[Zombie Apocalypse] Jodi's Story

[Jingo]

Thanks! And here's...

EPISODE 2 - An Apocalypse on the Apocalypse

It's mid afternoon, Jodi and Millie have searched the river bank for two hours with no sign of Millie's husband.

Is Millie slowing up because of pain and her arm?

(50/50 | 4_[d10]) No +Twist: NPC / Appears

"We've been searching for hours," Jodi says, wiping sweat from her forehead. "We need to find shelter before it's dark."

"We have to find him!" Millie says. She winces through the pain, and Jodi is both surprised and disturbed. She's gonna get me killed!

"This is becoming too dangerous," Jodi says. "There are bound to be walkers out here."

"No, he is my husband! And I'm going to keep looking."

"And what if he's dead? Will you kill yourself and me in a fruitless search to find a corpse? Or worse?"

"You didn't have to come," Millie says. "I'll find him on my own if you don't want to help!"

"With that arm of yours?" Jodi shakes her head and drinks some more water from her bottle. She had filled up the other water bottles they'd used with river water. She'd have to boil it later to get fresh water.

"I don't need my arm to find him. I need my legs and my eyes."

"You are one stubborn woman."

"Tony could have told you that."

"Alright, look, I'll help you for another hour, but after that, we must get shelter before--" Jodi cuts off as something rustles through the brush.

Is it Millie's husband?

(50/50 | 7_[d10]) Yes

Is he alright?

(50/50 | 2_[d10]) No

Is he hurt?

(50/50 | 6_[d10]) Yes, but...

But it's not bad. He's not been bit or scratched.

Concussion?

(Somewhat Likely | 9_[d10]) Yes

Does he remember his wife?

(Somewhat Unlikely | 7_[d10]) Yes, but...

Yes, but only long term memory, like two years ago and later.

"Millie? Millie is that you," He cusses and leans against a tree holding his head. "Where are we?"

"Tony!" Millie runs up to him and hugs him.

"Your arm," he mutters looking her over. "It's broken?"

"Yes, the crash you know."

"Crash?"

"The car. On the bridge."

"Car..." he stands up and stares at the sun, blinking, holding his head in both hands. "What car?"

"Tony!" she's becoming agitated. "Don't you remember the car? The bikers? The tank?"

"What are you talking about? Where are we?" He asks again, faltering a bit as a wave of dizziness hits.

"You can't remember?"

He shakes his head and crumples into a sitting position, cradling his head between his arms on his knees.

"You have a head injury," Jodi says, pointing at the blood marring his face.

"What are we doing here?" Tony asks.

"We were looking for supplies, Tony," Minnie says. "Querido, no recuerdas nada?"

"I remember going to our baby's funeral," he whispers, holding his head. "That was yesterday, wasn't it?"

Millie kneels next to him and touches his face, her hand gentle. "No, Marido. Hace dos años."

He pushes her hand away, angry. "Two years! No!"

Does all this arguing attract unwanted attention?

(50/50 | 4_[d10]) No

"Great," Jodi mutters to herself. "A woman with a broken arm, and now a man who can't remember anything about anything." She strides over to them and crouches by them. "Look, as interesting as this conversation is, we must find shelter!" Jodi interjects. "And quickly, before nightfall."

"Yes," Millie says nodding her head. "We've found Tony. We can go look for shelter."

"Shelter?" Tony says, "Millie, who is this? And if we want shelter, why not go to the city? Even better, find the hospital. My head hurts like a hammer took to it."

"She's a friend, and--" she swallows. "There's too much to tell right now, but remember all those zombie movies I used to like when we were dating."

"Yeah, you were loco about those," Tony chuckles but then winces. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Millie looks at Jodi as if asking her for help explaining. Jodi throws up her hands. "Don't look at me, he's your husband. You deal with him!"

"Deal with me? Look!" he struggles to his feet, wavering. "I don't know who you are, but, I won't let you talk to her like that!"

"It's okay. Sit. Sit dear. Sit," Millie says.

He wavers and crumples again to the ground.

"Heavens above! No, don't sit, you idiot!" Jodi says. "We have to get moving! And we have to be quiet! They could be out there hunting us."

"Is this some kind of bad dream?" Tony asks holding his head again. "Hunted?"

"Bad dream? You could say that," Jodi says biting the sarcasm at him. "Look, let's just say those movies Millie used to like watching... about people chewing each others faces off?"

"What about them? Stupid movies. I always told her not to watch that crap."

"We'll, you're a star of the show. We all are. A cast of three against a city of eight-hundred thousand hungry monsters."

"You're not making any sense," Tony says.

"And you're going to get us killed! You try explaining it to him," Jodi says to Millie.

"It's too much." Millie says.

"Don't talk to me like a child!" Tony shouts. "Spit it out!"

Any zeds show up?

(Somewhat Likely | 2_[d10]) No

"It's all gone, Tony." Millie touches his arm and wipes his hair away from the wound on his head. "We can't go to the city. We can't go to the hospital to help your head. It's overrun by gangs and by the dead."

"The dead? What happened to the city? Some kind of disease?"

"The very worst kind," Jodi says. "And it's catching in a bad way. All those dead... all those dead are monsters. Walkers, we call them."

"Huh?"

"Perhaps if he sees them," Millie suggests trying to be helpful.

"Oh, now that's a brilliant idea," Jodi says, running a hand through her stringy hair. "We aren't going to go out looking for them! THEY are looking for US, remember?"

"Who is?" Toni asks again.

Jodi strides over to him, all Christian benevolence gone. "Her brother, your brother-in-law was killed! Shot! Then they pushed him off the bridge nearly on top of her. Then he tried to bite her head off because he became one of them! You fell in the river, and I guess you hit your head on a rock or two or three, but all that doesn't matter now. What matters is we HAVE to get to shelter and have to do it now, or we WILL die!" She bites off each word in his face, and he finally seems to gain some measure of the gravity of the situation.

He slowly nods and gives a half-whispered chuckle. "This is all crazy talk, you know that, right?... You're all loco. But okay. Suppose you are right?"

"There's no supposing. On your feet and follow me."

"You can lean on me," Millie says pulling her husband to his feet. "She's a friend. She'll help us."

"I'm only one person, and I don't make any promises," Jodi says. "Just be quiet from now on, and we'll try to get through this night. Whispers only, especially as we head west into the industrial sector. We'll try to find a warehouse or something to hold up in. After that, we'll head to the airport. My friend says they have good shelter there. A safe place."

"We'll figure it out," Millie suggests, patting her husbands arm. "Querido, grab that big branch there. We might need it. But you have to hit them on the head, okay? And only the head, and don't let them bite you. Whatever you do... don't let them do that. And don't die." She adds as an after thought and kisses him on the cheek.

"Crazy talk," Tony mutters, but to his credit he picks up a big branch in his muscular arms. "It's a good walking stick at least."

"It is that," Jodi says, wishing for the umpteenth time that she had the upper body strength of a man to wield that large branch herself. But when the zeds came a crawlin' he'd wish he had the legs of a marathon runner. She shakes her head. "Let's go," Jodi says, and leads the way toward the industrial sector.

---

In the late afternoon sun, trash blows fitfully across cracked concrete and potholed streets. The streets of the industrial sector are littered with rubble and dead cars. Warehouses and industrial facilities for various businesses line the streets. A semi carrying a large cargo container lays on it's side, the cab has smashed through the side of a brick warehouse. The dark windows and doors seem to yawn at them as they walk down the street, bespeaking the lifeless end that has befallen mankind.

Any zeds strolling the streets in this industrial sector? (I'm ruling 'somewhat unlikely' because it's not a widely populated sector and it was close to the bridge in the previous episode and probably any zeds nearby would have been pulled off toward the bridge already).

(Somewhat Unlikely | 10_[d10]) Yes, and...

Yes and they're feasting on something...

"Get back!" Jodi holds out her arm, and they move their backs against the walls of one of the buildings of the alley way they were coming out of. Jodi peers out onto the street around the corner.

How many zeds? More than three?

(Somewhat Unlikely | 1_[d10]) No, and... +Twist: Item / Ends the scene

"This place is really is messed up!" Tony says, looking around at the wreckage and nudging a half decomposed corpse at his foot with his boot. "You know that, right? Maldito! Where's it's head?"

"That's the other way to deal with them," Millie says tonelessly, turning away.

"You want to see them Tony? Now's your chance," Jodi tugs Tony to the corner of the building and points out the feasting zeds some hundred yards away. Three of them are hunched over something, shoveling flesh from a half torn horse into their bloody maws.

Tony stares dumfounded and the color drains from his face. He starts to curse in Spanish while being interrupted by dry heaves.

"Quiet!" Jodi hisses, pulling him back around the corner and shoving him against the wall. She puts her hand over his mouth as he makes wretching noises. Thankfully nothing comes up, but some foul smelling bile. 

Jodi shakes it off her hand, wiping it on the front of his shirt. Then she grabs the front of his shirt in both hands and wipes off his face. "Now you know, right? And that's nothing! When they have a feeding frenzy on live humans... on kids...on... babies," she whispers and her voice catches. "That's when you have license to puke, got that? That over there? That was nothing!" She felt a little guilty bringing him up to speed in that way, but better to be armed with knowledge earlier than too late. At least now he was a believer. That was the main thing.

Tony takes deep shuddering breaths and eventually nods in between random prayers and curses. Millie stands next to him speaking softly trying to calm him down.

That's when they heard it. A low chugging sound followed by a whine as a chopper flew low overhead down the main street and then veers off to the east across the river, flying low over the city. The three zeds attracted by the noise, shove the last bits of nibs into their faces and move off after the noise.

"That was lucky," Millie says.

"Not if it drew more this way from the west," Jodi says peering into the sun, shielding her eyes.

"Was that the military?" Millie asks excited.

"Don't know. But they didn't stop, whoever they were," Jodi answers, "Okay. Let's go. That building there," she points to the warehouse with the wall that has a semi tuck half stabbing through it. "We'll check out the vehicle, and if it's safe, we'll hold up there for the night."