January 13th, 2009 [Closed]

Simon nods his agreement, with the officer. "I really don't think that making a break for it is really going to help. Although I wish you luck."

He turns to the officer and quietly mutters, "They do have one point however. We ARE going to need to leave sooner or later for food and other supplies. We should be ok for the time being, but..." he trails off leaving the problem hang in the air like a bad smell.

"We know that the first three floors are clear right? I would feel safer checking out the upper two floors and the roof. My gut feeling is that keeping the fifth and roof floors accessible only to us would be the best. We can send out savaging parties to the mall or wherever if we need too and post some guards at the stair entrances just in case some of them get past the blocked doors. Being up on the fifth floor would at least give us SOME warning."

He makes his way over to the laptop and other items that he left here before and packs them up in his backpack while talking, "Karl? What's your take on the upper floors? Any service entrances or exits that wouldn't make it a good place to hide out?"

Jimmy steps forward toward the crowd, covered in the blood of the Undead.

"Death awaits you outside this building. Look at me, see this blood? This is the blood of a man who became a monster, a monster who eats the flesh of his brothers. This city, your city, is now filled with these creatures. All you do by leaving this place is feed their bellies and their numbers. Here is safety, we can guard ourselves here. In Psalms it says 'Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked,
I will remain confident.' That is true here and now! God brought us here to be with each other in the darkest of nights, here we are safe and here we should all stay."

Jimmy stops talking and goes back to the work of securing the second floor.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

The man identified as Dan speaks up again. "We saw the same report about the military that you did," he says with a nod towards the TV that was still on, though muted, sitting on one of the tables against the conference room's wall. "I'm willing to take my chances. I think a number of others here would as well. The government may not let us leave, but I'll take my chances being surrounded by armed men pointing their guns, than being surrounded by those things outside. At least you can reason with the living."

"There's a number of us who will be leaving early tomorrow morning. We'll remain behind downstairs when you move up, I supp-" Dan is suddenly cut off as someone has unmuted the TV, and turns the volume up so all can hear:

"cieved a tape from a radical group claiming responsibility for the bombing at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility earlier this week. We warn you all, the following footage may be difficult to watch, and we urge parental discretion."

The video shows graphic footage of zombies attacking small animals, ripping them to pieces, and devouring them. It quickly cuts to animals of all types - dogs, cats, deer, and more, behaving in a manner consistent with the human zombies. As the carnage plays out on screen, the voice of an older man can be heard:

"The dead walk the earth. The prophecies of the apochryphal St. Arestides have come to pass. As foretold in his visions, all the peoples of the world shall unite under Lord Jahweh's banner, throwing down their heretical beliefs, and taking up the one true faith. Until such a time as the world unifies, the dead shall continue to walk, and continue to feast upon the unbelieving.

"We are the Hand of Arestides, and we take responsibility for the attack on Three Mile Island. A chemical agent has been released, and life shall never be the same again.

"But fear not peoples of the world! A cure exists! To receive Lord Jahweh's blessing, you need only to repent, and to bring low the great deceivers who have perverted Jahweh's divine word.

"A similar message has already been sent to the heads of all the world's major faiths. When the world unites, Jahweh's will shall be done, and the dead shall return to their graves."

The video ends, and the view returns to the anchor, who sits behind her large desk, a look of shock and terror clear on her face.

"We...know very little about the Hand of Arestides. Our research team is gathering information on this developing story. Please...please stay with us..." They cut to commercial.

Suddenly, every pair of eyes in the room turns and focuses on Jimmy, waiting for an explanation.

Spoiler:

"Jesus said "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." A false prophet has killed and poisoned us with man made chemicals and tells us it's the will of God, what truer fruit of evil can their be? I know God wants us safe, he has brought us here for a reason. "The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel." This is our refuge, this is our stronghold. "

shit......I don't even believe the words out of my mouth....

Many are looking at Jimmy skeptically. A great number of people have gathered close to the TV screen, as the commercial break comes to an end and the anchorwoman introduces a Catholic cardinal who is on the phone line, live.

"Thank you for joining us, Cardinal Marsden. As you know, we, along with several other news outlets, have aired the video from this group, the Hand of Arestides. What can you tell us of this...bizarre development? Can you confirm that your church leadership has received a message, as claimed by the group?"

The Cardinal coughs gravely and replies in a deep, resonant voice. "Thank you, first off, I can confirm at this time that the Vatican has received a similar video to the one you aired a few moments ago. I cannot confirm or verify at this time, however, the specific contents that video may have contained."

"Very well, Cardinal. What can you tell us of this Hand of Arestides?"

"Very little, I'm afraid. St. Arestides was an obscure religious writer in the early days of the Church. Very little is known about him, and the majority of what is known is speculation at best."

"Is it safe to suppose that this sect is likely a cult offshoot of Christianity, Cardinal?"

"That would likely be an accurate statement, though I would stress to your viewers that this group, if they are an actually religious cult, do not represent the views and beliefs of the vast majority of the world's Catholics, or even the majority of the world's Christians.

"It is also entirely possible that this terrorist group is using religion as a convenient front."

"Of course, Cardinal. Thank you for joining us tonight."

"My pleasure, Catherine. God bless those souls who are still trapped in the city of Harrisburg and the surrounding countryside. Our thoughts and prayers are with you."

"Indeed, they-"

The anchorwoman's farewell to the Cardinal is cut off abruptly as the power fails in the hotel and you are all plunged into darkness.

"Everyone just calm down. If we panic this is only going to make things worse."

George clicks on the small LED flashlight on his key chain and shines it towards the group.

"This doesn't change much, we're just not going to be able to secure the elevators yet. We still need to get moving. Does anyone else have flashlights?"

Shit! Kelly takes a flashlight from her belt and turns it on. "George is right. Nothing changes. If you plan on going with us lets move into the hallway. If you are leaving or staying down here for now...good luck." I hope that I do not end up "killing" you and chopping up your body later...Oh my God. What is wrong with me. Keep it together Kel.

Flashlights clicking on sparsely throughout the conference room, the large space is lit up by tiny islands of illumination in a thick sea of people and darkness.

For a time, chaos rules the moment as people panic, trapped in the darkness. Shouts and instructions are swallowed by the din, or ignored by those who are close enough to hear them.

There is a push for conference room doors, and several people slip out into the lobby before the group comes to their senses as the reserve power system kicks in. Somewhere, deep in the basements of the hotel a generator can be heard churning and chugging.

As things begin to calm down, Karl can be heard yelling over the lessening din: "We've only got 3 hours of electricity!"

Kelly lets out a loud whistle to get everyone's attention. "You all heard Karl. We have 3 hours to get ourselves barricaded in. It will be much easier to do this with electricity. We need to go and go now. Now...if you are staying with us then get into the hallway. We're going to setup on one of the floors. As I said before, anyone else that is parting ways with us...best of luck."

Kelly turns to George, "What do you think...just move to the second floor or see if we can go higher? We can do a quick patrol of a higher floor to make sure it's clear."

"I vote for the higher floor. We're not going to be able to barracade these main stairs. Of course if we find something on the upper floors we should probably run instead of engaging, cause we're running out of time, and the 2nd floor is better than nothing at all."

This is going to be crazy. I pray that one of the other floors is clear, so we can at least not have to worry about a constant guard on these main stairs. We have enough to worry about without that...

Simon nods, "Agreed. Question is, do we allow a path over that bridge to the mall for easier access to supplies? Or do some of us make a supply run now, before the next attack?"

Now on a timer, the group splits. "Dan," and those people who sympathize with him make up a small group of 15. Largely unarmed, they look like sheep waiting for the slaughter as they huddle in one corner of the conference room, planning.

You lead the remaining 30+ people up to the third floor, where you begin the process of barricading yourselves in, as best you can. Calling the elevators up to the 3rd floor while you still have electricity, and opening doors, you situate the remaining survivors 2 or more to a room, trying to preserve family units where possible before retiring to the rooms you've reserved for yourselves.

Spoiler:

As the group moves furniture from a few of the rooms, George directs those carrying the loads. He tries to find the right combination of furniture that fully encloses the space between the inward swinging door of the stairwell and the opposite concrete wall in hopes of preventing the doors from being forced open.

George shouts up to a younger man carrying a leather room chair into the hallway. "Get Officer Kelly to have people start filling their tubs while the power is still on. Just cold water!"

Spoiler:

A young man comes up to Kelly and mentions filling the bathtubs. Kelly nods, "Not a problem." Kelly quickly moves from room to room instructing everyone to fill their tubs with cold water. Kelly goes into the rooms that have been secured for the "headquarters" and does the same. She gets a few people to help out and do the same in any of the rooms that are not occupied.

Jimmy helps barricade the stairwells and doors, quietly lost in thought, with a clearly disturbed look on his face......wake up Jimmy, you're losing your mind....the ramblings of a syphalitic mad man and his followers mean nothing.....but those fifteen we left behind, they will soon be trying to kill and eat us.....be better if we killed them now. Shit! No! What am I thinking? Just keep working and the answers will come.....