late afternoon day 1 for the Simpsons

"That godamned fool! hair-brained, idiotic, mind-numbing fool! i'm gonna godamn kill that man and when he rises up, I'll be godamned if I don't kill him again!"  

Gracey-Lyn ducked as her raging mother absent-mindedly swung the arrow she was using to punctuate each expletive with.  For the past ten minutes, the volatile woman had cussed out her husband, Gracey-Lyn's father, with very little pause for breath.  Bonnie-May, Gracey's twin and partner in crime, scuffed her foot in small circles as she nervously checked and rechecked the cylinder of the bad-ass revolver she had recovered from the school office.  Seeing this Gracey-Lyn, ejected the magazine of her beloved (and currently being scolded heavily) father's favourite machine pistol, itself a twin piece to a matching machine pistol belonging to her mom, which was still in their family trailer on the edge of town.

"Momma" she began in a really quiet voice, one that she often used when her parents argued and one she hoped would break the current line of diatribe spilling from Mary-Lou's beautiful but very angry mouth.  Adding a bit more strength to the voice she tried again.  "Momma"

With a glare, Mary-Lou spun around and faced her eldest daughter.  Seeing the fierce look on her ma's face  made her want to run screaming , but she stood her ground and carried on. "Mom, I know the boys ain't here" another scowl from her mom caused Gracey-Lyn to take an involuntary step backward, but she persevered "I know they ain't, but those dead-heads can hear you cussing pa out and it's 'bout time we hit the road on home, aint it?" with that outburst she finally let the fear show on her face for her mom to see just how scared she was.

For this final part, the girls had arrived too late to meet the boys at the train yard.  So this would be a straight forward run from one end of the board to the other (simple in ATZ? right....) 

Of course as soon as they moved onto the board they stopped and did not activate for a few turns (yep simple!).  All the while the closest zombies (2 x groups of 3&2 respectively) wandered closer. 

Gracey-Lyn, pointing a shaky finger at the closest zombie, couldn't find the words to warn the others.  The zombie, a lady who reminded her of Miss Kaplowski, the school nurse was a mere 10 feet away.  A groan, came from Miss K's gore covered mouth as she neared the girls.  Two more zeds trailed behind her and their moaning shook the cobwebs from Mary-Lou's mind and brought her back to the now.  Raising her bow she let fly with the arrow that was still in her hand from earlier.  With a barely heard hiss the shaft cleared the space in less than a second to split the forehead of Miss Kaplowski (or her doppleganger).  Gracey-Lyn turned her head in time to witness her sister bring up the heavy barrel of her .357 and blow the other two zeds away!

wrong side of the tracks

they may not be able to move, but they sure can shoot! The zeds moving close enough to charge, triggered the girls into action. GL failed her brown pants and froze (special rule meaning she cannot move more than 4" from her parent) ML passed her charge reaction and dropped her zed with ease.  BM was awesome, passing all the tests required of her and rolling 1's for damage, double dead! what a super trooper.  Better the noise of her shooting did not attract any extra zombies.

Seeing her sister kick zombie butt jolted Gracey-Lyn into action and she followed the others as they strode up the road, a little swagger in her younger sibling's gait.  "Way to go B" her mom purred as she gently tipped the too-big helmet back from her head.  Gracey-Lyn bristled at the smug look her sister threw her.  Lifting the Uzi out at arms length, she pointed the deadly weapon at the next group and pulled the trigger.  The machine pistol jolted wildly as it spat a hail of bullets at the zombies closing in on the family.  The first zed was caught in the legs, chest and finally chin by the slugs and thrown to the floor in a heap while the second zombie had half it's skull exposed by the lead storm.  Throwing her own knowing smile at her twin, she pointed out her feat to Mary-Lou "Look ma, I got two of those darned zombs"

"No need for gloating Gracey-Lyn" was her mother's reply "not when you've woken up two more of the blasted things!" Mary-Lou finished the statement by shooting a zed who had appeared from behind some bushes, in the stomach, the arrow shaft snapping as the monster fell forward.  To compound Gracey-Lyn's discomfort at the rebuke, Bonnie-May dispatched the last of the group with clinical ease, the zombie dressed in a giant chicken suit from the local fast food restaurant wandered for a few steps more before falling down.  Gracey strode angrily over to the zombie that ma had shot and pressed the barrel of her uzi next to its ear and blasting it back into the arms of death.

zombie mascot - GOOOO TEAM Z!!

Looking around to see if the noise had attracted any unwelcome company, she made her way to the line of bushes that surrounded a nearby property.  The tall shrubs created shadows that gave the girls a little cover and allowed them to get further without being seen from the road.  This was very fortunate as a low moan could be heard coming from further up the street, emanating from several undead throats the sound sent shivers up Gracey-Lyn's spine.  Peering around the corner of the bushes, her mother held up eight fingers, eight dead-heads!

there may be trouble ahead...

rolling a 7 for activation generated 5 zombies! to make things worse the girls did not activate. I did rule that as they were in cover they could cower down and not be seen (following a rep test) as that had been the intention of the initial movement to the bushes.  To make things even worse after a turn when no-one activated , in the following turn I rolled another 7 generating 3 more zeds. They generated near the others so I just added them to make a mega horde....damn!

Mary Lou looked a little panicked to Gracey-Lyn, not good considering  her mom was turning out to be the terminator in this apocalypse! Looking frantically around for an escape she spied a small gap in the hedges, Gracey-Lyn gestured to her mother and sibling to come closer.  Whispering softly she outlined a plan that was forming in her mind. "Sis, you remember when we were being pursued by Officer Sandra - sorry ma and we ran down that blind alley." A look of understanding crossed her sisters face as their twin minds raced through that scenario in tandem.  Ma just looked both confused and angry.  Gracey-Lyn sighed, another long 'conversation' with her mother loomed in the near future, if they had a future that is.

Pulling her zippo lighter from the pocket of her dress she beckoned her sister over.  Bonnie-May reached into her slingbag and drew out a string of firecrackers.  Lighting the fuse she moved back as Bonnie heaved the fireworks as far across the road as she could without revealing their position.  Counting quietly in their heads, they began to inch through the gap in the bushes. With a loud series of bangs, the firecrackers started to go off and the girls, realising that the zombies would be attracted to the noise, hauled ass, running behind the building.

As they moved deeper into the shadow of the big house and closer to the edge of town, they could see three people moving toward them at a run.  Two paramedics dragging a third man between them closed in on the girls.

apologies for the poor light

another 7 rolled (i should take up gambling...) this time 3 citizens, i don't have a lot of citizen models so decided it would nice to crack out my new paramedic models.

They didn't seem to slow down and as they got closer, Gracey-Lyn could see the quiet desperation in the eyes of the medics.  Ma, in her usual less-than-diplomatic way stood in front of the girls and swatted at the group with her bow forcing one to go around them wide, bouncing off the wall of the house before continuing on his way.  The second medic got unceremoniously dumped on her backside alongside her patient by the backswing.  Without hesitation Mary-Lou strode off, leaving Gracey-Lyn to stare at her in admiration - who was this woman?!?  Shaking her head in wonder, she grabbed her sister's hand and hurried after her mom.

wondermom settles their hash!

they make good their escape!

and so concludes the day, with the zeds on the other side of the building and no sign of the police showing up the girls were able to move off the board with no further incident.  

hope you enjoyed 
DGG