the radio; see if anything's back up?" said Hector with a touch of hopeful anticipation.

"Good idea... Yesterday they all seemed to be on the fritz, but maybe we'll get lucky today." Eddie walked over to the TV set and switched it on.

On the plus side, physis seemed to have reasserted itself, and the channels were back. On the minus side, most of them were showing some form of "technical difficulties" sign, with the remaining ones showing pre-recorded programming.

"Well, that's kind of a letdown... No end-of-the-world public service announcements?" Eddie turned to look at Hector: "Wanna try your
luck?"

"What do you mean, the phone or the cruiser's radio?"

"Well, I meant the TV - perhaps you can find a live channel? But yeah, radioing the others sounds like a good idea. I thing Wayne got your car, so you can probably use the radio in my car to try to contact him. Here." He fished in his pocket for the keys, and tossed them at Hector.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:44, Mon 25 Oct 2010.

 Deftly caught them and headed for the door.

As Hector opened the door, Eddie and Anton stood behind him, ready to shoot any zombies and, if needed, help Hector back inside the house.

But there were no zombies, not even the bodies from the day before.

However, the traces of their passage were perfectly recognizable: the grass in the garden had become completely black, and there was a faint sickly smell in the air.

"...The Hell?"

"Jesus," said Hector as he looked around with bewilderment, "you think they melted?"

"Decomposed, perhaps... But even with the parasite infection, that shouldn't happen overnight." Anton knelt down to examine a black patch. "It definitely stinks, but it doesn't quite stink right. Smells like... Oh shit."

He stood up quickly and backed away: "Careful, it smells like the poison that knocked out me and Betty yesterday. Don't walk on it, I don't know if your shoes will protect you."

"Oh dear, there goes my plan to roll around naked in the contaminated soil." said Hector with a laugh as he carefully made his way to the cruiser.

  In spite of Hector's apparent good humor Hector had his gun out and was furtively jerking his head back and forth, like so much scared rabbit, with every step he took as he practically crawled his way to the car. But surprisingly nothing happened. As he reached the car he breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, holstered his gun,quickly got in the front, and started the radio making a general, broadband, call, "Calling all cars, calling all cars, is there any response? Over."

Shortly, a reply arrived on Eddie's car's radio. The quality of the reception was abysmal, but the voice sounded familiar...

"Unidentified STATICthis is A-Able STATIC, reading you poorly. STATIC badge number by STATIChandset."

A-Able something-something? A-Able Five-Niner was their call sign, and that sounded sorta like Geoff, despite all the interference...

 Hmmmm, it's probably him, but just in case I better not give anything away, thought Hector.
 "If that's you partner we're all fine, the zombies appear to have vanished, but we'll meet where we discussed anyway just in case. Over and out."

  And with that Hector made it back to the garden, where it looked like Eddie and Tony were standing around looking at the dirt like they were waiting for it to get up and do something, "So....." Hector said cautiously, "I think I got through to Geoff and the rest of the gang. I think we're still heading to Fort Monroe, not sure though, there was all kinds of distortion. So you guys figure anything out back here?"

It had been a minor interference in the static that had covered most of Geoff's speech, but the high-pitched sound that came from Eddie's radio suddenly started to grow louder and louder.

Soon it could be heard clearly even outside the car, and it kept growing in volume.

Eddie looked from the car to Hector, to Anton and back to the car: "What the..."

*FORT ... MONROE*

"OK, what was that?" Asked Anton, looking at Eddie's car.

"Beats me..." Replied Eddie. "But something tells me that we should hurry up and join the others at Fort Monroe."

"Then this is where I say goodbye." Tony smiled a little sadly. "I have to take care of Betty, and my family as well."

 Hector looked very anxious as he said, "Yeah I agree, Caruso. Sounds like some kind of shit's going down at Monroe, and the rest of the gang is heading right into it. We got everything we need?"

"I think so." Nodded Eddie. "I'll get my bag and we'll be on our way. Thanks, Tony, for everything."

Anton smiled and nodded: "No problem. When this thing finally blows over and you are back, come visit, for a coffee or whatever."

The way out of the city was surprisingly clear. Part of it was luck, the rest was Hector and Eddie leaving through the same route that had already been cleared by the others. Luckily, there were plenty of shops that had not been looted, so they took a few minutes to gather useful stuff, from food to water to consumables, including a few boxes of ammunition.

On their way to the fort, Eddie tried several times to contact the others, but apparently whatever was blocking the radios was once again in full force.

They drove as fast as the road condition allowed, and they were pretty sure they were steadily gaining on the other group.

In that regard, they were correct. How close they were, however, was largely a matter of point of view...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:49, Thu 13 Jan 2011.

Hector and Eddie finally came out of a small bank of light mist, and lo and behold, there it was: the large shape of the Unicat, standing in the middle of the road.