Dead Frontier: Oubreak (IC) [Horror/Zombie/Survival MA15+] (open)

[Paladin Sheppard]

Supermarket

The dalmatian replied, "New orders are to protect as many civilians as we can find without compromising the perimeter, boss.  They're not acting wonky, and there's no sign of trouble.  Besides that, we've had a couple encounters with some loners, but really, whatever is going on, it's been pretty quiet in this part of town."

Steve led Salem and Ana into the building where he was welcomed with a, "Just had to go pickup your boyfriend on the way back, didn't'cha Stevey boy?"  The man was wearing a full facial balaclava, and he was leaning against a wall. 
Steve glared back and was about to respond when Salem approached the man first.  His voice was flat and icy as he said, "If you think this is all fun and fucking games corporal you should know that i've been working for SOCOM for the last 5 years of my life, my partner is a fleshy mound of puss and blood... so, ya, make your jokes all you want,  but remember, we're all under one roof, and right now, you're about to earn yourself a place on my shit list..."

Clearly taken aback, the man slunk down below some shelves before things could get hostile.  The other civilians had gone completely quiet in the wake of the felines could retort, and suddenly their collective gaze came to rest upon the rather average hare in their midst.


Outside, a man in full body armor did a quick check over Rebecca, doing a quick pat down, and seemingly looking for something.  Once he waved to a uniformed officer, he said a relaxed tone, "you're welcome to come in ma'am, water is running, and we've got enough supplies to last us quite some time... come on in, and i'll get you a cot and some basics ready."

"Right..." David took another look around the supermarket and its surrounds..his brain working out the tactics of a long siege, which he mentally added he was normally on the outside of. "Roy I want you and anyone not on duty to find out if we have any medically trained civvys, anyone with military service, people with firearms and any construction workers.
We need to turn this place into a hardcore fortress 'cause I don't think we'll be leaving for some time. There's a gun store down the block I want two teams of the Assaulters to take the SUV's and grab everything they can but the moment they see more than four of...shit lets just call em zombies they act just like something out a film anyway...they are to bug out pronto.
Get any  construction workers or volunteers to start barricading the doors and windows of the apartment block and set it up as a sleeping quarters.
See if you can get those back alley's blocked off too." Dave looked over at the corpse pile out front. "And see if there is enough metho or turps to burn those bodies...I gotta make a call to the higher ups"

After he was sure Roy had his instructions written down David climbed back up to the roof where he started the day and sat down in front of the PRC-201 secure radio that controlled the SWAT's radio headsets. Punching in the frequency for the Captain in charge of the SWAT unit he waited until his Superior was online.

"Sir I hate to say this but we're stuck here, I can use the SUV's to move at most 4 blocks but that's it. I'm putting a Code Citadel in place here. Also I doubt the Army will get their egghead back unless they want to sent an armored convoy in cause the powerlines here make it imposable for a heli pickup. What I need if you can get the NG or the Army to do it is a ammo drop with some more heavy weapons,  if possible some extra portable generators and fuel. And if they have a Sky-crane or Chinook available some more barricade materials."

"I guess that's all Stan, I'll see ya on the flip side. Oh! and try and not let them nuke the city while I'm here!"

[Azlan]

Folding his notebook closed and closing his laptop, Bryan rubbed his temples as he sat next to Chuck in his briefing room.  There had always been a bit of informality between the two of them, even though Chuck outranked him and was a number of years older than him.

The fox's ears drooped to the sides and he sighed as he looked up at his friend, "well that's about the whole of it.  I'm not sure if either of those options will work, but it is far better than fire-bombing all the wardens.  My research has gleaned quite a bit, but it still is not enough to be one hundred percent."

Taking a sip of the tea that had been brought earlier, he relaxed a bit, "I'll leave it to you to present it at the meeting, I can fill in the technical details as needed.  I really want to take care of this situation with as little violence and loss of life as possible.  So many have been lost already."  The tension returned and the fox growled a slight bit, "just who the hell ever authorized such a project Chuck?  Why would we even need such a horrible biological weapon?"

[Cogidubnus]

John thought. The national guard seemed like a logical choice of people to find. He rubbed his chin, and realized that he hadn't shaved in a few days.
"Unless any of you have a pressing appointment, I'd say we take the long way around." he said. "There's no point in trying to force our way through a mess of these...things, unless we have to. It's asking for trouble."

He looked at Oscar. "And what's this guy's problem, then? He's a nutjob, or what?"

[Ghostwish]

"Looks like bloody swine flu scare all over again." Charlie muttered as he pulled into his designated parking spot. There was a small sign proclaiming such:

Dr. Charley Mask
- Brain Surgery -

"What?" Charlie barked, "I may major in microbiology, but it was either take up a second trade or spend my entire career in research, probably putting make-up on monkeys or some crap like that." He said as he reached into the backseat of the truck, pulling forward a large white medical coat which he started to don. "And that's just plain boring. I wanted to do something interesting with medicine, not be some number farting pencil pusher.." He said as he promptly hopped out of the truck. "Assholes misspelled my name anyway.." He muttered, marching up to the main entrance.

It might have been the fact he was a doctor that kept him from having any trouble getting inside, but it was more likely the fact that he had slung his pump-action over his coat that cleared the crowd. Once inside, he headed straight up to the main desk, and immediately demanded to know what the heck was going on.

[Kafzeil]

"This guy tried to kill me. Killed my boss and god knows how many other people."Ocsra muttered, keeping an eye trained on the lunatic.

"We should dcefintly get the hell out of here..."Oscar muttered. National Guard was an exccelent idea. Guys with guns. The question was which route...

"I suggest we take the long way.  I have noi clue what's going on, butyou don't need a PhD to know we're up shit creek without a paddle. The of those...whatever the Hell they are, the btter."

[lucas marcone]

Ian was munching away on his sandwich,  playing Left 4 Dead while minding the register at Atomic comixwhen it all started. A skinny rabbit entered the store in a very jerky motion, being that the store was in a mall and the cage was up Ian didn't notice a bit, atleast untill it started grunting.

"Can I help you?" He asked.
"UUUUNGH" Was her only answer.
"Uh you introuble miss?"
"SSSSSAHHH" Again was her only responce, and she was making her way straight for him. Ian grabbed a replica of Gimli's axe from the weapons rack behind the counter.

"Listen lady, you're creepin me out, so back up NOW!" He yelled, but she pressed on. Ian had heard about the rioters and their symptoms so he was already paranoid of the "zombie uprising", but he wasnt prepared for this. She lurched forward with a mind numbing skriek and Ian swung the axe with all his might.

[Lisky]

Big Box Mart

Nikki watched the reactions of the chemist and ocelot closely, noting the way the ocelot seemed more focused on her then anything else.  She gave a nod and a smiled crept over her lips as she stood up with her bag and sword, "well boys, looks like we've got a plan..."

she paused as she gave each a coy grin, "so, who's going to take the lead... or, do you really think this is the appropriate time for 'ladies first'?"  She stuck the tip of her tongue out to add to the facetious nature of the comment.

********************
Hospital

At the main entrance the NG troops completely missed Charlie, Saleen, and the shotgun strung across his shoulder.  At the main desk, while being checked in by the receptionist, a pair of troops approached, one had a sidearm drawn and hanging loosely at his side.  The speckles of blood that had gotten on Charlie's coat from earlier shown a deep brownish red.  The man with the sidearm side in a polite tone, "Uh, doctor, if you'd surrender your weapon for a moment and come with me... please"

Saleen watched tensely as the men approached, saying, "but he wasn't bitten, he's fine... we're both fine"

Her words fell on deaf ears as the men's focus was on Charlie.

********************
Atomic Comix

The axe swing landed straight and true, burying itself in the skull of the unfortunate rabbit lady.  As he tried to take the upswing, Ian suddenly found himself weaponless as the axe was buried it skull, and caught on shattered bone.  Over a poster, hung up in the window, he could clearly see several more figures ambling along in the jerky, uncoordinated manner the rabbit had displayed moments before.

********************
Chuck's Office

Chuck sighed heavily at Bryan's last question, it was difficult enough dealing with everything that was going on, he couldn't afford to loose the trust of one of his most trusted confidants.  His face steeled and became an emotional mask, something Bryan had never actually witness the man do when they were in private.

Chuck's eyes gave away that it was rather unpleasant what he was about to share, then he started in a flat and level voice, "The actual history of the virus dates back to late 70's in the USSR, Siberia to be precise.  We thought the Russians were working on some type of anthrax or smallpox factory.  Horrible stuff, to be sure, but nothing could have prepared us for what a SR-71 flight managed to catch on their ultra-high res camera.  There's a handful of pictures that are locked away in some non-descript folder, buried in the beaurocracy of the military.  They show the last stand of the soldiers stationed in that lab."

He took a deep breath as he continued, "it took 10 hours to get a SEAL team in the air, 8 men were sent to this fake town to recover a body to find out what had actually happened.  When they got there, they were assaulted by unimaginable horrors.  Those infected were immune to pain, they had no fear, and no memory of who they were.  There were 500 or so people at that base, of them around 450 were turned, the rest were dead. The SEALs thought they'd made it, one of their guys had been bitten, but were otherwise unharmed.  Thank god for quarantine regs on a mission like this, otherwise we might have seen a similar outbreak to what was shown on those photos.  They ended up having to kill the rest of the team when everyone was exposed to the virus."

"In other words, we discovered the virus by accident, and what happened here was a horrible failure of an attempt to render the initial virus harmless so we could begin producing a vaccine.  We hired some outside help... and i'm not 100% sure what happened... but, it got out.  Someone made a mistake.  A big fucking mistake."

********************
Market

Rebecca was given the tour, introduced to the various members of the team, and was about to get situated when another SWAT officer approached, He asked "looks like we're not getting out of here any time soon, if you have any skills in the medical field, military or police training, or are a skilled welder, would you please come here.  Those things out there may find us eventually, and we need to turn this place into a fortress before they do."

On the roof, David got an immediate reply, "We'll skyhook some supplies, there might be a few extra goodies besides bullets and bread, keep a lookout in 20, i repeat two zero, minutes... Base command, over and out."

Outside, near the rear the compound, the 8 man team could be seen suiting up to make their 3 block journey to see about getting additional firepower.  They gave updates on their approach, giving location and constantly affirming "all clear"

The front of the store was still intact, good sign, the rifles were still in their cases, even better.  The team moved 2 by 2 as they clearly store, they posted 2 men outside to guard the exit while the other 6.  Up above the infected chameleon slowly made it's way down the wall, it's skin-tone matching the wall perfectly.  The long tongue licked it's scaly lips as it inched ever so slowly towards the pair of guards outside.  It's grip suddenly faltered as a pad caught a loose brick in the facade of the brown building.  It lunged with all it's effort towards the pair, Teeth sinking deep into the shoulder of the first man.  The second whip around in time to get a pair of horns in the groin.  The lizard lunged forward, ripping the horns out with an animal ferocity while sinking teeth deep into the man's calf.  A sudden cry of agony wailed over the radio, as Johnson, the officer bitten on the shoulder, called out "MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN..."

The late 20's officer drew his sidearm while the beast was busy with the other man.  He fired and kept shooting, after the 6th or 7th shot it stopped moving, Johnson continued to fire.  Warick, the other officer, and a jack-rabbit, was KIA, having bled out when the horns pierced and ripped through several major arteries.

The men inside came out to find Johnson almost fine, a little disoriented, shivering slightly, and whispering, "What the fuck was that thing..." over and over.

Two men loaded Johnson and the body of Warick into the into the back, while the others finished their last load of ammunition and firearms.  They managed to collect a pair of semi-auto G3s but with scopes already attached, a half dozen M16s, and 18 assorted pump action shotguns.  As they prepped to move, Corporal Sloan clicked his Comm, "Slaon here boss, we just got jumped by a crazy fuckin' thing, we got a man down and a KIA here... we're packed, loaded and on our way back... Recommend double checking the rooftops and walls of all buildings, this thing blended in perfectly."

[Ghostwish]

Charlie had just started to look over a report about how many infected were coming in, a number which he would probably not like much at all, when the soldier asked for his weapon. He barely even looked over his shoulder, just enough to note the rank of the NG. Seeing him to only be a PFC, he snorted lightly. He knew a messenger when he saw one.

"So how much brass does he have?" Charlie asked, nonchalantly..

From Basilisk: "Major Grant's orders, anyone with blood spatter is to be disarmed and quarantined immediately... Orders are orders."

"Don't we know it." Charlie replied in the same tone, setting the clipboard down on the front desk. "But tell me something, soldier, when it comes to medical situations, who has the priority on orders? Is the lazy ass brass, or the actual doctors? Answer that one for me. C'mon now, they should've taught you this in basic!"

From Basilisk: PFC Jason Vierez pulls the cocking handle on his M16A2 and holds the weapon by the pistol grip.  "Orders are orders, i don't give a rats ass what you think you're doing, you're getting screened right now"

Charlie gave the PFC a long, hard and cold stare, before he just snorted. "Son, you have less then three seconds to put that weapon back on safe before you skip straight from the emergency room to the morgue. And after that, you're going to march your happy ass out of MY hospital, and you're going to find this Major Grant, and if he's not in here talking to me in less than 10 minutes, crazed diseased rioters are going to be the LEAST of your worries." He said in a voice that was as cold a steel blade in a siberian snowstorm..

"Now get the hell out of my sight. I have to figure out what in hell has these people acting like this.." He said, and promptly ignored the soldier as he headed off to his office with the reports. He only paused to tell one of the other doctors to keep him posted on the developments.

[Boog]

Anastasia looked around the civilians assembled in the supermarket with mild curiousity. Eyes checking for bitemarks, judging the effects of the virus on the city. Trying to pick out who was worth being on the good side of, and who was expendable. The man in the balaclava was clearly neither an officer nor a specialist, he could be dismissed. The civilians... Tired, scared, and none of them looked like the political types. It seemed prudent to keep who she was on the down low.
... Social situations. Eugh. She wasn't good at those.
"Um... Hey..." She tried focusing on people's faces, rather than just getting what information she could from their attire and condition, and tore her attention away from musings on the anteater creature she'd seen earlier. Practical mutations, but worth noting that they're all intended for immediate combat. Wonder why that-? Nng. Right. People...

[Azlan]

Bryan's face showed no signs of emotion as his chin rested on his hands.  The fox was considering what he had been told carefully.  If it were himself in charge of the bodies and virus then he most certainly would have been developing a cure.  SOPs for this type of thing would have generated a fair amount of the virus for study, the bodies autopsied via those old clunky envirosuits and then disposed of through total incineration.  That would have been thirty years ago.  The amount of viral mass retained, that should have been retained, could not mathematically escalate to this level so quickly even at the most virulent calculations of infection and transmission.

"This was not just some lab tech spilling a petri dish or poking himself with a needle and not telling anyone.  This was a release of a significant amount of the virus, concentrated far beyond the level necessary for a study to develop vaccines or to neutralize it."  Bryan's eyes shifted to his hands, "you see Chuck, in its standard form the virus is transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of the infected... such as touching the blood or saliva entering a wound.  A large amount of people would need to be infected at once.  That is how I deduced it was a concentrated form, because then it would be sufficient to become airborne.  This state would not last longer than a few moments, but long enough to spread to a high density of people where it will incubate to its normal levels and spread from the infected in the predictable models."

He lowered his hands and stared Chuck straight in the eyes, "someone authorized this to be developed as a bio-weapon.  Which means we have people working with separate agendas, pulling different strings on us.  I want to know what you are planning to do about the facility this was made at and the strains they are developing there?  How do we know they aren't loading the stuff up right now to transfer it to some other facility say in Chicago, or even the middle of nowhere next to some small town in Montana?  I am the Deputy Director of National Center for Infectious Diseases in this region and I did not even know about a bio-manufacturing facility in Ithica, which means the authorization either came from Beth, the Director of NCID, or someone else higher."

[Sprocketsdance]

Rebecca tried to commit the layout of the place to memory. Man.. this cannot be happening.. When the other SWAT officer approached her with the question she couldn't help but think to herself: Uhh... do you SEE the scrubs?? but decided to be polite since she was protected here.

"I have medical training.. and I'm sure I can train some others too if we need it - a lot of it is just common sense." She followed the officer to wherever he decided to lead her.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Market

Rebecca was given the tour, introduced to the various members of the team, and was about to get situated when another SWAT officer approached, He asked "looks like we're not getting out of here any time soon, if you have any skills in the medical field, military or police training, or are a skilled welder, would you please come here.  Those things out there may find us eventually, and we need to turn this place into a fortress before they do."

On the roof, David got an immediate reply, "We'll skycrane some supplies, there might be a few extra goodies besides bullets and bread, keep a lookout in 20, i repeat two zero, minutes... Base command, over and out."

Outside, near the rear the compound, the 8 man team could be seen suiting up to make their 3 block journey to see about getting additional firepower.  They gave updates on their approach, giving location and constantly affirming "all clear"

The front of the store was still intact, good sign, the rifles were still in their cases, even better.  The team moved 2 by 2 as they clearly store, they posted 2 men outside to guard the exit while the other 6.  Up above the infected chameleon slowly made it's way down the wall, it's skin-tone matching the wall perfectly.  The long tongue licked it's scaly lips as it inched ever so slowly towards the pair of guards outside.  It's grip suddenly faltered as a pad caught a loose brick in the facade of the brown building.  It lunged with all it's effort towards the pair, Teeth sinking deep into the shoulder of the first man.  The second whip around in time to get a pair of horns in the groin.  The lizard lunged forward, ripping the horns out with an animal ferocity while sinking teeth deep into the man's calf.  A sudden cry of agony wailed over the radio, as Johnson, the officer bitten on the shoulder, called out "MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN..."

The late 20's officer drew his sidearm while the beast was busy with the other man.  He fired and kept shooting, after the 6th or 7th shot it stopped moving, Johnson continued to fire.  Warick, the other officer, and a jack-rabbit, was KIA, having bled out when the horns pierced and ripped through several major arteries.

The men inside came out to find Johnson almost fine, a little disoriented, shivering slightly, and whispering, "What the fuck was that thing..." over and over.

Two men loaded Johnson and the body of Warick into the into the back, while the others finished their last load of ammunition and firearms.  They managed to collect a pair of semi-auto G3s but with scopes already attached, a half dozen M16s, and 18 assorted pump action shotguns.  As they prepped to move, Corporal Sloan clicked his Comm, "Sloan here boss, we just got jumped by a crazy fuckin' thing, we got a man down and a KIA here... we're packed, loaded and on our way back... Recommend double checking the rooftops and walls of all buildings, this thing blended in perfectly."

Grateful he wasn't holding anything in his hands that he would have thrown, David swore after making sure his throat mic wouldn't pick it up. This was the last thing he needed, their little fort here needed all the trained troops they could get if they were going to survive.

"Copy Sloan, Get back as soon as you can and don't slow down for anything. Blue One Six out." Switching the radio over to one Roy shared with him, he asked him to be down at the gate when the SUV's got back. Then changed his mind and told Roy not to bother, he would go himself. Something in Sloan's voice worried him.

Picking up his rifle he climbed back down to the parking lot after calling the sentrys to watch the top and sides of the surrounding buildings.

[Lisky]

Chuck's Office

The man nodded at Bryan's comment, and replied, "your assessment is quite correct, one of the head scientists working on the project, Carlos Mendoza, released a highly concentrated vial of the stuff at  Grand Central Station, from there it's been spreading like wildfire... not sure why we weren't called in, in the first 24 hours,  but, we got here ASAP, and i'm sorry things have gotten this crazy."

Pausing to glance over the reports, Chuck gave another nod of approval.  Suddenly twitching as he realized he'd missed something, he added quickly, "The lab itself is getting hit with a triple dose of napalm, we have the Abraham Lincoln 2 hours flight time away and closing, the F-18's  are fueled and launching momentarily.  If nothing else, if the orders get countermanded, we'll know who's working against us."

A ring of the telephone interrupted what Chuck was about to say, placing the phone to his ear, he heard a brief rundown of something that Bryan couldn't quite make-out, suddenly, the man in front of him got up and said, "looks like they're ready for us.  You should know..." pointing to the pictures on the map, "we're seeing some short term mutations we've never seen before.  Seems non-mammals can have a reaction well beyond anything we could have predicted... If you're going with this convoy, watch yourself, alright?...  I'll catch you at the meeting."

As if on cue, a pair of staff secretaries arrived at the door and escorted chuck, after an informal salute, down a hallway.  In the same party, a young officer, tiger, came and waited to escort Bryan and his little entourage to their assigned seats. As he saluted, he said, "Lieutenant Knighthaven is already inside, if you'll follow me, sir."

********************
Hospital

Rather than leaving, the PFC clicked his mic, and whispered something inaudible to Charlie, the rifle still pointed and grip and trigger still in hand.  He said, "Major is on his way, stay right where you are, and don't try anything."

As if to reinforce the point, Charlie could hear the sound of large charging handle being pulled, the Ex-army ranger, and national guardsman, Sargent Heinrich Viesigar stepped behind Charlie, the AA-12 was loaded with a full drum and hooked to a 3 point harness.  The man had a boyish look to him, and given his build, facial features, and light, feathery, blond, hair, he looked to be more male model, than soldier.  He hissed in the raccoon's ear, "Please, do something stupid, ya fuckin' rat..."

The man was cutoff as a slightly overweight fox slid out the elevator in full dress uniform, pins, medals and awards were displayed with pride across the canine's broad-ish chest.  He opened his mouth to make a snide comment when he was cut off at the sound of automatic weapons fire.  Through the glass door, and the crowds of people, Charlie could see the top of something large and beige, a flash of something darker brown, and suddenly a crimson plume.

The sound of assault weapons grew louder, as  the two guards just out the glass windows began firing as fast as the could burst their weapons to the left of the glass door.  Another flash of brown as a massive, scythe-blade-like object curved between the window and the man.  He screamed as a second blade came from seemingly nowhere, cleaving the man in about and silencing his screams.  The man to the right of the window kept firing and backed into a pillar.

The massive, razor sharp, claw seemed to go for miles as it's owner plodded along.  Suddenly, the edge of it's face appeared, then the chitinous shell.  It's cold, black eyes focused on the man in front of the door, pinned between the beast and a pillar.  The small pincers around the beast's toothed maw snipped and wavered in eager anticipation.  The flat shell ended in two, massive, shelled legs, which held the monstrous crustacean upright.  Suddenly, it's claw swiped again, this time, shoving the man into the waiting pincers by the mouth.  They eagerly ripped the man apart.

Suddenly, Major Grant unholstered his rather pathetic 9mm handgun and began unloading on the beast.  The rounds punched through the safety glass, but had no discernible effect.  The crab turned slowly as it's body reacted to the strange sensation of getting shot.  It's massive right claw shattered the double doors as broken glass and metal sprayed inward with the beasts awkward turn.  Viesigar bolted towards the inner hospital, shotgun in hand.  PFC Vierez stood in front of his CO unloading his magazine into the creature's torso.  Small dents could be seen where the rounds impacted the armor-like shell of the crab.  Without a hint of motion, it's claw reached out again, and, seemed to gently pinch the PFC across the shoulder, that is, until he almost split in half with a near surgical precision cut, clean through flesh, bone and blood.  Grabbing a section of the dying man in it's smaller claw, the crab moved onward making it's way towards Charlie and Major Grant.  Bits of flesh, cloth and blood, dribbling from the quivering maw.  It was ready for it's next victim.

********************
Market

Standing by Ana's side, in full tactical gear, Salem stood as the ever vigilant bodyguard, as much as she might try to blend in, the very fact that the feline refused to leave her side gave away that she was someone special.  Not that it mattered, everyone else seemed far to intent doing their own things.  The only motion that caught Ana's eye were a couple of people entering the men's room.  Everyone else was quietly huddled around trying to either take in what was going on, or try and help.

***

Suddenly the officer facing Rebecca clicked his comm as the message came in.  He looked at her, noted the scrubs, and said, "we've got a man who's wounded, looks like he'll need some help, shoulder and neck wound...  follow me."

He waited for Rebecca, guiding her towards the entrance ramp, where David and his team were waiting.  The SUV pulled in, and the team piled out, carrying Johnson out first, and setting him on stretcher the scout team's medic had in his pack.  Warick's body was placed in a black bag, and laid ceremoniously down in a corner for the time being.  Anyone not helping with the wounded officer carried loads of weapons and ammunition into the central area of the store.  The stockpile was neatly organized onto emptied shelves.  Once everything was in place, everyone seemed to circle around the wounded, wondering just what the hell had happened.

[Ghostwish]

Charlie had been given the punk special forces a mean look, like he was about to pull something... when the most screwed up creature one can ever meet in a zombie apocalypse came crashing in through the front of the hospital.. a mutated CRAB.

"Major, you flippin' idiot, that thing is a tank! RUN!" He bellowed, pulling out his magnum and tossing it to Saleen. "Make for the back of the hospital, there's an exit that way!" Charlie bellowed, bolting to the front desk, where he ordered everyone out of the hospital, ASAP!

After that, he took off after the SF blowhard. "Coward!! The only one here with any weapon that could scratch that thing!! And you're going the wrong damn way for the exit!" He bellowed, before turning back to Saleen. "My truck. I've got some explosives. And armor rounds! We need to circle around.." He said, leading the way through the hallways..

[Tipod]

Even as he rolled to the tee-off range and clubhouse, Joe could scarcely process what had just happened a scant few minutes ago. Shooting, shouting, a truck nearly flattening his pansy-mobile golf cart, and not a single security detail responding. And technical child-killing on his part, even if they were zombified. "We're getting out of here," Joe muttered as his shoes touched grass, "and you're going to write me a check for half the lesson when this is over." Assuming the CEO even had the presence of mind to head for the hills instead of crying like a baby and waiting for the beasts to choke on his lovehandles. Robert, anybody, please still be alive... fastest way to my car is through the lobby, just hope these monsters only got in through the fencing. He grabbed another club from the cart, all eyes looking through the windows and all around the range for more shambling figures.

[lucas marcone]

"Damn! Rule 1: Small surface weapons! Zombie Survival guide: 1 Ian:0." Ian headed for the back room. He found his baseball bat and catchers mitt.
"Thank the maker that i was gonna go play soft ball last week. He tossed the glove aside and dashed out of the store, but not with out the latest editions of his favorite comics.

[Sprocketsdance]

Rebecca stopped for a moment when she saw the body bag, but shook her head and focused on the wounded officer laying on the stretcher. It wasn't the first time she saw one of those, and it was obvious it wouldn't be her last. As she went to ask for medical supplies someone already had an open box beside her.

"Thanks.."

She put her bag down and got to work quickly, worried about how much blood he had already lost. Man did this look nasty; she was thankful to be wearing gloves as she cleaned the wounds and carefully stitched his skin back together.   

With a sigh she asked "What's your name? What happened out there?"

[Lisky]

Atomic Comix

The pair outside seemed distracted by something, and turned the other way as Ian bolted.  They headed into another nondescript store, and much shouting and screaming could be heard from the inside.  From his current position, Ian could see a sporting goods store, a car, just outside with it's door left wide open, or a litany of other stores with which he could hide out for a bit to plan his next move.  The contents ranged from women's underwear, to jewelry to a Chinese import store.

********************
Golf Course

The other shambling figures had settled into rough circles around the areas where the golfers had originally been attacked.  The hand movements suggested they were picking at something.  The lobby of the club-house was barren, papers, ripped cloth, broken pieces of furniture could be seen everywhere.  A long, streaky mark, about as wide as Joe's forearm was long, led towards the women's bathroom.  Further on, several cars were smashed together, however, he could clearly see his was untouched and the only sign of life around it was the chirping crickets hiding in the club's gardens.  The exec. fumbled with his wallet as Joe mentioned pay, he screamed, "here, take it all" as he threw the fine leather, loaded with cash and cards at Joe. The man sprinted towards his BMW, keys in hand as he planned to go somewhere, anywhere safe.

********************
Hospital

In the lobby, Major Grant continued to unload round after round into various section of the lumbering, shelled behemoth.  The rounds did nothing, they hit chitinous shell, flattened, and fell harmlessly off.  Well, they did have 1 dicernable effect, they clearly annoyed the raging crustacean.

The major suddenly tripped over a chair, and the crab's massive foot came slamming down on his leg with a sickening, wet tearing sound.  The fox screamed for a second as he was starting to realize he was quite dead.  the small claw gripped him around the under-arm and around the back of the neck as the dribbling maw quivered with excitement.  Flesh was ripped from bone as the fox went face first into the flashing limbs surrounding the beasts maw.

Saleen needed no prodding, and, with gun in hand, took off down the hallway towards the secondary exit.

At the accusation of being a coward Heinrich shouted back, "Are you fuckin' CRAZY, i'm loaded for crowd control. asshole!"  It was at that very moment, as he finished his curse that Heinrich made a sudden realization as he passed a series of abandon lab tables.  He didn't need to outrun the monster. He just had to be faster than anyone else.  a vicious grin grew across the man's face as he suddenly whipped around with sidearm in hand, and fired a hasty shot at Charlie's leg.  Heinrich then dove around a corner before Charlie could respond in kind, making his way down the hallways of the ICU.

Charlie could feel the hot lead as it's gentlest of caress tore fur from flesh, and the distinct smell of burt fur filled his lung.  He came out lucky as Saleen was at his other side. Especially fortuitous in case he stumbled.  The sound of clattering claws could be seen as the ceramic tiles were shattered as the crab entered the hallway.  The lights flickered as the enormous claw managed to catch some of the lower-voltage electric lines.  It plodded along, it's pitch-black eyes dead-set focused on charlie.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Johnson who was still a little stunned from losing his teammate of 5 years on SWAT, reached up and stopped Rebecca from dressing the wound. "Ma'am there's no real point..." He stopped as he saw David standing nearby talking to Sloan with a very pained look on his face. Standing up the wounded officer walked over to his team leader and Dave, stopping short he searched for the words he knew neither would like and not want to accept.

David saved him by reaching out and patting him on his un-injured shoulder "I know Mike...Hell I know you're Catholic which makes it even harder, I wish we head a priest here for you to talk to. I have one of the phones cleared if you want to talk to your wife." He trailed off as Johnson smiled.

"Its ok boss I knew SWAT was dangerous when I signed up, I just didn't expect a zombie plague to be what did me in! Tell you what, there was a rifle back at the store we didn't grab if you'll let me I'll try and get it and bring it back. This thing will give me 12 hours right? Well I need to make myself useful in that time, and I know if you let me out I can't come back in its just not a risk you can take..."

David and Sloan looked at each other then back at Mike.

Letting out a sigh David nodded. "Ok I sure as hell don't like the idea of sending you out alone but if you feel you gotta do something to make it worth it.."

[Azlan]

Bryan returned the salute and followed the young tiger down the hall with Winters following.  As he walked, he considered the words Chuck had spoke and sincerely hoped no one would be countermanding the strike order.

What worried him more than anything else he had considered were these mutations that were mentioned.  He had not had a chance to study anything like them and that was a bit of a wildcard in the possible plans.  He did seem to notice odd readings among those non-mammalian samples he had received, but at the time he did not know if they were contaminated.

The fox reached his seat and Knighthaven was indeed already in his spot.  A brief nod to those around him and he took his seat with Major Winters.

[Sprocketsdance]

Rebecca frowned as the officer just got up and walked away "...the hell?" she muttered under her breath. Usually she was in a much better mood, but her pre-nursing school instincts kicked in so she quickly strode back to the officer's side with dressings in hand. At least she was able to catch his name this time.

"Mike, I may not know exactly what the hell is going on.. but you won't be any good to anyone for very long if you're bleeding all over the place. Now hold still this will only take a minute."

Given that he was feeling a bit rushed she passed up stitching and just attempted to dress the wound with triple antibiotic salve (with painkillers), gauze, and wrappings - working them underneath his clothes if he'd let her.

[lucas marcone]

Ian headed west through the side entrence of the mall. he made a mad dash for his car, and upon arrival whipped his keys out and wrestled with the clunkers lock f0r a moment.

[Ghostwish]

Charlie's eyes flew wide as his teeth set in pain when the round grazed his leg. He stumbled for the briefest of moments (thankfully caught by Saleen), and let out out a bellowing curse that had surprisingly volume from the angry raccoon. "You sorry son of a b-! You had better crawl under a rock and die for what I'm going to do to you!"

But the crunch of tile reached his ears, and he knew exactly what it meant. Giant crab. In the ICU. Time to run! He quickly got back to his footing with the help of Saleen, and sprinted off towards the exit, this time with his pump action unholstered and readied.


So Heinrich. Giant crab or maniacal raccoon?

[Tipod]

"...thanks." Yeah, thanks for the money, sucker. Joe flipped open the wallet's fold, eyebrows raising at the fat loot inside. Rich people sure get generous when they panic. Might just have to take the whole family out for sirloin and filet mignon when this is over. But first things first: getting his ass to the parking lot. At least there weren't masses of deadites hanging around the lobby.

But that huge streak leading to the bathroom... Yeah, right. Open the door and get a biiiigg surprise. Joe kept his butt walking straight on through, eyes flitting to every corner and crevice, expecting zombified toads or wasps to rush out and swarm him. All too soon, he was in the lot and zeroed in straight for his yellow Ford Escape, checking in through the windows and underneath before hopping in and starting the ignition; no ugly surprises for him as he revved up and peeled out into the street.

[Lisky]

Golf Club

Joe's drive through the Financial district was odd... quite, and the total lack of people on a major road was certainly off... however, he was headed for home.  As he reached the bridge, he was stuck in a line of cars.  Soldiers wearing Urban style camouflage, holding assault rifles were stopping each car.  As time seemed to creep by at a glacial pace, a pair of soldiers each walked around Joe's car, looking through windows, and checking for other occupants.  One knocked on his window, a canine, mixed breed of retriever and lab by the look of him, signaled for Joe to roll down his window.

When the man complied, the soldier started asking a few quick questions, "You're officially entering a green zone, have you seen or experienced anything unusual today sir? aside from this road block that is... Have you been bitten, or come into contact with any individuals today who seemed... well, rabid?  If so... did they bite you?" The canine gave him a stern look, and stared him in the eyes, waiting for a reply.

********************
Mall Parking Lot

Ian could hear skittering coming from somewhere behind him, somewhere in the parking lot.  The noise sounded like claws clacking across the concrete, probably some type of canine.  The noise made his fumbling worse, but, after a few seconds of fumbling, he managed to get his car unlocked, started, and moving.  As  he cleared his spot and headed for the street, he could see that he was being followed by a gray wolf.  It looked rather vicious with it's upper lip curled back, almost like a sneer, and fresh blood stained eerily white teeth.  While checking his rear-view mirror one last time, the wolf had stopped, but Ian could see it's head tracking him.

Ian pulled out into the streets, the roads seemed clear, and it was decision time... where to go now?

********************
Market

Mike looked mildly annoyed as he was bandaged up... he wasn't about to complain, given that he could die from blood loss if the situation wasn't taken care of immediately.  As soon as the bandages were secured however, he grabbed his assault rifle and headed off to meet up with the team for a farewell to them, his wife, and then try and do something useful with his remaining time.

Stopping at David he said, "If you could gather the boys, i'd like to give them a goodbye too."  Walking just out of earshot, one could hear that words were being said, but could not actually make out the contents of the conversation...

Idly observing the on-goings of those around here, Ana would notice that the pair of gentleman who'd gone into the bathroom were taking a rather long time...

********************
Meeting/Auditorium

The lights dimmed, as the remaining officers were seated, the setup had the chairs facing the front, and a projector was displaying a map of Ithica.  Small patches of red could be seen, except the Docks and Warehouse district, which was a shining crimson glob amongst a sea of black, white, and green spaces.  Red indicated known locations of infected collectives.  To Bryan, it would seem a ray of hope that the concentrations were so few except the docks... that area may be a total write-off, but the rest of the city seemed quite savable.

Chuck took the stage, apparently his staff people had been working furiously to edit the prepared information that Bryan had passed off.  The screen suddenly changed as arrows suddenly overlayed the map to indicate troop movements.  As each island was secured, it would go from white, to green.  Chuck explained, "Alright people, you've all been briefed on what we've got going on here... it's bad, it's nasty, and things are getting worse.  My staff, with special assistance from Bryan McKensie have come up with a workable plan.  The infected, to be quite blunt, are stupid and animalistic... there is no cure, and although we're working on a vaccine, there really isn't much we can do besides eradicate those already infected." "That being said, loud noises attract them, they're no harder to kill than an average person... therefore, it is the general consensus of my staff, and myself, that an armored convoy with infantry support clearing out these nests, while isolating the Warehouse district would be the ideal way to handle this.  Acting quickly, we should minimize collateral damage, while having a guaranteed neutralization of the threat."

Pausing for a moment while the map changed yet again, into a short animated clip of the plan of action.  "I'm passing a file out to each of you, contained within are your orders of action.  If you have any complaints, you can direct them to my office... I want to keep this short and to the point, and quash this thing before it gets any worse... That is all Ladies and Gentleman, please proceed to your units, and prepare to execute the Op... You are dismissed."

It wasn't so much a meeting as a briefing... a few mumbles of discontent could be heard, but no one stopped Chuck or his entourage as they made their way back to Command and Control.

Bryan, Knighthaven and Major Winters are escorted to the motor pool where the pair of Black Hawks are no where to be seen.  Instead they find a pair of Strykers with Knighthaven's team circled around them. (side-note, inside your briefing is more scientific information than actual combat information, as that file has been handed off to Lt. Knighthaven)

********************
Hospital

Charlie and Saleen bolted past the hallway where Heinrich had turned, behind them they could hear the roar as the shotgun sprayed pellets into the tiled walls behind them.  They were heading for a safer exit, the one near the main entrance, rather than the labs or the ER.  A second burst of shells could be heard... then a scream.  Looking back for the briefest of moments, Charlie would see that the crab beast had decided to go after Heinrich.

Ahead of him, running towards the lab entrance, a pair of national guard troops holding M16's came barreling past, ignoring the raccoon and cat completely.  Outside, the civilians had scattered at the sight of running people, running from the crab, and, after the a quick walk around the long way, Charlie would find his truck relatively unharmed... the only sign of damage was a long scratch, at an rather familiar height.  Seems the crab passed this way a few moments ago and left it's mark. 

[lucas marcone]

Ian made a right, he was headed for the Bigby's Grocery outlet's distribution center.  It soon became clear however that from the noise of the engine and the state of disrepair it was in that he wouldn't make it far. So, in the middle of the intersection he shut down his car and took cover in the entrance of a near by building.

[Boog]

Anastasia's brows furrowed at the sound of gunfire, simply keeping to herself unless otherwise called for. She assumed that if she was needed they'd call for her...
... The sounds of combat went on though, getting more extreme. More soldiers were brought in wounded. Anastasia stayed where she was; the medics had a procedure and, if they were anything like her, the offers of help would just be considered a distraction from efficiency. What in particular caught her attention was a bitten man, part of David's unit, being sent back out...
Another concern were the men who still hadn't left the bathrooms. Any unattended or unaccounted for individuals were the most likely to turn into liabilities, and she was already picturing infected bursting through the bathroom windows and charging through the hall. She reached into her coat and activated one of the canisters she'd brought with her, smiling to herself as its contents crawled out and slipped out of her sleeve as she passed the bathroom on her way to David. Pulling out her PDA and looking at the live feed from her drone absentmindedly, like someone checking their text messages, she tapped David on the shoulder and indicated that he step aside a moment.
"Are you sure that's wise?" She asked quietly, glancing in the direction Mike had gone in. "That man could infect others when he goes. Is it really a good idea to send him off to do what he was doing? I know, I know," She raised her hands quickly, "He's one of you, and it's heartless and all that, but he could get people killed if everyone isn't COMPLETELY at ready when he turns. I'm just concerned about safety."

[Azlan]

Pretending for the moment to have not read the orders, which both Rebeka and Erik knew he did, the fox gestured to the Strykers, "Erik, I might be a non-line flag officer, but I do know that Blackhawks have rotors and fly... this has wheels, a turret, and drives.  I distinctly remember asking for helios."

Rebeka immediately gestured to the folder she held for Bryan, showing her business demeanor and completely missing the tone of his mirth, "sir, the orders state we will be accompanying the convoy to observe and collect data.  Especially on this new type."

The fox chuckled and shook his head, "yes major I know, I was just trying to keep in good spirits over this.  Let's get to it then."

Bryan and Rebeka both entered the lead Stryker and secured themselves as a corporal secured their gear.

[Ghostwish]

Charlie grinned at the SF's predicament.. "Enjoy karma, ya dip$^&#." He muttered as they made their way out the exit.

Upon finding his vehicle, Charlie seemed a little more than perturbed at the superficial damage to his vehicle. "My TRUCK!" He wailed, eyeballing the distinctive calling card of the giant crab. "How in hells am I gonna weld that closed!?" He grumbled, before finally heading around to the back, and opening the tool-box.. which turned out to be more ammo-box than anything.

"Blast it!" Charlie complained a moment later, turning to Saleen. "Best I've got is a single cylinder of slugs for the magnum, a handful for the shotty, or maybe a mag worth of armor rounds for one of their M6s! That ain't enough to take out a tank straight from the ocean of horrors!!" He said, and went back to digging in the box. "Well, there are these.." He said, withdrawing a pair of pipebombs.. "But I'll be damned if anyone wants to get THAT close to that crustacious freak.. But we can't just let it go rampaging about my hospital! What should we do??" He asked Saleen..

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Ma'am with all due respect, unless you can cure him or tell me he's not a threat to us. I suggest you shut the hell up!" Dave suddenly snapped at Ana, it seemed that the stress of the day had caught up with the normally rock solid SWAT member. His shoulders and head slumped for a moment before looking back up at her. "I'm sorry Ma'am you didn't deserve that."

"Look I'm not going to kill one of my own teammates out of hand just because you say this thing is 100% infectious, besides its his own choice."


...............................................................

Mike had wandered over to the managers office where several phones and a sat phone the team had brought as a backup to the radio. After Spending twenty minutes calming and reassuring his pregnant wife, he was glad that she was away in Miami with her folks.

Finally after they had said their goodbyes he went and spoke to the team members one by one, telling each to look after themselves, and if they saw him once he turned to make sure they didn't miss.