The Darkest of Winters: Session #7

 

The bullet riddled truck continued its barely controlled hurdle down the road, Heather precariously clinging to the top of the vehicle for dear life as Riley swerved around an overturned tanker truck, the stench of sour milk making everyone gag momentarily as they zipped past.

Behind them they noticed only the armored bank truck remained, the last couple remaining bikes having either wrecked under the over pass, or given up pursuit entirely. This moment of relief was short lived however as the bank van lunged forward ramming the pick up forcefully in the rear, Riley frantically struggling to keep control as Renee fell sideways into the passenger seat, gagging on blood and trying to pick herself back up.

Meanwhile up top Heather felt the damp wind rushing about her as she faced back towards the enemy vehicle, the chilled air whipping her blonde hair into a tangled mess around her face and giving a frigid reminder of her lack of any attire underneath the short denim skirt. Uttering a steady stream of un-lady like curses she crawled towards the back of the truck, the decaying body of a zombie caught up admits the roof rack and oozing a slick trail of blood to both sides of itself.

Deciding not to risk crawling through the blood Heather tried instead to crawl over the top of the apparently dead zombie, deciding at the last second to spend a moment to administer a coup de grâce to the zombie's skull with single round from her revolver, just in case. Barely keeping her grip on the revolver and maggot ridden cadaver Heather choked back a mouthful of bile and inched her way closer to the tailgate of the automobile, it's engine coughing in protest as Riley tried to coax yet more speed, hoping to delay the next inevitable ramming attack.

Down Below Jessy, (still chewing on his lit cigar) finally managed to reload the .45 pistol he had recently liberated off the now thoroughly bullet ridden gang member, screaming at Riley to 'Give her all she's got!' and tried to shoot out the front tires of the armored van yet again, his shots missing horribly. With a throaty roar of an over revved engine the armored truck plowed forward for a second time, impacting firmly with the rear of the vehicle, knocking Jessy sideways and the bloodied body of the dead ganger into the road.

Up above, Heather, (having carefully crouched in anticipation of the next ramming attack.) Leaped for the roof of the bank van, sprawling across it and nearly over the side, holding on by her finger tips to the metal runners along the top of the van. Back within the heroes pickup Jessy stared in awe at Heathers' amazing leap, remarking that she must be out of her mind.

Upfront, Riley fought a losing battle to keep the vehicle on the road, the cloud of steam from the blown radiator being replaced by a stream of black smoke and the smell of burning oil, the vehicles engine became a ragged intermittent rhythm. In the passenger seat Renee managed to pull herself upright, and gave a surprised Riley a bloody nod and thumbs up, seeing through her side mirror a pink mow-hawked punk hanging mostly out of the banks side passenger window about to strafe the roof area with his mp5. Both Renee, (briefly leaning out of the trucks passenger window.) and Jessy opened fire with their handguns at the ganger, his head and upper torso vanishing in an eruption of blood.

Up top on the bank van Heather hung on for dear life as the vehicle smashes into the pick up in a third ramming attack, nearly dislodging her from the roof with its severity. Unfortunately for the pickups occupants, Riley failed his driving control roll rather spectacularly, ricocheting off the side of a station wagon to twist onto two wheels over the top of a slick sports car, and roll several times end over end into the muddy ditch at the side of the road, coming to rest upside down.

Quickly the bank van pulled to a stop about a hundred feet past the overturned pick up, and quickly reversed to around twenty or so feet behind it's wreckage. Seconds later the back doors opened to disgorge a half dozen leather clad bandits, cheering and running towards the pick up with their weapons drawn, the driver stepping out and leveling a pump action shotgun at the roof of the truck, mystified when no sight of Heather was found. Wasting little time the bandits rushed towards the wrecked vehicle, only to fall back behind the cover of a sedan with two flat tires as Riley unloaded a clip of pistol ammo in their general direction, yelling 'you'll have to bleed for this truck's contents!'

Inside the overturned pickup itself, Renee painfully pulled herself into a sitting position, reassuring Riley that she was indeed okay and the blood covering her body was the result of her hitting her face into the dashboard when she was shot in the back. From behind them they could hear the pained moans of Jessy and his nephew intermixed with the panicked whining barks of the surviving dogs. Jamie however didn't respond to Riley's repeated calls to her, everyone silently fearing the worst.

From behind the sedans wreckage the group of gangers took a few pot shots at the ruined truck, yelling down insults and vile promises of what fates awaited the occupants if they didn't quickly surrender. Their revelry was short lived however as Heather, (having dropped off the side of the armored van as soon as it stopped and crawled underneath) unloaded with her revolver, placing all six shots into the underside of the disabled sedan, her fourth bullet finding the gas tank and transforming the vehicle into a ball of flame. Finding their cover transformed into a raging inferno, the three surviving gang members crawled to their feet and fled the blaze, straight into the waiting gun sights of Jessy, Riley, and Renee.

The immediate aftermath of the battle was a tearful reunion between Heather and Renee, Riley's medical examination finding Renee's bullet wound to her back being little more then a horribly painful bruise thanks to the shotgun holster across her back, and it's small cleaning kit in the attached pouch; which absorbed the brunt of the bullets force. Jamie was found to have been knocked unconscious by the vehicles death spiral, but other then a mild concussion was little the worse for the wear. Jessy and Tommy while bruised and scraped were also still fit to travel, although badly shaken from the crash.

Unfortunately for Heathers animal companions, two of the recently rescued dogs were dead from gunshot wounds, and the pregnant greyhound having a broken leg. (Which Riley bound with a few scraps of wood from the trucks cap.) Heathers' two German shepherds were in battered condition, but otherwise seemed fit for travel, although unwilling to stray far from their master.

After scavenging the dead bodies for supplies (lots of 9mm ammo, some more shotgun shells and a few mp5 9mm smg's) the group decided to make use of the newly liberated bank van, deciding it was the perfect rolling fortress, with enough room to store all their supplies and surviving dogs. After a brief interlude to repack supplies and verify nothing important was left behind, (Riley siphoning a couple nearby vehicles for extra gasoline.) The group proceeded on their journey towards the private airfield, hopeful an airborne route would speed their journey.

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Will the trip to the airfield be uneventful? Will the crash cause unexpected problems with Jamie's pregnancy? Will the groups new found smg's prove just as dangerous as their Ak 47?s when wielded on full auto?

Find out in adventure Synopsis #8, found Here!