IC- Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 2- The Quick and the Undead

In the comm room-
Captain Lereux took his rifle and magazines back from Ramirez and tucked the revolver into his belt after aligning an empty chamber with the barrel. "Thank you, Ramirez. And it was a reflex action. I had no time to realize that I hadn't been hit before I had already pulled the trigger. And then you did shoot me. Permission denied. I'll talk to the colonel myself while the good doctor treats my wounds."

Mikhalin remained unmoving. "You're not actually going to let him get away with this, are you?!" she demanded.

"Airman, please lower your weapon."

In the warehouse-
Joe Barring recalled that smoke detectors use 9-volt batteries. Since Hammond and Earl kept this warehouse in use and stored valuable things here in combustible crates, they would surely keep working batteries in the warehouse's smoke detectors.

In the project manager's office-
"Of course I'll stay with you," said Jenny. "You get some rest. You look like you need it. I'll keep watch." She sat down behind Kirby's desk, keeping an eye on Alice, the vent, and the door.

In the biology lab-
"Sure thing," said Duke, following Jim into the lab. It had a number of tables containing racks of test tubes and various scientific equipment, as well as a refrigerator and a desk with stacks of notes on top of it. Some of the tubes had evidently been broken, as there were shards of glass on the floor, though it would be trivial to avoid them. The lab was in disarray. On one of the tables along the back wall, near the edge, stood a large glass cylinder filled with a blue liquid. Floating motionless in the liquid was a creature that looked like a bizarre cross between a spider and a crab. It had eight legs, two claws, and its eyes were on stalks. A second glass canister lay on the floor in front of the table. Its lid had broken off, and more of that blue liquid had leaked out.

"There may be something important here, but I'm just not seeing it, aside from the obvious. Maybe those notes will tell us more." He went over to the desk and began to leaf through them.

 

In the comm room-
"How badly wounded is the captain?" Carmichael asked Lt. Blanco. "Is he able to speak to me?"

"Yes, sir," she replied. "His wounds don't look too bad. In fact, he'd like to speak to you too, just as soon as everything here is resolved."

"Ramirez is right," said Captain Lereux. "If we keep killing each other, we won't be able to defend this position and we'll all die."

Mikhalin still wasn't swayed by the captain's words, and not even Ramirez had gotten through to her. "No, sir!" she said, still furious and pointing her Beretta at Captain Lereux. "I will not lower my weapon! You killed Lt. Malone in cold blood, and I'm going to hold you to account for it!"

On the motel balcony-
The one-armed body of Bruce Thayer began to twitch. Then he sat bolt upright, his eyes gleaming red and his teeth exposed. "Look out!" cried Mitchell, trying to bring up his shotgun.

Duran turned to look and saw his undead former comrade. "Thayer!" he said. "I thought he was dead!"

"He is..." Mitchell freaked out at the sight, losing all semblance of composure. He knew that he was doomed, that all of them were doomed. He sat there whimpering, licking the blood from his wound.

Duran screamed at the sight, though he retained enough presence of mind to fire. He unleashed a devastating burst, hitting with two rounds. One penetrated deep beneath his armor and into his heart, and the second also punched through into his stomach.

Yet Thayer did not even seem to slow down. He lunged at Mitchell, seizing him with his one good arm and starting to crush him to death.

Ortega turned back at the sound of gunfire, but Thayer had already passed the corner and was no longer visible. He ran back to the corner, and Gary followed him. When they arrived, they were shocked to see the zombie attacking. Ortega was used to the sight of these creatures, and Gary didn't even blink.

Baldwin continued to flee, certain that only death awaited him here. He reached the zipline and slid down it to the parking lot below.

In the comm room-
The gunfire on the balcony jarred everyone's still ringing ears. Mikhalin, her finger already gripping the trigger of her pistol, jerked it without even thinking. The bullet penetrated deeply into the captain's right shoulder, slaying him instantly. She pushed away the realization that she had now become a murderer too.

Wallace gasped in utter shock, nearly losing his grip on himself. David maintained his composure, as did Malanowski - as an elite USAF Security Forces trooper, ordinary bloodshed did not have that kind of effect on him.

Lt. Blanco shrieked when she saw the captain fall. The sudden violence had rocked her psyche. "Oh God, she killed him!" she shouted.

"WHAT?!" roared Carmichael from the speaker. "What's going on?"

Malanowski reacted quickly, bringing up his rifle and putting a bullet into Mikhalin, seriously wounding her right arm. She passed out from the shock.

(Ramirez, roll Sanity. Lose 1d6 points if you fail. If you do not go temporarily insane, you may now act.)

On the west side of the motel-
When the shooting started anew, Zorie Spooner backed away from the ladder and ran back to the motel room. She rapped on the door. "Let me back in, hurry!" she called. "It's starting again!"

In the medic's room-
Phillips threw open the door and stood aside while Zorie rushed in. Then he shut and rechained it behind her.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, "but it's happening right above us!"

On the motel's roof-
"What's gone wrong now?" wondered Sheen out loud as the sounds of the gunshots carried up from below.

On the roof of the garage-
(SuAside hasn't posted yet, but since he already expressed Luke's intention to shoot at the zombies I'll go ahead and roll for him. He may act again for one combat round now.)

Luke easily spotted the ghouls crawling through the grass on the east. He shot one of them in the head, killing it and leaving eleven. The last round in his rifle's magazine was chambered.

In the helicopter-
The helicopter flew past Ogallala, leaving the flaming city behind. To the right of the highway a large stretch of greenery was visible, containing a golf course. This was the Ogallala Country Club. Nobody was golfing now, though one zombie in a caddy's outfit roamed the green looking for a meal.

"Next big city is North Platte," said Erica Spears, "but that's a ways off. The town of Roscoe is a few minutes east of here. Not much to speak of, just a few streets. Blink and you'll miss it."

In the warehouse-
"Good thinking, that man," said Michael. He didn't hear anything either, but Sally did. "I heard footsteps on the stairs!" she said. "They're almost here!"

"Relax, it's just us!" answered Willie. "Don't shoot, okay? You guys all right?"

"Kimberly's hurt bad and there's big trouble below, but we got all those creatures down here. How are you doing?"

"I'm hurt a bit. Samantha and Azadeh didn't make it. Luke's still up on the roof somewhere. This here's one of the guys from the motel, here to help us."

Justin Hockey reached the bottom of the stairs with Willie right behind him. "There's about twenty-five hostiles above us," he said, looking around. "They'll be on their way down soon if they aren't already."

Michael scanned the warehouse with his eyes. "Ah, there's the bloody smoke detector!" he said, pointing up at the ceiling near the back of the warehouse. "Someone's going to have to climb up there and get the battery. We can stack the crates to reach it. Any volunteers?"

(Joe Barring, roll Listen again.)

In the prison showers-
Kerry ran into the shower room from the common area and raced towards the cell block.

In the guard room-
Rosie escorted Kimberly in from the hallway. The cell block was right on the other end of the room.

In the meeting room-
"Well, I don't hear any more shooting," said Ellen. "That's a good sign, right?"

"Unless, of course, they're not shooting because they never had a chance," said Lynne darkly.

In the project manager's office-
Jenny remained alert while Alice took a nap. She looked at the reel-to-reel recorder, wondering what was on that log.

In the upper lab hallway-
Mr. Foo swapped out his magazine for a full one as he headed downstairs.

In the biology lab-
"Jackpot!" said Duke as he skimmed the notes. "Most of these detail Judith Reagan's infection and their attempts at treatment. Our only problem is they apparently weren't successful. Still, at least it gives us a starting point. Looks like she got scraped while she was down in the tunnels collecting rock samples. Her protective suit was breached and a black substance got into her. There were no scars, so they theorized that it entered her body through her pores. She started feeling ill and complaining of stomach pains, and the point of entry showed signs of bruising and infection. Dr. Muth examined her and determined that both her pulse rate and temperature were elevated, and he ordered her quarantined for further study. There's a lot more here, so I'll keep reading."

 

In the comm room-
"Weapon on safe, sir," said Malanowski, turning his safety on.

"Dammit, you've got to stop killing each other!" roared Carmichael. "I gave a direct order to cease firing! Mikhalin, stand down this instant!"

"She's unconscious, sir," said Lt. Blanco. "Malanowski returned fire and wounded her, but she'll live. He hadn't heard your earlier order in any event. I'll put Ramirez on with you while I go help her." She handed him the microphone and went over to the fallen airman.

(Ramirez, roll Spot Hidden. There is a -5% penalty due to your helmet.)

 

In the comm room-
"Ah, right, sir," said Malanowski, going over to Mikhalin. "I thought you meant mine." He picked up her Beretta, turned on the safety, and tucked the weapon into his belt. "Weapon secure, sir." He was intent on his task and did not notice anything either. Lt. Blanco reached the unconscious woman soon after, and she too had eyes for nothing else.

"ETA is approximately five minutes," replied Carmichael. "There was a slight delay because of complications with the evac, but I don't have any details on precisely what those were. You people couldn't have waited that long before turning on each other?"

Wallace was still stunned by the captain's death and just stared at his body. David did likewise.

Nobody in the room paid much attention to the other corpse, that of Lt. Elizabeth Malone. Nobody saw her twitch, nobody noticed her blood-red eyes opening, nobody even saw her sit up. The first indication anyone had was when she stood up and rushed Wallace. She flailed at him, but he managed to avoid her.

Wallace fell back in shock, terror overwhelming his senses. However, he only saw the one zombie and didn't realize that the dead on the balcony were also rising, cutting off any hope of escape. He desperately brought up his rifle to defend himself.

David remained calm and unflappable. Lt. Blanco retained full control of her faculties and hastily drew her sidearm. "Stephanie was right!" she exclaimed. "The dead are being reanimated!" Malanowski turned to face this new threat.

(Ramirez, roll Sanity. Failure costs 1d10 points, but any roll of more than 7 counts as 7 for you. You do not have a weapon in your hand, though you can draw one or pick up one of the captain's weapons (unless you go insane, of course). If you do go for a weapon, you will only be able to fire one shot this round, and that will take effect after the zombie attacks again and will hit a random body part. You may speak before that happens. The range is point blank.)

On the motel balcony-
Duran switched to single shot mode for fear of hitting Mitchell with a stray round. He fired again, barely hitting Thayer and grazing his right arm. Ortega took a shot too, and it was excellent. The creature's left leg was crippled, but it didn't really need to go anywhere.

Gary fired in a last, desperate attempt to save Mitchell. He shot the ghoul in the left leg, severing it.

But it was too late. Thayer was badly battered but still moving, and he squeezed the life out of Mitchell, shattering his rib cage. Worse still, the other corpses on the balcony were stirring. McCain's one-legged corpse began to drag itself closer to the three men standing on the southwest corner, clearing most of the distance. Jimmy and Lewis were already there.

Jimmy rose up and reached for Gary, though his attack was poorly coordinated. Lewis crawled over to Duran and bit his leg, plunging his teeth deep into the man's left calf. Duran knew what this meant, but didn't dwell on it and focused on killing these things so he could at least spare others the same fate.

In the medic's room-
Zorie shivered as the gunfire continued. "What's happening up there?" she asked.

"I don't know, ma'am," said Phillips, "but I will protect you."

"You can call me Zorie. There's only one thing that makes sense: the dead really are rising up. Everyone who died in that gunfight must be attacking the survivors!"

"Then as long as there's shooting, that means someone's still alive up there. It doesn't look good, though. We've got to think about getting you out of here if this place is going to fall."

In the motel parking lot-
Baldwin staggered over to his truck, which was parked not far away, still idling and facing the dirt road to the north. He knew he had to escape from this place, and that truck was the fastest way to do it.

On the motel's roof-
Sheen continued looking east, but didn't look directly below and had no idea what was going on in the parking lot.

(Sam Black, roll Spot Hidden with a -5% penalty due to your helmet to see if you notice Baldwin running for his truck in the parking lot.)

On the roof of the garage-
Luke reloaded his M-14. The ghouls in the grass crawled a little closer, but there was still ample time for him to finish them off and this fresh magazine should be more than sufficient. He was about to start reloading his shotgun when he saw the southern wall of the diner cave inwards and collapse. The rest of the diner was very shaky and wouldn't hold up long, though at least the garage was stable.

In the helicopter-
Ogallala vanished behind the chopper, leaving only an orange glow visible on the western horizon.

In the warehouse-
"I'll get the battery," said Sally. "Don't know why they need it, but it must be important." The men stacked the crates underneath it and she tried to climb them, but couldn't find her footing yet.

Joe Barring was making good progress clearing his jammed shotgun. Another few minutes and he'd have it.

Hockey turned to look back upstairs. "They're coming!" he shouted. Coming around the landing were four of the creatures. One of them Willie recognized as Azadeh, though her beauty was now gone. Bite marks covered her body, and her eyes were red and hungry. She and the two others who had been eating her moved slowly, but the fourth one moved faster and shoved past them. It had a gaping head wound, and Hockey gave it another one, ending the creature's existence. Willie fired at one of the others, the shot passing over its head.

In the cell block-
Rosie and Kimberly entered from one end as Kerry entered from the other. "They're getting the battery," said Rosie. "You've got to get Kimberly below. I'll go back and help hold off those creatures for as long as I can."

"B-below?" said Kerry. "But there was a horrible monster down there, and there's probably more where that came from! It's infectious somehow, too! We can't get trapped down there."

"We'll try to take them all out, but I don't know if it's possible. If it isn't, we can't stay up here."

In the project manager's office-
Jenny leaned back in her chair and watched with envy as Alice snoozed. She was exhausted and wished she could sleep, but she knew she had a job to do. At least she could sit down and rest.

In the biology lab-
"Oh, yeah!" said Duke. "This stuff is pure gold!"

"Find something, gentlemen?" asked Mr. Foo as he entered from the hall.

"You bet. These are their research notes, and most of them have to do with Judith Reagan's infection." He summarized what he had told Jim. "I'll keep reading. Why don't you two look around the lab for anything useful?" He flipped through the notes some more. "After they quarantined her, they did an X-Ray and found a parasitic creature in her stomach, like a tapeworm. Continued study showed that it seemed to be consuming her body fat and whatever food she was digesting. Dr. Muth recommended locking her into that sleeping capsule where we found her, and Dr. Kirby authorized it. Her body functions, including her heart rate, were slowed down. The creature within her kept growing, but at a slower rate. She remained alive, but it kept growing." He gasped. "You know what this means? We've got these things inside us now!"

He swallowed once, but did not panic. "Well, at least we can buy Alice more time. That capsule was the right place to put her. I'll go back upstairs when I'm done here and use it to slow her metabolism. There's one final entry in these notes, for November 10, 1961. I'll read that one out loud."

Mr. Foo took it all in stride. He knew he was an old man and didn't have long to live anyway, especially considering the current state of the world. If I die, at least I've led an interesting life, he thought, and my wife will survive me. And perhaps we will yet find a cure. Stephanie and her doctor friend could do it, I'm sure, but I have confidence in Duke and Jenny too.

(Jim Kerr, roll Sanity. Lose 1d10 points if you fail.)

 

OOC: I'll go ahead with the next update now while I've got the time. Luke is going to be reloading his shotgun anyway, and Bob hasn't been doing anything for a while, so I don't need any input from SuAside for this turn. It's taking me less time to do each update now that I've killed off a bunch of characters. I'll have to keep doing that...

IC:
In the comm room-
Malanowski flicked off the safety on the M-4 and shot Malone in the head, though it only slowed her down and didn't stop her. Wallace got a shot off before she could attack him again, and she was so close he couldn't miss. The round embedded itself in her right leg. David also fired, barely hitting and grazing her side.

Then Malone wrapped her arms around Wallace and bit him, taking a small nibble from his stomach. Wallace panicked when his flesh was broken by the ghoul's teeth, but only briefly.

(Ramirez, you get one shot off at Malone this round, and you get another shot early next round before she can hurt Wallace again. Both shots will hit random locations. Go ahead and take both your shots now if you're going to shoot, and then I'll process the rest of this round and, when I do the next major update, the start of next round.)

On the motel balcony-
Duran fired at Lewis, hitting him in the chest but not even slowing him down. Ortega also shot him, wounding his good leg. Gary narrowly hit Jimmy, gouging his right leg.

Thayer began to consume Mitchell, but the other three zombies attacked the three men on the balcony. Jimmy grabbed Gary and tackled him to the balcony, while Lewis tried and failed to bite Duran again.

McCain finally reached the men and crawled right for Gary. He bit him on the head, his teeth cracking open his skull like an eggshell. Gary screamed in agony as he fell, never to rise again.

In the medic's room-
The gunfire and screaming continued from upstairs. "If we wait in here we'll just get cut off and killed," said Phillips. "We won't be safe here. I'll get you to the ladder in the parking lot so you can reach the roof." He cautiously unchained and opened the door. When he saw that it was clear outside, he led the way through and waved Zorie Spooner forward. She followed him as they went around the southwest corner of the motel.

In the motel parking lot-
Baldwin reached his truck and dragged himself into the driver's seat. He pulled the door shut behind him and pulled out from the lot, starting north on the dirt road.

On the motel's roof-
The sound of the truck moving carried up from below, and this time there was no way Black and Sheen could miss it. "Hey, someone's making off with the truck!" shouted Sheen.

On the roof of the garage-
Luke took out three 12 gauge shells and began reloading his shotgun. He had gotten two of them loaded when he heard the truck start moving from the west.

In the helicopter-
"We're about an hour out from the first airfield now," said Erica Spears. "I'm going to see if I can raise someone there on the radio." She switched the frequency and spoke into the microphone. "This is NSP Seven-Eight-Romeo to tower. Do you copy? Over."

After a short pause, a woman's excited voice answered: "This is the tower! I read you loud and clear, over."

"This is Trooper Erica Spears of the Nebraska State Police. My bird's going to need some more fuel to stay afloat. Do you have any to spare, and is your facility secure for landing? Over."

Another pause. "Yes, we're secure here. The National Guard is holding down the fort. As for fuel, we've got plenty of that left. It's aircraft that are in short supply. Uh, what's your location and ETA? Over."

(Bob, roll Psychology.)

In the warehouse-
Joe Barring made some progress clearing the jam, but it would still take him another couple of minutes to finish.

Sally tried again to scale the stacked crates, but with no more success.

"Here, let me try," said Randall. "I'm expendable anyway." He couldn't manage it either, however.

"Right, I'll do it," said Michael. "We haven't got much time." He easily mounted the crates and soon stood below the smoke detector.

"Retreat!" called Hockey as if to drive home his point. He and Willie fell back to the defensive line in front of the stairs leading down. Azadeh and two other zombies emerged from the staircase and began to lumber across the warehouse.

(Joe Barring, you may fire twice with your handgun at one of the zombies' heads.)

In the cell block-
"Okay, good luck," said Kerry. She supported Kimberly and started to lead her towards the rear of the cell block.

"Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place," said Kimberly.

"I'd rather be up here than down there. We'll both see how bad it is when we get below."

Rosie ran back into the guard room. her .38 in her hand.

In the meeting room-
"Oh, I hope my husband okay," said Mrs. Foo. "They kill monster, though, that good thing. They find cure too. Missy Jenny smart cookie."

In the project manager's office-
Jenny kept her eyes and ears peeled, her rifle ready in case of anything.

In the biology lab-
"Quite right," said Mr. Foo. "There's much we do not know, and it did not save Judith Reagan in the end. I don't know how much longer she lived, but she had already been dead for decades when we found her."

Duke nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I wouldn't do that without Alice's permission anyway. So Judy has one of those things inside her? It must have been controlling her body. That's why it was moving its arms, trying to get us to let it out. Perhaps we can capture and study the critter, too. We'd better tell the others to lock it up again. Good thing you didn't shoot the lock off after all, huh, Jim?"

Mr. Foo thoroughly searched the lab while Duke read the notes. "There's a trail of this blue fluid leading away from this broken container. It goes to this air vent in the back, which has been broken inwards. I bet whatever was in this broken container escaped that way. It probably also came out of the vent up in the project manager's office, where it ate Kirby's remains. That may have been the creature we fought. Apparently the canister used to be on top of this counter with the other one. You know, there are two trails in the dust leading from the middle of the counter to the edge. I think that tremor we felt a couple of hours ago must have knocked the broken container off the counter - and nearly knocked the other one off." He stared at the odd-looking thing in the intact glass cylinder for a second before going over to the fridge.

The power was on, but it had only been turned on this morning and all the organic samples inside the fridge had long since died. A lot of them were of fungus and mold. Duke looked them over, fascinated. "These are very odd. They're not like anything I've ever seen before, I'm certain of it. Anyway, let me get back to this final entry."

 

OOC: Ouch! The Luck roll was a critical failure too! Oh, boy...

In the comm room-
Malone's left leg came completely off, but she still maintained her death grip on Wallace. Lt. Blanco finally got her pistol out and hit her with an especially deadly shot, blowing a large hole in her lower back. David shot her again, blasting her in the same area and ruining her spinal column. She released Wallace and fell twitching to the floor.

On the motel's roof-
"Maybe we can still stop it, Sarge," suggested Sheen. "I mean, we do have rifles."

In the warehouse-
Joe Barring was shocked to see that his bullet accidentally hit Willie - and hit him quite well, severely wounding his left arm. Willie collapsed unconscious, lying less than halfway to the defensive line. The zombies were getting very close to him.

(Joe Barring, Roll Sanity for seeing Azadeh in zombie form. Forgot to mention this earlier. Other than that, he and Ramirez are done for this round. Black may still act.)

In the guard room-
"Don't forget to send the lift back up for the rest of us!" called Rosie over her shoulder.

 

OOC: Zombies in the warehouse: 23 plus Azadeh

IC:
In the comm room-
"Ramirez!" said Carmichael from the speaker. "Blanco! What's your status? Come in, please!"

Lt. Blanco looked up. "The captain!" she gasped, looking at his body. "We've got to- Too late!"

Captain Lereux was already moving. He sat up and looked around at all the potential prey in the room for a second. Malanowski shot him, scoring a perfect hit that blew off his remaining arm and tore a massive hole in his body after passing beneath his armor. Wallace got off an excellent shot, hitting him in the gut and penetrating his armor. Lt. Blanco hit him, but his body armor stopped the bullet. David managed to shoot the zombie too, but again his armor stopped the round cold.

Lereux was heavily damaged, and could not grab anyone since he had lost the use of both arms, but that didn't stop him from rising and trying to bite Malanowski. Fortunately, the airman easily avoided him.

(Ramirez, you may fire up to twice now at point blank range if you wish.)

On the motel balcony-
"We're losing the balcony!" shouted Duran, firing again at Lewis. He hit the ghoul in the right leg, cutting it off. Ortega also shot him, badly damaging his left arm. Lewis had taken an awful lot of damage, but was somehow still able to move. He attacked Duran again, but missed due to his crippling injuries.

Thayer continued to chew on Mitchell, and McCain and Jimmy busied themselves by munching on Gary's corpse.

On the east side of the motel-
Phillips led Zorie around the southeast corner of the motel and towards the ladders. "Get up on the roof, fast!" he said.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going up to the balcony to help out however I can. Doesn't matter if I get bit again."

On the dirt road-
Baldwin swung the truck onto the road and accelerated as he fled to the north. He smashed down the biohazard sign that the Air Force had set up in the middle of the road as if it weren't even there.

On the roof of the garage-
Luke saw Baldwin's truck pull onto the dirt road and run over the sign as he finished reloading his shotgun. It looked like Baldwin was behind the wheel.

On the motel's roof-
"I wish I could think of another way to stop the truck," said Sheen, taking aim at the tires. His shot was highly accurate, puncturing two of its eighteen tires.

On the dirt road-
Baldwin struggled to maintain control of the big rig, but failed. Fortunately, it remained upright and coasted to a halt.

In the helicopter-
"Yeah, that is strange," said Erica. "Then again, she didn't exactly say they were giving it away. There may very well be strings attached." She spoke into the microphone again. "Tower, we're about 8 miles east of Ogallala, currently flying over the one-horse town of Roscoe. ETA approximately one hour. Are you sure there will be fuel for us? We don't want to get stuck on the ground. Over."

"Roger that," replied the woman. "The Nebraska State Police has a presence here too. They've got an arrangement with the National Guard. We'll be able to work something out. Over."

In the warehouse-
Hockey stopped in his tracks when Willie went down. "I've got him!" he called, doubling back and slinging his rifle. He stooped down and scooped up the old man in his very muscular arms. He brought Willie back to the line and past it well ahead of the zombies. "I'll take him downstairs."

Sally was still cool under fire, and so was Randall. Michael too stayed focused. He ripped the smoke detector from the ceiling and pocketed the battery, then started to climb back down. He slipped and fell, but he was nearly at the bottom when he did and hurt nothing but his pride.

Sally fired at the lead zombie, putting a .45 slug through its skull and blowing its brains out. Randall took aim at the second one and fired, but his shot was way off. That zombie and Azadeh continued to approach and were now most of the way to the stairs. Behind them, the mob of zombies from upstairs began to spill out from the stairway above, stumbling around the crates towards the tasty morsels nearby.

(Joe Barring, you may fire up to twice at one of the zombies now, with a -5% penalty for aiming at the head.)

In the reception area-
Rosie raced in from the hall, out of breath.

In the cell block-
Kimberly reloaded her SPAS-12 while Kerry helped her out the back of the cell block and into the shower room.

In the meeting room-
"I sure hope they can find a cure too," said Ellen. "I really like Mr. Foo, and we need him now more than ever."

"Whatever," said Lynne. "I don't want to go anywhere near that thing they killed, that's for sure."

In the project manager's office-
Alice felt a slight cramp in her stomach as she awakened.

"Relax, I'm not going anywhere," said Jenny. "I'm not going to leave you. We're all in the same boat, remember?"

In the biology lab-
"We should definitely stick together," said Mr. Foo. "If there's another of those things down here, one or two of us alone won't stand much chance."

"I agree," said Duke. "I'll read this last report out loud, then we'll all go." He recited the notes: "How did we not know that it was inside us already? How did it manage to elude us? How were they capable of remaining hidden? Perhaps because Judith was female of child bearing age? I do not know. Craig and Niedler? Did they kill Kirby? Did they kill Cross? It was inside them, all this time. Starsia? How did it get into him? Were they waiting? Why? Did it control them? Thank God for Bateman and Smith, had they not taken precautions… Bateman and I are all that are left. And these things. We stunned them and captured them. Bateman thinks I might be able to find someway to kill them, but so far… Electricity seems to work, at least we can stun them. The one that came from Starsia burned. Poor Smith, he hadn't been turned yet. But how could we have known if the effect was irreversible, how long it might take to take over. We've captured two. They don't like water. I wish I had more time to study them. But that buzzing, the dreams. I can't. Can't seem to stop it. Can't think straight, can't concentrate. I can almost hear the chanting below. Like when we were down there. God, what have we discovered? What have we unleashed? Erratic thoughts. I see it in Bateman too. Is Bateman still Bateman? Has he too been infected? Have I? Judith remains confined. I suspect it lives inside her too, but I think it's trapped in the capsule. Can't escape. It's sleeping inside like Judith. Waiting. For what?

"But I can't believe these things are what caused the rumbling. They are not big enough. If they came up above, if they came above and were loose then… Then how could we stop them? No. I don't believe it. They are from below, but they are not Them. There is something else down there, something capable of communicating, something with great intelligence. These things…they serve, they have a function, but they are not Them.

"Bateman and I are going back down. We're all that's left now. I want to see them. I don't believe we have any chance at all against them. I don't think we are at all so significant really. But we've come so far and lost, lost everything. Of course they can't let us up. What if they got free above? No can't risk that. Too dangerous. But they are coming up. They must else. Why else is all of this happening?

"I need to go. I know I won't see anyone I loved again. It doesn't matter. I have given up hope. They have locked us in here and perhaps they will forget us. Perhaps that is for the best.

David Muth-"