The Omen of Death
My presence has marked your eventual demise.
(Option 2 has been chosen with 2 votes! Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention a little while back we made it past the point this thing died at, so I am proud I was able to keep consistency in the posts in detail and choices. Even though recently we've hit some moments with some lack of choices.)
Knowing that you’ll never make it back to the secured stairwell in time trying to drag this hysterical woman with you, you ignore her terrified pleas and tear yourself out of her grasp. You then hear the horde of zombies drawing very close – they are just outside the hallway.
Running back up the long office corridor, you just arrive at the security door, when the howling mob of ravening undead clamber into the area. At first, they see the bawling woman you left behind near the private restrooms. She cries out in anguish, as the zombies swarm over her and begin to tear her apart messily.
With more and more zombies pouring into the short hallway after them, you know it’s only a matter of moments before they flow into the office corridor and spot you...
With no time to spare, you open the security door and slip inside, shutting it behind – just as the zombies enter the corridor and howl ravenously in your direction. You can see them through the narrow wired-reinforced window in the door, as they stumble quickly to the security door and start pounding against it. You’re pretty sure the steel security door will hold, so you ignore the zombies and slump against the wall to catch your breath.
Trapped! you think – where the hell do I go now?!?
You are about to sink into the depths of despair, when you look up and see something you hadn’t noticed before. In the ceiling above, you see a two and a half by four foot metal access panel of some sort bolted shut.
You pop the bolts and pry open the metal access panel, revealing a two by four foot wide metal duct, heading straight up a good forty or so feet. Smaller duct work, too narrow for a person to get into, branch off the main duct here and there, while you can actually see light shining in through a large grate in the side of the duct way up at the top.
With no other way out of the subway, you decide it’s worth the risk to climb up the shaft. You uncoil your rope and tie one end to your waist and the other end to a bundle of your gear. You intend to scale up the main duct, and then pull your gear up after you get to the top.
You then step up onto the rail of the stairs and with no small effort, pull yourself up into the duct. Once you’re actually in, it’s much easier – as you can wedge your back and legs against opposite sides of the shaft and inch your way up.
After a few minutes, you arrive at the top and can see through the blades of a huge industrial fan in front of the large grate. Because there is no power to the fan, it won’t be any trouble to squeeze through. Looking out of the grate, you see that you are on the ground floor of a parking garage near the collection booths at the exit.
You can see two entry lanes and two exit lanes near the collection booths – both of which are choked with abandoned vehicles that were trying to exit the garage and got backed up by blocked traffic. You shudder as you see blood splattered and tracked everywhere, but interestingly enough, no bodies; as if people had actually been ripped from their cars and dragged off by some inhuman creatures. You can actually see into the back seat of a car nearby – its doors still open – and you are set aghast at the empty blood splattered infant seat inside.
As you soak in the lonely bloodbath of the parking garage, you suddenly hear a long shrill shriek from somewhere out in the city nearby. It sounds like a woman, but not human – more savage and animalistic – more hunting call than a cry of distress.
The scary thing is that it sounds nothing like a zombie. You hope you never have to find out what just made that noise.
After waiting quietly in the vent shaft for a good fifteen minutes and not seeing or hearing anything more, you haul up your gear and then climb through the fan to pry open the grate enough to slip out. Even though you don’t see any zombies in your immediate vicinity, you feel terribly exposed here.
You are very close to the exit and can simply walk a few feet down the ramp to leave the parking garage and enter the streets. Or you can head up a level or two first, to search for anything of use in the abandoned vehicles, and also get a look at the streets from above with the relative safety of higher ground.
You then remember that you have a working cell phone. Taking it out, you see that there is still no signal.
1. Leave now and head onto the streets
2. Go up a level or two first
Knowing that you’ll never make it back to the secured stairwell in time trying to drag this hysterical woman with you, you ignore her terrified pleas and tear yourself out of her grasp. You then hear the horde of zombies drawing very close – they are just outside the hallway.
Running back up the long office corridor, you just arrive at the security door, when the howling mob of ravening undead clamber into the area. At first, they see the bawling woman you left behind near the private restrooms. She cries out in anguish, as the zombies swarm over her and begin to tear her apart messily.
With more and more zombies pouring into the short hallway after them, you know it’s only a matter of moments before they flow into the office corridor and spot you...
With no time to spare, you open the security door and slip inside, shutting it behind – just as the zombies enter the corridor and howl ravenously in your direction. You can see them through the narrow wired-reinforced window in the door, as they stumble quickly to the security door and start pounding against it. You’re pretty sure the steel security door will hold, so you ignore the zombies and slump against the wall to catch your breath.
Trapped! you think – where the hell do I go now?!?
You are about to sink into the depths of despair, when you look up and see something you hadn’t noticed before. In the ceiling above, you see a two and a half by four foot metal access panel of some sort bolted shut.
You pop the bolts and pry open the metal access panel, revealing a two by four foot wide metal duct, heading straight up a good forty or so feet. Smaller duct work, too narrow for a person to get into, branch off the main duct here and there, while you can actually see light shining in through a large grate in the side of the duct way up at the top.
With no other way out of the subway, you decide it’s worth the risk to climb up the shaft. You uncoil your rope and tie one end to your waist and the other end to a bundle of your gear. You intend to scale up the main duct, and then pull your gear up after you get to the top.
You then step up onto the rail of the stairs and with no small effort, pull yourself up into the duct. Once you’re actually in, it’s much easier – as you can wedge your back and legs against opposite sides of the shaft and inch your way up.
After a few minutes, you arrive at the top and can see through the blades of a huge industrial fan in front of the large grate. Because there is no power to the fan, it won’t be any trouble to squeeze through. Looking out of the grate, you see that you are on the ground floor of a parking garage near the collection booths at the exit.
You can see two entry lanes and two exit lanes near the collection booths – both of which are choked with abandoned vehicles that were trying to exit the garage and got backed up by blocked traffic. You shudder as you see blood splattered and tracked everywhere, but interestingly enough, no bodies; as if people had actually been ripped from their cars and dragged off by some inhuman creatures. You can actually see into the back seat of a car nearby – its doors still open – and you are set aghast at the empty blood splattered infant seat inside.
As you soak in the lonely bloodbath of the parking garage, you suddenly hear a long shrill shriek from somewhere out in the city nearby. It sounds like a woman, but not human – more savage and animalistic – more hunting call than a cry of distress.
The scary thing is that it sounds nothing like a zombie. You hope you never have to find out what just made that noise.
After waiting quietly in the vent shaft for a good fifteen minutes and not seeing or hearing anything more, you haul up your gear and then climb through the fan to pry open the grate enough to slip out. Even though you don’t see any zombies in your immediate vicinity, you feel terribly exposed here.
You are very close to the exit and can simply walk a few feet down the ramp to leave the parking garage and enter the streets. Or you can head up a level or two first, to search for anything of use in the abandoned vehicles, and also get a look at the streets from above with the relative safety of higher ground.
You then remember that you have a working cell phone. Taking it out, you see that there is still no signal.
1. Leave now and head onto the streets
2. Go up a level or two first
