The Darkest of Winters: Session #8

The rest of the journey towards the air field proceeded without further incident, Riley maneuvering the heavy bank van as if it was a military cargo truck and avoiding the majority of pot holes and wrecked vehicles, Jessy eagerly riding shotgun with a Mp5 in his right hand, and another sitting in his lap. (Jessy's player having commented earlier about duel wielding Smg's for even more 'run'n gun fun' which was greet with a unsurprising lack of enthusiasm from the rest of the group.)

Aside from a few stray dogs they spotted in the distance, and a curl of smoke from the nearby city the surroundings seemed dead as they approached the airfield, understandably hesitant about abandoning their rolling bank vault.

With Renee urging them on with promises of how much better things would be once they got airborne, the group reassembled at the entrance to the private airstrip, next to an over turned pick up and burnt out wreck of a station wagon, Heathers canine companions whining at the scent of decayed flesh on the wind.

After a brief discussion on how to proceed Heather and Riley headed in first, with Riley on point, an mp5 securely gripped in both hands as he stealthily scouted ahead, Heather not far behind with her faithful German Shepherds. Jessy and Renee brought up the rear with Tommy and Jamie close beside them along with the few strays, alert for any noise in the eerie silence.

Ahead on the narrow road Riley spotted the first body, what looked to have been a young man of around twenty in a gas mask, a crust of dried vomit ringing the edges, tire marks profusely covering the body of the corpse. A little further beyond were three more dead bodies in a similar fashion, almost as if they had been lined up and run down deliberately. To his right near a small garage, a figure in the shadows let out a loud echoing moan and staggered in Riley's direction, more moans quickly joining the first from a larger warehouse further away to the left.

Wasting little time, Riley dropped to one knee and fired, his short burst of 9mm fire punching the zombie back into the darkness and resounding like thunder in the brief moment of silence. The rest of the group quickly joined him near the garage, where the multiple moans from the warehouse lead to the rapid formation of a simple plan: Get to the air strip, grab the nearest plane Renee can fly that will hold everyone, and get away before the undead catch up with them.

Jamie scooped up Tommy in one arm to make better speed, and Renee helped a limping Jessy keep pace with Heather and Riley as they all rushed towards the landing strips, by passing a small helicopter that made for a tempting alternative, until they realized none of them knew how to fly it.

In the distance, parked 30 or so feet from a refueling truck sat a small twin engine plane, looking weather beaten from the recent storm, and with several broken branches from a near by tree covering one wing.

Riley offered to pull a quick distraction with Heather, while the rest got the plane in running order, Heather passing Renee her lever action rifle before going after Riley, her two dogs at her heels as they both tore across the open area in a all out dash for the fueling truck.

Renee yelled for the rest to head for the plane while she provided covering fire with the rifle, and began taking measured shots at the zombies slowly emerging from the airplane hanger a few hundred feet away, pausing briefly at the sight of a smaller, faster form darting among the zombies legs.

At first glance it looked to be a small child, then the cold post storm lighting revealed the upper torso of a man, severed a little below the ribcage running on its hands, backbone and entrails leaving a red smear in its wake as it skittered and leaped across the pavement, rapidly closing the distance with her, maggot filled eye sockets squirming with glee. (A fast zombie that had been blown nearly in two but still was quite functional and vicious.)

Renee knelt down and tried repeatedly to lodge a rifle bullet in the half zombie as it scrambled in a broken gait towards her, her bullets sparking off the pavement with every miss to whine harmlessly into the leaden sky, the larger mass of zombies (about two dozen in all) shambling closer to Jessy, Tommy, and Jamie, Jessy's limp and the greyhounds broken leg slowing their progress to barely faster then that of the zombies.

Meanwhile Heather and Riley made it to the refueling truck, Riley busting open the drivers window with the butt of his mp5 and quickly opening the door, (which wasn't even locked to begin with) and yelling for Heather to 'Ride shotgun, we'll use this as a distraction to lead the zombies away until they got the plane running.' Heather nodded and jumped in after telling her dogs to 'stay', grateful to see the keys still in the ignition.

Back in the middle of the landing strip Jessy heard Renee's scream of warning and paused, turned and leveled his twin mp5s at the approaching zombies, unloading on full auto at the legs of the zombies, strafing guns at knee level until they ran dry. The bullets hammering into, and shredding the legs of the undead, knocking most of them sprawling like rotten pinwheels in a jumble of arms and legs.

Renee finally managed to hit the scurrying zombie with the final round from the lever action, sending it spinning back across the pavement, where it quickly picked itself back up, the bullet wound in its torso doing little to impede its renewed charge at Renee, covering the remaining thirty feet in a scarce few seconds. As it leaped into the air for Renee's throat, the half zombie was masterfully intercepted by the furred body of a Doberman, (one of Heathers strays having barreled back to protect Renee) pinning it to the ground and tearing into its decayed body with a frenzied growl.

Back at the truck Riley and Heather picked up speed and mowed down the leg shot zombie pile, Riley hitting the brakes to make a sickening mess of zombie body parts and rubber in a several long skids, Heather barely controlling her urge to vomit at the sight and smell.

At the plane Jessy opened the passenger door, only to have the moaning decayed body of a older woman tumble out onto him, hands wrapping around his throat and dragging him to the ground. As he struggled to bring his handgun up and decapitate the zombie Jamie resolved the situation with a single round from her Mp5, covering Jessy in foul smelling zombie brains, (again!) Tommy leaping to help his uncle free himself from under the bloated corpse.

Gunfire sparked off the road to Renee's left as she looked up to see a bullet riddled mini van careening through the chain link fence several hundred feet away at the far end of the landing strip, several camo clad men with M-16?s firing wildly from the windows. The familiar symbol of 'The Gunz of Pure Humanity' was emblazoned across the front of the vehicle, along with the chained remains of some unfortunate child.

* * * * *

Will the group safely make it airborne? Will Riley and Heathers ride in the refueling truck be their last? Will Jessy's beard be stained by zombie brains? Find out in adventure synopsis #9!