Kaylee brushed her bangs with a sweep of her hand, holding her bat tightly in the other. The door in front of her was closed, and was decorated with construction paper flowers and hearts. Within to of the hearts were the names Maggie and Jilly. Michael was right, but damn if she would admit it to the jerk. ‘He obviously thinks since he’s the MAN he’ll be in charge. I’m not going for that, and if his girlfriend buys that line from him I’ll just take off.’ She knew guys like him, and they were always trouble. Right now, they had more important things to think about though.
She carefully turned the knob and pushed the door open. Huddling halfway in sight of the interior, she raised her bat and prepared to whack anyone crazy enough to attack. Nobody did, which was a nice change of pace as far as she was concerned.
The room was a stereotypical little girl’s room, with a large princess-style bed on the left side of the area. Toys and some clothes were scattered on the floor, but there was nobody in evidence. She was about to turn back and tell ol’ Mikey that it was clear when she heard a faint noise. Turning, Kaylee scanned the room. Perhaps from the closet?
Moving gingerly toward the closet on the other side of the room, she passed the bed and heard it again. Like a strangled sob? Not the closet….under the bed? Great…right now there could very well be monsters under the bed!
Swallowing nervously, she got down on her knees and pulled up the blanket to see under the bed. Huddled on the far side of the opening and flat against the wall was a small girl, not more than 5 years old. “Hey there.” Kaylee whispered. “Don’t be afraid, we’re here to get you to safety.” The little girl just stared in terror and tried to curl up into an even smaller ball. The blonde again brushed her stray locks away from her face and tried again. “Come on out, we need to go.” Then, inspiration hit her. “You can trust us, Maggie told us to come get you.”
The name of her sister seemed to click something behind the child’s terror-stricken eyes. “M…Mh..Maggie? Sent you?”
“Yes.” Kaylee replied, trying to keep her own voice calm while peeking over her shoulder at the doorway. “But we need to hurry come on!”
Slowly at first, then with speed the girl wiggled out from under the bed and hugged Kaylee. Kaylee hugged her in return, then did her best to free herself from the child’s surprisingly strong grip. “Ok sweetie, now hold my hand while we go outside ok?”
The child, apparently named Jilly from the decorated door, simply nodded and followed her; though keeping an iron grip on her hand.
Michael saw the two emerge from the bedroom and smiled, thinking now would be a good time for a ‘maternal Instinct’ comment but for once common sense prevailed. “Ok, the den’s apparently dead…er…quiet. So, I’ll cover you from the door and you get her out to the van with Lisa.”
“Ok.” Kaylee replied, apparently more concerned with the girl’s safety than to one-up Michael. Just keep us covered in case one of those things comes around in the yard.”
“Will do.” And with that Kaylee picked the little girl in her arms and sprinted toward the van. Her bat was held awkwardly over her shoulder, and Michael knew she’d never get it up in time to defend herself or her burden. So, he kept one eye outside in the yard and the other at the hallway across the living room.
* * *
Turn 3
Survivors: 3 Zombies: 1 NPCS: 2
Kaylee takes the little girl outside to the waiting van while Michael retreats to the front door to keep an eye on the house interior until Kaylee gets back.
3 Zombies appear on the street, generated by the idling van engine.
Lisa honks van horn and begins to circle block, a 1d3 roll results that it will take her 2 activations to circle the block and get back.
* * *
Nothing bothered the two in their short run across the yard to the waiting van. The rain had even lightened up, only a mist at this point. Lisa unlocked the side door and Kaylee slid it open and set Jilly inside the vehicle near her sister. The two children hugged each other and started to sob again.
“Everything ok in there?” Lisa asked, looking at Kaylee in the rear view mirror.
“So far so good, but we’ve only checked out about half the house so far.” She smiled at Lisa with some of her old confidence returning. “Michael’s just stood around being macho with his gun while I did the real work.”
Lisa snickered. “Michael isn’t that bad. Really!”
“If you say so.” She replied dubiously and turned to leave the van. Moving to close the door, Jilly broke away from her sister and shoved her little hand out at Kaylee. “Whataminit! Take this.”
Kaylee took the small set of keys from the girl. It was one of those models where the key chain fob also turned on and off a car alarm. “What’s this for?”
“I was gonna hide in there once I got less scared.” Jilly said in a small voice. “You could give them to Mommy so she can find a place to hide.”
“Ok, hon.” Kaylee pocketed the keys and grasped the sliding door. But she’ll probably be coming with us. I’ll give her the keys though. Their conversation cut off when the door was slammed shut. Now able to grasp her bat again with her usual manic grip, the blonde turned back toward the house and skidded across the wet grass to the open door. Michael was still at the doorway, posing with his gun like some kind of commando. ‘What-ever!’ she thought to herself. ‘We have to get some things straight if I’m going to stay with this clown.’
* * *
Turn 4
Survivors: 5 Zombies: 3 NPCS: 6
The survivors don’t activate so Michael and Kaylee are strategizing in the doorway while Lisa prepares to circle the block.
Zombies move to within 6 inches of the van’s location.
* * *
Lisa watched Kaylees retreating form until she could see both her and Michael silhouetted in the door opening. The lights cut off with the closing of the door, and she sighed. What were they going to do with two little girls if Mike can’t find their mother or father? Could CPS take them in, what with everything going on?
Distractedly she glanced back into the rear view mirror to see the two children sitting at the very back seat and chatting about being wet, the yukky mud, anything but the current situation. ‘Can’t suppose I blame them.’ She thought to herself. ‘Would I want to dwell on….?’
Lisa caught movement near the back of the van. She turned the lights back on and saw illuminated in the brake lights three of those horrible sickos. The closest one was the worst, with half his face missing; the cartilage and tendons of his face visible and flexing as he bit repeatedly into the open air.
“Crap!” she put the van into drive and it the gas. As Kaylee warned, she had to pump the pedal hard and so screeched out from the house more loudly than she wanted. ‘That’s ok, that’s ok.’ She reassured herself. ‘More noise means they will follow the van and not go to the house. Like Mike said, I’ll just lead them around the block then zip back here. I’ll pick Michael, kaylee, and the girl’s mother up; we’ll get back home and wait until all this blows over!’
“Hey, where’s mommy?” Maggie asked, leaning to sit back in the passenger front seat. “…and where are Mitchell and Casey?”
“Not to worry dear.” Lisa replied, keeping a calm voice as they slowed at the intersection. The idea seemed to be working, the three infected seemed to be following the van and ignoring the house where Michael and Kaylee went; all the houses actually. “We’re just going to go around the block. We’ll be back in a jiffy.” She tried a reassuring smile to the children, and it seemed to be working. That, and Jilly was rummaging through the food. “Do you have any pop tarts?” the little girl asked, oblivious to the danger outside.
* * *
Turn 5
Survivors: 3 Zombies: 3
Doubles mean a Random Event: Michael is still the only person with a gun so he shoots at a sound in the Den. Turns out to be a cat.
No zombie generated from gunshot.
Michael and Kaylee move into the Den and check out the bathroom.
Light is on but unlocked. Michael finds a set of car keys in bathroom and gives them to Kaylee. *** I changed this to Kaylee getting the keys from Jilly in the fiction, because who keeps car keys in the bathroom?
Lisa takes the corner and fast moves (+2 dice) to the far side of the block.
Turn 6
Survivors: 1 Zombies: 4
Michael and Kaylee move out of the bathroom and towards the office.
Lisa completes the circuit and pulls up in front of house and makes a Challenge test to see if she drew the zombies off to the far side of the block. She gains 3 successes and so the group of zombies continues around the corner.
This time, Kaylee watches from the doorway while Michael enters the room. Nobody inside!
* * *
The door to the room creaked as Michael slowly pushed it open with the barrel of the carbine. For a relatively modern interior door it sure made a lot of noise. ‘Very Tales from the Crypt’ he thought as he squinted in the darkness. As nothing jumped out at him, he stepped into the doorway and reached with his left hand for the light switch. It flickered on, and the room was revealed as an office. A desk with two bookshelves was the total furniture decorating the area. Michael leaned over and glanced under the desk. Nobody home, it appeared.
“Great.” Kaylee stage whispered at her squatting companion. “Two doors and we get the one without anyone in it.”
Michael glared up at her and whispered “Shhh! Do you want to draw whatever’s in the house?”
“Sure, if it means we get outta here quicker” Again the blonde swung her bat at the air. “Let’s face it, nobody’s home anymore. Maybe the mother took the guy to the hospital? Or even…”
Her continuing flow of ideas were interrupted by a woman’s scream coming from the other side of the house. Pushing past her, Michael rushed to the other doorway and kicked it open. Kaylee stared for a second, then shook her head and followed.
* * *
Turn 7
Survivors: 3 Zombies: 4
Another Challenge test is rolled and Lisa gets 0 dice. Thus the zombies that started to follow the van around the side street instead turned back at the corner and are moving once again toward the front of the house.
Lisa turns the van around and tries to draw them off the other direction. As I’ve already set it takes 2 activations to make the block I won’t reroll.
Michael and Kaylee find nothing in the office but as per the scenario rules they hear a scream coming from the Master Bedroom across the den. They move in and Michael melees the door with +2 successes, knocking the puny interior door in.
* * *
End Part 2
1 comment:
Really really nice....
Looking forward to know how this will end!!! :)
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