Maybe Its Safer Near the River... (Part 2)

"Careful you idiot, don't spill so much!"  Tina yelled as Ron sloshed his first fuel container, spilling gasoline out onto the dock.  "We need this to get away!"
"Calm down!  There's plenty here and I'm just making sure the cap is on!"  Ron yelled back, looking nervously at the river.  "I hope those things stay in the water..."
A loud splash told Ron his hopes were dashed.  "Get that fuel you two and get moving towards the SUV!"  Dawn yelled as she shot at the first zombie crawling out of the water.  "Chris and I will keep them busy!"

Dawn watches Ron and Tina grab the fuel

As we resume, Ron and Tina are gathering the fuel from the tanks on the docks.  They can each get 1 unit per turn, and there are 4 units to take.  Zombies are starting to emerge from the water, appearing at one of the 'swimmers' each turn.  The number of zombies that appear increase each turn until 6 per turn are spawning, they will stop spawning once no living model is within 18" of any swimmer.  This means the group needs to get back to land before they will stop...

The zombies go first, winning initiative for the first turn.  At least the survivors are stuck getting the fuel anyway.

Two zeds crawl out of the water

The zombies appear at the end of their turn, but one comes out right into melee with Dawn, who fights to a stand off.  The survivors get to go next, Ron and Tina gather two units of fuel, Chris fires on the zombie right in front of him.  Dawn continues to fight the zombie she is facing.  Gotta hate it when the dice go cold...

Dawn continues to fight on the dock

Two more zombies appear on the docks from the shooting

The next turn, the survivors win initiative, Ron and Tina finish gathering the fuel, Chris takes three shots at the zombies on the docks towards shore, but hits nothing.  Dawn continues to be locked in combat with the lone zed.  Then the zombies go...

Zombies swarm the dock

Dawn couldn't shake off the zombies steely death grip on her machete.  They spun around each other as she struggled to avoid the snapping jaws of the undead swimmer.  No matter how she tried, Dawn couldn't get a solid blow on the zombies head.  Splashing and dull thumps alerted her that more zombies were pulling themselves onto the docks.
"We got the gas!"  Ron yelled.  "Now what?"
"Chris, lead the way.  As soon as you can, you two make a run for the SUV."  Dawn finally wrenched her machete free and with a backhand swing decapitated the zombie.  "I'll follow as soon as I can!"

Dawn finally defeats the zombie

On the next turn, the zombies go first, with four more coming out of the water.  Dawn hasn't been able to move and one of the zombies goes straight to melee.  The zombies on the dock charge Chris, luckily Ron and Tina are out of the reach of the dead...for now.

Zombies press the group

Dawn is surrounded

Being charged, both Dawn and Chris pass more dice than the zombies (who only get 1d pass automatically) and get to fire.  Dawn gets 1 shot, Chris fires his weapons rating (3).  Chris hits both zombies charging him and kills them.  Nice shooting!  Dawn kills one zombie before facing the rest in hand to hand...

Dawn still has troubles

Dawn starts cutting down the undead

Dawn slashed at the zombie swaying in front of her, trying to fight past the group on the docks.  The water around the platform was churning into a white froth and grey hands reached out of the water, trying to grab the living or pull the rotten dead from the depths.  "Chris!  GO, we have to move!" Dawn yelled, trying to escape the dead...

The survivors start their escape

Chris fires three more times and kills the zombie right in front of him.  He moves forward towards the SUV, staying between the zombies up on the dock and the two citizens carrying the gas.  They all move forward, Dawn finishes off the zombie she is fighting and takes a swing at the two prone zombies, killing one of them.  The she moves up to cover the escape.  All the shooting summons four more zombies, one in the water and three on the dock.

Chris looks at the oncoming zombies

For once, the survivors manage to get initiative on a turn they could really use it.  Chris fires, killing the two zombies near the blue barrels.  He then moves forward to his left, opening a path for Ron and Tina, who move as fast as they can towards the SUV.  Dawn moves up and shoots twice, but misses both zeds.  At least she is in position for the zombies to attack instead of Ron and Tina.

The survivors make a break for the SUV

Dawn jogged along the dock, firing her pistol at the zombies stumbling through the pallets ahead of her.  All the moving spoiled her aim and her shots went over their heads.  Cursing, Dawn set herself to face the charging zombies.  "Get to the Hummer!  Let's get out of here!"  She yelled.
Ron paused as he ran forward, looking back at the end of the docks "There's so many of them!"  Ron paled, clearly scared.  "Maybe we should just run for it!"
"You idiot."  Tina yelled, shifting the gas cans she was carrying to give her access to her shotgun.  "We're armed and we've seen these things before.  Man up already."

Zombies swarm out of the water

The zombies charge, one at Chris and two at Dawn.  Both of them get to fire before melee.

Zombies move on the survivors

The zombies don't fare well

Dawn and Chris both shoot and kill one zombie each.  Dawn faces a lone zed in melee, and only manages to knock it down.  Zombies are moving steadily up the dock behind them, and two more spawn in front of the group.

More zombies

Next turn starts with a random event, apparently Dawn can be quite eloquent.

Forward, to Victory!

Everyone is within the distance needed, and gains a +1 rep for the next turn.  They're going to need it, the zombies go first this turn.

More zombies come out of the water

Zombies surge towards land

Some of the zeds get to the survivors

Even with Dawn's speech, this is a tough turn for the survivors.  Chris manages to get a shot off, and kills one zombie.  Unfortunately the lone zombie he faces in melee wins the combat, knocking him down and stunning him.  (Chris looses by 1, the zombie doesn't kill him and Chris passes 2d on his knock down check.)  Dawn easily finishes off her opponent, but can only watch a zombie crash into Ron.  Ron fails his citizen brown pants roll and freezes when the zombie charges him.  This is a very poor defensive tactic against the undead, which proceeds to kill Ron outright.  Ouch.

Things start to go bad.

Dawn slashed the zombies face, splitting the head open and flipping the now lifeless body back into the wooden pallets.  Looking to her left, Dawn could see Chris struggling with a zombie and falling over thumping into the empty barrels on the dock.  Tina screaming grabbed her attention as a zombie stumbled into Ron.
Tina saw the zombie as it moved towards Ron, it's nearly skeletal hands reaching out to grab Ron.  "Shoot him!  Run!  RON!"  She screamed.
Ron stood frozen in terror and watched the zombie come at him.  His hands shaking, All he could do was stare at the blank dead eyes as the desiccated teenager grabbed him and sank its teeth into Ron's throat.  With a choking gurgle, Ron slumped to the dock, his lifeblood pumping out in a deep red fan around his head as he died.

Everyone passes their man down checks, Tina benefiting from Dawn's leadership die.  It's the survivors turn and Dawn kicks into action, firing on the zombie in front of Tina, killing it.  She then charges the zombie trying to eat Chris, preventing the zombies from getting a free meal!

Dawn attacks!

Tina lets loose with the shotgun, killing a zombie before moving to the SUV.  She runs out of ammo for the shotgun, but at least the zombies are not too close to her any longer.

Things don't seem so bad...

Dawn kills one zombie and knocks the other down.  At least only two more zombies appear...

Dawn clearing the dock

Dawn slashed at the zombies, one headless body pitching into the marina water.  Kicking out the legs of the other zombie, she knocked it to the ground.  "Chris!  You gotta get up and get back into the fight man!"  She yelled as Chris rolled on the ground, slowly getting up.
"Well this is a shit day."  Ron growled, pulling the tatters of his jacket on his left arm.  Blood ran down and started pooling at his feet.  Pulling back his sleeve revealed a large bite mark, the skin already darkening around it.  "I knew I should have just stayed in bed."  Chris snorted with little humor.
"Chris, I'm..."  Dawn started to say as she kicked at the zombie trying to get up.
"Don't say it.  Just get the gas and get the hell outta here with the girl."  Chris checked his rifle, making sure a round was chambered.  "I'll stay here and finish this dance with these bastards.  Honk when you're clear so I know this was worth something."

The next turn the zombies don't activate.  I should be grateful for the small things I guess.  Chris fails his 'Harry are you okay' check and will turn into a zombie four turns.  Dawn finishes off the zombie at her feet and moves to pick up the fuel dropped by Ron, who coincidentally, will turn into a zombie in five turns.  Chris steps forward and starts firing at the mass of zombies moving on the dock.  Wouldn't you know it, now he rolls very well, killing three zombies.  *sigh*  Better late than never I guess.

Chris moves forward to hold off the zombies

The survivors go first, and Dawn grabs the second fuel and moves to the SUV.  Tina fails her roll for the out of ammo shotgun, and is out of ammo for the remainder of the game.  Dawn shoots and kills the nearby zombie, making it easier to start the SUV when she gets in.

Dawn and Tina get the SUV ready

Chris moves further down the dock

His left arm was agony, but Chris kept firing.  "I'll be damned if you get past me!"  He yelled at the stumbling forms in front of him.  Each time he fired, the recoil made his arm feel like glass shards were moving through the veins and arteries.  Chris fired shot after shot, intent on eliminated the undead.  With a clank, his rifle ran out of ammo.
The zombies surged forward, their numbers no longer being reduced by the gunfire.  "Oh no you bastards, I still got a trick or two."  Chris yelled, pulling out and fixing a bayonet to his now empty rifle.  "Come on!"

Chris kills one last zombie before running out of ammo

Two zombies charge Chris, but he knocks one down and stays locked in combat with the other.  He holds the docks for now.

Chris sees a horde of zombies coming towards him

One zombie spawns from the gunfire near Dawn and Tina.  The next turn starts out with the survivors going first, Dawn fires twice and kills the nearest zombie.  (My photography missed this...oops.)  As she hops in the Hummer, she and Tina start driving away.  I choose to back up heading towards the main road, it should be easier to keep moving if I plan it correctly.

Dawn kills the last zombie nearby

Dawn backs out of the parking lot

Chris fights and kills the two zombies he was facing.  He's almost out of time, and I should have him move back, but there's no point.  He fails his tight ammo check and his rifle is out of ammo.  Chris will make his final stand right where he is.

Chris kills two zombies, and waits for more

Chris doesn't have to wait for long

Dawn slammed the brake as she spun the lumbering SUV into the road.  Shifting into drive, the SUV slowly started rolling ahead.  "The road looks clear."  She said to Tina.  "Stay alert, we don't know what we may run into."

Tina had a blank look, staring back at the marina.  "He was a pain in the ass.  He still didn't deserve this though."  She whispered, turning to Dawn.  "Ron went first, acting like he was protecting me.  If I had been leading the way..."

"Don't think about that."  Dawn cut Tina off.  "Don't start.  We need to stay strong or both of their sacrifices will be for nothing."  

Tina looked back out the window at the receding Marina.  The road was open and quiet.

Dawn honked the horn twice breaking the silence.  "Hopefully Chris can still hear us.  Let's get across the river."

Dawn and Tina drive away

The zombies go first this turn, but as Dawn is in a moving vehicle, she goes first instead.  There are no zombies anywhere near their vehicle, and she and Tina can easily drive away.

Chris makes his last stand

Time runs out for Chris, the infection claims him as the zombies flood past him.  At least he goes out making a difference.

I do a 'keeping it together' for Dawn and Tina, even with two deaths, Tina decides to stay with Dawn.  I had hoped for more people to form a band around Dawn, but everything starts with the first step.  Let's hope Tina can grow into a survivor!

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...