an impromptu post...... Simpson day 15 AAR - the ride home

"Mama, I don't feel so good mama...." Gracie-Lyn groaned.  The pain was constant now, it ripped through her abdomen doubling her over in the back seat of the Simpson SUV.  The zombie bite on her forearm throbbed and pulsated in an obscene synchronised thump in time with her heartbeat.  Sweat poured from her brow and ran almost freely down her spine, chilling her skin until she felt like she had that day when she had fallen through the ice of the frozen pond down by the trailer. That day she thought she was going to die, now she knew she was....

Another pulse of pain and she screamed from the bottom of her soul, blood poured up from her ruined throat, covering her dress in gore.  The pain reached a crescendo, tearing through her little frame and causing her to drag her nails across her stomach in an effort to distract herself from the pain.  Her sight began to waver and a white wall descended across her vision distorting the last sight she had of her mother who, hunched in the front seat, kept throwing worried glances at her middle child.  

"Billy-Ray, you best be finding a doctor, our Gracie is fading fast" these words whispered by her beautiful mom grated across Gracie's nerves as her hearing became super sensitive.  The charnel smell of an abattoir filled her nostrils as her olfactory sense ramped into overdrive, detecting the smell of her own blood and disturbingly making her mouth water.  A screeching, high pitched noise like electrical feedback shot through her skull, seemingly lasting for an eternity before suddenly stopping.  The last thing Gracie-Lyn Simpson felt was a hunger that rapidly became overwhelming.......

So this is how the events unfolded in the car as Gracie-Lyn turned, I played this today in response to comments made following the last Simpson escapade (see, a fully interactive blog!) plus I wanted to know myself.

The family are seated as follows… 

• Billy-Ray (BR) the father, is driving. 
• Mary-Lou (ML) the mother, is passenger in the front. 
• I randomised the order in the back, just for fun and it goes from left to right – Bonnie-May (BM) then Junior (Jr) the Gracie-Lyn (GL) 

Rules are tweaked to represent the awkwardness involved in fighting in a confined space 

• Only somebody sitting adjacent to another can attack that person. 
• The only melee weapon that can be used is a knife, anything bigger than a knife is too unwieldy.  All other weapons count as unarmed.  
• The family have never seen someone turn so GL attacks first as it is unexpected  

How it unfolded…. 

• Randomising between ML and Jr (those nearest to GL) she attacks Jr and rolls 3xd6 to his 2d6 (rep 3 and unarmed) the first round is a draw, the second GL wins and she takes a big chunk out of Jr's arm. The third she tears out his throat.  
• Turn 2 
• ML is grief stricken and cannot react (see the family rules at the loss of a child here) 
• BR can react but is driving and he uses his turn to stop the vehicle. 
• BM reacts and reaches for her BAP but misses with her shots 
• GL attacks her sister and BM counts as unarmed with her rep 4 so rolls 3d6 same as GL 
• First round goes GL’s way and BM is down to rep 3, second is a draw, third BM kills GL.  
• BM was wounded by GL so must test for “Harry, are you OK?” Which she fails…. 

• Turn 3 
• GL is dead and so is Jr with BM now infected.  
• ML breaks down into uncontrollable tears and BR sits quietly staring out of the window in a quiet rage.  
• 
  

So that's how the Simpson story comes to an end, with two kids dead and the last infected the parents are overcome with grief and cannot cope with the loss.  Mary-Lou gathers the tiny bodies of her children and buries them before heading off into the wilds of the US countryside.  Billy-Ray gathers as much weaponary and ammo as he can and heads into the heart of Jungville seeking to kill as many of the infected as he can....