Multiple Settings Dying to Live, Living to Die (Hopefully not cliche Zombie Survival)

[The Omen of Death]

(Choice 1 has been chosen with 1 vote!)

You sprint across the main corridor for the broken transit authority door, hoping to get far enough ahead of the zombies that it won’t matter that they see you – which unfortunately, they all do. With a loud clamor of wails and wheezing snarls, the massive hoard of walking dead jammed up at the at the turnstiles, notices your movement and falls forward toward you in a sudden jerky run. Damn; these ones are moving much faster than you expected!

Looking toward the smaller group of ten to twelve zombies at the other end of the corridor, you see that they too have all seen you and are now coming at you as well – lumbering forward with a clumsy gait.

You rush through the broken transit authority door and see that you are in a short hallway, leading from the broken door about thirty feet to a set of private restrooms (men and women’s) at the far end. Another corridor joins the hallway about halfway down its length on the left.

With the horde of ravenous zombies just moments behind, you move quickly to the corridor leading off the hallway and look down it to see a long corridor lit by emergency lighting. A number of office doors, some open and some closed, line each side – while what’s left of two mangled corpses litter the hallway in a splattering of gore. As you look, you see a zombie stumble out of one of the office doors to wander aimlessly down the hall away from you.

At the far end of the corridor, beyond the lone zombie with its back to you, you can also see another security door, this one intact, but also shut and secured with a pushpin key lock.

Great; you’re about to be sandwiched between the zombie ahead and the coming horde from behind – you’d better decide what to do fast…

1. Take out the lone zombie with your crowbar, allowing a few moments access to the security door before the other two zombies show up behind you
2. Step into an office off the corridor to hide from the zombies while searching for an exit
3. Sneak to the end of the short hallway into a restroom and lock yourself in until the zombies wander from the area

 

[Historical Storyteller]

(Choice 1 has been chosen with 1 vote!)

You sprint across the main corridor for the broken transit authority door, hoping to get far enough ahead of the zombies that it won’t matter that they see you – which unfortunately, they all do. With a loud clamor of wails and wheezing snarls, the massive hoard of walking dead jammed up at the at the turnstiles, notices your movement and falls forward toward you in a sudden jerky run. Damn; these ones are moving much faster than you expected!

Looking toward the smaller group of ten to twelve zombies at the other end of the corridor, you see that they too have all seen you and are now coming at you as well – lumbering forward with a clumsy gait.

You rush through the broken transit authority door and see that you are in a short hallway, leading from the broken door about thirty feet to a set of private restrooms (men and women’s) at the far end. Another corridor joins the hallway about halfway down its length on the left.

With the horde of ravenous zombies just moments behind, you move quickly to the corridor leading off the hallway and look down it to see a long corridor lit by emergency lighting. A number of office doors, some open and some closed, line each side – while what’s left of two mangled corpses litter the hallway in a splattering of gore. As you look, you see a zombie stumble out of one of the office doors to wander aimlessly down the hall away from you.

At the far end of the corridor, beyond the lone zombie with its back to you, you can also see another security door, this one intact, but also shut and secured with a pushpin key lock.

Great; you’re about to be sandwiched between the zombie ahead and the coming horde from behind – you’d better decide what to do fast…

1. Take out the lone zombie with your crowbar, allowing a few moments access to the security door before the other two zombies show up behind you
2. Step into an office off the corridor to hide from the zombies while searching for an exit
3. Sneak to the end of the short hallway into a restroom and lock yourself in until the zombies wander from the area

Jesus fucking Christ this is a disaster!

Even if I manage to beat the zombie to a pulp, a few moments on the security door wouldn't cut it. You'd need like a few hours or even a few days to get through the damn door so your time will be up before you know it. If there are a few people behind the door, they probably wouldn't answer your cries for help since everybody there knows that there are THOUSANDS OF ZOMBIES OUTSIDE. So option 1 is out of the question.

As for option 2, there will probably be a few random zombies that will turn any person walking through into a human happy meal, but the area's much wider and you can run around for a bit before they swarm you. Even if there are no exits around the office there might be a window, so if you're super desperate, you smash the window open with your crowbar and jump through. Sure, you'll need some stitches for those shards of glass mauling you but you'll still buy yourself some more time before you get help.

Going into a restroom in the middle of a zombie apocalypse? Dear god knows how many people were taking a piss or a shit before suddenly being reanimated as a zombie. It's a goddamned death trap! There will be zombies in the room and the bathroom doors leading to the toilet will be weak, so they might even storm through the door if you think it'll protect you. And even if the bathroom door does hold and the zombies lose interest, you're already bleeding like a pig on your heel and the bathroom is no place where you can find first aid. Even if you're suffering like hell, its best to keep going until you find other survivors or find some survival equipment or die trying. There's no way you can give up now.

2. Ultimately, I think option 2 is the most viable one.

 

[The Omen of Death]

(Choice 2 has been chosen with 1 vote! Considering you replied after about a day it does not appear like anyone else is going to reply... I thought it would be good to make the post now.)

You quickly step into an office in the corridor to hide from the zombies while searching for an exit. Shutting the door quietly behind you, you hear the zombies pouring into the area on the other side, snarling and wailing as they search after for you. It’s not even a moment later that they start scratching and pushing at the office door.

You lean against the door to keep it shut, looking desperately into the room. It’s just an ordinary business office with no other exits. Damn; your luck sucks!

You consider whether you would have enough time to push a desk in front of the door to barricade yourself in – when suddenly a clawed zombie arm crashes through the door next to your face. The zombies are actually tearing their way into the room! Then a set of arms crashes through on either side of your waist to wrap around you.

You lean forward in an attempt to pull free, but the flimsy office door gives way completely at that point, and you are pulled backward through it, and into the hands of the waiting horde. It’s only a matter of seconds before you’re torn to shreds by the flesh-starved monsters.

A moment later and you’re standing near your own remains in some sort of surreal out-of-body experience, looking at the blood splattered walls of the corridor and watching the zombies spread your entrails out amongst themselves. Looking back into the office you were just pulled out of, you see that strange black shadowy shape from your unconscious dreams lurking nearby. You wonder what it is and what it wants with you, but that is another story…

END

Here’s a rundown of how you did –

You Killed 4 Zombies

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???



You Killed 0 People

You Saved 0 People (including yourself, unless you died)

You have died overall: 1 time



You were eaten by 213 Zombies


(Looks like you hit a dead end... Literally! But does that mean your story is over? No! Because I am kind enough to want to see you guys complete this! Besides ending the fun here wouldn't be fun! So here is a note that whenever you die you will simply get a game over type thing with some stats and showing how many times you have died overall. Also, the choice that killed you will have a note that says 'This choice killed you earlier'... So with that I think its time for a RESTART! Also, what's up with this mysterious figure? That's something for you to find out as you continue!)

You sprint across the main corridor for the broken transit authority door, hoping to get far enough ahead of the zombies that it won’t matter that they see you – which unfortunately, they all do. With a loud clamor of wails and wheezing snarls, the massive hoard of walking dead jammed up at the at the turnstiles, notices your movement and falls forward toward you in a sudden jerky run. Damn; these ones are moving much faster than you expected!

Looking toward the smaller group of ten to twelve zombies at the other end of the corridor, you see that they too have all seen you and are now coming at you as well – lumbering forward with a clumsy gait.

You rush through the broken transit authority door and see that you are in a short hallway, leading from the broken door about thirty feet to a set of private restrooms (men and women’s) at the far end. Another corridor joins the hallway about halfway down its length on the left.

With the horde of ravenous zombies just moments behind, you move quickly to the corridor leading off the hallway and look down it to see a long corridor lit by emergency lighting. A number of office doors, some open and some closed, line each side – while what’s left of two mangled corpses litter the hallway in a splattering of gore. As you look, you see a zombie stumble out of one of the office doors to wander aimlessly down the hall away from you.

At the far end of the corridor, beyond the lone zombie with its back to you, you can also see another security door, this one intact, but also shut and secured with a pushpin key lock.

Great; you’re about to be sandwiched between the zombie ahead and the coming horde from behind – you’d better decide what to do fast…

1. Take out the lone zombie with your crowbar, allowing a few moments access to the security door before the other two zombies show up behind you
2. Step into an office off the corridor to hide from the zombies while searching for an exit (This choice killed you last time)
3. Sneak to the end of the short hallway into a restroom and lock yourself in until the zombies wander from the area

 

[Historical Storyteller]

(Choice 2 has been chosen with 1 vote! Considering you replied after about a day it does not appear like anyone else is going to reply... I thought it would be good to make the post now.)

You quickly step into an office in the corridor to hide from the zombies while searching for an exit. Shutting the door quietly behind you, you hear the zombies pouring into the area on the other side, snarling and wailing as they search after for you. It’s not even a moment later that they start scratching and pushing at the office door.

You lean against the door to keep it shut, looking desperately into the room. It’s just an ordinary business office with no other exits. Damn; your luck sucks!

You consider whether you would have enough time to push a desk in front of the door to barricade yourself in – when suddenly a clawed zombie arm crashes through the door next to your face. The zombies are actually tearing their way into the room! Then a set of arms crashes through on either side of your waist to wrap around you.

You lean forward in an attempt to pull free, but the flimsy office door gives way completely at that point, and you are pulled backward through it, and into the hands of the waiting horde. It’s only a matter of seconds before you’re torn to shreds by the flesh-starved monsters.

A moment later and you’re standing near your own remains in some sort of surreal out-of-body experience, looking at the blood splattered walls of the corridor and watching the zombies spread your entrails out amongst themselves. Looking back into the office you were just pulled out of, you see that strange black shadowy shape from your unconscious dreams lurking nearby. You wonder what it is and what it wants with you, but that is another story…

END

Here’s a rundown of how you did –

You Killed 4 Zombies

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???

You Killed 0 ???



You Killed 0 People

You Saved 0 People (including yourself, unless you died)

You have died overall: 1 time



You were eaten by 213 Zombies


(Looks like you hit a dead end... Literally! But does that mean your story is over? No! Because I am kind enough to want to see you guys complete this! Besides ending the fun here wouldn't be fun! So here is a note that whenever you die you will simply get a game over type thing with some stats and showing how many times you have died overall. Also, the choice that killed you will have a note that says 'This choice killed you earlier'... So with that I think its time for a RESTART! Also, what's up with this mysterious figure? That's something for you to find out as you continue!)

You sprint across the main corridor for the broken transit authority door, hoping to get far enough ahead of the zombies that it won’t matter that they see you – which unfortunately, they all do. With a loud clamor of wails and wheezing snarls, the massive hoard of walking dead jammed up at the at the turnstiles, notices your movement and falls forward toward you in a sudden jerky run. Damn; these ones are moving much faster than you expected!

Looking toward the smaller group of ten to twelve zombies at the other end of the corridor, you see that they too have all seen you and are now coming at you as well – lumbering forward with a clumsy gait.

You rush through the broken transit authority door and see that you are in a short hallway, leading from the broken door about thirty feet to a set of private restrooms (men and women’s) at the far end. Another corridor joins the hallway about halfway down its length on the left.

With the horde of ravenous zombies just moments behind, you move quickly to the corridor leading off the hallway and look down it to see a long corridor lit by emergency lighting. A number of office doors, some open and some closed, line each side – while what’s left of two mangled corpses litter the hallway in a splattering of gore. As you look, you see a zombie stumble out of one of the office doors to wander aimlessly down the hall away from you.

At the far end of the corridor, beyond the lone zombie with its back to you, you can also see another security door, this one intact, but also shut and secured with a pushpin key lock.

Great; you’re about to be sandwiched between the zombie ahead and the coming horde from behind – you’d better decide what to do fast…

1. Take out the lone zombie with your crowbar, allowing a few moments access to the security door before the other two zombies show up behind you
2. Step into an office off the corridor to hide from the zombies while searching for an exit (This choice killed you last time)
3. Sneak to the end of the short hallway into a restroom and lock yourself in until the zombies wander from the area

*Facepalm*

OK, fine, I'm taking option 1 even if it sounds ridiculous.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

*Facepalm*

OK, fine, I'm taking option 1 even if it sounds ridiculous.

Hey, Omy, are my choices determined by luck and I can chose the same option with a different result?

 

[The Omen of Death]

Hey, Omy, are my choices determined by luck and I can chose the same option with a different result?

Err, in some cases yes and in some cases no. That's about as easy I can explain it without getting too complicated. When you make an initial choice that is determined by luck, but once that happens its like the thing of luck sets you in stone with what result you would get, like for example since you tried hiding in an office, a dice roll decided that you were screwed, and as a result picking that would lead to the same result. A dead end.

However, some choices are already preset by me to have a certain result occur.

 

[Historical Storyteller]

Err, in some cases yes and in some cases no. That's about as easy I can explain it without getting too complicated. When you make an initial choice that is determined by luck, but once that happens its like the thing of luck sets you in stone with what result you would get, like for example since you tried hiding in an office, a dice roll decided that you were screwed, and as a result picking that would lead to the same result. A dead end.

However, some choices are already preset by me to have a certain result occur.

Good thing to know. Heh, and I decided to pick Option 1 in the end because Option 3 would probably end up with the same result only that you'd die being eaten next to a toilet.

 

[The Omen of Death]

(Choice 1 has been chosen with 1 vote!)

You sprint right up the corridor, toward the lone zombie near the closed security door. As you come up from behind, the zombie turns to see what the commotion is and catches your heavy crowbar right across the eyes. You hit it so hard – and with the momentum of your run – that the entire front of its face folds in and both eyeballs pop right out of its head. The thing topples over in a crimson spray – and does not get back up. Looking back down the corridor behind you, you don’t yet see the following zombies, but can hear them drawing closer. You might have ten seconds – if you’re lucky.

Quickly looking at the pushpin key lock securing the door, you see that it has nine pins (zero through nine) and a turning knob. Having worked with these before, in some of the secured areas of the Summit Tower, you know that you punch in a four digit combination and then turn the knob to open the door.

Examining the pushpins themselves, you note that the ‘1’, ‘2’, and ‘9’ pins seem a bit more worn than the rest; and that the ‘9’ pin looks the most worn of all. If the wear indicates the pins used in the combination, then you’re looking at a combination using a ‘1’, ‘2’, and two ‘9’s. Being an accountant, you quickly do the math in your head – leaving you with only twelve combinations.

You try: (Note: You only have 4 tries!)

1. 1299
2. 1929
3. 1992
4. 2199
5. 2919
6. 2991
7. 9129
8. 9192
9. 9219
10. 9291
11. 9912
12. 9921

 

[Historical Storyteller]

(Choice 1 has been chosen with 1 vote!)

You sprint right up the corridor, toward the lone zombie near the closed security door. As you come up from behind, the zombie turns to see what the commotion is and catches your heavy crowbar right across the eyes. You hit it so hard – and with the momentum of your run – that the entire front of its face folds in and both eyeballs pop right out of its head. The thing topples over in a crimson spray – and does not get back up. Looking back down the corridor behind you, you don’t yet see the following zombies, but can hear them drawing closer. You might have ten seconds – if you’re lucky.

Quickly looking at the pushpin key lock securing the door, you see that it has nine pins (zero through nine) and a turning knob. Having worked with these before, in some of the secured areas of the Summit Tower, you know that you punch in a four digit combination and then turn the knob to open the door.

Examining the pushpins themselves, you note that the ‘1’, ‘2’, and ‘9’ pins seem a bit more worn than the rest; and that the ‘9’ pin looks the most worn of all. If the wear indicates the pins used in the combination, then you’re looking at a combination using a ‘1’, ‘2’, and two ‘9’s. Being an accountant, you quickly do the math in your head – leaving you with only twelve combinations.

You try: (Note: You only have 4 tries!)

1. 1299
2. 1929
3. 1992
4. 2199
5. 2919
6. 2991
7. 9129
8. 9192
9. 9219
10. 9291
11. 9912
12. 9921

Elephantom Mx.Trinity

Eleph, save me!

 

[Historical Storyteller]

Elephantom Mx.Trinity

Eleph, save me!

ALSO, gotta run!

 

[Mx.Trinity]

Elephantom Mx.Trinity

Eleph, save me!

you got time to forum games but not read my CS? NO I'M NOT HELPING U

 

[Historical Storyteller]

you got time to forum games but not read my CS? NO I'M NOT HELPING U

O_O

True.

 

[The Omen of Death]

Ok so since you need at least a little assistance I will give you a hint, the correct code starts with 9

 

[Historical Storyteller]

Ok so since you need at least a little assistance I will give you a hint, the correct code starts with 9

7, 8, 9, 12!

 

[The Omen of Death]

(Technically none of those were right, but we are just going to skip any death stats this time and whatnot since not much changed. Also, we are going to simply move forward as if you got it right since 10 was the right one 9291, so moving forward now!)

With no time to spare, you open the security door and slip inside, shutting it behind – just as the zombies enter the corridor and howl ravenously in your direction. You can see them through the narrow wired-reinforced window in the door, as they stumble quickly to the security door and start pounding against it. You’re pretty sure the steel security door will hold, so you ignore the zombies and take a look around.

You are on a landing at the top of a flight of stairs that drop down sixty feet into a dimly lit area below. In the ceiling above, you note a two and a half by four-foot metal access panel of some sort bolted shut. You ready yourself and head cautiously down the stairs, not wanting to get surprised by anything if you can help it. The stairwell itself is dark, the emergency lighting here beginning to wane. Using your flashlight, you make sure nothing is lurking in the shadows.

At the bottom, the stairwell opens into what you assume is the space between the north and southbound subway tunnels. A red door, like you saw from the tracks, is set in each of the side walls. The one on your left has “North Tunnel” written on it, while the one on the right reads: “South Tunnel”. You can guess that the north and south subway stations platforms are on the other side of those doors – and the south station probably just as zombie infested as the North station is.

Also in the area is a large collection of unknown machinery and a giant spool of old-fashion canvas fire hose. You don’t see anywhere to hook the hose up to (and it’s far too brittle to use anymore), but you do notice a fire ax on a wall not too far from you next to a large fire extinguisher.

Taking some time to search the area, you find some items of potential use. The first thing is a number of lengths of iron piping. You take two pieces and are able to thread them through the handles on both of the red doors to crudely bar them from the inside. Now you have a secure area free of zombies to catch your breath in.

The next thing you find is a working deep sink along one wall. You know that the water in the lines can become contaminated in a citywide disaster, but you figure the water this far down is probably still safe. You take the risk and gulp down the rusty tasting water until you’re filled. Then after splashing some on your face to invigorate yourself a bit, you find a hundred foot coil of three-quarter inch hemp rope on a pile of old tarps.

The rope is a little heavy, but you find that you can easily carry the coil across your shoulder and decide that it will be worth having. Most of the tarps are too big and brittle from age to be of use, but you do find a smaller, eight by ten foot, plastic tarp under the pile in good condition and are able to fold it up small enough to take with you. You also find a relatively clean section of canvas tarp and tear some strips out of it to use as bandages for your wounds. You consider cleaning your head wound in the sink, but figure the dried mat of blood is probably the only thing keeping you from bleeding to death and decide to leave it alone, except to wrap it a little more with a strip of canvas.

Finally, you discover an old vintage Pepsi machine in the corner. It looks like something out of the seventies and has no soda in it, but you do find three empty Pepsi bottles on the floor nearby – the old kind with extra thick glass. Taking the bottles, you fill them with water and cork them with balled up strips of tarping.

Looking at the heavy fire extinguisher you’ve been lugging around (and all the rest of the gear you want to carry), you decide that it really isn’t worth lugging and leave it. You also take a moment to weigh the option of carrying the crowbar you have versus the fire ax. Both are useful but heavy, and you don’t want to get loaded down with too much – as you’re already fatigued and want to be able to move fast when you have to. The crowbar offers a little more utility than the fire ax but has less reach. You’re pretty sure, however, that as a weapon the fire ax will do more damage, but you can also envision it getting stuck in some zombie’s skull if you’re not careful.

As you ponder, you begin to realize just how exhausted you really are. Your muscles all feel tight and you’re incredibly weak and tired – like your wounds and all this exertion are finally hitting you all at once. You can literally feel your mind and body shutting down as you sit there. You start yourself awake, knowing that falling asleep now, with a major head wound and all this blood loss, still poses the risk of going into a coma or even dying in your sleep. But then you don’t seem to have a choice…

As you start to drift off into unconsciousness, you notice that your recent zombie scratch is now burning with an odd tingling sensation.

You begin to wonder if this is the zombie contagion at work – are you really going to die and rise a brain-eating eating monster and was scratching a viable option for turning as well? Or were you just going crazy thinking about it?

Yuck. You never did like the thought of eating brains, or livers, or that other disgusting stuff people eat sometimes. Hell, you can’t even swallow sushi without gaging.

Yeah, you’ll make a real classy zombie, you think sarcastically to yourself, gagging on other peoples’ brains.

Sitting there in your thoughts, you slowly drift off to sleep. The next thing you know, you’re waking with a start from unconsciousness. You feel feverish, while the pain of your head wound and the tightness of your muscles is lost in the burning sensation that has slowly spread out from where you were scratched by the zombie begins to fill your whole body.

You lull in semi-consciousness and your mind reels, jumping chaotically between the horrifying scenes of slaughter witnessed this day and half memories of your family, that feign to come back but then evaporate just before your mind can latch onto them.

You then realize that the burning tightness in all your muscles has progressed to complete paralysis – you can’t even move your fingers or close your eyes. You lay there completely rigid, unable to move, until even your vision blurs.

You’re not sure how long you lay there, drifting in and out of awareness, until you suddenly notice you can see clearly again and blink. You also hear what you think is the beeping of a morning alarm coming from somewhere. Then, all at once, every muscle of your body suddenly releases, and you find yourself drenched in sweat. Your fever is gone and you no longer feel a burning throughout your body or even where you were scratched by that zombie. Now you’re just in good old fashioned pain.

You look at your watch and see that it’s 6:00am – the time you normally get up in the morning to get ready for work. You then realize the alarm on your watch is beeping and you quickly turn it off. Getting up, you are groggy and ache all over, especially your wounds. They actually hurt more now than they did yesterday. You wonder if that has something to do with running on adrenalin and panic last night.

Looking yourself over, you appear normal – not the walking dead like you expected. You quickly do some math in your head. No problem. You’re pretty sure zombies don’t do math. Small blessing.

You then find yourself thinking about your wife Laura and two daughters, ten year old Jessica and seven year old Kate. That is when you realize that your memory is starting to return. You suddenly remember everything about your life up to a week ago last Thursday. For whatever reason, you’re still missing the last little bit.

Who are you anyway?

You are Greg Bradley. You live in the suburbs with your wife, girls, and one cat; and work in the city as an accountant for the Morgan Corporation – an advertising firm. Monday through Friday you catch a commuter train in the suburbs to Fairmont Station in the city, where you hop on the Green Subway Line to the Summit Tower Station. Your commute takes about forty-five minutes. On weekends you like to just be with your family, but do go mountain-biking a couple of times a year with friends you’ve had since college. You and your wife used to go camping quite frequently, but that sort of dropped off after your first daughter was born. Your life is nothing special, but for a moment you treasure each memory – having until just recently had none to treasure at all.

You were an only child of parents who divorced when you were young. You went with your mother at that time; who is still alive, but now lives in a New England nursing home with Alzheimer’s. Your father was an alcoholic and died of liver failure. Your wife’s parents are both still alive, still married, and live in sunny Arizona. They fly you and the family out to their ranch every Christmas, along with the rest of their own family. Your wife has many brothers and sisters, but you really don’t interact with them very much (except over the holiday) and don’t even know all of their names. And that has nothing to do with you losing your memory; you just never cared enough to make the effort.

Yes, it has all come back except for a missing week. The last thing you remember before waking up in the subway tunnel was leaving your office on Thursday to get on the elevator on the 24th floor of the Summit Tower. You take the keys out of your pocket and look at your elevator key – the one marked ‘ST 24’. It’s for the express elevator that goes straight to the Morgan Corporation offices.

You then think about your situation. You were a boy-scout and have some basic survival skills, including being able to handle firearms – or at least you know how to shoot skeet with a shotgun. How much different can blasting zombies in the head be? Now if you could only get your hands on one (the shotgun, not the zombie, you smirk to yourself)…

You also worry greatly for your family. Your wife would be home – hopefully barricaded in, while your girls would have been on the bus to school at the time. Damn! You hope they at least made it to the school, knowing that in such an emergency the school would initiate a lockdown. Maybe they are safe inside waiting for help. You hope so.

Gathering your gear, you think about your options. You can try to escape out of a red door and continue up or down the subway tunnels, knowing they are all full of zombies – or you can go back up to the top of the stairwell and see if you can pry open that metal access panel in the ceiling; who knows what’ll be behind it…

But first, you need to choose to keep the crowbar or take the fire ax:

1. Keep the crowbar
2. Take the fire ax

 

[Historical Storyteller]

(Technically none of those were right, but we are just going to skip any death stats this time and whatnot since not much changed. Also, we are going to simply move forward as if you got it right since 10 was the right one 9291, so moving forward now!)

With no time to spare, you open the security door and slip inside, shutting it behind – just as the zombies enter the corridor and howl ravenously in your direction. You can see them through the narrow wired-reinforced window in the door, as they stumble quickly to the security door and start pounding against it. You’re pretty sure the steel security door will hold, so you ignore the zombies and take a look around.

You are on a landing at the top of a flight of stairs that drop down sixty feet into a dimly lit area below. In the ceiling above, you note a two and a half by four-foot metal access panel of some sort bolted shut. You ready yourself and head cautiously down the stairs, not wanting to get surprised by anything if you can help it. The stairwell itself is dark, the emergency lighting here beginning to wane. Using your flashlight, you make sure nothing is lurking in the shadows.

At the bottom, the stairwell opens into what you assume is the space between the north and southbound subway tunnels. A red door, like you saw from the tracks, is set in each of the side walls. The one on your left has “North Tunnel” written on it, while the one on the right reads: “South Tunnel”. You can guess that the north and south subway stations platforms are on the other side of those doors – and the south station probably just as zombie infested as the North station is.

Also in the area is a large collection of unknown machinery and a giant spool of old-fashion canvas fire hose. You don’t see anywhere to hook the hose up to (and it’s far too brittle to use anymore), but you do notice a fire ax on a wall not too far from you next to a large fire extinguisher.

Taking some time to search the area, you find some items of potential use. The first thing is a number of lengths of iron piping. You take two pieces and are able to thread them through the handles on both of the red doors to crudely bar them from the inside. Now you have a secure area free of zombies to catch your breath in.

The next thing you find is a working deep sink along one wall. You know that the water in the lines can become contaminated in a citywide disaster, but you figure the water this far down is probably still safe. You take the risk and gulp down the rusty tasting water until you’re filled. Then after splashing some on your face to invigorate yourself a bit, you find a hundred foot coil of three-quarter inch hemp rope on a pile of old tarps.

The rope is a little heavy, but you find that you can easily carry the coil across your shoulder and decide that it will be worth having. Most of the tarps are too big and brittle from age to be of use, but you do find a smaller, eight by ten foot, plastic tarp under the pile in good condition and are able to fold it up small enough to take with you. You also find a relatively clean section of canvas tarp and tear some strips out of it to use as bandages for your wounds. You consider cleaning your head wound in the sink, but figure the dried mat of blood is probably the only thing keeping you from bleeding to death and decide to leave it alone, except to wrap it a little more with a strip of canvas.

Finally, you discover an old vintage Pepsi machine in the corner. It looks like something out of the seventies and has no soda in it, but you do find three empty Pepsi bottles on the floor nearby – the old kind with extra thick glass. Taking the bottles, you fill them with water and cork them with balled up strips of tarping.

Looking at the heavy fire extinguisher you’ve been lugging around (and all the rest of the gear you want to carry), you decide that it really isn’t worth lugging and leave it. You also take a moment to weigh the option of carrying the crowbar you have versus the fire ax. Both are useful but heavy, and you don’t want to get loaded down with too much – as you’re already fatigued and want to be able to move fast when you have to. The crowbar offers a little more utility than the fire ax but has less reach. You’re pretty sure, however, that as a weapon the fire ax will do more damage, but you can also envision it getting stuck in some zombie’s skull if you’re not careful.

As you ponder, you begin to realize just how exhausted you really are. Your muscles all feel tight and you’re incredibly weak and tired – like your wounds and all this exertion are finally hitting you all at once. You can literally feel your mind and body shutting down as you sit there. You start yourself awake, knowing that falling asleep now, with a major head wound and all this blood loss, still poses the risk of going into a coma or even dying in your sleep. But then you don’t seem to have a choice…

As you start to drift off into unconsciousness, you notice that your recent zombie scratch is now burning with an odd tingling sensation.

You begin to wonder if this is the zombie contagion at work – are you really going to die and rise a brain-eating eating monster and was scratching a viable option for turning as well? Or were you just going crazy thinking about it?

Yuck. You never did like the thought of eating brains, or livers, or that other disgusting stuff people eat sometimes. Hell, you can’t even swallow sushi without gaging.

Yeah, you’ll make a real classy zombie, you think sarcastically to yourself, gagging on other peoples’ brains.

Sitting there in your thoughts, you slowly drift off to sleep. The next thing you know, you’re waking with a start from unconsciousness. You feel feverish, while the pain of your head wound and the tightness of your muscles is lost in the burning sensation that has slowly spread out from where you were scratched by the zombie begins to fill your whole body.

You lull in semi-consciousness and your mind reels, jumping chaotically between the horrifying scenes of slaughter witnessed this day and half memories of your family, that feign to come back but then evaporate just before your mind can latch onto them.

You then realize that the burning tightness in all your muscles has progressed to complete paralysis – you can’t even move your fingers or close your eyes. You lay there completely rigid, unable to move, until even your vision blurs.

You’re not sure how long you lay there, drifting in and out of awareness, until you suddenly notice you can see clearly again and blink. You also hear what you think is the beeping of a morning alarm coming from somewhere. Then, all at once, every muscle of your body suddenly releases, and you find yourself drenched in sweat. Your fever is gone and you no longer feel a burning throughout your body or even where you were scratched by that zombie. Now you’re just in good old fashioned pain.

You look at your watch and see that it’s 6:00am – the time you normally get up in the morning to get ready for work. You then realize the alarm on your watch is beeping and you quickly turn it off. Getting up, you are groggy and ache all over, especially your wounds. They actually hurt more now than they did yesterday. You wonder if that has something to do with running on adrenalin and panic last night.

Looking yourself over, you appear normal – not the walking dead like you expected. You quickly do some math in your head. No problem. You’re pretty sure zombies don’t do math. Small blessing.

You then find yourself thinking about your wife Laura and two daughters, ten year old Jessica and seven year old Kate. That is when you realize that your memory is starting to return. You suddenly remember everything about your life up to a week ago last Thursday. For whatever reason, you’re still missing the last little bit.

Who are you anyway?

You are Greg Bradley. You live in the suburbs with your wife, girls, and one cat; and work in the city as an accountant for the Morgan Corporation – an advertising firm. Monday through Friday you catch a commuter train in the suburbs to Fairmont Station in the city, where you hop on the Green Subway Line to the Summit Tower Station. Your commute takes about forty-five minutes. On weekends you like to just be with your family, but do go mountain-biking a couple of times a year with friends you’ve had since college. You and your wife used to go camping quite frequently, but that sort of dropped off after your first daughter was born. Your life is nothing special, but for a moment you treasure each memory – having until just recently had none to treasure at all.

You were an only child of parents who divorced when you were young. You went with your mother at that time; who is still alive, but now lives in a New England nursing home with Alzheimer’s. Your father was an alcoholic and died of liver failure. Your wife’s parents are both still alive, still married, and live in sunny Arizona. They fly you and the family out to their ranch every Christmas, along with the rest of their own family. Your wife has many brothers and sisters, but you really don’t interact with them very much (except over the holiday) and don’t even know all of their names. And that has nothing to do with you losing your memory; you just never cared enough to make the effort.

Yes, it has all come back except for a missing week. The last thing you remember before waking up in the subway tunnel was leaving your office on Thursday to get on the elevator on the 24th floor of the Summit Tower. You take the keys out of your pocket and look at your elevator key – the one marked ‘ST 24’. It’s for the express elevator that goes straight to the Morgan Corporation offices.

You then think about your situation. You were a boy-scout and have some basic survival skills, including being able to handle firearms – or at least you know how to shoot skeet with a shotgun. How much different can blasting zombies in the head be? Now if you could only get your hands on one (the shotgun, not the zombie, you smirk to yourself)…

You also worry greatly for your family. Your wife would be home – hopefully barricaded in, while your girls would have been on the bus to school at the time. Damn! You hope they at least made it to the school, knowing that in such an emergency the school would initiate a lockdown. Maybe they are safe inside waiting for help. You hope so.

Gathering your gear, you think about your options. You can try to escape out of a red door and continue up or down the subway tunnels, knowing they are all full of zombies – or you can go back up to the top of the stairwell and see if you can pry open that metal access panel in the ceiling; who knows what’ll be behind it…

But first, you need to choose to keep the crowbar or take the fire ax:

1. Keep the crowbar
2. Take the fire ax

1. I hope to do a crowbar run in this roleplay, just like what Gordon Freeman did in Half Life.

Note: I did not read everything just yet. I will come back and finish everything later but for now I chose option #1 since I believe that the higher you get the lesser zombies you'll encounter overall.