Once again Luke and Ryan were in one of "those" situations. A situation where they both wondered if this would be the day they pulled the pins on the grenades and went to the bright light. Luke took a quick look at the ankle and said, "Yeah it's sprained all-right. The worse case about this if you did any ligament damage. If you did it's long recovery all that being said."

Luke quickly went to a table and with his survival knife handle he broke off two parts of a table leg. He cut two strips of cloth from a nearby tapestry and brought it all to Ryan. Luke set the items in front of Ryan and said, "Splint it. You might not be able move as fast as usual, but at least you probably won't do any further damage and you can walk on it." Luke looked and saw that they were still safe, but they both knew that situation wouldn't last long.

Luke said, "I'll get my gear and we'll make our escape plan when I get back." Luke made his way down the hall to his shelter in the supply room . The door was still closed and quietly as he could Luke opened the door. Without even thinking he grabbed his gear and made his way back down the hall. Once he was back at the table Luke was already looking around and said, "One thing is for sure staying here is not an option, and if the noise did attract more we might wanna consider going sooner than later. The question is how do we get out of here as discreetly as possible? Not to mention if our scent is in the air we're screwed on every level by staying here."

Luke took a swig of his water and said, "Inspite of our current situation this beats the hell out of being with Candice." He let out a small chuckle and said, "Okay we need to think in terms of getting out of here, and a quick getaway at that." Luke began to scan the ballroom and said, "Doing a Bruce Willis 'Die-Hard' escape out the window doesn't thrill me." He then looked at the kitchen doors and smiled. Luke said, "We're in a ball room that is not on the ground floor." Ryan gave him a look as if to say, "What was your first clue genius?" Luke nodded and said, "Think about it. They had to use a service elevator in the kitchen more than likely to get stuff up here. Even if the elevator is out we can go down the cables and right out the loading dock, Hopefully no one is waiting for us down there, and if there is..." Luke tapped his coat pocket with his grenade and said, "You and I start playing a game of 'hot potato' until it goes boom."

Luke stood up and finished his water and grabbed his flashlight from his gear. He said, "I'll be back I'm gonna check the kitchen out." Luke went into the kitchen and began looking around. Once he found the elevator he grabbed a metal rod and forced the door open. Luke shined his light down the shaft and saw the elevator at the bottom. He made his way back to the table and grabbed a beer on the way, and one more for Ryan.

Luke placed the beer in front of Ryan and he sat back down. Luke opened his up and took a quick drink. He said, "Okay we have a way out, but the problem it's a long way down. Not to mention without any protection for our hands by the time we get to the bottom our hands will look like hamburger meat." Luke looked around and then walked over to the wall and began pulling down many pieces of the tapestry. He brought them back to Ryan and said, "Let's start tearing these into strips that we can wrap around our hands and hope for the best."

Initially, Jon was annoyed at the woman, Petra, taking charge and stepping up into the role of leadership, but soon after realized it was for the better. Her doing so kept Jon out of the light and made it easy for him to work on getting with Will. It also helped that she seemed to have some sense, she wasn't panicking or sending them on some fools errand. Before Jon opened his mouth to reply however, Will cleared his throat loudly, causing most of the people to look at him.

"Oh yeah. Forgot about me. So, I'm Will, hi. I'm 16 years age but I can take care of myself, I have spend time playing with weapons and other stuff. I'm not really sure why I am here." He took a moment and looked around, stopping and staring at Jon when he continued. "I think it's because my dad was a senator and worked with Homeland and CDC, so he probably pulled some strings to get me in here or something. Unless they threw me in here for my ability to use a bow and my handsome demenour. Not to mention my wit. Anyway, that's me in a nutshell."

Jon nodded and looked around, then spoke to Petra. "I have the key, but we'll worry about that later. Right now, everyone needs to go into their rooms and get stuff together. One way or another, we're gunna be leaving here, not sure how soon or anything, but assume sooner than later. Get a bag or something together and get food, clothes, and other stuff you may need. Medical stuff if you can find any. Keep in mind, it's November and we're in Missouri, so it's going to be cold out most likely. Pack as light as you can. Remember that, depending on how things are when we get out, or down to other levels, we may be able to use this place as a base of operation but we don't know that now. We don't know a whole lot."

He looked around from one person to another, and while his voice was somewhat firm and confident, the look on his face was one that portrayed he was nervous and maybe a bit unsure, as if he was trying to fake an outwardly positive feel.

Harris looked at Jon and raised his hand. "Hey I'm not sure I have any warm clothes. I mean I have pants and some shirts, but long sleeve stuff or jackets."

Jon again fought back an annoyed look and kept his outwardly calm, less harsh visage. "Just, uh. We'll all look through out stuff and I'm sure we can come up with some stuff that we can share with you." Harris looked at Jon like he was going to say more but looked down at the floor instead and nodded.

Harris nodded and went back into his room, leaving the door open as he looked outside for a moment, hearing others go into their rooms while others exchanged a few words. He looked around his room and took it all in.

He was scared.

He didn't like this room, not by any means, but it was his home of sorts, and he had become used to it. It was safe. It was easy. Now, that all changed and he, and everyone else on this floor, were going into the unknown, and from the little he'd heard, it most likely wasn't pretty out there. While most people were watching the news dismiss the "viral haox" and "debunking" what they called the false reports of zombies, Harris was already a believer. It wasn't that he wanted to believe persay, even though at first he DID think a zombie outbreak would be cool, it was simply that he wanted to believe. He was all over the internet and all over the world, watching things that he KNEW were real, because they were from some of is most solid sources.

Those first few days were the reason he was here. While he was not supposed to do any hacking and had severe restrictions placed on him, those eyes that were normally on him were looking elsewhere just long enough to let him do some snooping, and in that snooping he came across the Missouri CDC files and information, and upon reading it, he broke the law one last time, and that time saved his life.

He hacked the system and editted the list to include himself.

He smiled to himself, sure that had he not been here, he would be a LOT worse off. At least now, he had the ability to be with a group, avoid the choas of the first weeks of outbreak. He grabbed his backpack and tossed it on the bed, going into the bathroom first and taking some toiletries. He brought them out and tossed them into his bags, followed by food and then clothing.

While this was going on, Jon went into his own room and picked up a bag in the corner, placing it on the table. This was Jon's go-bag, and it had been packed and ready to go since the day he came here. He took several minutes to add some other things like additional socks, first aid supplies and then a few items of food that would hold for a long time. The last thing he did was grab several unopened bottles of water and put them in the outside pouches. He moved to his door and looked out into the hall, empty except for the body laying under the sheet, and then quickly moved into Will's room.

He closed the door behind him but not all the way, unsure what the lock would do it if closed all the way. "Good job. We need to keep ourselves out of the limelight for a bit and take it easy. When you're done, meet out in the hall and just take it easy. I have no idea what's going to happen, we have to get more information, see what options are open to us."

Will was packing the entire time, listening to Jon as he tossed his possessions into his bag. He wasn't sure about Jon but only based on the fact that, well, he didn't know him. At all. But he had no reason not to trust him at this point so it was not really a big deal immediately. "I gotcha. We'll talk more later and figure out a plan."

Jon nodded and stepped out into the hallway, tossing his bag next to his door. He looked around and waited, debating entering the control room, but opting to wait a bit. He could use some trust, at least to keep suspicion low. To be honest, he didn't think anyone was capable of turning Will in or exploiting him if they had known he was the son of the President, but in the event they did find out and something happened outside of the facility, or on another floor, that bit of knowledge could cost them.

He turned and stared at the map on the wall that indicated that where the armory was on this floor, there was a food store and office on the second and first floor respectively. He stared at the map, thinking and waiting for the rest of the others to finish up.

The splint wasn't the best one ever created, but it held the ankle still keeping it from twisting and allowing it the relaxation necessary for recovery. Ryan only hoped that it would heal sooner rather than later.
He stood carefully from the table and allowed a bit of pressure on the damaged ankle, the pain was there but he could feel the splint holding well, it would be secure enough even if he had to really move.

The grand room seemed to look a lot nicer now, Ryan imagined that it was because he was leaving and he knew full well that he wouldn't be coming across such a luxury again. He grabbed his beer and walked over to the left side of the room and collected the tapestries that had hung so elegantly before Luke tore them down, he proceeded into the kitchen, where Luke was now sat by the elevator shaft.
Bundling the Tapestry down he folded them in half, length ways and told of his plan to get down by moving one of the long metal food prep tables and wedging it against the elevator entrance and then looping thr tapestry aeoind the table, using it to support their wait while they abseil down.
Ryan moved the table himself and readied the tapestry, he was thankful for its length as it dangled over the side of the elevator shaft, it looked slightly short as he expected, but the drop wouldn't be bad, Luke would have to go first to help him with his leg though.

"There's a lesser chance of a fall or injury this way... you'll have to lead I'm afraid" he pointed at his leg.

He hobbled over to his bag and removed from it two cans of food... the first was corned beef and the second was hotdogs. He turned to his companion and held the cans up, he displayed a 'weighing up your options' gesture and waited for Lukes attention to find him.

"I do hope you're not a vegetarian" he chuckled.

"Corned beef, Hotdogs or a bit of both?" He said as he headed over to the utensils drawer and removed a can opener. The drawer was relatively empty as Ryan had already looted the good stuff such as a fork, spoon and knife, a strainer for water and a fee small containers. On top of that Ryan decided to take a few of the big knives and stow them away in his makeshift belt kit.

Upon hearing Lukes reply, Ryan opened up the food and got on with the preparation, which didn't take long. He passed over a container of food and watched as Luke went to work on it. Ryan peeree over the table and down the elevator shaft once more, with every gaze he found himself fewl less confident. Oh well, nothing for it now other than to just get it over with.

"We'll get going in a few hours, get your head down, you don't know when you're going to get the chance again"

Luke took a spoon and a can of the corned beef hash and said, "Meat and potatoes all the way." After the excitement that they had just experienced and the great descent to come it was moments like these that Luke appreciated. The taste of the hash wasn't perfect, but it had enough of certain spice to it that it reminded him of Sunday mornings just before church. It wasn't exactly homemade but it was enough to make Luke smile for a moment and devour it like it was his last meal

He said, "The hash reminds of Sunday Mornings back home in Crozet. Every Sunday morning before church either mom or grammy would whip up a batch of corned beef hash with eggs sunny side up for breakfast. That stuff lasted for a week and if we didn't have it on that Sunday it felt like the week was just off somehow."

Luke heard Ryan tell him that he would be going first, and with a twinge of mock anger in his voice said, "Oh yeah sure send the old man down first." Luke chuckled and said, "You got it Ryan that's not a problem. "

Luke looked down the shaft and said, "It's a long way down, but luckily those tapestries should do enough of the job that we should be okay." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Probably. Just remember it's not the fall that kills you, but that sudden stop at the bottom." Luke shook his head and said, "That's where you can have an issue or two. Speaking of the bottom. Chances are pretty good that the door at the bottom is closed, so that'll buy us sometime to prep our weapons. If we open that door and there's a large welcoming committee we could be looking at pin-pulling time."

Luke looked at Ryan and said, "Face it bud the descent is gonna take some serious effort on our part. When it's over we're gonna be exhausted, and I doubt we'd be very effective against an angry Boy Scout Troop to be honest. The actual physical climb is gonna be a bitch that we'll have to deal with, because we can't just slide down. We're gonna have to do a modified repel down the side, and we can't be but so loud either otherwise who knows what we'll attract if we're too loud. Not to mention one wrong slip and zombies will be the least of our troubles." Luke looked around and said, "And after all the work we've done in prepping I'd be a shame to buy it now. After all I still have to get you with an 'I told you so' I can't let Candice hang over my head."

Ryan offered to let Luke get some rest first, but Luke said, "Hold that thought." Luke got up went to the supply drawer got out a large zip-lock bag and filled it with ice. He then went over to the fridge and grabbed two bottles. He sat back down next to Ryan and placed the ice-bag on his ankle. Luke said, "That should help out with that, and this is because we don't know when we'll get another chance like this." Luke handed him a bottle of imported beer and said, "This stuff is almost impossible to get here in the states. You gotta know someone and go through three customs panels to get it." The two men took their beer bottles and Luke said, "Brothers to the bone." Ryan nodded and the two men clinked their bottles. Without a second thought they downed their beers.

Luke laid on the floor and said, "Get me up in about two hours. I'll let you get some rest then and after that we'll take our chances."

November 3rd, 9:01pm, Abandoned Apartment Complex, Southwest Missouri

After staring at the shrouded body of the passed away policeman for a long time, Valentina decided that it was time to leave. Putting an ear to the front door she locked behind her, she tried to listen for any movements, but could not hear anything. For a minute, and then two, she waited; did not move away from the door. Then she heard it - the sound of something fleshy striking the floor. It was soft, but it was there. She had been through the same thing before. Sometimes, when the biters had nothing left to do, they would just stand around, or collapse on the floor to wait. Thinking back, she thought she could hear one or two of them falling in a heavy heap while she was blacking out time and time again.

The big pistol thing, which Valentina could not remember the name of, gave her confidence in going past the biters, but she herself did not - her knees were buckling, and her arms felt heavy. She was light-headed and dizzy. Yet, there was no other way out. The windows would have meant alot of climbing, even if she was on the ground floor, and she didn't feel up to climbing - she could barely walk and run.

There was no other way out... So Valentina pinched the lock on the door and twisted it slowly, hoping to make as little noise as possible. But it clicked loudly despite her efforts - her hand was clumsy from exhaustion and pain. She could hear something shifting on the other side. Holding onto the door knob, Valentina turned it, and made a crack for herself to peer though. Poking out her only good eye and her new gun, she saw that she was right - they were all over the floor, some leaning against the wall, as if playing possum. From experience, she knew that it woudl be pointless to try to sneak past them.

Throwing the door open with all her might, not that she had much left, Valentina aimed her submachinegun and pulled the trigger, only to find that nothing happened. The closest two were starting to get up. Gasping in terror-filled anxiety, Valentina started fumbling with her new big pistol, trying to remember what went wrong. Memorised words flew sluggishly through her bruised mind as the biters were steadying themselves, coming closer. Magazine... Charging handle... Setting... Safety? Quickly, Valentina started feeling for the safety catch on her gun, backing away as the reawakened came closer, stepping into the room.

There was a dial, which Valentina flipped. Quickly pointing her gun at the nearest biter, she squeezed the trigger, and immediately her ears were blasted, but she didn't care. After putting down another one of them, Valentina bolted through the door, nearly falling down as her knees felt weak. More of them were rising from the floor, but Valentina ran, putting bullets in some of them, not necessarily aiming for the head. All she wanted was to leave, to... live. Yet, day by day, Valentina could not help but to wonder what she was living for, and day by day, she was finding less and less of a will to stay apart from her family and friends...

In the pitch blackness, Valentina ran, following the slightly less darker rectangle that was the way out. At a point she took out her flashlight, shining it wherever her gun was pointing. Bodies were awakening once again to the sound and smell of her young, succulent flesh. Valentina paid each of them a bullet as she stepped over them. Some did not entirely die, and she could feel their slimy hands trying to pull her down with them, and she tugged herself away desperately everytime, her previous thoughts of a life no longer worth living lost to urgency and her primal will to survive. It felt like forever in the cave of creatures until... she emerged into the cold, freezing night air. It felt unpleasant, but fresh nontheless, with less rot in the breeze.

Turning back to where she came from, Valentina ran. At some point, she tripped and fell, but she did not stop. Sometimes, she would have to stop to hide, and as she did so several times, she saw that groups of biters were beginning to swarm the building she used to be in, having heard her gunshots. After coming back to the same street she had been run off from with the witch by a horde of biters, she followed it back, in the direction of Dominic's Gas An' Go'.

The conversation was interrupted a few moments by the President's kid. Petra shot a glance his way as he continued. She wondered why he was lying, but her expression stayed flat.

In the mean time, the little girl had taken Petra's hand and held it firmly as she choked out a fast introduction. “I'm Mari. It's short for Marianne. I don't know why I'm here.” Petra looked down at her and returned the grasp. She nodded in approval.

And then Jon's response to her questions. She glared back at him with the same calm demeanor as he did so. Petra started to shake her head at his response, but then Harris spoke up and she stopped herself a shake in. She felt it more logical to see what supplies were in the control room and armory before packing up everything else. Perhaps unlike the others, she didn't have a bag in her room. No one had intended her to leave. Not wanting to cause any obvious protest in front of everyone between herself and Jon, she turned toward her room without giving him any acknowledgement. Any debate with the man might have cast her in a negative light. Clearly, there was something off about the guy, but she couldn't do anything except watch out for herself and the others, if she could.

As the two walked passed Mari's room, Petra dropped her off with a smile. “Go ahead and pack up. Only the most important stuff, ok? And change into your warmest clothing.” The little one looked up at her and nodded before doing as told. Petra gave one last look around the hallway before returning to her room.

Her room was an absolute mess from the thrashing she'd been giving it the past five days. Petra grabbed a moderate amount of non-perishables from the cabinets and a couple of bottles of water. She threw them all onto the middle of her bed. Next, she stripped and changed into clean clothes and began layering. Underwear and bra, shorts and tank, t-shirt and long underwear, long sleeved shirt and sweat pants, sweatshirt, two pairs of socks, and finally, her trainers. These were the only kinds of clothes she had in her room. No warm coats or boots. She packed a few changes of clothes, more specifically of the bottom layer type which would spoil the quickest.

Petra yanked the top sheet free on all corners and then tied it in a bundle around her belongings to form her 'bag.' She hoped there'd be another back pack somewhere else in the facility she could use. Or perhaps one of the others had an extra for her. Lastly, she grabbed a black cotton beanie she had never used from the chest at the foot of her bed and pulled it down over her ears. She walked out with her knapsack in hand and walked back to Mari's room. In the days to come, she knew she'd be happy she'd kept up a fitness regimen, depending on how long she'd have to lug all of that around.

“Can you stay put and watch our stuff until it's time to go?” She set the bag next to the little girls and waited briefly for a reply before walking over to the covered body. She uncovered the feet, unlaced the boots and pulled them off. She set them on top of the bodies stomach. For the time being, she left them there for anyone else that might have wanted them, as they weren't quite her size. Perhaps there were others more suitable elsewhere. Maybe even other bodies that needed to be stripped. All actions were taken matter-of-factly and without emotion.

Finally, Petra walked over to Jon to finish up their conversation. She crossed her arms over the chest and leaned in a bit. “I don't feel great about you and the... senator's... son being the only ones with weapons... so how about we get that armory open now?” She pulled back and looked into his eyes for a few moments. In a way, she was testing him, just as she would do with the others. As far as anyone knew, Petra was a non-threat. She began walking toward the rooms to get a better look at the maps, but continued to speak. “Plus... who knows what else we'll find behind these doors. And on the other floors too. I'm positive there are medical stores in addition to this food storage. Just have to find it. Would be helpful to have in case of... emergency.” She adjusted her cap and leaned her back against the wall as she waited for him to open the doors. The quicker they got through this, the sooner she could focus on getting to know everyone better.

The descent down the shaft went surprisingly well considering the circumstances, Ryan stood at the bottom and watched as Luke moved over to the door, which stood elevated three feet in front of them, and cracked it open slightly with a forceful tug.
The forward area was clear of all movement and bodies and so Luke climbed thr lip and headed through the doors, Ryan moved over to cover him before then slowly pulling hinself up, careful not to put too much strain on his ankle.
Luke was correct in his assumption and the pair found themselves standing on a large loading bay. To either side of them they could see alcoves where the trucks would pull in.

"I'll check the left side mate, you get the right" Ryan called out.

The first bay had a truck parked in it and Ryan headed over to investigate. It didn't take long to see that the truck woulsnt be going anywhere as the fuel compartment and main line had been ripped out, Ryan could fix it but it would be too time consuming, besides he would need parts, and he didn't have any. As he approacjed the back of the truck he noticed a large pool of blood which trailed off toward the next compartment, Ryan followed it round.
The body that lay on the floor in the alcove was unrecognisable, and would have been to even the closest person, the face had gone entirely. Ryan stepped closer and saw that what remained of it contained evidence of torn flesh, teeth and nails were the clear culprits of this devastating assault.
The blood trail looked as if it may have come from a large wound situated on the inner thigh... possible laceration of the femoral artery, which would explain the massive blood loss.
Ryan returned his gaze to the corpse' face, the realisation struck him at the sight, this was real there was no denying it.
Ryan left the corpse and continued on toward the third and final bay, he was pleased to see nothing out of thr ordinary and so climb the lip back into the long loading bay. Luke was stood by the small security building and waved him over, as he approached he could see another trail of blood leading into the building, a bloody hammer lay dormant at the foot of the door. Ryan nodded and took thr bloody door handle and and pushed it open quickly before stepping back into cover by the doorframe.
Luke and Ryan peered into the room, nothing was out of place apart from thr wounded woman and the flecks of blood that lead to her. Ryan entered first and walked cautiously toward her, he could tell by sight that she was in her last moments, her breathing was laboured, her body pale and shaky. She saw the man approach and raised a weak hand up toward him. She stuttered out a feeble sentence.

"Please don't leave ... me... I don't ... want to be alone" her distant eyes looked at him as he took a knee beside her and grasped her hand in his. He held his other hand to her head and stroked her gently as the life drained slowly from her.

He hushed her and gently rocked her as he saw the life draining from her body, he couldn't help but think of his wife, where was she? Was she ok? He only hoped that she hadn't succumbed to the same fate as this young lady.
His attention returned to the girl as he felt her move ever so slightly, her eyes foxused on his the best they could.

"Thank you ... for ... staying with me." A smile crept across her face as the her eyes emptied of life and her head lullee in Ryan's arms.

He sat with her a short while after her passing, again thinking of his wife. He hoped that he would see her soon and that she would be ok, he put the lady gently on the floor once again and stood up, he told luke he was headed for the small bathroom to clean himself up, but in reality he also needed to take some time for himself. The passing if thr young girl had really hit him emotionally, she could have been someones girlfriend, someones daughter, yet they weren't there for her. It saddened him that she died in the arms of a stranger... what if Fran... he stopped his train of thought. Those thoughts would serve him no greater purpose, they wouls only hinder him mentally and emotionally, he told himself to think positively... Frans fine, she's a smart girl.

Ryan returned to luke and told him they have to make sure the girl doesnt wake up and start trying to kill them. Ryan pulled his knife from his belt and stood over the girls head. He plunged the blade into the lifeless skull and twisted it.
"Stay rested... I'm sorry ma'am" he said.

He turned to luke and asked him if he found anything of worth. He himself moved over to the back door and cracked it slightly. The world beyond was eerily quiet and empty, he turned round again to face Luke.

"Clear, if it stays like this we could have an easy evening, but don't get your hopes up. Nothing is guaranteed anymore."

Luke stood by as he watched Ryan drive the blade into the young lady's skull. At first Luke wanted to stop him, but Luke knew that this was the right thing to do in this case. He also knew Ryan well enough to know that he took no pleasure in doing this. His body language and the last thing he said to her told Luke that this one was going to stay with him and Ryan for a long time. For all they know this might've happened to one of their family members or they could be in the same situation one day, and Luke hoped that someone would show the same compassion as Ryan just did. Not just making sure there was no chance that she was going to be a zombie, but making sure she didn't die alone.

Luke replied, "Nah not much here worth salvaging it seems as though..." Luke took a deep breath and said, "Erin" Ryan turned back to Luke and Luke said, "She deserves a name. She was someone's daughter, a friend and..." he pointed to the small diamond on the left hand "the love of someone's life. She deserves to have a name to be remembered by. Anyway there was an office around the corner it looks like that was where she lived and where she made a stand of some kind. There were a few zombie remains in there as well."

Luke looked around and said, "I think we can wait 10 minutes and do the right thing for Erin." Ryan nodded to Luke and Luke walked over to a palate that was partially covered in a tarp. Luke grabbed the tarp and tossed an end of it to Ryan, and the two of them wrapped Erin's body in it very carefully. Luke then walked over to the elevator and opened up a hatch. He climbed on top of the elevator roof and with his survival knife he cut one of the cables to ensure no one would ever be able to bring it back up even manually. Once that was done Luke climbed back into the car and popped up the control panel for the door and cut a couple of lines.

He got back out and told Ryan, "Once we close that door that's it. The only way that opens up back up will be from the inside of the car." The two men turned to Erin and Luke said, "Let's finish it." The two men picked up the tarp wrapped body of Erin, placed her in the elevator car, and once that was done Luke and Ryan exited the car as Luke closed the door.

Luke looked over where the tarp was and saw a can of silver spray-paint. He walked over to the can and shook it on his way back to what was now Erin's Tomb. Luke looked at Ryan and asked, "You figure 25 probably?" Ryan nodded and Luke spray-painted on the elevator door, "Erin 1992-2017" and spray-painted a cross as well. Luke said a quiet prayer and when he was done he crossed himself. Luke grabbed his gear and pulled out his baseball bat. He walked back to the door and turned to Ryan and said, "Still looks clear we better get going while we can."

As the two men made their way out the back about three blocks away they could hear a massive fire-fight. Luke turned to Ryan and said, "We'd probably get there to late to do any good anyway. It's not our fight and we don't know who's fighting who." Ryan didn't nod or shake his head but pointed in a direction away from the fighting. In most cases Ryan & Luke would've at least gone to investigate, but both men knew that combat was the furthest things from their minds at that moment. More than likely if they tried anything it wasn't going to be pretty.

As they started to walk away Luke said, "This place looked a helluva lot safer a few hundred feet up."

November 3rd, 9:10pm, Street, Southwest Missouri

Valentina stumbled her way back to Dominic's Gas An' Go', feeling weaker with every step. Afraid that she might draw the biters towards her if she fired anymore shots, she decided to hide from them whenever they wandered her way instead. The young girl was good at that, better than she would ever be at fighting the corpses.

Memory played less of a role than instinct when she retraced her steps back to the small grocery store. When she finally made it back, passing through the familiar glass doors that no longer slid on its own accord anymore, she did not felt as much relief as she should, but was instead faint.

Dylan, who had been keeping watch in near-darkness, with only a small lamp sitting beside the chair he was sitting on providing very little illumination, was alarmed when Valentina came in alone. "Where's Ivy?" He questioned the girl curtly, but as soon as Valentina came closer to the light, he knew that something was wrong. Valentina looked horrible- with sticky blood crusting in the trails they made, drying on her hair. Had her clothes been of a different colour other than black, it would have been dyed red along with her blonde hair.

Valentina did not seem to notice Dylan. Instead, she hovered closer to the light, as if a moth, and collapsed into a rough sitting position, resting on the sides of her knees, her legs parallel. Running out of energy, her eyes began to feel heavy. She wavered, and before long, she collapsed. Dylan caught her before she hit the floor - afraid that she might reopen her wounds or make new ones. Seeing Valentina that way broke his heart - bringing him back to when he himself lost his family. Before, she seemed tough just like any other survivor, but now she seemed vulnerable, and fragile, as if a little knock might shatter her bones.

As if cradling his own baby in his arms, Dylan carried Valentina into the room where she was kept, careful not to bump her against the door frame as he passed through. Laying her down on the cot, the man hurriedly backed out of the room to take a water canteen and first aid box before going back in. Wetting a hankerchief with water, he proceeded to wipe her face clean of the blood and filth that covered it, trying his best not to aggravate the head wounds around her face. With those, he dabbed them carefully, trying to keep them clean. He swapped cloths regularly to keep things sanitised. With her hair, he used a tub of water.

As Dylan was undressing the girl and using a wet towel to bathe her (even this treatment would be considered a luxury), Valentina was roused from her sleep by the feeling of cold water, and as her eyes fluttered open and saw what Dylan was doing to her. How she was suddenly topless frightened her, as she has had bad experiences before, and Valentina struggled against Dylan, thinking that he wanted to make love with her. "Hey kid! Relax!" Dylan exclaimed in surprise as he didn't notice that Valentina was awake until she started flinging her arms around. Grabbing hold of her wrists, he tried to make her stop, "I'm just cleaning you up!"

The girl stopped, not because she believed Dylan but because she was too tired and in pain to resist him - even when she was healthy, she would never be able to beat an adult in a game of strength. "And I'm going to patch you up." Dylan continued, trying to use the sound of his voice, the sincerity, to make her believe.

Valentina did not know what to think, but instead kept silent. Dylan continued wiping her body. For a moment, there was awkward silence until he decided to break it, "I used to have a daughter." He said to Valentina, trying to let her in, so that perhaps she could trust him better, and what better way than to let her know that he had once been a father? "I used to bathe her every night." Another moment of awkward silence. Valentina wasn't used to conversations anymore. Then something clicked inside her.

"What happened to your daughter?" She asked, curious as she did not see any kid other than herself around. Valentina shivered as the cold water on her evaporated. It was her turn to be met with silence, and she began to think that she had said something wrong.

"She's in a better place now." Dylan replied after a pause.

"Oh." Valentina turned her face away, suddenly ashamed of having asked such a question even though she was unsure why. Wrapping and fastening a bandage around her head, Dylan did not say anything else, though he was a little offended by the question, he forgave her immediately, and did not show it.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful... dum da dum, da dum, da dum dum" Ryan sang surprisingly well.

He felt an elbow in his arm as Luke physically halted his song. The freezing night air was stabbing into his skin like a thousand needles, Ryan hugged hus arms around his chest trying to keep his core temperature up. Luke was huddled in close in an attempt to maintain their body heat.

"I never watched the weather forecast back in old world... but I sure would have loved a heads up for tonight, even if it was inaccurate to some degree." He chattered.

Ryan sropped dead in his tracks and held his arm out to tell Luke to hold, ahead Ryan could see a large group of shufflers, possibly the group he had seen earlier. He nudged Luke and pointed with his head at the approaching threat. Ryan looked to the row of vehicles to his right, a few looked operational still whilst others, well they wouldn't pass an MOT thats for sure.
Ryan headed for a black sedan, as he approached however he noticed a amall light blinking on the dash. This one was locked and the alarm primed, he walked on. The next vehicle he stopped at was a Blue SUV, the dash was without the blinking arm light. he lifted the handle slightly and felt the catch, he stopped and signalled for Luke.

"This ones good to go, we'll need a distraction to give us time to either find the keys or hot wire... we'll give ourselves one minute to locate the keys, after that it's straight on to the wires." He told.
The sound of the engine turning over would announce their presence to the entire block, they needed a distraction. Ryan stepped back from the car and looked around the floor, a few feet away he saw an iron bar, probably broken off of one of the residential fences. He told Luke to standby at the car before grabbing the bar and cautiously heading down the street toward the horde.

A small side alley opened up to his right, after peering down and checking it was clear he slipped into it. After thirty yards the alley opened up into a cross roads and Ryan turned right heading toward the main road which intersected the one he had just left Luke on. He made every effort to stay silent as he approached the mouth of the alley, the road was clear apart from the slow moving horde which appeared to making its way toward Luke. Ryan headed right down the road and spotted what he was looking for... an alarmed car. He made his way back to the mouth of the alley and felt the weight of bar in his hand, turning it over and gently shaking it allowing him to calculate.
He pulled his arm back and flung it forward toward the car, the iron bar leaving his grip and twirling gracefully in the air towards its target, he didn't wait for the connection and turned back into the alley running, he just hoped it was still clear.

The alarm was loud, almost ear piercing even from this distance. Ryan had signalled to Luke to get going on starting the car as soon as he emerged from the alley.
Now, sat in the SUV with Luke fumbling away at the wires, Ryan looked on in disbelief at the number of shufflers that were sprinting toward the sound of alarm on the road ahead... he noticed that most of them were actually brainers, weaving through the crowd in a kind of small gang, even from a distance they looked more determined and coordinated. Ryans attention was grasped by the sound if the engine of kicking into life and the rev of the engine as Luke shifted it into first gear.

"Go go drive! Get us out of the city! We won't last long if we stay here." He ordered

Luke was stunned that the SUV was still able to turn over, and without a second thought he said, "Buckle up! We're heading for the country!" Luke had no idea which way they were heading actually, but as long as it was away from here it was good enough. He dropped his foot on the accelerator like a sack of hammers, and the SUV was moving it. Luke looked in the mirror and saw the approaching hoard becoming somewhat smaller. They were on what appeared to be the main street of the downtown area and it was a straight shot out of town . Luke smirked for a second and looked at Ryan and said, "I even like the paint job on this one who knows maybe...." just then the SUV began to lurch and eventually die out. Luke looked down on the dashboard and saw just about every light was glowing.

Luke looked at Ryan and said, "I swear of it wasn't for bad luck we'd have no luck." To make matters worse the approaching hoard was starting to close in on them again. Luke said, "Well looks like this is where we make a stand." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess, and in terms of strategy surrounding them is off the table." Luke looked just down the road less than 50 yards and saw a set of stairs leading off of the main street. Luke smiled and said, "They might have the numbers and have us outgunned, in a sense, but I say it's time we go underground." Luke glanced back at the SUV and said, "The SUV can be pushed in neutral. We get it to that opening we can make it into a barricade, and then give them a little bit of a surprise."

Luke put the SUV into neutral and said, "Let's move! It won't be long before they get here." With that Luke and Ryan jumped out of the SUV and began pushing it. Inspite of the fact that it was in neutral pushing the SUV was like trying to push a boulder through an ocean of wet cement. Both men grunting and straining and the sweat was starting to roll as their muscles were aching. Luke wryly said, "Next time look for a Prius. Only about ten more yards come man we get this first down and the game is all over." They managed to position the SUV right in front of the stairwell opening, and Luke said, "It goes without saying don't worry about scavenging right now. Let's go downstairs."

Ryan and Luke bolted for the bottom of the stairs. Once they got there Luke pulled out an arrow and said, "Before we lave the city once and for all we gotta stop off at a sporting goods store, and hope they got some arrows. I'm almost half way through my stock of quality arrows, but in this case I can't trust a homemade one." Luke struck the arrow on the ground twice and it sparked. The arrow tip was now on-fire and Luke loaded it into to his bow. He said, "The second I let this go we bolt, because that gas tank still had some fuel in it. When this arrow hits it's gonna be a glorified do not disturb sign. Firing in 3,2,1!" As soon as Luke called out 1 he could already hear Ryan running away, and once the arrow was released Luke was right behind him. Luke said, "What happened? There was supposed to be..." Just then the unmistakable sound of a an explosion occurred combined with the sound of several things screaming in pain. Luke took a few steps back towards the opening and said, "Yep we got 'em." He walked back to Ryan and said, "It's a shame I really did like that paint job." The two men chuckled and high-fived one another and Luke said, "Good job my friend." Luke cut on his flashlight and said, "Let's see what we can find down here." With that Luke and Ryan began to head further into the subway.

Jon felt someone approaching and turned to see Petra, now fully clothed, and she immediately gave off the impression of confrontational undertones, subconsciously emphasized by the arms crossed over her chest. The dialogue only made those undertones more recognizable, and he didn't react much beyond lowering his eyes a few times uncomfortably, giving off the impression that he didn't want any confrontation and was somewhat uncomfortable.

At this point, he had a decision to make in regards to opening the door to the armory. He mulled over standing firm or trying to keep to his more docile demeanor while addressing the first part of the dialogue Petra opened. It was obvious she recognized who Will was, and this was a potential threat and his mind raced over ways to deal with this. The obvious first choice was generally getting a feel for things, so he chose that route. At this point, he spoke to her knowing that she knew who Will was. "Look, we are hiding it because I don't know these people, you included, or if anyone would try to harm or exploit him for anything. It's nothing personal, I don't like to lie, but I uh, I dunno what else to do."

He cleared his throat and looked up at her, then the map. "Anyway, um... I guess I can open the door, but I was going to wait for everyone else. I don't want people thinking I'm playing favorites because you're--I mean for you or anyone, uh, becaues of...anything." He forced the awkwardness out and at this point, avoided her gaze until finally, continuing on, appearing to be comfortable talking about anything that didn't directly focus on Petra.

"I'll open the door, just, stay back. Like you said, no idea what's in there. I mean, I assume weapons being that it's the armory, but--yeah, you know what I mean." He cleared his throat and looked around. So far, they were the only two out in the hall but they could hear some talking and a lot of shuffling and bag-stuffing. He moved over to the card reader, removing the card from his pocket and swiping it.

A robotic, female voice spoke up. "Please enter 4 digit access code."

Jon cleared his throat and looked back at Petra for a moment before moving to enter his code. However, he entered 17 digits and hit ENTER. There was a harsh noise and a red light flashed. "Not valid. Please enter 4 digit access code." He entered a second code, this time 16 numbers long, again a red light flashed and the voice now said "Invalid entry. Card reader offline due to security protocol violation. Door locked. Card reader offline."

He didn't look back at Petra, figuring she was somewhere along the lines of upset to fuming at him just having locked the door and shut them out from the weapons, and before she had a chance to say anything, he swiped the card again. No sound was made by the reader, but Jon went ahead and entered another code, this one 14 digits long and instead of entering the ENTER button, he pressed the CLEAR button twice.

The card reader lit up and the voice said "credentials accepted, security protocols bypassed." A moment later, there was a series of 3 loud CLICKS and THUMPS as the door's locks opened. Jon turned and forced his cheeks to redden as he looked at Petra. "Wait here, let me check inside."

As he spoke, he pulled the pistol from his side and indicated with his head for her to move to the side. Holding the pistol in front of him, he pulled the door handle down and opened the door and with only a quick look inside, it was obvious that there was nothing living, or once living, in the room. It was just guns and gear. Jon turned to Petra and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "The armory awaits m'lady," he said, bowing and sweeping his arm for her to enter.

November 4th-11th, 11:30am (by the end), Street, Southwest Missouri

For 3 days, Valentina got to know Dylan very well. After all, it was the only thing she could do as she could no longer run around anymore. Dylan had her in bed, and Valentina preferred to stay in bed until the fourth day of her recovery, when she found that she could run around and carry things without feeling pain. If there was one thing that was clear, Dylan was a friend that Valentina had never had for months. He cared for her without asking for anything in return. He had enough food to last the week, and he gave them away to Valentina freely. The days she had been bedridden felt like a dream, like heaven. Sometimes, to pass the time, they would lock themselves in their safe little room and play boardgames, like Snakes or Checkers. Of course, Dylan would always win the latter, unless he tried to teach the young girl some nifty tricks to win.

Valentina had learnt alot about Dylan. She learnt that he once had a family, and that he was once a policeman who handled the tougher bad guys. When it all started, he tried his best to take care of his kingdom, but all the King's men wasn't enough, and he had been living with this guilt since. He hated himself, and Valentina could understand - she hated herself for not being able to help her own family, and friends.

Then it happened. While they were eating, strangers came in with guns to interrupt them. Coming really close, the leader had asked for all the food they have. As far as robbers go, however, they were kind enough to demand only for food, explicitly stating that they could keep everything else they had. By this time, however, most of the food they had were gone, and all they had was food enough for another 3 days. Forced to put their hands up while they were at their table, all Valentina could do was to look at Dylan, waiting for him to act, or to tell her what to do. For a moment, it seemed that her new found friend would give it all up; "Alright, alright, look, you guys win-"

Before Valentina knew it, his chair was flying through the air, crashing into the nearest robber. Dylan leapt into action, grabbing the robber's gun, pushing it out of the way before drawing his own and firing it into his throat. Immediately, the girl could feel a hand grabbing her hair roughly, pulling her out of her seat. Screaming and kicking, Valentina reached for her hidden knife and pulled it out, plunging it into the thigh of her manhandler.

After killing the closest robber to himself, Dylan turned his gun on a third one and fired at the same time he did. Dylan's shot went through his head, and in his panic, the robber had pulled his trigger prematurely, but with blind luck had put a bullet through Dylan's leg. Valentina went on to bite the robber who was trying to grab hold of her in the arm, trying to stop him from using his gun, but being a young girl, she could not hope to overpower him. However, she did delay him long enough for Dylan to kill him.

Just as the last of them fell, Valentina heard the front doors to the shop swivel shut, and saw just in time a fourth robber running away. The sound of a car driving away could soon be heard. When it was all over, Dylan calmly grabbed his chair and, after turning it upright and setting it down, sat to relieve his wounded leg. Inspecting it, he found that the bullet had gone straight through, but the wound itself was nasty. Having just gone through a fight, he could barely feel anything because of adrenaline, but he knew that it would soon sting like a scorpion when it was all gone.

It wasn't a pleasant sight when Dylan had to treat himself with Valentina's help. However, that wasn't the worse part, most of their food ran out two days later, and Dylan could not go out to get more. The few meals' worth of food that was left was given to Valentina, but she ended up sharing them with her new friend anyway. Despite the dire circumstances, the former policeman didn't want Valentina to risk her life going out and scavenging. "I think I'll get better tomorrow..." He would keep telling Valentina every night, and it worked every night, until the 3rd day since most of their food were gone, when even the little that was left had ran out and Dylan was nowhere near recovering from his gunshot wound. He continued bleeding, and the only thing they could count on was that it would bleed less the next day.

The next morning, Valentina snuck out. For the first time in 8 days, she was out and about, carrying her backpack and weapons. Brandishing her MP5K, she intended to go back to her sleep spots to take the canned food there - she had plenty, just that she lacked a can opener - until she met Ivy and Dylan. On the way there, however, a loud cacophony of groans and moans forced her to hide, and upon peeking at where they came from, she realised that her way back was blocked, and she would have to turn around and leave before the monster army saw her.

It didn't stop her from trying to find food. After walking the other way for hours, passing Dominic's Gas An' Go', she wanted to try scavenging in that other direction. Already hungry herself and knowing that Dylan needs food, she was desperate, desperate enough to try anything other than to run through a huge horde of cannibal creatures.

Subway System
Missouri

The black of the tunnel system was unnerving, with light flickering on briefly and then off every two minutes further down the tunnel it made it impossible for the eyes to adjust to darkness that now surrounded them.

Ryan saw a beam if light thriw itseld over his shoulder illuminating a small section of the tunnel before him, he turned to see luke stood behind him off to his left, a torch firmly grasped in his hand. Ryan knew not to speak, they were in completely darkness and didn't know if any threats were around. Instead he simply caught Luke attentions and patted himself on the chest twice... on my lead.
The staircase opened out into a narrow room, hugging the wall to his left he creeped round the corner waiting for Luke to follow him. His own torch now sat in his hand and he scoured the area in front of him, the red beam of his torch helped to keep the chances of detection low and so far it was working. He noticed a sign hanging awkwardly from one chain bolted to the ceiling, he tilted his head slightly as he threw the torch beam over its surface, it read 'Tickets'.
Gliding the light back down to eye level he could now make out various machines and a few counters with perspex screens behind which sat what he assumed was an office. The ticket office was his first port of call, he sae the door was the other end of the hall, he stauee close to the wall, scanning the floor as he went whike luke kept his torch at eye level scanning the area ahead. Thankfully it was empty.
The door was ajar so Ryan nudged it open, standing still in the doorway checking for any signs of life... or the dead for that matter, with a sweep of his torch he confirmed the room to be clear and signalled for Luke to approach.

The door firmly shut behind them the two began searching for anything that may be of use in the drawers, the cabinets and even in the stationary. Ryan stumbled upon a small id card which looked as if it had been swiped numerous times over the years. This he was keeping, it wouldn't work at this time due to the lack of power, but Ryan would see to that shortly.

Through the perspex screen he could see back into the narrow hall, it had numerous vensing machines and a few security cameras which were at this moment offline. His mind was ticking over and he came to the conclusion that down here, with power, he and Luke had a very good chance of survival. There would be many more vending machines and even more cameras dotted around the subway station, if they were to hole up in the control room, with the backup power on, they would have probably the best setup one could hope for in times such as these. Ryan headed to the far wall and saw a map of the station, he wiped the dust off of it and traced with his finger the route to the genarator room which was located only a short way away from the control room according to the map, the problem being that it sat safely in the staff section which would probably be locked up, he would only know once he got there ans he couldn't kick the door in because not only would it defeat the point of locking themselves in for safety but it would attract more of them things. He signalled Luke over and quietly spoke, he didnt whisper as whispers carried further in the air. He moved his finger to the map and pointed out their current position.

"We're here..." he began as he traced his finger along the map to the staff access point.

"We need to go here, we can only hope that the doors open cos without power I can't see how we're going to open it... The generator room is then immediately below us so we'll take these stairs down." He pointed to a small stairway just off to the left of the staff access point.

"From there leave it too me to sorr out that generator, once in business we'll head to control centre."

Luke hadn't seen a lot that made him just pause and watch over the years, but watching the way Ryan's mind worked was one of those things. This kid was about 10 years younger than him, and when it came to situations like the one they were in Luke would've spent about two-three hours coming up with an idea. For Ryan it take any time at all hardly and he was already coming up with a way to increase their chances of survival. The odds of getting the generator up and running weren't that great, but if anyone could do it Luke had faith in his friend Ryan to make it happen. Luke nodded and said, "All-right let's see what we can do, but first I'm jumping the track and checking something in the locker area. Hold up here I'll be back and we'll take on the stairs."

Luke crossed the tracks and hopped on the platform over into the locker area. The emergency light was shining on a door and Luke had a pretty good guess what was on the other side of the door. He turned the door knob and it was locked which made Luke smile, He smiled for two reasons one it meant that nothing unpleasant was on the other side (at least that was his hope), and two Luke hadn't kicked in a door in few years. It always made him smile to kick down a door and that feeling of watching it fall back was nothing but sweet satisfaction. Luke took two steps back and brought his right leg up, and with two kicks the door flew open. To be fair though the door wasn't in great shape, and Luke was disappointed that it took two kicks instead of one. Luke shook his head and attributed it to him getting older as he shined the light in the room. He was right there was no unpleasant surprises, but it was the room he was the room he was hoping for The room was a lost and found, and Luke was willing to bet that this wasn't the only one, but there would be time to look for others later. Luke entered the room and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for, Luke grabbed the item, closed the door, and made his way back to Ryan.

Once he got back to Ryan Luke gave him a cane. Luke said "In about 20 minutes that adrenaline surge is gonna wear off, and your ankle is gonna be in some rough shape. I figure you could use this I don't think the owner is coming back for it." Luke looked around and he could still see the glow of the fire from the stairs. He said, "That thing is only gonna burn for about another hour maybe two at most. After that we're gonna have company here, so we better get going so we can hold up behind the doors if we have to." The two began to make their way down the stairs, and Luke stopped about half way. He looked back at Ryan and said, "Take a whiff." The two men nodded and Luke said, "We got decomposing issues going here which means we ain't gonna see zombies, but it also means we're gonna have more pleasant dreams of seeing people in their last moments." Luke shook his head and said, "Let's go."

The two got to bottom of the stairs and walked down a corridor Luke saw where two large doors sat slightly open. He opened them a little further as the only source of light were two emergency light boxes. He looked around and saw two sizable generators and laying in between them and around them several zombies who had been electrocuted. Luke shined the light off to the side and saw one man sitting there with a gun in one hand, a what appeared to be picture in the other, and a controller off to the side. The controller was hooked up to the generators, and there was dried blood near by. One of the things that Luke and Ryan had gotten good in their time together was being able to deduce what had happened before they got to a scene. Luke said, "My guess this guy used the blood to lure the zombies down here, got them near the generators and turned it all into a giant electric net frying all but one. Who managed to bite him, which our guy here killed, and once he was he knew he was infected he decided to go out on his terms."

Luke walked over to the man sitting on the ground and moved his left hand. The picture he saw shook Luke visibly as he called over to Ryan. Luke moved the hand ever so slightly and it was picture of the man and Erin. The picture was of the two of them at a Bears game where Erin was flashing her diamond ring. Luke said, "My guess he proposed at the Bears game." Luke shook his head and said, "He must've bought time for her to get out of here promising he's join her at some point. At least they're together forever now." Luke peered around and saw that there was a maintenance room. He walked over and grabbed some plastic sheathing and came back to Ryan,

He said, "You get going on the generator I'll take care of...." Luke shrugged his shoulders and said, "Dave. I think he could be a Dave. Anyway I'll take care of doing what's right for him, and if you need anything let me know."

With that Luke began wrapping Dave's body up and was thinking of where to store it.

Petra's right eyebrow raised at him and it almost became a permanent fixture on her face. Jon suddenly got very awkward. Ten minutes earlier he had been a lot more serious in explaining what was going on. She wondered if it was out of shock, or something else entirely. And she still understood that he was not being one hundred percent honest, either out of necessity or ignorance. Most people would have explained why and how they were able to kill a man with their bare hands. Especially people that seemingly had no reason to posess those skills.

Petra listened to his words about the President's son. “I'm not trying to expose him. If that was my intention, I would have done it already. I'm with you. Obviously, he needs protecting. Obviously I have a reason for wanting to see that he's not harmed, but you. What's your reason? Good samaritan complex?” It seemed like that was the case. Anyone else would have already turned on the kid, seemingly, and also given him part of the blame. Everyone always blamed the government for everything and while he was not officially government, he was the next best thing.

And then Jon got really meek. Almost like he was developing a crush on her? If they were in any other situation she might have found it flattering. Next thing she knew, he was telling her to step back from the door. What was with the chivalry? The eyebrow went up again as she backed away a few steps to let him open the door. She assumed if she had not that he would not have opened it. He seemed pretty determined, even if shy.

As he entered the codes she leaned into one hip, waiting impatiently. Just as she was about to speak out in frustration he entered one more code and then it opened. “About time,” she mumbled. Petra walked closer as she heard it unlock, prepared to rush in, but he stopped her and guided her back with his hand. She briefly got that 'oh hell naw,' look on her face, but did as was told. Despite her attitude, she did want to be seen as cooperative and still wanted to remain as unconfrontational as possible to keep people docile. She waited until he gave the go ahead.

Petra noticed when he blushed, but didn't really give it a second thought other than 'what the hell?' Again, it seemed like he had lost some of his seriousness. She had not. She still voraciously sought answers. First was this door, then the next.

Pausing briefly in front of him before stepping in she gave him a sardonic grin. “You're my hero!” There was always time for a little sarcastic banter, right? “It gonna take you that long to get the next door open, Romeo?” Petra winked at him. You would never have guessed by the way she talked and carried herself that she had a well above average IQ. Her eyes stayed on him until she was a few steps inside.

Petra tilted her head back and all around to gander at each and every shelf. Her mouth hung open. “What exactly were they expecting that they needed this much firepower? And so many canteens?” She recognized the ILBE packs well, and she first went to grab one of those. Petra threw one of the canteens into it for safe keeping before dropping it at her feet. She took a few more steps in until she reached the knives. “Niiiceee.” She took one and pulled it out of its sheath, noticing that the bottom could be removed. She chuckled a bit. The knife was clever. A ball compass and hollow handle that revealed matches, a magnesium strip and 3 water purification pills. Fancy. She hurriedly reassembled it before returning it to its sheath and then placing it in her pocket. She looked back at Jon and smiled innocently. “Don't happen to have a spare belt, do you?” For the sheath.

Next, she turned back to face the glocks. Much as she had done with the knife, she took one with cautious fingers from its resting place and examined it carefully. She had minimal training with firearms and had a basic sense of gun etiquette. She first checked to see if it was loaded, but discovered the magazines had been removed all together. She checked the chamber just to be sure and only after looking up discovered the loaded extended magazines a few shelves down. Petra grabbed one, loaded the gun, and pulled the slide back to chamber a round. She made sure the safey was on before she lifted the front of her shirt and tucked it into her waist band. Again, a belt would come in handy. She turned back to face Jon once more. “Now I feel better. The rest we can divide as a group, yeah?”

Petra scooped up her pack and started to make her way back to her knapsack. While passing Jon she pressed her left palm into his shoulder and gave it a good few pats, making eye contact once more. Once back by the little girl who was watching her things, she began packing it into the ILBE.

"That should be it... there!" He said, he was crouched by the generator tweaking the final component before standing. The cane felt awkward in his hand but it certainly took the sting out of the ankle as he closed in on Lukes position, the man looked bored beyond words and understandably so having been waiting for the best part of three hours for Ryan to assess and then repair the damaged generator.

"Right, all done. Flick on that light switch will you? " he asked as he hobbled over to the power console and studied it. The sound of the light switch flicking could be heard but no light filled the room.
He looked at the console before him and could see it was lit up, he also saw the switches that provided power for each area of the station, the first one he switched on was "Control room" he then proceeded to turn on the others.

The room lit up a dull shade of yellow as the old light came to life, Ryan turned off his torch and placed it back in his life jacket, Luke strolled over to him. Ryan grinned at his handy work and was waiting for one if Lukes smart ass remarks before turning to leave the generator room.

The hallway was clear as he had hoped yet he still emerged cautiously out of the room followed by Luke, the dull whirring of the generator faded as Luke silently closed the door behind him. The lights came on automatically as soon as Ryan made his way up the hallway to the staircase a few metres off from the door. He change that once he got to the control room, he wanted the entire place in darkness. Except of course the control room.
Upstairs he could see the electronically locked door they had easily passed through was now up and running. The doors go offline in the event of a power outage and he couldn't tell visually if the door would be in good order once power was restored, thankfully it was. He approached it and swiped the card through the reader and heard a gentle beep and a green light appear accompanied by a small hum from the door lock however, he did not pass through the door itself.

"Yeah this card works for this door so I imagine it will work on others we come across." He waited for the green light to change back to red and the LED display read Locked.. 10 second window then the door closes... noted.

The control room door was literally twenty feet away from the staff area access point and Ryan wasted no time in getting there and opening it. He stacked on the door and peered around the corner when it opened. The lights came on automatically and Ryan saw that the large room was empty.

The main room was divided in to sections, the whole left hand side was occupied by numerous computer screens which were hooked up to two large workstations. Immediately to the right Ryan saw a dining area with three small tables, in the far right hand corner was a small kitchen area, there was a small door there also which was probably a storage closet. He walked over to the fridge and opened it, the light came on and it was cool, not cold but then again you can't have everything. He closed it and proceeded to open the storage closet which when opened confirmed his prediction, cleaning items, hi vis jackets, torches and the like could be seen.
The centre of the room consisted of numerous desks, paperwork had been scattered around each of them, these guys left in a hurry clearly. Ryan walked past the desk area and saw two rooms at the back of the large control room, as he neared he saw that the left hand one was an office and the right hand one was a toilet.
He peered into both and saw that they too were empty before heading over to the console closest to him.

"I want all the lights in the station off bar these ones" he said pointing to the lights that illuminated the room they were standing in.

Ryan took a seat and studied the computer system for a while, getting to grips with it wouldn't take him long.

"Ok first im going to activate every electronic lock and make sure they are locked, then ill figure out how to do the lights... Why don't you stock the fridge?"

Luke looked around as the lights were coming around and watched as Ryan was truly in his element. He nodded and said, "Nice job Boy Wonder." Ryan made his request about Luke taking care of the fridge and Luke replied, "Yeah I'm guessing there are bound to be an abundance of soda machines and snack machines. I'll see what I can find. Be careful sitting here in the control room I know you and your curiosity concerning buttons. It'd be our luck you press an unmarked red button that blows this place up." With that remark Luke began to make his way out of the room, but then he stopped and looked at Ryan. He said, "Good work Ryan you've earned your paycheck this month. I'll just add another zero to it." Luke and Ryan did their fair share of picking on one another, but when push came to shove these two were prepared to fight to the death for their friendship. There was no doubt in Luke's mind if Ryan was in the CIA with him that he and Ryan would be partnered up. Somehow Luke also believed that at some point during many of their Ops one would ask the other, "Was what we just did legal?" The other would reply, "I don't know, but just to be safe we better not talk about it. Let's take this one to the grave."

Luke left the room and began walking down the hall. It was his guess that once you got past the first secured door you were pretty much safe to roam around the back area. The lights flickered between dim and full as Luke looked around and checked the doors along the way. He finally arrived at the employee break room and that was usually a pretty good treasure trove of supplies. Luke figured the kitchen area Ryan found was for the Execs and what Luke found was for those who were not high-up on the food chain. The one positive though about the current situation with the zombies, and that was it didn't matter how much money or power you had everyone was now equal on the food chain.

Luke opened the door and looked around, and he wasn't disappointed it what he saw. Vending machines with microwave items, candy bars, chips, drinks. Luke nodded and smiled as he said, "Okay not exactly the healthiest of options, but we've had worse and thought it was Filet Mignon." Luke went to a supply closet he found got out two plastic crates and a push cart. Luke returned to the break room and breaking the glass of each machine he began to fill the crates. Once he filled the crates Luke began to push the cart, and then he noticed something. He felt the air conditioner starting to push air out through the vents, but there was one that wasn't working in the room. He walked over to the vent and saw that it was blocked.

Luke removed the vent and saw that it had a journal inside of it. Luke took the journal and put it in the cart as he made his way back down to where Ryan. Luke said as he entered the room, "This place is Valhalla Ryan. Not only do we have a full stocked break room down the hall, supply closets, indoor plumbing, but we also have..." Luke showed the journal and said, "Entertainment as well. I found it stashed away in a vent. If you're nice and don't blow us up I might read to you from it later on."

Luke went to work stocking up the fridge and made one more trip back down the hall. Once he loaded up and returned back to the command center he said, "This should keep us stocked up here for a while. We still got plenty down in the break room."

Luke grabbed a bottle of water and sat on a couch and began to read through the journal. It didn't take him long to figure out that he and Ryan knew the author of the journal. He said, "Yo Ryan, Erin's real name is Anna and Dave's name is Jeff. She talks in the opening paragraph about he proposed to her during halftime at the Packers-Bears game on a Sunday night." Luke shook his head and said, "It's a small world after all."

Ryan monitored the progress of his partner on the screens before him and could see him heading back to the control room, definitely not empty handed as he looked as if he was... well, stocking for an apocalypse.
The gentle beep of the door signalled Lukes return and Ryan didn't need to turn around to see his friend enter the room.
He could Luke behind him shuffling things about, Ryan stopped what he was doing and turned to face luke as he menrionee something about entertainment. Ryan glimpsed at the journal and shook his head grinning.

"You know you look, and sound, like a pubescent girl" he urned back to screens.

"I'll be iver in a short while, need to put thr finishing touches on our incognito security"

Ryan hit the last jey kn the keyboard with an exaggerated emphasis and watched as section buly section all the lights in the station died. The screens now black bar the date and time in the top corner if each screen.
Ryan stood and walked over to Luke.

"Lights are set to automatic so anything moving in an area will trigger the lights to come on and we'll know someones here... but they won't" he smirked and sat in the sofa opposite to Luke and outstretched his body, relaxing.

"So tell me more about our friend Jeff"

Luke turned to Ryan and said, "Hey sometimes you gotta find your entertainment where you can. Besides it's either this or Russian Roulette and since we have semi-automatic weapons and a bow and arrow..." Luke shook his head and said, "Not much of a challenge."

Luke turned his attention back to the journal and said, "From what I can gather Jeff was Electrical Engineer for this station and Anna worked in the logistics department. Just by his grammar style, words choice, and the trap he set up down in the generator room Jeff wasn't an idiot and neither was Anna. They met in the break room bonded over their love of the Chicago Bears, the St. Louis Cardinals, exercise, and old movies. Reading this stuff makes one kinda sad that they didn't make it seemed like one of those couples who just belonged together, but Jeff and Anna cooked up the idea of staying here and hunkering down. Everything was fine until they let in a few others and one of them was infected but didn't know it. Soon all hell broke loose and Jeff made it possible for Anna to escape and he was planning on joining her."

Luke shook his head and said, "Sadly history tells us things didn't work out so well for our star-crossed pair" As Luke started to close the book a last line caught his attention. He said, "This is interesting. He wrote 'I hope that whoever finds this will find it useful." Luke thought for a moment and said, "I don't think he meant that he was hoping his story would be useful."

Luke ran fingers along the inside covers of the journal and discovered two slits in each one. He gently parted them open and found blueprints stashed away in each one. Luke looked at Ryan and said, "Jeff and Anna were pretty busy planning their life here together. If they hadn't let those others in they might've made it."

Luke pulled out the blueprints and took them over to a desk. He spread them out and as he studied them Luke looked over to Ryan and said, "We owe these two a lot. These blueprints they're written in a code, but I've figured it out. They have to do with sports players and numbers or vice versa. The codes written about the 1999 Rams are where they have extra weapons stashed in here and they got 'em all over the place. The ones written about the Cards tell where extra food is stashed. My guess they figured they would have to eventually keep moving further along in here, or if a group they let in tried to take over like our Cleveland situation they could move along. They had been in this place for so long they knew where the best hiding places were and easiest ways out."

Luke walked away from the blueprints and just shook his head slowly. It had been a very long time since Luke Porter smiled like this but he was smiling very broadly. He looked back to Ryan and said, "We are in such a good shape here Ryan." Luke grabbed a set of blueprints, a flashlight, and a bat and said, "I'm going down the hall and take the stair access into the north side of the sub-basement. Might as well see what they left behind. You probably should give your ankle a rest. Let's sync our watches." Both men looked at their watches and Luke said, "I got 18:30 mark." Ryan nodded and Luke said, "I'll be back in an exactly one hour."

With that Luke was out the door.