"You guys won't believe this." Roy said. "I think that truck with your family in it is down there. Along with several others. And those people are fighting a horde at the front of the building in the parking lot."

The little plane buzzed by overhead. Another explosion went off in the parking lot.

"It looks like they are using propane tanks rigged as bombs to knock down the undead." Roy said excitedly. "Then they just wade in with bows and spears and bats and stuff. It's damned impressive to see."

The plane banked in a tight loop over the Walmart.


"Holy cow, that's Melvin Williams waving at me!" Roy was really excited now. "He was on that team that went south. They could all be alive. I gotta call the farm."

With that the radio went silent as Roy changed frequencies.

Rod sped up a bit, glad now they had not stopped to save those other people. With the noise the convoy had made, they should have a decent chance to escape the easily distracted dead. Now they had to make it to the Wallmart...and quickly.

"We don't really need a plan, do we?" Roberta said over the handset as she matched Rod's acceleration.  She hadn't expected to find them so soon and her heart was beating like she'd just run a 10K.

In reply to Roberta Johnson (msg # 966):

"No point in making a plan until we see what's going on. Even the plane can't give us the ground level look. Although a bird's eye view will help..." Rod replied.

It was a disturbing sight.

The parking lot was ground zero for a lot undead.

Banners and signs hung advertising a FEMA resource center in the parking lot. There were rows of empty or nearly empty semi trailers to west side of the lot. Cars, trucks, and even buses had formed a line going into the parking lot. There National Guard had erected a perimeter of chain link fencing reinforced at the bottom, on the outside of the fencing, with those concrete barricades. The barricades were two deep as well. There was triple rows of barbed wire angled outward at the top of the fence. Every ten yards big multi-light arrays would have lit the place up like a stage.

But, why so many undead.

To get into the lot they had to drive a semi-circle and search for how the others got in. The original entrance was narrow, blocked by the line of cars, and a real security checkpoint that had been closed behind the last car in line going into the lot. It was all too surreal. They finally found the way in. Someone, probably looters, had backed up to the wall with a dump truck or something similar and dumped out several loads of dirt to create an earthen ramp lead up to the fencing.

The fencing was cut, probably with a torch by the look of it, making a wide hole in the fence. More dirt had been dumped on the other side of the barricades making the ramp into the parking lot complete. It was not missed that there were a lot of spent cartridge casings on the ground amid too many rotting corpses. Whoever had breached the perimeter did so while fighting a gun battle with the people inside the compound.

There were few corpses of soldiers, mostly just everyday people. The ramp looked like it had been used often enough, it had a few ruts in it. Judging by the state of things, they figured it must have happened about for to six weeks back. During the height of the hysteria and infighting. The time of the crazy strategies of nuking cities.

There was buzz as the plane came flying by. It was low, maybe fifty or sixty feet off the ground. Without warning Roy's voice boomed from external speakers on the little aircraft saying, "Hey, you people need to get out here. Head back to the hole in the fence. Go now. People there will help you."

There was another hollow booming as a propane tank was ruptured under pressure and suddenly ignited. Roberta felt the vibration in her chest. Her kids were over there! Rod was sitting higher up in the truck. He had a better view of the undead, and then recognition his him. These undead were all dressed in civilian attire except for about thirty wearing FEMA jackets. And all of them, every last one he looked at, were missing one hand or the other and had a gory handcuff about the other wrist. Someone had captured them, left them here handcuffed to die, and the radiation reanimated the corpses.

He sat back in his seat. That was a new one on him. And a really cruel thing to have done.

"Roy, can we fit them all in?" Roberta asked over the handset.  It sounded like that was his plan.  Otherwise, just the two of them wasn't much help.

She toggled the door locks to make sure they were unlocked.

"We need a distraction to lead the horde away...maybe my truck?" Rod suggested over the radio.

It took a moment for Roy to reply, "I count around eighteen. Maybe a little more. Its hard to count buzzing around like this."

The plane zoomed by again. Roy wagged his wings. There was no clue as to what that meant.

"Look there are a lot of undead here and more coming out of that Walmart by the tick." Roy suddenly added. "Hey, they got some trucks, but its thick with those corpses."

The plane cut back and circled around in a tight spin, "The only way through the fence is the checkpoint or the hole where you are."

In reply to GM (msg # 971):

"Ok...18 is a manageable number. I am gonna get out, head through the security checkpoint on foot. I shoot a few, yell at them, use the line of cars blocking off the place to keep distance between the horde and me. Then when they follow me Roberta and the others move in and grab the survivors." He prepares to get out of the truck...

As she'd said, they didn't need a plan.

Roberta pulled around so the Subaru was facing in the escape direction before she put it in park and got out to open all of the passenger doors so people could just jump in.  She did the same for the doors of the truck and dropped it's tailgate.

She had the gun unclipped in it's holster on her hip and spear in hand, ready to pick off stragglers outside the fence.  She wanted to shout for everyone to run in her direction, but didn't want to draw infected attention in their direction.

Rod made his way over to the line of cars at the gate. It was a good set up; barricades separated incoming and outgoing lanes. It occurred to him that he could open the gate. It was a simple affair made to be opened and closed by hand.

There were twenty or so cars outside the gate lined up to get in. But, the closest one was over two car lengths from the gate. Inside the last car in the line of nearly thirty five vehicles was at least ten feet from the gate. Plenty of room to open the gate and leave room for other vehicles to pass. Slipping up along the last three cars in the line he could see all of them had keys in them, although they had been emptied of anything the occupants had been carrying.

About twenty yards away was a collection of tents, a veritable tent city, where he could clothes lines with clothing for families. There were stacks of boxes and crates marked with big red labels used by FEMA for the various types of sundries. Most of what he could see was types 3,4, and 9; toiletries, basic medical needs, and child needs.

Roberta could see the action. The group would toss out a cylinder of propane into the amassed undead. As it flew one of the men would shoot it with a shotgun. A trail of vapor would follow. A moment later, after they all ducked, another man would light a road flare and toss it into the vapor trail. The flare would ignite the vapor and explode the cylinder.

The blasts hadn't hurt the survivors. Yet. But the undead were repeatedly knocked down or occasionally killed. Once down, the survivors used firearms and spears to kill those they could see or reach. It was working, well, sort of. There was a large horde massing along the southwestern gate. And she couldn't imagine how many undead were in the the Walmart, it seemed like an endless supply. Then it occurred to her; the undead had been trapping in the big store.

This message was deleted by the player at 19:36, Mon 24 May 2021.

Rod saw the groups of the undead bearing down on the few remaining survivors. However, he had been dealing with these things for quite some time. He knew they where dumber than most animals, and had no survival instict what so ever. Those of them that could not directly get close enough to see the living where drawn by noise. The others, still unclear percisely where the noisy living things where could be drawn by any noise.

Having worked in the garage in what seemed like a lifetime ago, he knew how sensitive car alarms could be. While the explosions had drawn the creatures, they quickly stopped making noise after the boom was over. No doubt the hordes outside the barrier where drawn by those explosions, the ones inside the barrier where also drawn to the loudest sound in the area. Which after the booms, was the survivors shooting at nearby the dead.

Rod looked at a few cars, checking their makes and models. Then, once he found what he was looking for, and those cars where in the right place he would act. Rod tapped the fender of each of those cars hard. Causing the car alarms to go off. He made sure to hit those sensitive machines away from the survivors. The dead should be drawn to the sudden noise, and not towards the living they could not see.

Of course, this would not help any dead that could see them directly. It would keep them from being overwhelmed by numbers. Also, Rod could now signal them and direct them towards the breach. There, Roberta would be waiting with the vehicles to spirit the people away and to safety.

OOC:
15:39, Today: Rodrigo Rod Duma rolled 10 using 3d4+1.  Ingenuity .

Rod managed to find several cars that required the three things he needed to be a distraction; a charged battery, a security system, and to be in the right place. Several well placed kicks turned these cars into honking, blaring, flickering undead distractions.

Several minutes passed and Rod was beginning to wonder if the undead would indeed take the bait when he saw the first shambling cannibal step out of the horde and begin walking towards one of the cars. Then two more split off from the horde. In ones and twos more joined to investigate the sounds coming from the parking lot.

In the little knot of survivors someone had an idea. Using a steel trash can and fire extinguishers to launch a propane tank onto the front awning of the Walmart by activating several extinguishers at once under a propane cylinder inside the garbage can they were able lob their makeshift bomb onto the awning. Someone standing nearby shot the tank as it hurtled through the air leaving a trail of spewed gas in its wake. A moment later several road flares were lit and thrown after the tank.

There was a greasy orange swish of propane then a loud clap-crack. The awning came apart when the tank swelled and exploded. There was a shriek of metal and the awning collapsed onto a number of undead in the doorway as the awning's structure fell to block the doorway. A cheer went up. Someone else realized the car alarms were going off and motioned for the others to look that way.

A woman, or maybe an older teen, was thrust up onto a mini van by several men with binoculars. When she spotted Rod waving at her she smiled brightly and began pointing and talking in earnest. Others began looking his way and several of them smiled with relief. An old man waved sort of in Rod's direction not sure exactly were Rod was standing.

Rod waved back, and gestured to the breach at the edge of the parking lot. He gave the 'come here quick' signal with his hands, trying to get the survivors headed in that direction. However, if any of the dead get too close, he will have his knives ready. He did not want to start shooting and draw more of those things. He could throw a knife pretty well, in addition to using them normally.

Roberta climbed up onto the gate of the pickup and scanned the area with her binoculars.  She started with a sweep away from the mayhem to check for stragglers in her area before seeing what kind of results Rod was getting with his horns on the other side of the parking lot.

The survivors fighting the undead were organizing within their little band. It occurred to Rod that the people were organizing their kids and women to move. The group moved well, the women quickly piled kids into the pickup truck from the photos. Teens piled in gear or threw gear out of the back of the truck according to the women's orders.

The men began working to the other side of their group to draw the undead. The men began firing with pistols letting the noise act as lures. A surprising number of the undead were still on the ground, sort of dazed, and struggling to get up after the explosions.

Roberta scanned the tents, then the rows of palletized goods and semi trailers. She didn't see anyone or any other undead within the barrier. The camp was well laid out, but there was a lot of decapitating corpses on the ground.

Outside the barrier was different. She could make out the movements of undead in distant shadows. They were being drawn to the explosions, of course. She was getting that old anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was a lot that could go wrong here. She chose not to think about it.

Looking over at the survivors Roberta spotted the pickup truck form the photo. The kids in the back, her children were among them! Women and teens looked to be getting the truck loaded to move out anytime now. Checking the crowd of men she spotted her husband with the others. They were using handguns on the undead. She cringed and wanted to shout at him to get his dumb-ass away from all that nonsense. But that wasn't an option.

In reply to GM (msg # 980):

Once the women and the kids where headed in Roberta's direction, Rod moved towards the men. Planning on uses his pistols to draw and finish off any remaining dead...and maybe keep an eye on Robera's husband. She had showed him pics of her family, and she was gonna be super pissed of anything happened to him now...

Ooc-21:54, Today: Rodrigo Rod Duma rolled 8 using 3d4+2.  Pistols specialization. Partial success
This message was last edited by the player at 01:55, Thu 27 May 2021.

(OOC: Rod with a spec in pistols, you could get a reroll. feel free to do so, and keep the highest of the rolls. thanks for reminding me.)

The truck was rolling towards the opening in the gate. It moved very slowly; it was overloaded with passengers and there were several women and teens trotting alongside the pickup. Roberta scanned it with the binoculars and spotted her children standing up in the back of the vehicle looking over the top of the cab. As it drew closer she could see the features of there faces more clearly. her heart leapt with joy. But a question nagged at her thoughts, why were they here?

Tearing herself away from the sight of her two teenage children, Roberta turned to scan behind her.  She was so close, she wasn't going to be distracted and lose track of her surroundings.

GM:

(OOC: Rod with a spec in pistols, you could get a reroll. feel free to do so, and keep the highest of the rolls. thanks for reminding me.)

OOC:
19:34, Today: Rodrigo Rod Duma rolled 8 using 3d4+2.  Specialization re-roll. Just what I rolled before...

Rod began firing with his pistol. And then reloaded the weapon and began again. And again. It was surprising how many of the undead were trapped in the Walmart.

"Heads up!" A man shouted to Rod's rights. To his surprise the man tossed a propane tank with a burning road flare taped to it out into the last of the horde they were fighting. As the far cylinder dropped into the undead, and not more than twenty yards from Rod, some else shot the tank with a shotgun.

The men began to duck, so Rod followed suit. A moment later the escaping gas from the tank burned hotly enough to heat the tank making its contents boil. The heat and pressure caused a terrific explosion. Rod was sure his ears would be ringing for days to come. Standing he was shocked to see all of the undead on the ground. Many were still alive, that an odd way of thinking of it he thought, and were moving very slowly.

The men went forward with knives, axes, clubs, and such to finish the undead off. It took a moment to realize that a horn was blaring from behind them.

Roberta was standing with her binoculars when the truck rolled up. She got down to meet the truck, and her children, and prepare to escape this place. As she took her first step toward the truck there was another explosion fear filled her as she thought of her husband. A quick check of the binoculars showed the men finishing off the undead. She sighed, then the impacts took her off her feet.

Her children had spotted her, ran to her as she checked on her husband, and then simply ran her down in their attempt to grab hold of her. From that point it was all tears, hugs, kisses, and ninety-miles-per-hour conversations she couldn't follow.

"Ok, we got vehicles waiting for you guys! Let's go!" Rod yelled, knowing the explosions would draw more undead then his voice. He gestured for the remaining survivors to follow, heading for the breach. Towards Roberta and her family. He should be able to pack up a bunch in his truck, and Roberta and the others could follow in their cars.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:39, Sat 29 May 2021.

"Shush!" Roberta said to her kids as she held onto them.  "We're not safe, yet.  Get in the Subaru there and keep an eye out for loose infected."

She turned to the others packing the back of the truck and shouted, "We have room in that truck if you don't fit where you are!  We can get more vehicles once we're clear of here!

"Oh, and Alma sends her regards if you hadn't noticed the plane."

There were obviously more people here, particularly women and kids than Alma's group started with.

As if on queue by some sort of psychic bond, the plane shot by overhead very low and a cloud of leaflets filled the air like some sort of bizarre confetti bombardment.  Everyone looked up. Many people were goggle eyes with awe and wonder. Men were trotting to the area after the others. A single man cranked up a mini-van that just seemed like on of the abandoned cars in the parking lot until then and pulled away slowly.

As the mini-van caught up to the men they would climb inside. Watching it all take place Roberta was struck by two things. Her husband seemed to be some sort of organizer or leader here since men were following his lead. And that her husband had lost quite a bit of weight. Survivor's way of life, she thought to herself, then he did look pretty damned good. Focus woman, Focus!

Rod was looking back, anticipating the worst he was watching the Walmart. And the worst happened. There a shriek of metal and crashing of panels and beams at the entrance. The awning fell away under its own weight. Very soon the first of the undead began shambling out of the building.