The front porch light of Darrel's house was on. THe windows seemed intact. The front doors werent bashed in. Maybe they hadnt reached here yet. By now I could hear sirens in all directions, but none nearby. Mara weaved around my legs, mewing quietly.
"I know kitten, we have to check inside..."
Staff in hand I approached the front door, ears straining for the tell-tale sound of a zombies hungry moan, or the nauseating scent of decay that heralded their presence. Nothing. With one hand I opened the front door, and promptly found myself staring down the barrel of some manner of large handgun, poking through the crack.
"WHOA SHIT!" I exclaimed as I ducked.
"It's Scott!" someone cried out from inside.
"Let us in man, It's nuts out here!" Mara and Wedge had already bolted inside, much to the chagrin of the resident felines.
Jeff lowered his gun and looked me over. He didnt say anything. Just walked away from the door. His tall, wiry form was tense, I could tell by his stride something horrible had already happened. Darrell opened the door fully, allowing me in. The blonde, portly guy was holding his own sword tightly. It was a lot like mine, a cheap knockoff, but looked like someone had crudely put a sharper edge on it. Probably Jeff.
Locking the door behind me I finally took a deep breath. Jeff and Braddly, the other roommate of the house, were busy nailing something over the windows. I think it was the door to Brad's room.
"Holy shit, Scott... where's your car?" Darrel stammered.
"Sitting back at the house, surrounded by corpses, the kind that move," I replied flatly.
"This is so fucked man," Darrell was pacing about worriedly.
Jeff came back into view from the back room, "How far have they come?"
"They're only a few blocks from here. The roads are trashed. Cars abandoned or crashed everywhere. The cops are nowhere to be seen, not near here anyway."
Jeff nodded but didnt say anything.
"Where's Wednesday, Jeff?" Wednesday was Jeff's girlfriend at the time. Cute kid, I thought.
"Dead. I... had to..." Jeff shook his head and turned away.
Oh, I thought to myself, she must have been bitten and he had to... Putting the thought from my mind I turned to Braddly, who was still busily hammering at the wall. His hair was trashed, but pulled back and bound with some kind of cord, it's long, wavy blonde locks looked like he had just gotten out of bed. Not unlike myself.
"Think these things will hold?"
"Dunno, but it'll buy us some time, and maybe keep them from noticing us."
"Yeah they dont seem too bright. But here's the one problem I have with that plan. It's going to spread. You know it. I know. Hell DOG's know it. So there's going to be more and more of them. And if we're caught here when they get all packed together there's NO chance for us. There was a whole mess of em back at my place and I barely made it out. Imagine how bad it will be once this spreads."
Jeff chimed in, "He's right. The longer we wait here the worse it will ge-"
Darrell cut him off, "So where do we go?! For all we know the whole town is like this!"
I replied, "So we get out of town. Those dead bastards could have only gotten so far. They ain't fast. And they do stop for a bite now and then."
The joke was ill-timed and unappreciated, Jeff was glaring at me.
Trying to ease the mood I changed the subject, "So, anything on the news?"
"You could say that..." Darrel turned on the TV.
"This is Abner Euresti reporting live from the downtown courthouse. We've been forced to retreat inside as police forces mount a defense against these seemingly unstoppable walking corpses. We're on the third floor of the building and... GOOD GOD... there's so many..."
The camera panned out the window, there was a small army of the walking dead converging on the area.
"All we can do is hope that the building can be secured until reinforcements arrive. Officials have radiod for military assistance."
The camera was frozen on what could be seen of the battle outside. Police forces were unloading on anything that didnt walk right that got within range. Poor fools. They're just wasting ammo not aiming for the head. Darrell turned off the TV.
"It's been like this for hours," Darrel sighed, "different parts of town, all slowly getting overrun. But at least word has gotten out."
"Yeah, but how long will that take. These guys may move slow but not everyone's got the knowhow or the guts to handle them. Whoe town could be a walking tomb by the time any real help gets here."
"Wonder what it's like over by Resthaven," Jeff said.
A cold shiver ran over my body. Resthaven. There always was something wrong about that damned graveyard. That... and it was a damned BIG graveyard.
"I don't want to think about that. I just want to get out of here. This place is going downhill fast and the longer we wait the worse it'll get. So gather up whatever we can carry easily, ok guys?"
There was some hesitation, but after a moment everyone nodded and set about gathering things up. Jeff, being the most well-armed. Stood watch, checking the doors and windows from time to time.
It took longer than expected to get everythign ready. As a bunch of D&D players we had plenty of backpacks lying around. Darrel's pantry was always packed since he never cooked, so scrounging up some food to take with us was no problem. We filled up some empty 20 oz. bottles with water and packed them too. We knew we couldnt plan for a real long trip... but this might just last us till we were out of the city.
The phone at D's house had gone dead, and nobody's cell phones were working for some reason. Our only guess was that things were going downhill fast everywhere.
"So you seem to have a plan big guy," Darrel said cheerfully, "what next?"
Honestly I hadnt thought much farther than "pack and go." I wasn't going to tell them that however.
"Um... right... well the streets are fucked so the cars arent really an option. If we can find a clear spot we'll just GET a car. Till then we'll have to go on foot. Stay clear of large packs. Dont get cornered. And always, always aim for the head."
They others were just staring at me.
"What? You got any better ideas."
A few shrugs and muttered comments later we were all poised to make a dash out the front door...
"I know kitten, we have to check inside..."
Staff in hand I approached the front door, ears straining for the tell-tale sound of a zombies hungry moan, or the nauseating scent of decay that heralded their presence. Nothing. With one hand I opened the front door, and promptly found myself staring down the barrel of some manner of large handgun, poking through the crack.
"WHOA SHIT!" I exclaimed as I ducked.
"It's Scott!" someone cried out from inside.
"Let us in man, It's nuts out here!" Mara and Wedge had already bolted inside, much to the chagrin of the resident felines.
Jeff lowered his gun and looked me over. He didnt say anything. Just walked away from the door. His tall, wiry form was tense, I could tell by his stride something horrible had already happened. Darrell opened the door fully, allowing me in. The blonde, portly guy was holding his own sword tightly. It was a lot like mine, a cheap knockoff, but looked like someone had crudely put a sharper edge on it. Probably Jeff.
Locking the door behind me I finally took a deep breath. Jeff and Braddly, the other roommate of the house, were busy nailing something over the windows. I think it was the door to Brad's room.
"Holy shit, Scott... where's your car?" Darrel stammered.
"Sitting back at the house, surrounded by corpses, the kind that move," I replied flatly.
"This is so fucked man," Darrell was pacing about worriedly.
Jeff came back into view from the back room, "How far have they come?"
"They're only a few blocks from here. The roads are trashed. Cars abandoned or crashed everywhere. The cops are nowhere to be seen, not near here anyway."
Jeff nodded but didnt say anything.
"Where's Wednesday, Jeff?" Wednesday was Jeff's girlfriend at the time. Cute kid, I thought.
"Dead. I... had to..." Jeff shook his head and turned away.
Oh, I thought to myself, she must have been bitten and he had to... Putting the thought from my mind I turned to Braddly, who was still busily hammering at the wall. His hair was trashed, but pulled back and bound with some kind of cord, it's long, wavy blonde locks looked like he had just gotten out of bed. Not unlike myself.
"Think these things will hold?"
"Dunno, but it'll buy us some time, and maybe keep them from noticing us."
"Yeah they dont seem too bright. But here's the one problem I have with that plan. It's going to spread. You know it. I know. Hell DOG's know it. So there's going to be more and more of them. And if we're caught here when they get all packed together there's NO chance for us. There was a whole mess of em back at my place and I barely made it out. Imagine how bad it will be once this spreads."
Jeff chimed in, "He's right. The longer we wait here the worse it will ge-"
Darrell cut him off, "So where do we go?! For all we know the whole town is like this!"
I replied, "So we get out of town. Those dead bastards could have only gotten so far. They ain't fast. And they do stop for a bite now and then."
The joke was ill-timed and unappreciated, Jeff was glaring at me.
Trying to ease the mood I changed the subject, "So, anything on the news?"
"You could say that..." Darrel turned on the TV.
"This is Abner Euresti reporting live from the downtown courthouse. We've been forced to retreat inside as police forces mount a defense against these seemingly unstoppable walking corpses. We're on the third floor of the building and... GOOD GOD... there's so many..."
The camera panned out the window, there was a small army of the walking dead converging on the area.
"All we can do is hope that the building can be secured until reinforcements arrive. Officials have radiod for military assistance."
The camera was frozen on what could be seen of the battle outside. Police forces were unloading on anything that didnt walk right that got within range. Poor fools. They're just wasting ammo not aiming for the head. Darrell turned off the TV.
"It's been like this for hours," Darrel sighed, "different parts of town, all slowly getting overrun. But at least word has gotten out."
"Yeah, but how long will that take. These guys may move slow but not everyone's got the knowhow or the guts to handle them. Whoe town could be a walking tomb by the time any real help gets here."
"Wonder what it's like over by Resthaven," Jeff said.
A cold shiver ran over my body. Resthaven. There always was something wrong about that damned graveyard. That... and it was a damned BIG graveyard.
"I don't want to think about that. I just want to get out of here. This place is going downhill fast and the longer we wait the worse it'll get. So gather up whatever we can carry easily, ok guys?"
There was some hesitation, but after a moment everyone nodded and set about gathering things up. Jeff, being the most well-armed. Stood watch, checking the doors and windows from time to time.
It took longer than expected to get everythign ready. As a bunch of D&D players we had plenty of backpacks lying around. Darrel's pantry was always packed since he never cooked, so scrounging up some food to take with us was no problem. We filled up some empty 20 oz. bottles with water and packed them too. We knew we couldnt plan for a real long trip... but this might just last us till we were out of the city.
The phone at D's house had gone dead, and nobody's cell phones were working for some reason. Our only guess was that things were going downhill fast everywhere.
"So you seem to have a plan big guy," Darrel said cheerfully, "what next?"
Honestly I hadnt thought much farther than "pack and go." I wasn't going to tell them that however.
"Um... right... well the streets are fucked so the cars arent really an option. If we can find a clear spot we'll just GET a car. Till then we'll have to go on foot. Stay clear of large packs. Dont get cornered. And always, always aim for the head."
They others were just staring at me.
"What? You got any better ideas."
A few shrugs and muttered comments later we were all poised to make a dash out the front door...