On Down the Road

"We should find a car."  Dawn said as she and Jack walked along the country highway.  The sun was just peeking over the trees in the area, promising a hot June day ahead.
"Or a truck.  Hell anything with wheels."  Jack agreed.  "Maybe some more people too."
Dawn walked in silence for a bit before responding.  "Only if they're heading our way."
"I'm with ya there.  We're heading for that farm of yours."  Jack stretched out his arms as he walked and continued.  "It's going to be a long trip and more eyes to watch our backs would be nice.  Maybe not sleeping in a wrecked Suburban again for a while also..."

It is morning of Day 60.  Dawn and Jack are walking east, making for the farm where Dawn's friends are living, a couple hundred miles away.  They have left the immediate area of the FEMA camp, and are looking for a vehicle to use to make the trip quicker and easier.  They could also use supplies, and anything might be useful.  The area is rural, ER 2, with three PEFs, zombies appear on a 6,  and there are two zombies already on the board.  I am using very tight ammo and scarce looting rules.

Success for the scenario is surviving, finding either a usable vehicle or supplies and escaping the table.  They both must exit the table on the road opposite from where they enter.

Dawn and Jack walking down the road

The zombies are fairly quiet, they will simply wander around until the survivors make some noise.  Dawn and Jack get to move ahead without much worry.

Passing some wrecks, they spot an ATV

Check out the cabin?

Walking past some burned out wrecks, Jack spotted a small ATV parked nearby a cabin just off the road.  "Maybe we check out that?"  Jack pointed to the small multi-wheeled vehicle.

"I don't know how far it can take us."  Dawn countered, considering.  "It would be better than walking though..."

"Let's check the cabin, maybe the keys are in there."  Jack suggested.

The cabin has occupants!

Dawn and Jack make short work of them.

 After they storm the cabin, outside one of the PEFs moves closer.  Dawn and Jack spend a turn searching, but come up empty.  When they go to leave, Dawn decides to expose the nearby PEF.  I'd rather trigger it before it moves closer.

Something lurks in the road

Dawn wants to find out what it is!

Dawn stepped out of the cabin, the quiet morning air broken by a thump just beyond the low stone wall nearby.  "Stay with me, I think I heard something."  She whispered to Jack and jogged to the road.  Rounding the corner of the wall, she skidded to a stop as three zombies staggered along the roadside in front of her.  Leveling her pistol, Dawn took aim at the trio...

Dawn finds zombies

The PEF resolves as three zombies.  It's been quiet, but Dawn shoots, hitting and killing two zombies.  Finally some great dice!  Jack jogs up to Dawn and finishes off the third zed.  Of course, now two more zombies appear...

Jack finishes off the zombies

Two more appear near the cars

The zombies go first the next turn, closing in on Dawn and Jack.

Zombies move closer

Jack and Dawn shoot the zeds

Predictably, one more zombie arrives, another moves closer (getting stuck in the pond), and a PEF moves closer.  Dawn gets a chance to reveal the PEF, and moves forward.

Dawn sees a chance to check the pond

What lurks by the trees?

The PEF is nothing, but it does increase the ER to 3.  Jack moves up and checks the sedan parked in the road.

Jack checks the car

As dawn watched the zombie struggle through the waste deep water of the pond, Jack checked the black sedan to see if it could run.  Quickly he checked the back seats, and aside from some stains on the tan leather, the car seemed empty.  Looking at the steering column, Jack could see it had been hot wired before.  "Looks like it could be drivable!" he yelled.

"We should look for more gas."  Dawn replied, watching the zombie splashing through pond ahead.

"There's only a couple of the dead here.  Let's take 'em down real quiet and then search that house.  There's bound to be something useful in there." Jack suggested.

Dawn waits by the pond

The next turn, the survivors go first, Dawn moves close to the pond, waiting for the zombie to crawl out.  Jack moves up to cover her back.

Dawn faces a soggy zombie

With a wet slapping sound, Dawn swung her machete through the skull of the zombie as it clawed its way out of the sucking mud of the pond.  The lifeless body fell into the reeds along the shore.  Wiping the jellied gunk from the zombie from her machete, Dawn nearly retched.  "Ugh.  That was even more disgusting than usual."

"Damn woman, you've seen worse than that."  Jack said over his shoulder, taking aim at a lone zombie wandering just across the driveway.  "Want me to just plug 'em?"

"No.  Wait, I'll handle it."  Dawn said, twirling the machete in her hand, anxious to to get to the undead.

One left

Dawn charges the undead farmer

 Dawn wins the melee after charging the last zombie.  The board is clear of zeds, and there is a lone PEF in the house to deal with.  It hasn't wanted to move yet, and it stays put as Jack and Dawn head to the garage and investigate.

Dawn and Jack head for the garage

Dawn checked the door to the garage, it was unlocked.  "Let's check in here.  Hopefully we can get some more gas for the car."

Carefully opening the door, Dawn let her eyes adjust to the dim interior before moving very far.  The hot stale air of the garage held an odor of oil and hay.  Crates and barrels, plus tools and other odds and ends were scattered through the building.

"Looks like it's empty."  Jack whispered.  "Let's hope there is some gas at least."

The sound of a shotgun action racking cut the silence.  "You may want to rethink that."  An older man said, raising up from behind a set of crates.  "This is my farm, and you are not welcome here..."

Entering the garage, the deck reveals a lone survivor

Meet Zachary, the farm owner

The meet and greet goes poorly, Dawn and Zachary each get three successes.  They exchange pleasantries, and that's all.  I decide they can trade as well, and Jack trades his luxury item for 2 units of fuel for the car.  It's enough for now, so they leave the farmer alone and check a gas tank nearby, heading for the car.

Reckon we got us some gasoline?

I make quick ruling that the tank has 3 - d6 units of fuel, so 0-2 possible.  I roll a 1, and they find 2 units!  Sweet, they have most of the gas they need to get some distance in the car.  As they head back to the car, they stop and check the wrecker truck for anything useful.

The truck proves to be empty

Jack tossed the empty can in the trunk after filling the car with fuel.  Jumping in the driver's side, he worked the ignition, starting the car.  "It's been sitting for awhile, but seems fine."  He said, looking over the dash and then backing into the road.

"Let's make it a bit more bearable in here."  Dawn said, turning on the air conditioning.  Cool air flooded the car, slowly cooling the hot interior as they drove down the highway.

Driving down the road

They found a car and got some fuel.  We'll call it a success.  Dawn gets two successes versus one for Jack on keeping it together.  Jack will stick around, plus we don't need to check after the next mission.  They need to find some more fuel to be able to 'travel', but at least they are a little more mobile!