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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Dec 31, 2012 4:15:29 GMT -8
The neighborhood of "South Lake Union" is basically the stretch of downtown between the neighborhoods of Queen Anne and Capitol Hill. More narrowly, there is a stretch that is bordered by Denny on the south, Aurora on the west, Mercer on the north, and Eastlake on the east, which is fairly level ground with a fairly consistent character.
The vague divisions within it are roughly oriented east to west. Closest to Cap Hill, there towers an REI and some condos, and a few old seedy businesses creeping around in their shadows.
West of that as far as Fairview, there are a hodgepodge of older apartment buildings, the odd new one, and a mix of odd business and government buildings.
West of that as far as Westlake, it's the new tech industrial core of the neighborhood, on which much of Seattle's economic future hopes had been pinned. Amazon's campus comprises several buildings over a series of blocks, including a large construction site just north of its tallest two buildings. A few smaller, older buildings lurk in the shadows here. Microsoft has some offices closer to Westlake. It is this area that has been mostly cleared of zombies by the 403 crew.
West of that up to Aurora, there are just a few new condos and apartments rising out of a series of plain box buildings housing another hodgepodge of businesses - bible sales, trophy makers, camera sales, locksmithing... Of note in the south is Denny Park. In the North, the UW Medical Research Center.
TRAFFIC REPORT: Denny is a wall of cars only navigable on foot over most of its length through here. Aurora and Mercer are as well, and the moderately heavy car cover on Fairview helps box in the neighborhood pretty effectively. This has made it comparatively easy to thin out the zombie populace here. At this point, one is equally likely to run into a living or dead person in the neighborhood streets.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Feb 4, 2013 9:05:14 GMT -8
A relatively sunny morning, low mist still hanging in the sparse bowers of Denny Park. The streets were empty enough. Seth's helldivers - Seth, Anna, Ashley, and Ben - rode their bicycles out onto Westlake. They rolled a short distance and turned west on John. Anna- "We'll have to turn left on Aurora and right onto Denny's horrible ass. It'll be stop and go. We might have to throw the bikes over cars or use side roads and parking lots for short ways to follow the street, as blocked as it'll be. Still, it's just a few blocks and a right on 4th to get to Fisher Plaza. Marie asked around and it ain't exactly where you and Stevie thought it was."
Seth- "Huh."
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Post by Dr. Jar on Feb 4, 2013 9:42:08 GMT -8
Ashley looked a little battered, but in general none the worse for wear from his outing yesterday. At worst he was sore and felt incredibly achy, in upper more than lower body, and had a nasty bruise on his neck from the zombie attempting to strangle him in the darkness. He pressed hard and kept close to Seth, in case he had to defend their fearless leader. "Of course, ma'am." He replies, but is otherwise fairly quiet.
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Post by Gillsing on Feb 4, 2013 13:38:43 GMT -8
Ben- "Heh, good to see someone knows where we're going then!" Ben was excited about the prospect of finding new information, and after the night before he liked being out in daylight. Even though he had to admit that the time of day had not been to blame for the darkness that had threatened their lives.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Feb 4, 2013 14:02:35 GMT -8
Anna- "Mothafucka I'm on it! "
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Feb 4, 2013 14:15:48 GMT -8
Seth was quiet. Was he rummy? Well, he was pleasant at least. As soon as they got out onto Aurora, things began to get a bit undead in this cut.
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Post by Gillsing on Feb 4, 2013 16:43:28 GMT -8
((Looking at the Google map, it looks like the easiest way to Fisher Plaza would be to just cross Aurora and follow John Street westward. But Ben wouldn't necessarily know that unless he has a map. Do they have a map? Or a GPS? Apparently those depend on satellites, which should still be operational for a while longer. I never thought about it, because everyone seemed to just know where everything was.)) ((GM NOTE - Aurora has huge dividers on it, plus with the cars, it's much more hassle than squeaking down the sidewalk on Denny.)) Ben- "So... fight or flight?" One way or the other, they were sure to get a workout that day.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Feb 4, 2013 17:21:39 GMT -8
Seth- "Flight. There will always be more... well, unless you feel like stretching your arms.." ((The bikes made ignoring these guys possible, at least over this stretch of the route. Close calls are possible - describe any fun you like, guys. We'll be back later.))
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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on Feb 4, 2013 17:53:17 GMT -8
As the group rolled along, the zombies arranged themselves in an annoyingly diffuse pattern, making avoiding them completely harder. Seth wheeled off to the side, and a bit slower, unfastening the spear which was velcroed with a strap to his shoulder. Seth- I'll probably regret this but I've always wanted to try it at least once...! He picked up a little speed and held the spear with one hand, trying to clothesline a reedy thin zombie with an embarrassing furry hipster hat. He apparently didn't have quite enough speed as he struck it with the spear, and veered to the side, nearly falling off the bike. The zombie tottered away unharmed, though seemingly a bit offended. Seth righted himself, laughing self-consciously. Seth- "Okay don't do that move, guys..." Anna did some crazy street biking trick leaping off the ground and bouncing her front tire off a zombies chest, knocking it into the barrier so hard it was rendered inert. Anna- "You're welcome to try that one."
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Post by Dr. Jar on Feb 4, 2013 18:11:49 GMT -8
Ashley did no fancy biking tricks, but he did bike quickly and forcefully, and stayed away from any zombies that might present themselves. Don't want to end up falling over in the middle of them. His neck ached where he had been strangled when he thought of it.
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Post by Gillsing on Feb 4, 2013 18:30:05 GMT -8
Ben wasn't a very skilled biker, so trying to repeat Anna's move was pretty much out of the question. Instead he tried to follow in Ashley's tracks, but couldn't really keep up. Eventually a couple of zombiefied motorists managed to present a unified front, and Ben stepped on the break, got off the bike, and dealt with them the old fashioned way. Ben- "HA! YAAAHHH!" When the way was clear once again he pedalled hard to catch up to the others.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Feb 4, 2013 19:57:11 GMT -8
Denny was a weird experience. There was a horde of zombies there - hundreds - but they were just hopelessly stuck in the traffic. Still, it was a bit nerve-wracking. ((Describe any close calls you like, then we'll move on to the approach to Fisher Plaza.))
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Post by Dr. Jar on Feb 4, 2013 20:17:26 GMT -8
Ashley had brought his crowbar for the maximum zombie-thwacking experience, though he stopped seldom, they had somewhere to be after all.
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Post by Gillsing on Feb 5, 2013 2:04:26 GMT -8
With all the zombies being stuck in traffic, Ben could just cruise along after the others, as any zombie that actually posed a problem had already been dealt with. But it sure was creepy having the decomposing, dead faces look at him from inside the cars. Ben- "One day, zombies. One day..."
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Feb 5, 2013 11:22:57 GMT -8
The four moved along the sidewalk swiftly, Ashley slowing down just a bit to whack anything that got its head within reach through the wall o' cars. It occurred to Ben that the street one block north would surely have been a better way to do this leg of the journey.
But it was very quick, and then... small parking lots and the trees of Seattle Center to the left, Fisher Plaza to the right, and the Space Needle, big as can be right up the middle. And out toward the needle, more zombies. Just like Denny. From this point of view you can't see the whole area, but if your view is representative, there must be thousands upon thousands in the neighborhood. Little signs of conflict dot the scene - crushed or twisted old bodies, smashed windows, scorch marks.
Fisher Plaza itself seems relatively unharmed, until...
((GO TO UNSCOUTED - ?KOMO-4 NEWS))
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