Peter slowly stepped in to the room. He was moving carefully in case was in there they hadn't yet seen - or in case the corpses were of the get-up-and-walk variety. He first glanced upwards and shone his light around the ceiling to make sure nothing was lurking above.

Then he began, still from a distance, checking the corpses and especially to see if they had toe tags on them.

Trask pointed to the pile of corpses and then kept his rifle pointed at the pile of potential undead. What he would not do with some sort of flame thrower right now.


-

In reply to Peter Firecrow (msg # 655):

The corpses all seemed to of the Gators gang, and therefore recent. Within a day or so. While still wet from being submerged, none were as bloated as the horrifying corpses that had attacked them on the Gators' ship.

None of these ones moved.

Holding back his gag reflex, Peter immediately noticed a couple thigs: none of these corpses wore the toe tags inscribed with symbols, or any toe tags, that the other more mobile corpses had been wearing. Also, none had been cut open with a deep Y-incision and their internal organs removed, something common to autopsied patients, another feature.

"I wonder if we took the feet off if that would stop them from trying to use them. Also probably a good idea to let our guys with the boats know that we have the right spot." he pauses "Yeah rather not cut that many feet off. Wonder if they have any flammables left?"

Peter suppressed another gag and stepped back. He closed his eyes a second and calmed himself. Then he shook his head. "Orrrrrrrrr...we find whoever, or whatever, is creating the undead creatures and stop them. Then these bodies stay bodies."

He paused and then shrugged. "No, you are right. Even after that, we should likely burn them to be sure."

"Yes I agree, will need to dispose of them at some point. Gives the whole place a very uneasy feeling....

Trask was still not sure the whole pile will not surge forward to attack them, but there were other things to focus on.


-

 "Option one is burning the whole place to cinders. Option two is a really big bomb. I'm not taking a chance that one of these gangers comes back Harrowed." Chricton looks at the bodies. "Another Stone or worse. Nope we have enough problems."

In reply to Tech. Sgt. Airen Crichton (msg # 661):

Cutting off the toes of the as-yet undead seemed sensible. Stopping whoever would transform these bodies into the undead monsters (possibly some form of Walkin' Dead?) is of course also a wise option.

The town still had the unexploded bomb that was intended for the Queen, but was not needed. The bomb, if used as a demo charge, looked like it was enough to collapse the weakened structure. But if they were dealing with undead here, such a collapse would not be enough to kill them and might only trap them for a while.

Just then they heard someone speaking coming from inside the operating theatre. It sounded like they were giving a lecture or lesson of some kind. Due to the doors being closed they couldn't see who it was nor really hear what they were saying...
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:40, Mon 11 Dec 2023.

Peter stopped suddenly even as he was about to agree again with the 'reasonable' suggestion. His head cocked to the side, his eyes narrowing and shifting to look at...nothing really as he listened intentely.

He held one finger up to his lips first as he looked at his allies then he used it to tap his ear before pointing towards where he heard the noise coming from.

He stepped slowly away from the bodies and that room and started moving quietly towards the 'lecture', weapon in hand.

"Maybe try up in the gallery...?" murmured Smoker.

"See what is going on from there."

"Do you see a way up there? Other wise we are going to have to go in the door." Chricton says quietly. "If we can fond a way up. I'd say Trask and I hold the door and Peter and you go up there. maybe catch em in the crossfire."

Smoker pointed tp the door on the far right.

"I'd guess that one, seeing as it has GALLERY A written on it."

He went over to see if it would open.

In reply to Smoker Nix (msg # 666):

Indeed, the door opened. Behind it was a set of stairs leading up. Presumably to a kind of balcony over the operating theatre (literally) where visiting doctors could observe the procedure. This spoke to the age of the building and when it was constructed a century ago in the 1970's or '80's. Newer hospital buildings would not have an actual observation gallery but would go with HD video or 3D video cameras and monitors for viewing.

Smoker noted that there was a lot of dust that was disturbed by wet footprints (still damp) going up.

"Looks like someone else had the same idea," said Smoker, pointing out the footprints.

Do they go up & down or just up?

In reply to Smoker Nix (msg # 668):

He noted while the footprints (all of bare feet) went both up and down, the freshest, dampest ones were only going up. And there were clearly more than one set.

"Careful - looks like someone is still up there. Wanna go first?"

Smoker wasn't a coward, he was just realistic about his fighting capabilities.

Trask gives a nod and will take the lead  going up the stairs. He takes his time with his rifle at his shoulder, looking for obvious threats.


-

Smoker followed, also on high alert.

Peter stayed quiet. The others were, of course, better at some things than he was, so he let them take the lead on those things. He knew he was not a tracker. Hell, he'd had to learn survival skills after the apocalypse mostly, and he was still a novice. He'd been a city person.

He broght up the rear, tracking behind them and following slowly.

Carefully, Trask mounted the stairs to the gallery above the operating theatre. Smoker and Peter followed.

As he peered over the top of the stairs, he saw a single row of seats surrounding and looking down into a large glassed-over rectangular window set into the floor. There were six seats on both long sides, and four on the short ends.

The room was dark. The only light came from the window in the floor.

Sitting at the seats closest to the stairs were two men. Their backs were to the stairs. They did not seem to notice Trask.

Peter kind of had to wait on Trask to move before he could move. He thought about asking if they should continue to sneak or go in loud at this point, but asking that would probably give them away if their 'sneaking' hadn't already. So he stayed quiet and got ready to follow Trask in.

Smoker followed along, feeling nervous.

Trask stayed motionless, but indicated the two potential targets sitting on the chairs.


-

Carefully the posse took up positions, aiming at the two disheveled, soaking men. Men who had disappeared, and now seemed to be part of some unholy retinue of walking dead that served some unseen master. That presumed master was below them in the operating theatre. They could hear his raspy voice droning on, as if narrating an operation. Or, in this case, what sounded like an autopsy.

Marshall's Note: you are considered to have a couple seconds to get your aim (+2 for Drawing a Bead). Please specify weapon, how many shots (up to ROF), etc.

Peter still had his machete in hand, and didn't fancy moving forward to possibly get hit by not-so-friendly fire. So he stayed at the back where had been anyway and kept an eye out behind the group, to make sure nothing else was stalking them or coming at them unawares. And he waited for hell to be unleashed on the hopefully-unsuspecting victims in the room.