The warehouse perimeter is secure, but the air grows thick with the rot of the encroaching herd. Seth knows they cannot hold this position indefinitely while the Whisperers shadow their every move. He signals to Miller and Sarah, and the trio slips out through the rear drainage maintenance hatch, abandoning the crumbling municipal district for the high ground of the rusted transit bridge miles to the west.
Seth
The bridge is a death trap, but it is the only way to break the line of sight and reach the safe zone before the herd swallows the district whole. We have to move now.
They crest the ridge, the transit bridge looming ahead in the twilight. Fog clings to the rusted steel girders, but the rhythmic, metallic clanking of a scavenger patrol echoes from the catwalks above. A scout spots them, unleashing a shrill, piercing whistle that shatters the silence.
Seth
Miller, get to cover! [Sarah:15], watch the flank! We are not stopping for them. We make for the far pier or we die in the open.
+ Scene Quest Added
Escape the scavenger patrol on the bridge
“We need to find the horses that escaped they can't be far”
SUCCESS (Great Tracking, rolled +1)
Seth
The whistle is a death sentence if we stay on the catwalks, but the hoofprints in this mud... they are fresh. If the horses are panicked, they will head for the thicket near the east abutment.
Miller
They are closing in, Seth! Three of them are dropping down from the gantry right on our six!
Sarah
I have the southern flank, but the bridge floor is littered with debris. We cannot run fast with this much iron underfoot!
Seth
Ignore the scouts. Stick to the shadows and follow the trail. I found them, they are just past the second support pillar. If we move now, we can mount up and clear this bridge before the rest of the pack swarms the center. Keep your heads down and run!
Seth points toward the hidden trail as a group of scavengers leaps from the steel beams above, landing with heavy thuds on the rusted grating. The horses wait in the gloom of the pillar, spooked but still tethered to a loose railing.
“As you run further we managed to run into one of the horses eating grass and hay in an open field we walk towards it to grab it but then unexpectedly and explosion goes off blowing up the horse sending blood scattering in every direction we all do a little jump startled by the sudden boom miller screams holy shit Sarah disgusted by the gruesome scene Seth says to run as he quickly starts to realize that the horse in the field does a trap set by The whispers”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +0)
Seth
The Whisperers. They do not just hide. They hunt with spite.
Miller
Holy shit!
Sarah
Back! Get back, now!
Seth
My boots dig into the dirt as I pivot. The blast heat singes my jacket, but my focus is already shifting. They did not do this to kill the horse. They did this to draw us out into the open.
Seth
Move! Do not look at the crater, keep your eyes on the treeline. They are watching us run. If we stop, we are target practice.
Seth shoves his companions toward the dense brush, the ringing in their ears drowning out the distant, rhythmic clicking of Whisperers signaling from the shadows.