The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse, Group 5, Scene 3b
The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse
Group 5, Scene 3b
copyright 2010 comidacomida
The party took time to breathe in the early-morning air. Although it was still nearly pitch-black, anyone gazing east could just barely manage to make out the sliver of lighting sky on the horizon which served as their only time piece. No one had slept particularly well, and almost everyone kept their eyes peeled for any sign of danger. As it was, nobody had any idea of the hour.
Although Ty had a watch he had left it in his car near the beginning of the event. Finley had a digital watch, but it had gone dead and no numbers showed. Cadence's wrist watch, which appeared to have taken quite a nasty bump, was likewise digital, but it kept flickering between 13:26:04 and 13:26:05. The reading is what caught Aldo's attention.
"So... military time, huh?" he inquired, attempting to strike up a conversation with Cadence.
"Yes. It is more accurate than just having it reset every twelve hours." she answered simply, offering no further conversation. Aldo didn't bother pushing for more talk.
"Ugh..." Ty yawned. He stood up and moved over to the ladder, "This thing's been on my mind all night... I wish we could do something about it."
Aldo took the opportunity to focus his attention on Ty, moving further from Cadence, "I think we can. It doesn't look secured all that tightly..." he gave the ladder a few experimental tugs, "Let's see if we can shake it loose."
The wolf and orca each gripped one side of the ladder and began to tug, push, pull, and yank at it, but to no avail. "Hey." Aldo called to Jake, "Come over and help." he requested. The fox obediently got to his feet and moved to join them, pushing solidly against the top rung. All three heaved... and still nothing.
"Well... that's a waste." Ty sat down.
"Not entirely," Aldo smirked, "at least that counts as a morning work-out... I feel a little more awake."
"Wish I could say the same." Jake announced with an audible yawn.
"While you're all thinking about sleep, just keep in mind that there might be zombies out there thinking about eating you." Finley added. The thought awakened everyone just a little more.
"Yea..." Aldo answered with a disarming chuckle, "Assuming they can think."
"They apparently think enough to know how to pull a trigger." Ty answered causticly, rubbing the furless scab on his cheek.
"Or, it was an ingrained reflex much like walking on the roadway or climbing a ladder." Cadence answered, "Perhaps when Dr. Finley becomes a zombie he'll still be using explosives... looks like the sort who could mix chemicals in his sleep."
"Oh... I won't be becoming a zombie." the mouse chuckled darkly, folding a small packet of granules.
"Hey... what about using some of those explosives to get rid of the ladder?" Jake suggested, tail swishing in excitement.
"Sorry, Jake... I have enough to remove a head or remove a ladder... not both." the mouse countered, pointedly slipping the packet of chemicals into the lapel of his coat.
"Speaking of which, it's time to check your vitals, doc." Ty announced.
"Oh come off it." Finley scowled, "I'm doing fine... I'd like to think I'd know if I was turning into a zombie."
"You don't have much of a choice." Ty answered, "I need to see how whatever this is progresses through the body."
"So I'm your personal science experiment then, am I?" the mouse countered.
"I have to get as much information as I can however I can." Ty answered flatly, kneeling down next to Finley, opening his medical kit as he did so.
"Looking to win an award if you survive?" Aldo questioned.
"No... I'm going to find out how this thing works, then I'm going to try and find someone who can help eradicate it." the wolf stated flatly, attaching a blood pressure cuff around Finley's arm. The mouse stopped objecting.
"Come on, Jake..." Aldo invited to the fox, "We need to see if there are any other ways up onto the roof."
"Or ways off it." the fox confirmed, and the two did a walk-around atop the mall's flat roof.
"Well?" Cadence asked a few minutes of Ty as the wolf put away his medical equipment, "What's the diagnosis?"
"Diagnosis is that he's been bit by a zombie." Ty stated flatly, obviously not in the mood for the monkey's unique brand of humor.
"What about the prognosis then?" the monkey continued, unabated.
"Pain killers until he changes, then a head-ectomy." the wolf answered, glaring at her, "Unless you had a better suggestion.
Cadence laughed at that, adding after a moment, "Oh no... I've never been good with the biological side of things... that's why we had other scientists too."
Ty snorted, "Whatever." he closed up and stored his medical kit, "So what's your deal, lady?" he questioned her, "Forget your medicine at home, or are you always this loony?"
Cadence didn't look as if she were going to make it a point to answer, but she didn't have the chance regardless, "HEY!" Jake called from a few dozen meters away, "There's an access hatch!"
"Thanks!" Ty called mutedly, "Now stop yelling or you'll attract attention!" Jake's ears fell slightly at the reprimand. He and Aldo returned to the main body of the group.
"Listen," the orca ventured, "The access hatch lets out into one of the maintenance rooms. We should be able to get from there to maybe a half dozen stores without any real problem. If we could find something like a crowbar or shovel then we can probably get that ladder free from the roof."
"If they have some food joints in there I could go for just about anything right now." Jake rubbed his stomach.
"Three day old fries... my favorite." Finley smirked.
"I think we should head down." Aldo confirmed, "We can be down there, then back up here in a matter of minutes."
"Have fun." Ty answered, sitting down with his back to a heating unit.
"We could use your help inside." Aldo stated.
"No thanks... going into that mall's going to be a deathtrap." the wolf answered with finality.
"Two of us is better than nothing." Jake shrugged.
"Take Finley... he can help." Ty spoke up, pointing to the wounded mouse, "He's already bitten anyway... not like anything worse could happen."
"That's kinda mean, Ty." Jake began, but he was interrupted as Finley stood up.
"No... he's right." said the mouse, "I'll do more good in there than out here, anyway. Ty and Cadence can keep watch."
"Just leave the hatch open." Aldo noted to Ty.
The wolf nodded, "If you start screaming I'll come over to help you up... but if you stop screaming this that thing gets shut."
* * * * * *
The interior of the mall was incredibly dark. Although the area immediately around maintenance hatch was lit by the dim moonlight from outside, there was no light otherwise within the room. Jake, Finley, and Aldo spent a few minutes letting their eyes adjust before they tried moving around. They did a quick search of the room but found little to actually help with their eyesight until...
"Hey... check this out." Jake called to the others from the door leading out. As the party crept closer to the door, Jake opened it a little further; silvery blue light shone in from the hallway. It was nowhere near bright enough to be electrical light but, as the group stepped out into the hallway it became quickly apparent what it was they were looking at. In the center of the mall a large water fountain sat silently, no longer running without power. The water situated within the basins reflected the moonlight onto its carefully polished marble surface
causing it to light up like an enormous glo-stick.
"Wow..." Aldo murmured, adding an exceedingly scientific description of what the group was looking at.
"It looks like there's moonlight shining off of it." Jake noted.
"That's what I said." Aldo grinned, and he led the group slowly down the hall and into the main concourse. Getting a better view of the shopping centre, the group could easily tell that it had been throughly destroyed by the carnage that had occurred during the time of the event.
Rubbish, overturned stalls, and personal belongings left behind littered the walkways and most stores were either stuck open, or the safety gates had been secured closed.
"Stick close together... but let's see what we can find." Finley suggested, and he moved off to the left. Aldo and Jake moved right, though they all stayed close by the hallway that led back to the roof hatch. The orca spent his time checking the gates and the shops while Jake rummaged through the numerous piles of goods abandoned along the walkway. Finley was the first to find something of interest... but he kept it to himself.
Having moved further away from Aldo and Jake, the mouse was able to encounter something that perked his interest quite nicely. Situated beneath a shut store gate was a zombie... and it was still moving. The undead lemur was pinned by the weight of the gate and it struggled mindlessly, arms and legs flailing about in languid circles as it tried hopelessly to free itself. "Well well well..." Finley grinned, "What have we here?"
The mouse idly picked at the chemical pouch, pulling it free from its place by his neck, and he slowly began pouring out small amounts of it, carefully situating them at various points on the zombie's body once he had a chance to pin it down, keeping it from moving as much as possible, "It's time to see what this does..." he smirked, pulling out his lighter, and the experiments began.
Back across the aisle and down several stalls Aldo was busy checking the gates to the stores. The first two stores had broken gates. Due to a great amount of disturbed shelf space and copious amounts of blood all over the floor, the orca decided to avoid the first store. The second store had a gate that was secure, but it was also locked in position and Aldo had no key. The orca paused, at the third store, however.
Like the second shop, the third shop had a very functional, very secure gate. Unlike the second shop, however, the gate's key was present in the lock... attached to a disembodied paw. Swallowing back a sense of nausea, Aldo kicked the paw away from the keys and knelt down to give them a tentative turn. *click* the gate locked. *click* the gate unlocked. "Brilliant." he smiled.
Although Jake ventured the shortest distance from the roof access, his search was far from fruitless. The fox rooted around in some bags looking for anything of use. Aside from a useless assortment of fashion clothes, electronics, and bathroom supplies, Jake found little.
He was just about to give up, however, when he spotted something of distinct interest: a pile of zombies resting atop a slain police officer. Numerous thoughts ran through his head, but they were all silenced the moment he saw the radio sticking out of the officer's paw, "Bingo." he said to himself.
* * * * * *
"God, I'm tired." Ty groaned, resting his head on the raised lip of the roof. He gazed across the car park, watching the zombies move about idly; thankfully they still seemed oblivious to the presence of the survivors on the roof.
"You should have slept when you had the chance." Cadence answered casually.
"And I suppose you slept like a baby all night?" he questioned the monkey.
"Not a wink." she responded, "But, then again, you youngsters always sleep so much anyway... lazy generation of rock-and-roll, hippies, and tele-watchers."
Ty didn't feel the need to credit her comment with a response, instead, his eyes slowly scanned the concrete along the base of the building, bodies splayed out across it in an almost-- he froze mid thought. "Cadence? Um... Dr... Dr VanHousen?" the wolf called.
"Yes?" she inquired, seemingly unconcerned with the urgency in his voice.
"Come here..." he called to her, "There's... there's dead people." he noted, eyes wide.
Cadence chuckled at that, "Many dead people, I know, Ty."
"No!" he urged, "I mean REALLY dead... not zombies!" he eyed the myriad collection of bodies splayed out on the pavement several stories down, and something clicked in his brain, "They're all birds." he blurted.
"Eh?" Cadence inquired, getting to her feet with a groan. She hobbled over to the edge of the roof and looked down, "Oh... so they are. Looked like they climbed up here and leapt off." she paused, "Oh... and look at that stork... between his red vest and the splatter marks it almost looks like he's a complete red circle." she laughed.
Ty would have made a remark about the horrible humor, but he was too transfixed by the sight. He counted almost three dozen birds, most of whom appeared to be workers at the mall judging from their uniforms, but he covered his muzzle and convulsed a few seconds, retching as he saw more than one little bird child amidst the dead. "What in the fuck?" he asked, finally looking away.
"Hmm..." Cadence nodded, "interesting... so apparently they couldn't fly."
"why?" Ty questioned, staring at her, "They weren't weighed down... I mean... it didn't look like zombies had a hold of them when they jumped."
"I would guess it had to do with magnetoception failure in the trigeminal nerve." Cadence explained.
"Trigeminal..." Ty paused, then glanced back at the monkey, who seemed completely bored with the view of the carnage below, "I thought you said you didn't deal with biology."
"I don't." she shrugged, "But magnetic fields deal with physics."
"So what does that have to do with mass suicide? Magnetoception in birds only deals with navigation and migratory patterns... it wouldn't have stopped them from flying." Ty objected.
"You're a better nurse than I gave you credit for." the monkey volunteered.
"To hell with that.... I want to know why they didn't fly." Ty dismissed the compliment.
"Maybe they didn't remember how." Cadence answered in a non-committal tone, voice devoid of humor.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ty demanded, a faint growl to his voice. Cadence bothered, she simply continued gazing down at the zombies moving about. He waited for a response, but none was forthcoming. In the end he snorted scornfully, "Well, at least they didn't get killed by zombies so they won't be coming back." he tapped a claw on the edge of the roof, "Hmm... I'll keep that in mind if I'm given a choice." he decided aloud.
His further musings were cut short as a blinding light suddenly illuminated the car park below them. All light posts suddenly sprang to life and the faint hum of the building heating and cooling system banished the silence on the rooftop.
"Oh my... this will get interesting." Cadence stated.
Ty was just about to turn and throttle the monkey when his thoughts were interrupted, "Hey! Power's on!" Jake called from the access hatch, "We have lights down there." he climbed out and helped ease Finley onto the roof as well.
"Any luck finding anything useful?" Ty asked, moving away from the daft monkey.
"Oh... lots of stuff." Finley grinned, "I learned a lot."
"I'm a little full of half-humored vague answers." Ty stated flatly to the mouse.
"Fine..." called Aldo as he pulled himself out of the access hatch, "How about a safe camping spot so we can make up for lost sleep?"
<END SCENE>
t's that time again, Apoc-Fur-Lypse fans! Group 5 has made it past the Harrowing Event, but there's still a little more left to play out with this scene! We're about to see just how well the characters did with your help!
Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the breakdown of the action for this scene.
The group tries to remove the ladder from the roof.
**There is only enough room for 2 people to force the ladder off.
Vitality roll for the strenuous action. Adding all rolls together must exceed 30.
Jake 5 + trait of 4 = 9
Ty 1 + trait of 4 = 5 (total of 14)
Aldo 9 + trait of 6 = 15 (total of 29) FAILURE**
The three can't manage to break the ladder.
Have the zombies seen where the party has gone?
**Luck roll. Team must average a roll of 12.
Cadence 8 + trait of 7 = 15
Jake 0 + trait of 8 = 8
Ty 7 + trait of 4 = 11
Finley 9 + trait of 7 = 16
Aldo 9 + trait of 1 = 10
Average of 12 = SUCCESS**
The party avoids attracting zombie attention.
How is Finley doing?
**Vitality (6) to maintain relatively healthy, Vitality (12) to improve.
Finley 7 + trait of 3 = 10 SUCCESS**
Finley appears to be doing alright... for now.
The group need to find an alternate way down from the roof.
**Awareness (12) find a roof access hatch.
Cadence 3 + trait of 4 = 7 FAILURE
Jake 3 + trait of 5 = 8 FAILURE
Ty 1 + trait of 7 = 8 FAILURE
Finley 4 + trait of 6 = 10 FAILURE
Aldo 5 + trait of 7 = 12 SUCCESS**
Aldo manages to locate a roof access hatch leading down to the mall.
Even if getting inside the mall would be beneficial, it's probably smarter to stay on the roof.
**Tenacity (11) to stay on the roof.
Cadence 5 + trait of 6 = 11 SUCCESS
Jake 3 + trait of 5 = 8 FAILURE
Ty 4 + trait of 8 = 12 SUCCESS
Finley 2 + trait of 2 = 4 FAILURE
Aldo 8 + trait of 2 = 10 FAILURE**
Jake, Finley, and Aldo head down into the mall.
Does the scouting team avoid any zombie encounters?
**Luck roll. Team must average a roll of 11.
Jake 2 + trait of 8 = 10
Finley 7 + trait of 7 = 14
Aldo 8 + trait of 1 = 9
Average of 11 = SUCCESS**
The scouts manage to avoid any zombies.
Can the scouts manage to find anything of immediate use inside the mall?
**Highest stat (12) to find something of use. A roll of 16+ results in a great success
Jake 8 + Luck of 8 = 16 GREAT SUCCESS
Finley 5 + Luck of 7 = 12 SUCCESS
Aldo 6 + Ingenuity of 8 = 14 SUCCESS**
_Jake locates a slightly damaged police radio.
Finley finds a pinned, still 'active' zombie!
Aldo manages to work the gates on one of the shops._
Is Finley willing to 'experiment' on the zombie?
**Tenacity (12) to examine the zombie and try to learn from it... with explosives. Finley is at +5 due to his character hook.
Finley 8 + trait of 2 = 10 + 5 SUCCESS**
Finley will run a few 'tests'.
Cadence and Ty keep a look out on the roof.
**Awareness (11) to notice something important
Cadence 6 + trait of 4 = 10 FAILURE
Ty 9 + trait of 7 = 16 SUCCESS**
Ty notices a collection of bodies on the concrete below that appear to have jumped.
Cadence begins talking casually about it once Ty points it out
**Ingenuity (12) for Ty to make sense of what Cadence is saying.
Ty 5 + trait of 7 = 12 SUCCESS**
Ty begins to catch some important information from Cadence about her observations but she goes silent.
Ty will have to see if he can convince Cadence to talk more about her studies.
**Influence roll, highest wins.
Cadence 8 + trait of 6 = 14
Ty 6 + trait of 2 = 8**
Cadence doesn't volunteer any more information
Determine the group's next unofficial leader.
**Influence roll, highest wins. Ty gets +3 for being leader in the past two scenes.
Cadence 3 + trait of 5 = 8
Jake 5 + trait of 5 = 10
Ty 7 + trait of 2 = 9 +3
Finley 3 + trait of 6 = 9
Aldo 8 + trait of 2 = 10**
Ty is the temporary leader of Group 5.. again.
Each character involved in this chapter now loses 1 Plot Point for successfully surviving without a Harrowing Event taking place (the Harrowing Event was 3a, and this is 3b).
Non-contributing readers, you may 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. The winner of 3a was Finley... apparently the readers have decided that this story needs more "Boom".
Contributing readers please choose the next direction for the group. The ad hoc leader gets 2 votes while everyone else gets 1.
Option 1: Stay on the roof. It's safe enough for now.
Option 2: Since the lights are back on go make camp in the store Aldo found.
Option 3: No more idle time: get into the mall, get gear/items/supplies, then get out.
Plot Point Opportunity:
Cadence will spend a plot point to refill her supply of batteries and torches... crazy monkey.
Jake may spend a plot point to have also found a partially loaded gun when he found the radio.
Ty may spend a plot point to subtly glean more information from Cadence.
Finley may spend a plot point to have gained quite a bit of useful info off of his 'experiment'.
Aldo may spend a plot point to raise his Luck by one and simultaneously remove the -1 luck affecting Jake OR Finley (one, but not both).
Congratulations to Group 5 for surviving their first Harrowing Event with the loss of only a single character. Tread softly though because you never know when the next Harrowing Event will be upon you!