Nephi started grinning.  "She's awake!" he announced, before excitedly asking a couple of questions.  "Hi, I'm Nephi Swanson.  What's your name, and how are you feeling?"

Geoff looked at Nephi with respect, the guy had been calm and together through the worst of it, but this healing really was something. His stomach had been knotting about trying to escape with a stretcher case and how he'd be able to convince the others to leave her. Now there might be no need.

"Good work, man. I'm really impressed."

Still bewildered, the woman looked around, breathing heavily: "Karen... Karen Baker. Is this blood mine? But I'm not feeling any pain... Am I dying? What happened?"

   And so Hector climbed back down, not that anyone noticed, and he called out just as he was leaving the van, "Looks like I was wrong: the fire-escape doesn't quite make it all the way to the top. I could push someone else the rest of-"
and he stopped as he saw that everyone was clustered tightly around the parking space where he left the wounded woman from the car, and cautiously walked up, "What's up guys? Did she die or something?"

Nephi paused a second to consider what to tell her, then decided the full truth would probably be best.  "Well, from what I could see when you were pulled out by the other officer, yes Karen, you were dying.  However, you have been chosen as the recipient of a miracle.  The Lord saw fit to use me as a tool, and healed you."
Just then the magnitude of the experience hit, and he sat down.  "Wow.  My first healing.  I've seen others blessed by the Lord before, and helped some myself, but this is the first time He has let His will be known so strongly with such immediate results.  I must give a prayer of thanks."  He retires slightly from the group and quietly prays.

"Nope," Geoff answered Hector, "Nephi layed on hands and prayed to God, and healed her. It was cool, but a bit spooky. Still, I'm glad he's on our side. We could take the ladder off the back of the Bug, it's eight feet long and we could hook it onto the roof, give us a reach of about twevle feet. Would that be enough?"

At that point ole Hector gave Geoff a long, hard, stare, rubbed his temples, turned around, shook his head, and gave a long groan.
"You know........this time yesterday I was just coming home from another one of these long, early morning, shifts when I realized I couldn't find my apartment keys and would have to talk to my senile, old, German, super, who I might add is so horribly racist I suspect he's an actual Nazi war criminal. 'This', I thought to myself, 'is going to be the worst day of the week'. Now just as I was about to come off another, if possible, longer shifts I got a wee little call from another officer and was asked to handle a problem with a mutual friend of ours. That problem turned into an actual, honest-to-god, zombie that tried to eat us, then a horde of them beat the front door down; and now we're stuck between two hordes and you just casually, as if you were talking about the weather, told me one of us is a Saint that just brought someone back to life with a touch of his hands?! What next is it going to be?! WHAT FUCKING NEXT, DAMN YOU?!" he ended, screaming at the heavens above!
This message was last edited by the player at 22:47, Sun 09 Nov 2008.

A thunder cracked above their heads. Seconds later, it was raining hard.

Jane looked at Hector: "You really had to say that, didn't you?"

Geoff stepped away from Hector, distancing himself from the man, he mumbled quietly, "Just cause he's my partner, doesn't mean I agree with the man. You hear that, God?"

Now really didn't seem to be the time to be pissing the bigman off. He cleared his throat, "OK, what do you say to Hector leading the way over the building, Jane and Monica backing him up with the hand cannons and the Karen and Nephi ready to lay down mojo if he needs to? I'll bring up the rear."

Having finished his prayer of thanks, Nephi rejoins the group - still standing in the rain - just in time to hear Geoff's suggestion.  "Only problem I see with that is when the Lord wants me to bestow a blessing, it takes a little time to do it right."

"OK, it's good to know the parameter we're working in, thanks, Nephi," Geoff replied, "I'm still sure you can contribute with your sabre even if the miracles aren't on quick release. So do we go with that order or does anyone else have an idea?"

Those purple clouds. The smell. The rain......DEAR GOD, THE RAIN!!!

"Oh shit......oh shit." Hector whispered, in a terrified manner, as the terrible, cabbage smelling, rain fell upon them before speaking up for everyone. "Yeah great, whatever guys. Now let's get the lead out, I don't want to be out in this longer then necessary!"

After which he bolted for the van!
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:38, Sat 15 Nov 2008.

The ladder from the van proved unexpectedly difficult to pass up from floor to floor through the emergency stairs, but with a good amount of cooperation, they finally managed to reach the roof of the building. It was still pouring rain, and eveybody was soaking wet by the time they stopped.

This was, in a way, a mixed blessing: on one hand, Karen's hands and face were no longer covered in blood, which seemed to help her peace of mind somewhat.

On the other hand, while the air wasn't cold, it was still September, and if they didn't manage to find a shelter before dark it was not going to be a pleasant night.

On the gripping hand, Jane's T-shirt was, by then, completely transparent. She didn't seem to mind but, since she wasn't wearing any bra, the men of the group were bound to find it... Distracting.

Looking down, the girls surveyed the streets: the zombies had left the wrecked car. A couple of them were wandering aimlessly nearby, the others had apparently found a new purpose (or a new prey) and were nowhere to be seen.

"OK," Geoff asked, looking around the street, "do we keep going down in a group or do we send a few people down to secure the cars and then go down when they are ready? I'd prefer to stick together, but I'm open to persuasion?"

 Hector surveyed the scene below as well, and with growing interest.

"They knew. Somehow.......those things knew there was no one left down there. It's like they can sense living people up to a few yards away, and when we went past their range they just wandered away. Shit......this is bad. It means the moment we try and go back down there the mob will just reform where we try and drop down....."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Sun 16 Nov 2008.

Geoff was absorbed by the front of Jane's t-shirt, even the apocalyspse seemed to have it's up sides....

What was that Hector said? More bad news, but it made sense, "That's good deduction, partner," Geoff agreed, "now I can see you weren't just bulling about that Gold Shield. Even if you're wrong, it's best to carry on assuming you're right. Whatever, we need to get down and put some distance between us and those things, as well as pick up "Lover Boy". Let's get down the escape and see what happens from there. Shall I play "Tail end Charlie again?"

Nephi missed the conversation, due to still ringing ears, and singing hymns in his mind to avoid any distraction from Jane's wet T-shirt.

"Can't say as I know exactly how this 'zombie life sense' thing works" said Hector after another moment of thought, "but if I had to guess I'd say the more living people there are the easy it is for them to detect, and the more of them will show up. So if we all head down there at once we'll probably face a horde of the living dead before we even reach the cars!. So I think it'd make more sense if only one or two of us go down to the ground to bring the cars into the alley, while the rest of you wait up here. So......besides the cruiser, who else has a car parked out front?" 

Monica thought for a moment: "I think we can still follow the same plan we came up with in the shop..." She threw a look at Karen, then back to Hector: "But someone will have to be in the back of your car."

"Karen can ride in the back of the cruiser," Geoff suggested, "that way we can all fit in and get the hell away from here."

 Hector pulled their mini-ladder up from where they left it on the fire-escape, walked over with it to the fire-escape on the hopefully unblocked side of the building, and lowered said ladder down.

"So partner, you want to make the 'run for the car' this time, or should I?"

Geoff looked up and down the street, "You go, you're faster and I'm the steadier shot, I'll keep you covered."

Having realised that people were talking, Nephi concentrates on the conversation and asks "Were we going to drive anywhere in particular?  And once the zombies start showing, how are the rest of us going to get down to the cars fast enough to avoid them?"

  "Oh right" said Hector with a nod towards Nephi, "you don't know him. Well that guy that called us, warning us of the imminent zombie attack, is a fellow officer and mutual friend; who is hopefully still safely barricaded uptown, and needs our help. We'll figure out what to do from there once we burn that bridge."

  "Now I suggest the rest of you wait just a couple minutes then start coming down the fire-escape, one at a time, as quickly as you can. We'll need to get you all in the cruiser as fast as possible, since if my theory is correct once the six of us are all near the ground level they'll start amassing.

  "Oh and I'll need those keys back, Geoff."

Geoff threw the keys over to Hector and pulled out his service pistol. He looked over at his partner and said, "Good to go, partner."