Dr. Justin "Bernie" Bernstein

[Tori]

Character Name: Justin Etan Bernstein
Nickname: Bernie
Israeli Name: Zadok Etan Bernstein
Race: Hebrew-American (Caucasian)
O.C.C.: Apocalypse Soldier
Occupation: Trauma/Trauma-orthopedic surgeon and physician
Alignment: principled

XP Level: 1
XP Points: 0
Next Level @ XP:
Sentiments/zombies: Wishes to have an opportunity to study them closer, and work in treating their affliction with something other than a bullet. He’s a pragmatist, however, and realizes lives are saved by ending the non-lives of zombies.
Sentiments to humans: Any human in need is one Bernie wants to help. If a bandit shoots at him, and is bitten, Bernie will race to his side and provide what treatment he can. He would reach out to retro-savages and even death cultists, if he would be permitted. To him as a physician, all lives are sacred. Anyone, good or evil, deserves his care. With rare exception, he will follow the Hippocratic Oath. Of course, while keeping his end of a bargain, and helping a sick evil-doer, he might, on his own initiative, help those being oppressed.
Disposition: Can come across as arrogant and controlling as most surgeons can, though is warm and friendly beyond that. He sees his skills as something everyone needs, and will gladly treat anyone ill or wounded for exchange of safe passage, sharing what supplies another group can, and any information on the location of his wife Natalie. He is nearly obsessed with finding her after she disappeared during The Wave. Other than seeming arrogant to medical staff, he has a good bedside manner that he can parlay into bartering skills.

Religion: Largely believes in science above all, though after the dead rose, Bernie has become a much more observant Jew. He keeps kosher when possible, and will look for temples and synagogues to attend services. While striving to be more observant, he is not strictly Shomer Shabbot, and he will readily treat patients, drive to their location, or cook meals for hungry survivors. At the same time, he will do what he can to observe holidays and feasts.

ATTRIBUTES
I.Q.: 22
M.E.: 19
M.A.: 17
P.S.: 14
P.P.: 20
P.E.: 19
P.B.: 13
Speed: 31
+1 perception

PHYSICAL DATA
HP: 25
SDC: 52
Age: 35
Sex: Male
Height: 6’0
Weight: 188 lbs
Description: A rather normal, if slightly handsome looking fellow. He is not especially striking nor offensive-looking. He has moppy and dark hair, dark brown eyes, and a good and lean physique. Usually, he wears a scrub top over tactical field pants or paramedic pants to denote his trade. On his head is perched a brown beret with the insignia of the Israeli Defense Force Army. Brown denotes the Golani brigade. He has a large nose and a slightly heavy brow. Some people say he resembles actor-director Eli Roth. Usually, he has a pistol on his hip and several knives on his person, including a large meat cleaver.

Common Skills:
Language/Literacy98
Basic math 90+3

O.C.C. Skills
Climb 58/48+5
Lore zombies 48+5
Military etiquette 63+5
Radio Basic 73+5
Running
swim 68+5
Language/literacy- Hebrew (replace sign language) 68/58+5
transportation auto and light truck 78+3
WP Knife
WP handgun (substitute for rifle as a medic)
Hand to hand, Basic
MOS Skills (Medical Doctor)
Biology 68+5
Chemistry 68+5
Math/Advanced 84+2
Medical Doctor 88/78+4
Pathology 53+5
Sewing 63+5
Toxicology 58+5

Elective Skills:
Holistic medicine +63/53+5
Forced march
Wp target
Wp quick draw
Brewing medicinal (pro grade) 68/73+5
Secondary:
Cook pro grade53+5
WP shotgun
Hunting
Brewing

Combat Data
HTH Type: basic
Number of Attacks: 4+1 vs zombies
Initiative Bonus: +2
Strike Bonus: +3 +1 zombies
Parry Bonus: +3+1 zombies
Dodge Bonus: +3 +1 zombies
HTH Damage Bonus:
Bonus to Roll w/Punch: +3
Bonus to Pull a Punch: +1
Disarm: +1 zombies
Weapon Proficiencies (PP bonuses included)
W.P. Shotgun (+4 strike)
W.P. handgun (+3 strike)
WP Knife (+5 thrown, +3 strike, +4 parry )
WP Targeting (knife throwing) can throw two knives at once
WP quick draw McGraw +2 initiative

Saving Throw Bonuses
+ 2 horror factor
+2 Psychic attack/insanity
Trust/intimidate: 45%
+14 coma/death
+2 poison/magic



Equipment:
Half suit body armor riot vest, SDC 60 AR 10 (not worn unless combat is expected, on a rescue mission or doing casualty evacuation), old Israeli army fatigues (pants often war, top usually not) 4 sets in desert and woodland pattern, dress uniform has been discarded, several sets of surgical scrubs, gowns, booties, caps and masks-scrub top is his usual shirt, Hiking boots-tan desert style, leather gloves, cammy nets, cheap rain poncho, first aid kit, small bright mag-light type flashlight, survival knife (2d4 sdc), large mag light, refillable cigarette lighter, disposable cigarette lighter, book of matches, roll of duct tape, mess kit, binoculars, walkie talkie, Oakley polarized half jacket shooting glasses black, two steel canteens with pouches, loadbearing gear with several pouches, backpack –green nylon, duffle bag green –nylon, knapsack-green nylon, food rations (1 week), Rolex day date adjust Oyster perpetual watch (gold), wedding ring (gold), honeymoon photo album, wallet with Cedars Sinai key card, some worthless cash, credit cards and photo of wife, bag of weed with rolling papers, ID bracelet, gold Star of David necklace. Ipod with car charger with 80’s to 90’s alternative, the entire libraries of the Beastie Boys, Beck, Jon Spencer and related acts, and some early to mid 90’s rap. Medical supplies. Cedars Sinai staff id card (always worn. The latest and greatest I-phone with car chager (carries with), the latest and greatest I-pad with car charger(uses for medical records and an atlas ap). Both phone and I-pad contain several episodes of a Food Network show called “Queen of the Kitchen.” Uses both for games that do not require internet. Rock climbing gear including helmet with light, gloves, kneepads, elbow pads, 2 100-foot nylon ropes and rappelling harness. Off road motorcycle helmet Heart shaped pendant around neck on woman’s chain, gold, inscribed with BB&NM, Paris, 5-22-96, mountain bike (10 speed), 1 extra pair of hiking boots (black), and 2 dozen pairs of socks plus gold bond powder, running shoes. Several whetstones and sharpeners, pistol cleaning kit, shotgun cleaning kit, oil for guns and knives. Tent, large enough for surgery. Bedroll. Lightweight folding table that can support 250 lbs. 7 road flares,
5 smoke grenades, 5 explosive hand grenades. Carries only 1 explosive, 2 smoke and 2 flares at a time. Remaining space used for ammo and medical supplies.

Regularly on his person: Stethoscope, bandage shears, gauze rolls, gauze pads, thermometer (electric forehead scan), tongue depressors, pen light, wound packing, tourniquets, hypodermic needles, antibiotics, antivirals, pain killers, topical antiseptics, oto-opthalmoscope, battery recharger, surgical mask, exam gloves, sterile gloves, straight razor, safety razors (6 disposable), antibiotic ointment, 3 euthanasia injections. Yarmulke. LA Kings hockey sweater. Jacket, if needed, warm socks, if needed.

Weapons:
Survival knife as per equipment: 2d4 damage
Worn in Belt

Theirs-Issard Sabatier Meat Cleaver, 9 inch custom, “Queen of the Kitchen model: 2d6 damage
Worn in armpit leather scabbard

Boot knife: 1d4
Worn in boot

2 slimpack throwing knives: 1d6
One in boot, one in concealed sheath inside pants

8 throwing knives 1d4
Worn in bandolier

Straight razor in pocket, Theirs-Issard, 1d6 damage, with strop cloth

Pistol: Walther P-38, Wehrmacht Heer branded, in excellent shape but World War II vintage 9mm, 3d6
Worn in military style shoulder holster
Carries 6 clips in ammo pouches, 1 in the pipe
8 rounds per clip
Range 135 ft.
Owns 230 rounds total; remainder locked in ammo box welded to vehicle, all hollowpoint, 3d6+3 to person/zombie

Shotgun: Browning Auto-5 automatic shotgun, full length
Worn in bandoleer scabbard across back
Carries 10 rounds on suspenders (5 buckshot, 5 slugs), 5 in each front pants pocket (5 buckshot, 5 slugs), another box of 10 buckshot and 10 slugs in backpack.
Shotgun holds 5 rounds in tubular magazine
Owns 220 shells total, 110buckshot, 110s lug, remainder stored in locked ammo box on vehicle; slugs=FMJ 6D6, buckshot= 4d6

Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time. Damage= none other than called shot to eye
range 40 ft
payload=650

Armor:
Military/Police riot vest, SDC: 60, AR: 10

Vehicle:
Modified Land Rover Range Rover HSE LUX(Diesel)
Speed (road): 130 m.p.h.
Fuel capacity: 40 gallons
Load Capacity: 1,290 lbs
Towing capability: 7,700 lbs
Range: 200 miles
SDC: 350
Tires: 35 each x4
AR: 10
Maximum capacity: 8

Special features:

Front winch
Folding rear seat for cargo and one litter casualty
Fortified cattle-catcher front (half damage to ram an obstruction)
Lockable cargo boxes containing medical supplies, drugs, ammunition and a case for a long gun.
4wd
Spare tire
Roll bar with fog lights (half damage from roll)
Seat belts
Airbags
Antilock breaks (+5 to control rolls)
Radio with CD & data port (deluxe sound system)
GPS
5 gallon fuel can
5 gallon water can
Diesel engine
Rear camera
AC/heat, heated leather seats
Passenger DVD and data player
Privacy glass/tinted windows
Electronic sun roof
Roof rack, 200 lbs carrying capability (used for 2 bicycles)
+10 to off-road maneuvering

Front and sides conspicuously painted with or with signs mounted with a red cross and the words “Physician-Surgeon” above the cross, and “Will treat all,” below.
Color: Orkney Grey
Interior: Ivory oxford with arabica stitching/cherry wood and cargo nets

Medical supplies:
Medical Bag/Kit (DR p. 119)
9 units of Simple Medical Supplies (bottle of aspirin/antiseptic, packages of bandages, etc.)
5 units of Advanced Medical Supplies (bag of blood, specialized medicines, fresh surgical equipment)
Each may be used 10 times before needing to be replaced
spinal board and c-collar
portable autoclave sterilizer (can use car power)

33 extra gallons fuel

Hobbies (before the wave): Cooking, cycling, brewing beverages of all sorts, rock climbing, running in marathons (to inspire patients often), skeet shooting, darts and bird hunting with his sister-in-law Annie. Travel, trying new foods and visiting new countries with his wife Natalie.

Trade goods: $6,000

Background:
To follow.

[Tori]

Early life:
Only his wife calls him "Justin." To patients and junior staff members and patients, he's Dr. Bernstein. To friends, he's just Bernie.

He was just 9 months old when his parents, Jake and Hannah were killed in a car accident. Justin was raised by his grandfather, Itzak, a former Polish Jewish partisan who fought his way out of Warsaw in the 1943 ghetto uprising, and his grandmother, Olga, who survived the Treblinka Concentration Camp.

Itzak believed he had failed as a father with his son Jake. A Jewish intellectual who entered university in the 1960's, Jake fell in with left-wing protesters. Itzak made the choice to shield his son from the atrocities of Nazi Germany, only making vague references to life in Poland before the war. Jake, having never experienced the evil of the world, protested American involvement in Vietnam. He also saw the nation of Israel as an oppressor of the Palestinian people and a warlike nation when the Peace Movement was very much alive in New York.

Itzak and Jacob became estranged, and did not speak for 10 years. The older Bernstein did not even know he was a grandfather until Social Services arrived with his infant grandson. Itzak and Olga were the only family the little boy had.

Rather than shield the boy from horror, Itzak let Justin discover it for himself. Questions about Grandmother's tattoo were answered frankly. What became of Grandfather's jewelry shop before the war. Why he had a pistol on the mantle. It was not hidden, but the Bernsteins made no effort to forge their grandson into an avenger.

Living in the Lower East Side in Manhattan had advantages. A very bright Bernie was given the best education a jewelry and pawn shop owner could afford. He attended private Jewish schools, specializing in math and science, while studying the Torah, Talmud and the Hebrew language. Bernie became an honors student.

At 16, Bernie's comfortable life came to an end. The stresses of life in a concentration camp caught up to Olga. She suffered a massive stroke and died. Two months later, Itzak followed. To this day, Bernie believed his beloved grandfather died of a broken heart. Their love suffered adversity, and shaped Bernie's marriage later in life.

With his inheritance, Bernie paid tuition to a private prep academy, and graduated at 17. Aimless, he immigrated to Israel. As part of compulsory national service, he joined the IDF Army as a battlefield medic. Bernie felt it a better service to his nation and people to save lives rather than take lives.

In his two years in the Army, he earned two disciplinary letters for treatment of unauthorized civilians. He did not care if injured people were Jewish or Palestinian, and gave treatment and aid to all.

With months left in his conscription, he joined several Army buddies for a night of drinking. As they celebrated their youth, a suicide bomber detonated outside the bar. Bernie raced outside, checking people for life and death. He found a burning car, and a woman, dazed and trapped, yet alive. He used a shirt-covered fist to smash the glass, and cut her free from a tangled seat belt with his pocket knife. On the street, he performed CPR when she coded, and treated her wounds with all of his training.

She lived, and was the wife of Israel's Minister of Immigrant Absorption, a very important man. To thank Bernie for saving his wife, the Minster arranged for his entire squad to have an all-expenses paid holiday in Paris. The grateful soldiers accepted and a week-long party ensued.

On the third night, the gang dined in one of Paris's most esteemed restaurants. Impressed with his meal, Bernie asked to meet the chef and thank him for the wonderful experience. Instead of a stodgy old French fellow, out came a young, effervescent and beautiful American woman. She was a gifted chef-in-training and had arranged for her internship in Paris. Bernie fell immediately in love with Natalie Morgan. Though she expected a rough and tumble soldier, she was captivated with his wit and intellect. Soon she was back in America as head chef in a Boston restaurant, while Bernie entered Boston College's pre-med program.

Natalie's profile increased. Soon, she owned a critically acclaimed restaurant, and had her first appearance as a challenger on Iron Chef America. Meanwhile, Bernie made quick work of pre-med and entered Harvard Medical School.

With her beauty and charming personality, and success on television, Natalie was soon offered her own Food Network program, called, "Queen of the Kitchen." Though at first shot in Massachusetts, she was asked to move to Los Angeles for better studio filming. Reluctantly, she accepted.

Bernie in the mean time redoubled his efforts to finish school, and earned his MD a year early. He accepted a trauma surgical residency at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, and surprised Natalie on the set of her program. Sensing good television, the producers kept cameras rolling. Bernie proposed, and a tearful Natalie accepted. They were married on the beach two months later.

Bernie completed his residency and specialized in both trauma and trauma orthopedic surgery. He has been a full member of the Cedars staff for two years before the Wave. Meanwhile, Natalie Morgan-Bernstein has become one of television's most beloved chefs, and a rival to Rachael Ray and Giada DiLaurentis as a culinary "pin-up." Before the Wave, both Bernie and Nats were considering a sabbatical. During which, their goal was to start a family. Despite both working long hours, they remained committed to each other, and very deeply in love.

Letter to Natalie composed within a week of The Wave. This letter is posted on the door of their home in Suburbia.

Dearest Nats:

I'm so so sorry I wasn't home when everything happened. You were so understanding and said, "Your patients need you, Justin." I'm afraid you needed me more.

You know what kind of week it was up until now. First, half the staff called in with flu. Then all those sick people. They had me working emergency surgery. Despite "Captain Trips" as everyone jokingly called it, people still got hit by cars, stabbed, shot. Appendices still ruptured. People still fell down stairs. You were so understanding when I had to stay at Cedars all those days.

We slept in the staff lounge on sofas, in chairs, on the floor. We might get an hour here and there, and we thought it was hell. If the team didn't have surgery, we rounded in the ER. More flu. Fevers. Aches. Pains. Nothing we could do worked. We did flu swabs, and they came back clean. We used every antibiotic. All the tamiflu. The best we could do was some Motrin and IV fluids.

It was Tuesday. Dennis Langston came to me and said, "They're all dead now. We've got enough doctors for ER and surgery. FEMA's bringing body bags. Go home Bernie. You've been here longer than anyone. Go home and rest. We'll call when we need you."

You know what? I argued. I wanted to stay, and keep working. Langston wouldn't hear it. So I drove home. The roads were jammed. A 45 minute drive took 3 hours. But I made it.

Your car was gone. I started to worry right off. I called, and got that "Due to unusual call volume" message that I now hate. So I went in, hoping there was a note.

About then, I heard like a dozen cop cars scream past. All of them were heading towards town. Nothing in the kitchen, where you usually leave notes. I checked the bedroom, and found the window broken, and blood on the comforter. That's when I got Grandpa's gun.

You always hated it. He carried it across Europe and survived with that pistol. I heard a noise down the hall. It was Mr. Ferguson from down the street. He looked at me with those dead eyes. I told him to stop and he staggered forward. I pointed the gun at him and said "I'll shoot!"

He kept lurching forward, moaning. So I shot him in the chest. He looked down, looked at me and lunged again. I dumped the whole fucking clip into him, and he kept on coming, hands out to strangle me. I ran to the kitchen and found your knives. The original Queen of the Kitchen line, and I grabbed the goddamn cleaver!

I remembered all those scary movies we watched. Romero, and the 28 Days and the show with Rick and Shane, so I buried the clever in his head! That did the trick.

With a bloody clever in hand, I ran down all the streets in our stupid, paranoid gated community. Some people told me to go home. Some were looking for their family. Everyone was scared.

I spent the next week searching. We saw the dead along the fence and at the gate. Police quit coming out. TV quit working. I kept calling, but no answer. I went to all the stores we shopped at to see if your car was there. I found our friends, those that were alive. Nobody had seen you.

Then, on Friday, I got the call, YOUR call! Caller ID said "Nats!" I answered. I was so relieved. I heard your breath, then click. The connection was broken!

I know you are alive. I know you are surviving somewhere. We always joked we'd go to Crazy Anna's when the shit hit the fan. Well now the shit's hit the fan. The gated community we loved has become a prison filled with the hungry dead. I'm hoping you're already with Annie, safe, and sound, and with your well-armed, paranoid loon of a sister. If not, then you will find me there. You know the way.

And Natalie? I will never stop searching for you. Never will I meet a stranger and not ask if you've been seen. I know you are alive. I know you will survive. I pray that I will find you soon, and we will be together again.

All my love,
-Justin


Letter posted at the cabin of Anna Morgan:

Beloved Natalie:

I arrived at Anna's cabin in the mountains safely. There are a lot of dead on the roads. I hope you got something more practical than that Z of yours.

Anna has been getting by like she always does. She has a bunch of guns. Don't worry, we left some for you. You know the combination to all her safes. I've got my bird gun and Granddad's pistol. Anna? Well you know Anna.

I've been here about a month, expecting you any day. You never came. I can't sit on my ass and wait any longer. Anna and I talked, and we're going to find you. Somewhere there are survivors, and somewhere, someone has seen you. They will tell me where you are, and I will come.

If you make it this far, we are heading east into the desert. We've heard the dead mostly stick to cities, and the living have gone to deserts and mountains and the forest to hide.

When you read this, stay here. Use Anna's radio asking for the Doctor. This place is a fort, you will be safe. I'll be back from time to time to check on you. To be with you. If you can't or won't stay, come east. I'll leave word with everyone I meet where you may find me. And if you are out there. If you are running for your life, I will find you.

I Love You,
-Justin

[Tori]

Natalie "Queen of the Kitchen" Morgan-Bernstein: