Brian can see a duffle bag on the back seat with an NRA logo on it. There is also what looks to be a case of military MREs in the farther back, the 3-meal 24 pack carton. On the passenger side is a couple of plastic shopping bags. Brian can see some cold&flu medication, some energy drinks, a big bag of M&Ms and a few basic toiletries
As Brian peers into the SUV the radio he flipped on squawk to life
“Anyone! Anyone! Is there any security left? Please answer me!”
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"Ooo boy howdy guys we got us a real prepper here! We'd be fools to just let this one go--"
Brian's joy and adulation is quickly cut off as a frantic cry comes over the radio.
He stands dumbly, switching between staring at it and the others, as if wondering just what he's supposed to do now.
As no answering call comes in response, he feels a deep emotion to answer such a desperate call.
***Ah, copy that last. This is Whiskey Alpha Two Two. Please state your name, location, and situation. Over.***
He looks up and shrugs.
The radio squawks back
“Oh thank God! Forgive me, I’m not a guard, I don’t know the codes. Anthony gave me this radio before he went to go look for help. My name is George Pappadopolis. I’m a concierge in the Hilton. We have had some sort of homicidal riot going on! There are crazy people running all around the floors here! Please, can you help?”
Al takes off his bag and climbs interested the back holding it like a baby to take a closer look at the supplies closing the door behind him saying if no one else is getting in I will, let's get while the getting is good!
Al sees the MRE carton, with all its seals intact in the back. The long duffle bag turns out to hold a Winchester 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and 2 boxes of 25 shells each: One slug and one buckshot. The plastic bags of miscellany are just a few groceries and medicines
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Brian stands stock-still, unsure of how next to proceed.
He looks at Eloise. "How's it going with the cops? We, ah, we might need them, um, not here, but over where this George guy is.
He sounds like he needs some help."
That said, his eyes swivel down to where Dom is looking over the dead crazy guy. "Uh, I don't suppose he has the keys on him?"
Carefully taking a pair of latex gloves from his backpack and checks the dead mans pockets.
Eloise disengages from her Spex and turns to Brian and sighs. "No luck, can't get through on any line."
She turns once more to Chelsea. "Are you sure you're alright? Do you need me to take a look at you before I have a look at our friend down there?" She nods in the direction of the dead man.
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"Can't get through?!" Brian exclaims, half to himself, before turning to the group.
"Guys, what...what do we do? This George guy sounds like's he's really in some trouble. But, with the cops tapped out and, he says, people running all over...is it some kind of gang war? Or did a prepper group finally get their act together to start a revolution?
Or it might be a drug war, I guess. I've heard of stuff like this happening in Mexico.
Still. What do I tell this guy?"
Nick shrugs from searching and replies. "Maybe some people are prostesting again and it got out of hand. But this is not my area, you know this a lot better than I do."
As the group talks, Nick searches the pockets of the corpse, coming up with two sets of keys. One looks like a personal set, with a variety of different keys, including two car keys. Another is a small ring with a car key and a lock fob on it. A small metal tag attached to the ring is engraved with L’Enfant Security SUV 7
As Nick goes to stand up, he suddenly notices that the corpse has gone past the explainable shaking a corpse might do. It is starting to move its limbs! The movement in oddly jerky and unorganized, but the corpse twists its neck around to look at Nick. It’s bloody foamed teeth begin a slow rhythmic clacking, as the corpse’s mouth opens and shuts. The eyes swivel, and lock on Nick. A low groan escapes from the nightmare creature
Eloise disengages from her Spex and turns to Brian and sighs. "No luck, can't get through on any line."
She turns once more to Chelsea. "Are you sure you're alright? Do you need me to take a look at you before I have a look at our friend down there?" She nods in the direction of the dead man.
Chelsea shudders
“No I’m OK. You folks took care of him before anything happened. All he managed to do was drool all over me”
Chelsea looks vaguely green as she gestures at her soiled shirt
“I wish I had a change of clothes now”
"Agreed, an Automus is not the better play when we can just borrow this SUV.
Wait, you want to respond to a riot in progress at a Hotel? I can tell you right now I'm not equipped or trained to do that job".
As the boy on the ground starts to move I exclaim, "Thank god. Somehow the guy is alive...
Dom, you going to help that guy up so we can get him to the hospital?"
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"Yeah...yeah you're probably right. No use biting off more than we can chew."
Brian spends some time futzing with the radio, checking the other settings, and is still looking at it when he replies to the recent discovering stated by Dennis.
"Huh? He's alive. Oh good...good. Well tell that dope-fiend that until he calms down I'm not letting him have his belt and gun back. And certainly not the radio--cops have enough on their hands than whatever chaos he might could stir up.
Ask him if we can borrow his ride. We'll take him to a hospital and get ourselves out of here. Win-win."
He finally decided that putting it off longer wasn't going to help anything.
***George this is Whiskey Alpha Two Two. Copy that last. We'll send some units as soon as they become available. Until then try to find a place to hole up. Preferably behind a locked door with plenty of water. We'll get to you when we can.
Whiskey Alpha out.***
He keeps the radio on, but turns the volume way down. He still wanted to hear if anything new happened, but didn't want any yelling from the radio to spook the guy they almost killed.
Nick KNOWS that the security guard was dead. Stone cold dead. He suffered a cut femoral artery. He had bled out. He lost so much blood the wound just leaks now. The fact that the corpse is struggling to rise up is contrary to all known medical science. Nick can see the man’s thigh bone in the deep gashed wound
Jumping back and raising his shovel once more, he points to the suddenly moving guard.
"Sacrakeilnochamoi, warum bewegst du dich!"
The security guard rises slowly. The gashed leg seems to not want to work correctly. His eyes are milky and filmed
Eloise hugs Chelsea, and then turns back to the man on the ground. She had thought that he was dead, which was why she hadn't gone to help him, but seeing him start to rise, she thought she must have been wrong and starts to hurry over, he arms held out before her in a placating gesture.
"Sir, if you'd just lay back down. You've had a critical injury and I'd like to help you, but in order to do that you need to be prone."
He gets to his feet, his leg barely able to support him and his milky eyes turn toward Eloise. She feels a chill run down her spine as that dead glare fixes on her and she knows instantly that the man before her is most assuredly dead. Her hurried rush towards him falters and turns into backpedaling.
A bit perplexed Nick repeats.
"Why is the guard moving. Too much blood. But still he moves."
I pull off my glasses and drop my jaw, "Uh, wait, he's dead? If he's dead, how is he getting up!"
The security guard finishes rising off the floor. The deep wound in his left leg seems to make him unsteady. His uniform’s pant leg is soggy with spilled blood, and he leaves a trail as he begins to shuffle towards the small group. His motions seem very jerky, as if he was a puppet controlled by a very inexperienced puppet master. His teeth mechanically click-clack together, very forcefully. His moaning sound rises in volume, but it is an odd sound. The group can see his diaphragm moving air to power the sound, but it looks off, almost mechanical, like a bellows. His nostrils are bristling with a group of bright-yellow fuzzy hairs.
Security guard 9Clubs
While everyone else has been flapping their gums Al has slid the extra shotgun into the webbing of his pack and stuffed the MRE's he can get along with the tools into the ruck as well and then as he sits waiting for the keys to arrive he hears the excited German and looks over seeing that supposed to be dead guy get back up and he mutters that ain't something you see every day. Must be really hopped up on drugs.
When it is his turn Al will pull the new shotgun back out and load it with slugs if it isn't loaded and ready to shoot that crazy mf'er
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Brian finishes getting the radio into a pocket. "What the frag, Dom, have you found the keys or--OH MY GREAT JABBA THE HUTT WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM?!?" Brian yells at the slowly-lumbering security guard.
Startled, he backs a way a few steps, horrified at what he's seeing and unable to think of a proper action.
"Holy shit. This is crazy".
I see the newcomer draw a shotgun and start angling to get behind him. Putting my glasses back on, I try and call 911 again.
Should I run? I mean I've faced a few scrapes but nothing like this, the guy just got up from a damned machete wound!
Initiaives:
Security guard 9 clubs
Nick: 5 clubs
Brian: King diamonds
Dennis: 4 diamonds
Eloise: Queen diamonds
Al: joker
Chelsea: 9 hearts
The bizarre walking dead guard staggers up and moans again, his half-severed leg seemingly impairing him slightly.
Al jumps out of the vehicle pulling the new shotgun and aiming at the guy looking down to see if it is loaded and yelling get outta the way, he's coked out and firing if loaded and clear (otherwise delaying until clear or loading with slugs if not loaded)
Al gets out and blasts the guard, the sound echoing in the underground lot. The guard takes the slug center mass, the bullet cratering a fist-sized hole in his back. Al can see the guard’s spine through the ragged hole. Amazingly, although the guard staggers, he somehow remains standing and keeps shuffling for the others
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"You shot him! I can't believe you just shot him!" Brian yells, turning in shock and stepping back.
"He must...he must have body armor of some kind. Um..." Brian's mouth moves but no words come out.
In contrast to his first statement, he reaches around to the back of his waistband pulls out his compact SMG.
Initiaives:
Al: joker [boomstick]
Brian: King diamonds [move draw]
Eloise: Queen diamonds [pending]
Chelsea: 9 hearts [move draw]
Security guard 9 clubs [shaken]
Nick: 5 clubs [pending]
Dennis: 4 diamonds [pending]
Chelsea moves backwards towards the entrance ramp, pulling out a pistol from a ankle holster
“Jesus! Keep him away from me!”
The guard seems to regain his footing, and advances towards the Eloise and Nick
The bloody guard swipes at Nick
Nick manages to dodge the clumsy grab by the staggering guard.
Eloise pulls up as she sees the man continue to shuffle towards them, wounds that should by all means have killed him apparently doing nothing to halt his progress. She reaches into her jacket and pulls out her pistol, raising it to aim at the man as he staggers towards Nick.
Chelsea points her small pistol at the guard, but doesn't pull the trigger
"What is wrong with him!" She screeches
"He must be on some pure grade drugs. There is no way he should be able to stand, let alone walk with wounds like that. By all accounts he should be dead."
Using his shovel as he was trained Nick attacks the attacker.
With a brutal swing Nicks shovel connects again.
"Body armor? Drugs?
There's a hole in the guy!
What the hell is going on here!"
Using his shovel as he was trained Nick attacks the attacker.
[Dice=Attack]1d8+1d6
[DIce=Explodin]1d8
With a brutal swing Nicks shovel connects again.
[dice=Damage]3d6
The guard staggers as Nick's shovel bites deeply into his neck. Nick feels the edge of it hit the guard's vertebrae. A thin trickle of blood oozes out from a severed carotid artery. Nowhere near what a severed artery like that should be producing. The man's neck flaps grotesquely, the wound opening and closing. Yet, somehow, the man still stands...
Nick swings his shovel and the blade connects with the guard’s head with jarring force. Nick shears clean through the neck with the sharpened edge, and the guard’s head falls to the floor of the parking garage with a *thump*.
The now-headless corpse takes another step, then its knees buckle and it collapses, unmoving. The head rolls a bit, then stops. To everyone’s horror, the guard’s eyes remain open and his teeth still rhythmically clamp together. But lacking a diaphragm his moans have been silenced
"That was insane.
Did we all see that or am I having a nightmare?
I mean, it's like something out of a movie and that's something I have never said before.
Suffice to say, I hope the damned security cameras caught that cause no one will believe it".
Al stares at the guy for a long second muttering about blowing a hole clear to his spine before reloading the new shotgun with slugs and handing it to the guy along with the box of now 24 slugs and the second box of ammo saying I blew a hole clean thru that guy... [B]You are gonna need this more then I need two and then Al climbs back in the SUV and gets his own shotgun out making sure it's loaded and laying it across his lap his hands turning white as they grip the gun his lips moving a bit more with muttering before he says again can we please just get the hell out of here?
I take the shotgun and watch how Al loads it, "I have not used one of these ever but I know its just point and spray unlike a handgun.
Al right?
Where did you think we should drive to? I say we take this SUV and another SUV and head out of here together. Safety in numbers and all. I will drive, used to own one of these things for quite a while".
I take the shotgun and watch how Al loads it, "I have not used one of these ever but I know its just point and spray unlike a handgun.
Al right?
Where did you think we should drive to? I say we take this SUV and another SUV and head out of here together. Safety in numbers and all. I will drive, used to own one of these things for quite a while".
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As the group talks, Nick searches the pockets of the corpse, coming up with two sets of keys. One looks like a personal set, with a variety of different keys, including two car keys. Another is a small ring with a car key and a lock fob on it. A small metal tag attached to the ring is engraved with L’Enfant Security SUV 7
"Yeah..." Brian says slowly. "Yeah. I think getting out of here is a very good idea."
He takes a step toward the car before the Engineer in his brain starts waving a warning flag about the steps needed for this operation to work. Grimacing he looks and is almost disappointed to see what he was looking for.
"Ah geez. We won't get far without these."
Brian sees the key fobs dangling precariously out of the headless corpse's pants pocket. Teeth gritted and wrestling mightily with his gag reflex, he reaches forward, getting no closer to the icky and confusing monstrosity than he absolutely must, he nabs both key sets, because you never did know.
Then, with a shrug he mutters, "In for a penny..." and grabs the wallet peeking out of the pocket.
"Well, he ain't gonna use it no more," he reasons.
He tosses the keys to Dennis. "Mount up, all you shiny happy people. This party bus is heading to literally anywhere somewhere in the orbit right-fragging-now-ish."
He quickly rifles through the wallet, not really sure what he's looking for, but he figures that it seems like the right thing to do.
Wiping his shovel clean on the dead ones uniform Nick nods at Brian. "I am sure I want to be somewhere else!"
Climbing in the car he puts his backpack on his knees and extracts the pistol he found.
"Can someone search the web for any news on this. I have seen headwounds, this guy should bleed like a pig, but he ain´t. His heart should at least have pumped for a few seconds more!"
Al sitting in the back seat with his pack and shotgun in his hands looks at the guy talking about the guard's head being chopped and having a hole to his spine and says that guy should have been down from alot of things buddy. I don't want to think about it. Just chuck it up with the other crazy things happening today and know that the city just isn't safe and we need to get the hell out of here. Questions and answers are later time, living is now time.