A long way home- episode 4

Sam felt it was strange watch the world slide into madness.  Whatever had caused this outbreak of zombies was quickly gaining a firm foothold in Rapid City, and not only Rapid City, but all the major cities in the US.  And many of the smaller ones too.....
Layla shook her head in disbelief at the news bulletin. "How can dead people get up and start moving again?"  She asked. "It makes no sense......"
Behind them, their lodger and friend, Penny, was cursing mightily at the mobile phone she held in her hand.  "Stupid, bloody thing!!!!!"  It rang again. "Hello? Leon"  
Leon, her boyfriend of the last 12 months spoke, his quiet voice betraying some of the concern he felt.  "Yes it's me....again.  Look this connection may drop out at any second, so listen.  Yes, there are zombies about but it all looks a bit quieter now.  A car crashed outside the apartment a while ago and the driver ran off screaming.  The zombies seemed to follow them.  I might wait an hour or so and try and walk over to your house."
"you'll do no such thing, you stupid bastard...."She almost screamed at him.  "These things are dangerous.  Have you not seen the news?  They are killing people,  lots of people."
Sam looked over at her.  As their eyes met, he could see the pleading in her gaze.  He Looked to his wife, then nodded at Penny.
"Look, you stay put.  You understand?  Stay put.  We have guns. We will come and get you."  The line went dead, the connection dropping out. " Goddamit!"
With a sigh, Sam stood and walked over to the collection of guns the girls had purchased yesterday.

For this game there were 1D6 zeds for each survivor and I included Leon for this.  As the zombie infection is spreading, noise generates zombies on a 5 or 6.

Leon Munroe
Leadership 3, shoot 4, melee 3, people 3, drive 2 (can't drive)
               attributes-  Slow (can't fast move due to long term knee injury)
               currently has no weapon
Here he is looking in the direction he expects Penny to come from.  He goes and sits quietly in his bedroom so as not to attract any unwanted attention.

The group of rescuers will arrive bottom left corner through the garden.  Leon's house is top right.

Pef's were in areas 1, 5 and 6 with reps 1,1 and 5 respectively.  7 of the starting 9 zombies were at the top of the board

The rescuer's starting position.  Sam is armed with a bap and his baton, his shotgun is slung over his shoulder.  Layla has 2 baps and Penny has a single bap.

The main group of zombies on the march in area 1.

The three moved into the garden as quietly as they could.  
"There's someone in the playground." Hissed Layla.  A figure could be seen stumbling erratically between the children's rides.
"Zombie!" confirms Sam as he raises his pistol. The other two were fractionally slower as the silence was punctuated by a blaze of fire. 

 Six shot rang out in quick succession. One found it's mark, dropping the monster in it's tracks.
"That was me!" declared Penny smugly.

"I hope that there's nothing around to hear the noise though." commented Layla darkly.

The zombies in the carpark started to move towards the noise, and so did the rep 5 pef.

The big group moved into the garden heading for the noise.

The noise generated 2 new zombies close to the group.

"So is Leon watching for us coming?"  Asked Layla.
"No idea!" Penny replied. "I think I told him to keep out of sight.  I have my set of keys so we can..."  As she spoke she patted her pocket. "Shit!  I must have left them on the table at home!"
"We will just have to knock then." said Layla comfortingly to her friend. "Hope he can hear us!"

rolled a double and got this.  couldn't really think of anything else that made any sense. :) 

distracted as they were, no one noticed the arrival of more zombies until it was almost too late!  With a hatred filled hiss, the two monstrosities staggered towards the trio.  Sam just managed to raise his gun, this time hitting cleanly with one of the shots.  The other barreled into Penny, mouth gaping as it tried to bite her.  It was all she could do to keep its teeth away from her hands and arms as it looked to bite her
Penny managed to fight her zombie to a draw.  Closer than I would have hoped!!

Convinced that his opponent wasn't going to rise again, Sam quickly swiped the other zombie with his nightstick.  With a crunch it fell lifeless to the floor.
"Thanks Sam." Penny looked down at her fallen foe."We need something better to fight them off with"

Although no new zombies generated, the other zombies still head towards the noise. I house ruled the effects of the chain fence.  Pass 2d cross- no effect, pass 1d -wait confused, pass0d - fall over the fence!
I am considering reversing the last two as at least the zed gets across if he passes 1d then.

Zombies march towards the garden hedge.

Another random event - a house catches fire.  Luckily not Leon's!

it generates 6 zombies.  two come out of the burning house

one from far table edge (sorry for blurred picture)

one next to Leon's house

And last two from back door of the diner.

"Now what?!" Asked Sam quietly as he watched smoke begin to drift from the upstairs window of a nearby house.  He noticed a group of zeds heading their way. "More company coming!"

Raising their weapons again, they fire.  All see their targets fall and only Penny's tries to rise.  More figures fall out of one of the cars.  More zombies added to the already worryingly large pack.

To their left, the hedge row began to shake violently as if involved in some sort of battle. 
"This is getting worse!" said Sam, stating the obvious as arms and heads began to become visible through the hedge.  Zombies began to emerge, unconcerned by the rips and tears in their skin from the branches. 

The two pefs in this are resolved as a false alarm and 2 extra zombies.  Luckily  most of the zombies were still confused by the chain fence!  (will have to make more of this!!:) )

The three looked at the monsters approaching from two directions.  They couldn't fight all of these!
"Come on," said Penny, "lets go through the diner.  We might be able to block the door and slow them down.  Keeping a cautious eye on the zombies they walked (!!! failed both on running!) to the big double doors to the diner.

rolled a double

and another....

Sam tried the handle. The door was locked.  To make matters worse, the handle came off in his hand! He turned and showed the others, an incredulous look on his face.
"Can you smash it down?" asked his wife as she watched the horde shamble towards them.
"Reinforced glass and multi point locking."  Sam said as he assessed the door.  "Better going round the side."
"I think we need to be moving." urged Penny.  They were getting much closer..

Sam peered carefully around the corner.  Only two zombies and they were facing the other way.  With a bit of look they could get inside without being noticed and assess their next move from there.

Quickly and quietly the moved forward, Sam leading the way. Unlike the other entrance, this door opened easily.  They stepped inside, off the street, carefully looking around.  A freshly killed body, probably the owner, lay on the floor.  A rifle lay unfired at his side.  Penny walked over and nudged the corpse with her foot, her pistol trained on its head.  It didn't move.  "Shall we take the gun?" She asked.
Sam shrugged. "Suppose so.  He doesn't need it any more."
Penny bent and retrieved it, slinging it on her back.

Through the window they could see the zombies moving outside.

In a stream they moved towards the corner that they had seen their quarry recently turn.

While others struggled overcoming obstacles.

"Right, time to go!" Decided Sam as he watched the zombies come level with the front doors.  The trio quickly returned to the street,looking warily at the back of the two zombies further along.

At an unspoken signal from Sam, they almost tiptoed forward, melee weapons raised.

The zombies quickly fell from the blows from behind, unable to raise even a hand in defense. 

A noise from the nearby cars made them all look over in alarm.  They were relieved that it was just that - a noise,
This pef resolved itself to be a noise.

The horde turned the corner in slow footed pursuit.

To hug the building and try and stay out of sight or to cross the road and put as much distance between them and the zombies?  Sam was unsure what was best.  But he had to choose so across the road they went.

A noise in the alley made them jump, then breath out a sigh of relief as a cat made a wary exit.  It fixed them with it's the unblinking stare then ran back where ever it had come from.

They finally reached Leon's house.  While the other two looked on, Penny knocked on the door.  No answer.  She banged louder. 

Upstairs, Leon paced nervously, oblivious to the visitors at his door.
I gave Leon a 1-3 chance of hearing them knocking.  He didn't hear.

However I decided that  the knocking would generate 1 noise and the nearby zombies would hear and turn on a 1 or 2.  Both turned! The noise generated nothing.  Luckily.

Further down the road the zombie horde still searched for the elusive living things.

"They are getting a bit close!" Hissed Sam.  "Knock again!!"  He watched as the figures moved towards them.  "If he doesn't answer I am going to have to start shooting and they will all know where we are!"
Penny banged on the door again.
This time Leon heard and the door opened

Diving inside they slammed the door in the faces of the approaching zombies, only feet away.  
"This is all madness!" exclaimed Leon, giving Penny a hug in greeting.  "There were screams over the road about 20 minutes ago and now it looks like the building is on fire.   I was too scared to go and take a look."  
"Probably a good choice." Sam reassured him. " There are loads of the things out there again.  Staying here probably saved your life."
Layla opened her backpack and withdrew a machine pistol.  "This is for you." She explained as she handed it over.  
He nodded his thanks as he looked over the weapon. He had had a boys day out at the gun range a few years ago and had tried one of these things.  To his and his friends surprise he had actually been quite good.

The zombies stared through the glass of the door.  They began to push against it, the glass shattering.
"That won't hold them for long."  Observed Penny, as the monsters tried to pull at the door surroundings.  "We need a way out!"

More zombies moved towards the cornered prey.

Having lost track of the fleeing warm bodies, the horde just came to a halt awaiting fresh targets.

"Into the kitchen?" Suggested Leon.  "There is a window there we could clime out of."
With no other option, they hurried into the next room, closing the door behind them.
"This won't hold them long either." Said Sam as he heard the front door begin to give way.

The group quickly jumped into the alley.  Leon's leg ached badly as he jumped down.  Penny looked at him with a worried expression and he just smiled back reassuringly.  He had lived with his sports injury a long time and the reconstructive surgery on his knee had been good  but his movement was still restricted when he tried to run.

With a crash the door to the house gave way and the two zombies struggled into the room towards the next door blocking their path.

Suddenly, a zombie, slower than the others saw the fugitives in the alley.  It almost growled as it moved towards them

Down the street, the horde just milled around

Taken by surprise, Sam managed to get off two shot but both went wide.  Then he was fighting for his life!

He managed to push the zombie off balance, then finish him with a slashing blow of his baton.
"Dear God!' exclaimed Leon, swallowing hard.  "He was trying to bite you!"  
"You might see worse by the end of this." warned Sam.  "Those shots will set them all in this direction!"
The gunshots generated no more zombies but did set the horde down the street heading in this direction.  Not good news.

They moved as quickly as Leon was able, crossing the street towards the diner.

In the distance they could hear the noise of the second door give way.  Hopefully they couldn't climb out of windows!

"Will you look at that!" Exclaimed Leon as he watched the mob stalk towards them.  "Should we shoot at them?"
"We should just keep moving." Said Sam as he holstered his pistol and unstrapped his shotgun.  Everyone, however, just stood, mesmerized as the mass of dead walked towards them with single intent. 

So it appears zombies cannot climb out of windows.  A good tip for the future!!

"We really should be going now!" Said Layla.  "They are starting to get close."
The group started to back away from the on rushing horde, outpacing it but not by much.

They rounded the corner of the diner, almost in sight of the park  beyond which they had parked their car.

The horde, however, seemed displeased with the idea of losing their prey.  On they shuffled in a chorus of foot dragging and moaning.

Three zombies, faster than the others, charged the group.  Sam's shotgun roared and two bodies fell, one unmoving, one still struggling to rise.  Leon's machine pistol fired in counterpoint and another zombie fell to the floor.

The noise attracted two more zombie coming from the burning building.

"Come on.  Let's keep moving." Urged Penny, pulling at Leon's sleeve as he looked at the body at his feet. 
"Does killing a dead man count as murder?" he vaguely wondered as he let himself get pulled along.

They had their backs now to the garden enclosure.  They had almost made it!

Yet still the zombies pressed at their heels.  
"Do we fight or run?" Asked Layla, nearly screaming.

"Run!!"

Well the boyfriend has been collected!
I enjoyed the game as you can tell by the number of photos I took!  And this is the edited version:)  I apologise if the write up is too long.  At a few points I thought that the group were going to get in big trouble as they failed to activate at some key moments, making the game more tense than it needed to be!  I am beginning to see how things can go wrong very quickly in this game, especially in hand to hand combat.  I think the girls need some melee weapons......