You have failed again.
There are no other vehicles present.
Stojan appears to be growing impatient.
OK. Time to go.
I head back to Stojan's car.
"Sorry for the wait. Lets go."
"It's about time, man."
Before you leave, considering your limited space, what weapons are you bringing and how are you bringing them?
Is there a back seat? How full is the back seat? (you said it was a convertible.)
(Sorry it's short. But, I need to know that before come up with that)
It is a convertible; the back seat is empty and is 48 inches from door to door. The seats in the front can move up, scoring about 26 inches from backseat to the seating area; right now it's closer to 20 inches.
I'm going to ride in the front.
I'm going to fill the back up to a little over the seat with ammo.
I'm taking a rifle or a sniper rifle, a pump action shotgun,, an automatic weapon and two large caliber hand gun. I'm putting them in the back seat and covering them a bit with ammo.
Do I need to go into how much of what type of ammo I grabbed?
As we travel back
"Do you know where your neighbors put the keys to their cars?"
For now it is not incredibly relevant how much ammo.
"What? Why the ---- would I know that?
"I guess they probably kept them in their house."
What time is it when we get back to his house?
If I have a couple of hours before sunset, I will look around in the houses of the neighbors for car keys.
It's about four in the afternoon; you still have a good two hours before the sun is going to be low in the sky.
You stroll up the walk at Stojan's neighbor's house, skip up the steps, and stop on their doormat. You pull open the screen and try the front door; locked.
Time to break the door.
I'm using my 2@1 Power Back Kick B7@3 base dangerous RF1 -10SM, +10 opponent attack SM
2@5 BRA
2@5 MSV
You hit the wall next to the door.
That smarts.
You have slid the doormat to the side accidently, and a glint of light catches your eye; you see a door key sitting on the ground reflecting the sunlight, partially under the mat still.
§
Come on, we both know you really would have looked under the mat before you tried to kick the door in! =P
I use the key.
The door unlocks easily, and you walk inside.
"Stay where you are," a feminine voice growls menacingly from the darkness in the room; there are very thick curtains, blocking out the light. You see a small bead of red light on your pelvis; it seems to be generated by some sort of sight from across the room.
A slender woman walks up to you cautiously; you'd judge her to be approximately your age or perhaps a year or two off, with skin a light toffee color. Her shoulder-length hair looks a wreck; as a matter of fact, she looks a wreck all the way around.
She stops about four feet away from you, and asks, "Are you one of them?"
"If I was one of them could I talk and use a key to unlock a door?"
She says, "Yes. But if you were one of them, you probably wouldn't have stopped.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Eli. May I sit down and talk with you?"
After a moment, she acquiesces, and brings you to a table, where she lights a small candle and sits.
It is a small, square table; there is a seat facing her and one on the left side on the table and one on the right side of the table.
I sit in the seat facing her and say
"I'm sorry for breaking into your house. Your neighbor, Stojan, said that he hasn't seen anyone alive. So I assumed that the people around here would be dead or turned.
I wanted to organize the people to fight those things.
The first step of my plan was to get a vehicle to find and gather the people together."
She tells you, "My name is Ashley. My father worked at a genetic research lab, and there was an accident there; they were working on a cure for death using a microscopic self-replicating genetically created lifeform, and it got loose; since then, it's been replicating and has spread into an epidemic.
"He's dead now.
"I've got a car. I haven't used it since... the incident. It should have a full tank of gas."
" OK, Ashley. I have a few questions to ask.
What was the company that your father worked for? I hope it's not called Umbrella
What was the organism that your father worked on called?
What do you know about the organism?
Did your father keep any information out side the company?
Where was the research department located?
Will you help me to try to fix this?"
She answers you, "No, it was called Hardcorp. What is Umbrella?
"I don't know what they called it... I just know what he was working on.
"None, that I know of...
"It was in this city, but that place is probably crawling with them!
"I don't know if it can be fixed. I didn't even know there was anyone else still alive.
"Do you want something to eat? I've got some canned food... my dad, he was always really paranoid something like this would happen... always saying, 'Lee, the safety of the world hangs in a precarious balance, it could be nuclear war or terrorists or a giant meteor or an epidemic or aliens attacking or dinosaurs returning'... and a lot of other things too... anyway, he always kept this place stocked."
Note: I usually use italicizes to indicate thought.
"I would be grateful for that. Should I invite Stojan over to eat?
I have another question I forgot to ask.
How good are you with your gun?"
Uhhh... I see no italics. I guess it's possible my opera based browser does not support them. If you could a. "quote" the things you're saying and not the things you're thinking or b. use bold instead of italics, that will help in the future to avoid that error.
§
"If you want to invite... what's his name? Stoin? If you want to invite him over to eat, that would be fine."
§
Stojan is actually pronounced more similarly to what she said than how it looks to be spelled. I'll bet Nikolaj knows =P maybe.
I go over to Stojan and say
"I found one of your neighbors alive. She offered us some food, Lets go over and introduce you to her."
What kind of car does she have?
I guess it would be pronounced like Sto-yann or something as far as I would pronounce it, with the emphasis on 'yann', but not heavy. :)
What kind of car do you want her to have?
§
Stojan and Ashley introduce themselves to one another; they've got a bit of a language barrier, but it is apparent they hadn't met before this moment. The three of you sit down to a hearty meal of cold canned beans eaten with plastic sporks.
I would want something large like a van or a truck.
Her father's armored van is here in the garage.
It says "HARDCORP" on the side, and has several guns in the back that do not look to be civilian issue, as well as several of what look to be grenades or bombs of some type.
There are also several grenade launchers, and grenades there seem to be ammunition for these.
A computerized system inside the van seems to have been specifically designed to view outside of the van and hear what people are saying outside of it without them hearing the inside.
"My dad was a little crazy," Ashley explains.
I ask Ashley "What kind of grenades are these?
How long can the computer operate on battery power?"
How big is the van?
"Your dad may have been a little crazy, but he was crazy in an awesome and useful way.
Do you spend the night in the van? I think it is the safest place around.
I just need to find a way to put a ram on the front to make it perfect..."
She shrugs in response to the question. "I dunno, some kind of chemical; he told me before.
"Um, I dunno; I've never heard of it dying before."
It is a large van, not a minivan.
"I usually spend the days in bed and the nights in the house; you're right, the van would probably be safer."
She still never answered your question about whether or not she's any good with that gun.
"Have you used that gun before the epidemic?"
After she answers that
"Do you have a sleeping bag?"
She responds, "I'm okay with it.
"Yeah, I've got like six of them; my dad... you get the idea by now, I think."
Ok. Lets organize watches with Stojan, move the guns and ammo I acquired to this van, and arrange two sleeping bags comfortably in the van."
You organize the watches with Stojan, and soon, night falls.
Ashley has brought a change of clothes for herself; she shocks you by showing no trace of scruples and changing right in front of the two of you without even turning around.
I turn my head away while she changes.
I'm going to use my shift to learn how to use the various function on the computer.
I have 2@3 Operate Computer T11@0.
Stojan does not turn his head.
"Well, looks like somebody's filled out in all the right places."
She ignores him.
§
It's not a difficult system to operate. You find in personal files information about a symbiotic creature that was intended to prolong life indefinitely and cure disease; unfortunately, the symbiotic creature had too much control. They were working on reducing the amount of control on that.
There are a lot of technical documents on the drive that are very difficult to read.
I have a third of the night. Lets see what else I puzzle out
Unfortunately, you don't find anything further of interest in that regard; you do find how to access the video and audio software.
I wait until the morning, when everyone is awake.
"OK. I think this van needs a ram. Let's go to a welding shop and put one on.
I'm open to suggestions for what we do after that."