Operating Area: Abandoned Park

At the outskirts of town lies the old city park, a place where children and families came to picnic and play in the island's older days. A run-down place, its only grace is the relatively stable gazebo at its center, which several enterprising homeless folk found to be a great shelter from the summer rain. The night before, they had each found a spot beneath its roof and settled down for the night, awaiting the coming of a new day. The darkness of night overtook the park like a blanket and the four who had moved in fell into a deep slumber.

--7:22 AM--

The first thing any of them knew after falling asleep was a loud roaring, something like a fire engine. Before anyone could wipe the sleep out of their eyes, an enormous red fire engine had crashed straight through the park's fence and skid across the grass. The more observant of them realized that they had not encountered any such fence when entering to sleep just a day before, but here it was: a tremendous wire fence encircling the area.

The day was not what they had expected either. All four of them had been fairly certain of the summer season before, but upon awakening, they found a dewy Autumn morning, slightly chilly. The moisture created a dim fog in the air that made it hard to see the figure which approached them from just behind the gazebo...

However, the attention of the four was all for the fire truck; it was as if they were still inside a dream, seeing it move so wildly. A fireman in full gear bolted out of the driver-side door as soon as it stopped, looking at the group in awe. "Jesus Christ! Don't you guys have any sense in you?!" he called at them from across the park. He'd started towards them when he suddenly caught sight of the figure behind them. "Dammit!" he swore, stepping back to the engine and grabbing the long fire-hose at its side.

The stranger had, instead of circling around to the side where it was reasonable to enter from the stairs, begun climbing over the side of the wooden gazebo. The smell of alcohol was thick on him, but not just that; there was also the stench of blood. As he brought his face over the side, his eyes wide and staring and dripping blood from both those sockets and his grinning mouth, the four felt certain that they must still be dreaming. "You guys... Have something I want... Something I-" he started to mutter in an extremely guttural voice, sounding oddly as if he was repressing a chuckle, before a stream of water blasted him towards the back of the park. The blast was far more powerful than should ever be directly aimed at a person, yet the fireman had let it go full force into the man's neck, knocking him into a crumpled heap at the back of the park.

The fireman holding the hose walked towards the groggy four, still pointing his hose at them cautiously. "Wake up! Snap to it, on the double! Any one of you that's not... That's not one of them! Come with me!" he quaked hurriedly, still changing his hose between targets. Before any of them could decide to act on his words, however, the man gave a small groan, falling forward and clawing at his back. Behind his great body, hidden by his coat, was a smaller drunkard, perhaps an accomplice of the man who had been blasted. His body, however, was in equally poor condition, as evidenced by his limping walk and his bloodied face. He snickered mirthfully at his job-well-done, raising what looked like a small (now bloody) switchblade into the air. "I got him! Where's his keys... Where's his keys..." the man cheered, then began to mutter absently, as if he'd forgotten what he was looking for. "Keys... his keys," he grumbled, staring around the park.

As if they hadn't had enough of this nightmare yet, the fireman began to twitch on the ground. His helmet had rolled off, revealing an open-mouthed older man's face, still in the shock of death. A gurgling rose from the man's throat, then a sort of a good-natured laugh, then an unnatural, absolutely hysterical one with some sort of malice behind it. His twitching body rose back to life, muttering words that the others could not overhear. Slowly and dumbly, he turned to his assailant, rubbing his gray mustache with one gloved hand. Blood leaked from the corners of his mouth, yet he didn't seem to care. His neck had been cut by the knife and the wound was still bleeding. Even yet, as if nothing had happened, the two began to speak casually in a way that the others could not overhear. The fireman dropped his hose, but was now waving a fire-ax he'd had beneath his coat in a very reckless fashion as he spoke.

The four were in a bad situation now. The new fence surrounding the area seemed to be the only thing keeping many dangerous bums (far more bums than they recalled being in the area when they'd gone to sleep) from stumbling into the park and discovering them. The best seeming option was to find a way to acquire the safety of that fire truck, which seemed still to be in operating condition, before even more of those dangerous folk worked there way into the park.

Another thing that added to the dream-like quality was something like a vision that the four of them had all had simultaneously. When the man had popped up at the side of the gazebo, he'd been talking too quietly and from too far away for them to make out his words under ordinary conditions. However, for a moment, it seemed as if they'd seen through his eyes... almost become him temporarily to see him looking hungrily at the four of them and speaking his unintelligible words. Perhaps they could use this power again to their advantage? (Sight-Jacking Unlocked)

------------------------------

Objective: Escape in the Fire Truck.

DIRECTIONS: Behind the gazebo is a somewhat overgrown area where the first bum was shot back into. The four are currently undetected in the gazebo area. The bum and the fireman are currently standing at the front of the park. The only way to the fire truck is either past the two through the front of the park or going around past a large sandbox.

All players are together. No player is detected by shibito.

Mike Almega: 10/10 Vitality
Sarah Taylor: 10/10 Vitality
Michael Barre: 10/10 Vitality
Ixbalanque: 10/10 Vitality

The 4 players detect each other and three people nearby, all identified:
Dangerous Bum (Unconcious) @ back of park
Dangerous Bum @ front of park: 10/10 Vitality
Fireman @ front of park: 10/10 Vitality
Sarah woke up. She looked around her as a haze cleared out from her head. The first thing she noticed was how cold it was. The next thing that came to mind was wondering what time it was. She reflexively pulled out her phone to check the time. Seven twenty two wasn't a bad time to wake up.

What had woken her up again? That question was soon answered by the chaos that transpired shortly afterward. She wondered what could be wrong with the bloodied homeless man who crawled up the side of the Gazebo, but the Fireman took care of him.

And then he himself was taken care of. He had used the phrase "one of them." And now he appeared to be one of them, and, other than some blood, perfectly ok.

Sarah was somewhat troubled by this development. She had just watched a man get his throat slit, fall to the ground dead, and then get back up like nothing happened, conversing with his murderer.

And then everything was sort of quiet. She thought back to a weird flash she had felt when the bloody homeless man appeared. She could swear she had been in his head. But that was impossible, wasn't it?

Sarah shook her head. She was tired, that's all. But something was definitely happening. She was sitting up now, somewhat cautious about standing up lest the fireman shoot an inhumane amount of water at or near them again. Not that sitting would really save her.

Sarah quickly logged something up while she looked over the other three people in the Gazebo with her. One was big and older than her, most likely, and he wore a black overcoat. Another was near her age with a bomber jacket. The last one was just a kid, wearing a brown hooded jacket.

She felt bad that such a young kid was apparently homeless. But she tried to stay focused. "What's going on?" she wondered, quietly, aloud. She looked around through the gazebo's side and, fixing her glasses upon her eyes, glanced around the strangely unfamiliar parkscape.

[spot?]
"...the hell?" Michael blurted out groggily. He wasn't the kind of person that enjoyed being rudely awakened, and looked around for the source of the loud noise. To his surprise, the source was a fire truck that had come careening into the park. Don't see that every day, he noted mentally while searching for his jacket.

Once he located his brown aviator jacket sitting beside him, Michael grabbed it and half rolled himself into a kneeling position. From there he managed to lay eyes on some kind of blood-eyed zombie homeless guy. Seconds later the strange figure was knocked back by a jet of water. Michael's head whirled towards the fireman just as the man was stabbed.

By then he realized that literally keeping his head down was the best idea in this situation. Taking a moment to observe his surroundings, Michael realized it was significantly colder than when he'd entered the park the night before. He quickly pulled on his jacket, figuring it would be better not to carry it around. The zombies-or whatever they were-didn't seem to have noticed him or the others near him yet. Hell, even the fireman who'd called out to them appeared indifferent.

Who else was available in terms of non-zombies, though? If any of them were capable of helping him it would be nice to know in advance. Girl in a hoodie: she was already awake, which might have been a plus if it hadn't been for the fire truck's entrance. Weird little kid: was probably awake by now, but didn't look it. If he was living in parks he would probably know something about survival. The last guy looked pretty large, good for fights if it came to that. Michael wasn't sure if fighting zombies was a good idea, however.

He doubted the things would stand near the truck forever, so Michael decided to take the opportunity to search his immediate area for anything useful while waiting for the other people under the gazebo to get a move on. He didn't bother saying anything to the hoodie girl for the moment; they could talk later if it mattered. Michael was starting to wonder if coming to the island had been such a good idea.

Now, anything I can make use of in this dump?

((Spot))
The first thing he heard was the roar of a fire engine.

The boy snapped immediately into readiness, fighting off whatever fogginess he might feel as he tried to identify his surroundings and figure out what was going on. Ixbalanque's first immediate response was that he knew of certain danger, even if he didn't know how bad it was as yet. As he observed the fireman's expression and response, he turned his attention to greet...

... A sickening sight, to say the least. He was not much of a stranger to blood, but the way it hung out of the new strangers' sockets and features seemed to be some sort of an entire thing altogether. Oh, what were they called again? Zombies? Those from cheap movies? Not that he had seen one, of course. Just the posters. Just that this particular 'zombie', however, seemed overbudgeted with the booze and with real blood.

Then the fireman shot the 'zombie' down with his hose at full pressure. Okay... Was he stuck in some sort of a movie production? All the looniness the boy dropped, however, when the fireman became a victim, himself. Pretty much killed and... sort of got animated by a certain powerful force.

Ix laid back his head on the ground and proceeded to sleep through the nightmare. But then, some sort of a cheap vision came through to his tiny brains, and he was jolted back to a sitting position again. The boy ruffled his own dirt-filled, grey hair... This wasn't really a dream, was it?

Just as he was about to stand and look for items that he can defend for himself, he identified three other... normal people that were with him. There were two mediums and one large. He kept silent as he eyed them one by one, then silently turning and starting to crouch around the place to look for potential weapons, while trying to be out of sight of the zombie thingy.

[Spot, Hide check]

His prize, however, was the switchblade one of the zombies was holding. He felt like he hadn't held one in ages.
"what the hell just happened?" was the first thought that came into the muscular man's mind, his body jolting upright from the sound of the Firetruck, only to crash into the area.

Watching the fireman attempt to help them, he only served to get his throat cut open by one of the bums in the park. He needed a weapon to fight them off, his size ment he'd be spotted without a doubt.

Slowly getting up onto his feet, he quietly took in the paranormal sight, seeing through another's eyes...it just didn't sit right with him, but he shrugged mentally, beginning to scout around for some sort of weapon, makeshift or otherwise.

(Spot Check, look for weapon)
The first thing that each of the gazebo occupants did was search for anything at all, be it a hiding spot or a weapon, with which they might defend themselves from the danger. Perhaps out of his element, Michael managed to discover only a few broken beer bottles scattered around the gazebo, glinting in the sunlight. In addition to these, Ixbalanque noticed a few bike tires in the near vicinity, but couldn't match them to the original contraption. He also observed a crawl space beneath the elevated gazebo that could serve as a hiding spot. The other two, keeping better focus, spotted all of this as well as a single glinting bicycle handlebar that had apparently detached from the same bike. In addition, an old-fashioned bicycle horn sat close at hand.

As the others pondered what to do, Ixbalanque scampered beneath the gazebo to hide. Unfortunately, he found after sticking one leg in that he was attempting to enter a side littered with broken glass! It was apparent to him he'd have to try it again from another angle or give up on it.

In the mean-time, the shibito continued their quiet conversation, or whatever it was they were doing over there. The two kept looking in the general direction of the unfortunate group, seeming to remember that there was something over there of interest but unable to recall what. Unfortunately, at the last second, the corners of the fireman's moustache lifted; he was smiling. "Look. Over there," he murmered, waving a hand at the decently tall Michael Barre.

The bum's face contorted into a wily grin as he hobbled to the other side, pointing at Sarah with his knife. "Look! Look at this one!" he giggled, waving his switch blade happily. "There's more, more! All of them are RIGHT THERE!" he cried out as if he'd found something amazing.

"Wut.... Where're they?" the bum at the back of the park muttered, somehow staggering to his feet despite having just taken a direct blow from the fireman's hose. Groping around on the ground, he picked up his switchblade and closed his grip tightly around it. "There! We're going to slice em, right Joey?" the bum laughed murderously. "Sneak in and slice em?"

"Yeahehe... hehehe!" the other bum giggled in reply, beginning a sprint towards Sarah.

The other bum began to close in murderously on the group from the back. He stopped for a moment, looking warily at Ixbalanque, then grinned from ear to ear, gushing blood from his mouth. "There he is," he muttered matter-of-factly, beginning to stagger towards Ix as the child unsuccessfully attempted to crawl under the gazebo.

All of this chaos was compounded by a throbbing sensation in head of each of those targeted. They saw with dangerous clarity their own eyes staring back into the lifeless bleeding eyes of the shibito that now ran to capture them. Whether they realized that this was another form of sight-jacking or not, there was little time to think about it. Only one thing could matter now: survival.

------------------------------

Objective: Escape in the Fire Truck.

DIRECTIONS: Behind the gazebo is a somewhat overgrown area where the first bum was shot back into. He is now back up, heading towards the gazebo. The four are currently in the gazebo area. The bum and the fireman are currently at the front of the park, heading towards the gazebo. The only way to the fire truck is either past the two through the front of the park or going around past a large sandbox.

All players are together. All players are now detected. Sarah is being pursued by a dangerous bum at the front of the park. Michael is being pursued by the fireman shibito, currently at the front of the park. Ixbalanque is being pursued by a dangerous bum, currently at the back of the park.

Mike Almega: 10/10 Vitality
Sarah Taylor: 10/10 Vitality
Michael Barre: 10/10 Vitality
Ixbalanque: 10/10 Vitality

The 4 players detect each other and three people nearby, all identified:
Dangerous Bum @ back of park: 10/10 Vitality
Dangerous Bum @ front of park: 10/10 Vitality
Fireman @ front of park: 10/10 Vitality
She noticed the others get up, but no one came to speak to her, or offered any sort of suggestion at all. She figured they were probably all just as, if not more, shocked as she was. Her glance around revealed some bike parts and some broken bottles, but those didn't interest her.

What really struck her as important was the fact that the fireman and his murderer were now coming after them. She watched in horror as the murderer himself turned his attention to her, and watched in even more horror as a throbbing entered her head and she saw the horror on her own face.

She didn't have time to think about the return of these visions, and certainly didn't plan on saying anything about them. Especially if she was the only one having them. She wouldn't want to go crazy, but it would be worse if everyone thought she was crazy. The first thing that came to mind was "Oh.Em.Gee. Those dudes are going to frickin' kill us!" she said at a low volume.

She looked back over her not-apparently murderous fellows. The older two were probably recoiling from shock still, but the kid had disappeared. "He's in danger. I have to help him. She thought, now more stressed than before. "I just hope these two can take care of themselves..."

She got to her feet and scooped up the only thing she had found that interested her, the rubber horn, into her pocket. She didn't think too much about it, but figured it could be useful somehow, especially since she had nothing better to grab.

She then made off for the stairs of the Gazebo, and spoke quickly, a rhetorical statement meant mainly for the ears of the older two boys in the group, "We've got to go." It was simple and to the point. She figured that simple statement wouldn't help anyone in their right mind, but if they happened to have gone catatonic she didn't want to leave them in shock without any ideas.

Sarah made it off the Gazebo and found the boy on the ground, near a hole under the gazebo and some shattered glass. She rushed over to him. "Are you ok?" she asked, holding out her hand to help him to his feet. "We've got to get out of here. Those men are dangerous." Again, she felt sort of stupid saying such obvious things. But the kid was just a kid, so she figured it made sense. She realized she was shaking a bit with anxiety and fear, but managed to keep them suppressed, and out of her voice. Those emotions wouldn't make this poor kid feel any better.

She glanced over her shoulder and was ready to dash with this kid as soon as he got up. He'd just follow her. Then they'd have to get out. There was a fence all around, but the fire truck had barreled through it. They could try and get out that way. Just as soon as she got the boy to his feet, avoided three murderers, and made it all the way there, didn't die- She tried to avoid the negative spiral of thoughts, and kept positive. One step at a time: just save this kid.
The boy quietly eyed the bum that was obviously coming for him-- if the vision thing was proving itself useful and accurate-- and decided to use it to his advantage. Judging the amount of steps necessary by the staggering bum towards him, he shoved as many glass shards he could obtain from his planned hiding spot, patting them in the adult-sized jacket and zipping it up.

[[GET GLASS SHARD PROJECTILE THROWING WEAPONS. NOT TO THE POINT OF OVERLOADING OR MAKES HIM LOOK FAT.]]

He turned his attention to the girl who was obviously trying to help and treat him like a kid. Throwing a small pout, he picked up the nearby beer bottle and let the woman drag him along on a run to god-knows-where. Why was the girl dragging him along anyway? In fact, what the heck is happening? Don't know. ... Eh, he doesn't really care.

Because this looks fun.

[[GET [s]BEERSERKER WEAPON[/s] BEERBOTTLE]]
After conducting a fruitless search yielding only a few busted beer bottles, Michael directed his attention to the talking zombie things near the fire truck.

Only they weren't just talking anymore. Michael stared straight at the fireman and knew he would have to do something. "Shit," he cursed in a low voice, rising up to his full height and clenching his fists. He had been in his fair share of fights before, but he doubted he had a chance against a zombie toting an axe. His first move was to swiftly pick out a broken bottle and grip it tightly by the neck in his right hand. It was more for emergencies than actual fighting.

Michael turned to watch a short exchange between the hoodie girl and the kid. It looked like they were planning on running. He didn't know where, but at this rate there wouldn't be anywhere left that was safe to run to. The only thing Michael could come up with was using the fire hose the fireman had used so effectively a few minutes ago, but he would have to save that for later. If there was a later.

If I think like that, I'm gonna end up like that stupid fireman, Michael chided himself.

He finally opened his mouth to say something to the others. "I'm gonna assume none of you want to die. Fighting back in this situation's a waste of time." He directed the last comment at the big guy near him. "I'm getting away from here for now," he stated. Michael didn't care too much about what the others thought about him for saying that, so he stepped down from the gazebo without another word and shot the fireman an angry look before starting to run away from the two near the front. Along the way he alternated searching for a place to hide and keeping tabs on the fireman.

If I can lose that guy, maybe I can get something done here, Michael reasoned as he ran.

((Equip: Broken bottle))
((Escape from pursuer))
((Search for hiding spots while escaping))
"Shit." Mike cursed quietly to himself, watching as the three foes ran after his allies, fellow survivors. "Better disarm that Fireman before he goes chop happy on Michael and the others..." Mike breathed as he bolted from his position, headding towards the bike handle, grabbing it as he passed by it, wielding it in his left hand. Taking initive, he quickly rushed over to the Fireman, swinging it wildly at him in an attempt to direct his attention towards mike.

(grab Bike Handlebar)
(Attack Fireman)
((Mike equipped Bike Handlebar, an average blunt weapon))
((Sarah pocketed a Bike Horn))
((Michael equipped Broken Beer Bottle, a light sharp weapon))
((Ixbalanque pocketed glass shards and equipped Broken Beer Bottle, a light sharp weapon))

Despite her own danger, Sarah's first impulse was to help those around her and she quickly came to the aid of Ixbalanque. Ix didn't seem overly terrified however, engaging himself with picking up glass shards in case the need to combat shibito arose. With that, the two began to run around the gazebo, attempting to evade the predators. Sarah managed to evade the bum successfully, but the other bum jumped over the side of the gazebo and caught up with Ix before he could escape. "Stay right there. You're done running," the bleeding man snickered, spreading his arms and waving his switchblade. (Combat engaged)

Michael picked up a broken bottle by its neck and began to run from his pursuer. As the fireman began to close in on Michael, he was intercepted by Mike, who had earlier armed himself with the metal bike handlebar. The fireman was wary of Mike's swing, but that did not change the extreme force with which Mike brought down the bar, smashing the shibito's head open and splattering blood all over the grass. The fireman staggered momentarily, but amazingly managed to get back up. His face was dyed a deep crimson now, but it still held the same vacant expression. "This is a dangerous situation here... It's my job to resolve it..." the fireman murmured, hoisting his hatchet up with both hands. (Combat engaged)

Michael successfully escaped the line of sight that the fireman had established, the fireman's attention now turned towards Mike, by ducking into the crawlspace below the gazebo. He had bought himself some time to think...

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Objective: Escape in the Fire Truck.

DIRECTIONS: Behind the gazebo is a somewhat overgrown area.. He is now back up, heading towards the gazebo. All characters and shibito are currently at the gazebo. The only way to the fire truck is either through the front of the park or going around past a large sandbox, both ways now being equally viable.

All players are together. All players except for Michael Barre are now detected. Michael Barre is hidden beneath the gazebo. Sarah is being pursued by a dangerous bum. Ixbalanque is engaged with a dangerous bum! Mike is engaged with the fireman shibito!

Mike Almega: 10/10 Vitality (engaging fireman)
Sarah Taylor: 10/10 Vitality
Michael Barre: 10/10 Vitality
Ixbalanque: 10/10 Vitality (engaging dangerous bum)

The 4 players detect each other and three people nearby, all identified:
Dangerous Bum @ gazebo: 10/10 Vitality (engaging Ixbalanque)
Dangerous Bum @ gazebo: 10/10 Vitality
Fireman @ gazebo: 5/10 Vitality (engaging Mike)
As Sarah and the boy ran on, she was shocked to find that he had been caught by the man pursuing him. This threw Sarah's mind into a frenzy as she struggled to make the split second decision as to what she could do while still trying to avoid the murderer who was chasing her.

She could run for it. She'd be fine. But the kid would not be. And even if the murderer somehow hadn't killed her before the end of this, if she had allowed the kid to die, she wasn't sure how well she'd be able to live with herself. She had to help him somehow. But how?

In that second her mind was made up. She didn't know what to do so she decided to go back to what they had been doing; running. She took a quick turn and attempted to place herself between the boy and the man who was after him, hopefully shielding his body with her own. Then, grabbing for his arm, she tried to drag him along with her out of the deadly range of the man's switchblade. "C'mon, let's go!" She said, anxiety mounting as she remained within reach of a number of dangerous men.

With a yank and a shove her goal was to get the boy running full speed with her once more, heading to the fire truck once again.

She wasn't planning on leaving him behind. If he failed to get away, she'd try pulling him away from the man again. If he did pull away with her, Sarah planned to keep pace with him, but remain somewhat behind him, to make sure he made it to safety. If she could do anything about it, she wouldn't be watching anyone die. The situation was horrible enough without the death of more innocents.

This of course, she had to do while still trying to avoid the murderer who had been chasing her. She was now watching out for two people who likely planned to kill her. She didn't focus on that though. Her mind was focused on saving this boy and saving herself. To do that, they needed to run and get to safety. And the only safety she was seeing was her destination; the fire truck.

[PURSUIT - Continue Running, avoiding Dangerous Bum (Pursuing Sarah), Place self between Dangerous Bum (Engaged With Ix) and Ix]
[STRENGTH - Drag Ix out of Engagement]
[PURSUIT - Disengage (if Engaged) from Dangerous Bum (Engaged with Ix) and run towards Fire Truck]
Ixbalanque took the golden chance of engagement-- the moment the bum made his existence known to the boy-- to stare into the features of the bum. The next moment, however, happened ridiculously quick to the silver-haired boy. Deftly taking out a glass shard, he figured that disabling him would do good enough.

He figured that normal killing techniques were not enough, anyway. His eyes were on the switchblade the bum was holding-- and as much as he wanted it-- he knew it was out of his grasp for now. He heaved a sigh.

Then he spun immediately, his intention apparent- re-pocketing the shard, he ran his way to the fire truck, trying to reach for it in the quickest way possible. He knew that this move had it's risks, but it had a lower risk compared to engaging the bum directly on.

And when he spun, he suddenly realized that the girl had held his hand in her grip and was yanking him off. ... Looks like their thinking was in sync. Ix took the initiative to lead the way, now the one in the lead and dragging the girl to the waiting fire engine.

[RUN AWAY TO FIRE ENGINE]
From under the gazebo, Michael's eyes darted around frantically, searching for pursuers. When he found none, he let out a slight sigh of relief and moved back a bit more. His vision was a little obscured, so he focused more on thinking of a way out than watching the others. He was a little astounded that the big guy had managed to do that to the fireman, and it gave Michael a little more hope about the possibility of fighting one.

Still, I'm only trying that when I'm desperate, he thought. Uttering a silent thanks to the big guy for distracting the fireman, Michael went over his options. The first and closest was to help out the big guy in taking down the fireman. However, wasting the distraction on that seemed stupid. Instead Michael focused on the fire truck for salvation. Not only was it seemingly still functioning, but that hose would at least be able to put the zombies out of commission.

Michael finally resolved that he would make a break for the fire hose and return the big guy's favor. Since two of the zombies had appeared occupied by the other humans in the park, that likely left one to contend with. If he could avoid it or outrun it, he was probably home free. Preparing to exit his hiding spot, Michael crawled forward to the entrance while avoiding some random shards of glass. At the opening, he took a quick glance around the area. His view was a bit limited as it had been before, but he saw no other option.

Here goes nothing, Michael thought solemnly.

It only took him a few seconds to crawl most of the way out, rise to his knees and take off towards the sandbox nearby as fast as he could. Immediately after exiting the gazebo, Michael had noticed the others still engaging the zombies. He didn't feel good about simply leaving, but he had a feeling that the hose would work out better than anything else available to them at the time.

((Move to sandbox area on way to fire truck))
"A "Dangerous Situation"?" Mike asked himself, before reading himself to fight more with the "fireman" "DAMN RIGHT IT IS YOU FUCKER!" Mike screamed as he attempted to dodge the Fireman's axe, knowing it would come down upon his head if he didn't move fast enough.
(Persuit Check, avoid the Fireman's axe attack)
The bum laughed as Sarah ran between him and his prey, switching his sight to her. "You're very good at this, are ya?... Back when I was a kid... I'd never let my bitch do something like that," he laughed, swiping his knife. Sarah, intercepting the two, was struck by the blade, dragging a gash across her skin. The shibito laughed as blood leaked out, waving his knife around some more. "Ha ha ha! Don't run, bitch!" he cried out after Sarah as she took to her feet, running along with Ixbalanque. The shibito pursued, hot on her tail. The two ran through the front of the park for the truck as fast as their legs could carry them, hoping to escape the predator. The other bum, who'd been pursuing Sarah already, kept up the chase but failed to gain any ground.

In the mean time, Michael Barre emerged from his hiding spot and took off for the truck as well, heading through the sandbox and remaining unnoticed.

The fireman rose his axe to attack Mike; rather than retaliating further, Mike decided to break and make a run for it. Mike wasn't fast enough. His own attack had looked like it did a lot of damage, but as pain screamed through his body, he couldn't help but think that this was still a lot worse. The fire axe had left a visible valley in his shoulder, tearing away the meat and staining his shirt beneath his overcoat. The wound looked positively grisly, but he managed to run. "Jesus... sit still and make this easy, would ya fella?" the fireman grumbled, lumbering with a lack of grace but frightening quickness as Mike ran around the gazebo, hoping to escape him.

The situation was looking grim as it became hard to distinguish shibito from survivor due to the blood staining their shirts...

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Objective: Escape in the Fire Truck.

DIRECTIONS: From the sandbox or the front of the park, the fire truck lies dead ahead. From the gazebo, one may either approach the back of the park, the front, or the sandbox area.

All players are together. All players except for Michael Barre are now detected. Michael Barre is moving across the sandbox area. Sarah is being pursued by both of the bums, while Ixbalanque runs with her. They are located in the front area of the park, as are the bums. Mike is fleeing the fireman shibito at the gazebo.

Mike Almega: 4/10 Vitality
Sarah Taylor: 7/10 Vitality
Michael Barre: 10/10 Vitality
Ixbalanque: 10/10 Vitality

The 4 players detect each other and three people nearby, all identified:
Hosed Bum @ gazebo: 10/10 Vitality
Bum "Joey" @ gazebo: 10/10 Vitality
Fireman @ gazebo: 5/10 Vitality
Sarah let out a pained gasp as the knife slid across her skin. She watched it happen from two angles, but tried to tune that fact out. She stayed focused though, somehow, and kept running. She was disturbed by the bleeding she was now doing. There was blood, her blood, staining her shirt. She had wanted to save the boy, but had not quite expected it to be this shocking.

She gulped down the urge to be sick and returned her focus to running.

The boy had pulled ahead and was now pulling her along, and she was grateful for this. She was trying to be strong , but being slashed with a knife had shaken her a bit, so she was grateful for the help. She did her best to keep up; she had already been sliced once, and her survival instincts told her to avoid letting that happen again. She had survived it in fairly good condition this time; She may not pull that off again.

With one hand holding the boy's, and the other pressing on the wound, Sarah looked with hope through her tear filled eyes as she realized that they were practically at the Fire Truck. She started running faster.

When she had arrived at the truck, she let go of the boy's hand and her stomach in order to allow herself to vault into the cap of the truck. She didn't really think about it, but she had a lot to be grateful for. If the door had been closed or locked, she'd have no such salvation right now.

Sarah soon realized that the boy hadn't beaten her to the cab. She was worried about him, but he had seemed fairly capable, so she figured he may be climbing into the back or something. She had no time to dwell on that, though, as there were two murderers chasing her. Once she was completely in the cab, she swung back to grab the door handle and slam it as hard as she could, hoping to seal the men who were trying to kill her out of the cab.

Or, if they were too close, maybe the door would hit them hard enough that they'd leave. Or it might close on them, which would also be painful enough to scare them off. She hoped.

If she did get that door shut, assuming she could find a lock, it was getting locked immediately.

The adrenaline coursing through her body at the moment allowed her to ignore the pain from her wound. Even the throbbing in her head, and the weird double vision were ignorable. Her eyes darted from the direction the murderers had been in to out the windshield, spying the other two people who had been with them. This situation was far from solved, despite reaching the truck, Sarah realized with despair.

[PURSUIT: Run to truck, Get in]
[Strength?: Close door]
[Search?: lock it]
The moment he made sure the girl crawled into the vault, he made his own move. His eyes were on the top of the vehicle. Securing two arms on the ladder at the back of the truck, he knew he didn't have much time-- it would be anytime soon before the bums found him doing something suspicious. He climbed hurriedly onto the top of the truck, gaining the height advantage that he needed. Ix raised the beer bottle, looking ready and poised to strike/throw at whatever hostility that came near.

He eyed the other two familiar figures from the gazebo, wishing them luck as he poised himself securely to the extendable ladder, just in case the girl knew how to operate the vehicle.

[Get on top of truck]
[Ready beer bottle for any engagement-- attack?]
"D-Damn it.." Mike mumbled, ducking behind the starting point for this area...bleeding badly and nearing death. Moving from his position, he began to move his feet, running towards the sandbox, and hopefully he can also make it towards the Firetruck before he gets caught.

(persuit check, run towards Sandbox/Firetruck)
Michael took a moment to glance behind himself as he rounded the sandbox. It seemed that he had managed to make it there unnoticed. His pace slowed slightly as he began to think speed wasn't such a necessity. He was sure that huge guy could handle himself well enough, so all Michael had to do was focus on reaching the truck.

Of course, things rarely work out as they should, and it only took Michael once glance back at the now distanced scene to realize speed was now of the essence. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the axe in the big guy's shoulder, then calmed down a bit when the man continued to run. Michael's gaze returned to the fire truck that drew ever closer. His jog quickly turned into a sprint as he tried to reach the truck as soon as possible. That hose was probably going to be very important if that guy couldn't reach the vehicle on his own.

As Michael slowed down in front of the truck, he saw the girl and kid come running up. They essentially ignored him on their way towards the truck, so Michael focused on his original target: the fire hose. It seemed to have been left lying there after the scene a few minutes ago. From what he could tell, the hose had a lever-like piece on it and that was about it. Steeling himself, Michael bent down to grab the hose and set down the broken bottle he'd been carrying in the process. The hose was a little heavy, but Michael was trying to be optimistic about using it. He placed his left hand on the bottom of the nozzle and gripped the lever with his right, directing the hose at the fireman. He then spread his feet apart and dug them into the ground as best as he could before finally...

"Adios, asshole."

Michael pressed down the lever on the hose, hopefully loosing the same high pressure blast of water the fireman had used before.

((Move to fire truck))
((Put down bottle))
((Grab hose, use on fireman))