Fall 2008 - Day 2

First off, I apologize for the length of this post. I am currently half-way through page 3 and still have quite a bit left. It’ll spill over 4 pages in MS Word 2007, so bare with me.

Metagame Translation: I slept in and almost got to P-Chem lab late today, but luckily there weren’t zombies around as I moved between classes (most rookie move I’ve made so far this game). During the day I felt pretty safe…I left campus for a little bit to crash in my apartment, showered off, took care of bills with my landlord, and made it back. That’s when the hell started, and I’ve had 2 chances to rest since about 2:30 – once around 11:15 while giving one very sick Valerie Moody a well-deserved back massage, and once right now to tell my story. I still have Spanish homework to finish and a P-Chem quiz to study for. I guess it’ll be another early day.

The morning started out… stressful. My alarm goes off at 6 am and I think, “I barely made it out alive yesterday and I only got 4.5 hours of sleep. I’ve earned a 15-minute nap.” Nope, I earned a 2 hour and 15 minute nap. I’ve never driven to City 17 as quick in my life. I made it to my 8:30 chemical research lab (chemistry was always an interest of mine, even though without a college degree I’m an amateur left to the books to learn my theory). The travel to the lab was uneventful, and the quick trek from Magruder to Centennial Hall to eat lunch was also safe.

“Lunch is over,” I thought to myself, “and I can actually SHOWER for the day!” I booked it to the van, got home, checked the recent kill reports, and cleansed myself. I made it to campus around 2:30 because there was an escort mission going down at 3. “OK,” I figured, “I’ll escort at 3, relax in Baldwin until Spanish at 3:30, and head to the mission that Com. Lucian had ordered us upon at 4:00.” That’s not how it happened. A small group of us were cutting from Missouri Hall to Ophelia Parrish when we saw 15+ zombies who, in turn, saw us and chased. Getting inside, we looked at them through the door and I looked at my men. A quick thought: “Guys, they’re on THIS side of OP and we need to leave through the OTHER side. BOOK IT! NOW!!” We sprinted through the front of OP and got about 15 feet onto the quad before we saw an equally-sized horde between Baldwin and the Library. “BACK INSIDE! ANOTHER GROUP!!”

We gave up on the escort, as it was already after 3:00 and we’d lost communication with the humans inside. However, one of us still had to get to Baldwin for a class. We decided to wait out the hordes because they had other things on their minds. Somehow the four of us broke through the Normal side of OP with virtually no zombies. We crossed the street, got into the side of Baldwin, and our guy got to his class. The other four of us (we picked one up on the quad) took the long way behind the White Apartments, coming from behind Normal and Davis, and got to my van. By this point, the mission was a half-hour away and I wouldn’t be going to my Spanish class, so I was switching my backpack out for a lighter bag and carried only the essentials – extra darts, phone, wallet, keys.

Making it to MO Hall safely, we rendezvoused with more humans and began our tense but uneventful trek to Ryle Hall for the mission. Michael Justus was our man with eagle eyes and got us there safely. Once inside, we were greeted by practically every fellow surviving human. This was a glorious sight for sore, nearly-infected eyes. And there was Commander Lucian with Kathleen Reinhurst’s new research results and our mission.

The zombie infection is spread by the very nanobots that were created to stop the virus. And the zombies were going to hack into the city-wide computer system to spread the virus throughout the whole block. Our goal: stop the zombies from breaking into as many of the 5 computer stations as possible. The zombies had 30 minutes. The catch: they could respawn in 5 minutes by returning to OP and searching again.

Justus gives me a look and says, “Want to come with us to Barnett?” Hell yeah. We all sprinted, guns bouncing and heads swiveling, from Ryle through the parking lot and into Pershing. Cutting through a volleyball game, we came out the back side of Pershing and found a man stationed at a computer mainframe system. He had a puzzle on a piece of paper, and if the zombies solved it then they shut down the station. We ran into another group of humans and we stuck together. This was a damn good thing because, not 5 minutes afterward, about 25 zombies came strolling up lead by the charismatic general Drew Clark.

I looked at him and he looked at me. This was a battle of leadership. I kept 4 men on top of the hill to watch for zombies sweeping around and had the humans gather up. 5 runners, including Joey Palmer and Biscuit, were sent from the mission area to find other nodes. Socks were given to the people without other weapons and were prepared for lobbing from the back line. Guns were mobilized, loaded, cocked and readied at the front. Drew gave his barbaric yell and they charged.

It was a beautiful blur of resolve. Cotton rained down from above as the thunder of spring on plastic hurled foam at the oncoming horde. 10 seconds after the rush I yelled, “Which zombies are not stunned?” There was one. “How many people died?” There were none. We gave a victorious cheer and hunted down the last one brutally.

Nate Klessig called. “There’s a node at the West Campus Suites and we need some people here to help with it!” Michael Justus lead about half of the group in that direction and I kept the other half at the node. Then another call soon after from Kyle Denk. “There are a ton of zombies in the BNB courtyard and they have a puzzle. We’re not sure if they’re done with it yet, but we need help over here.” I basically put Craig in charge of the node with 4 other trusted humans who could eliminate zombies quickly and took the last of our group (at this point about 8 humans) through Pershing, Grim, and to Magruder. We saw Kyle and he relayed to us how he escaped. A group of about 5 humans were with him, and the big decision became whether or not to distract the zombies from the puzzle. The humans were unsure, weighing pros and cons, and this needed an immediate decision because time was on their side. “The more time we waste deliberating, the more time they have to solve that damn puzzle and access that node. Let’s get over there and stop them! NOW!!”

I ran to Violette followed by 7 or 8 other humans. We cut through the math building, came out in front of BNB, and saw quite a horde. 25 or so zombies spread out throughout the yard, with about 10 concentrated in the middle. They saw us, we saw them, and we all bolted inside.

The first of many of my stand-offs began. Zombies surrounded the building and kept about 4 working on the Sudoku puzzle (as we found out from Kyle that it was). Joe Seigel was next to us every 5 or so minutes, reporting back out to the zombies. Near the end of the mission time (about 20 minutes had elapsed since), I had a plan. We all separate, sprint indoors in different directions, and meet at the middle back door. Glass room, plenty of visibility. If we make it there, we make it to MO. Joe came back in to taunt us as a zombie, and there were zombies outside watching our moves. Once everyone was off the phone, I made another moment decision that I think bought us some more time. “Stick to the plan, whether you arrive alone or with others. 3, 2, 1, GO!!” We all bolted.

Arriving at the back glass door, I eventually regrouped with the rest of us (7 at this point). The parking lot looked clear and no one was guarding this entrance, so I said, “Ok, let’s go now.” A moment too soon – a huge group of people and bandannas were between BNB and MO Hall. “Shit, back up! There’s a horde back there!” I took one more glace after we’d backed away and paid attention this time – they were Moderators, Researchers, a man with a camera and Commander Lucian himself. I told the others, “Guys, they’re mods. There are no zombies. We have to go now. NOW! LET’S GO!!” Slamming the door open, we all sprinted across the back of BNB into the Southeast wing of MO Hall, all of it caught on camera beautifully.
By now, the zombies’ mission was over. They’d taken the node in the sunken garden and we weren’t sure what those implications were yet.

At this point, the plan was to let the Ryle guys do their own thing, escaping through a back door, while I lead the C-Hall people across the quad into Baldwin, McClain, and finally Centennial. Then I was going to West Campus Suites to help with Nate’s bad infestation there. The plan failed. OP was surrounded by zombies moments after they saw us step out of MO Hall. The BNB crowd had basically relocated and picked more people up. Zombies were at every entrance and multiples inside standing by us. Then things got interesting.

“I want John Mohr!” one of them yelled. Sam Neudecker, you had to make it personal. “We only want John Mohr! One-on-one. No other zombies, no other humans. I just want to fight him myself!” Leaving the humans to guard the indoor zombies, I stepped outside and gave him an offer. “Pick 2 of your guys for me to fight. If I lose, you get my brains and these humans are screwed. But if I win, they get free passage to their dorms!”

Sam was intrigued. “…ok. Ok. Let me talk with the guys.” While they deliberated this, I whispered to the other humans to discretely file out and escape. Once they all snuck out, the only remaining humans were Jay, Carl and I. They were all going to MO, and with this stand-off I had to just go back as well. I couldn’t help Nate.

Sam came back and said, “So, do we have a deal?” I responded, “We would, but I don’t have anyone left to fight for.” The rest of them had made it out and were in transit. So the deal was off and I’d bought the other humans some time. Walking toward the back of OP, all the zombies were tracking me outside and 5 of them stuck with me inside. They didn’t CARE about the other two humans. Great.

But I had one last trick up my sleeve, thanks to a timely Will Burgess hiding in OP. I’d finished getting a drink of water and was talking with one of the zombies (the rest had already gone to the front door). Then I turned to the wood-working room and said, “Oh, hey, Elaine! Hang on a second!” Turning to the zombie, “Oh, I’m sorry, gotta say hi to her. I’ll be right back.” I ducked through the door and it closed behind me. Yes. And there was an unguarded door to the outside. YES! Will and I looked at each other and went for it. We propped the door (without a handle) to get back in, stunned the only two zombies nearby, and we both ran for it. I personally ran all the way off-campus to the Post Office, took Jefferson to Fible, took Fible to Normal ,and took Normal to my van just on the corner of Normal and Davis. Hell fucking yes, I made it.

Stopping in my apartment momentarily, I cracked open my well-deserved first cold one of the game. I drank that Bud Light like it was the only drink in the desert (and, I was parched and it was the only drink in my fridge). But no rest for the weary: it was 6:30 and I had a group project at 7 in Centennial Hall.

The drive to the parking lot, the trek into Centennial, the group project for Religions, and the work on my P-Chem lab report all went painless if you take into account how exhausted I was. By the time I was done with all of that it was 10:00 pm. I was checking a few last-minute things on the computer when I got the text message that changed the night.

“You will be receiving a mission email soon. Zombies won’t know. Speed and stealth is a must. Please help. –OP”

The dilemma at this point is, of course, whether or not to go. OP hasn’t given me any reason to trust them, and they didn’t contact me during the mission. On the other hand, I told OP exactly how I felt the night before – we’re all in this together. If I want OP to trust me, I’ve got to trust OP. So I packed my things, leaving my car and bike in the Centennial Hall parking lot, and began the trek to MO Hall.

There were 2 zombies outside the side of the SUB as I was walking toward Magruder. Hide my guns and keep a low profile? No. Kick ass and take names? Oh, hell yes. One saw me, waved to his friend and pointed at me. “Bring it the fuck on,” I taunted. I ran at them with guns pointed and began backing toward the side door. Suddenly Kevin Luker and another zombie round the corner and they all swarm me. I shot the Nitefinder at a distance. Missed. I dropped it in favor of the Firefly and took them out systematically – with the Firefly, not a dart missed its target. “You’re down, you’re down, you’re down,” I called as they dove at me. The fourth one didn’t even approach. “Tell the others what you saw here.”

(I didn’t say that, but it was implied by the way he ran.)

Getting into the basement of the SUB, I found 5 humans. “Guys,” I said, “I just took out 3 of the 4 zombies outside and the last guy ran off. If you want to escape, let’s go. Where are you heading,” I asked. “MO Hall,” they said. “Well, load your guns, grab your socks, and let’s get going.” “We forgot our weapons.” …suddenly I had 5 unarmed men that I was about to lead to MO. I offered any of them the Nitefinder and one spoke up. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. Go on to MO on your own.” I replied, “Two men with 2 guns are better than one man with 2 guns.” “No, no, go on, we’ll be ok.” Dammit. I lost potential allies.

I left the side entrance toward Magruder (the area was clear) and ducked inside. Violette was next, and simple. Getting to the sidewalk in front of Dobson, I readied myself for the MO Hall guards that perpetually stood outside because all the doors were locked except the front. However, I found the three ballsiest humans of the game. They were walking around after 10:30 pm and stunning zombies. Just for fun. “What’s up,” the leader said, “where are you heading?” I told them my story. He said, “Well, let’s bust them out!”

We ran into five zombies along the way. Stunned four, left one, and ran to the building. The guys were all inside the doorway with their fraternity brothers. So that was their strategy – sneak home with fellow Betas to hid the arm bands. We left again toward MO Hall, keeping an eye on the one zombie left. The remaining trek was uneventful, luckily. I thanked my new saviors, they tipped their guns to me, and they were among the shadows of the night.

11:00 pm and I had an hour of downtime. The humans were mobilizing and keeping silent about OP’s secret, human-only mission, so all I could was relax. And the best way to do so was to find a girl that I hadn’t seen since before I began working at Syrner, one that was too sick to take her job and would be out there along side of me if she could. I sought out Valerie Moody.

She was getting better, she said. She had a bad sickness as of early Tuesday and promptly alerted Mark Thompson that she couldn’t take the job. And now she’s safe from the horde, but she’d rather be pumping those ghouls full of orange Styrofoam. All I could do was relieve her back pain with a massage while waiting for the midnight mission. She’s one of the reasons I’m surviving out there. I’d take a munch for her, and she’d do the same for me.

Then came the text from OP. “Mission alert – emergency.” I threw my weaponry together, wished Valerie a good night, and headed downstairs. 5 humans gathered at the back door of a much unguarded, late-night Missouri Hall. Jocelyn, Mike, Jeremy, Arron and myself. In an instant, we were the night. We dissected the parking lot and hit Davis street before being joined by Andy, a freshman. The six of us marched silently to the Pershing Parking lot where OP alerted us that we’d need to be.

The mission was simple, but important: deliver a truck-full of boxed weaponry, two at a time, from the Pershing lot to the Barnett lot. The best way to deliver them quickly while keeping an eye out for zombies, we decided, was to make an assembly line of humans and always keep a free-handed human with the two current box-carriers in case a zombie came by. The transfers took about 10 tense minutes in the lamp-illuminated darkness of night, and then we all reconvened at the truck. The men there told us,

“We had an extra box of fully-automatic weapons, and we heard that there’s a zombie infestation. We’ll take you wherever you’re going and then you can use the weapons as you see fit.”

Eric Bozarth, Craig Harkness and I traveled back toward Centennial alone while the group went with the Vulcan-wielding moderators. I gave a quick wave to Josh, who retreated to his apartment, and Justus, who ducked into his vehicle, before we double-timed it to the lot where my van was parked. 12:30 pm: I dropped Craig at his house, Bozarth made it to his apartment on foot, and I was alone in the van with my thoughts.

I’m not exactly sure how or why I made it out of today alive. I can only trust that I’ve been given an incredible gift of time. After the afternoon’s captured node, we’ve lost the Communication Grid, so we can’t contact the outside world. However, our Research Database, our Security Systems and our Sensor Arrays are all still operational. Dr. Reinhurst is working on a new zombification cure. I still think that OP will be able to help us somehow, although I’m not sure when or how just yet. All I can do is stay alive longer out there, harness my natural leadership and charisma, and keep the human resolve strong.

Until next time, this is John Mohr.