Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

-The book of Proverbs, verse 4:25-27, King James Bible

---

The morning is well underway. By now, the farm is surely aware of Chris K and the others' absence. Lawrence must have returned with Murphy by now, and even if not, someone has probably found the notes they left behind. If they have an intention of finding the group and dragging them back - or worse - they will have their work cut out for them. Both the farm and Milton are invisible, beyond the horizon, and Malcolm's community has no way of knowing where they went.

Of course, this doesn't mean they have no concerns. They were interrupted by Lawrence before they could get much gasoline and left immediately after. Unfortunately, there are few abandoned vehicles on the lonely highway, and any they do find appear to be empty of fuel - presumably, that being the reason they were abandoned. It's close to an hour before they find a likely source of fuel: a gas station on the side of the road, and in front of it, several vehicles blocking the road.

The vehicles don't look deliberately placed; rather, they are scattered, but are still close enough together that the truck probably cannot maneuver between them. There's enough space on the sides of the road, as well as in the gas station, to go around the entire blockage. Several walkers wander amongst the cars, but none seem to have noticed the truck yet.

As they drove on, Chris tried to chat to the others a little to get to know them more.

He asked Vivian why she left the group at the school, and also how she felt about leaving Gloria, and where she was headed.

He asked them all where they were from and where they wanted to get too.

ooc
Hope its ok to have a chat before we hit the road block?

Chris K

"California!" Sid is the first to answer, but she turns to Rose as she does so. "I already told everyone else this, but not you. My family's in L.A., so I'm going home. My school had, like, this thing where they flew the honour roll kids to Washington, D.C.? I think it was supposed to look good on, like, college applications or something, so it was mostly senior kids, but my parents sent me, too. Anyway, I was there when all this happened, so basically I've got to cross the whole country to get home."

"Hope you don't die of dysentery," Rose jokes. "Here lies Sid, peperony and chease."

Sid stares at Rose for a long, silent moment before finally speaking. "What?"

"Uh, never mind," Rose says sheepishly before addressing the group. "I was studying film at Centerary College of Louisiana. After the dead people came back, I tried getting home to my parents, but by the time I got back, they were already, um...you know. They were gone. And...I was mad at myself for not making it in time, but they probably died before I even left the school."

She sighs, looking out the window, but gives a sad smile when she turns back to the group. "I know that's not special. That happened to everyone. Anyway...I tried to meet up with friends, but before I did, I was kidnapped by this guy named Loom. He had some thugs working for him, and then the rest of us, who were actual slaves."

"What do you mean, slaves?" Sid asks.

"I mean slaves! He made us work, and if we tried to leave, they'd shoot us. Or if we made any mistakes, or said the wrong thing, or pretty much anything, he'd shoot us. All of his thugs were scared of him, too. I don't know what his plan was - maybe he didn't even have one. Maybe he just had this fantasy of being a post-apocalyptic warlord and wanted to play it out as long as possible. Anyway, once we got to that motel, Malcolm attacked him in the dark. None of his thugs trusted him, so once things started falling apart, everyone just ran! That's how me and the other slaves got away and met Malcolm, and..."

She's silent for a moment, then gives a soft sigh. "...and now that I've left, I guess I just have to find a place that will take me, even though I don't have any real skills. There's not much demand for film theory nowadays. It probably would have been smarter to stay with Malcolm, but when he said he was going to go back and kill those people...I can't...I just can't be part of that."

Vivian nods at Rose's story. Once it's clear she's done, she turns to Chris K. "Back at the school, Lawrence didn't want to use Juan's disguise, so he took his son and left. I thought they'd be in danger, so Gloria and I went to help."

She pauses for a moment, debating whether to say what comes next. "Honestly, I think I only went because of his son. If it was just him, I'd probably have stayed with the group and worn Juan's disguise...which is funny, because Gloria and I both had recent wounds. In that way, Lawrence saved my life."

She gives a very small, very wry smile. There doesn't seem to be any actual happiness in it. After a second, she resumes eye contact. "The farm is pretty safe. They don't need me as much as you do. I left notes for Gloria and Juan. They'll miss me, but when I'm around, they make...risky decisions. It's better for them that I'm leaving."

As each spoke, Chris listened in turn, keeping his eyes on the road, and nodding occasionally.

HE added his story "I was mobilised when this started - I was in the National Guard as a Truck driver" he banged the steering wheel "That didn't last long before it fell apart. By the time I got home, my family was gone. So I'm heading east, looking for my sister. A lot of ground to look in but ... I haven't got anything better to do."

They drove in silence for a while, before Chris noted the blocked road up ahead and started slowing down. AS he slowly comes to a stop he glances around to see if this could be an ambush and then says to the others "We'll need to move those vehicles to get the truck through, and as we're stopped we might as well check out the gas station, and the vehicles for gas. And anything else." He pauses and then adds "Can any of you drive this truck?"

Chris K

"What happened with the National Guard?" Rose asks. "I never even saw the military when I was hiding at the college. I head things went really bad."

Vivian nods, looking absently through the windshield. "I saw Little Rock Air Force Base. It was completely overrun." She looks up at Chris K. "I learned to drive using a pickup like this one."

"Oh, right," Rose adds sheepishly. "It's just like car, right? I can drive it."

"I...can probably drive it," Sid says reluctantly. "If I really have to."

In answer to Rose, Chris says "Same as with the Police, Military, Government - they weren't prepared for this."

He keeps the engine running.

"So we need to clear those walkers out, before we do anything" he adds thinking, and looking ahead

ooc
is the vehicle we got like a car? Or would it be more of a Truck driving skill to drive?

Also, is there any sort of choke point in the cars ahead, we could try and channel the walkers through to make them easier to deal with? Can we see any in any of the abandoned cars? Any other walkers at the gas station?

Chris K

"Are we going to shoot them?" Sid leans forward, peering out the window. "Or are we going to do it, like, quietly?"

Vivian frowns slightly, glancing at Chris K. "I don't think I can do it quietly. I'm really only good with a gun."

"I killed one with a knife, once," Sid continues. "Malcolm took the knife back, though. What about you, Rose?"

Sid looks over at Rose. She hesitates, then shakes her head, looking guilty.

Chris looks at the others "What weapons did you bring with you?" he asks

Chris K

"Nothing," Rose says apologetically. "I don't know how to fight."

Vivian pulls a small pistol out of her jacket pocket and lays her hand across the upper dashboard. Writing on the side of the barrel identifies the pistol as a Walther PPK, chambered in .380 ACP.

"Gloria used her knife whenever we had to kill things quietly," Vivian says. "I saw her do it enough times that I could try it if you have a knife, but I'm a lot smaller than her."

"I've got...this," Sid says lamely, pulling a Swiss army knife out of her pack. "I should have taken something when I left the farm, but I just kept thinking about food and water."

"What about the hardware store?" Rose asks.

"Then she just kept thinking about the tarp," Vivian interjects, sneaking Chris K a furtive grin.

"Will you shut up about the tarp?" Sid snaps.

Chris nods slowly and looks back at the zeds he can see "Right. Well next priority - is get you all hand weapons and some practice on using them. Ive got a knife and a nightstick, so we can try and take these out quietly. Let me just check."

Chris pauses as he attempts to count the number of zeds amongst the vehicles more carefully.

Chris K

The vehicles provide visual cover, making it difficult to see just how many walkers there are. From his vantage point, Chris K can make out a half-dozen heads poking above the car roofs and wandering between vehicles, but there may be more hidden out of sight.

08:17, Today: Chris K rolled 12 using 2d10+5.