"Apex" (closed)

How we got where we are:

• The Pan Flu Vaccine (PFV) was supposed to be the cure for all influenzas.
• World wide distribution began in late 2018.
• However, a tainted batch of PFV distributed in March 2019 turned millions across the world into maniacal, homicidal cannibals.
• Mayhem exploded in The City, the location of our story, on 27 April 2019.

Characters:

• Katie MacLeod
  • Age: 26
  • Police officer.
  • 5'9", average build, slightly athletic.
  • Physical = 5, Shooting = 8, Martial Arts/H2H (hand to hand ability) = 3.
  • Weapons:
    • 9mm semi-auto pistol, 50 rounds
    • .38 Special revolver, 50 rounds.
    • Taser.
• Henry:
  • Age: 25.
  • Chemistry T.A. (City U). (Great with chemicals; can make things that go bang if given the right materials.)
  • 5'10", athletic but otherwise average guy; baseball player.
  • Sarah's lover (2 years); would do anything to protect her.
  • Physical = 8, Shooting = 3, Martial Arts/H2H = 4.
  • Weapons:
    • Butcher knife and baseball bat.
• Sarah:
  • Age: 22.
  • Agricultural Sciences Major. (Can grow just about anything anywhere.)
  • 5'4", petite but athletic; gymnast and Karate Black Belt.
  • Henry's lover (2 years) and Katie's friend (4 years); would do anything to protect either of them.
  • Physical = 5, Shooting = 1, Martial Arts/H2H = 9.
  • Weapons:
    • Butcher knife and hammer.
• Taylor:
  • Age: 26.
  • Engineering Doctoral Candidate. (Think MacGyver.)
  • 6'2", muscular and strong; good looking; rugby player, amateur boxer.
  • Henry's roommate (1 year); they didn't really socialize much.
  • Has a girlfriend (Sarah) 3 blocks away; already has the hots for Katie.
  • Physical = 8, Shooting = 3, Martial Arts/H2H = 5.
  • Weapons:
    • Butcher knife and baseball bat.
  
  
  Consumables in Henry's apartment:
  • Food:
    • 24 servings
    • Current ration allotment = 100%
  • Bottled Water:
    • 12 servings
    • Current rations: N/A (City water still available)
  • Batteries: Low.
  
  
  Current Shelter -- Apartment building
  • 4 story building with 10 apartments/floor.
  • It is laid out like three sides of a square, with an 8 foot high wrought iron fence and gate across the open side; behind the fence is the courtyard and pool.
  • Our Characters live on the 3rd floor:
    • Apt. 304: Henry and Taylor.
    • Apt. 308: Katie.
  • Building entrances (at each end) have locked entry doors.
  • There are fire doors at each end of the halls on each floor that may supply more security if closed.
  • Crazies got to the 3rd floor (which is the reason for the lowered Security statistic).
  
  Luxuries: Current feeling of comfort/luxury = 70%
  • They still have power, water, sewer; all their electronics work; so on.
  • Of course, there are Crazies outside who want to eat them, so...
  
  Confidence in Katie: 70%
  • Except for Sarah, who is her friend, the others don't know Katie well.
  • However, she is a cop with guns; that bodes well.
  • She is taking charge and doesn't seem panicked; another plus.
  
  Loyalty to Katie: 70%
  • >90%: total loyalty. NPCs will follow your every command, even putting your life before their own.
  • 81-90%: great loyalty. NPCs will follow all but the most dangerous commands. They will take risks for you, but they may not put their life on the line.
  • 71-80%: okay loyalty. They will not put their lives at risk for you.
  • 61-70%: what loyalty? You better have a damn good reason for asking them to do something for you that they may not want to do, whether it be risking their lives or just doing the dishes. Also, I'd lock the doors and put the food and weapons under guard, because when you wake up, you may be 1 or 2 people and guns short.
  • 51-60%: loyalty my ass! You're lucky they haven't kicked you out the door to see if the cannibals find you tasty.
  • <=50%: yeah, right! And with all votes casted, the new leader is...!
  
  
  ++++++++++++++++​
  
  (More background information will be found here.)

Day 1, sunrise:

Henry’s POV:

All hell broke loose across the City overnight. Actually, most of the country and some of the other countries that began PFV immunizations if the news is to be believed.

They say the troubles are directly related to the Pan Flu Vaccine, PFV. It was supposed to make all influenza strains a thing of the past. Instead, it’s causing some people to run around like rabid animals, attacking and killing other people … and EATING them! No one seems to know how many people are affected, but it seems to be spreading.

It's so ironic: just last night I was watching a Nature program about Apex predators, of which humans are the most Apex of them all. (Can I say it like that? Oh well, who cares now, right?) Looking out from my 3rd floor apartment to see these monsters who were once humans eating other humans makes me wonder whether or not we are the Apex predator anymore. Scary.

I’m just glad I'm not alone in all this. My girlfriend Sarah was going to stay the night anyway, and my roommate Taylor always seems to be here, tapping away on his computer. Don't really know how much help an Agricultural Sciences Major and an Environmental Sciences Doctoral Candidate are going to be while monsters are eating our fellow citizens.

Taylor is having a fit, though. His own girlfriend, Carla, is in her own apartment half a dozen blocks away. He's been on his cell phone with her a thousand times, ensuring she stays inside.

Of course, the person in whom I'm really putting stock is my neighbor, Katie. She's a city cop, so she knows how to use a gun. Hopefully she knows all that hand chop and foot kicking Karate shit, too, but honestly, I don't know her very well. I don't even know how long she's been a cop. I only met her because she and Sarah are good friends.

I slipped out into the hallway this morning and knocked at her door but there was no answer. It was early, so she might have been sleeping or out for a jog or getting donuts. (Cop jokes, at a time like this? Really?) I left a note begging her to come to our place or invite us to hers, whatever.

In the meantime, we are going to sit here quietly and just hope we don't get eaten.

I wish I had a gun. I know how to use one, though, I don't know if I actually could use one against another person. Are these things still persons?

All we can do is listen to the news and hope this nightmare ends.






Henry:

• 25 years old.
• Chemistry Teaching Assistant, City University. (Could make things that go bang given the right materials.)
• Athletic, but otherwise average guy; 5'10".
• Sarah's lover (2 years); would do anything to protect her.
• Loyalty bonus to Sarah is +30; to Katie is +10 (but could change).

Sarah:

• 22 years old.
• Agricultural Sciences Major. (Can grow just about anything anywhere.)
• Pretty, 5'4", petite (though athletic).
• Henry's lover (2 years); would do anything to protect him.
• Friend of Katie's (4 years).
• Loyalty bonus to Henry is +30; to Katie is +20 (but could change).

Taylor:

• 26 years old.
• Environmental Sciences/Engineering Doctoral Candidate. (Think MacGyver.)
• Hunk! 6'2", muscular.
• Henry's roommate (1 year); they didn't really socialize that much, honestly.
• No loyalty bonus to Henry. However, he always had the hots for Sarah, despite having his own girlfriend, so his bonus to her is +30; to Katie is +10 (but could change).

Current Statistics for our apartment:

• Food = 30 servings
• Current ration allotment = 100%
• Bottled Water = 12 servings
• Current rations: N/A (City water still available)
• Shelter: 70/100 (space = 10; security = 5; electricity = 10; other power (batteries, gas, etc) = 5; water = 10; sewer = 10; misc = 20/40)
• Luxuries: 90% (comfort, electronic entertainment, other things)
• Confidence/Security = 30/100
• Loyalty= (100 + N/A + 70 + 90 + 30)/4 = 72.5 %.

Loyalty:

• Loyalty is important because it determines how dependable the PC's NPCs are.
• Loyalty is a calculated by adding together food and water rations, shelter comfort and security, luxuries, overall security, and other factors.
• This is a concept on which I am still working, so expect some changes.
• For now, a Loyalty of _____ results in _____:
  • >90%: total loyalty. NPCs will follow your every command, even putting your life before their own.
  • 81-90%: great loyalty. NPCs will follow all but the most dangerous commands. They will take risks for you, but they may not put their life on the line.
  • 71-80%: okay loyalty. They will not put their lives at risk for you.
  • 61-70%: what loyalty? You better have a damn good reason for asking them to do something for you that they may not want to do, whether it be risking their lives or just doing the dishes. Also, I'd lock the doors and put the food and weapons under guard, because when you wake up, you may be 1 or 2 people and guns short.
  • 51-60%: loyalty my ass! You're lucky they haven't kicked you out the door to see if the cannibals find you tasty.
  • <=50%: yeah, right! And with all votes casted, the new leader is...!
• Loyalty can be increased by:
  • Food: finding more and keeping the rations high.
  • Clean Water: same.
  • Shelter: providing a safe and secure place to live and/or improving the current location. Shelter can be improved by ensuring there is enough space, privacy, power, lights, heating, cooling, consumables, and more.
  • Luxuries: things like new, clean clothes, bathroom supplies, comfortable beds, yadda yadda yadda; if it isn't food and water and you can't imagine living without it, it probably falls into this category, and getting more for your people will endear them to you.
  • Confidence/Security: if your NPCs trust that you will protect them and provide for them what they need, you will have their confidence.

Important note about posts:

• You don't have to be overly concerned with OOC (Out of character) information being in the IC (In Character) thread.
• Just post whatever is on your mind. You don't have to send me PMs with OOC stuff, though you can if you want.
• Concerning the Statistics Information:
  • There is no need for you to copy and paste the SI to your post.
  • If you change something, such as Food or Water Ration, just add it to your post.
  • I will update the SI when it changes in my subsequent posts.

About this rambling post:

• After we get going, I am going to come back to this post and edit out the crap.
• This first post will become sort of a profile page, on which I will keep important information at which we both may want to look at times.
• If you wish, you can also utilize your first post as just such a profile page, if you wish. But that's just an option.

For you:

• Introduce your character: name, age, physical description, image, yadda yadda yadda, whatever you want but no more than you want. (You don't have to have a picture unless you want one.)
• Even though this is only partially role play and partially game, you can always feel free to write additional text. You don't have to keep things short and to the point at all times. So, if you want to include some of Katie's background and thoughts and whatever in your first post, go for it.
• We need a balance on her career and monster ass kicking ability, to give her some confidence and ability without making her a superhero, so, let's do this: You get 20 points to divide between physical ability, shooting ability, martial arts, and weapon inventory. Example: she can be totally average (5+5+5+5) or be a fucking ninja but unarmed (10+0+10+0) or a clumsy oaf with guns and super shooting (3+8+4+5) or whatever. Makes sense? (These numbers will be forgotten almost immediately: they are only a way for me to judge what kind of a person you see Katie as being. Make sense?)
• Feel free to write that you come to Henry's or invite Henry and the others to your place. (They can be your NPCs for such stuff when their loyalty is this high, so you don't have to ask me for permission to write them moving about and doing logical stuff.)

Katie MacLeod

Katie MacLeod
Age: 26
5'9 Average build, slightly athletic.
Police officer

Physical: 5
Shooting: 8
Martial: 3
Inventory: 4 (Official sidearm, personal handgun, tazer)

Katie

Katie was sprawled across her bed and sound asleep when Henry knocked on her door. She stirred a bit from the sound of his knock but didn't wake up right away. Several minutes later she finally opened her eyes. Slowly sitting up and pushing back the covers.

It was her day off so she had put her phone on silent for the night and hadn't received the dozens of calls to her cell. She got up from the bed and walked to the kitchen and put some coffee on. She headed to the door to check for the morning paper and when she opened the door was surprised not to find it waiting for her. "Who's steal a paper?" She says as she turns to go back into her apartment. "What's this?" She says when she sees the note on the door. She reads it over and is puzzled by the message. She walked back into her room and grabbed her robe and tied it around herself before walking out into the hallway.

She walked down the short distance to Henry's apartment, wondering what was so important this early in the morning.

Henry practically pulls Katie into the apartment, and no sooner is the door closed than Sarah is slinging her arms around her friend and sobbing to her. They both rapidly recount what has happened during the night: the vaccine, the side effects, the cannibals, looting, the National Guard just now being deployed.

"How could you not know about any of this?" Sarah asks with shock, not knowing that Katie has been dead to the world all night.

Henry knows, of course. He goes to the window that looks out upon the boulevard. This is a very quiet apartment complex and the windows are highly sound resistant: as soon as he opens a window, the sound of the mayhem 3 floors below floods the room. Outside, people are running all about, the crazies are still attacking, there are fires in the distant and sirens from very direction.

What do you do?

• Hide with them here?
• Hide with them in your apartment? (Your apartment doesn't face the street and is more secure, with windows facing the secured, fenced courtyard and an emergency exit/stairwell the next door over. Actually, is having an exit/entrance that close safer or not safer? Hmm.)
• Check your phone?
• Go to work?
• Other?

Henry, Sarah, and Taylor will follow your lead and instructions, so long as it doesn't mean going outside, so feel free to write for them.

I'm sending you some PMs with results to the above actions. DO NOT READ THE PMs until you have decided what your are going to do!! Trust!

Katie

Katie was shocked when the door opened and she was pulled inside. She hugged Sarah as they explained the currant situation to her. "Are you serious right now?" She said as she hugged Sarah a bit tighter before pulling away. She moved to the window and almost lost her stomach at the sight below.

"I need to run back to my place and grab some stuff and get dressed." She said as she moved back towards the door. "You guys stay here and I'll be right back." She checks the hallway through the peep hole before quickly running to her apartment. She quickly changes, throwing on some jeans and a t-shirt and grabbing a back pack and filling it with more clothes. She grabs her belt holster and straps on her side arm before grabbing the small gun case that held her smaller handgun. She grabs her phone and sees all the missed call notifications, but ignores them for now.

She checks the hallways again before dashing back to Henry's. "Alright. I grabbed what I could for now, so we can lay low for a bit. We should be safe here and at least we can see what is happening below." She moves to the window again and looks down at the street, still barely believing what is happening.

The foursome spend the next couple hours talking about what they should be doing next and wondering what was going to happen. Around 11 they hear a commotion out in the hallway and Katie moves to the door to look out the peep hole. Her eyes widened when she sees some of the neighbors being attacked in the hall. She turns around and puts a finger to her lips. She the motions for the guys to move a bookself in front of the door.

"What's happening?" Sarah whispers.
"Some of the neighbors have been attacked in the hallway. We need to stay quiet and we should be okay in here." Katie replies.

They then all huddle together as far from the door as possible until the sounds from the hallway go quiet. "Stay put while I take a peek through the hole." See says before moving to the door quietly.

The two men from Apartment 304 were tickled pink to see Katie return with guns; they both have target practice experience, though neither has ever been a cop or soldier or such.

Sarah has always been a bit uncomfortable around them. She's certain she could learn to use one, though, if Katie were to spend the time instructing her.

On a different note, seeing Katie with a gun and Taser strapped to her hip made Taylor hard! Over the few hours to come, he shows Katie a little more attention than he probably should, considering the situation and the fact that about every 10 minutes his girl friend calls him in panic, asking when he's going to come save her.

As they are waiting, they learn some new information from the internet, television, and radio:

• More than 50 countries on 6 continents are affected.
• It is thought that millions are already dead, dying, or turning into Crazies, a term the President used and upon which the Press picked up.
• Their own City's pre-mayhem population of 100,000 is thought to be down to less than 10,000 already, what with deaths, turnings, and flight to the countryside.
• The National Guard was deployed, but the attacks scattered them. Most Guardsmen are thought to be dead or fleeing, as are the police.
• If Katie checks her phone (which I assume she will at some point), she will find several automated messages demanding she and all off duty police officers report for duty. The messages will continue until she presses "1" to acknowledge receipt of the message.

When Katie looks out the peephole, she sees a dead body in the hallway but no Crazies. If she opens the door further, she will find a horribly mutilated body down the hall farther. She will recognize the bodies as the newlywed and thankfully childless couple from Apartment 306.

There is no more mayhem or noise of any sort from the hall.

"Can I use your other gun?" Taylor asks. He nods toward the case which has the .38 Special in it. He is currently armed with a butcher knife and a baseball bat. "I know how to use one."

"Me, too, I need a gun," asks Henry, who is armed with a butcher knife and a field hockey stick. Although he actually will, he tells Katie, "I'm not going out there without something more than this!"

"There's guns out there!" Sarah says, whose trembling hands are grasping a knife and a hammer. She is standing at the window pointing out toward the street. A National Guard Hummer is abandoned; dead, mutilated troops lay on the ground, some still with their weapons. "Can't we just go get those?"

Out on the street, there are virtually no living people and the Crazies are all either engaged in eating corpses or vanished from view.


Katie MacLeod (PC):

• Police officer
• Physical 5, Shooting 8, Martial Arts/H2H (hand to hand) 3
• Weapons: 9mm semi-auto pistol, 38 Special, Taser.

Non Player Characters:

Henry:

• Chemistry T.A. (City U); can mix things that go bang.
• Physical 5, Shooting 3, Martial Arts/H2H 4.
• Weapons: butcher knife, field hockey stick.

Sarah:

• Agricultural Sciences Major (City U); knows agriculture, diet, cooking.
• Physical 4, Shooting 1, Martial Arts/H2H 3.
• Weapons: butcher knife, field hockey stick.

Taylor:

• Engineering Doctoral Candidate; think MacGyver.
• Physical 7, Shooting 5, Martial Arts/H2H 6.
• Weapons: butcher knife, baseball bat.

Food:

• 24 servings (following lunch)
• Current ration allotment = 100%

Bottled Water:

• 12 servings
• Current rations: N/A (City water still available)

Batteries: Low.


Shelter: Current feeling of Security = 4/10

• Apartment 304 (3rd floor).
• Unsecured apartment building (meaning no locked entry gate).
• Fire doors at end of halls may supply more security if closed.
• Inner courtyard/pool do, however, have an 8 foot tall wrought iron fence around them. (Access from 3rd floor via interior stairwell.)
• Crazies got to the 3rd floor (which is the reason for the lowered Security statistic).

Luxuries: Current feeling of comfort/luxury = 70%

• They still have power, water, sewer; all their electronics work; so on.
• Of course, there are Crazies outside who want to eat them, so...

Confidence in Katie: 70%

• Except for Sarah, who is her friend, the others don't know Katie well.
• However, she is a cop with guns; that bodes well.
• She is taking charge and doesn't seem panicked; another plus.

Loyalty to Katie: 70%

• >90%: total loyalty. NPCs will follow your every command, even putting your life before their own.
• 81-90%: great loyalty. NPCs will follow all but the most dangerous commands. They will take risks for you, but they may not put their life on the line.
• 71-80%: okay loyalty. They will not put their lives at risk for you.
• 61-70%: what loyalty? You better have a damn good reason for asking them to do something for you that they may not want to do, whether it be risking their lives or just doing the dishes. Also, I'd lock the doors and put the food and weapons under guard, because when you wake up, you may be 1 or 2 people and guns short.
• 51-60%: loyalty my ass! You're lucky they haven't kicked you out the door to see if the cannibals find you tasty.
• <=50%: yeah, right! And with all votes casted, the new leader is...!