Grant arrives at the security squad barracks as alarms pulse through the concrete. Outside, zombies press against the reinforced gates, their weight shuddering through the base.
Elana, a towering, heavily muscled Apronoid warrior with four arms and armored clothing, stands ringed by security personnel. Her hands remain open, but every guard watches them.
Elana
The newborns must be protected. Concealing this from the base risks every life inside these walls.
Security squad leader
Lower your voice. The examination is restricted information. Panic at the gates will become a breach inside the barracks.
A medic, a middle-aged woman with a sturdy build, brown skin, close-cropped black hair, and a white medical coat over dark utility clothing, grips a sealed examination folder near the armory door. Another guard, a young adult man with a lean build, dark skin, a shaved head, and gray body armor over a dark uniform, checks the corridor, while the gate alarm changes from intermittent pulses to a sustained warning.
Elana
They speak of secrecy while the dead gather outside. The children cannot be left undefended.
The squad leader turns toward Grant, caught between the classified medical discovery and the failing perimeter. Several rifles shift with the room's sudden attention.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the Apronoid newborns
“Can the armory door be secured against the breach?”
NO (Likely, rolled 76)
The armory door's locking bar refuses to seat. Its warped frame leaves a narrow gap, and the sustained alarm vibrates through the concrete.
Security squad leader
It will not hold. The armory is no longer a secure fallback.
Medic
Then move the examination folder now. If that door gives way, we lose the records and the only protected route to the clinic.
The Guard braces one shoulder against the frame and signals down the corridor. Beyond him, boots pound closer as personnel abandon their stations at the failing perimeter.
Elana
The newborns remain the priority. Open the way, and I will hold the corridor while they are moved.
Security squad leader
No. We cannot spend the squad here. Seal the inner passage and get the medic behind the command partition.
The bar slips another fraction with a harsh metallic scrape. The armory door cannot be secured against the breach, leaving the squad with a failing barrier and seconds to reposition.
“No we move to the Medical Wing and secure the Surrounding area and don't the damn zombies a single god damn inch”
SUCCESS (Good Tactics, rolled -1)
“No we move to the Medical Wing and secure the Surrounding area and don't the damn zombies a single god damn inch”
SUCCESS (Good Tactics, rolled +1)
Grant Regenauer
No. We move to the Medical Wing, secure the surrounding area, and do not give those zombies a single inch.
Grant leads the withdrawal through the inner passage as the squad abandons the failing armory. The medic keeps the sealed folder tight against her chest while alarms hammer the walls.
Security squad leader
You heard him. Form on the Medical Wing entrance. Lock down every approach and keep the clinic route clear.
Elana
I will take the outer corridor. Nothing reaches the protected room while I remain standing.
The squad reaches the Medical Wing and secures its doors, side passage, and adjoining stairwell. Guards establish firing positions behind overturned supply carts and reinforced partitions.
Medic
The examination folder is inside, and the clinic is sealed. We have a defensible perimeter around the wing.
Zombies slam into the distant barricades, but the secured approaches hold. The Medical Wing becomes the base's protected fallback, with the surrounding area under armed watch.
Quest Complete
Protect the Apronoid newborns