Episode 2A

[farside]

Deciding the open desert is a safer, if less pleasant ride, J.R. drives the Humvee off the western edge of the road. Keeping the speed low both to reduce the dust trail and to also navigate around potential problems easier he starts to bypass the vehicular graveyard. Intending on getting back on the highway once he's clear of the abandoned cars, he still makes mental notes of where everything is and what paths would be best to take if the up coming meeting doesn't go as well as he hopes.

[farside]

[dice=20]
{For the perception check}[rand=95502577186035908590022142685294340908507390607966867519091526623]

[brianfenris]

GM POST
Pulling off the highway into the desert makes for a bumpy ride, but your machine was built for the rough terrain. At slow speed, your able to navigate through the scrub brush and other desert plant life with no problem.

However you're problems start when you notice to your left a figure appear from amongst the the abandoned and wrecked cars on the way. In that frozen moment, you see it clearly, a gray skinned creature that had once been a man, dressed in torn and bloody clothes, his lips and the left side of his torn and rotten with two black sockets where his eyes used to be, staggering towards you with one arm outstretched reaching for you, the other hanging broken and useless at it's side. Then the the moment is over and the zombie disappears from few view, but over the rumble of the rough ground under your tires and through the armor of you Humvee you still hear that god awful moan.

The moan gets louder as several more zombies shuffle into few along the highway, marching with the slow determination towards your Humvee and you.

What are you going to do?

[farside]

J.R. picks up the pace just a slight bit, enough to gain a little bit more ground and heads at a 45 degree angle away from the highway. Once he's put about 100 meters between him and the zeds he rolls to a stop. He pops the gun hatch and gives a good look around for any close in hazards.

Baring anything dangerous, he sights down on the rotters and starts to put them down, taking out the most mobile first. He continues until they are all down, he's gone through a full clip, something is nearby, or the walkers get within 50 meters.

Edit: J.R. tries to keep his brass in the Humvee for later reloading. He knows that more will be drawn to the sound, he's just trying to thin them out so if his welcoming committee is friendly, they won't have as many to deal with if the stenches do make it towards them.

Edit 2:
Initiative: [dice=20]
Perception: [dice=20]
Called, aimed shot (head){3 actions}: [dice=20]
Dodge: [dice=20]
Called, aimed shot (head){3 actions}: [dice=20]
Dodge: [dice=20]
[rand=81783877624898529096740159277276244422508353684067862726812225521]

[brianfenris]

GM POST
[glow=Red,2,300]
MODIFIED[/glow]
You fire twice at the advancing group of undead. The first shot is dead on target, the full metal jacket slamming into it's head, causing an explosion of of hair, rotting flesh and broken skull. The zombie stumbles, but does not fall, continuing it slow slog towards your jeep and you, now sporting a darkened crater where the top right of it's skull used to be.

The second shot misses completely, disappearing into the auto graveyard.

The small hoard of hungry undead do not shrink back from the soldier firing at them, continuing to march forward, all the time calling out with their moan.

A quick count shows 17 zombies closing on you. In the time you made your shots, they covered 30 meters.

What are you doing?

[farside]

J.R. figures he can get one more shot in before the rotters get too close for comfort. Taking a quick look around before trying to finish off the one he almost got.

Initiative: [dice=20]

Perception: [dice=20+1]

Called, aimed shot (head){3 actions}: [dice=20+5]

The remaining 3 actions he gets down in the Humvee, dogs the hatch, and starts to put another 100 meters or so between the zeds and himself.[rand=1027514805448445141356248254558557147432841337084148054616257919]

[brianfenris]

GM POST

You next shot strikes lower, punching through it's chest, but to no effect. The zombie didn't even stagger. It and it's friends continue towards you, their slow march covering another 30 meters towards them.

As you rumble to a stop a hundred meters later, you notice that another group of are marching out of the vehicle junkyard to the north, slowly swing around towards you. This is group is further way, but coming on with the same deadly determination as the first.

The number of zeds just doubled.

What are you doing?

[farside]

Deciding not to waste any more ammunition, J.R. picks up the mike and starts driving away at a leisurely pace that will still outdistance the walkers and keep ahead of any runners that show. He keys up the mike, "Patriot, do you copy? This is Charlie-36th-Actual. We have a situation, I have picked up a group of walkers that are following. Are your people at a secure location, able and willing to go mobile, or do we need to lose the tail before we meet?" Inwardly wincing at the "I" he broadcast and hoping they wouldn't either pick it up or at least question it on open air.

[brianfenris]

GM POST

As you bounce along the rough terrain, the radio is silent for a few minutes then finally replies.

“Charlie-Actual, Patriot. Our people are mobile, but they are several miles from your location. I suggest you put some distance between you and zed, then go meet up with our team in the field. Once they lose sight of you, they should lose interest. Be advised, we've had a run in with a zombie driving a car a while back. Be on the look out for anything like that and deal with it however you see fit. How copy?”

The two groups of zombies, one that was following and the other to your north all appear to be the slow moving variety. The groups are space so far apart that driving through them would be no problem.

What are you doing?

[farside]

J.R. passes the zombies up getting back on track to meet up with Patriot's people. The fact that they are mobile, coming as something of a relief to him. One way or another it is a good sign. If they are friendlies, the zombies following him shouldn't be much of a problem and if they aren't friendly it shouldn't be a dug in ambush he thought to himself. Once he passed the northern group up, he started to mull over the thought of a driving zombie. He'd seen a lot of strange things since the Wave, but that would take the cake. In a way he actually hoped to see this zombie. It was an odd thought to have.

[brianfenris]

GM POST

Your Humvee rumbles past the pursuing undead, turning sluggishly and stupidly giving chase. A few yards later over the rough desert terrain, the auto graveyard comes to abrupt end at a multiple vehicle wreck and the highway opens up for you to the north and the survivors waiting for you to put on an appearance.

The small town of Sunsites and the eternally hungry zombies disappear behind you in a cloud of dust.

((I'm not going to include anymore encounters here for you, farside. Is you stick to the highway, you will reach the other players in about 6 minutes. Let me resolve the current combat going on and you'll be introduced to the rest of the survivors. You can continue to post here until I write you into the mean storyline.))

[farside]

J.R. eases his Humvee back onto the blacktop and continues at a leisurely pace down the highway. His trepidation turning his stomach sour. Were these good people actually trying to rebuild and survive or were they just another group of predators circling the carcass of civilization? As he drove on towards the meeting, he changed out the partially used mag in his M-4 for a full one and put another full one in his ammo pouch. He also made certain to load up on frags and smoke as opposed to his zombie distraction grenades. Once he was loaded up, he gathered the brass from the few wasted rounds at the last group of zeds and tossed them in a box. Thinking to himself this was actually worse than going out into the country side in Afganistan. At least there you had good people by your side and you would either see combat or you wouldn't. Here it was too unknown. He had that hope deep down that it would be a new start, a new future, but that nagging voice deep down that said it was a trap. Now that his gear was ready, he looked at the photo of Christina and the kids and thought of happier times as he drove on toward either the end or the beginning.