Skara Braens

Part 16

Part 15 Vote Tally

Option A: 3
Option B: 1
Option C: 0

Onward!

"No, this way.  Follow me."  You don't allow Drest a moment to argue with you before you start moving towards the grey lump pressed against the shed wall.  It is far enough from the prison entrance to almost mask you and Drest from the person about to step out into the compound.  You hear Drest curse before he follows you.

As you approach the shed, you realise that the smudge you thought might be writing is indeed writing.  The lump proves to be a dead soldier.  From the looks of things, he died of a broken neck.  His head sits at an odd angle, making your stomach turn.  Written on the wall, not far from the ground, written in blood, was the word, "Run."

It took you a moment to sound out the word.  When you get it, it strikes a chill straight down your spine.

"Is it here?  Is it?  Oh it's quiet.  Master has been here already I see.  So quiet.  Perhaps I can hear it?  Yes, yes.  I shall hush now so I can hear it."

You had turned towards the sound, seeing just outside of the entrance of the prison a hunched figure wrapped it a tatty cloak that might have been red at one point.  It was now a strange pink-ish brown colour.  You cannot see the face, but the mottled scalp has but a few straggly silver hairs, giving the impression of great age.  The body gives a shudder and continues to shudder as thick sounding coughs rattles through it.

Overhead, the thunder rolls.

Behind you, you hear Drest shuffle.  His cold hand grips your wrist.  You turn your head to him.  It take you two glances to realise that it is not Drest that has your wrist, but a dead soldier.  The eyes are open, but clouded over, the skin a pallid grey colour.  Unable to help yourself, you scream, jerking back.  The undead soldier jerks forward as you yank your hand from its grasp, stumbling past you.

"Ah! There it is!" the voice says.

"Get down!" someone yells.  Without thinking, you drop to the ground, Drest at your side.  The sound of gunfire explodes through the stormy air, bouncing off buildings and adding to the thunder to create a cacophony of noise that is both disorienting and terrifying.

Something shrieks.  There is shouting.  Slowly, you recognise order coming out of the chaos.  A perimeter has been set up with you and Drest at its centre.  You lift your head to find the dead soldier just inches away from you.  Dead.  Again.  Probably.  Maybe.

You feel a hand on your back and twitch, turning in a sudden motion that startles the owner of the hand, Drest.  He smiles slightly at you then points towards one of the soldiers holding position at the northern edge of the perimeter.  Beneath his mask, you note a pair of startling green eyes.

"Come on, let's go," Drest whispers in your ear.

Bullets whizz over your head, thudding into the bodies of dead soldiers.  You watch one fall on top of a previously shot soldier, only to slide off once the latter reawakens and rises to its feet.

"Yes," you yell at Drest as another thunderclap rolls overhead.

Together, the pair of you crawl over to David.  He acknowledges you both with a brief nod, before pulling the trigger on his rifle and firing.

"You follow me, alright?" he says to you.  The words are muffled behind his mask, but you can still make them out.  You nod.  He nods back.  "On my signal."  He fires his rifle again, taking out three of the undead with only two bullets.

He makes some sort of hand signal - a closed fist that then opens three times, and then a single finger stuck in the air and whirled around in an approximation of a circle - before he stands from his kneeling position.

"This way,' David says, turning and running to another building.  You follow, fast on your feet despite the lack of shoes.  David does not check to see if you've followed.  His eyes are on his unit, who immediately run into position and start a new perimeter.

"They're moving towards the weapons store," Drest says.  "These dead will just keep coming until we burn the bodies.  They need to get to the fuel."

"And then what?" you ask Drest.

"And then we burn these bastards to ash," David growls.  He raises his rifle and fires.

"But these are soldiers!  Your fellows."

There is barely a pause before David answers.  "Not any more."

"But they could be cured one day!"

"That day is too far away," David snaps, shooting the same soldier he had killed only moments before.  "And I want to live to see it."

You swallow back another retort.  Instead you look to Drest, who merely shakes his head; a non-verbal signal to let the matter rest.

Quiet on the south side, someone informs David via an inbuilt communication system.  You can hear it through David's mask.  David grunts and shoots again.

They're building on the eastern side. I think they're trying to herd us.

David nodded, as if the person who handed him the information could see.  He fires again.  "We punch through," he answers.  "We need to get to the fuel."

The way out is clear. We could abandon the complex.

"That is not happening."

Sir, if they get a hold of us.

"That is not going to happen.  Jax, I need you to assist on the east side.  Berry, take the rear.  We're moving out."

Yes, sir, comes multiple replies.

Another hand signal from David and the soldiers change their positions, firing in an effort to open a path to the weapons store.  You peek around the corner to find a wall of bodies.  Once-soldiers swarming together in a mindless mob, moving slowly but surely forward.  Those that fall simply rise again to rejoin the mob.  David's unit is too few to take them all down with much success.

What do you do?

Option A: Take this opportunity to escape the compound. The entrance is unguarded and everyone is distracted.
Option B: Sneak around behind the mob and get to the weapons store yourself.  That way you can hit them from behind and create enough confusion to let David's unit through.
Option C: Become a diversion.  If you can get these undead to chase you around the compound, you can free up space for David and his unit to get to the weapons store.

Now you must vote!  Voting ends Thursday 13 October, 2016 at midnight.  Good luck, adventurers!