Separate Ways (part 1) - ATZ an English Adventure

The morning sun was climbing higher into the sky, warming the young woman's weary body as she trudged through the light wood. April Nillson, investigative reporter and winner of various journalistic prizes was thoroughly lost... The directions provided by Andy Wosa - the hefty EMT nicknamed "Gobbo" for some inexplicable reason, were forgotten and she found herself wandering through the wooded countryside on the blighted Isle of Thanet. Hearing the rushing river just slightly north of her position, she headed in that direction, hoping to follow it to a crossing point, which she prayed was a stone bridge she vaguely remembered from Gobbo's instructions.

April advances onto the board and generates 2x zombies. One near the river and
the other near the bottom of the table edge.

The sound of the river almost drowned out the low moaning of the D-subs (zombies) that she knew had been trailing her for the last 15 minutes and were now closing in on either side of her.

April spies the river ahead

the zeds get closer as she tries to dash in between them

April, hearing the loud cracks of dead twigs and the groaning of the creatures as they crashed through the underbrush, tried to move faster but felt the strength drain from her legs as fear coursed down her spine. Slowed to a crawl, she willed herself forward, stumbling on jellied limbs through the last few trees and out toward the river bank. Across the burbling waters was a beautiful 'oldy worldy' tavern, typical of the medieval flavour of the town of Sandwich and it's surrounding hamlets. Buoyed by the sight of the buildings, that meant she was not as lost as she thought she was, she was none-the-less startled when she saw a girl crouched by the side of the tavern.

failing her citizen brown pants roll, she bursts out of the treeline near the river

across the water she spots a PEF (possible enemy force)

which turns out to be a girl... 

The girl spotted April at the same time, and with a liquid grace spun around and stood facing the journalist, pointing what looked like a pistol at her.  Raising her hands in as non-threatening pose as she could, April called out the girl who looked around 13 years old.

"Hi" she called across the waters in as kind a voice as her strung out nerves could manage. "I'm April, who are you?".

"Hi yourself, I'm Matilda." She answered, lowering the pistol when she saw that April was human, rather than one of the creepers.

"Are your parents nearby?" asked the red haired reporter, a relatively innocent question given Matilda's age. 

"Yeah, sure" she yelled back, a shadow coming over her countenance that pierced April's heart at the obvious lie. "Yup, uh huh! they're in the pub here" she gestured at the tavern, with its whimsical sign 'The Brock's Rest'. The young girl began walking toward April, intent on closing the distance when she saw a small movement by the side of the building causing a shiver to run down her spine.

A PEF moves within Matilda's LoS but turns out be nothing

That small distraction caused her to take her eyes off of April and therefore she failed to spot the zombie that came crashing through the undergrowth behind the older woman, teeth bared and hands outstretched like claws...

look behind you!!

Matilda gasped, retreating in fear as she saw the ragged figure emerge from the treeline reaching for the woman across the raging river. 

Matilda retreats behind the Tavern

April, seeing the horror spread across the girl’s face even from this distance, spun quickly on her left foot like a ballerina shaking out the policeman’s ASP as she turned. The D-Sub slowed by the thick brambles it had stumbled through, reached out with it's filthy fingers in it's efforts to bring the reporter closer into it's grasp. April took a step back and left her right foot trailing, tangling the zeds legs and causing the clumsy creature to stumble and fall. With a heavy thump of the ASP, April crushed the skull of the pitiful former resident of Thanet.

the zeds close in on April

and she deftly finishes it off

A loud crashing sound off to her left caused her to lift the bloodied ASP from the ruined head of the D-Sub at her feet and scan the area. Stumbling along the river bank, a zombie approached April dragging a bloodied shovel and bared its ragged teeth in a menacing growl.

Matilda paced back and forth, trying to pull herself together. Despite only being 13 years old, she was old beyond those meagre years and treasured her normally steely calm. Hefting the pistol she had lifted off the Russian sounding dude, who had been dragged down by a group of the creepers the day before, she rushed back around the side of the building in time to see one of the dead things bearing down on the pretty woman across the river. 

Matilda draws a bead on the zed across the river

Hurriedly, the teenager pointed the pistol at the creeper and snatched at the trigger, astonished at the kick back of the weapon. More astonishingly, the heavy grain bullet sped across the short distance to crash through the side of the shuffling infected's head, dropping it to the floor instantly.

And remarkably, drops the zed. The shots don't even draw anymore zombies into the area!

April, stood rooted to the spot as the approaching zombie's head exploded in front of her. Across the river, the girl once again faded behind the building. With a shrug and a hastily shouted thank you, she turned toward the nearest building hoping to find some supplies.

Matilda once again backs away (as an NPC she is controlled by the game)

part 2 on its way soon

hope you enjoy 

dGG