Natasha, Rufus, and Regina follows Mary's lead out of the bus barricade yard. On her way out, Mary runs into Edward, who is holding a rifle in hand. Mary hears Rufus firing off a few additional shots into the air behind her.

"I heard shots!" The soldier exclaims. "Where are the others?" He notices there's only four of you leaving the area in a hurry and the army of dead that is pursuing the team from behind. Edward turns, immediately making his way back to the vehicle. "Move it! Come on!" He gestures his hand at the vehicle.

"School's out!" Mary shouts, reaching the truck. "The others are staying behind to check for Nicole while we distract the horde! Drive slow - we don't want to lose them!"

Putting a foot on the bumper, she climbs into the back of the truck, sitting against the side. "Save the bullets," she tells Rufus. "We've already got the ones from the school, we don't need to attract more attention. For all we know, there's a crowd on the other side that could cut us off."

"Fair enough." Rufus replies, lowering his pistol from the air. He hopped into the vehicle along with the others.

"Kids, in the car, now!" Mary hears Edward calling out to Dwayne and Mina. They both dashed for the SUV. Terry is in the driver's seat, ready to take off.

Once Mary and everyone else got onto the back of the truck, the vehicles drives off. They manage to maintain a good distance from the ghouls in the back.

They come across a crossroad where Mary remember the group discussing the bandit's whereabouts, and finding Regina in the grocery store.

"We need to lose 'em clowns somewhere. Any ideas?" Mary hears the driver prompting her for her input.

"Give me a second to think," Mary says, looking back at the horde of ghouls. We need to lure them away, obviously. We could lose them around a block easily, but then they could turn up anywhere...

"You know where the highway is, right?" Mary asks, turning to face the driver's seat. "We'll lead them out of Rosedale, then circle back on the side roads! If we're lucky, they'll never find their way back into town. Even if we're not, that should at least give us time to meet up with the others. I can guide you if you need it."

"The highway? The one to Cleveland? Yeah, I've drive through there before." The driver makes a turn onto the entrance of the highway. It looks promising seeing how there aren't many vehicles blocking the entrance.

"Alright, here we go." Edward says before driving the truck onto the hallway. The SUV tails the truck closely behind with the wave of ghouls behind them.

Mary glances at the SUV's front seats, but generally keeps her eyes on the ghoul horde following the vehicles. How can there still be so many? she thinks to herself. Why haven't they fallen apart yet? I've seen ghouls eat, but locked up in that school, most of them must have gone weeks without any food at all. What keeps them going?

"Don't go too fast," Mary says, turning to look at Edward in the driver's seat. "Have you done this before? I'm talking about this Pied Piper act, specifically, not just driving."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:01, Fri 20 Mar 2020.

"Yeah, I have. Don't you worry." The driver stated. He checks the mirror to keep an eye on the horde behind.

Mary sees the horde shambling behind. Their pace is consistent, showing no signs of fatigue.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 07:58, Fri 20 Mar 2020.

"Okay," Mary says. Her voice is calmer now, her excitement burning out and being replaced with weary fatigue. "Tell me if anything changes or you need directions."

She relaxes against the side of the truck bed, watching the following ghouls. She rests the rifle across her legs, the barrel pointing safely upwards. Slowly, she releases her breath in a sigh.

Ashley won't find Nicole in there, she thinks. She won't leave until she finds her, but she'll never see her again. What am I going to do then? How long will I entertain her before I leave Rosedale? Who will come with me when I do?

She sighs again and pinches the bridge of her nose. I wonder if I'll ever have a moment when I don't need to worry about the future.