Group 3: (FOREST)
Volfy (Pistola)
Andreas *LEADER
ChrisM
Eurocracy

"I've tied him up, he's not going to hurt anyone now! Just leave him!" While Chris had resided to weeping quietly, Eurocracy's mind raced, trying to come up with some way to save him.

"Euro."

"No, Andreas! Look, I put a tourniquet on his arm, he'll be fine!"

"Euro..."

"He-..." Euro slumped down in front of Chris. Andreas walked up and put his hand on Euro's shoulder.

"It has to be done, Euro, we need to just get this over with and get out of here before the situation gets worse."

Volfy shook his head. Hot tears rolled down Euro's face as he looked at Chris, there had to be a way... There had to be something else that could be done.

Andreas stepped away from him, "Volfy, make it quick, we don't want him to suffer any more than he already has. Euro, let's go."

Volfy stepped around Euro and raised the barrel at Chris. "Eurocracy, stand back, we don't have time for-"

"Don't have time?!" Euro snapped, his face flush and eyes wild with desperation, " Don't have time?! We're talking about a life! A human being's life!"

Andreas stormed towards him, "Wrong!" he snarled, "YOU are talking about a life! WE are talking about our lives! The more time we waste, the more you shout, the more you put all of us in danger! I don't WANT to do this, but you know just as much as I do that it needs to be done! I will NOT put the lives of our group in jeopardy because you can't let go of someone who is already dead!" He turned to Volfy, "Gimme your gun, I'll do it."

Volfy stepped forward to hand the rifle over, Eurocracy placed himself between the two, eyes locked with Andreas.

"Euro. Move."

"No... Andreas...It's just that-"

"Move."

"Let me do it."

Andreas raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Eurocracy inhaled deeply to calm his breathing, "Let me do it. You're right, I know he needs to go, but you're also right about the noise. We can't waste any rounds, and any gunfire might draw more trouble. Let me do it." The sharp scissors in his hands glinted in the sunlight.

"Eurocracy..."

"No, Andreas, I'll do it."

The other two watched in silence as Eurocracy knelt before Chris, the scissors between them. He whispered to Chris, most audibly a "I'm sorry" before the sharp point of the scissors were brought to his stomach. As he plunged them into his gut, Chris doubled over in agony on top of his new wound, blood starting to dampen his shirt as he collapsed into the damp leaves, unmoving.

"There." Eurocracy said, stoic, "It's done. Let's get out of here."

"Yes, let's." Andreas walked with him towards the treeline. As they approached it, Andreas glanced over his shoulder at Volfy who still stood over the body. Volfy looked back and shook his head. Andreas sighed and nodded his head.

The sharp crack of the rifle caused Euro to whirl around. Volfy rushed towards them to catch up, smoke from the chamber as blood leaked from now-dead Chris' skull and into the dirt around him.

"No!" Euro's eyes went wide, "You murderer!"

Before he could step towards the body, both Volfy and Andreas had him, pulling him through the woods as they ran away from the cabin. It wasn't until they spilled out of the forest and onto the gravel road that Euro stopped resisting.

"Oh my god...I see pavement up ahead!"



****What happens now?

Group 2: (SUBURBS)
Wof *LEADER
Tursi The Puma
Geek *DECEASED*
Anathema

"Throw something to get his attention" Anathema whispered back, "I'll sneak around him and start the truck, we can't leave Tursi behind."

Wof nodded, picked up an empty pill bottle, and tossed it in the direction of the man. He turned quickly to the sound of the racket, and then to the interior of the store, towards the pharmacy, sweeping the beam of light from his flashlight over the toppled shelves and merchandise.

His beam landed on Wof, who stood up calmly, raising his hand in greeting, the pipe firmly clutched in the other. As Wof slowly started walking towards the man, Anathema went in the other direction, ducking behind shelves he crept around the far side of the store. The man still blocked the door from this angle, still focused on Wof, but if he were to move, it would be a straight shot to the truck.

Wof stopped walking, and cautiously placed the pipe on the floor before him, slowly moving his hands back up to his helmet, and removing it from his head.

The man watched silently, keeping the beam steady on Wof.

"Hey there." Wof spoke quietly, "I just needed to come in here to get some medication, I'm not a threat, and I'm not infected. See?"

Wof turned his head from side to side to show that he wasn't bitten on his face or neck, the man squinted, trying to see. He stepped closer to Wof, craning his neck to determine if there were any visible wounds.

Anathema took advantage of this movement and, without making a sound rushed out of the door, and to the bed of the truck.

"Tursi? Hey, you still with me, buddy?"

Tursi shivered slightly as Anathema wiped the cold sweat of his fevered face.

"Ok Tursi, I'm going to give you a shot. It should help you get better, don't freak out."

Anathema removed the wrapper from the syringe and drew the dosage out of the plastice ampule. Tursi didn't seem to feel the needle, though he did shiver again when it came out.

"Alright, that should hopefully do it, here, I'm going to go back inside to get Wof"


Wof had his back to the door and was talking to the man with the Machete. The man was a good foot and a half taller than Wof, he had put his flashlight down and was holding the helmet in one hand, turning it over and looking at it as Wof continued to talk, gesturing at the truck.

Anathema stepped into the doorway, and met the eyes of the tall man, Wof turned around with a smile on his face.

"Hey Anathema! I was just talking to him about the truck, I figured he might be-"

The man swung the machete into...through the side of Wof's face. It cut diagonally down from the top of his his ear to the corner of his mouth before wedging in the skull.

Wof shuddered violently, as though being electrocuted while the man ripped the machete from his skull, and bringing it back to the side of his head, horizontally at eye level.

Blood sprayed as Wof gurgled and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

The man put the helmet on his own head and looked back up towards Anathema, who stood watching in silent horror.

Before he could see anything else, Anathema was out the door, and in the truck, cranking the key frantically to start the old beast. He half-expected the engine not to start, but he was half a mile away before his heart pumped slow enough for him to think clearly.

He drove in the direction of the city, the road now beginning to clear.


****What happens now?

Group 1: (CITY)
Fruit Nazi *DECEASED
Colonel
Arcavella
Rowan

"Stop!"

Rad pulled the trigger right as Arca hit him. The force of the tackle brought the barrel of the rifle up, sending a spray of fire and sparks up into the darkness of the shaft above, Rad's stumbled backwards, his foot slipped over the corner of the elevator car, and wedged his ankle between the car and the cable. The rifle flew out of his grasp, tumbling down into the endless dark as he clawed at the air frantically trying to catch himself.

Arca watched almost in slow motion as Rad's free leg went skyward, and fell backward, headfirst into the shaft. His boot, firmly wedged by the car remained as the rest of his weight and his gear pulled him down. The audible crack of his trapped lower leg snapping in half was grisly and horrifying, only surpassed by the shrieks of pain and terror that followed as Rad dangled helplessly upside down in the dark.

The screams seemed to last an eternity as they echoed around Arcavella, tearing into his head and ripping at his insides. He collapsed to his knees, holding his hands over his ears; it wasn't until Rad fell silent that Arcavella realized that he too had cried out, his own voice now strained.

Once he was out of the elevator, Rowan was no where to be seen, just as panic started to set in, he saw a door down the hall open. Rowan staggered out.
"Rowan, you scared me!"

Rowan looked up, eyes half oApen. "Sorry Arca, after you got the door open I started feeling really light-headed. I think I might have fainted, I thought I heard screaming, but when I woke up I was by our gear, I remember being really dizzy and throwing up. I think I'm better now, but I'm really hungry. Where's Rad?"

"Wh-what?" Arcavella shook his head, "You didn't see?"

"No man, I'm really sorry, I told you I was feeling really sick so I went to the bathroom...I had to use the crowbar to get in, and I couldn't really see anything inside-"

"Rad is dead."

"What are you talking about?"

"Rad was going to shoot you, I pushed him off the elevator, it was either you or him!"

"I don't remember..."

"Nevermind! Let's just get out of here."

Rowan had to lean heavily on Arca to climb down into the shaft. Atop the elevator car they used the crowbar to pry open the roof access.

"Hey Rowan, hold the hatch open for me, it looks like the door is open in there."

Arca climbed inside the car and moved towards the partially open door, sunlight from this lower floor cast a bright patch of light inward.

"H-help...me..."

Rowan looked up, was that Rad?

"Rad? Is that you?" Rowan looked around, but he could see nothing but dark atop this elevator.

"Rowan...help...don't trust Arca..." Barely over a whisper, Rowan wasn't sure he heard it at all.

"Rad? Rad?! Is that you? Where are you?" Rowan called out and waited, but only silence replied.

"Hey Rowan!" Rowan's attention went back to the car, Arca had re-emerged through the open door and leaned back in to call up to him, "Rowan!" he hissed, "Get down here, I think I see a vending machine! And the stairway on this floor is clear!"

Rowan took one last look around before climbing into the car. Was it his fever? Imagination? What really happened earlier?


**** What happens now?

Group 3: (FOREST)
Volfy (Pistola)
Andreas *LEADER
ChrisM
Eurocracy

"What happened?!" Euro grabbed for Chris' wrist. Chris pulled away.

"Chris! We don't have time for this! What happened? Did you get bitten?"

"♥♥♥♥ off! I'm fine!"

Andreas looked at Euro, Euro nodded back. Before Chris could object they had tackled him, pinning his arms to the ground. Chris writhed on the ground, shouting and struggling to move the other two off of him, to no avail.

Volfy did not have to look closely at the hand to see it was clearly bitten, multiple teeth-marks and bloody torn flesh were testament enough to that.

"Damn it!" Volfy turned away.

The other two let go of Chris, who sat upright, clutching his injured, bleeding hand to his chest.

"Here" Andreas bent down, and began to gently wrap Chris' hand with gauze from the pack. "It doesn't look like you're bleeding out, but this will help keep any more dirt in that wound.

"You want to keep dirt from getting in his wound?" Volfy turned back around to face them, "Why? So it doesn't get infected? Look!" He pointed to the corpse of the shambling creature that had attacked them, "He's already infected! It's too late! He's going to turn into one of them, I guarantee it!"

"And what would you have us do?" Euro spoke up, "Just shoot him? Put him down like a rabid dog?!"

"Yes!" Volfy turned the rifle towards the now-silent Chris, "I'll do it right now. Otherwise he just becomes a liability! We don't have time to argue, we need to get out of here, now, something must have heard the racket, and I don't want to be here when it arrives!"

"Wait! Stop!" Eurocracy forced himself between Chris and the rifle, "It's not too late, if he is infected, we can stop it from spreading."

"How?"

"Well unless you've got a meat-cleaver you've been hiding, the only way I can see is to tie-off a tourniquet. It'll stop the infection without him bleeding out." Euro took the paracord and began to wrap it tightly around Chris's shoulder.

"What the ♥♥♥♥ are you doing? That hurts!" Chris tried to pull away, but Euro held on.

"Either we do this now, or they kill you, Chris, stop struggling."

Volfy shook his head, "This isn't going to work! It's already been in his bloodstream, he's already infected! We should just kill him now and get out of here while we have the chance!"

"No!" Eurocracy finished off the knot, "Look, we have enough cord to tie him up in case he turns, we can just take him with us! We don't need to kill him!"

"There's barely any cord left, Euro! We take him with us, and he becomes a danger to the whole group! We need to go, now! Just get this over with, and get out of here!"

Eurocracy looked towards Andreas, "Back me up here! We don't need to kill him, we can just tie him so he can't hurt anyone, and take him with us. We can't just kill him!"

"Andreas" Volfy lowered the rifle, "I'll leave it up to you. If you say we take him with us, then let's go, but its a bad idea. I'm telling you this right now. Nothing good can come of this, I know it sucks, but we have to kill him now before he hurts anyone. I can make it quick and painless, or we can risk him hurting more of us later. It's your call."

Chris looked up at Andreas, it was clear that he was crying, "Please... Andreas. I don't want to die..."





****Andreas, What happens now?

Group 2: (SUBURBS)
Wof *LEADER
Tursi The Puma
Geek *DECEASED*
Anathema


"♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Wof! This was the worst idea ever!" Anathema was furious, "What good is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ vehicle if we can barely drive it?!"

Once again the truck idled, another dead-end lay before them. Time and again they had run into piles of charred vehicles and blocked streets. Debris and wreckage made it almost impossible to travel, and though the truck had been able to drive through up through the lawns of the houses, they would inevitably find their way blocked.

For days this went on, driving in shifts for hours, stopping to siphon gas from other cars, and turning around into the suburban maze to backtrack progress. Though they had traveled a decent distance from where they had started, the obstructions had caused them to stay mostly inside the suburbs and the neigboring city that separated them from the outskirts, and the largely undeveloped mountains that lay beyond.

Though the supplies had only recently started to dwindle, Tursi had taken ill. He rode in the bed of the pickup truck, unable to bend his leg at the knee at first, as it had swolen and locked out, slowly spreading to his ankle and hip.

At this point he was traveling constantly between cold sweat and fever, spending the day asleep, wrapped in blankets. Both Anathema and Wof had used the bottled water to clean his wound, though they hadn't discovered it until infection had already set in.

"Well what the ♥♥♥♥ SHOULD we have done then?!" Wof snapped back, "You want to go back to the gas station? It's a little late for that idea!"

Wof turned the truck around, once again traveling backwards to the last open intersection they had passed.

"I know Wof, I don't know... It's just that we need to get help for Tursi, and this isn't exactly going as planned."

For a while the inside of the truck was silent as they drove, turning around, snaking through yards and over sidewalks, until the came out in the parking lot of a small shopping center.

"The drug store!" Anathema pointed, Wof nodded, pulling the truck to a stop. The front door was open, and it was clear that there had been people here before. Tursi cried out in his sleep, they all knew that he needed antibiotics soon, or it would be too late.

Wof and Anathema vaulted over toppled shelves and scattered merchandise, they rushed through the doors of the pharmacy in the back of the store. Entire shelves were empty, they split up, isle by isle, searching desperately through the small inventory that remained.

"I found it!" Anathema exclaimed, snatching up a box from the shelf. Fast-acting antibiotics that would completely cure infection and the related illness within hours.

"I found it! I found i-" Anathema repeated excitedly rushing around a shelf to find Wof staring towards the front of the store. A man they had not seen before was inside, a flashlight in one hand, and a machete in the other; blocking their path back to the truck.

"This is not good..." Anathema muttered to himself. "We can't get past him without him seeing us; I did see a back door in the pharmacy, but that exits on the opposite side of the shopping center, we'd have to go all the way around it to get back to the truck."

Wof nodded, "Maybe he can help us. I could try to talk to him, if nothing else, distract him so you can get by, otherwise we might not be able to get to Tursi. It's your call."




****Anathema, What happens now?