OUTBREAK (Sandbox/Survival/Horror - IC / ALWAYS OPEN)

[Sulania]

Angela Rus
Day 25
Near the CVS Pharmacy on Chicago Ave

"Shit shit shit" is all Angela would say as she looked to see the infected coming in towards the pharmacy, some of which eyeing her as their next source of food. Wasn't a good situation, definitely one that she should have stuck around to see, but nonetheless here she was. Stuck between fight or flight, she hasn't had this much of a brush with the infected since the beginning of the outbreak in Chicago, so she certainly didn't have experience behind her in this scenario.

She knew she couldn't outrun them, they were largely pouring from the way she came. She'd have to run in the course of the CVS, into the danger of the unknown humans who could be just as dangerous as the infected rushing her and their position. She brought up her XD 9mm to take aim, measuring her options through the the scenario. If she took the shot, she'd have to commit to fighting them, potentially with the backup of the CVS. At the very least, she'd have them be aware of her as much as the zombies were, and running would have the same result.

She flicked off the safety, committing and taking aim at the first infected running towards her. She was about to rest her finger along the trigger when she heard the roar of an engine. Surprising her, she looked back to where the roar came from. Seeing as a truck barreled into the legion of the dead, blood becoming the new pain of the truck as the brave driver mowed them down in quick succession.

It was awe inspiring to be sure. Reminded her of one of the many movies that came out back when the world was still sane, but the truck alone couldn't mow down all of them in the cramped streets of Chicago. One already began to barrel towards her, pale eyes and gnawing maw ready to rip into her. Flashbacks to when her father trained her for something like this, well close enough to this, flashed through her mind as she took aim and fired a round right into the monsters face. The infected flew into its momentum, careening into the ground and skidding across the road.

She noticed the truck had stopped its onslaught, but still some remained. She knew the sound of all this would attract more, and she had to escape. The only real chance she had was to make a run for the truck, and hopefully the people she was originally hiding from would be good samaritans and take her with them. Being hostages to whatever ruffians they could be is certainly better than whatever the dead had in store for her.

She made a dash for the trucks. She was no athlete, but the adrenaline pumping through her made her not even think about the pain that was surging in her legs. Fighting was no option, she had to run. "Please! I'm not infected" she yelled, to get their attention, and alert them she was not among the damned, sprinting to the side of the truck.

Code: Select all

- x1 9mm bullet used
- x1 infected killed

[Relikai]

Sun Yunri
Day 24, Washington Elementary


The blow to the back of her head wasn't serious, but it was enough to stun Yunri enough that she turned with her pole held before her in a position to defend herself. The lights quickly came on however, as she saw the small bunch of kids around her, elementary school kids who somehow managed to escape the brunt of the current chaos. She introduced herself once the situation defused, Yunri slowly understanding why they were present as well as the situation with the madman chasing her outside.

Well, she sure didn't expect to suddenly play guardian to some youngsters. There was the urge tho, that she could not leave them alone, and that as a grownup, there was the duty to see them safe, even though she might lack the confidence, and lack the ability to take care of them alone. That did not seem to be the case, as their loud whispers were picked up by her ears, Yunri giving a sigh and a huff as they returned to her with their request.

"I can hear you, you know?" She said, shaking her head. "No matter. We have to get out eventually... I'm looking for any food in the pantry if there's any left, and it'll help knowing what I'm up against. I can try to stun him, knock him out, but once that's done you can either stick with me as we search for somewhere else that's safe, or you can try to find another group of reliable adults if there isn't any other help coming our way here."

[Fantrum]

Madeline Hess
Intersection of W Pershing and S California
Rooftop of Sandra Cisneros Elementary

Once again. Waiting. It was killing Madi. She needed to get a move on. Already she doubted she could make it all the way to mom's house before nightfall, every second wasted now was just insult to injury. At least food wasnt an issue. Not here in the city, where you could find more than enough to thrive off of just in abandoned houses. She preferred the woods however, where she could hunt for her food whenever she wanted. There was also the small benefit of not being in constant danger of running into ghouls.

From her perch, Madi could barely make out the sounds of voices wafting up to her, though there was no way she could decipher what they were actually saying. Risking it again, she poked her head over the top. The heavily armed woman was talking to the cop, which was a good thing. Since no one had started shooting, the risk of death by horde of infected was minimal. It also meant these people probably werent bandits. Madi had seen those types of people, they didnt just walk up and start chatting, they issued their demands from the barrel of a gun.

A thought crossed her mind then. There was no way she'd make it to mom's today. That was a fact of moving through a dying city. But that cop had a car. It went against every fiber of Madi's being, but she contemplated asking for a ride. It was a cop after all, protect and serve and all that bullshit. The other woman was a different matter, however. For several minutes, she fought with herself, trying desperately to gather up the courage to reveal herself. Finally, letting out an explosive sigh and grumbling about regretting this, She slung her rifle over her shoulder and stood up. She raised her hands palm out and waved them slowly, trying to appear nonthreatening.

Feeling like the point was across, and unable to yell anything at the people in the car, she turned to the ladder up to the next building and hopped up it, disappearing from their lines of sight. Running, she made her way to the ladder down into the back alleys she'd used to get up in the first place and slid down to street level.

Emerging from the alley, she kept her rifle slung and walked carefully toward the AK armed woman, still having second thoughts but committed now. Her mind whirled with all manor of escape plans, a torrent of what would happen to her if this gambit didnt pay off, and just a general feeling that she was making a mistake. But still... she needed that car. So she trudged on. At about ten meters she stopped, raising her voice only as much as she dared, "Hello? Are you military? I, um, I need some help." She realized, belatedly, they might realize she'd been watching them from the rooftops for an unhealthy amount of time, but she beat the thought into submission and simply prayed to her maker that the woman pointing an assault rifle in her face wouldn't think about that.

[Insaeldor]

Julian Ryuhn
Loyola University
25th day of the Outbreak

The screaming just grew in its intensity. I wasn't sure what to do, the infected would be here soon. I had my gun in my hand and ready to shoot if it came to it. My need for self preservation was inherently high, my body spasmed with anticipation, fear, and preparedness everytime another scream occured. I just want to stay here and not have to worry about them, It wasn't worth it.

I just waited. The screaming grew louder and more intense with each second. I grew from a sense of anxious preparedness to a sense of fear, the anxiety elevated to borderline panic as the frantic desperation in the screaming chilled me to the bone. I almost started to shake as it grew. The thought of what was happening to them and that it could happen to me. Oh dear lord what was happening to them. My thoughts were racing as it all started to blend together, the sounds of the Infected and the screaming of the people started to just blend into one another.

Then the banging, frantic and rapid like a machine gun. I jumped, all my muscles contracting in a bout of fear causing me pull myself into the air a bit. I pointed my gun over at the front door, I index finger underneath the metal cover of the trigger. I moved my finger to the proper place, beside the trigger but not through the hole and on the trigger. I kept my arm stiff and inline with my chest with one hand under the magazine.

I started to shake again but my focus was still there as it continued. The frantic beating, desperate in its very nature. Then they started yelling. But words came through the screams. They were human, or at the very least there was someone put there. I made my way to the window by the door. I peeked through the curtains to see a few women and a man pounding on the door and a mass of things moving in the background. Shit… shit. These kids are going to get me killed.

But if I didn’t do anything then they’d be just as screwed as me. I couldn’t just leave them out there. I just couldn’t, they were helpless. I could reconcile my feeling, if i opened the door then id risk infected getting in, or someones whos been bit getting in. but could I really just leave them to die? If I left the would they just break in through another place. But i couldn’t just let them stay out there. My emotions, my base human instinct was overriding ever logical assertion I had made. I knew nothing good could come of letting them in, i just knew it. But i also know if i condemned these people to die I just could stand it. God put everyone here for a purpose, I guess mine was too shepherd these people to greener fields.

I grabbed the door handle, i pointed my gun out and kept most of my body on the safe side of the door. I opened it slowly and yelled at those banging on the door.


“Get in, get in. Hurry, hurry!” i said in a hushed yell as I slowly opened the door fully. Pointing my pistol out the door and passed them.

[Imperial Idaho]

WestEnd Bar, Near West End, Chicago, Illinois, United States

Whitehorse pulled himself out of the makeshift bed he had made in the backroom of the small Chicago bar. The sheets and blankets he'd collected from the nearby stores not being particularly comfortable but better than sleeping on a pool table covered in spilled beer and broken glass. He sighed as he put his leather boots, taking a peek at the doorway into the room and trying to listen the best he can for footsteps or anything else. Jack collected himself, reattaching the empty pistol holster he'd found off a body to his ankle, and putting his headgear back on. He grabbed the half empty glass beer bottle he'd been drinking last night and took a sip of the Budweiser. He'd collected some liquor the night before, and stuffed it into his bag, increasing his collection of beer from 3 to 10, 11 including the one he was holding. He just hoped he wouldn't drop his bag for all the bottles to shatter and soak his bag in alcohol.

Whitehorse checked his watch. It was already quite later into the morning. He likely slept in so late because of all the late night looting he'd done last night, and only to have all that gear lost when he got swarmed and dropped it to lose the weight. Anyways, it was time to leave the cramped little backroom and get some work done. He drew his machete and cautiously opened the door to the rest of the bar, his eyes scanning the room ahead of him. All Clear. He took another sip of the Budweiser. The bar had been just about empty when he'd arrived there, a body or two strewn about and broken glass and spilled beer along with other bodily fluids covering just about every surface. Jack had moved a few tables and chairs to block the front door so infected wouldn't get in without making a ruckus.

He began pulling apart the stack of chairs and tables after checking the windows for the all clear, taking occasional sips of his beer after setting something down. After a minute or two of carefully dislodging the Jenga tower that was the makeshift barricade, the door was unblocked. He propped it open with a box, and wheeled out his Harley from the inside of the bar. He'd been riding the thing for a decade or so now, and was attached to it enough to bring it into the bar to help discourage some bastard from stealing it. He noticed a few infected begin to turn his way and start shuffling forward. He downed the last few drops of his Budweiser and threw the empty glass bottle to the ground a little ways away from him, shattering on impact as he quickly put the bikes key in, turned the engine on and floored down the road.

The Indianapolis biker boy knew damn near nothing about Chicago, now being the second or third time he'd ever been to the city. He hadn't gotten his hands on a map yet either, and so generally drove down the roads and only made turns when he desired or was forced to by wrecked cars, infected hordes, and other road blocks. He'd seen the state of the highway earlier on in the week, and knew he'd be wise to avoid it. He turned south on Rachie Avenue, west on 18th, and south once more across the Chicago River on Ashland Avenue. He knew he'd have to find some gas soon, however Whitehorse knew that'd be hard. Finding a safe enough gas station, one that still had gas, and stopping his bike far enough away for all the infected to be drawn there and getting away with the bike would be quite the task.

He turned to the southwest on Archer Avenue, driving a dozen or so blocks down until he hit a railroad crossing, and spotted an empty enough gas station to check out. Whitehorse drove his Harley right up to the pump, and quickly dismounted. Several infected dozens of yards off started shuffling, walking, or running towards him. He quickly checked the pump, keeping his eyes and ears open for anything. Jack popped open the gas tank and grabbed the nozzle of the pump and stuck it in, the sound of running growing closer. He squeezed the handle, but nothing came out of the end. The running grew louder. Whitehorse cursed under his breath as he pulled the nozzle out of the tank. The Feds or civvies must've used up all the gas at this pump at least. He tried the next pump, but it was empty aswell. The sounds of infected running towards the empty gas station couldn't be ignored anymore.

Jack quickly raised his machete in his right hand, his left prepared to grab the hostile if needed. With the infected 10 feet in front of him and showing no signs of stopping, he stepped forward and met his left hand to it's shoulder, and his right began to swing down on it's head. The infected's head released a slight shower of gore and blood as it cut open on the machete. His hit was effective, but not entirely, its running speed knocked Jack back a little bit, and made his swing hit a little to right. He quickly pulled his machete out of it's head and made for another swing into the screaming beast's temple. The infected now dead, and a couple more a few dozen yards behind it, Whitehorse hoped back onto his bike and started the engine once more.

He knew he had to lose all the zombies that would be swarming him after following the loud engine of the Harley or he'd be even more dead when he finally got somewhere to rest or get gas. Figuring the thing that could distract them from a loud noise is another loud noise, the idea he'd hatched a day or two before might work. He drove the short distance to the parked cars in the gas station parking lot and swung his machete into their windows in the hopes that their alarms would go off and distract the pursuing infected. A quick swing or two into a Honda's windshield with blade shattered the glass, and luckily for him the loud repetitive siren kicked off.

Job done. He revved the engine and was off down Archer Avenue away from the raided gas station. Whitehorse spotted another gas station curiously close, not even a block away, an abandoned BP. He quickly pulled into the parking lot and killed the bikes engine. If the car alarm was to work he'd have to stop the engine for now, and it would give him time to loot anyways. He hopped off the Harley and approached the door to the building, peering through the glass windows to see if anything was about to jump on him. He saw no movement, and opened the door and began checking the shelves for anything of interest. A can of barbecue Pringles and a bag of sour patch kids, nothing of interest there. Jack started snacking on the chips while he kept searching.

He found a torn backpack behind the counter, a sign somebody hadn't had luck in this place earlier on. Upon investigation he'd found some meds and a few mismatch bullets he quickly pocketed. Everything else in the building was torn apart or already looted, and so Whitehorse checked the back of the building for whatever else. He circled around the side and to his luck discovered a Jerry can sitting on the ground next to a knocked over propane tank. The can was just about halfway full, but still damn well enough to keep the Harley full up on gas. After filling up the tank he tossed the Jerry can to the side, no longer needing it.

Crisis averted, for now.

Regardless, he pocketed the halfway empty can of Pringles into his backpack upon noticing an incoming gang of infected coming down the road towards him. Taking pleasure at the sight of the fuel indicator needle go towards full, he was off. Jack backtracked to the intersection between Pershing and Archer, and went west on Pershing to avoid the infected he'd spotted. Whitehorse sped his way down the road, avoiding wreckage and rubble alike rather well. He'd hardly gone a city block however before noticing movement less typical of infected however and swiftly slowed down. If his endgame was stealth though he'd already lost. Assuming they weren't deaf, dumb, or otherwise audibly occupied they would've heard the deafening noise of Whitehorse's Bike. He would've stopped earlier but simply hadn't noticed the engagement going on ahead.

He killed the engine. From where he was at the east corner of some elementary school he could tell somebody in a car was getting held up by some other man or woman with a rifle. At the range he was at he couldn't quite tell what but figured she'd be dumb to rob someone with an umbrella, so the safest guess was a rifle. The idea at least was that he probably couldn't get away in time without getting him or his bike shot up, and especially since he had no rifle or handgun of his own, he was to the whim of whoever had one. With the engine dead he relaxed back onto his bike, trying to give the idea he wasn't going to bolt all of a sudden.

Saying nothing, he merely tipped his distinctive black stetson hat and hoped for the best.

[Hastur]

Ingrid Zakharova.
Atlas Security Division.
Twenty five days since initial outbreak.
3900 S California Ave, Chicago, IL 60632, USA.

---

Thankfully the Hispanic woman intentions where the same. A potential ally that would make getting out of the city a couple of steps easier. It was obvious that she was scared half to death, judging from the woman taking a abnormal time to bring down the window and an uncertain nervousness was audible in her voice. The fear being something that Ingrid could understand but never really thought about, her actions scaring someone half to death being in the back of her head. Trying to ease the tension, she moved her finger off the trigger and depressed her rifle downwards, muzzle pointed at the parking lot gravel and away from the car, angled twenty degrees away from her feet. Hopefully matching her body language with her non violent statement made previously.

“Are you military too?”

"Not exactly." Ingrid replied, moving forward to the passenger side window, exposing herself to the driver, giving the police officer a much better look at her, although making out any sort of facial features would difficult given the respirator, the goggles and the baseball cap with ATLAS private security Division patch applied to the Velcro brim. "Keep your hands away from your belt and we'll be fine. In fact, keep them on the wheel." Ingrid ordered, her eyes more carefully analyzing the pair as she peered in, remaining silent for a few seconds as she simply watched them, taking mental notes.

The cop looked like, well, a cop. Uniform tag read "R.Almanza" and the uniform itself had seen better days, being fairly dirty with blood and mud splattered around the cuff of her shirt. It was a good fit however, not too big and not too small. No tell tale signs that it was somebody wearing another man's skin, so she wasn't a nefarious individual deciding to change their identity in-order to manipulate in these trying times. The African American in the back looked just looked like an average American teenager, confused, and wearing a long sleeved shirt, jeans and sneakers. He was a particularly scrawny kid at that.

Not exactly a highly trained fire team but better to have somebody watching your back than nobody.

Before she could say anything however, another voice and what sounded like the noise of an engine became increasingly distinct. She turned her attention to the first source, moving towards the front of the car, taking a position near the engine block as she located the source, leveling her rifle but not taking aim as she spotted a short looking woman with her hands up, and what looked like a Mosin slung on her back that was nearly as big as she was. A gun that was older than her grandfather and that he probably even used it during the great patriotic war. Almost immediately she asked the same question.

"Hello? Are you military? I, um, I need some help."

She gave off a short smirk from behind her mask, not visible to anyone else. It was funny. She hadn't seen a single friendly person and now all of a sudden they were coming out of the woodwork. A train of thought became quickly moving to the forefront. It seemed almost too good to be true, meeting three people in such close proximity to each other. Maybe something else was going on, or maybe it was just sheer coincidence or good luck. Whatever it was, she had to remain cautious, these people could stab her in the back at the first chance, or when she outlived her usefulness.

"Not exactly." Ingrid replied to the woman, signaling with her left hand for her to come closer before moving it back towards her rifle, lowering it. "Listen, the longer we wait then the more likely those soldiers are going to be dead. We will have a better chance of making it to that high school if we work together." She proposed, loosening up from her previously stiff demeanor. "So let's not waste any time, loot up and let's get moving on foot, don't want to make too much noise." And as if it was almost perfectly planned episode of cosmic irony, the vehicle sound became extremely clear, an extremely loud chopper motorcycle stopping up the road from where she had once came. The engine for the loud bike cutting off as the asshole acknowledged their existance with what looked like a tip of his hat. Every single infected in a two block radius would no doubt be coming to see what was on the menu now that the figurative dinner bell had been rung. They'd have to get moving, and fast.

If the cop and the Mosin girl where working together, the biker had certainly been unexpected element.

Stiffening back up almost as quickly as she relaxed. She angrly signaled the biker to come closer as she got ready to move out towards the school. Her left hand beckoning him over as she decided whether or not to shoot him or just chastise him on potentially getting them killed. It depended on how many infected showed up, or if he brought that fucking bike any closer.

[New Finnish Republic]

Austin Erickson
Day 25
Wrigley Field

---

The main gates had been locked tight, forcing Austin to find another way into the stadium. He guessed that it had been the work of the National Guard in their failed attempt at keeping the infected out of their temporary base of operations. If he had a bolt cutters or even a saw he might have tried to break his way in, but unfortautenly for him such supplies were not available to him at the time. He made a mental note to try and find one in the future, if he ever had the chance.

Pacing his way across the perimiter, he saw a fenced off area that surrounded what looked to be a staff entrance. He climbed up the fence, finding a gap in where the barbwire was thin enough for him to cross over. Landing with a thud, he glanced over at the sight below him. Several rotting bodies of either infected or their victims were strewn about, with nothing remaining on their body that was worth looting off. However, the entrance didn't seem to be barricaded, only a simple interal lock seeming to hold it shut. Rolling his shoulders, Austin got into a crouched position before ramming his shoulder into the door, using his strength to break through the lock and enter the facility.

He nearly screamed as on the other side was an infected who slowly turned its head over to see what the noise was about. He could see the creature open its eyes, seemingly recognizes that a healthy human had stumbled upon it. Before it could move or even let out a scream, Austin swung his bat at its head with enough strength to make Barry Bonds proud. Blood and gore flew through the air as the infected head was smashed like a pinata, bone and brain bits scattering across the foor like candy. The infected dropped to the floor, completely still as Austin stood above it, tightly gripping his bat as he watched for any signs of life still within the creature. After a few tense seconds, he was able to let out a sigh of relief as he determined he was in the clear.

Looking around, he noticed that he was already within a stairwell compartment of the facility, likely leading up to the stands and boxes up above. The compartment was fairly empty, some trash and equipment strewn about being the only notable thing in there. He hadn't heard any screams from any nearby infected, which meant that none of them had heard his rather dramatic entrance. This was a good thing for him, as the last thing he needed was to start off with a whole bunch of pissed off zombies running at him.

With a small grunt, he began to make his way up the stairwell, taking care not to make any noise as he did. His baseball bat, now bloodied and slightly dented, remained tightly gripped in his hands, ready for action at any given moment should an infected decide to pay him a visit. Considering that this was techically an area only for staff, he didn't expect to find too many in here, but based on his inital expereince that didn't mean that he was going to make his way up here completely unmolested.

After a few flights of stairs, Austin assumed he was nearing if not already at the stands level of the facility. Indeed, the sight of a busted open door with seats visible through the opening made it clear that he had arrived. Cursing, he stood still for a few seconds, trying to catch even the smallest sound of an infected nearby. The damn things could remain almost as still as a mouse if they wanted, but they would occasionally make a light grunt or shuffle around a bit.

Sure enough, he could hear something just barely on what must have been the flight above him. It was impossible to know for sure, but it sounded like one, possibly two of the undead bastards above him. Weighing his options, Austin gritted his teeth as he realized he was going to have to take them on, as going out into the stands was a sure way of either being seen or heard by the horde that likely was bumbling around there.

Slowly making his way up the flight of stares, he eventually found the source of the noise. He seemed to have been right about his prediction, albeit for the worse. Two infected were standing about in between a flight of stiars, seeming to be staring at the wall with blank eyes. Austin knew he was going to have to take them both out quickly, as if he took too long to take out one the other one would have enough time to scream out.

Thinking for a few seconds, he decided on a plan that would most certainly get him killed. However, he didn't have any better options, so with reluctance he retrieved on of the baseballs from his bag, keeping his bat in his non-throwing hand in the process. Creeping along upwards to as close as he could get before fearing alerting the infected, Austin angled his body so that he was pointed at the pair of infected, and with a mighty throw managed to chuck the baseball straight into the center of the furthest infected's throat. Even without his apparent increase of strength, such a throw would easily crush the windpipe of any normal human. Considering that he had nearly twice the throwing speed as even proffesional athletes, it came as no surprise as the ball completely shattered the infected's windpipe, so much in fact that part of the ball managed to lodge its way into its throat.

The infected tried to let out a scream, but was unable to let out anything more than a gurgle. Its other partner, noticing that something was up, turned around, only in time to see Austin's bat swinging directly at its forehead. With a sickening crunch, Austin smashed in its skull before proceeding to finish off the one he'd hit with the baseball. He gave each of them a second round of swings before feeling comfortable that he'd done his job.

Glancing down, Ausitn noticed that one of the infected must have been a staff member, specifically a grounds personnel, as an I.D badge hung over his neck as well as possessing a small belt with tools around his waist. Not wanting to let these go to waist, Austin carefully undid the belt before looping it through his own jeans. The tools were small enough and secured that he wouldn't have to worry about them getting in the way. He likewise threw the I.D card into his pocket, knowing that it would allow him to get into areas that he'd otherwise have to break into. Taking another deep breath, he continued to make his way upwards, occasionally pausing to listen out for any sign of nearby infected. Thankfully, the three he had already dealt with seemd to be the only ones present, something he could only thank God for.

As he reached the final level of the stairwell, he reached for the I.D card, swiping it across the card reader. With a soft click, the door was unlocked, allowing Austin to slowly open up to the other side. He was now offically in the club section of the stadium, a view awaiting him that would otherwise have been breath-taking had it not been for the massive horde of infected that could be seen patrolling the grounds below. He didn't see any signs of activity within the club, but he knew that a place this big and with this many rooms meant that a lot of surprises could be potentially waiting around for him.

Taking care to not slam the door behind him, he began to creep his way through the area. Along the way, he snatched any snacks or drinks he found still laying unopened on the various tables that hadn't been thrown to the ground. While it wasn't much, it would be enough to keep him going for a few days as long as he didn't waste too much energy at the moment. He was in the process of wondering how in the hell he was going to find this bat, when all of a sudden a noise he knew he shouldn't have heard reached his ears. It was soft, seeingly deliberate, but noticible nonetheless. A door had opened, and a few moments later closed.

To his knowledge, the infected had no means of opening and closing doors, either too stupid to do the action or rather preferred to just bust down the barriers instead. This meant that he was dealing with another human, but in many regards this was much worse than a simple infected. Diving behind a nearby booth, Austin peered out from around the corner, tightly gripping onto his bat as he waited to see who was coming. He wasn't going to call out, mainly for two reasons. The first being that he didn't want any nearby infected to notice him, and secondly that if whoever this person was seemed to be bad news, Austin wanted to get the jump on him.

As the footsteps neared, Austin prayed to God that things didn't get messy in a hurry, but he had a bad feeling they were.

[Kentucky Fried Land]

Nancy Kirksey
Loyola University
St. Joseph’s Seminary

The grew everso closer. The infected drew in, almost at the fence that did little to protect the survivors inside of it. “Just break the fucking window!” Nancy screamed at the boy to smash it with his pipe, but it seemed to late. The infected reached the gate now, hopping over it like it was nothing and keeping their sprint in check. Their eyes glowed hot and fierce in the morning light, screaming and crying and spraying fat globs of spit onto the pavement. ”Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” Nancy screamed, before the doors opened and a pale Asian figure (who was vaguely familiar to her) stood before them, eyes and gun raised.

”“Get in, get in. Hurry, hurry!”

Nancy didn’t waste a second. She hurried into the lobby, followed soon after by the others. “The doors!” The one boy, named Clyde apparently, shrieked. They closed the doors behind them, infected pressing up against the wood and lashing out at those attacking. Clyde was away from it, Shaun, Nancy, and Monica pressing up against the doors. “I can’t fucking hold it! I can’t!” Nancy cried out, Shaun and Monica losing their grips as well. “Graaagghhhh!” Monica wailed in pain, the muscles in her arm tightening as she threw her body weight against the doors. “Fuck!” The doors wouldn’t close; there were too many bodies on the opposite end. Two opposing forces acting as counterweights, and the infected were winning. A slivery hand slipped through the crack in the door, disallowing them from closing it anymore. “Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!” Monica and Nancy screamed in unison, before a booming voice behind them cried out “Move!”

Clyde, Lindsey, and Marcus went by them, a bench in their hands. Marcus was having trouble, but Lindsey was certainly doing her best to help him. Clyde grunted in exertion as the three at the door moved back just as the bench was shoved under the door handles. “Oh God, oh God.” Nancy muttered in between breaths, staring at the makeshift barricade they had made. It was already coming undone, but they had done their best. The man who had saved them led them back through a door in the lobby, the only one other than that being occupied by a bench. Nancy was the first one through, followed by Clyde, Shaun, and Monica. As Lindsey reached out to Marcus, the window shattered. Nancy was stricken by deja vu as the infected teen climbed through the window, bleeding from cuts and scratches still strewn about his pale body. He shuffled in, screaming as it leapt onto Marcus’ back with grace. “No!” Lindsey screamed, losing her grip of Marcus as he went barreling off towards the doors. “Lindsey! Let’s go!” Clyde screamed, nearly grabbing at her as Marcus fell into the bench, knocking it down. It was over in an instant; the bodies swarming in, engulfing Marcus in their savage rage while Monica slammed the door on Lindsey’s face.

“What the fuck?!” Nancy cried out, watching Monica run past all of them and up a flight of stairs. Behind them, the screams of Lindsey echoed out. It was too late for her however; Nancy didn’t waste much more time with disgust, joining the others in their excursion upstairs.

***

Officer Ruby Almanza
Chicago Juvenile Intervention Support Center
Squad Car

Ruby watched it all happen, following the woman’s instructions. She wasn’t military, then; that was a disappointment. She grimaced, watching the woman approach the passenger side better to reveal herself. But she wasn’t there to rob her either, and that was for all the best. Another friend was always good, especially one who could handle themself. It was then that the sniper approached the woman from behind, asking a similar question. So she wasn’t associated with that woman; what a lovely coincidence that they all showed up here, wasn’t it? The little coinkidink became even more evident when the engine vibrated through her ears, alerting her to the motorcycle pulling in. She raised an eyebrow, confused at all of the people who had suddenly showed up. Was this a trick? She wasn’t quite sure what kind of a trick it was, if it was one. Just a little sense of divine intervention? Because it was apparent that Yahweh had answered Ruby’s prayers earlier for some backup at the high school.

“I’m getting out of the car now!” Ruby called, opening the door slowly and stepping out. “Are you and the biker together or something? Tell him to shut off his bike before he attracts infected this way!” As she said this, Samuel also opened his door, stepping out carefully and as calmly as possible. If he were being honest, he wanted to piss himself. He faced the others from the other side of the squad car, blinking and feeling quite naked without a weapon in hand, especially compared to everyone else.

[Rohst]

FRANK HEGLAND
ROXANNE
MARTY SANCHEZ
JOSH METIER
Whole Foods Market, Chicago

Three men, looking like hunched-over stooges followed by a large Rottweiler, skulked around the exterior of the Whole Foods supermarket. Not a single word was uttered between them, just silent prayers and quiet surprise. How they managed to get here without attracting attention to themselves was honestly amazing; then again, they mostly travelled north along the train tracks as per their newest addition's, Josh's, suggestion. Regardless, they had an objective as food was running low. In the wide alleyway behind the building, there were two sets of doors entering the back, both of which being locked. After a moment of internal group pondering, Frank shook his head, sighed, then whispered.

"Only way through these is if we break 'em open, an' I reckon ain't none of us want that kinda attention."

"Yeah... we might actually have to go through the front" replied the young Mexican, standing to his left.

So wordlessly, the group slinked around to the front side of the building, reaching the automatic glass doors and front windows of the store. They peered inside, scanning aisles for both movement and food, neither of which appearing present.

Until an old woman slowly pushed her cart out of an aisle and into view, her head slumped back as she gurgled froth at her lips.

Frank turned to his two allies, both new and old, and winked.

"Well now, this one looks pretty damn easy if I do say so myself."

---

Four minutes later...

---

*THUD*

Joshua Metier braced against the door with all of his might, yet nearly got bucked off of it by the tremendous pile of angry, thrashing, screeching bodies piling against it from the other side. Fingers were violently pushing through the gap, reaching for any living matter they could wrap around, scratching fiercely at the men inside. Finally a hand made it through, then a foot jammed itself through the crack. Joshua continued pushing with every fiber of his being, whilst Frank readied his sledgehammer, Martín his bat.

"DON'T JUST F-FUAGH-ckiNG STAND THERE!"

The crack in the doorway was widening by the second as more limbs were forced through.

"Let them motherfuckers in!"

Whether he wanted to comply with that request or not, Metier lost his footing and slid down to a knee. Losing all of his traction, he was tossed over to the side as four wildly flailing bodies collapsed upon one another into the room. The infected all had the same goal, yet pulled back on one another like caught crabs yanking back those trying to escape the fisherman's bucket. A tangled mass of senseless rage and hunger, to which the two men promptly began bludgeoning to a bloody pulp.

What has been learned over the passed couple of days, has been that these creatures do not feel pain. They die if you cave their head and chest in certainly enough, but they don't stop until you're dead or they are. If you'd asked Frank four weeks ago what his body count was, he'd look at you quizzically. Now, he'd give you a resounding "nine of 'em: four women, three men, and a little 'un around six or seven." That figure was probably at eleven or twelve now.

All was quiet in the pharmacy now, but curious footsteps were heading in their direction. Before anyone could say anything, Frank barrelled through the door to meet the next contender, who charged as soon as the large, bearded man revealed himself.

*WHOOSH* *CRACK*

A full-forced, wide swing landed straight into the infected man's torso, caving it in and sending him flying back onto the ground. Without hesitation, Frank rushed up and brought the hammer down again, this time aiming for the head. The sound that skull made as it was crushed will haunt Martín until the end of his days.

Without missing a single beat, Frank let out a whistle that pierced the air. By this point, the entire market was agitated by the four invaders, and groaning emanated throughout the building.

"ROXANNE? WHERE ARE YOU?"

Josh, who by this point regrouped with his new friends, hissed.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?! We need to go!"

Frank turned a shot a glare that humbled the firefighter, at least momentarily.

"We ain't leaving without my dog!"

"Your dog is probably fucking dead! We gotta go!"

Footsteps, picking up speed, were coming from the left, from one of the many barren, emptry aisles. Hammer in hand, Frank stormed off in that direction and walked straight into a glossy-eyed beauty who look like she just got done puking blood all over herself. Frank pushed her down, and and his weighty hammer followed suit. After another whistle, Roxanne the Rottweiler sprinted around the corner at the other end of the aisle, tailed by an infected sprinting after her. The boy changed targets when he made eye contact with the hairy, fleshy mountain in front of him, and was compellingly stopped in his tracks when the sledgehammer was thrust into his jaw like an estoc, coming with enough force to snap his neck.

The groaning was getting louder from all sides. Martín's voice cracked.

"Guys, we need to go, man!" and the group was began making its way back to the front, shuffling through the messy aisles of discarded wrappers and empty shelves.

Finally, all four made it outside. A handful of infected, a dozen, maybe were approaching the main windows, pressing their faces hard against it. The men and the dog quickly moved to the train station to which they found were now crawling with infected. It would be too risky to take it back south, just as it was too risky to take the streets here in north Chicago, at least in broad daylight.

"Does anyone got any ideas?"

"I... might have one" Martín replied, as they rounded back into the alleyway. "My school isn't too far from here. Follow me."

Code: Select all

Frank Hegland:
+5 infected killed +7 including past kills

Code: Select all

Marty Sanchez:
+2 infected killed +3 including past kills

Code: Select all

Joshua Metier:
+6 including past kills

[Anowa]

SARAH KONIG
BUDDY
Chicago Avenue, Chicago

As everyone (Caroline Tyrell, Mawuli Jackson, Angela Rus, Luke LaForge, Lynn Matsubara) secured themselves within the truck, Sarah herself shifted into drive, with the intent of heading west. Looking through the blood stained smear of a windscreen very quickly and very drastically changed those plans. A nigh impenetrable wall of flesh and anger had formed from the bodies of what seemed like more than two dozen infected. All intending to tear the truck open like a can of chef boyardee.

So Sarah's eyes widened, Buddy started barking like crazy, and the truck was slammed into reverse. Rather sloppy J-turn followed, and promptly the stick was shoved into drive. With all the blood on the ground, it took a moment for the crowded crew cab to get any traction. But once it did the sound of skidding tires and the roaring cummins resounded in triumph.

As they pulled away, Sarah adjusted the rear view, to get a better look at the now 7 people and one dog in a cab that could hold 6 people comfortably. Sarah nearly promptly had a notebook all but shoved in her face.

Willis Tower

'Yeah, okay.' Sarah had no real destination, but Willis Tower would help in at least surveying the city, and for the past few nights she had seen lights coming from the top, so maybe there was someone up there, maybe with a radio, needless to say it was worth checking out. Sarah reached her hand up to pat the deaf girl's hand in affirmation. With a pause she looked back at the mirror, there was, of course, Sam, a black guy in a rather poorly fit suit, what Sarah would swear was a young James Doohan, a small Asian woman, a woman priest, and judging by the jacket an EMT. The last one took some pressure off her shoulders. Best get introductions out of the way now. "Sarah Konig, CDC level 4 viral researcher, former Navy Corpsman. My canine friend here is Buddy." a slight pause, "Oh! and if anyone has something like this," she held her right arm into view, flexing her fingers and making a rather faded bite mark more evident, "Please let me know so I can make sure you're either immune or not a health risk."

[Fantrum]

Madeline Hess
Intersection of W Pershing and S California

She knew it. She knew she'd regret it! Over the last few weeks, she'd kept her interactions with other people to an absolute minimum, and it had worked for her. Why hadnt she been patient? What was another day in this hellhole of a city if it meant living? Damn her! The little voice in the back of Madi's mind became a roaring monster of all her bad decisions, one she could only barely push past to think clearly. She'd missed the chopper coming up the road, until it was nearly upon them. As assault rifle chick turned, Madi, with practiced ease at this point, unslung her rifle and shouldered it, pointing it at the biker.

She'd been right in the middle of asking what the Russian chick meant by soldiers in the high school, but now there was a man with a deathwish alerting every ghoul in a two mile radius that lunch was ready. "If I was with the biker asshole, I wouldnt be pointing my gun at him." Madi remarked over her shoulder. She trusted the cop, as much as she trusted anyone, more than some random cowboy.

All she wanted was a ride. Was that so much to ask for god? Then again, soldiers at the school... a school pretty close to mom's house... That sounded like a safe zone. A poorly set up one if it the soldiers were about to die, but... what if mom had gone there? It was along the way, after all. The Russian wanted to play rambo, go in and kill some ghouls and be a hero, Madi just wanted to get her mom and leave, but maybe sticking with the crazy bitch would work out? If she managed to clear the school, great! More people for the ghouls to be occupied with. If she didnt, well, no skin off Madi's back.

Releasing a sigh, she decided the chopper dude was just retarded and not actually a bandit, so she took her gun off him and held the muzzle to the sky. Then something caught her attention. Without the deafening rumble and roar of the chopper, she could just barely make it out. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up, ghouls. The moaning and growling was faint, but getting louder all the time.

"I think its too late for that, officer." Madi felt her voice shake just a bit at the prospect of fighting more than the odd individual ghoul. Sure, the combat didnt phase her too much, shed had to kill at least a few to get this far, but they were always alone, and she could do it quietly. Now there seemed to be an army of them bearing down on the group, and she was scared. She should never have left her comfortable rooftop! The horrible voice threatened to overtake her, make her take flight then and there, but she fought it back, trying not to cry.

Turning fully to the cop, Madi asked, "Can I get a ride?"

[Arengin Union]

Samuel Griggs
Wolf Point West Apartment Building. Zachary Cash's Apartment.

They were safe, at least for now. The chase had taken a toll on everyone, Jessie breathing heavily and barely able to catch her breath, Ian shaking with fear, and Samuel trying to calm himself as well. Jessie took Ian by his hands and took him over to a nearby armchair, leaving her backpack on her side and tending to her son. His blanket had been lost during the chase, the sadness in his face apparent.

"We'll get you a new one, Ian..." Jessie said, hugging her child tightly.

Samuel was close to the door, his shotgun still in his hand and trying to control his own body from shaking with angst. He looked at Zachary, Samuel kept a stale and rough expression, but he then spoke.

"Thank you. For that back there... and thanks for allowing us to be here... the name is Samuel." That was all he said before he then moved to her wife, setting the shotgun against the wall next to the armchair and his backpack next to Jessie's. He kneels to her and Ian and the three embraced in a hug. Samuel used his left arm to cover both his wife and child while keeping his free right hand to keep it close to his holstered pistol. Even though Zachary had saved him, he didn't really trust him, in fact not at all. You didn't know who was to be trusted in this new world anymore, people could do a lot to survive, to get what they want, one of those things would be to act friendly and then stab someone in the back.

Zachary Cash
Inside of the Wolf Point West Apartments
Floor 2

"Your welcome, we've got to watch each other's back, against these things," Zachary said to Samuel. Zach saw that Samuel kept his hand on his pistol. Zachary didn't want to make any assumptions but he had a feeling that between him and Samuel, there was a little sense of distrust. He opened his mouth and said, "Samuel, I understand that you can't trust me, and you have a family to watch out for. You need to keep them safe as your priority. But trust is what keeps people together. I want to trust you, but I can't if you can't trust me," He walked over to where Samuel is at, and put his hand on his shoulder.

"You are going to need help to survive here, and I'm going to need help too. I can't shoot a gun for my life!" He half-smiled with a breathy chuckle, "What I'm trying to get to is that we need to be good assets to each other, and that would start by opening up trust between us," He put his hand on Samuels back and gave it a little pat. He looks around to see the mother with her child, "You have a beautiful family-" he was cut off by hearing random and sporadic footsteps outside of the door of the room. He stayed silent. The iconic raspy, mucus-filled throat of the infected breathing was heard right outside of the door. Quickly but quietly he walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. And through it, he saw the infected staring at the peephole too. But its eyes were gouged out, so it left two dark empty eye sockets staring at the door. Its jaw was sightly dropped down with blackish blood dripping out of it. It was unsettling, to say the least.

"Well there's something outside of our room," whispered Zach. He went over to the window and looked out. Out below them, he saw a horde of infected standing outside of the main entrance. They were aimlessly walking around and some of them walked into the apartment building that Zach and Samuel were in!

"Umm, we need to go, like now! There is a horde of things out there! Grab whatever you can, and let's go out the back way," He grabbed whatever he could but in the midst of the slight chaos that they were experiencing he forgot about the creature outside of their door. It started pounding on the door trying to claw or break its way in. Zach grabbed his knife and opened the door. And the infected came running in, jumping on Zach. He put his left hand out stopping the un-human from getting close to him. Then he stabbed the infected multiple times and punched it in the face with his trench knife. It dropped down twitching out.

Wide-eyed, Zachary told the family, "Follow me!".

Code: Select all

+1 Infected Killed
+2 Un-perishable items
+3 Hoodies
+1 Bottled Water
+2 Items of Clothing(+1 Cargo pants, 1+ Long-sleeved shirt)

Samuel Griggs
Wolf Point West Apartment Building. Zachary Cash's Apartment.

The calmness and safety of the apartment didn't last long, nor did the chance for Samuel and Zach to talk. In part he was right, together they could work together better, but for Samuel it was difficult to trust people these days. He had seen firsthand what people could do, as much as he hated those things out there at least you knew they want to tear you to pieces. People however, you never knew what they actually wanted. But there was no time for that, infected were getting in and Zach had dealt with a couple. He then called for the family to follow.

Samuel reacted quickly, way before Zach had even said anything he had his shotgun in hand and handed the m1911 pistol to Jessie. she carried Ian in her arms as Samuel moved fast to the door, passing by the dead infected and meeting Zach out of the apartment. Several infected cramped out of the apartment heading towards them, Samuel took out his knife from the sheath. An infected jumped towards him and Samuel quick it back and stabbed it right on the head. Samuel then fired several shots from his shotgun.

"Get us out of here Zach. Jessie, you and Ian stay between us two, I cover the rear, Zach you take point." Samuel said as Jessie and Ian came out of the apartment and stood between the two men.

[Huntpublic]

Zachary Cash
Outside of the West Wolf Point Apartment Building



"Get out of here!" shouted Samuel, and so Zach did. Zach wanted to head to the Echelon Chicago, another hotel/apartment building. It wasn't a far run.

"Okay, follow me!" He said to Jessie and Samuel, he made the 'follow me!' motion with his hands and started to run. They ran up the right side of the Canal running behind buildings and up to West Kinzie Street. Zach kept on looking behind him, quick motions with his head. He wanted to make sure his new found friends were safe, he couldn't handle himself if one of them were lost to the infected. He could keep hearing shotgun gunshots absolutely tearing up any of the infected. Once he looked back and saw a shaggy shadow running up behind Jessie, it was infected. Zach stopped turned around and ran back to her.

"Behind you!" he shouted to Jessie, she quickly turned around and shot the infected multiple times with the M1911

"Damn! Okay, let's go!" said Zach as he led the family across the bridge over the canal. And then they turned around and headed Echelon Chicago. They ran into it. As they rounded a corner leading inside of the building, Zach stopped and made sure that Jessie and the Ian caught up and got behind him. He wanted to make sure that Samuel made it to the building. He could see him fighting off multiple infected with his knife and shotgun. Then behind Zach and Jessie saw two infected coming out from inside the building, awakened by the commotion coming from outside of the Powerhouse. Jessie reacted quicker than Zach could and she shot one of them dead, and Zach ran and did a front snap kick to the ribs of the infected, he heard a loud crruunnch after he had kicked it. And it dropped down, writhing in pain. Zach stabbed it in the body multiple times thus killing it.

"Alright guys, stay here," he said to the family. And he ran out to help Samuel. Samuel did most of the heavy lifting killing most of the infected that came their way. All Zach did was that he killed one of them. After all of the fighting stopped, it was eerily quiet. Zach was sweating and breathing hard. He leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, he was resting while standing. He looked over at Samuel and said, "Good job man, you killed a lot of them bastards,". He stood up, straightened his back out. And led the family into the hotel.

They walked in, it was a little dark in the lobby. But that was because there were no lights on. Zach went to the receptionist's desk and searched through it, to find a room key. He wanted one that was close to the ground floor so that if they needed to escape quickly they could. "Ahh, here we go, the first floor and.." he looked at the key, "Room 121, this should be good, I think we lost the horde and we actually have some time to rest," Zach said and they went up to the first floor to room 121. It was a reasonably spacious room. Not like the suites at the top of the hotel, but enough room for four people. There were two beds, a bathroom, a small kitchen and the main living area was very spacious. As they got in, Zach took off his backpack and threw it on of the beds and sat down. He takes a deep breath in and out, "Well, we made it! But uhh Samuel, were you going to say something before we had to run for our lives?" he chuckled a little bit. Zachary was just happy that they made it out and off of the streets.

Code: Select all

Infected killed: x5 (including Zach's, Jessies and Samuels kills all together)

[Beiarusia]

SAMANTHA TALLOW
CDC Truck, Chicago, IL

Samantha assumed that the pat on the head — slightly annoying as it was — was an indication to them heading to Willis Tower. Not that she had much say. Sarah was the one driving, and the adults may well have had another destination in mind. The only option for Samantha was to sit and to wait in the crowded backseat, wedged between a man that smelled faintly of cat food (Luke LaForge) and a shabby lawyer (Mawuli Jackson). Uncomfortable.

Sarah said something to the others before raising her arm. There was a bite mark. The woman really was infected.

How many of them are infected? Is it contagious like the flu? Not a comforting thought. Sarah was covering her mouth. Samantha kept her head down, making no effort to expose herself to the virus should it be transmitted by close proximity.

She was thankful that she wasn't one to get sick easily.

---

---

LYNN PHAN and MORGAN KAUR
Loyola University, Chicago, IL

Morgan led Lynn by the hand, her grip tight as they neared the main entrance to the science hall. No barricade. Locked, and with them being quiet the Infected had had little reason to investigate the building. The two young women had packed everything they could into a pair of backpacks, not much, they simply were lacking in supplies, but traveling light was never a bad thing.

Lynn could hear screaming in the distance. Human, not at all like the random shrieks of the Infected. She tried not to think about it as Morgan unlocked the doors with the key she'd found in a janitorial closet. The glass allowed her to see if the quad was clear, and it mostly was, the Infected too distracted with seminary to be bothered with an "abandoned" building, but she was careful nonetheless, making a point to open the door as quietly as possible before peering around the corners to ensure that no surprise was laying in wait just out of view. It was clear. A good sign for them. Not so much the girls in Mertz.

"They're not okay, are they?" asked Lynn, already knowing the answer.

Morgan said nothing.

They headed south along Campus Drive, away from the besieged seminary, and then cut west across the far end of the quad towards Sheridan Road, skirting around the Welcome Center like a mouse sneaking its way past a mob of hungry feral cats. No Infected but better safe than sorry. Sticking close to the buildings, they passed a 7-11, pausing only for Morgan to check if any Infected were meandering inside, before hurrying across Broadway to the Starbucks. They hunkered down near the little building to take stock of the situation. Infected could be seen further down Broadway, shambling without much thought to their actions, aimless like a student after many sleepless nights working on a project. Heading west was Devon Avenue. There was a military checkpoint. An island in a sea of abandoned cars. A few Infected, one looking as if it had seen them, but it hadn't yet committed to the chase.

North it was.

Lynn allowed herself to be led by Morgan as they hurried up Sheridan Road. To their right was Loyola University; to their left a few shops and apartments. At the next intersection they'd go left, away from the college, and away from the Infected that had claimed it.

More Infected appeared up ahead, right at the intersection Morgan had planed to lead them down, sprinting towards the seminary to join the growing horde. Morgan, thinking fast, bolted into a nearby Insomnia Cookies, dragging Lynn before either could be spotted. No hungry shrieks followed.

"We should take a break," said Morgan, her heart racing.

Lynn took a seat near the back, calm despite the situation. "Everything's okay," she said, her words calming Morgan a small bit.

Morgan nodded along. Yeah, everything was okay. They were alive. They were together. She excused herself to search the store, to make sure nothing was hiding in the back room. No Infected, and no food, the few cookies remaining having gone stale and hard. Bummer. They still had some snacks left. Give the Infected an hour or two to calm down, then they'd get back on the move, towards...

Morgan wasn't sure. Somewhere safe, wherever that was.

Until then it was just her and Lynn, and although quiet for a long moment that was fine, too.

---

---

- - -
Echelon Chicago, Chicago, IL

Samuel Griggs, his family, and Zachary Cash had found safety in the Echelon Chicago, a high-rise hotel just west of the Chicago River. The horde of Infected had scattered, erratic in their search for the survivors, but a few had managed to follow the trail like bloodhounds on the scent, but as they neared the building they stopped, not because the trail had gone cold but as if unwilling to cross an invisible boundary. The Infected clawed at the air, grunting in dissatisfaction. An odd behavior witnessed by Jessie Griggs as she peeked out through the window.

"What's it doing?" she asked, a question not directed to anyone in particular.

The simple answer would be to assume the Infected were unhappy with having lost their meal. In truth this territory belonged to something else. Something much worse.

An apex predator.

A terrible howl sounded from somewhere inside the hotel. Outside, the Infected that had lingered too close to Echelon Chicago turned tail to run, driven by a primal fear. Inside Room 121, the survivors' blood ran cold. Samuel Griggs held his shotgun with his wife and son hiding behind him. The boy was crying now, his mother doing her best to comfort him, a pitiful sobbing long overdue. Another howl, lower in tone and much, much closer, in the hallway just beyond the door. Claws on thin carpet, its gait not at all human. A growl as the creature sniffed the air. Deep, wet inhales. Right outside the door. Seconds passed, the time weighted down as if hours had come and gone, a unnerving silence broken only by the ragged breathing of the creature and its angry growling, and then it trotted off to investigate somewhere else.

Ian Griggs, crying, sniffed loudly as snot dribbled down his nose. This slight noise was all it took. A heavy weight slammed against the door, shaking the locks, but the wood held, and again the creature rushed the door, again and again and again as the child screamed in fear alongside his mother. Samuel Griggs and Zachary Cash pointed their weapons at the door.

The door held. The creature on the other side growled, angry, hungry, and then it was gone, running off without another sound. The survivors could relax, but only for a short time.

The window exploded into a rain of glass as the creature threw itself through, stumbling but landing upright as it clambered atop the nearest bed. It had once been a dog, but its fur was gone, replaced by sinewy muscle and mottled skin, but its mouth was by far the worse, a gaping maw of teeth and drool that was too wide and which opened too far, like snake unhinging its jaw. Eyes were dark with ears laid flat against the skull like a predator readying for the hunt. The mother and son were screeching now.

Samuel Griggs turned his shotgun towards the Hound as it lunged, the shot going wide as the mouth clamped down tightly onto the barrel. He fell backwards, the former-dog aiming for his throat, shotgun held with both hands to keep the deadly teeth at bay. Zachary Cash lunged with his knife, driving the blade deep into muscle, but the wound was superficial, and the Reaver shook itself free of the man, tossing him hard against the wall with a cut to his arm as the shotgun clamored to the floor, its barrel bent. It turned back to finish Samuel Griggs. Nothing between it and the man, but before it could lunge a shot rang out, the bullet embedding itself into the flesh of its face. Jessie Griggs stood at the far end of the room with pistol in hand, her son behind her, and behind him a door leading to the adjacent room. The Hound growled and turned towards her. Pistol shaking in her hand, she tried desperately to open the door, terrified eyes never once leaving the monster.

She couldn't look away.

To do so was death.

The door opened as the creature rushed ahead. She and her son disappeared behind as the lock clicked into place, the sound of flesh on wood ringing out with a loud crack as the hinges buckled. The Hound barked then ran towards the shattered window, leaping through to the grassy yard, clawed feet digging into the dirt as it circled back to batter its way into the room where Jessie Griggs had gone with her son. It landed hard and only just caught sight of another door closing shut.

Jessie Griggs was in the hallway, running with her crying son in her arms. No plan. Just instinct to get away. Briefly her mind wandered to the fate of her husband, but deep down she understood that if she were to make a choice it would always be Ian.

Samuel would understand.

The door broken open behind her as if struck by a battering ram. The Hound stumbled into the hallway, quickly spotted the woman, and gave chase. She ducked down another hallway but the monster was so much faster. It attacked her from behind. A wild lunge that sent Ian from her arms as they all tumbled to the floor. She felt the scrape of teeth on skin, saw the blood on her arm, a small injury, nothing serious. She still had the gun. Jessie Griggs picked herself up, gun raised, and then froze as her heart skipped several beats. The Hound, like any true predator, had gone for the weakest, biting down onto the leg of Ian Griggs so as to drag him away. The child screamed.

Jessie screamed as well as she fired into the creature. It dropped Ian, turned to face her as if the bullets were mere annoyances, and then backed down as Samuel Griggs and Zachary Cash rushed into the hallway. The prey was fighting back. No longer was this an easy meal. The Hound barked, and then it was gone, disappearing inside the hotel.

Code: Select all

Shotgun -> Destroyed
Zachary Cash -> Infected (TD-13)
Ian Griggs -> Infected (TD-13)
Jessie Griggs -> Infected (TA-13)

[Kentucky Fried Land]

Officer Ruby Almanza
Chicago Juvenile Intervention Support Center
Outside Squad Car

Things had only gotten worse for them. The introduction of the biker had put Ruby on edge, but she didn’t pull out her gun in fear of the Russian taking it as a sign of aggression. She looked between each of them, studying each and deciding on them for herself. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice; this was the crew she was going to be running with now, whether she liked it or not. There was Samuel, the scrawny teenager with an obvious aura of low self-esteem and a nervousness in his speech and a stutter in his step. The Russian had already been addressed by Almanza a few times now, but as she glanced over the woman now she realized that she really WASN’T hostile. But her hat made the indication that she worked for ATLAS; in what capacity, Ruby wasn’t sure of, but some sort of bodyguarding position wouldn’t be silly to think of. The other girl was an enigma. She was a smaller girl, shorter than Ruby and the Russian by a few inches with a big fuck off gun on her person. From Ruby’s understanding, she wasn’t affiliated with any of these folks, having been hanging out from a distance watching the whole exchange occur. She seemed trustworthy enough, and had a good bit of trust for the officer as well, so why wouldn’t Ruby return the favor?


Then there was the biker. Perhaps a little dumb, riding around with a huffing and puffing motorcycle such as that. Why he chose to make it so loud was beyond Ruby, but his braking near them was sure to lead a group of infected their way soon. The biker was certainly the cowboy of a man, a beer gut and a stetson hat atop his head. She looked at the woman with the giant rifle, nodding. The woman seemed a bit shaky in her last sentence, something Ruby found herself copying all the same. The growling and screeching of infected was already permeating the air, and Ruby saw the first of many fiddling with a door inside of the diner across the street, La Concha. “Hop in.” She told the girl, directing her to the passenger side with her eyes. The officer then glared at the biker, frowning with haste. “Dump the bike if you want to come with, you too!” She directed the last statement at the Russian woman, before hopping into the driver’s side. It was like this, then; the woman who had been on the roof in the passenger, and the other three sitting in the back. The car was already started when she got in, so she floored it out of the parking lot as a group of infected swarmed behind them.

She sped down West Pershing Road before turning right onto South Archer. A BP Gas Station was as good as anything they could find, so she parked the car under the metal canopy, taking a glance into the rearview mirror to see if any infected had followed them out. She was sure that there was nothing there; as sure as she could ever be. “I don’t see anymore. Think we’re safe now.” She frowned, letting out a horrid sigh of fear, before turning to the back of the car. “You said you wanted to get to those soldiers in the high school, right?” She blinked, her adrenaline still pumping as she tapered off from her thought. “I… just, I’m with you, okay?” She returned to her former position, looking to the passenger side of the squad car. “I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Officer Ruby Almanza, I’m a patrol officer with the CPD.” Her lips curled into a weak smile, unsure of itself and unsure of its wearer.

***

Mawuli “Jackie” Jackson
Chicago, Illinois
CDC Truck

He was squeezed in between the little girl and Lynn now, an annoyed grimace plastered on his face. Jackie crossed his arms, listening to the woman in the front and watching the little girl shove her notebook towards the driver. What, was she deaf or something? He shook his head, tugging at his ill-fitting tie and sleeves. He listened to the driver, taking note of her name, credentials, and of course, her wound. His eyes widened at this sight, tongue running along his teeth. “I’m not infected. No bite wounds.” Jackie said, adjusting his collar. His briefcase was sitting on his lap now, crunched up between a bunch of foul smelling people in this death trap of a truck. “My name’s Jonathan McCormick. I’m a lawyer.” He made indications to his suit, as if that would make his claim all the more true.

[Huntpublic]

- - -
Echelon Chicago, Chicago, IL

Samuel Griggs, his family, and Zachary Cash had found safety in the Echelon Chicago, a high-rise hotel just west of the Chicago River. The horde of Infected had scattered, erratic in their search for the survivors, but a few had managed to follow the trail like bloodhounds on the scent, but as they neared the building they stopped, not because the trail had gone cold but as if unwilling to cross an invisible boundary. The Infected clawed at the air, grunting in dissatisfaction. An odd behavior witnessed by Jessie Griggs as she peeked out through the window.

"What's it doing?" she asked, a question not directed to anyone in particular.

The simple answer would be to assume the Infected were unhappy with having lost their meal. In truth this territory belonged to something else. Something much worse.

An apex predator.

A terrible howl sounded from somewhere inside the hotel. Outside, the Infected that had lingered too close to Echelon Chicago turned tail to run, driven by a primal fear. Inside Room 121, the survivors' blood ran cold. Samuel Griggs held his shotgun with his wife and son hiding behind him. The boy was crying now, his mother doing her best to comfort him, a pitiful sobbing long overdue. Another howl, lower in tone and much, much closer, in the hallway just beyond the door. Claws on thin carpet, its gait not at all human. A growl as the creature sniffed the air. Deep, wet inhales. Right outside the door. Seconds passed, the time weighted down as if hours had come and gone, a unnerving silence broken only by the ragged breathing of the creature and its angry growling, and then it trotted off to investigate somewhere else.

Ian Griggs, crying, sniffed loudly as snot dribbled down his nose. This slight noise was all it took. A heavy weight slammed against the door, shaking the locks, but the wood held, and again the creature rushed the door, again and again and again as the child screamed in fear alongside his mother. Samuel Griggs and Zachary Cash pointed their weapons at the door.

The door held. The creature on the other side growled, angry, hungry, and then it was gone, running off without another sound. The survivors could relax, but only for a short time.

The window exploded into a rain of glass as the creature threw itself through, stumbling but landing upright as it clambered atop the nearest bed. It had once been a dog, but its fur was gone, replaced by sinewy muscle and mottled skin, but its mouth was by far the worse, a gaping maw of teeth and drool that was too wide and which opened too far, like snake unhinging its jaw. Eyes were dark with ears laid flat against the skull like a predator readying for the hunt. The mother and son were screeching now.

Samuel Griggs turned his shotgun towards the Hound as it lunged, the shot going wide as the mouth clamped down tightly onto the barrel. He fell backwards, the former-dog aiming for his throat, shotgun held with both hands to keep the deadly teeth at bay. Zachary Cash lunged with his knife, driving the blade deep into muscle, but the wound was superficial, and the Reaver shook itself free of the man, tossing him hard against the wall with a cut to his arm as the shotgun clamored to the floor, its barrel bent. It turned back to finish Samuel Griggs. Nothing between it and the man, but before it could lunge a shot rang out, the bullet embedding itself into the flesh of its face. Jessie Griggs stood at the far end of the room with pistol in hand, her son behind her, and behind him a door leading to the adjacent room. The Hound growled and turned towards her. Pistol shaking in her hand, she tried desperately to open the door, terrified eyes never once leaving the monster.

She couldn't look away.

To do so was death.

The door opened as the creature rushed ahead. She and her son disappeared behind as the lock clicked into place, the sound of flesh on wood ringing out with a loud crack as the hinges buckled. The Hound barked then ran towards the shattered window, leaping through to the grassy yard, clawed feet digging into the dirt as it circled back to batter its way into the room where Jessie Griggs had gone with her son. It landed hard and only just caught sight of another door closing shut.

Jessie Griggs was in the hallway, running with her crying son in her arms. No plan. Just instinct to get away. Briefly her mind wandered to the fate of her husband, but deep down she understood that if she were to make a choice it would always be Ian.

Samuel would understand.

The door broken open behind her as if struck by a battering ram. The Hound stumbled into the hallway, quickly spotted the woman, and gave chase. She ducked down another hallway but the monster was so much faster. It attacked her from behind. A wild lunge that sent Ian from her arms as they all tumbled to the floor. She felt the scrape of teeth on skin, saw the blood on her arm, a small injury, nothing serious. She still had the gun. Jessie Griggs picked herself up, gun raised, and then froze as her heart skipped several beats. The Hound, like any true predator, had gone for the weakest, biting down onto the leg of Ian Griggs so as to drag him away. The child screamed.

Jessie screamed as well as she fired into the creature. It dropped Ian, turned to face her as if the bullets were mere annoyances, and then backed down as Samuel Griggs and Zachary Cash rushed into the hallway. The prey was fighting back. No longer was this an easy meal. The Hound barked, and then it was gone, disappearing inside the hotel.

Code: Select all

Shotgun -> Destroyed
Zachary Cash -> Infected (TD-13)
Ian Griggs -> Infected (TD-13)
Jessie Griggs -> Infected (TA-13)

"Oww..." winced Zachary as he stumbled next to Samuel. He took a sharp breath in, "What the hell was that?" He looked over at Samuel, with a look of terror on his face. Zachary just realized what had happened to Samuels family. Jessie was cut, and no doubt infected. So was Zach, and so was Ian. But Ian looked like he had a very terrible bite mark on his leg. "Crap," Zach said to himself. And he quickly rushed back to the room and grabbed his bag. He remembered that he picked up Advil and a few bandages. He could hear the screaming of the child from the room. His nose was runny and he was starting to tear up. For the brief time that he knew the family, he had grown attached to them. Though he was never a father, he couldn't bear to imagine what Samuel must be feeling right now. He then looked down at his arm and noticed it cut, whether it was from his own knife or the creature cut him he didn't know. From now on, he would have to keep his distance from Samuel. He didn't want to get him infected too if he was actually infected with the Virus.

Zach stood up with his head low, his eyes red with tears. His face was angry, he was angry. He picked up his bag and threw across the room. "Fuck!" he shouted. He normally wouldn't curse but he did. At this moment, at this time it seemed right, "Shit man," he said breathlessly as he dropped down to his knees. He collapsed on the floor crying, sobbing. How could this happen? He felt like this was his fault too. He led the family here, promising them safety. They trusted him and looked what happened. That fucking infected dog, the fucking virus! He wished it never happened. He rolled over to his back and looked up at the ceiling, he thought of God. Maybe God did this? Maybe he allowed this to happen? What for? Questions Zachary would have to die for in order to answer. Slowly Zach rose to his knees and put his hands together and prayed,

God, you know that I believe in you. I couldn't speak for the family but why did you allow this to happen?
I-I know I haven't been praying lately but does that mean that we are going to die because of it?
Please God, from now on please protect us.
Give me the skills and the abilities to help protect Samuels family.
Please put your hand of protection over Sam's family.
I ask that you don't allow us to die because of our cuts and bites.
Maybe we could be immune to it?
I don't know. Just please keep your hand of protection over us.
Amen.

Feeling slightly better, he rose from his knees and rushed over to Jessie and Ian with the bandages and knelt down next to Ian. As harsh as it would sound, Ian is the priority. They need to make sure that the young are able to grow up in the apocalypse. They need to protect him. After all, it takes a village to raise a child. Gently grabbing Ian's leg Zach carefully wrapped the bandages with gauze pads around his bitten leg. Being a small child, Ian is very jerky to pain. He shook and screamed because of how much his bite wound hurt, "Hold on little man," said Zachary. As he finished dressing Ian, "We need to get antibiotics or alcohol or something to make sure that our wounds won't get infected," said Zachary to Samuel. He looked up at Jessie, she was mourning. Her child could have died in front of her! He saw that look in her eyes, then she took her gaze off of Ian and looked at Zachary. Her expression turned from sad to angry. Absolutely livid.

"Look at what you have done!" she shouted at Zachary

"I-I'm-" he tried to respond

"You're what?! Are you sorry? I really don't think that being sorry is going to cut it. If we haven't followed you, we will not have ever had to deal with this at all!" she screamed at Zachary

"I know that! I couldn't handle myself if one of you guys were to die because of me," he said holding back tears, usually, manly-men wouldn't cry. But everyone has their breaking point. Apparently, this event for Zach was one of them, "I would understand if you guys want me to leave. I don't know if I could ever make this up to you," he said solemnly.

"Yeah, just give me my child and get out of my sight," she angrily said as she took Ian from Zach's hands. Zach put his hands on his knees and stood up.

Samuel had a look of shock on his face but kept calm. He was the epitome of a man. Samuel grabbed the M1911 from the ground and pulled something out of his backpack. It was antibiotics, "Here just apply that to Ian while I keep Jessie calm, and look man. I'm a little shocked but you did your best. You still saved my life. Thank you," said Samuel, it sounded sincere. But Zach still felt bad. He slowly approached the child and mother.

"What did I say? Leave!" shouted Jessie,

"Hey, calm down, just let him apply the antibiotics and he'll be out of your hair," Samuel said quietly and tentatively to Jessie. She was tearing up, she was going to sob, and there was nothing to do about that.

Zach approached Ian, "This is going to help you feel better okay? Just swallow this," He gave Ian the antibiotic pill and Ian swallowed it.

"You'll feel much better," said Samuel holding Ian's hands.

After that, Zachary stood up and walked back to the destroyed room. And treated his own wounds. Wrapping the gauze pads and bandages around his cut forearm. And sighing deeply. His throat was extremely parched. He wasn't thinking straight at this point. He remembered that he needed water, and it had been a while since he had drunk any. He grabbed a water bottle from his bag and drank from it. Even though it quenched his thirst at that point, it would take a little bit until it had gone through his system. Combined with not eating anything, running multiple miles, having a near-deadly encounter with a hound and being infected(though Zach didn't know it at the time). He was about to pass out. He started losing sight in his left eye, and then to his right. And then slowly the darkness traveled to the center of his vision. After that, he passed out. Completely unaware of the surroundings he lay there sleeping next to the bed in the now-infamous Room 121.

Code: Select all

Used loot:
x1 water bottle(half drunk)
x2 Bandages
x2 Gauze pads

[Arturo Ortiga]

Day 25
Arturo Ortiga
Chicago

---

"To those who gave up, wait for me! as I will help you. To those who never give up, come with me! as I will need someone like you. To those who always hope for a better future, walk with me! as I will-- Come on! That poet wasn't that bad!" Protest Arturo Ortiga to his friend who laughs at his poet.

It's been a couple of days since Arturo stayed at his friend house, the outbreak has forced him and his friend to board up the house and wait there until things go better on the outside, or at least that's what they think. The house itself is only occupied by Arturo and one of his friend who offers Arturo to stay at his home, while Arturo's other friend who doesn't come along was unknown of where he was. Food and water aren't going to last forever, they know it very well.

"Hey, should we check the outside? not from the windows, of course. But what I'm talking is, we should go outside and see our surrounding, who knows, maybe there will be a person who needs us." Said Arturo to his friend. He disagrees with Arturo's idea, saying that he's afraid that there will be some infected that will ambush him once he and Arturo go outside. Arturo tries to persuade his friend mind, "Come on, we can't stay here forever. Yes, it's safe in here, but will it last forever? Our supplies will run out eventually, we need to see outside of this house, at least in this neighbourhood if you don't want us to venture away."

After a few arguments, Arturo's friend agreed to go outside with him. Both of them ready their inventory and stood before the front door. They look at each other, and Arturo grabs the door handle. Before Arturo open the door, he looks at his friend, "You're ready? We're going to go outside, I'll go first and lead the way while you will follow me from behind and watch my back. Remember that if we get separated, we'll meet in this house again, you understand?" said Arturo, followed with a nod from his friend.

Arturo open the door, a squeak from the door fill in the air, amplified by the tense moment. He peek through first, finding no moving things outside. Then, he opens the door large enough so that he and his friend could fit in it without having to open the door too wide and risking them both being heard by the infected because of the noise from the door. He moves first, step by step he walks slowly yet carefully to the street. After carefully check his surrounding, Arturo waves to his friend to come here. His friend came to Arturo, walking with the same pace as he did before.

"Ok, we made it through the first part. Now is the second part, aka the hard part. We'll go to that car over there, maybe we can find something" said Arturo while pointing out to the car at the street in the front of his friend's house.

"Make sure to crouch while we go there, at the very least it will hide us a little bit without restraining our movement too much."

His friend nod without saying a word. They look around at first, finding that there's no infected in sight, they move slowly. seconds felt like minutes as both of them don't want to be caught even by 1 infected as they carry almost no weapon except for Arturo's multi-tool knife that can be used as a stabbing weapon, it's not really great, but at least it's better than nothing.

They finally reach the car and look around to see if any infected are near them. Arturo searches the back of the car while his friend searches the passenger's seat. Alas! no useful things founded, this struck down Arturo's morale since he expected to find at least something useful to him and his friend. Before Arturo could thing about the next move, his friend called him with a worrying voice. He walked toward his friend, and see a bloody body of a man seated on the driver's seat that his friend pointing at.

"Ow.....poor person, you found anything?" said Arturo to his friend, the result is a bit better than Arturo, his friend said to him that he only found a car key, but it can't be fitted into the car's keyhole since the keyhole was broken...somehow.

Arturo then asks his friend about getting back to the house, which his friend agrees to. Just about when they both walked halfway to the house after they closed the car's door, the man open his eyes and twitch his hands. He suddenly break the car's side window, climbed it and chase Arturo and his friend. Both of them are surprised and look behind them, and find the man who was infected chasing them

Arturo's instinct told him to run toward the house, "Let's go!". Said Arturo while holding his friend's shoulder. He won't move, his friend was still shocked by the sudden event. Arturo tried to drag his friend more harder, but he still won't move. Alas! the man reached Arturo's friend and knocked him down, Arturo's friend screams while being attacked. Arturo, who never seen this much blood stood still in shock. His mind snapped soon realizing that if he doesn't move, he will also be attacked sooner or later. Arturo runs to the house, and close the front door, locked it and barricade it with a chair. He sat down on the floor, thinking what was just happen, he lost his friend. After a while, he peeks from the barricaded window, the man still eating his friend who was already laying dead. It seems that the man doesn't see Arturo running toward the house since the man was too busy to eat Arturo's friend.

Arturo goes to the living room and sits on the sofa that was facing a TV. He was still in shocked, he knew that once his friend was attacked like that, there's no way he could save him, let alone fighting that man with only a multi-tool knife. He thinks about what was happening in the last couple of hours, days, and even months before he came to America.....

[Imperial Idaho]

BP Gas Station, Brighton Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States

A few things happened, but the two most important was that he didn't get shot and he had to leave his motorcycle behind. Whitehorse had merely stopped the bike and tipped his hat, and was gestured over by the woman with the rifle. Someone had come out of the alley he hadn't noticed before, and could've shot him right there if she wanted, however the short woman simply pointed her rifle at Jack. He raised his hands up to his shoulders when she was, showing he carried no weapon. Infected started to show up, undoubtedly because his prized Harley, and forced them to bail. The person in the car he thought was getting robbed called him over but only if he got off the bike. Not wanting to anger the several people with firearms he hopped off and wheeled it to the curb before meeting back up with the cop and hopping in the back seat.

They drove off the way he came and on towards the freshly looted gas station, sitting in the back with a young black kid he hadn't even noticed beforehand and the woman he'd initially stopped upon the sight of. Lot of people and probably not a name between them. The cop looked back at the three in the back, said something about some soldiers in a high school and introduced herself as Officer Ruby Almanza. He gave an informal salute in return, and said.

"I'm Whitehorse, you can tell what I do."

He placed his hands on his knees as he did so, and peered outside the window as he spoke, holding a generally withdrawn manner throughout.

[The Knockout Gun Gals]

Clement Willoughby
Washington Elementary School
Interior
School’s Out Forever

The walk through the school was uneventful. Other than lurching shadows and leering posters from where the teachers had been prepping for the new school year, their decorations already peeling from the walls. Their footsteps lingered amongst the halls, ricocheting from wooden doors and foggy windows and dirtied floors and so on and so on. It took a little bit for them to reach the cafeteria finally, but they did.

The cafeteria was empty. All of the lights were off, and the clouds above had not allowed the sun to shine much through the windows. “Do you see anything?” Clement asked, blinking his eyes and taking off his glasses. The damn things had gotten fogged up. He wiped away at them, shivering. He sat down at one of the tables, legs pointed outwards, working on his glasses. “Damn things.”

Crystal Wu
Washington Elementary School
School's Out Forever

Finally both the man and Crystal reached the cafeteria. Speaking about the man, she literally forgot not to asked his name. She should have asked for one, and now, given the time, she might need to. Well, building a relationship and all. "By the way, I never asked for your name before. I'm Crystal, by the way. Crystal Wu," she responded. The cafeteria was empty and lights were off, "Can't see anything. Hold on," as she dropped her bag down and looked for her flashlight.

"Here," as she offered it to the man. "The flashlight, probably will be more useful if one person holds the light and the other one holds the gun," she continued.

---

Jin-yoo Han
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

She found some loots. Good to know there are still some goods left in the church and all. Her next objective is Willis Tower, being known as the evacuation zone...at least before the chaos caused ultimate destructions in Chicago. She looked on her loots so far, enough for her to go there. She decided she needs a place to sleep and rest, but the church may not be safe. So she went outside from the church and into the streets. The journey would be very far without vehicles. There's an Infected outside, wandering alone. Not far from her current position.

Not a risk she wanted to take. She took an aim with her bow, and pulled the string. The arrow hit the head of the Infected, killing it instantly. So far she is not sure whether it would be infected if she took the arrow from the dead Infected. She took it anyway regardless, and cleaned it with a bottled water she took. She went on after that. To the place of importance.

Code: Select all

- Canned Food x1
- Coffee x1
- Bottled Water x1

Code: Select all

- Infected x1 - Killed
- Wasted Bottled Water x1

[Tayner]

Luke LaForge
Chicago
Day 25

“My name’s Jonathan McCormick. I’m a lawyer.”

"Sarah Konig, CDC level 4 viral researcher, former Navy Corpsman. My canine friend here is Buddy."

"That's a funny way of saying POG." Luke remarked under his breath. The last two minutes was a scant blur, the multiples of people coincidentally converging on a singular location, soon with uninvited infected friends approaching. Luke made sure the kid was in the truck before he hopped in, and they were off, exchanging pleasantries. The girl scribbled something down on the paper before shoving it into the driver's, Sarah's, face. Hmm. Emotional trauma maybe, or deafness. Luke thought, before tapping her shoulder.

He made the sign for deaf, taking his index finger and using it to draw a slight arch from the corner of his mouth to the bottom of his ear. Hopefully she knew sign language. However, in a second their driver showed off a bite mark, saying something about the infection. Luke pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held it over his nose at the notion, and with his other hand his grip tightened on his weapon ever so slightly.

"Where exactly are we goin', doc?" Luke asked, looking into the rear-view mirror, making eye contact with Konig as they traveled down the streets, bypassing roadblocks and debris as they headed Southeast.

[Arengin Union]

Samuel Griggs
Wolf Point West Apartment Building.

It had all happened so fast, so quick. The terror in Samuel's eyes as he saw his wife and child both in pain, in terror and uncertainty. He had failed to do the only thing he had set his mind on throughout this time. Now both Jessie and Ian were hurt, with Ian in pain and Jessie too. They both were infected too now. How knew what kind of infection they had caught but it was clear they were. Samuel still had them to live for, and he would make sure they wouldn't become one of those things as long as he lived. As Zach patched Ian with the antibiotics, Samuel applies bandages and gauze to Jessie as well, giving her pills from the bottle of antibiotics.

Samuel stood up and grabbed Ian from the floor, holding him on his arm as he helped Jessie up with the other. He walked them both towards the room, room 121. Immediately Jessie began to walk backwards in fear and anger at the thought of going to the same room where they had been attacked. Samuel understood that, and he understood that she was angry at Zach, but Samuel for his part had gratitude with him. Despite it all he had shown that he cared about people, not for his own reasons but for pure altruism. That was hard to come by and with both Jessie and Ian hurt he didn't think himself capable of caring for the two unless he had someone watching his back.

"Hey, hey..." he said with a calm tone to the scared wife.

"We'll leave soon don't worry. But we need to stick together, it wasn't his fault. He tried to help. Nothing else will happen to you or Ian, I promise." Samuel then took her hand with gentleness and guided her back into the apartment room.

"Ok..." Jessie said with reluctance.

Samuel entered the room first, with Ian still in his arms, he pulled the M1911 from his holster and checked around the corners for any surprises. It was clear, that thing wouldn't come back and it was clear he had drove the infected away, at least for a while. Holstering the pistol and walking right past the now broken shotgun Samuel set Ian on the nearby couch, Jessie sat down with her son, grabbing him tightly and cleaning the tears around his eyes. The child then close his eyes and rest.

Samuel moved a nearby wooden light table to the window, covering it so that nothing else would jump in. He then moved the armchair to act as a weight against the door. He left his backpack next to Jessie right besides the couch.

"Wait here." He told Jessie, she nodded, keeping her son with her.

Samuel was careful when he looked around the rooms on the apartment looking for Zach. He found him in the main room, sitting down next to the bed motionless.

"Hey, we gotta go." Samuel said, still keeping an eye on his wife and child back at the main living room. Zach's lack of an answer only made Samuel annoyed.

"Hey I get it, you feel bad. But shit happens and I can't look after my family without help, lets go." Samuel pressured.

Again, no answer. Samuel finally kneeled down to find an unconscious Zachary. Samuel looked around the room, finding an empty water bottle next to Zach. He looked at his face, his lips looked dry and his breathing was erratic. He was likely dehydrated, Samuel also noticed the cut from the hound, the kid was also infected. Samuel rushed back to the living room, Jessie looking at him in confusion as he grabbed the bottle of antibiotics and a water bottle and went back to the bedroom.

"Hey, hey, stay with me buddy." Samuel said as he began shaking Zach, he was still somewhat conscious.

"Take this, and drink this. Come on." Samuel set the pill on Zach half opened mouth and setting the opened tap of the water bottle he pushed up so it would flow inside his mouth. Zach drank the whole thing quickly. Samuel didn't want to waste time here, he wanted to get him up as soon as he could and get out of this place quick while they could.

"Come on Zach, we gotta leave." Samuel said.

Code: Select all

Used Loot:
x1 Bandage
x1 Gauze
x1 Water bottle

[Cruxa]

Rowan Smith
Day 25
Veterans' Park

---

Rowan looked around the park hastily, hoping there was nothing in his area. He had had a close encounter a few days ago as he made his way out of the city proper, and he wasn't sure how safe it would be around here. He was even less sure about proceeding, as he was running out of food and he didn't know of any shops nearby. He was lost hopelessly and had no idea where to find a map. He knew he was close to the southern side of the park, and he'd have to drive his car if he wanted to keep it. He was faced with a decision: start the car and attract the infected, or stay quiet.

He decided to leave his car, at least for now. "Sorry, old friend," he whispered with a smile as he made a mental note of where the car was. He could only hope that he'd have a chance to return for it later. With that, he turned away and walked down the path to Plainfield Road. It seemed deserted, but he couldn't be sure. At the end of the street, he say a sign for a sporting goods store. His lucky day. He crept towards it stealthily and hoped he could get there and find a weapon of some sort.

[Huntpublic]

Samuel Griggs
Wolf Point West Apartment Building.

It had all happened so fast, so quick. The terror in Samuel's eyes as he saw his wife and child both in pain, in terror and uncertainty. He had failed to do the only thing he had set his mind on throughout this time. Now both Jessie and Ian were hurt, with Ian in pain and Jessie too. They both were infected too now. How knew what kind of infection they had caught but it was clear they were. Samuel still had them to live for, and he would make sure they wouldn't become one of those things as long as he lived. As Zach patched Ian with the antibiotics, Samuel applies bandages and gauze to Jessie as well, giving her pills from the bottle of antibiotics.

Samuel stood up and grabbed Ian from the floor, holding him on his arm as he helped Jessie up with the other. He walked them both towards the room, room 121. Immediately Jessie began to walk backwards in fear and anger at the thought of going to the same room where they had been attacked. Samuel understood that, and he understood that she was angry at Zach, but Samuel for his part had gratitude with him. Despite it all he had shown that he cared about people, not for his own reasons but for pure altruism. That was hard to come by and with both Jessie and Ian hurt he didn't think himself capable of caring for the two unless he had someone watching his back.

"Hey, hey..." he said with a calm tone to the scared wife.

"We'll leave soon don't worry. But we need to stick together, it wasn't his fault. He tried to help. Nothing else will happen to you or Ian, I promise." Samuel then took her hand with gentleness and guided her back into the apartment room.

"Ok..." Jessie said with reluctance.

Samuel entered the room first, with Ian still in his arms, he pulled the M1911 from his holster and checked around the corners for any surprises. It was clear, that thing wouldn't come back and it was clear he had drove the infected away, at least for a while. Holstering the pistol and walking right past the now broken shotgun Samuel set Ian on the nearby couch, Jessie sat down with her son, grabbing him tightly and cleaning the tears around his eyes. The child then close his eyes and rest.

Samuel moved a nearby wooden light table to the window, covering it so that nothing else would jump in. He then moved the armchair to act as a weight against the door. He left his backpack next to Jessie right besides the couch.

"Wait here." He told Jessie, she nodded, keeping her son with her.

Samuel was careful when he looked around the rooms on the apartment looking for Zach. He found him in the main room, sitting down next to the bed motionless.

"Hey, we gotta go." Samuel said, still keeping an eye on his wife and child back at the main living room. Zach's lack of an answer only made Samuel annoyed.

"Hey I get it, you feel bad. But shit happens and I can't look after my family without help, lets go." Samuel pressured.

Again, no answer. Samuel finally kneeled down to find an unconscious Zachary. Samuel looked around the room, finding an empty water bottle next to Zach. He looked at his face, his lips looked dry and his breathing was erratic. He was likely dehydrated, Samuel also noticed the cut from the hound, the kid was also infected. Samuel rushed back to the living room, Jessie looking at him in confusion as he grabbed the bottle of antibiotics and a water bottle and went back to the bedroom.

"Hey, hey, stay with me buddy." Samuel said as he began shaking Zach, he was still somewhat conscious.

"Take this, and drink this. Come on." Samuel set the pill on Zach half opened mouth and setting the opened tap of the water bottle he pushed up so it would flow inside his mouth. Zach drank the whole thing quickly. Samuel didn't want to waste time here, he wanted to get him up as soon as he could and get out of this place quick while they could.

"Come on Zach, we gotta leave." Samuel said.

Code: Select all

Used Loot:
x1 Bandage
x1 Gauze
x1 Water bottle

Zachary Cash
Echelon Chicago Hotel


Zachary opened his eyes slowly, suddenly feeling a small round object in his mouth and then water rushing down it. His head was pounding of a headache, but once he realized that it was Samuel who was giving him the water his relaxed a little, he'd drunk the entire bottle of water quickly. Sitting up and leaning against the bed he rested.

"Come on Zach, we gotta leave," said Samuel

Zach blinked a couple of times, "Oh-oh, yeah, sorry for passing out. Y'know being dehydrated is not fun," he gave a wry chuckle. For some reason, he had a feeling that things were going to be slightly better from now on. He thought that since fighting of that infected beast of a dog that was the climax of their life so far. And hopefully, God would make it easy on them from now on, or just for a little bit. Little did Zach know, God was far from making things easy on his life.

Zach stood up, holding on to Samuel as support, "Thanks man, you could have easily left me passed out here. Maybe food for that dog-thing," he patted Samuel's shoulder, "Alright let's go," They quickly exited the hotel, and try to leave the area that they were in. It was best to get out before the hound comes back to check on its prey.

"Samuel, where exactly are we going?" asks Zachary as they leave the Hounds territory.

[New Grestin]

DAY 25
Saturday, August 13, 2016 | The Truck | Exact Location Indeterminate

"Oh! and if anyone has something like this," she held her right arm into view, flexing her fingers and making a rather faded bite mark more evident, "Please let me know so I can make sure you're either immune or not a health risk."

Looking around nervously for a moment, trying to gauge the crowd. She was likely the dirtiest out of the group, still clad in a blood-stained EMT jacket. Her hair was frazzled, only barely held together in a bun. Thoughts of clipping it came to mind for a moment, but there were larger concerns for now. One man, in a suit for whatever reason, identified himself as McCormick. The driver chimed in from the front, mentioning something about health risks and gesturing with her hand. Carol didn't pay much attention to that, instead rising from her seat and poking her head against the window.

"Didn't get a chance to say thanks."

She glanced out towards the street. The truck passed what seemed like endless miles of urban decay, made perhaps even more decayed by the presence of the living dead. Carol let out a long sigh. Before Sarah could respond, she went on.

"Just so we're on the same page, I took a bite when this all started."

A gloved hand gestured to her shoulder, then to the mask.

"It's been more than a week, so if I was going to turn, I would have, but I'm keeping covered just in case."

Looking back at the others, Carol couldn't help but shake her head before turning her attentions back to Sarah.

"I take it you've got a plan besides just keeping on driving till' we run outta gas?"

[Walabam]

Lynn Mastubara
Day 25
The Truck
Chicago

Lynn eyed every individual that was in the truck with her. There was the driver, whom had introduced herself as Sarah Konig, a viral researcher at the CDC, accompanied by the sight of her bitten hand. There was the dog, Buddy. There was the man in the suit, McCormick, which she had been acquainted with earlier. Then, there was the rest; a little child, who seemed intimidated by the number of adults that were accompanying her, a woman who looked like a priest of some sort, another caucasian woman, and a man, who looked adequately mature. It was awkward for Lynn. She wasn't really an extrovert, but things had come to such a point where she need friends to rely on.

"Hello, I'm Lynn Matsubara. I am...or rather, was, a forensic pathologist with the Chicago PD. It's fate that brought us together, I guess. Nice meeting y'all." Lynn pulled both her sleeves up and continued, "I assure each and everyone of you that I have not been bitten, so please, don't shoot me or anything." Lynn let out an awkward laugh, trying to lighten the mood in the truck but had probably failed big time. She clasped her hands together, interlocking her fingers before rubbing her thumbs together aggressively, seemingly in anxiety.

Lynn rested her elbows on her thighs, looking down on the metal flooring on the truck's bed. Seconds later, she turned to look at the kid, who still seemed rather frightened. A metaphorical light bulb lit right next to Lynn's head as she looked towards the driver. Lynn reached into her sling bag and pulled out a facial mask. "Hey, uh, Sarah. I'm Lynn. Here," said Lynn as she offered the facial mask to Sarah, setting it on her shoulder to let her concentrate on driving. "No offence, but uh, it pays to be safe."

After offering the facial mask to Konig, Lynn turned towards the kid. Again, Lynn reached into her sling bag, but this time retrieving a mask that offered more protection, a half-mask with filters, together with a small bottle of hand sanitizer she had brought along. Lynn sprayed some of the hand sanitizer into the mask, letting the solution evaporate before offering the mask to the kid. "Now," uttered Lynn, "this mask will protect you, but it'll..." Lynn looked at the man sitting next to the kid. He was using sign language. Lynn understood what was going on and she turned back to look at the little girl. Lynn set the mask on her thighs. She held her left palm out and joined her right thumb and index finger together, before 'scribbling' on her palm, seemingly to ask for pen and paper.