Maybe It's Safer Near the River... (Part 1)

Dawn looked over the map of the area as she idled the SUV at the intersection.  Looking to her left, the burned out remains of a convenience store told of another location without any fuel.  "I need a less obvious place..."  Dawn mumbled, scanning the map and finding nothing worth looking at.
Frustrated, Dawn looked around the area, the cars and trucks were all burn husks, even a truck towing a boat was burned out.  Dawn paused, looking at the charred and melted remains of the once large boat.  The large engines still sat on the trailer, poking out of the husk like a skeletal fist.
Dawn checked her map again.  "Fox Run Marina.  There we go."  She said, setting the map on the passenger seat and turning right onto the highway.

Dawn arrives at the marina

Dawn is heading to a marina to look for fuel for her SUV.  She needs at least 3 units to be able to move to the next area.  There will be a few special rules for this scenario.

1.  There is a fuel pump and storage tank located on the pier, it will have 1d6+1 units of fuel when searched.
2.  Special figures will mark locations that zombies will 'spawn' and climb out of the water.  Once a living model approaches within 6", these will activate until there is no living model within 18".  Each active zombie turn one zombie will emerge from one of the spots (randomly determined).  An additional zombie will spawn each turn until a maximum of six zombies per turn are appearing.

Zombie Swimmer

3.  Dawn can only exit via the road, and only the direction she entered from.  The terrain is impassable beside the road, and the bridge Dawn plans to use is back the way she came from.  Dawn may elect to take a boat, it has the same chance of working like any car, but none have any fuel.  Any rowboat may be used, but will require a 1 d success each turn to go the desired direction.  Exiting on the water will lead out into the river, and another encounter.
4.  The rules for more scarce looting are in effect, Dawn (or any survivor) has to draw doubles to find a useful item.
5.  The rule for very tight ammo are in effect.

It is afternoon of day 41.  The area has an ER of 4, there are 3 PEFs and 4 zombies active as Dawn enters the board.  Her first turn is "free" as she drives onto the board.  I decide to drive as far as possible, I may as well get as close as I can before I try and get to the fuel.  Hopefully there's a survivor here that will join up...

Dawn finds an open parking spot

Dawn drove down the riverside highway, sunlight streaming through the trees gave the road a peaceful look.  Dawn could almost believe the world was normal again.  As she rounded a curve in the roadway, Dawn could see the marina ahead.  "Time to get some gas."  Dawn thought as she turned the SUV into the marina lot.

Dawn gets out of her SUV

Looking around the lot as she closed the door on the SUV, Dawn could see a couple of zombies shambling towards her now quiet vehicle.  Dawn took a moment to look around the lot, deciding to either take out the zombies or investigate the store.  Suddenly a rhythmic thumping filled the air, and a helicopter flew over the marina, heading north along the river.  The zombies, confused, stumbled towards the retreating helicopter.

Random event right away...

The turn started with a random event.  A helicopter drags the zombies 12"away from Dawn.  That buys enough time for her to head straight inside the nearby store.

Dawn enters the shop

Dawn pushed open the door to the 'Supply Shack' and was greeted with the earthy smell of dead bait and trash.  The dim interior still had shelves and counters, and Dawn hoped to find something useful.  A slight shuffle from the back corner alerted her that she wasn't alone.  Cautiously gripping her pistol, Dawn moved around the end of the check-out counter.
"Don't move."  Dawn found herself staring at a the end of an assault rifle, held by a short middle aged man in a camouflage jacket.  "I don't need any trouble."  He said.
"I'm just looking for gas and anything useful."  Dawn said, straightening.  "No trouble, I'm heading east."
"Not unless that thing is a submarine."  The man seemed to relax a bit.  "The bridges are shot."
Dawn took a chance, lowering her pistol slightly.  "I'm going to use a rail bridge north of here.  I've got friends near Green Bay."  Dawn sighed slightly.  "At least they were there a couple of weeks ago, but I've got nowhere else to go."
"I'm trying to get back across the river myself."  He lowered the rifle.  "Name's Chris.  If you can get me across the river, I'd like to come along..."

The PEF reveals a lone survivor, Chris (rep 4, Assault rifle, Runt) who gets only one success in the meet and greet.  Dawn gets two successes and he asks to join her.  Yes!  finally some help!  Plus he is armed with an assault rifle, which will hopefully be handy.  The pair search the store and manage to find Meds (which Dawn finds) it seems things are starting off pretty well!

Is that something at the back door?

Zombies close on the shop, plus the nearby PEF moves in from the back door.  The PEF turns out to be "something is out there" and the ER increases to 5.  Predictably, the survivors activate after the zombies, and face one as it enters the store...

A zombie enters the store...

Dawn guns it down.

Chris and Dawn move towards the docks

Chris guns two zombies down.

The two survivors moved out of the store, heading for the docks.  Zombies moved towards them and Chris fired his rifle, killing two.  "Damn dead heads!"  Chris yelled as the zombies shambled forward.

"Good shooting!"  Dawn yelled, swinging her machete in anticipation of the approaching zeds.  "Time to get up close though!"

A zombie charges Dawn

Dawn finishes off the zed easily.  The next turn, the zombies go first, I shouldn't be surprised...

Zombies charge

The first zombie Dawn guns down as it charges.  The other zombies come up short and Dawn charges the nearest.  She only manages to knock it down as Chris moves past, shooting the zombie coming out of the store.

Dawn counter-charges

Chris kills his target!

Only one more zombie appeared from the gunfire, up on the docks.  That was a good development, at least there isn't a huge swarm of them.  The final PEF moves closer, still in cover on the dock.  Again the zombies activate first, and the pair of survivors face the zombies as they move forward.

Zombies get close

Dawn slashed with her machete, the heavy blade splitting open the zombies skull.  In a fluid motion, she pulled the blade clear of the body as it tumbled to the pavement, spinning around she drew her pistol, double tapping the zombie walking up behind her.  "Chris!  On the dock!"  She yelled.
Chris watched Dawn kill the two zombies with ease, impressed he turned and took aim at the zombie coming down the dock stairs.  Firing, he watched with satisfaction as the zombies head exploded in gray and pink goo.  "Got him!"  Chris yelled.

Some fine shooting!

Adds two zombies in the water

The shooting attracts three zombies, one on the other side of the store and two in the water.  Zombies in the water move at half speed, and pay a 3" move penalty when they climb out of the water.  The zombies will still track the living, and will move accordingly.  (This is mostly because I am too lazy to track the zombie summon point and move the zombies that way.)
The next turn, the survivors get to go first and the PEF doesn't move.  With a fast moves, the pair reveal the PEF.

What's hiding behind the barrels?

The PEF resolves as two citizens.  How are there still citizens 40 days after the outbreak?

Meet Ron and Tina

Dawn moved around the side of the barrels, pistol steady.  Chris had his rifle up, covering her advance.  "I think I heard something over here..."  He whispered as they moved forward.
"Don't shoot!" A disheveled young man holding a pistol yelled.  "We're alive!"  He had a panicked look in his eyes, seeing the two survivors closing in on them.
"Calm down Ron."  A young woman said over her shoulder as she covered Dawn with a shotgun.  "What's the deal, you looking for trouble?"
"Not at all, just gas."  Dawn said.  "I'm Dawn, this is Chris.  Who are you?"
"I'm Tina.  This puke is Ron."  She nodded her head at Ron.  "We're trying to get to Wisconsin, there's a safe zone setup near Lake Michigan."
"Where are you from?"  Chris asked, relaxing a touch.
"We were in Camp Wyoming, north of here."  Ron explained.  "The FEMA camp was our evacuation point when we were evacuated from Minneapolis.  About a week ago the camp fell apart."  Ron paused, looking upset.  "Luckily Tina dragged me along when she got away."
"There were rumors at the camp that the military was pulling out and we were on our own.  I know a couple of army guys were talking about stealing a chopper and heading for what they called the 'new site'.  I don't know where that is, except it's in Wisconsin somewhere along the lake."  Tina added, looking at Dawn and Chris.  "If you're going that way, we'd like to join you."
"You know how to use that hardware you're carrying?"  Chris asked as he spit onto the dock.
"We're still alive."  Tina answered with a grin.
Dawn chuckled and lowered her pistol.  "Looks like we're all going the same direction.  Good thing the SUV has plenty of seats!"

The meet and greet goes pretty well.  Dawn gets three successes versus the two successes for the citizens.  We meet Ron (citizen Rep 4, pistol, Poser) and Tina (citizen Rep 4, shotgun, Agile).  They have been on the run for a short time from a FEMA camp.  They had to be protected for a while to still be citizens...

The group moves down the dock, towards the fuel tanks.

The group heads towards the fuel tanks

As the group approached the end of the docks, a zombie splashed out of the water, clawing its way onto the dock.  Dawn walked forward, shooting twice to kill the undead swimmer.  "Grab the fuel and let's get out of here!"
Ron and Tina jogged forward and started filling containers with fuel.  "Make sure they don't get us!"  Ron yelled.
Chris looked around the end of the dock, the clear waters were starting to roil from the undead grabbing the docks.  "Better hurry!  There's a lot more of them down there!"

Zombies start coming out of the water

I missed a picture of the first zombie on the dock.  Dawn moved up and shot it, easily dispatching it.  Two zombies are moving in near the green boat, and the citizens start getting fuel out of the tanks.  They can each get 1 unit per turn, so it should only take two turns to get the 4 units of fuel that are available.

To be continued...