The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse, Group 5, Scene 1
The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse
Group 5, Scene 1
copyright 2010 comidacomida
Dressed in a casual jogging suit and a new pair of trainers, the orca would have seemed
perfectly in place anywhere along the city street were it any other time, but after everything
had gone to hell the day before, he looked out of place. The mouse jogging beside him however,
dressed in a fine brown suit and loafers, was even more so.
"I just... can't help but think that I know you from somewhere..." the mouse noted, keeping pace
with the orca.
"No I'm certain I would remember someone with your..." the orca took a moment to try and come up
with a kind way of alluding to the mouse's sections of bare flesh and missing fur,
"...complexion."
"Maybe in a journal? I do a fair amount of reading. Are you published?" the mouse continued.
"Listen, Mr..." the orca paused, turning to regard the mouse.
"Doctor." the mouse responded, holding out a paw, "Dr Finley Weatherburton."
The orca paused, "From the university?" he inquired, shaking it.
"The same." the mouse responded, "So do I know you?"
The orca shook his head, "No. You replaced Professor Tavish three years ago though. I went to
Ratherbig University for my degree. Aldo Ruben." he finally introduced himself.
"Charmed." noted Finley, "I'm sure we'd have much catching up to do if the situation were more
suited for it."
Aldo nodded in response, "What are you doing this far south? Wouldn't you have been in classes
yesterday when all this was happening?"
The mouse went quiet for a few moments before speaking up, "I had a home not far from here... I
was off work tending to a... personal matter." he stopped walking.
"Had? Was the building destroyed in the chaos?" the orca questioned, surprised.
"No... the building is there... but it just isn't 'home' anymore." the mouse shook his head, and
a resolute expression replaced the introspective one he had been wearing, "There's a science
supply store not far from here, is there not?"
"Yea... just one block up." the orca cocked his head to the side, giving the mouse an appraising
look, "Why?"
"I need a few things." Finley responded cryptically, and proceeded onward.
"Wait a tic... I don't think it's very smart wandering around the city... those things are still
out there." Aldo countered.
"Relax... they're more afraid of me than I am of them." the mouse explained.
"Somehow I don't think they're afraid of you, Doctor." the orca stated simply.
"Hmm... well that just makes things easier for me then, doesn't it?"
* * * * * *
"How many chemicals do you need?" Aldo asked, glancing around the darkened store. He kept
looking over his shoulder, turning around, and glancing behind shelves, "There's no telling when
more of those things will show up."
"I haven't seen any since last night... they might be nocturnal." Finley stated, continuing on
with his inspection of the store, "Besides... most of this is neither the quality or purity I
need. Damn..." he slapped his paw down on the shelf beside him. Both of them froze in place
when they heard a groan from further inside the store. "Was that you?" the mouse questioned.
"...no." the orca replied.
The shelves at the back of the store toppled over, and both men turned to watch as a tiger
shouldered his way through the display. He lurched toward them, one of his legs twisted the
wrong way, issuing out a wheezing, raspy groan through the hole in his throat rather than
through his muzzle.
"Run!" Aldo shouted, and he sprinted out through the open shop door.
"Well... aren't you an ugly wanker." Finley stated, backpedaling away from the limping tiger,
which reached out for him.
"Here... a little of this..." he tore open a package of powder and threw it at the tiger. It
hit, and white dust exploded all over it, though it didn't so much as pause. "Some of this..."
he opened up a plastic bottle and squeezed it, the open end toward the tiger. The moment the
stream contacted the powder, both chemicals went up in flame... as did the zombie.
"And NOW we can leave." stated the mouse, leaping out of the shop door. The orca just stood in
the street, gawking as the shop went up in flame.
"We'll probably want to leave sooner rather than later, Mr Ruben." the mouse noted.
"Doctor Ruben." the orca countered, in much the same tone Finley had used in correcting him
earlier.
"Very well, DOCTOR Ruben... if you'd care to accompany me, I'm heading to the mall." Finley
stated in a casual tone.
"What now?" the orca questioned, glancing around the street for any signs that there were more
of the creatures about.
"Looking for what I couldn't find there." the mouse thumbed at the burning building which,
almost as if on cue, popped, burst, and released several small explosions.
"Wonderful." Aldo stated flatly, but he accompanied the mouse regardless.
* * * * * *
"It can't be a good idea to be so close to those things." said a young, golden furred fox,
perched upon a building with two companions, gazing down into an alley at two shuffling weasels
walking repeatedly into a brick wall.
"It's a worse idea to be close to them and talking." responded the white wolf kneeling near the
edge with a clip board in one paw, pen in the other.
"Alright... we've been watching them for twenty minutes... Jake's right; this isn't safe." noted
the third of their number, a panther, leaning against a brick chimney.
The wolf sighed and rolled the notes up around his pencil and stowed them in the inside pocket
of his overcoat, "Alright... alright... if you two won't stow it then you'll only get us caught.
Come on." and he moved to the opposite side of the building.
"You're being reckless, Ty." the panther accused, "Why bother watching them?"
"Because, Jared," the wolf explained to the panther, "the more we know about them the better we
can deal with them."
"So far, all we know is that they don't realize that you can't make a door by walking into a
wall for a half hour straight." the fox offered, tail flicking lightly with a feeble attempt at
levity; it didn't help.
"Come on... it'll be getting dark soon. We'll need to find a place to stay where it's safe."
the wolf stated.
"Ugh... it'd be easier to deal with if we knew the lights were gonna come on." the fox shivered,
"I don't like the idea of those things lurking around when I can't see em."
"Better that you can watch them eat you alive?" Ty questioned, and climbed down from the roof
onto a rubbish bin and then from there down to the street.
"Don't worry, Jake," Jared offered, patting his shoulder, "There's three of us, and with three
sets of eyes we'll see anything long before it gets to us."
The fox offered a faint smile back, "Yea... but it'd be easier if there were somewhere a little
more open. The moonlight isn't much, but it'd help if it wasn't blocked by all the buildings."
"First good idea you had." Ty spoke up over his shoulder, "Lowtown Ratherbig isn't very far...
they have a huge car park. Let's go."
Ty led the way, keeping to the front of the group and looking down each side street as they
went. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any of the creatures as they got closer to their
destination. They took a short break once they arrived at the wide road separating the mall
from the adjacent shops. Jared managed to find an open door, and the three slipped inside a
small cafe, even locating some sweets to eat while they devised a strategy.
"Those things aren't too quick on the uptake... we should just get across the motorway as fast
as we can and get under cover of the cars in the car park." Ty offered. Neither of the others
had any objection to the idea, and the wolf went to the window of the shop to survey a decent
path, "Stay here until I call for you." he directed.
"So..." Jake said quietly, chewing on what looked like a croissant dipped in chocolate.
"Yea..." Jared replied, smiling around his mouthful of mince pie.
"Uh... come here often?" the fox inquired. They both shared a muted laugh, and the insides of
the panther's ears turned red. He glanced away for a moment before looking back.
"What's that symbol on the shirt?" Jared inquired, changing the subject.
"Oh... that's the Westerly Academy school logo." Jake answered matter of factly, licking his
paws once he was finished with his snack.
"You go to Westerly? Isn't that up in Shoelston?"
"I don't go to Westerly... my boyfriend does." Jake replied.
"Your... boyfriend?" the panther paused, ears turning a little redder.
"Yep!" the fox's tail swished back and forth happily. He dug into his shirt and pulled out a
golden heart locket and opened it, leaning forward to let the panther see a picture inside, "His
name is Josh."
The panther nodded stiffly, leaning back against the cabinet he was perched against, "Neat."
"Yea..." Jake said with a smile, looking at the picture in the locket before closing it and
sliding it back under his shirt, "neat."
"Alright..." came a call from the front of the cafe, "Are you both ready?"
"Ready." they both called back, and moved to join Ty at the entrance.
"I haven't seen any, but that doesn't mean they're not there." the wolf stated to them as they
joined him, "We're going to cut across the motorway by heading to that Tesco's lorrie. From
there, head for the opening in the wall near that overturned Mazda." he looked to the panther
and the fox, "Got it?"
"Right." Jared confirmed.
"Got it." Jake nodded.
"Okay... go!" and Ty took off like a shot.
"Gyah!" Jake noted, his foot getting caught in an electrical wire near the door. Jared reached
out to steady him, and they both went quickly after the wolf. All three arrived at the Tesco's
lorrie without incident and, after a quick speech on
'keeping-your-bleeding-eyes-on-where-you-put-your-bloody-feet', he urged the group onward. They
passed through the opening in the wall and into the Lowtown Ratherbig shopping centre's car park
without a problem.
"I don't think I even saw any zombie out there..." Jake's tail swished from side to side, "Maybe
we were just worrying for nothing."
"Hmph." Ty noted, "When you stop worrying you make mistakes... and if you make too many mistakes
then you'll wish you had worried more." Jake's tail stopped swishing.
"Relax... we're here. That's what's important." Jared noted to the wolf.
"No... staying alive is what's important, and we're not that much safer here." Ty responded,
"What we need now is to--" and he froze in place. Jared and Jake both turned to follow his
gaze, staring across the car park toward two slowly moving figures.
"Zombies?" Jake whispered.
"No." Ty responded, "Come on." and he moved in that direction. "Hey... you two." Ty called in a
voice that could carry, but was not particularly loud. Of the two older men picking their way
through the car park, the orca noticed them first. The groups quickly came together underneath
one of the many unlit car park lamps.
Both groups asked if either group knew what was going on. Names were exchanged, and stories
leading up to the point where they met were told in an abbreviated manner. Everyone, however,
was at an impasse about where to go next. Findley was quick to speak up.
"There are several stores that can give us supplies we need inside the mall. As long as we're
careful and finish up quickly we should be fine."
"Too much of a chance that we'll see more of those things inside." Ty assessed.
"Not always a bad thing if you know how to deal with them." the mouse countered.
"What about the sewers? I saw a drainage pipe big enough to walk through over on the
embankment." and the fox pointed across the road.
"We just came from there... no sense in going back." the wolf observed.
"Well then what do you think we should do?" Jared asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"There're enough cars here that we could look into setting up some basic walls." Ty noted,
motioning with his paws, "If we can move some so we can get a wall here... and maybe one here...
and here... well... that should work fine. Larger vehicles would work best."
"Well... either way, if we're not going into the mall, I'd feel safest with a few early warning
alarms set in place." Finley stated, checking his pockets.
"Alarms?" Jake asked.
Aldo quickly spoke up, "Don't ask."
<END SCENE>
The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse begins now for Group 5. The south-town group comes together as five of the six party members are introduced. The sixth character, Cadence, will be introduced at a later point.
Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the breakdown of the action thus far.
Aldo and Findley travel together.
**Survival (11) to encounter a safe chemical supply store.
Finley 4 + trait of 4 = 8 FAILURE
Aldo 3 + trait of 7 = 10 FAILURE**
Avoid zombie interaction while Finley gathers materials.
**Agility (10) to avoid zombies in the store they find.
Finley 6 + trait of 4 = 10 SUCCESS
Aldo 8 + trait of 7 = 15 SUCCESS**
Finley decides to create a 'present' for a zombie.
**Ingenuity (12) to come up with a chemical for use.
Finley 8 + trait of 7 = 15 SUCCESS**
Jared, Ty, and Jake travel together.
**Agility (10) to avoid zombies as they cross open ground.
Jake 7 + trait of 5 = 12 SUCCESS
Ty 9 + trait of 4 = 13 SUCCESS
Jared 2 + trait of 10= 12 SUCCESS**
Both parties make Awareness checks to locate one another.
**Combined Awareness rolls for each group. Highest total wins.
Findley 8 + trait of 6 = 14
Aldo 4 + trait of 7 = 21
35 total
Jake 2 + trait of 5 = 7
Ty 9 + trait of 7 = 16
Jared 3 + trait of 10 = 13
36 total**
_ Group B notices group A first. _
Check to determine unofficial leader.
**Influence roll. Highest roll wins.
Jake 5 + trait of 5 = 10
Ty 9 + trait of 2 = 11
Findley 3 + trait of 6 = 9
Aldo 0 + trait of 2 = 2
Jared 6 + trait of 1 = 7
Ty is the unofficial leader.**
Each character involved in this chapter now loses 1 Plot Point for successfully surviving without a Harrowing Event taking place. As Cadence was not in this chapter, she does not lose a Plot Point.
Non-contributing readers, you may now vote for your MVP to regain their lost plot point. Anyone who does not have a character involved in this story arc may vote. You may vote by personality, contribution, style, personal preference, or any method you like to make sure your preferred survivor continues to fight another day.
Contributing readers, please choose the next direction for the group. The ad hoc leader (Ty) gets 2 votes while everyone else gets 1. Cadence does not get a vote in this chapter as she was not a parrt of it. (In the event of a tie, her vote will act as a tie breaker). Here are your options:
Choose option:
**1) Set up camp within the sewer lines across from the mall.
2) Get into the mall to gather suitable supplies and find cover.
3) See if enough cars can be moved to create a barricade in the car park.**
At this time, any contributing reader may spend a plot point. Their use of the Plot Point will affect the story in one of the following ways depending on which character spends the point:
Jake is so incredibly likeable that he is considered at +1 influence within the group for the rest of the story!!!
Ty continues to work on his collection of loose-leaf notes... but just what ARE they? Only time will tell.
Finley had enough materials to set up booby traps around the group's chosen campsite.
Aldo chooses someone in whom to confide about his job and a little more information becomes apparent.
Jared somehow managed to retain a few of his knives... those might certainly come in handy.
Congratulations to Group 5 on surviving Chapter 1!