3.13 B

ZOMBIE GRIND

 

Mokena, IL

Sunday, July 13th

The group pulled into a large parking lot containing the garden center and a hardware store. Stephenson slowly drove by the two entrances as he lay on the horn. By the time he passed the garden center entrance, a massive horde of zombies had come running out of both buildings.

 

Stephenson drove around a few circles, then began to mow them down. After a few passes with the bus, the group got out to finish the ones still moving. Before the group could finish the rest, a second horde came running from around the hardware store.

 

“Back to the buses!” yelled Collin.

 

Stephenson and Travis began firing short bursts into the oncoming zombies. The rest started shooting into the rushing undead from the buses’ safety. Travis and Stephanson, with the aid of cover fire, ran back into the buses with the zombies hot on their heels. Getting inside and closing the door, the remaining undead slammed into the side of Collin’s bus.

 

Richard and Burt climbed up to the roof through the fire exit. To conserve ammo, both tried to fire single headshots at the remaining zombies. A few moments later, the last zombie fell to the ground. The group then waited inside the bus over the next hour as random zombies came rushing towards them from different directions.

 

After the zombies stopped trickling in, the group reloaded their mags and left to finish off any undead without a blue orb. Paige made sure to get her five Cores and AP. Collin looted the rest, netting seventy-eight Cores and AP. Finished with clearing out the corpses, the group split into two teams. Collin, Travis, and Paige went into the hardware store. While Stephenson, Burt, and Richard took the garden center.

 

Both groups could hear the other’s firing as they came across random undead. The hardware store was a treasure trove of materials, making Travis giggle with delight. The ex-marine was already filling carts with materials to bring back to the bus. To Collin, it seemed the man would empty the entire metal section, along with a fair chunk of the wood stock. Leaving Travis to his shopping, he and Paige swept the remaining aisles for zombies, then went into the back stock area.

 

Collin found the Supply Cache door at the back of the warehouse. Opening it, Collin cursed to himself. Inside were dozens of ammo boxes. There were six boxes of each bullet type they had come across so far; 9, 7.62, 5.56, and twelve boxes of 12 gauge shotgun shells. Collin also found a pelican case with a single shotgun. Paige stepped out and came back a moment later with a cart. Together, the duo filled it and had just begun the task of pushing the cart to the front of the store when they heard shouting outside. 

 

“Give us the keys, or I’ll shoot him!”

 

Peeking through the doorway, Collin saw an older man holding a gun to the back of Travis’s head. Behind him, another was trying to start Stephanson’s bus.

 

“I don’t have them, man. The guy inside the garden center does!” yelled Richard.

 

“You have five minutes to go and get him and bring me the keys, or you’re going to have to find this guy’s new spawn point!”

 

“Go hide, Paige,” said Collin.

 

Paige didn’t need to be told twice. She took off back into the store. Collin soon followed her, looking to make his way out the back of the building, but stopped in his tracks when he heard a shot ring out. Spinning on the balls of his heels, he nearly fell on his face before making his way back towards the door. He peeked outside from behind a large display case to find Travis on the ground and the man who was holding him hostage on his back.

 

Collin watched as Travis crawled to a gun nearby. Grabbing it, he pointed the business end at the armed guy inside the bus. The man instead jumped out of the bus and began running away. Collin heard a couple of clicks coming from the gun Travis held before he cursed. A moment later, another shot and the man running away dropped to the ground. Collin looked over to see Stephanson had shot from the garden center entrance. Collin then ran over to Travis.

 

“Where the fuck is your rifle?”

 

“Inside... in one of the shopping carts,” said the embarrassed Travis.

 

“Dumbass,” said Collin, lightly kicking the man while he was down.

 

“I got zero AP from that fucker. Wonder how they got the guns?” asked Stephanson as he walked up.

 

A few minutes later, Paige came outside the store carting over the ammo and shotgun. The group retrieved the two empty Glocks from the dead men and piled everything inside the busses. The garden center had been devoid of supplies, so the two teams looted the hardware store. Everyone helped Travis fill the buses with the tools and supplies he looted, as well as a large diesel generator. They went back in for more wood so Travis could convert the buses into what he called skoolies. 

 

Loaded up, Collin broke the final glass vial.

 

 

“Travis, plot out a point 7.8 miles east by northeast of here. That’s where the next Weapon Cache is. Also, got cords for outbreak Information 14.3 miles north by northwest. See if it lines up with something from the information we got at the Mexican restaurant.”

 

“Weapon Cache is at the music amphitheater. The outbreak information lines up with the intel we got from Richard and Paige’s group on a small island in a lake at Argonne National Laboratory,” replied Travis some five minutes later.

 

“Alright, we got weapons and enough ammo. Let’s head back to Orland Square Mall and grind us some more zombies. Once we clear them out, we can head back to the market for the night. Tomorrow we can grab the weapons and go pick up poor old Marcus,” said Collin.

 

“Sounds good,” said Burt and Travis.

 

Stella growled and took off, Paige yelling for her to stop. When she didn’t, the young woman ran after the dog.

 

“Travis, Richard. Go see what the dog’s after,” ordered Collin.

 

The two took off after Paige and Stella. The dog ran between the two large buildings and then behind the garden center. As Travis and Richard turned the corner, they found Paige on her ass backing away and the fearless Stella barking challenges at a massive brown bear with glowing red eyes.

 

“Stella, get back!” Travis yelled.

 

Travis flicked the switch to full auto and started firing short, controlled bursts into the head of the massive bear. After hearing the gunfire, Stella yelped and ran to Paige, who was just getting to her feet. 

 

“Take her and the damn dog back to the buses!” shouted Travis. 

 

Travis finished firing the first thirty rounds into the still-standing bear’s head and shoulders. Throwing the empty mag into his back pocket, he grabbed the next from the vest pocket and slammed it into place. With half of its head gone, the bear roared loudly and then charged Travis.

 

He fired off a couple more small bursts into the bear’s head and shoulders, then chased after the kids down the alley.  The one-eye, half a brain bear, barrelled into the corner of the garden center, stopping the creature momentarily. With a gurgling roar, the annoyed bear walked past the offending corner, then redoubled his efforts to pursue Travis in between the two large brick buildings. 

 

As Travis pumped his legs past the edge of the buildings, he looked to his right to see Collin with a shotgun waiting behind the corner with the kids and dog. Looking to his left, he saw  Burt and Stephanson, weapons ready. Travis kept running in a straight line, not even bothering to look back. Seconds passed by, and then two blasts from the shotgun and the automatic firing from Stephanson’s rifle filled the air. As the gunfire stopped, only then did Travis look behind himself to see the bear on the ground ten feet past the waiting group.

 

“Next time, Richard, wait for the enemy to pass the group, so there is no chance of crossfire. If you had missed the bear… By the fucking way, why is there a fucking brown bear here?” said Collin.

 

“It was undead as well. Had fucking red glowing eyes. If Stella hadn’t barked and took off, that thing could have charged at us without us knowing it was ever there. Fucking fast fucker too, even with half its bloody head gone.”

 

Stella barked at hearing her name. Travis patted her on the head.

 

“Shit. We got lucky. Brown bears can take a fucking .44 and still keep on trucking,” said Burt.

 

Collin walked over to the now-dead-undead bear and looked at the floating purple orb over its head. Reaching out to touch it, he found the bear was worth fifty Cores and AP. He let the team know his findings.

 

“Shit, I wonder what else will be undead as we play. Need to really keep our eyes peeled,” said Travis.

 

The group boarded the buses and headed north to the mall. As they pulled into the parking lot, they were not surprised to see massive hordes of zombies still trying to get past the barricades. There were also plenty just wandering around the parking lot.

 

Collin parked his bus behind what looked like a bar, and everyone got inside Stephanson’s vehicle.

 

“Alright, let's mow down some zombies.”

 

The group began to drive a lazy circuit around the mall. As they did so, more and more zombies started peeling away from the mall’s walls and barricades to chase after the bus. On the fourth trip around the mall’s perimeter, Stephenson turned around and began driving faster into the groups of zombies. On the second pass, Collin spotted movement behind one of the barricades. They could see people were jumping off the barricade to finish off the zombies.

 

“Travis, send some warning shots towards that group. They’re trying to steal our kills.”

 

Travis opened the side door and shot the ground near the rushing people. With a few shouting and cursing, they turned around back towards the barricade. Stephenson turned the bus back around so the door was facing away from the mall. He drove slowly so Burt and Richard could walk along the bus as they finished off the undead. Collin followed right behind to collect the Cores and AP. 

 

As they were cleaning up, another horde of zombies came rushing across the parking lot towards them. When Collin shouted a warning to those on the bus, Travis jumped out with his rifle and began mowing them down. After Travis stopped shooting, they heard a couple of shots in the distance and then pings on their buses as the bullets landed. One-shot shattered a bus window, and Stephenson immediately called out in pain. 

 

“Sons of bitches shot me!” cried Stephanson.

 

The group ran into the bus to find Stephanson had crawled into one of the back seats. The bullet had torn a hole through his shoulder. 

 

“Help me remove his vest and shirt,” said Burt.

 

“Fuck, ether those bastards dipped the bullets in zombie blood, or the bullet pushed something though you man. I can see the black lines are already extending from the wound,” said Burt. 

 

“Goddammit. Take my gear, quick. Travis, take my rifle, see if you can find the bastard who hit me. Collin, finish me off before I turn. I’ll try and meet you guys at the market tomorrow,” rattled off Stephenson.

 

“Right side of the entrance behind that tree. I just saw another flash from up there,” said Paige.

 

Travis peaked out one of the side windows to look. Raising Stephenson’s rifle, he swept back and forth till he spotted what he was looking for and then pulled the trigger. A moment later, he spoke up.

 

“I’m pretty sure I just killed the group leader. I got 112 AP from that kill.”

 

Waiting a few minutes, the shots never resumed. Satisfied it was safe to move around freely again, Collin and Stephenson exited the bus. A moment later, everyone heard a single ‘pop.’ Collin came back onto the bus without Stephenson. 

 

“Alright, let’s finish cleaning up the zombies. I’m currently at 218 Cores. Everyone loot what they can. If you hear any shots, run back to the bus ASAP!” said Collin.

 

The Mad Ghosts went over the entire parking lot area for the next hour. Behind the wheel, Burt made sure everyone stayed close as they slowly made their way around the various parking lots. During this time, they had to kill off a few small hordes, but the zombies were quickly dispatched. During the hour it took to clean up the parking lot, the group had gotten over two-hundred Cores, and AP split among the party.

 

“Burt, let's head back to the other bus and then to the market. I got enough cores to upgrade Stephenson’s bus and add a spawn pod. Hopefully, tomorrow he can use it to spawn inside the bus.” Collin said.

 

The group arrived back at the market with over forty minutes left before the current session’s end. Collin paid the excited Goblin two-hundred and twenty Cores to upgrade Stephenson's bus to use hydrogen as fuel and add a spawn pod just behind the driver's seat.  Richard and Paige pooled their cores to pay for a second spawn pod. 

 

The Goblin informed them he would have everything ready before they logged back in next time. Tired and with nothing important left to do, Collin told his Mad Ghosts he was calling it a day. Burt and Marcus soon followed. Richard and Paige went to the vendor area to buy the collar and leash, while Travis went to pick up more 5.56 ammo for the rifles.