Last Night on Earth game play in story form! The heroes didn't stand a chance!!

   

 Strange things began to happen in rural Woodinvale. It started when one or two people on the outskirts turned up missing and not seen in town as usual.  A sickness was suspected at first, but then one day they turned up...dead and walking with other corpses as well!  It was first seen on the outskirts of town when several zombies came at the patron of the diner and in the gym at the local school.  Detective Rachelle was giving a "say no to drugs" speech at the school that day and things went from boring to worse immediately.  A scream from the lobby first alerted the detective that something was amiss and she hurriedly told the students to move the rear doors of the gym and stay there until she came to get them and for them to run if she didn't come soon.  At the doors of the lobby, she first saw them.  They looked like half eaten corpses leaning over the body of some poor girl they had caught.  They heard the rattle of her equipment belt and they turned starting to move towards her.  A .44 round to the chest of one failed to stop it and it came at her.  Shoving her back, she felt pain run red hot along her arm and she was not sure what had happened but then was serious and she began to fight for her life in earnest.

Detective Rachelle

     At the diner things were just as usual.  The late night crowd consisted of the trucker, old Gus, and the staff.  Sam stood at his usual place behind the grill with a steak frying and Gladys walked over to refill Gus' coffee.  Sam wondered why he had left the military for this "wonderful" life and basked for a moment in the glory days.  That was when a commotion brought him around to full alertness.  It was that drifter Jake Cartwright crashing through the doors and likely drunk.  Jake's family was one of the founding families of Woodinvale, but times were obviously better then and Jake apparently lived in the woods and on the streets now.  Jake called out, "I knew it! Dammit, I knew it!  The dead have come back as the old curse said!  My grand pappy's deal with the devil has finally come due!"  Sam moved around the corner of the counter and grabbed Jake, "calm down you old drunk," but then he noticed something over Jake's shoulder and moved closer to the window to see.  What he saw chilled him to the spine.  It looked like Jake was telling the truth.  "Everyone, you gotta see this shit," and Jake appeared next to him with the shotgun from under the counter.  "Die hell spawn, I didn't sign no contract with ole scratch," and he fired the weapon shattering the window and blasting the head of one to pieces.

Sam (above) and Jake (below)

     Detective Rachelle placed her revolver to the head of the creature trying to rip at her bare neck and with a silent prayer to God, pulled the trigger.  It's head splattered all over the lobby walls and she noticed the girls corpse started to get up.  There were more of them now visible in the parking lot and coming through the lobby door.  She realized that she was frozen in place as they came nearer to her.  She came around and started shouting for the kids to run for safety and aim her service weapon at the one closest to her.  It lunged for her and managed to knock the weapon aside just as it fired.  The collision dislodged the weapon from her hand and it dropped to the floor (card effect).  She began to push the creature away and kick it in the groin, but it was not phased.  It torn at her torso, but only managed to rip her jacket off her (card effect).  Rachelle moved behind a folding table to use it to get distance between her and the things coming at her.  She hen noticed just how much she was sweating (card effect)  As an avid runner, this seemed very strange to her, but she pushed through it and scrambled to fight on.  She noticed Principle Gomez outside trying to figure out what was going on, but soon saw him running toward the school office (ally card Discarded by card effect).  She realized that she had to end this quickly and get out to protect others if she could.

Fighting for her life!

      The walking dead were all over the diner now. Gus and Gladys were screaming as they were being tore apart and Sam and Jake were fighting back to back now.  Pushing and shoving the creatures to keep them at distance. "Jake, use that damn shotgun for something that matters," Sam yelled!  All Jake could do was click open the breach of the single barrel shotgun to demonstrate that there was no more shells.  More corpses clambered at them and they began to fight desperately to fend them off and look for a way out.  Jake called out as a walking dead that Sam had pushed back fell down across the back of his leg.  It was obvious that the unexpected crash had really hurt Jake.  Sam looked around during a short respite and noticed that they were cut off from anything hey could use as a weapon (massive card discard via card effect).  He steeled himself as more of the things came through the window.  "Dammit Jake, if you know what all this hell is about...then do something useful about it," screamed Sam as the were about to be overran by the sheer weight of the dead which now somehow included Gladys and ole Gus.  Jake began to fight like a madman (card effect) and quickly grabbed up a table knife stabbing one through the eye.  It fell to floor lifeless as it should be.  "Don't worry Sam, the devil's after me and I will make him pay I spades for this," cried Jake as he spun to face another.

SURROUNDED!!!!

     Sam realized what Jake had just done and he grabbed his trusty spatula and shoved it through the face of one ending it's desire for his flesh.  Jake grabbed up another table knife and shoved it through the ear of one close to him.  Then they heard some crash in the back of the diner (card effect) and the lights went out!  In the darkness Jake was pushed back (card effect) just as he thought he may stab another creature and was hit hard by the back of Sam's elbow as Sam was throwing hay-makers wildly in an effort to stay alive.

     Scrambling around the lobby trying to keep the folding table between her and the zombies was getting hard for Rachelle as more and more were drawn to the scuffle.  A surge of zombies pushed the the table back and pinned her(card effect).  She screamed because this kept her from moving and she fought desperately to fend off the creatures as they clacked their jaws and teeth together trying to get at her with them.  That is when she felt a surge of pain and fire at her ankle below the table.  She looked down and glimpsed one she had knocked down under the table firmly latched onto her leg and tearing at her flesh.  Blood flowed freely and she began to feel weak (card effect).  She pushed another creature back but felt like she may blackout from shock or blood loss.

Det. Rachelle goes down!

     Jake leapt out of the broken plate glass window and ran into the parking lot.  "What the hell! Screw your worthless butt Jake Cartwright!  I hope you get yours soon enough for leaving me," screamed Sam.  He pushed a zombie out of the way in an attempt to make it closer to the door when he noticed Jake yelling and trying to draw them toward him as he moved toward the nearby power plant buildings.  Maybe ole Jake was a wily cuss after all.  Sam smiled and fought with renewed heart.  It was just then that a corpse turned over a nearby rack spilling pots and pans all over Sam.  One hit him in the head and he saw stars for a split second.  That gave one corpse just the opening it needed and lunged for Sam's latching on a sinking it's teeth deep into his flesh.  "Gaaaaah," was all Sam could get out before his speech turned to just a gurgle of blood flowing out of his mouth.  Sam fell beneath the wave of creatures before he could make it to the door and get somewhere safe.

Sam falls trying to get out of the darkened diner!

     Jake pushed open the employee entrance door and moved inside.  He heard Sam's scream right before he entered the building and realized he was alone now.  Perhaps the last person alive anywhere.  This must be Satan's plan somehow.  Maybe he wanted Jake Cartwright left alive to be the sole witness to hell on Earth.  He needed to find some place he could hold up in and something to fend them off if he could.  Entering the building, he saw no one around but he did see the maintenance shop and ran toward it.  Entering the room, he grabbed the first thing he saw that seemed deadly...a lithium battery powered circular saw!  Surely this would chew em up if they got close and he began to look for anything else better.  He noticed a truck in the lot just outside the maintenance bay window with a rifle rack.  He ran out the side door and swing open the door to grab the rifle in the rack.  He moved beside the truck and aimed down on an approaching zombie. Click! He shuffled the bolt of the hunting rifle and found the internal magazine empty. Damn, this was going from worse to even more worse!  He backed up and inside the door, hoping the doorway would constrict their approach somewhat.  He heard something behind him and turned to find a corpse dressed in coveralls, obviously some poor bastard from the plant.  It moved at him and he raised the circular saw to cut its jaw as it tried to bite him.  Pulling the switch to activate it nothing happened (card effect)...it was dead!  And soon Jake was just as dead too!

The last hope, Jake Cartwright, fails to look over his shoulder!

     The heroes failed to kill enough zombies to make it out alive and warn the town.  Scenario: Die Zombie, Die! Required: kill 15 zombies in 15 turns.

Of course I play this game rough!!!!

If anyone is interested in this game, please check it out on Wil Wheaton's Tabletop Games Youtube channel HERE for an example of exciting game play as on Wil can do it.

And check out Flying Frog's website for more great games and goodies!

Back Home for now

Well we made it. I think we got most everyone in the Shelter off to something better. Some were lucky enough to be able to return home with only a little work done by contractors, while others needed to find somewhere to go for a longer duration while they decided to return or to pick up new somewhere else.

I was really amazed by 2 things. Long before the news was broadcasting it, many of the people in the shelter were talking about starting life over somewhere else. We had one family donate use of some land for a man to buy a mobile home a put it on. Others found economy apartments in the area of the shelter and used that to get back to some sort of normalcy before they made further decisions. The second thing that really amazed me was how many of them had family that wouldn't take them in to care for them. I realize that some people have small homes or children and busy lives, but for crying out loud these are close family members. We had one lady whose daughter refused to let her come live with her. We also had a gentleman whose closest living relative were grown grand-daughters who wouldn't take him, but they insisted on using his truck to move items for themselves and such.

I have been back a few days now and had a chance to unwind and such, but man of those people are still in my mind. Hoping that they somehow find a way to establish some sort of quality of life. I certainly hope they will, they were far too interesting a group of people to not.

Well now normal life begins again and already some office politics are about. During the relief effort, my office was moved to a field office near my home so that it would be easy for me to get back and forth to work until I got deployed. Now that I am back, I am still using the field office for a location and when I went up to my actual office the other day, one of the members of my team ran up to me and gave me some mysterious warnings and such. I dismissed them in a vain attempt to exit the political ruckus. I think she could be a little bit of a "stirrer" herself. I think she likes to see others get into all this stuff so that she can seem concerned and get attention from them when they seek her out to talk about it. I am very sure that it all has to do with a grab for attention and since I am not a pyschiatrist, that is all I will give to it. I think my day will be better off giving it just that....nothing. Office politics will not get me farther in my career and certainly can get in more trouble than anything else.

Well, back to the rat race. I am still doing hurricane stuff, but now it is managing information on long-term shelters in the region and making sure that appropriate agencies are up to date with information.

Working during the hurricane effort

Yes, I know it has been quite a few days since I last updated here. To tell the truth it has been a little hectic. (please ignore any typos as I am very tired and the keyboard is floating around in my vision here!)

Among all the duties back home trying to get some semi-permanent forms of residence ready for hurricane survivors, my team got orders to deploy to Baldwin County, Alabama (that is one side of the Mobile Bay) and operate a Medical Needs Shelter.

One good thing is that the shelter was already set up once we arrived. Actually we were a reflief team sent down, and the shelter was already established and populated. In previous hurricanes we have arrived prior to its landfall and have to set up all the cots and so forth by ourselves.

A Medical Needs Shelter is a "newer" term and is for those people that need some sort of medical attention (more than a first aid nurse is prepared to give in a regular Mass Care Shelter like Red Cross runs) but does not quite require the amount of care and attention that a hospital admission warrants. So what we have are those people that are diabetic and need regiferation for their meds, those on nebulizer or oxygen, mental health needs and so forth.

We have quite a bunch here. Most of our patients are from Biloxi, Miss but we do have a few from New Orleans and other sections of Louisiana. They are a very interesting bunch and have had many stories to tell. A lot of them want to talk about how they have been cared for and I am quite surprised that most of them are quite happy with the care they have recieved prior to getting here. They talk of all the kindness and how they really understand why they had to sleep on a high school gym floor for a day or two before they got shipped to here. We had one very interesting gentleman that had to sleep on the streets of Biloxi for 2 nights. He is diabetic and his feet swole up to the point where his slippers had to be peeled off of him. He was so relieved to see the FEMA truck drive up he said. He and I shared farming stories and he had quite the interesting life. We have a large number of people who were willing to share stories from their life with anyone. They really seemed to enjoy just sharing with you.

One of our ladies is quite frail, but we have been treating her like a celeberty and have arranged to get her a make over and I act like a cabana boy for her and mix her martinis a few times a day (real ones too! She used some money and went out to get her supplies...so I shake, shake, shake) She wears her big glasses and enjoys all the attention she garners. She is really a sweet person.

One of our mental health patients went with me a few times on errands into the city and it really helped his condition. We tried to normalize his schedule by giving him cleaning chores and he would talk to you all about all these things that he was thinking. I notice that with his story I have switched to past tense. Well that is because today right as I was coming back on shift, we found a place for him. I didn't get the detail on where he was going, but he made sure to let me know that he appreciated the time I spent with him and helping him.

That has been the story off and on with these people (and that is what they are even though they are patients as well). We get them in, feed them and care for them, and then we help them find assisted living or apartments of their own. If they have family we give them a safe refuge until the family is ready to take them in. A few of our Mississippi folks, know that their buildings are okay (except for the lower 2 or 3 floors) and they are anxious to get back and save what they may. I wondered for a while how they knew this and asked one of them. They said that they had returned to get a change of clothes (or some of their meds...insert X for short run to my abode) and while they couldn't physically climb the stairs, they found someone who could and since they lived on the 4th floor or higher, their things were okay.

I have been working the night shift and serving as facility manager during the wee hours here. The security forces (mainly national guard and forestry service) come and eat with us and fill up on coffee for the late nights.

If anyone is taking the time to read this, I want to make something very clear to everyone based on what we are seeing here. We have a TV and many of the people here want to tune in a find out what is going on, but now every channel has to have a fund-raiser concert or a new special on the "state of the crisis" and both kinds of shows try to show the emotion with an emphasis on the horrible pictures of the destruction. Most of the survivors here have to turn away or begin crying. I know that it is a normal reaction, but what gets me the most is that during "big name star's" performance of the "big song" they have run the footage as well. It may sound silly but why do we show those images during a song at a fundraiser for the survivors, when it still hurts those affected so badly? Is the rest of America so shallow or callous that they would not send any help, unless they are guilted into it? I don't think so, but then again I don't make those kinds of decisions.

It is getting very early here now and I need to get some things ready for the day shift, so I wll end things here for now. Missing all my family and friends.

Hurricane relief

I haven't been able to update the blog (the one that I just started BTW) recently. Things have been hectic around here trying to undertake actions for hurricane relief. It is hard to keep up with all the information and people doing this and that.

We are getting ready to deploy to South Alabama and take over a medical needs shelter there. We will be caring for those on O2 and other special needs that don't need to be in a hospital. While we are moving south to do that, our home area is getting an old military fort ready to take on long-term evacuees. We are planning to let Ft. McClellan take on about 2500-5000 people take refuge there. Plans are being made with local school systems to take on any children and other things like that.

I got a little down-time over the long weekend, but I tried to make sure I had taken care of everything around the house prior to leaving. Spent a little time with family and such.

I hope to get in an update on this every few days, but I won't know for sure about the time period I am being deployed since I can't ensure internet connections and all. But I will try and get something posted.

Hurricane Katrina comes Home!

Well yesterday was full of activity (to a certain extent). In amidst all the planning and perparation for Hurricane Katrina to move thru the state at work, I also had a mission to find 2 pieces for my 17 year old's costume for Dragon-Con (this labor day weekend)!

The closest place that I knew should have the pieces was out, but the owner said that another place not too far from my office did have what we were looking for. So I have to go by there today.

I was also supposed to bring a box of my military medals to go with the costume, but I forgot them. I hope I can get an excuse for that because last night, just after midnight the winds from Katrina snapped off the top of a sweetgum tree and flung it into the roof of my house. I couldn't get a clear view with the flashlight in the rain, but it appears that there was little to no damage. I will of course have to climb up on a ladder later today, but so far there is no leaking and no obvious signs of damage. So we made it out fairly lucky compared to most and I can thank the stars for that.

So I hope my daughter understands that I may have forgot to bring her something today since I was up for about 3-4 hours during the middle of the night trying to figure out if the house was damaged and clear away some of the debris. I may be a zombie today at work. All my co-workers should watch out...on second thought they should be okay as zombies eat brains and they are in slim pickings around here!!!!

Dragon-Con wishes

I think this is the first year since 1990 that I will not be going to the best overall convention there is. Most of the old gang is not going either, but my daughter is going over with her mom. she will do anything to Cosplay.

Of course I will miss taking the photos for the Not a Costume! website and the Beat Eric! website. The Beat Eric! website would be hard this year anyway. See Eric is unable to make it down from the D.C. area (I knew that letting him move off would be bad!).

I am really needing my fix for some gaming. Over the last few days I have made up about 4 or 5 adventuring parties and their complete bios. I have designed and laid out at least 2 adventures for D&D as well as one for World of Darkness.

Most of all I an dreading not geting to see all the regulars this year like I have every other year. I ran into a few of them at the Gamesworkshop Gamesday in Atlanta this year. Miss you guys!!!

With all that gaming going out the door....I am planning out a massive live-action adventure (you will never really hear me saying it is a LARP) with some massive battlefield action thru the trenches of our imaginary world. We are writing the scripts, but have laid out the basic plan. We expect to work on this through September and into October.

Well, we are getting quite a few warnings around here and most of the schools in the state have closed. I can hear the rain outside the building and need to get back to work.

Ahh, ready for work!

Finally did it

As I sit here waiting to see about being deployed for Hurricane Katrina, I took the plunge and created a blog. I hate to say it, but I have been avoiding doing this. After maintining a couple of forums for clubs and such, I had always figured that I wouldn't take the time (mind you nothing about having the time...taking the time) to do entries....I am a serious underachiever.

I have to leave this for later...the governor is speaking. I am overly joyed at this point.

More later