Sea of the Dead [Dead End - d20 Zombie Apocalypse]

[GunnDancer]

Victor looks back as well, hearing the cries of the undead as he desperately tries to urge his friends to hurry. A final stand isn't what he had in mind when he went on a relaxing vacation and he wasn't ready to make one now.

"How are you holding up guys?? Francois? Viola? We're almost there!"

[Thump]

"I'm here, still... KEEP GOING!"

Viola hobbles as fast as she can towards the door, wincing with the pain in her leg.

"Might need a bit of help in a minute... starting to slow down because of the f****ing leg!"

[GunnDancer]

Without waiting, Victor hefts Viola into his arms on the fly, grunting softly as he does so.

"I figured I'd cut out the whole 'in a minute' part!"

[Erasmas]

You finally arrive at the door marked 'BRIDGE' and find it locked! Looking back over your shoulder, you can see that you put a fair distance between you and the encroaching group of monsters... but that distance is rapidly shrinking.

As you begin pounding on the door, you hear a (to some of you) familiar voice call out on the other side, somewhat muffled.

"Who is it?!"

[Thump]

"We're the survivors you talked to on the phone; OPEN UP! THERE'S SO MANY OF THE BASTARDS RIGHT BEHIND US!"

[moomoo]

Chase, zis is Francois, can you open zee door please!
Francois shouts, catching his breath.

[Erasmas]

The oncoming creatures press closer and closer... when finally the door opens to reveal Chase standing on the other side.

"Hey buddy, nice to see...", he begins and then stops mid-sentence when he sees the things behind you running in his direction. He quickly ushers you all inside just as the undead reach the end of the hallway and slam into the door! Several hands/arms/fingers prevent the door from closing, despite Chase's best efforts to shoulder the damn thing shut. He is trying his best to avoid the clawing appendages and looks like he desperately needs help. Jacob moves into position and levels his handgun through the door's opening, but Gina stops him.

"Jacob, no! The noise in here would all but deafen us. Not to mention that everytime you shoot that, it lets more of those things find us!"


There are five people in the room...

Xiaolu "Jon" Chin
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Erasmas/Dead%20End/Character-XiaoluJonChin_zps3de01da9.jpg

Gina Ruffalo
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Erasmas/Dead%20End/1-GinaRuffalo_zpse90eb2df.jpg

Jacob Bryant
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Erasmas/Dead%20End/1-JacobBryant_zps4a6cda9f.jpg

Dalton "Chase" Brody
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Erasmas/Dead%20End/1-DaltonChaseBrody_zps7044fd10.jpg

Rodrigo Emilio de Olivera Sandoval
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Erasmas/Dead%20End/1-RodrigoEmiliodeOliveraSandoval_zps4e839af7.jpg

[GunnDancer]

Victor, still holding Viola, throws their combined weight against the door heavily with his back against the door to help Chase. He has an idea as well but it's not a good one so he prays that enough weight will get the door closed, but if it doesn't...

"Does anyone have a lighter?!"

[Erasmas]

"I do, bro... but it's in the pocket of my jeans!"

Chase called out, but the dilemma was obvious, as it was taking all of his might to keep the things at bay behind the door. Even with Victor and Viola's weight added to it, the thing was barely staying as close to being closed as it was. And it certainly wasn't going to shut with all of the monsters' arms propping it open.

Chase looks up at Viola and smiles a crooked smirk of a smile, "Hey... Chase. You know, if you wanna reach into my pocket and get that lighter, that's perfectly cool with me."

[Thump]

If looks could kill, Chase would be dead and buried in the ocean by now.

"Shoosh."

She motions for Chase to turn, checking each of his pockets, grabbing the lighter.

"Alright, now what?"

[GunnDancer]

"Arrrgh!!" Victor could feel his sneakers sliding ever so slightly against the door.

"The can of cooking spray is in my pocket! Grab it and someone light those suckers up!"

[razorback]

Jim, seeing Victor sliding back, throws his shoulder at the door.
"Francois or someone, help!"

[moomoo]

Francois, who was coming to his senses until that moment, stands up and takes the cooking oil from Victor's pockets.
He then looks at Viola:
Ready?

[Erasmas]

The three men push with all of their might against the steel door, causing all manners of crunching and tearing sounds to emit from the array of appendages that sprouted from the doorway like the tentacles of some kind of deranged sea monster. Blood spattered the wall and the floor beside the opening with each renewed shove; undead flesh and muscle tore and smashed. However, the combined force of so many on the other side pushing against them and the fact that the limbs and now-revealed bones were acting like a multitude of door stoppers... the damn thing still would not close.

[GunnDancer]

"Somebody do something!"

Victor renews his struggles to close the door as Jim runs to help.

"Francois! Light 'em up!"

[moomoo]

Francois starts spraying the remainders of the cooking oil on the limbs that are sticking out of the door, trying to get as much zombie flesh covered, as he possible can.

[Erasmas]

The chef coats the arms and hands with the cooking spray, very satisfied with them being thoroughly covered.

The others in the room are shouting and readying themselves for what seems like the inevitable onslaught.

[Thump]

"THIS is your plan? Oh for..."

Viola flicks on the lighter, and lights one of the hands on fire, hoping that the fire will spread on the other zombies and get them to back off.

[GunnDancer]

Straining against the door, Victor shoots Viola an exasperated look.

"Sue me if I don't have time to explain real well! Cooking Spray plus lighter equals flame thrower!"

Victor certainly wasn't expecting Francois to liberally coat them in oil... though it would probably have the same effect.

[Erasmas]

The gymnast ignites the closest appendage and it goes up merrily. The smell is atrocious and the burning of their flesh doesn't seem to deter the creatures... at least at first. Despite the fact that a roaring flame now filled the door's opening, the arms did not retreat. However, as the muscle, flesh, and fat sizzled and dripped onto the floor, they apparently grew weaker.

Finally, the door slammed shut with the sound of several snaps. The creatures outside continued to pound on the door just as you heard the sprinkler system in the hallway kick on. Somewhere further away, you heard an alarm begin to go off. You were safe, at least for the moment, shut inside this room with five new people and the various pieces of seven different arms, hands, and fingers.

[moomoo]

Francois slumps back against the wall, breathing heavily. Wow, zat was close. Zenk you Chase.
He then thinks of the request Chase had given him and scrambles a bit through his stuff getting the bottle of wine out.
Here is your little present, real French quality.

[GunnDancer]

Victor places Viola onto the ground, being careful of her foot and then quickly finds himself slumping to the ground. Heaving a big sigh of relief and exhaustion he looks around at the new crew they find themselves temporarily allied with.

"That was one hell of an entrance, am I right?"

[razorback]

Jim sits back and gags at the smell as he holds back a retching reflex.

Finally finding the wherewithal to hold down his last meal, he looks with bloodshot eyes at Victor.

"Next time I'd prefer a different entrance."

Looking at Francois and Chase he says "Mind if I get a swig of that?"

[Thump]

"Well... we're safe. For the moment, anyways."

Viola takes the moment to look around at the new members of the group, and laughs weakly.

"I guess you could say we were... packing heat?"

"Nevermind, bad joke."

[Erasmas]

Chase moves to Francois and throws his arms around the chef, smiling widely.

"It is positively righteous that you made it, Big Man!" And when you hand him the wine bottle, he lets out a triumphant laugh and insists on high-fiving you... which consists of no less than four handshake type 'maneuvers' and ends in a fist bump. The rest of the people seem to be somewhat keeping to themselves, the black man and the woman in the cocktail dress remaining close to one another.

When Jim asks for some of the wine, Chase shakes his head as if dazed, his shaggy blonde hair flopping about.

"Duuude! Where are my manners?! Of course!" He moves to a nearby water cooler and collects a handful of the conical paper cups mounted onto the side of the thing. As he hands them out and pours a little bit of the wine into each, he also introduces the others.

"This is Rodrigo... he's kinda quiet. This is Jon Chin... little dude is muy flex-ablay. Momacita over here is Gina. And the man with the gun is my man Jacob."

"I'm not your 'man', or your 'boy', or your 'bro', Chase."

"Woo-sah, woo-sah... I totally get it, bro... er, dude." Chase then finally arrives at Viola, and smiles down at her as he hands her a cup. "And I'm Chase. Aloha, little lady."

He then sat down next to the Russian and poured himself a paper cup as well. "Did you know that the natives of Hawa-ii say 'Aloha' both to say 'hello' and 'goodbye'?"

[GunnDancer]

Victor watches the interactions between the other group thoughtfully. Obviously their time together hadn't exactly brought them closer... But Victor mentally waved the thought away for the time being. That was their issue, not his. He had his own "family" to watch out for, for the time being.

"Thanks for contacting us when you did. It's rough out there... Obviously."

Looking briefly in his little cup of wine, he simply toys with it before making his own introductions.

"You probably already know from watching us, but I'm Victor, and that is Jim and Viola... and Chase knows Francois."

[cleviticus]

Jon tries to block out the memories that the stinch brings and quietly addresses the newly expanded group,
"Does anyone know how use the ship's navigation? We need to know how long we have before we make landfall."

[moomoo]

After the rather clumsy execution of what Chase called a handshake, Francois shakes his head and smiles. He looks at the other people in the room, and sips from the wine Chase has given to him. After the question of Jon, he shrugs:
I am just a cook. I never drove a ship.

[razorback]

Jim takes a small taste of the wine, savoring the flavor as he rolls it around in his mouth before swallowing. He is about to take another drink when he nearly drops it.
"Does anyone know how close to shore we might be?" He shakes is head a bit "Man, this day keeps getting better and better." as his eyes go big. He nods at Chase and then downs the rest of the wine.
"How defensible is the bridge? Anyone know? It would be the ironic end of a bad day if we manage to fight these things off and end up drowning or gobbled up by sharks as we swam to safety."

[GunnDancer]

Tossing back the wine, Victor forces himself to stand up. This has been non-stop madness so far so why cut the fun short now?

"I honestly have no clue how to operate a boat... any boat. Not just one this big... but I guess a valid question would be what happens if we can't slow it down? And for that matter is anyone even still piloting this thing?"

[Erasmas]

"The damn thing is on autopilot. None of us could figure out how to turn it off."

"We're cool... at least I think we should be. I was always a day or two before we got to our first destination. Right?"

[moomoo]

I guess you're right Chase. With the food we had on board, we could last for 2, maybe 3 days.

[GunnDancer]

"Okay... but again I repeat: What happens if we can't slow the boat down or stop it when we hit our destination?"

Victor can almost sense the answer and rubs his forehead to avert then tension headache that absolutely wants to assert itself.

[razorback]

"Life rafts, maybe?" A moment later a thunderhead of an idea could be seen hitting him. "Although, if we run aground, who is to say that these things won't just walk off and start chomping everyone in sight? If we get near land, I think we need to get to the lifeboats and, as we are leaving, torch this ship to keep from letting these things infect others." He scratches his head for a moment. "But we have to make sure that everyone who hasn't been bitten is off, too. Man, this sucks."

[GunnDancer]

"Geez... I hadn't even thought of that..." Yup... hello Mr. Tension!

Forcing a deep breath, Victor rolls his shoulders.

"Okay, I was originally more concerned with us smashing into a concrete dock at full speed or something but what you're talking about is much MUCH worse... any thoughts?"

[moomoo]

Francois thinks for a bit and then starts to look around:
Is there no way here on zis bridge to contact people outside zis ship?

[Erasmas]

Suddenly, there is a squelch from the communications desk.

"Come in, Pearl Line cruise ship Persephone. This is the United States Coast Guard. Do you copy? Over."

[GunnDancer]

Startled by the sudden voice from the communications desk, Victor rushes over to it before suddenly realizing he has no idea how to operate it.

"Okay.. okay... probably just like a CB radio right?"

Fumbling for a few moments he finally grabs what he thinks is the mike and pushes what he assumes is the talk button ("at least I can't sink the ship from this desk!") and speaks.

"Uh... h-hello? This is Victor. I'm a guest and we're in need of some real help!"

[Erasmas]

The radio squawks back, "Roger that, Victor. This is Airman Leo Lambert; I'm flying the helicopter off of your starboard bow."

Looking out the bridge window, you do indeed see an orange and white helicopter hover down into your view.

"We have been sent to ascertain your situation. Where is Captain Reginald James Sterling? Over."

[moomoo]

Francois stands up at the mention of the helicopter and looks outside. When he hears the man at the radio mention the captian, he looks questioningly at Chase.

[GunnDancer]

"Uh...."

Victor looks puzzled and looks to Francois and Chase.

"I knew I should have paid more attention during that safety lecture..." he mumbles to himself before pressing the button on the radio again.

"Can I get back to you on that? I don't know where the captain is... we're trying to figure that out. As for the situation... we're okay in this room but I don't know about the rest of the boat. What is going on??.... uh oh yeah... over!"

[Erasmas]

Chase shakes his head to indicate that he doesn't know the whereabouts of Captain Sterling.

The voice comes back, "Roger on the missing captain. How many survivors do you have on the bridge? Over."

[Thump]

Viola does a quick head count, and nabs the radio from Victor's hand.

"Nine of us on the bridge. There's some sort of... look, this is going to sound stupid, but the ship is infested with the living dead. "

[Erasmas]

"Roger on nine survivors. Have any of you been bitten? Over."

[GunnDancer]

At the mention of bites, Victor begins to get that sinking feeling... If they know about the bites then they must know what is happening. And if they know what is happening... how bad is it?

Looking around the room carefully, he suddenly remembers his own wound and his heart sinks.

If his memory serves him correctly everyone else just got clawed up a bit except that Mason was bitten too but now he's gone... that means...

"****... me. I was bitten."

[Erasmas]

"Roger that - one bite victim. Okay, I'm going to land onboard and we're going to lift you folks outta there. But first... I need you to bring the ship to a stop. Do you copy that? Over."

[moomoo]

When Francois hears this, he moves over to the controls so he can assist in trying to grind this ship to a halt. He looks at Victor with an expression that makes clear he doesn't know how to do this without external guidelines.

[GunnDancer]

Victor looks over to Viola and gestures for her to respond while he goes about looking for some kind of instruction placard at the console... what was that he had said a few minutes ago about not being able to crash a ship from the communications desk??

[Erasmas]

Francois begins looking around and finds the helm immediately on the other side of the Communications console. And near the wheel... he finds a lever marked 'Throttle'. According to the numbered scale, which goes from 0 to 25, the throttle is currently set to an 18.

[moomoo]

Francois slowly pulls the lever back towards 0.

[GunnDancer]

Victor looks up from his fruitless search as Francois begins to pull back on the throttle. Thinking of the chopper pilot... "Roger that - one bite victim"... They know about the bites. But he hasn't turned and doesn't feel like he is going to. Frowning pensively, he nervously flexes his hands.

[Erasmas]

You feel the momentum of the ship begin to slow, and eventually... it stops all together. Suddenly, you find yourself much more aware of the slight rocking motion the whole thing has here out at sea. The helicopter outside circles back around and hovers once more. The voice comes out of the radio again.

"Good work in there! Alright, I am going to set down on the pad now. You should start making your way there now. Over and out."

If you look out the front window and down, on the bow of the deck many feet below you, you can see a painted circle with an enormous 'H' in the middle of it.

[cleviticus]

The elation Jon feels at the thought of being rescued is suddenly inundated with the dread of their impending journey.
"We need a plan to reach the helicopter. Do we have a map?"

[moomoo]

Well, I know more or less my way around here. But not everywhere though.
Francois shrugs saying this.

[Erasmas]

As you all discuss the coming plans, the helicopter slowly and carefully begins to descend towards the helipad.

Chase, who has been plastered to the window in awe, has a drastic change in demeanor. He suddenly starts to extremely worried, "Oh no! No no no no no!"

Anyone else that went to the window to look out, could see that the helicopter was successfully touching down. They could also see that the noise must have drawn a crowd, because there were probably close to four dozen of those things now rushing in the direction of the helipad.

[Thump]

"Oh my."

So many of them, running right towards the helicopter. She hated how they now had to see what was going on for themselves, and that they would have to wait even longer for an escape from the madness.

"Do NOT touch down, there's a whole mob of them right there. I repeat, do NOT touch down. We are en route to you."

[moomoo]

Oh no, we have to help them., the chef thinks, looking around for something to throw out of the window as a distraction

[Erasmas]

Viola broadcasts with the radio once more, but there is no response. It would appear that the helicopter pilot had either changed frequencies (possibly to contact someone else) or turned his radio off in order to concentrate on the landing. For those watching from the window, it was obvious that they did not receive the warning. Two men with automatic weapons were now out of the helicopter and were firing upon the mob that was steadily advancing on them.

Francois hastily looked around for something, anything, that he could throw. And while he found plenty of objects, he did not see any way to open the windows!

[moomoo]

We should take zome weapons and go.
Francois says.
Maybe we can still reach the helicopter before zhese zhings make it unusable.

[Thump]

"Augh... one moment. Someone get some rope."

Viola stands up, braces one hand against the dashboard, and uses the other to drive one of her crutches straight through the window.

[cleviticus]

Jon frantically shuffles through his bag, removing the bindings.
"These will hold a person's weight" he says as he offers them up.

[GunnDancer]

Another life-or-death scenario! Smacking his forehead with the heel of his hand angrily as if to jump start his brain from inaction, he looks around and heaves a deep breath.

"Okay guys... we have something to get us down there... but what then? We don't want to get caught up in the mob? I can try and lead them away again..."

[moomoo]

Francois scrambles around a bit, and then comes up with a thick rope.
Here, I zink we can use zis as well.
He then looks around for a place to connect the rope to.

[Erasmas]

You all watched, in horror as you discussed, that you had no time to help. The horde of creatures rushed the helipad and overtook the two armed men with terrible speed while a third opened fire from the helicopter itself. The pilot lifted off once more, trying to escape the situation, but several of the things had clung onto the landing skids as it took to the air. You saw the third man with the automatic weapon fall from the open door as the chopper listed; three of the creatures that had gone airborne dropping after him in pursuit. They fell to the helipad below and splattered upon the deck as the mob turned and tore into what was left of the Coast Guard. That still left two hanging onto the helicopter and you could see that they were starting to clamber up through the opening. The helicopter's tail rotor smashed into a metal tower with some sort of dish on its top that rose from the deck nearby, causing sparks to fly in a large fountain and the tail of the helicopter to fall onto the ship. Smoke began to billow out of the chopper as it careened off of the starboard bow and gained altitude. And then it abruptly plummeted into the ocean, crashing in a mixture of sea spray and fire.

[GunnDancer]

Victor gapes, open mouthed, as the chopper crashes into the sea and the swell of undead flesh slams into the unfortunate crew.

"... I... huh??"

At a loss for words, he can only stare.

[moomoo]

Francois looks stupefied at the helicopter, their hope to get away from here, crashing.
Merde.

[cleviticus]

Jon stands feeling feckless as he stares at the burning wreckage. He remains mouth agape until his mind can make sense of what he's seen. Slowly he begins to speak.

"The only other way to get away from this ship is a lifeboat."

[Erasmas]

Gina falls to pieces and begins crying at the sight of the wreck and the apparent loss of hope. Jacob takes her to the far corner of the room and consoles her to the best of his abilities. Rodrigo crosses himself - forehead, stomach, left shoulder, and then right - before kissing the gold crucifix he had hanging around a chain on his neck. Chase was still staring out of the window, his forehead pressed against the glass and his mouth hanging wide open.

"That is a complete buzz kill. No bueno."

Rodrigo, having finished muttering his prayer, echoes Chase's sentiment, "Si, no bueno."

After some time had passed, as you took time to allow what just happened to sink in and to discuss what to do next, Jacob walked back over to the window. he quickly looked back over his shoulder and called out.

"Hey, guys... look! Look... down there!" Gathering at the window and looking down at what he had pointed out, you could all see that the throng of infected people had dissipated. What you saw then rekindled at least some small amount of hope - the Coast Guard members had dropped their automatic weapons. Two of them lay off to the sides of the helipad, with no sign of their previous owners around except for bloody streaks on the ground. The third gun, from the fallen Guardsman, swung by its strap on the nearby wreckage of the metal tower that had been taken out by the helicopter's tail. Even from here, you could see that his body was still there (at least what was left of it) and his vest had places for several more clips of ammunition.

[GunnDancer]

Victor grimaces a bit as he gazes down at the automatic weapons, shaking his head a little.

"I've never fired a fully auto weapon before but I'm certain the mechanics aren't all that different from pistol firing, but... do you think we could make it to the guns before we're ripped to shreds?"

[cleviticus]

Jon's stomach turns again and again as he looks at the chasm between them and the helipad.

"I think the question should be, 'are the guns worth it.' Those guys were trained to use them and they still got killed. We need to get to land more than anything."

[moomoo]

The way I see it, we need to fight most of the mob anyway, and I rather do it with zat, than with zis here. Problem is, anyone know how to use a gun?
At the "zat", Francois nods at the window outside, while at "zis", he looks at the stained kitchen knife that had kept him alive until know.

[GunnDancer]

Victor raises his hand.

"Pentathlete remember? Man... no one watches that event! But I've only fired pistols mainly and certainly nothing that was ever full auto..."

[Erasmas]

Chase adds, "How hard can it be, right? I mean... you point the blasty end in the direction of the creep-a-zoids and you pull the trigger-thingy."

[GunnDancer]

Victor looks pointedly at chase.

"Yeah... No gun for you."

His gaze moves back over to the firearms and he frowns a little.

"Here is a thought: How far are the life rafts from the deck there? Is it possible to grab the guns and make a break for it to the life raft and leave this ship behind?"

Now that the boat was stopped they had done all they could short of sinking the ship in some fashion to keep it from getting to shore. Now it was time to save themselves.

[moomoo]

Hmm, we could always try, unless the mob catches up with us before we can grab ze guns. Well anyway, we can't stand here all the time, better let's moving and see what we can do when we get zere.

While he says this, he looks at the other to see if they are ready to go out again.

[Erasmas]

Looking out, Victor can see the nearest lifeboat to the helipad... it is only about 50 yards or so, but is one deck below.

The others seem to be either tending to other matters at the moment, or looking to you for guidance on what to do next.

[cleviticus]

"Let's get the guns and make break for the life boat. Should we split up? It would be easier on the injured if they went straight for the life boat."

Jon's voice comes out wobbly despite his efforts to sound calm. The idea of having to face the undead again has him quietly panicking.

[GunnDancer]

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Victor makes his way to the opening in the window, peering down quietly.

"One deck down and 50 yards away. Might as well be on the moon for all the good it does us up here..."

Turning back to their motley crew, Victor looks each of them over.

"Here's what I think... you can reject it if you want but it makes the most sense. Climbing out of this window is probably not a good idea. In our excitement at seeing the chopper it seemed like a really good plan but the fact is unless you are a practiced climber or in great physical shape you're probably looking at a quick fall, sudden stop, and a gruesome death."

Pausing momentarily, he shakes his head a little to get the images of Blake and Mason out of his mind.

"Our best bet is to make our way down to that deck, grab the guns and scoot to a life boat as quick and quietly as we can. Who here has any kind of self defense or fighting experience? Those folks, myself included should be on point, with one taking up the rear as guard. The rest of you should hang out in between us as best as possible in order to get maximum protection..."

He stops speaking, waiting for the response.

[moomoo]

The only fighting experience I have is the one I learned getting here.
Francois answers with a shrug.
But I guess we will need all the fighting experience we have to get out of this merde.
He adds with a grim voice.

[cleviticus]

"i have some training, but it doesn't exactly apply to fighting corpses."


Jon feels the rush from earlier begin to fade. The planning gives him hope, which he clings to as his mind races through the macabre possibilities in store for them.

[GunnDancer]

"Alright, everyone grab whatever you can to use as a weapon. I have a feeling it's going to get ugly."

Victor recalls the pile of charred corpses on the otherside of the door and looks about curiously.

"Does anyone know if there is a second way out of here?"

[moomoo]

François looks around and sees another door:
We can try and go through dere.
he says, pointing at it.
But first, I suggest we prepare ourselves.
He then begins sharpening and repairing his trusted kitchen knife.

[cleviticus]

Jon grabs the hammer and tests the balance of it, swinging it several times and tossing it end over end. The pry bar he holds up in offer to the others, " This will come in handy, does anyone need a weapon?"

[Erasmas]

Gina steps forward and takes the pry bar, "I'll take it. It's gotta be better than wielding a shoe." She manages a weak smile at Jon.

The group makes its way out onto the balcony that runs just in front of the Bridge and cannot be accessed by any other means than the one door... unless of course someone was to climb, which looks next to impossible for anybody but maybe Spider-Man. Getting down from here was going to be tricky... but, at least for now, the coast looked clear.