Bushwhacked!

Day 2:  Encounter 2

In the Encounter 1, Paul and Marie Carlson found their friend, Doc, at his home. The Carlson's are on a mission to find their missing children. Hopefully the kids are with their dad at his house. As our three adventurous heroes travel the streets between Doc's and Sean's, they encounter trouble...


Aiming for a passing zombie, Paul threw the beer bottle out the window of the SUV.  He missed, but the bottle shattered against the curb with a satisfying crunch. Paul smiled.

"Pass me up another one of those IPAs, would ya hon?" he said to Marie. 'What the hell,' he thought to himself, 'I'm not driving.'  He could hear Marie rummaging in the cooler.

"Nah. One is plenty," said Doc. "Gotta stay sharp. Besides, those things are going to be at a premium soon enough.  No sense burning through our stash on the first day."

"Yeah, I suppose," Paul agreed half heartedly.

The players (military SUV, top center) move onto the board. The sound of the engine attracts a few zeds.

Doc drove the SUV down the street slowly. They had passed a fair number of wrecked vehicles so he was being careful.

"Be stupid to die in a car wreck during a zombie apocalypse," he said to no one in particular.

"That it would," agreed Paul.  He was looking ahead, trying to stay alert to any trouble they may encounter.  He was getting jumpy. It was late afternoon. 'This is taking much longer than I expected,' he thought.

A small gang of civilians waits in ambush. One of these PEFs will be the baddies.

Paul squinted into the setting sun. He put his hand up under the sunvisor, blocking the glaring light.

"Watch it. Looks like people moving in the street up ahead." Paul said.

"Some of us or some of them?" Marie asked.  Finn, one of Doc's dogs in the back seat with Marie, whined and let out a yip.

"That's right, boy," said Doc. "Either way we keep driving." 

In sight! The gang of civvies opens fire!

By the time they reached the corner the figures Paul had seen had vanished.

 "Where did they..." Paul began when shots rang out from beside the building they were passing.  Bullets pinged on the metal of the SUV and Doc's window shattered. Doc let out a "woof" as if the air was knocked out of him. Marie screamed and laid across the back seat, covering her head.

"Son of a..." Paul said and the whole scene unfolded in a moment...

Three men were standing beside the building, one of them hiding in the bushes and all of them firing at the SUV.  Doc slumped over, groaning and clutching at his side. The SUV swerved as Doc's hand slid off the wheel. Paul dropped his pistol and reached for the controls. The SUV was peppered with shots. The dogs were barking. Marie was screaming. Paul's ears were ringing. He could see blood on the driver side door...

"...bitch!" he finished.

Doc kept his foot on the gas while Paul steered. They roared passed the shooters and quickly made enough distance to be safe. Doc was bleeding but it looked like the car door had slowed the bullet enough that it only hit him hard in the side and did not penetrate his body. The blood came from his upper arm where the bullet grazed him before striking him in the chest.

"Got lucky with that one," he grumbled as he stopped the SUV.  Paul quickly ran around the vehicle while Doc slid over. In a moment they were back on their way.

"The world's gone crazy," Marie said. "Absolutely crazy..."

The players roar passed, leaving a trail of activated zeds to deal with the would be bushwhackers.

Doc had to use Star Power but he survived. It could have been much worse. Fortunately Paul passed his Challenge Test to control the vehicle and was able to steer the group to safety quickly. We sure didn't want to get into a fire fight this early in the campaign! It was a fun scenario and only took about 15-20 minutes to play.

Next time we will find out what happened when the group got to Sean's house. Did they find the kids? You'll have to wait to see...