Blue energy spills across the battered Hummer, unfolding into Armorhide’s large, muscular feminine construct form. Her glowing frame closes safely around the CDC researcher and immune child, holding them against her armored core.
She steps onto the exit ramp. Zombies converge from the street below, but each deliberate footfall sends them collapsing beneath her weight as the damaged left front tire drags uselessly behind.
the CDC researcher
Slow is fine. Just keep us moving, Armorhide. The child cannot stay exposed.
The engine’s fading charge becomes a dim blue pulse through her frame. Armorhide advances one heavy step at a time, carrying both passengers while the city groans beyond the ramp.
Armorhide
I have no route to the vaccine effort.
At the ramp’s mouth, the ruined city opens in several directions. Abandoned cars choke one street, smoke veils another, and distant signs offer no readable guidance.
the CDC researcher
Which way now? Do you know where the evacuation teams went?
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the evacuation teams
“I was sleeping when they left apparently”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Armorhide
I was asleep when they left, apparently.
Armorhide’s blue voice vibrates through the ruined street. The CDC researcher steadies the immune child against the construct’s armored core as smoke drifts between abandoned cars.
the CDC researcher
Yes. The evacuation teams moved before dawn, while you were dormant. I could not wake you.
the CDC researcher
If the teams reached the river depot, the vaccine equipment may still be there.
She points past the smoke-veiled avenue toward a faded blue transit sign. Beyond it, distant sirens pulse once, then fall silent.
the CDC researcher
The river depot is west, beyond the hospital district. It is our best chance, but the streets will be crowded.
The child tightens both hands around the sealed specimen case. Armorhide turns toward the western avenue, carrying them away from the open ramp and into the city.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get past the blocked avenue
“Are evacuation teams still at the river depot?”
YES (Unlikely, rolled 21)
Armorhide reaches the western avenue. Through thinning smoke, a line of emergency flares marks the river depot beyond the hospital district, their red glow steady against the gray morning.
the CDC researcher
There. Those flares are recent. The evacuation teams are still at the depot.
A distant loudspeaker crackles twice, followed by a human voice repeating a coded evacuation call. The sound carries over the city’s low moans.
the immune child
People are waiting there.
the CDC researcher
If the depot still has power and refrigeration, the vaccine work can continue.
Ahead, abandoned ambulances and wrecked buses constrict the avenue into a narrow passage. Beyond them, the river depot’s floodlights sweep across the rooftops.
the CDC researcher
The teams have not abandoned the river. We only need to reach them with the child and the specimen case intact.
“I will shield the researcher and child while forcing through the passage. hold tight”
SUCCESS (Superb Strength, rolled -1)
Armorhide
Hold tight.
Armorhide draws the CDC researcher and immune child behind her broad armored frame, blue energy brightening as she enters the ambulance-choked passage.
the CDC researcher
We are holding on. Keep the specimen case covered.
She drives one shoulder into a wrecked bus, shoving its crumpled flank aside. The narrow gap opens, and the Hummer’s damaged tire scrapes over broken glass.
the immune child
Armorhide is very strong.
Zombies press from the cross street, but Armorhide keeps her body between them and her passengers. Their reaching hands slide off her glowing armor as she forces through.
The passage gives way to the depot approach. Floodlights wash over the trio, and several armed evacuation workers, a mixed group of adult men and women in dusty orange rescue vests, dark helmets, and worn utility trousers turn toward the blue-lit construct and her protected passengers.
Quest Complete
Get past the blocked avenue