ZRP-2 Chapter 9: Can We Keep It?

She nodded. "I...just wanna take it easy."

Eve frowned. It was high up...maybe...
She was deep in thought, not paying attention.

Sam took the opportunity she saw to sneak up on Eve and whisper into her ear "Got your guard down."

"Well don't worry," James said. "We've got some breathing room, and with luck a safe home."

Eve yelped and jumped, then turned around, face red. "...not funny." She stole a kiss. "...and we both know I'd rather be caught with my pants down."

Hibiki nodded. "We can hope."

"Heh," Sam said as she walked away. She kept looking for a way up. "Think there's a loading bay or something on the side we can use? Or the rear?"

"Not really. The portside dock loading doors and the other low dockside ramps are all we got. But we have nothing tall enough, nor a helicopter." She said softly. She then took Sam's hand in her own. "Hm. Maybe we could fire an arrow up and have someone climb and find a ladder?"

"Maybe.....or send some people in to open those doors? Maybe there's a ramp inside we can use," Sam said.

"Thats what I meant Sam." Eve said. "But we need to get people inside to do that."

"Right.......now we just need rope," Sam said. "Think there's anywhere close by with the rope we need?"

"The convoy?" Eve suggested.

"Worth a look.but doubt we'll find what we need," Sam said. She looked around, glad to see there were no zombies around, and said "Lets head back."

Nodding, Eve falls in step with Sam.

Not that many people got out of the cars admittedly, many remaining inside. The only ones who were out and about, were the fighters as they kept a watch on things. James was talking with Marcus and Clara when Sam approached them and said "So we may have a way in, but we're gonna need a lot of rope." Marcus looked at her and said "Yeah I know, we already got that much from the messenger Eve sent me. We're browsing through what we've got, maybe we'll find something."

"Well if you can't find rope I can go to an old buddies who was a hiker freak, Lots of rope," Jack said walking in on the converstation. "Sorry for dissapearing I was on a bit of a rampage but I can go see if my friend didn't take his hiking gear because he had some pretty long rope, up to you guys"

Abel was watching our for walkers when he overheard the situation with the ship.

"We could always blow a hole in it."

There are a few sky lights in the roof, one just above a bed in a bedroom. I smash it with my foot, and climb down, trying to avoid the glass. My hunting knife comes out as I slowly move for the door. There's a noise out in the hallway, so I go silent.

"We're not blowing a hole in the ship," Marcus said. "Ignoring the fact that noise would attract more walkers, we don't have anything strong enough. We'll look for rope among what we've got, and get some folks up there. These types of carriers have rear doors on them for boats, so if we can open that and get the boats inside out, we can ferry people inside."

"Like I said if you need rope I can go to a buddies I just need to look though my little book to remember where he lives" Jack said letting his bag drop to the ground

"We should be fine," someone said as they jogged over. "Just checked our reserves, and we've got some rope. As to whether it will be long enough, is another story."

"well i'l just wait over here until you tell me something to do boss man" Jack said grabbing his can of spaghetti out and cutting open the can with his can opener, "Oh yes Katana lady, thanks for the knife"

~X~

Slow footsteps. They work their way past the door and slowly die out. I open the door quietly, and step into a dark hallway, lit by sunshine coming through one window at the end. A freak walks into that light, and notices me. It shambles toward me, but I walk up to it and finish it with my knife.

There are stairs, so I go down to the bottom floor. The place is looted clean. Chairs flipped, cabinets open. Bloodstains cover the floor and walls of the kitchen. I head for the back door. The light blinds me when I step outside, but when I can see again, I see the freaks coming around the building toward me. I take off jogging down the street.

"Let's find out," James said, Marcus nodding at the runner who came by. "Get the rope, and have Eve see if she can attach an arrow or something, fired it to the edge of the carrier." James shook his head though, and said "It won't work without a way to secure it once it lands. We need a hook or something. So any suggestions?"

"Look for a weak point in the structure and shoot something sharp yet barbed" Jack said with a little laugh while looking though his bag

"Not gonna work that well," Marcus said. "This carrier won't have any weakpoints we can use, and not like we have a gun that shoots rope-hooks."

hmm, "Well, you could try and get some sort of hook attacked to the rope and just shoot and hope, or we could keep throwing from multiple people who can throw high and hope one snags."

"Maybe," James muttered. "At the very least, we can try. With luck, we can get up there and open the rear doors. This is a small carrier meant for amphibious assaults, they've got boats inside that we can use. We get in, open the doors for the boats and start bringing people and supplies inside."

"Alright, just need to find the strongest people in your group Plus me with some rope and hooks and we are good, the only problem I have is where is the crew." Jack said looking at the ship

~X~

The gunshots have completely died down. The freaks must be long gone from there by now. This could be a great time to loot the city some more, but judging by what that house looked like, and how many people there are by that boat, the city's clean. I decide to head toward the group of people, and see how much stuff I can snag from them tonight.

"Yeah, that's the one bit that makes me nervous," James agreed. Marcus turned around and started giving orders, telling people to move in closer to the ship along the beach, keep a large amount of open space between them and the rest of the area. They wanted to make sure they had clear lines of sight in case of any more zombies.....or vultures that would take advantage of a beached ship.

~X~

Finally, I come out of the city near the beach. I can see the beached ship in the distance, and the people crowding around it, trying to get in. Obviously they've had stuff taken from them. With that many people looking toward the cars, they can't just be keeping watch for zombies. Hopefully their flashlights are dead. I make it to my previous spot in the bushes, and conceal myself. It's going to be a long wait for the sun to go down, but it will be worth it.

Jack went to grab some rope and a hook with the rest of the group. he got the rope with the hook, it wasn't the fanciest of all work but he thought it would last, "Oh yes before I forget, May I have my gun back."

Siren sighed, tipping the empty bottle upside down as the last few drops of vodka trickled out onto the floor. She'd been trying to get a strong drink for days, and most of the drinks in towns were watered down. The sound of wood breaking downstairs made her jump, dropping the glass bottle as she did. Naturally, the glass shattered loudly, and the sounds downstairs were followed by a single loud screech.
"Shit." She thought, pulling her VSS rifle away from her chest and into her hands as she moved to the window. It wasn't high, and as footsteps grew closer on the other side of the door, she dropped out, not bothering to see what was coming after her. She ran across the street, vaulting over a low fence. The nearest town was behind her, and she didn't fancy trekking all the way back there. The next option would be to find somewhere safe to set up camp and stay the night out here.

She might even find her vodka.

"I don't know, can you?" Marcus idly asked. Then he produced a spare pistol, placing it on the hood of the car for easy reach. "Don't make me regret it boy. Otherwise I'll put a bullet between your eyes myself."

The group gathered their hooked rope, and went for the lowest part of the ship on the beach. When ready, they began taking turns trying to get the rope secured. It took several tries, until finally someone managed to get it hooked not onto the edge of the carrier's flight deck, but on a small rivet of some kind on the side. So it was decided, that someone would climb up, and then use their own rope to get to the deck and tie off with the first rope. Eve was sent......mainly because she was the lightest.

Jack grabbed his weapon and hosted it like the gangsters did in the back of his pants so he could throw the rope "Mate, If you were to regret it I would not have used a screw driver to help take on a hoard." He joked to the man. His arm was still sore but it wasn't his first sprain and he got use to the pain quickly waiting for his turn. He missed by centimeters and was overjoyed to hear a rope made it but under joyed when the girl was sent. "Bloody hell you be careful." he said watching every movement of the rope hoping it wouldn't snap

Eve clucthed her P90 and bow, everything but them and a pistol left behind. Kissing Sam as a precaution, she began climbing. Gritting her teeth most of the way, the small girl managed to heave herself over the edge. Panting, she tied off the rope and headed for the conning tower, hoping for a place to tie off and secure the original rope.

"How's it looking up there Eve?!" James shouted up after her, though he was skeptical of getting an immediate reply. Sam stood close by. Watching her girlfriend go up.

Eve couldnt hear. Her guard up, she slowly advanced until reaching the tower. She began to tie off the rope, but stopped. She slowly turned around. Exiting the door was a walker.
Drawing her bow, she dropped it, and finished the knot. She headed back to the rope, weapons raised.

"She should be okay," Sam said idly. "Of that, I've got no doubt," James muttered. "Still......it seems the fatherly thing, to worry about her."

Lowering her guard, Eve turned and waved at the group to signal the rope is tied. She turns and frowns.
The body was go -

"Fuck!" She throws heself to the side as the walker lunges...right off the edge of the carrier.

The next thing everyone saw, was a walker go flying off the side of the carrier. They parted like a shoal of fish in danger, scattering as the body landed in e sand.....and then swiftly closing in to kill it. "Eve!" James yelled.

Eve was busy. Why? Now they were coming from the woodwork. She emptied the P90 clip into five before her bow came up. Keeping her cool, she retreated to the rope, and quickly slid down before becoming mincemeat.
"ten on deck. Five dead."

"Great...." James muttered, before stepping forward and hugging Eve. "That was brave of you Eve....I'm proud of you."

She hugs back. "O...kay..."

Once let go, she returns to Sam's side.

"Well.....we've got a way up," James said. Sam nodded in agreement, though said "And now we need to deal with an army of walkers. Plus, we have to travel light." Oh yeah.....,this wasn't going to be good.

"Well I vote to go up, My 9m and this knife should be light enough." Jack said after watching all the events. He then turned to the young girl and said in a happy tone, "You are one brave girl, I would give you a high five but the chances of you liking me are pretty low,"

~X~

There are screams from near the boat, as everybody backs up from a freak falling off the boat. I take the opportunity to move a bit closer into another bush, while they all have their guards down. I move swiftly and silently, and get there before the freak is even dead.

A handful of people were chosen to go up with light weapons so the rope had a better chance of not breaking, Jack offered to climb first and they sent him up just in case their were still walkers, they wouldn't be losing one of their own. As he made it up their was only one instead of ten and it wasn't looking his way but next to a door leading to the inside of the ship so he crept up behide it and stabbed the walker right in the head with his knife, catching it with his shoulder, he set it down slowly on the ground to not alert any more. "Its safe right now." he quietly called out to the people on the ground. looking around to see if there were any more walkers. They must have given up.... or something brought them back inside.

The watch on the perimeter resumed, no one taking their eyes off the surroundings. As for the small group above, they split up into small but decent teams. One headed for the bridge, the other to the mess, and the next to the armory. James was among those headed to the bridge, Sam on her way to the mess.

~X~

I watch through the bushes as some of the group resumes watching around them, for freaks, and people like me. Now I'll just have to wait until night. The sun should be going down in a couple hours, so at least I won't be waiting here for too long.

Jack decided to go with the group towards the bridge as he was quite sure no one wanted him to go towards the armory, so he just followed them staying as close as possible and keeping his ears active. nine walkers went back inside, six are down and we have god knows how many left including this nine, This is gonna be fun.

"Okay," James said, "let's keep quiet and stick to melee. A stray round is just gonna ricochet around in here. A few people nodded.

Sam reached the mess hall, but it was surprisingly empty. Blood stains were everywhere, but no bodies.