Nephi looked strangely at the new arrival.  'There's something not quite right about him.' he thought to himself.

Xynthia flung herself past the shotgun and in the arms of the new visitor: "Al!"

...With the kiss she planted on him, he'd better be her husband!
This message was last edited by the player at 16:31, Sun 05 Apr 2009.

There was something dissonant in the image of Xynthia and Allan kissing... But before anyone could figure out what that was, Mrs. S came out of the kitchen: "Lunch is ready. Allan! Where have you been dear, it's been such a long time. Hello Xynthia, it's good to see you again. Please, come in, come in, you might get cold, or... Well, you might get cold."

Geoff brightened up at the thought of lunch and said, "Why don't you come in, Sir? We can all sit down and discuss things over lunch."

Nephi thought to himself about what he'd just learned, and decided to wait until he was either alone with the others or the priest said anything before sharing.  Hector would just start loudly talking again if he just blurted it out like last time.

Allan smiled as he accepted the invitation. Passing the threshold proved unnecessarily complicated: now that she had found him, Xynthia had decided she wasn't gonna let him leave, and apparently that meant becoming an extension of his arm.

Then again, he had known full well who he was marrying, so he just put up with the latest, and by far not the greatest, oddity of his wife.

As the door got locked behind him, he exchanged greetings with everyone.

Geoff double checked the locks and then followed his hosts and the Smiths into the dining room. He fussed over the Doctor's wiffe and made sure to hold the chairs for the ladies as they sat down. There was no point forgetting manners, even if the world was ending...

The dining table was quite crowded, with eleven guests and a significant amount of food. Mrs S quickly rearranged the table to make room for the last unexpected guests, and invited everyone to sit down.

The table sorted itself quite naturally: Xynthia took the place next to Allan, of course; Jane, Monica and Karen apparently found it an excellent idea, for they decided to sit next to Geoff, Hector and Nephi respectively. Somehow, Nephi and Karen ended up on the farthest spot from Xynthia and Allan, and Karen kept looking at them with not-quite-concealed mistrust.

When everyone finally settled down, Allan spoke softly to his wife. Very reluctantly, she let go of his arm. "Doctor, I would like to say Grace, if that is fine by you?"

The doctor seemed less than enthusiastic at the idea - possibly because of the unusual amount of funny metaphysic talk he had been forced to endure - but he nodded nonetheless.

Allan opened his arms, and right then he was every bit the priest in front of his congregation: "We thank You, oh Lord, for the food that we are about to eat, and the water we are about to drink. May Your blessing descend on it, and sanctify it, that it may give restore to our bodies and strength to our souls."
This message was last edited by unknown at 19:19, Thu 30 Apr 2009.

 Shoot ,thought Hector to himself as he was closing re-bolting the front door these crazy people kept leaving wide open,  I'm going to have to practice my 'scary black guy, starring you down from the barrel of a shotgun look' the way these people are just shrugging it off and all.  "I'll be there in a minute!" he then called out.

As the priest said Grace, Nephi had bowed his head and clasped his hands together.  Then he felt a strong wave of cleansing power sweep over the table at the conclusion of the prayer, and found himself gaping like a fish in surprise.

"Amen." Concluded Eddie, helping himself with a portion of cheese and rice entrée.

Bread was passed around, water was poured, plates with various types of ham and salami were quickly depleted of their contents.

"Amen." agreed Nephi.  He opened his eyes, and thanked Mrs. S before choosing a modest portion of everything.  Nephi resolved to take the priest aside for a private talk after lunch.  'Did he notice my noticing?' he wondered to himself.

"Amen," intoned Geoff before helping to pass around the bread and water, "I must say, Ma'am, you've really done us proud here, and at such short notice too."

     After which Hector entered the kitchen. "Hey gang," he said as he once again plopped into a chair and leaned his shotgun against against the wall right next to him, "I miss anything?"

For some reason, Xynthia seemed to find Hector's question funny, and started giggling like a school girl.

Mrs. S apparently decided to ascribe it to another of Xynthia's many oddities, because she just ignored it and smiled at Geoff: "Thank you, dear. Make sure to leave some room for the meat, I think you will like it."

Monica looked over at Jane, who was religiously following Eddie's lead, and began to imitate her: "Better hurry up Hector, before we clear the table and leave you empty-handed."

"Yep, Mon is right,-" She took a bite from the entrée and stopped in mid-joke. "Mrs. S? Can I adopt you as a mom? Or at least a very very close aunt?"

The old lady laughed heartily: "I'm glad you like it honey. We rarely have guests, so I don't get to show off my cooking skills very often. "

Geoff smiled back at the reverend's wife and said, "I don't mind if I do, Ma'am."

As he munched away, he smiled at Jane, having an adopted mother like Mrs. S would be good, that way maybe she wouldn't try to make doughnuts any more. Still, Jane more than made up for her lack of cullinary skills in other departments...he hadn't seen shooting like she displayed earlier for a long time...

He swallowed his mouth full and said, "So, apart from eat this marvelous meal, what are we going to do?"

Eddie wiped his mouth with a napkin and took a sip of water: "Ma'am, that is some of the best food I've had in... I can't even remember."

He then turned somber and looked at Geoff: "Clearly, we need to contact the precinct. The phones have been acting up all morning, and the radios are even worse, so we need to-"

"They're already dead." Allan interrupted him. "Two of the prisoners got in a fight, one of them got killed and turned, then he killed the other. Two officers tried to intervene, which set the zombies free... And then all hell broke loose."
This message was last edited by unknown at 19:18, Thu 30 Apr 2009.

Nephi blinked a little, then politely asked "Not to be rude or anything, but, how do you know?  Were you at the precinct or something?"

Allan shook his head. "No, I wasn't there, but I saw it just the same. I know it to be true, just as I knew you would all be here. It is my gift." A dark bitterness crept into Allan's voice when he said "gift".

Nephi looked a little excited, but glanced at Hector before calming down.  A trace of eagerness could still be heard as he said "Can we speak after lunch?  I believe we have a few things in common."

As Allan poured a glass of wine for his wife, he looked across the table and nodded to Nephi. "Of course."
This message was last edited by unknown at 12:51, Fri 01 May 2009.

"Damn, Eddie," Monica turned to her friend, as she tried to process this latest bit of news. "Does that make you the guy in charge now?"