The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse, Group 5, Scene 4b
The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse
Group 5, Scene 4b
copyright 2010 comidacomida
"Go! Faster! They're coming!" Ty shouted from the bottom of the ladder, hoisting Aldo upward to Jake. Cadence sat to the side of the trap door on the roof, watching the young fox strain at the weight of the well-built orca.
"I'm... ungh... trying!" Jake wheezed.
"Try harder!" Ty called from below, half-climbing, half-pushing, "They're almost here!"
"Cadence!" Jake shouted desperately, "Help me! Help!"
The monkey stood, resting a paw on her back as she straightened up, "He's... at least 200 pounds, young man... what, pray tell, do you think I could do to help?"
"I--" the fox stopped mid sentence, confusion awash on his face, "you can help me lift!" he pressed the issue.
"NOW!" screamed Ty at a shriek, "GO NOW!" the sounds of moans, growls, snarls, and groans filtered up through the hatch.
"On three..." Cadence spoke at length, reaching down past Jake to grab hold of one of Aldo's sleeves.
"THREE!" howled Ty from below; both Cadence and Jake heaved. The fox stretched his entire body, feet planted against the ladder rung as he pulled his body up straight, hoisting Aldo up past himself as Cadence hauled the orca up by the shirt.
Jake stood on the ladder rung, muzzle dropped open in surprise, eyes wide as Aldo and Ty rose up past him; Cadence pulled both the orca and the wolf onto the roof. He glanced up over himself, following the strange sight with all his attention, apparently forgetting he should have continued focusing on the ladder-- Jake lost his balance and pitched backwards. "NOOOO!" he cried out.
Before the fox knew what was happening, he too was hoisted up onto the roof. He hung there, held up by the front of his shirt, feet not quite touching the concrete as Cadence looked at him, "That was a very stupid thing to do, young man."
"Cadence... did you just..." Jake stumbled over his own words, "are you....?" he paused again, "Could you... put me down now please?"
The monkey dropped him immediately, causing the fox to stumble as he fell the three inches to the paved roof surface.
"What the hell, VanHousen?!" Ty demanded, staring at the monkey.
"Adrenaline." she replied in a casual tone, "You should know more about how the body works than I do." she shrugged nonchalantly, "But enough about that..." she changed the topic, pointing to the hatch, "We may want to seal that--" a ratty, fur-torn paw grabbed at the lip, "...and soon."
Ty grumbled to himself under his breath as he pushed past Cadence and Jake. Using the heel of his shoe, the wolf stamped down several times on the decaying paw. He ground his foot against the fingers until, with a sickening crackle, they came off... and he slammed the trap door.
"That simply won't hold them." cadence offered.
"HOW?!?" Ty demanded, shouting at her, "How do you know?!?! Why won't you explain anything, damn it?!?" he turned to the monkey and grabbed her by the front of her lab coat, shaking her. "TALK! FUCKIN' TALK, YOU GOD DAMN DAFT G--!!!" but his exclamation was cut short by a loud bang at the hatch.
"I know," Cadence responded calmly, looking at Ty, "because I listen." she reached her hand out and gripped one of Ty's thumbs and twisted it at an angle. The wolf let out a yelp and quickly let go with both paws, "You should start yelling less and listening more and perhaps you'll survive long enough to learn a little too."
She casually walked over to the trap door while Ty cradled his aching paw, "Lesson one..." she spoke casually, as if giving a boring college lecture, "just like in old horror movies, a torch is your best friend." and, at that, Cadence pulled out a small pen-sized torch from her lab coat pocket. She pulled the trap door open just enough to throw it down into the opening, then shut it again. The echoing sound of zombies falling all over themselves to get back down the ladder indicated that whatever she had done had worked.
"Now, if you were to be so kind, might I suggest blocking the way?" she motioned to the trap door.
Ty, with a scowl as deep as his muzzle, grabbed hold of a heating and cooling unit and began tugging at it. Jake jumped up quickly and helped to loosen it from its mounting, and the two of them managed to drag it over to the trap door and roll it into place. "Now..." the wolf said curtly, looking back at Cadence with his paws on his hips, "Keep going... what's number two?"
"Number two is that nurses should always follow the doctor's orders... and without an attitude." and, with that, Cadence shuffled across the roof top away from everyone else.
"That's... you... I can't..." Ty's fur stood on end and his fists shook.
"I didn't think she was that kind of a doctor." Jake spoke up from where he knelt beside the still-stunned orca.
"SHE'S NOT!" Ty roared, and slammed his paw into the heating unit that blocked off the ladder up. He took a steadying breath, then another... and a third, "eight... nine... ten..." he finished, and let out a final breath, "Alright, Jake..." he turned to regard the fox, "how's Aldo?"
"I... think pretty much the same." Jake murmured quietly, looking back down to the orca. The fox reached down and entwined his fingers with those of Aldo, "Aldo?" he called softly.
Ty knelt down as well, "Aldo... we can't stay up here... it's not going to be safe forever. Can you hear me?" The orca gave no response.
"Aldo..." Jake spoke, "Come on... we need your help."
"We don't want to have to leave you here." Ty stated flatly.
"Finley knew what he was doing... he sacrificed himself to save you... then us." Jake said quietly, squeezing Aldo's hand, "We need to make it worthwhile... right?"
"Come on, Aldo... you're tougher than this... I mean... CADENCE is still with it." he offered a hesitant smile as the sea mammal glanced his way.
"I... wouldn't want to disappoint." Aldo offered after a pause, slowly looking down at his hand and the fox's paw in it.
"Aldo..." Jake threw his arms around the orca and gave him a huge hug. Aldo chuckled hesitantly and patted the young fox on the back, "I'm not out of commission yet." he offered.
"Done taking the easy way out?" Ty asked, paws going to his hips again.
Aldo sat up, "It was... just... I mean..." the orca paused.
"Don't start that again." the wolf ordered, a faint wag to his tail.
"Ha ha." Aldo noted flatly, "No... it's... unbelievable. Seeing all of these people is one thing, but watching someone you know suddenly become one of them..." he shuddered.
"It's alright." Ty said, kneeling beside Aldo and placing a paw on the orca's shoulder, "It was a shock to all of us, and, to be honest, you knew Finley longer." the wolf let out a sigh, "Listen: fainting happens... you got a pretty big shock, panic, anxiety attack... you'll be fine." he stood, "Just take a minute until you feel ready." Ty glanced around, "We have to figure a way out of here anyway..." and, looking to Jake, he added, "Hey... Jake. See if you can get that monkey to make any sense... we have to get away from the mall."
Jake nodded, and went after Cadence, leaving the wolf and orca to talk. The fox looked around until he saw Cadence on the far side of the mall roof, and began the long walk to reach her. "Josh..." he said softly, gripping the pendant around his neck, "I'm coming..." he let out a breath, "...as fast as I can, Josh... I'm coming."
"Who's Josh?" cadence asked as Jake drew closer.
The young fox paused and glanced back at the distance he had covered since speaking, then looked back at Cadence, "What?"
"You said that you're trying to reach Josh." she explained, looking out over the car park from the edge of the building, "Who is Josh?"
"Oh..." Jake paused, rubbing his arm, "You... heard me?"
"Yes." cadence answered, "You were speaking from up-wind... it carried your voice. Do you really want me to explain how sound waves are transmitted, young man?"
"Um no... I was... um... Ty thinks we should find a way off of the roof." Jake noted.
"I'm sure he does." Cadence looked back out across the car park, "And he's found one, I assume?"
"Well... uh... no." Jake admitted.
"Hmm... he's still not opening his eyes-- the way down is obvious." she shrugged.
"The only obvious way I see is jumping." Jake offered with a smirk. Cadence looked back at him and he paused... and the smile disappeared, "I was kidding." he added quickly.
"You shouldn't-- that WOULD be the best way down." she acknowledged.
"Except I think we all want to live through the trip." Jake explained.
"We're low enough to the ground that it wouldn't kill us." Cadence offered.
"Yea... well I think we don't want to break anything either." the fox added quickly, "we need a SAFE way down."
Cadence chuckled to herself, "Picky picky." and, with that... she climbed up onto the ledge, spread her arms... and jumped.
"GYAH!" Jake spat out the sound, unable to find any words at that moment, and he ran to the ledge and looked down.
Cadence stood up on the back of a lorrie trailer less than ten feet below. Jake wheezed and gasped for breath, fur rising a little as the old monkey looked back up at him and pointed down to her feet, holding one leg up for him. "Nothing is broken; thank you for your concern."
"Ty! Aldo!" Jake shouted, waving his arms to catch the attention of the other two survivors. They both looked up and the wolf waved an arm angrily at the fox. Jake realized his mistake, and quickly quieted down; the damage, however, had already been done.
"It appears that someone else needs to learn about being quiet." cadence spoke up from below. She stood atop the lorrie's trailer with a mob of zombies beginning to mob it, "Jake?"
"Doctor VanHousen?" the fox whimpered.
"If you are ever in one of my classes, I will quite likely fail you." Cadence offered casually.
Ty and Aldo made it over before Jake could respond, "Alright... so what do--" Ty began, but he stopped when he looked over the edge of the building. The wolf let out a long sigh, "It never gets easy, does it?"
"It never is with zombies, I guess." Aldo offered with a shrug.
Ty looked at the orca and fox, "See if you can find something."
"For what?" Jake asked.
"To fight the zombies." Ty answered, taking out the bloody scalpel he had set aside.
"Says the wolf who was going to abandon her at the first chance?" Jake countered.
"She knows something that she's not telling us." Aldo responded, "And it's something we NEED to know."
"She's probably using it as insurance... daft old monkey." Ty grumbled quietly.
"Congratulations!" Cadence spoke up from below, "You're finally starting to learn!"
"Doctor VanHou--" Aldo leaned over the side of the building and he stopped mid sentence; the zombies had started climbing up onto the lorrie, pushing and shoving. Three of the zombies, however, were sprawled out on top of the cab, flat on their backs, obviously no longer animated.
"Less talk.. more escape." the monkey ordered specifically and, as Aldo watched, she grabbed hold of a cougar who was just climbing up onto the trailer and hurled it back into the mob.
Jake came back to the lip of the building with two small hand tools that had apparently been abandoned by some workers the last time the roof was being maintained. He threw the first one, hitting a zombie on the shoulder and knocking it from its place atop the lorrie. The second throw landed somewhere amidst the shifting, pushing crowd.
"That's not going to do much, Jake." Ty explained, and he gripped his medical kit in his teeth and climbed over the lip of the roof. The wolf lowered himself down and dropped the last few feet to the top of the lorrie. "Doctor VanHousen... I really hope you're worth all the trouble you cause." He lashed out with his scalpel at a zombie dalmatian as it climbed up within range. The undead dog fell away, neck split open.
"You are looking at things in entirely the wrong way, like most nursing students." Cadence offered cryptically. She brought the heel of her shoe down onto the forehead of an aardvark, knocking it free, "Try considering the problem itself and not the symptoms."
"What in the HELL is that supposed to mean?" Ty demanded, glancing at her. His attention was pulled back to a zombie that had latched onto his trouser leg and was trying to pull him off the trailer. An enormous metal pipe embedded itself into the zombie's head and it let go.
"Less talk, more escape?" Also inquired, drawing the 4' length of metal back, letting the zombie fall back to the ground.
"Precisely." Cadence confirmed, stepping away from the side of the trailer as a zombie climbed into view. Aldo moved in to fill the gap, using the long piece of pipe like a martial arts staff, beating the zombie first with the left tip then swinging the right tip around to collide with its head, pushing it off and into the dwindling crowd.
The carnage continued for several more minutes as Cadence, Ty, and Aldo held the zombies at bay. Jake, managing to find several more abandoned pieces of equipment, continued to rain equipment-based barrages of goods down upon the zombies until the way was made clear, and every undead corpse had stopped moving. Aldo helped the fox down onto the back of the lorrie.
"Now what?" Aldo demanded.
"Isn't it obvious?" Cadence inquired, "We use the stairs." and she casually began descending the crumpled pile of dead bodies.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Jake covered his muzzle.
"At least you don't feel faint." Ty smirked.
"Hey!" Aldo countered.
"Just messing with you, big guy." the wolf wagged... but just a little.
The group descended onto the pavement of the car park and everyone took a moment to get their bearings. Ty let out a sigh, "Back to square one... we haven't made any progress at all."
"It's another day we're alive." Jake offered.
"It's a start." Aldo nodded, resting a hand on the fox's shoulder.
Cadence returned to the group, having stood a short distance away, peering across the car park, "Well?" she inquired.
"Well what?" Ty demanded, "You're the super genius with all the answers."
"I never said I had all the answers." Cadence replied with the faintest trace of a smirk. Nobody missed the fact that she didn't deny the first part of his assessment.
"Alright... then how about just one answer: what now?" Ty scowled.
Jake let out a faint yelp as he reached for his pocket. The fox blushed deeply as he gained everyone's attention, and began working the police radio out of his pants.
"Turn it off." Cadence stated.
"But...I think it just got a transmission." Jake announced.
"Turn it off." Cadence repeated, "It'll only mean bad things if you start using it." she spoke with the surety of a soothsayer.
"well I haven't heard any better ideas from you." Ty snorted, "The way I see it, the radio's got a good chance to find us some help."
"Unless something you don't like finds us first." Cadence stated, and turned around, looking north, "If you want direction, then we need to find supplies."
"We tried that already and you've seen how far that's got us." Ty scowled, crossing his arms, "Fine... if not the radio, then we should just bugger out... keep going south until we're out of town."
"Possibly... but that's not really what you want, is it, Ty?" she turned around, staring straight at the wolf. The two locked gazes, drawing the attention of the fox and orca.
"Azure Dynamics." Aldo spoke up quickly, pulling the focus of both the monkey and the wolf.
"Why there?" Ty asked. Cadence paused, and began busying herself by searching around in her pockets.
"I've seen Dr. VanHousen's name in more than just magazines..." Aldo stated, "If she's not going to give us any answers then I think we might find some there."
"Are you really sure that's where you want to go, Doctor Ruben?" the monkey asked, pausing in her pocket searching to gaze up at him through her glasses, "Are you certain?"
Aldo shook his head, "At this point, I'm not certain of anything."
Cadence smiled shrewdly, "Good answer, Doctor Ruben... very good answer."
<END SCENE>
It's that time again, Apoc-Fur-Lypse fans! Group 5 has managed to sneak through the Harrowing Event with the loss of Finley, the second death for the group. There's still another character hanging in the balanace... will he survive? Let's take a look!
Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the breakdown of the action for this scene.
Will Jake be able to survive with such a low number of Plot Points?
**Luck (10 + modifier based on low Plot Points) to survive the scene.
Jake 3 + trait of 8 = 11 _ FAILURE
Jake will not likely survive this scene; he loses a plot point.**
Jake loses 1 Luck for having to make a Luck roll._
Is it time for Cadence to divulge some information?
Cadence rolls Tenacity while everyone else rolls Influence. If anyone beats Cadence's roll she will offer a few pieces of information.
**Cadence 7 + trait of 6 = 13
Jake 7 + trait of 5 = 12 FAILURE
Ty 8 + trait of 5 = 13 _ FAILURE**
Cadence infers a few things and Ty gets a few hints, but that's about it._
Can the group manage to seal off the roof access without any zombies getting up?
**Ingenuity (12) to successfully block the ladder access.
Cadence 6 + trait of 6 = 12 SUCCESS
Jake 4 + trait of 2 = 6 FAILURE
Ty 6 + trait of 7 = 13 _ SUCCESS**
Cadence distracts the zombies while Ty seals the hatch._
Does Aldo snap out of it once the worst is over?
**Endurance (11) to keep things together.
Aldo 5 + trait of 1 = 6 _ FAILURE**
The orca is still unresponsive._
Can anyone in the group talk Aldo out of it?
**Influence (5 + the number by which Aldo failed his Endurance roll) for him to calm down.
Cadence 1 + trait of 5 = 6 FAILURE
Jake 6 + trait of 5 = 11 SUCCESS
Ty 9 + trait of 2 = 11 _ SUCCESS**
Jake and Ty manage to get Aldo to snap out of it._
Can the group find a safe path to get away from the Mall?
**Survival (11) to get away.
Cadence 7 + trait of 4 = 11 SUCCESS
Jake 7 + trait of 5 = 11 SUCCESS
Ty 5 + trait of 4 = 9 FAILURE
Aldo 1 + trait of 7 = 8 _ FAILURE**
Cadence and Jake get the group off the roof._
Is the group attacked during their trip?
**Luck roll to avoid attracting attention. Average must be 10 or higher.
Cadence 3 + trait of 7 = 10
Jake 9 + trait of 7 = 16
Ty 1 + trait of 4 = 5
Aldo 4 + trait of 2 = 6**
_Group averages 9.7. FAILURE.
The group is attacked._
Will Jake be able to survive with such a low number of Plot Points?
**Luck (10 + modifier based on low Plot Points) to survive the scene.
Jake 1 + trait of 7 = 8 _ FAILURE**
Jake will not likely survive this scene; he loses a plot point.
Jake loses 1 Luck for having to make a Luck roll._
The group encounters 2d10 zombies.
Roll is 2 + 5.
7 zombies appear.
The group has a chance to kill as many as possible before they're overcome.
**Agility roll (12) to hit with a melee attack, (13) to hit if unarmed. Cadence gets a +5 on this roll for... well... you'll have to wait and see. Roll must be +1 over difficulty to kill. Each character may continue their attack until they fail to hit or kill a zombie.
Cadence 9 + trait of 2 = 11+5 SUCCESS-KILL
Cadence 5 + trait of 2 = 7+5 SUCCESS-HIT
Cadence 7 + trait of 2 = 9+5 SUCCESS-KILL
Cadence 8 + trait of 7 = 10+5 SUCCESS-KILL
Cadence 1 + trait of 2 = 3+5 FAILURE
Jake 7 + trait of 5 = 12 SUCCESS-HIT
Jake 6 + trait of 5 = 11 FAILURE
Ty 9 + trait of 4 = 13 SUCCESS-KILL
Ty 6 + trait of 4 = 10 FAILURE
Aldo 8 + trait of 7 = 15 SUCCESS-KILL
Aldo 7 + trait of 7 = 14 SUCCESS-KILL
Aldo 5 + trait of 7 = 12 SUCCESS-HIT
Aldo 6 + trait of 7 = 13 _ SUCCESS-KILL**
The group successfully kills 7 zombies. None remain._
This is a reaffirming moment!
**Endurance (6), LOW. Rolling LOWER than the target means a character gains 1 Endurance!
Cadence 3 + trait of 9 = 12 FAILURE
Jake 1 + trait of 4 = 5 SUCCESS
Ty 0 + trait of 5 = 5 SUCCESS
Aldo 4 + trait of 1 = 5 _ SUCCESS**
Everyone except Cadence feels a little more confident._
Does anyone notice the police radio?
**Awareness (10) to realize it's making noise.
Cadence 9 + trait of 4 = 13 SUCCESS
Jake 7 + trait of 5 = 12 SUCCESS
Ty 0 + trait of 7 = 7 FAILURE
Aldo 1 + trait of 7 = 8 _ FAILURE**
Cadence and Ty notice that the radio is making noises._
Does the radio attract attention?
**Luck roll to avoid attracting attention. Average must be 11 or higher.
Cadence 5 + trait of 7 = 12
Jake 4 + trait of 6 = 10
Ty 9 + trait of 4 = 13
Aldo 8 + trait of 2 = 10
Group averages 11.2. _ SUCCESS.**
The group is not attacked._
Will Jake be able to survive with such a low number of Plot Points?
**Luck (10 + modifier based on low Plot Points) to survive the scene.
Jake 8 + trait of 6 = 14 _ SUCCESS**
Jake will actually survive this scene.
Jake loses 1 Luck for having to make a Luck roll._
Determine the group's next unofficial leader.
**Influence roll, highest wins. Ty gets +6 for being leader in the past three scenes.
Cadence 0 + trait of 5 = 5
Jake 2 + trait of 5 = 7
Ty 1 + trait of 2 = 3+6
Aldo 8 + trait of 2 = 10**
Aldo takes over the lead of Group 5._ Yea...another guy with low Influence... go figure._
Each character involved in this chapter now loses 1 Plot Point for successfully surviving without a Harrowing Event taking place (the Harrowing Event was Part A, in case you've forgotten).
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. Everyone maximized the opportunity to gain plot points last chapter and everyone got at least 1.
Contributing readers please choose the next direction for the group. The ad hoc leader gets 2 votes while everyone else gets 1.
Option 1: Use the radio despite Cadence's warnings.
Option 2: Head south and go for the town border.
Option 3: Go further into town toward Azure Dynamics.
Option 4: Take Cadence's advice and find some supplies.
Plot Point Opportuntity:
Jake has no plot points to spend!
Aldo may spend 1 plot point to reduce the injury he took from -4 to -2, or pay 2 plot points to remove it all together.
Aldo may spend 1 plot point to remove the -2 to his Endurance.
Ty may force the issue upon Cadence and demand answers with a Tenacity (11) roll. If successful he gets them, if he fails then things might get... worse.
Any contributing reader may spend a Plot Point to cause Jake to die off quickly and cleanly at the beginning of the next chapter so as to avoid any further immediate Harrowing Event (3 in a row would suck!).
Congratulations to Group 5 for managing to stay alive for so long, even after the loss of a good percentage of your party! Now we'll see how much farther you can get before losing another survivor. Good luck!