(sorry for the absence)
Alvin prepares his weapon, ready to shoot any of the infected that are not drawn away by the vodka bombs.
The bottle crashes and erupts into flames further down the street. A number of the Infected are drawn to the sound and dash towards it. Five of them, however, notice your group and charge towards you. From within the house comes the sound of a high-powered rifle, and one of the zombies drops to the floor with a large hole where his chest used to be. Alvin fires a bullet, leaving him with eight, and takes down one more. You allow the last three to close in before dispatching them with melee weapons.
The Infected that dashed towards the flames are screaming in agony and rage, their tattered clothes and drooping flesh aflame. The claw at invisible enemies that only they can see, stumbling across the road until, one by one, they drop dead. You sigh with relief–your plan seems to have worked flawlessly. Perhaps you even grin a little. But then you hear an unearthly sound; screeching, moaning, and rasping from every direction. The Infected’s dying screams have attracted the attention of the horde.
Based on the sounds of the incoming Infected, the only safe direction is back the way you came, towards the freeway. If you choose to go there, you may be able to lose any zombies trailing you once you reach open ground.
The lit house’s door slams open, and you see a tall, bearded man wearing a Vietnam-era officer’s uniform carrying an M1 Garand. He frantically gestures at you to enter his house.
Jordan says:
“I say we accept the man’s invitation. He clearly has resources and skills, and there’s safety in numbers. Besides, there’s not much for us behind us anyway.”
Let’s enter. If he’s willing to accept us, I think we’re willing to accept him.
“Fuck, yes, let’s go in! Now!”
You rush into the house as the moans of the undead grow louder. The man steps aside to let you in, then shuts the door and pushes three heavy iron bars across it. Inside, you hear the rattling of the generator from the roof. Every once in a while, the lights dim for a moment as the generator hiccups. “The name’s Sergeant Ray Jackson. Pleased to meet you” he introduces himself.
The man leads you to his kitchen and gestures for you to take a sit at a small table. “Tea or coffee?” he asks gruffly as he puts a kettle on the stove. After you answer, he brings out four mismatched cups and starts preparing the beverages. Then he says, “So, you’re from outside the city? Where the hell did you crawl out of?” He adds, “It’s a good thing you weren’t outside when the Dawn Riders came by, or you would have been in deep trouble.”
“The Dawn Riders?”
Actually, I’m from inside the city originally. Name’s Jordan. I was a pathologist at a hospital when all this started going down. The CDC showed up. Then the military. And soon after, I’m carted away to some base somewhere where they start testing a bunch of us. Little by little people get taken away, until there were just four of us remaining. Then the facility apparently fell under attack by the infected and everyone except the four of us were either infected or fled. We didn’t know any of this until after the power failed three days after the last person showed up. One of us, another female, killed herself in her cell rather than die of dehydration or hunger. Too bad she didn’t hold out a few more hours, she could have escaped with us. But yeah, the locks on our doors released when the power failed. We were able to shoot our way out against the undead, and started making our way away from the base. We saw a helicopter land on the roof of a hospital on the edge of the city, so we were going to investigate that. We got a little sidetracked when we reached the highway and saw the craziness going on there. By sneaking though a culvert, we were able to avoid the undead on the highway and continue on and ended up in this town.
So that’s the Cliff’s Notes version of our story. What’s yours…and who are the Dawn Riders?
“Seargeant? Hey, I’m an ex-military man myself. You got any weapons here? We could use another trained person to help us out. Maybe between the two of us, we can train these civilians how to defend themselves.”
“The Dawn Riders. After the dead started rising, most people turned against each other. Not the Riders, though. Before the Plague, they were members of various gangs. Probably would have shot each other on sight. But the undead brought them together. They ride through town, usually on a Humvee they found somewhere and a number of accompanying motorcycles. They go from house to house, putting down any opposition they happen to find and taking what they want. The only reason they let me leave is that I can provide them a service.” He points to a row of batteries plugged into chargers. “I provide them with electricity, and they don’t attack me.”
The water boils, and he pours you your chosen drinks. “I’ve been getting low on fuel, though. Until now, I went from house to house and siphoned gas from cars in the driveways. But I’ve gone as far as I can in one day, and there aren’t many cars left. I’m going to have to make a run for the gas station one of these days… Oh, but I’m being rude. We’re talking about you now. So, where are you headed?”
To Alvin, he says “Sorry, but the Riders took most of my weapons. I’ve just got this one gun.”
"We were thinking of investigating the hospital with the active landing pad. I don’t think the infected can fly a chopper, so there’s clearly some form of civilization there. It’s pretty much the only lead we have right now. You’re welcome to come with us, safety in numbers and all that. Even with regular trips to the gas station to keep the generators working, you have the risk of running out of food, water, and/or bullets, not to mention if you get surrounded by undead on the way. If you’d rather stay here, that’s your call. We’ll see if we can send some help if we find any. Thank you for the tea, but if we might impose a bit more, can we sleep here tonight before heading out for the hospital?
I was hoping to get more than one response before continuing, but I understand if things are going too slow to keep interest. I will PM you all when I can commit to post regularly.