Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

[Olligarchy]

"Need me to pick up at some point?" Olli asks, having noticed Jason's glance. The man had been driving for a good while now and was bound to be tired.

[TetNak]

"Sure," Jason replied to Olli, "Drive on the right," he says, pulling over whenever possible and letting Olli take the wheel. In the passenger seat Jason closes his eyes and tries not to think about his family and hopes to fall asleep and take a nap on the ride to the girl's grandparents' house.

[Wbweather]

As you enter the town of Hill City, your first thought is to wonder how the place got its name as there is neither evidence of and hill or city that you can see. The town is even smaller and more agricultural than Wakeeney. Highway 283 seems to run straight through the town for a couple of miles. You head north, noticing very little activity. The after a few blocks, signs of something amiss begin to show up. Several burned out vehicles still smoke on the highway, several riddled with bullet holes. One or two police vehicles seem to have been abandoned with their front windows shattered and large dents suggesting they sustained blows from multiple heavy objects. Patches of blood and gore are spread about here and there, but so far no living people can be seen.

You accelerate and weave around the vehicles blocking the road. Up ahead you notice dark black smoke riding from somewhere near the north side of town. The general consensus seems to be that the quicker you make it through here, the better.

Mike suddenly slams on the brakes and Olli stops behind him, not quite certain what is happening. Mike motions for the sedan to pull up beside the pickup, and Ollie does. Jason rolls down the passenger-side window to ask what's up, but before he can speak the words, it becomes quite apparent why Mike stopped.

At the center of town, a makeshift barricade had been constructed with cars and trucks and a school bus pulled across the street from one building to another. On your side of the barrier, a group of individuals seam to be trying to break their way through to the other side. You see a woman, bloody from cuts from broken glass step on several others and ascend to the top of the bus. She is readying to jump to the other side when you hear 3 gunshots ring out. Her body jerks a couple of times from impact before the back of her skull is blown out by the third shot. She falls backwards into the mob who seem to take no notice as two more men try to take her place on top of the bus.

[TetNak]

"Zombies," Jason says, basically stating what he's calling them now.

"Is there another way to your grandparents?" he asks the girl, "Better speak up or we're going to have to just get out of here."

[Wbweather]

"Well, there are no other roads past Hill City other than Highway 283. Maybe some country roads, but I don't know any other way than through town." Jessica is staring at the scene ahead and is starting to look like she is going to cry. There are east west streets that could divert you around the roadblock ahead if you are lucky.

[Blubbo_Baggins]

"Let's go west," says Chris, and see if we can't around this. Country roads are better anyway."

OOC

I'll be honest - Part of me wants to go in fighting. But since this is supposed to be more realistic in terms of playing ourselves, I know that in a real situation I'd see no reason to go in fighting.

[Olligarchy]

"Like fuck we're going through here." Olli adds, quite possibly needlessly, as he takes the wheel again,"Lead the way Mike."

[WalterPeck]

Mike looked to the street signs to see what intersection he was at. It seemed survivors had holed up and were making a last stand of sorts.

Mike did a quick count of the zombies before making a decision on whether to help or find an alternate route.

OOC

Question 1: How many zombies are on our side of the barricade?
Question 2: What street intersection are we at?

[TetNak]

"We have one gun and a sword. We need to get some gear or get the fuck out of here." Jason signs, realizing how bad this is, "Fuck man, fuck."

Jason frowns and looks out the window helplessly.

[Wbweather]

You take a moment to look at the street signs. You are at 4th and main. Ahead of you the road seems to be blocked with cars. The main area the barrier seems to be protecting is the downtown buildings to your right. It seems that what citizens are left have holed up and made themselves a safe zone, although how safe seems to be the question of the moment. To the west the town seems to be fairly open. It would likely be possible to swing to the left and take the smaller residential streets around the center of town. You see signs of scattered carnage, burned vehicles and some black smoke indicating some houses may be burning as well. Fortunately, the population density of this town is small enough that it is unlikely you will encounter large groups anywhere but here in the center of town, where it appears that many people have come together. At least you hope not.

You can't get any good idea how many people are on the other side of the barrier, but there are at least 50 or 60 "zombies" gathered on the side closest to you, as you watch, several seem to take notice of you and a group of 15 or so start heading your way to investigate.