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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 11, 2013 3:05:05 GMT -8
Lashonda- "I'm pretty fuckin' sure it was a zombie, but I guess that other shit makes more sense. What should we do, man?" The zombie mower died down. There were no other zombies left close to the door. The vestibule was fucking horrific.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 11, 2013 3:06:17 GMT -8
Nora- "I'm gonna wait til these slowpokes get closer to start it back up! So far so good, right?"
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 11, 2013 3:15:04 GMT -8
Ben- "Well, I guess we'd better check it out." Ben gathered the others and explained the situation. "If there are survivors in there we'd better get to them before we do anything else. So I say we close up the middle building again, and open up the north. And hope that it's not something worse than zombies. Because I sure wouldn't rule that out." Nora- "That's fair." Ivan- "I'll button it up." Tyrone- "Prolly can't use the mower for much in thera." Nora- "We'll use it at the front door, at least... Clear the lobby somewhat." Ivan drove the car back in front of Van Vorst's door. Then he and Tyrone positioned the new cars to do the car tunnel, and drove the ones blocking Day One North / SEA 20 to the sides, opening it up.
Nora blasted the zombie mower and went to work...GRNNNNNNDDDDDGGGGGGGHHHHHGRRRGG!!! The 403 crew picked their way over the gory mess... Nora left her mask down to dull the sensory impact of the nightmare scene. Lashonda gestured to the direction of the cafe door, immediately to the right of the main door. It led into a window-lined hall with one door at the end.
Lashonda paused everyone there to explain the layout ahead. Lashonda- "I used to work here, so I know a bit. This is called 'The Garage Cafe', it's a big curve through the whole east side of this floor, with one door out to Republican that we blocked from the outside, and exits to the kitchen and shit that I'm less familiar with. When we get in there we ain't likely to see anything at first, but goin' around the way we gotta watch out."
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 11, 2013 17:40:32 GMT -8
Ben made sure not to brush against any of the outer walls or doors, but the mess on the ground was unavoidable. Which is why he wore his old, stained shoes from the night at the Westlake mall. Once inside he was halted by doubt.
What if they were cut off from the exit by a horde of zombies led there by a survivor or ghost or whatever? Should they leave a couple of guards with the mower to lure any such zombies outside? Or would it be safer to have the whole team present if they encountered zombies inside the building? Or ghosts, for that matter? Might need eyes in all directions for that, and eyes on those eyes to make sure no one was paralysed. That settled it, and he continued following Lashonda to the cafe door. Ben- "OK, we'd better stick together and keep eyes in all directions. I'll light this flare on the stick once we're in there, and I'll try to keep it high enough that everyone will benefit. If we encounter any ghosts I hope we'll smell them before we see them, and in that case I guess we had better light more flares." Tyrone- "Maybe jus' two extra, in case we wan' t' save some for later." He let the others decide who'd take point, cover each side, and possibly cover the rear and act as general backup. Well, maybe that had better be Tyrone, since he had the gun. Ben planned to stay in the middle with the light, so that everyone else could have it coming from behind their field of vision. The bokken was in his belt if things got desperate.
GM note- Lashonda and Ivan went in front, Nora in the middle with Ben, and Tyrone brought up the rear. Ivan and Nora lit their flares. Ben- "If we're getting overwhelmed by zombies I guess the best option might be to retreat here, and hope that there won't be any coming from the entrance. I have to admit that I'm not entirely comfortable with going inside while there's a risk that we can be cut off, but if things get that bad, we can probably smash a window or something." ((And with this, Ben is ready for someone to open the door. And if they can move a few meters inside without a fight, he'll light his flare-on-a-stick. I assume that the flare isn't needed so much as it would be helpful in the shadows.)) GM note- The light in here isn't as nice as electrical, but the windows go all the way around the room, so it's fully sufficient. Nonetheless, ghosts and nooks and crannies may necessitate torches, so may as well... Ivan- "Man, here goes nothin'..."
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 11, 2013 22:56:21 GMT -8
The five adventurers came into a cafeteria. This area had fairly neatly arrayed and clean tables, chairs, and booths, condiments, napkins, whatever. In contrast, the floor seemed a bit sticky and had visible, streaky and spattered grime everywhere. They walked slowly, surely around the great curve of the room, toward the serving area. Their flare's hiss and inadvertent shoe squeaks softly heralded their arrival.
They came upon a human. She was leaning on a counter and looked at them with mild surprise. Woman- "Well. You've come in. Welcome to Amazon."
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 12, 2013 8:22:42 GMT -8
This was not the crafty survivor covered in gore that Ben had anticipated. Which made it more likely that the fleeing zombie had really been a zombie. And that this woman was really a demon. Ben nervously cleared his throat.tab tab Ben- tab "Uhh... Hrm... Are you a living, breathing human?"
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 12, 2013 19:44:15 GMT -8
Lashonda- "Yeah, what gives lady?"
Woman- "I recognize you. Security guard. Want to come back to work for us?"
Lashonda- "Think I'll pass. Sorry, don't recognize you. Skinny rich bottle blondes all look the same to me."
Woman- "Haha, well, that's fine. So, sir, am I to understand you think I'm a zombie? That seems rather silly, because I have yet to meet a zombie that speaks!"
Ivan- "I ain't personally seen one yet, but I've been told there's some kinda possessed dead people that can try to act normal for a short time. It's a legit question."
Woman- "Fine..." She held out her arm and Ivan cautiously took her pulse. He followed that by passing a hand in front of her face. She breathed on it and looked almost as if she was going to kiss it, but just smiled. Ivan- "She's alive, boss."
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 13, 2013 7:28:31 GMT -8
Ben wasn't convinced. Assuming that possessed people used vocal cords to speak, they'd have to be able to push air out through their mouths. And for all he knew they either had a pulse or could fake one easily enough.
He motioned for Ivan to return to the group.tab tab Ben- tab "I've heard that the possessed aren't very good at answering certain types of questions, but I haven't heard that they can't simulate breath, or even a pulse." Ben spoke once again directly to the woman:tab "I have another question for you: Which movie did you last see?"
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 13, 2013 19:10:04 GMT -8
Lashonda and Ivan stood at the fore like defensive musk oxen, clubs raised, while Ben spoke. Ben thought about the words of Dr. Melange: "The possessing force does not have knowledge of pop culture, or indeed anything related to being human, aside from what it can glean after coming to earth..." Woman- "Haha. Another test? Fine. Um... I watched Pocahontas with my daughter. I had to leave early for a meeting here. I'm sure my nanny was able to take good care of her..."
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 13, 2013 20:56:16 GMT -8
tab tab Ben- tab "Ahh. All right then. We're from the 403 building on Westlake Avenue, and we've been killing zombies for over a month. And now we were planning to do that here. But you don't look like someone who's having a lot of problems with zombies, so maybe you don't need that kind of help?" Despite the woman's prompt reply to his question, Ben was still uncertain. The whole situation seemed just a bit too weird, and he hoped that some kind of explanation would be forthcoming.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 13, 2013 21:31:57 GMT -8
She nodded, seeming pleased the tone of discussion had shifted somewhat. If she was a monster, it seemed very unlikely she was a kind they had encountered before. Lady- "No, we don't need that kind of help, thank you. Just a moment. Marco!"
Marco- "Hey! Visitors? Great! Hey I was just making some food. Maybe I should grab enough for everyone and we can go upstairs to see the big guy, huh?" The guy had come from around the corner and a more kitchenish area. He had an apron on that he began to take off and wad up. This cafeteria can't have been a good place to make food. Smelled like death. But one could imagine the all that really mattered was the food prep surfaces. Whatever. Lashonda- "Big guy? Big guy? Beez is up there?!"
Lady- "Pretty cool, huh? Wanna go?"
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 13, 2013 21:52:41 GMT -8
tab tab Ben- tab "Yeah, do we want to meet this guy?" Ben asked Lashonda. "Or do we want to hang around here and ask more questions? Because I've got a few."
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 13, 2013 21:59:46 GMT -8
Lashonda- "A) This place smells like rotting ass and I expect upstairs to be a damn sight better, B) You ever wanna meet a billionaire? Now's your chance. This sounds fuckin' hilarious."
Ivan- "Lady didn't recognize me but I recognize her. I used to be a valet here. She's an executive assistant."
Nora- "Guess there's no harm in asking those questions upstairs, unless she's friends with all the ghosts, right?"
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Post by Gillsing on Jan 13, 2013 22:50:48 GMT -8
tab tab Ben- tab "Looks like we're going upstairs then," Ben nodded. "So how has life been since the dead started walking?"
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Jan 13, 2013 23:25:45 GMT -8
The lady chatted with Ben's crew while Marco banged around gathering up some food. Lady- "Oh, you know... Pretty grim. A lot of people like to burn the midnight oil around here, so there was a lot of grist for the zombie mill. Our human resources are at the lowest they've been since the nineties."
Lashonda- "That's a way to put it. I'd say when the world goes down, how the fuck are you gonna act like the job is still important? This all seems pretty meaningless."
Lady- "E-commerce is dead - for now. It's true. But Amazon has always been about innovation, of all types. Whenever you have two humans to rub together, you have an economy. You just have to figure out how to operate in it. I'd best leave to specifics to the big guy. He's a genius, you know?"
Tyrone- "Sure. We gonna eat too?"
Lady- "Yeah... There he is." Marco emerged with a big stack of those cardboard fold-up lunchboxes they use at joints like the deli at Whole Foods. He led the way, smiling. Ben noticed a gun in the man's back pocket. Lady- "Thanks Marco. Oh, by the way, my name is Kristen. And you are?"
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