Jane bit her lower lip and looked around. The closest thing to Hector's description was a ten-years-old VW Vanagon Camper...

(( http://auto.howstuffworks.com/volkswagen-bus10.htm ))

"Think that would do?" She asked, nodding her head toward the thing.

Geoff nodded and smiled, "That's perfect, I'll try hotwiring it now, and if that doesn't work, Nephi's right, we can push it there."

He walked up to the bug and tapped out the small plate of glass near the wing morror. Then he drew his pistol and checked the inside, not wanting any more surprises that day.

The vehicle was clean - more accurately, empty... OK, to be precise, there was nobody in it.

As for being empty, there was a lot of junk amassed in it, and as for being clean... Yeah, well, at least there was nobody inside it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:56, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

Geoff put his hand in and popped the lock. He opened the door and swept the broken glass clear. That done, he checked behind the driver's sun visor and in the exhaust pipe for the keys. He'd known lots of Bug drivers that kept losing their keys and kept them in those painfully obvious places, in fact, he should have checked the pipe before smashing the glass.

"Do'oh!" he said to himself softly as he looked for the keys.

A small bundle of keys and duct-tape fell in Geoff's lap as he checked the sun visor. Geoff had to wonder for a brief moment about the logic behind the duct-tape, but then the pounding on the overturned car brought him back to more pressing concerns...

Geoff put the key in the ignition and started the Bug up. He turned it and crawled it up to the wrecked car. The banging from the other side concerned him, it meant more of those freaks.

"Ok," he called, "what do we do next?"

Hector picked up the unconscious woman again and called back, "Well the rest of us get our asses out of this alley, and you drive up to the wreck." After which Hector sprinted back out....
This message was last edited by the player at 02:47, Mon 27 Oct 2008.

"Here's hoping that the other zombies haven't broken through those other doors yet." Nephi said as he followed Hector.

Geoff drove the Bug slowly up to the wreck and stopped just before the bumper touched the ruined car. He squirmed into the back of the van and stood up in the sunroof in order to see what was the other side of the wreck.

Good news: it was quite easy to jump from the top of the van to what used to be the bottom of the wrecked car, and from there on the other side.

Bad news: whoever tried that would have to evade five zombies...
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:42, Mon 27 Oct 2008.

"Damn it." Geoff said, "We have five of those things ready to jump us if we go over. As I see it we have two optons, I can try ramming the wreck and pushing it out of the way with you all following in another car, or I can jump over and try to draw the things away before you all jump. Any other bright ideas would be gratefully recieved as I don't really like either of my ideas."

Hector put the woman down, in the empty parking spot,and thought on this for a moment before walking over to where Geoff was parked,
  "I'm sorry to say, if this a movie, it isn't Rambo, or any other 'over-the-top' 'get-away-with-anything' action flick. No, in zombie movies people tend to get punished for doing stupid things, like say ramming an overturned vehicle that's spilling gas all over the place. It'll be just like that time in Night of the Living Dead where they're all nice and secure inside when they get the bright idea of tearing down their own barricades, going back out, running in several different directions, and lighting a few fires that can be seen for miles around. And I rather not be in the kind of movie where people are yelling at the screen 'DON'T DO THAT, YOU IDIOT!'" he ends again with thematic florish.
 "So the only other option I see, besides you or I leaping over and distracting the horde, is trying to break into this other building making up the alley, as our diner is already filled with zed, hope it's 'uncontaminated', and make it to the other side. It'd be a little tricky though, likely involving breaking an upper story window and pushing someone suitably light, either Nephi or Jane, through, hoping there isn't already a horde up there waiting for him/her, and waiting for them to make it to the back door. It'll eat up a lot of time.......which we may not have." that last bit was said with a touch of dread to it, "Ummmmmm, you never quite told me the situation in the diner....... once they broke through the front door did they just stumble around, or did they go after you three? And are they now pounding through the backdoor?"

"There's an iron door between them and us: if we find some behind us, the one thing I know is that they won't have come through our shop." Replied Jane with conviction.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:47, Wed 29 Oct 2008.

Monica looked at her friend: "J, my keys are in the shop: if you closed the backdoor, we are not going back that way..."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:48, Wed 29 Oct 2008.

"Five of them?" said Nephi.  "I'm for trying out the other building.  Really don't think any of us would be able to evade five of them - unless they're really slow.  Besides, anything done by the person who goes over to draw them off would just attract more of them from other directions."

"I'll try getting over the wreck if you want," Geoff volunteered, "at least I'm armed, or I'm happy to try the other buildings, we can drive the bug under a fire escape. Whichever people decide is fine with me, but we need to act fast, things aren't getting any better with time."

 Hector gave this one a long, hard, thought, "I'll check out the other building. I have urban recon training; alone I have the best chance to quickly, and quietly, check it out without mishap. And if anything happens......well you'll still have one cop to help you lot out of this." he said with a smile at his lame attempt at bringing humor to the situation toward the end there.
 "Okay, move the van under the fire-escape. And give me twenty minutes to either open the backdoor or come barreling back out the building through the window. After that, try my original plan of leaping over. Don't bother going after me....won't be much point unless you too want to get ate. Oh and here-" he then produced the keys to the cruiser and dangled them toward Geoff to grab....
This message was last edited by the player at 06:40, Sun 02 Nov 2008.

"OK, man, be careful in there," Geoff said, taking the keys and driving the Bug under a fire escape.

He got out of the bus and looked at the injured woman. As he tried to judge her wounds he said, "Hey, Nephi, do you have any first aid training? Her wounds are too complex for what I know."

As he stood looking at the injured woman again, Nephi felt a rush of insight, and knew that the Lord wanted him to bless her, wanted to use him to ease the suffering of one of His children.  Not knowing her name didn't matter, he somehow knew everything he needed to know, and knew that his faith was needed.  Nephi reached into his pocket for his vial of consecrated oil, and, somewhat distracted, said to Geoff "Not really, but the Lord has seen fit to bless me with something better."
He moved quickly to the woman, anointed her head with a drop of oil, laid his hands on her, and bestowed the blessing that would hopefully save her life.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:58, Tue 04 Nov 2008.

Monica looked as the woman's wounds healed miracolously under her eyes: "I know I should be shocked... But my day has begun with the discovery that dead are walking the Earth: I think I'm all awed-out."

  As this miraculous event was taking place below, Hector was completely missing it as he was busy standing on top of the van, examining a window.
"Window's sealed up tight" he called down, "Unless one of you has an axe on 'em we aren't getting through without help from inside."
  He then looked up for a minute, "Looks like the fire-escape goes all the way to the roof though. We could climb all the way up, and assuming there's another fire-escape on the other side, just walk over and climb down. I'll check it out first, make sure there isn't another car wreck and/or horde waiting for us there."
  At which point he began climbing.....
This message was last edited by the player at 22:05, Tue 04 Nov 2008.

Geoff nodded at Hector's suggestion, damned good idea. He looked at Nephi with his laying on of hands.

"If you can do it, Sir, you'll have my respect, just don't go pulling any Toronto Blessings out of the hat..."

He turned the engine off to preserve gas and headed to the back of the Bug. Hopefully they had a stove, a stove with coffee, a stove with coffee and doughnuts. Mmm...doughnuts.

Nephi looked at the woman again and wondered how long it would be before she woke up.  He also glanced at Geoff, not quite hearing what he'd said.  "Did you say Toronto blessings?  What's a Toronto blessing?"

"That's a good answer," Geoff replied. He looked around to make sure there were no nasty little surprises in their tiny enclave.

The woman groaned and opened her eyes. She saw her overturned car, the cop standing near her, the blood on her hands and clothes, and looked about ready to freak out.

And she didn't even know about the zombies yet...

---

Hector's ascent was mercifully uneventful. All the security grates on the windows were firmly locked, and closed curtains preserved the privacy of the building's inhabitants.

When he got to the top of the stairs, however, Hector got another unpleasant surprise: the staircase didn't get all the way to the roof.

Truth be told, it wasn't that bad: he could probably lift the others enough for them to climb their way up, but it wasn't going to make things any easier than strictly necessary.