From Ashes to Gold #8

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>>1682937
A new outfit is what the General wanted you to get, it just seems so silly considering you haven’t given a thought over your outfit, throwing on the same couple shirts and pairs of pants that were washed again and again, courtesy of the General’s manual laundromat.

Now that you actually give it a thought, you can’t help but let your mind wander to all the apocalyptic movies you’ve seen, and how every main character is wearing some stylish outfit, that makes them look like a badass, and you don’t think your Polo and jeans are going to cut it.

Your thoughts about your future outfit are cut short by the truck abruptly stopping, jolting you out of your train of thought. You are at that little fishing village the General talked about, and there you find two boats, one being a fish trawler, maybe 70 feet long at most, and the other being a house boat, about 50 feet in length. Looking at these two ships you’ll have to embark upon and travel upriver with, you were hoping for something a little bigger and more spectacular, but beggars and survivors of an apocalypse have something in common, they can’t be choosers.

A man you don’t recognize, that you assume helped secure the small gaggle of buildings, walks up to you.

“Alright Doctor, these boats have a half tank each, but it should be enough to get there and back, just barely. Which one do you wanna take? The houseboat has a waterbed, though.” He says, trying to humor you, but all you can think about is that fishing trawler and Forest Gump.

>“Give me the Trawler. It’ll be able to carry more cargo on it.”
>“I’ll take the houseboat. It could hold more men just in case something were to happen.”

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>>1682939

>>1682939
>>“Give me the Trawler. It’ll be able to carry more cargo on it.”

>I’m the team leader, so I suppose I’ll take the boat that’ll carry the cargo. Is that all?

“I’m afraid not, Sir, as the General instructed me to give you the basics of boating. While it is fairly simple, there are still a few things to know.” He explains, apologetically.

Well it’s probably best to know the basics, even if it takes a few hours. He really wasn’t kidding, as all you needed to know about driving a boat was explained. You know next to nothing about the engine or anything else on board, but hopefully you shouldn’t need to.

+2 Boat driving

You throw your gear on board, as the two other men board, putting their gear next to yours. You’ve seen their faces before, but you don’t recall ever meeting them before. Maybe that’s something you’ll have to do during your trip.

The small squad that was waiting for you by the docks drive away, giving you a quick wave as their way of saying good luck. Now you’re faced with your next choice, one that could save or fuck you.

>Run the engines regularly, a much higher risk of noise but you won’t run out of fuel and will get there on schedule.
>Let the boats run slowly and quietly, no noise at all, but the timetable is extended by some hours, and the chance of running out of fuel is higher.

>>1683038
>Run the engines regularly, a much higher risk of noise but you won’t run out of fuel and will get there on schedule.

>Alright boys, we’re running the engines regularly. Pray to your respective gods and let’s get rolling.

The men hear your orders and get to work, turning on the diesel engines of the two boats, and pulling away from the docks. You now realize how much louder a boat engine is compared to a car engine. You just hope that these undead are attracted by something other than noise, or else you’ll be bringing quite the present to Arsenal island.

One of the men on your boat, someone who you don’t recognize, hands you a pair of binoculars, so you can survey the area ahead, and off to the sides. You are the lead boat, so the entire mission, once again, rests on your hands.

Half an hour later, seeing nothing of interest, and the rising Illinois sun warming you, you find yourself slightly nodding off while scanning. You realize how fucking boring it is just looking at trees and water for more time than it deserves, and maybe a change of routine would wake you up.

>If there really was something blocking the way, you’d probably see it in time, you should meet your crew.
>No one would probably blame you if you slept a little more. It won’t be too comfortable, but it’ll be some sleep.
>Remain vigilant and keep scanning the river. You’ll have to channel your inner American G.I.

Rolled 63, 85, 79, 63, 86, 16, 100, 21, 49, 22 = 584 (10d100)

>>1683254
>>If there really was something blocking the way, you’d probably see it in time, you should meet your crew.

As slow as the boat is going, you probably have plenty of time to divert the boat if there’s something in the way, and besides, you have to play team leader.

You approach one of the men on your boat, a young man clutching a rifle close to him, and leaning over the side of the boat. He must have seasickness.

>How are you doing there? Being on water is rough on everyone.

He slowly raises himself from the railing and turns to you. He is probably no older than 18, with a thick tuft of blonde hair on the top of his head, and the beginnings of a mustache growing on his upper lip. To compliment his eyes, he has crystal blue eyes and a body of a lineman. Hitler would be proud.

“Ah, no it’s not that Doctor, it’s just the nerves. I can’t lie that I’m more than a little nervous about this whole thing. I mean, going out of the safety of the town, upriver almost, what, 50 miles or more? I’ve never been good with distances, but you get me, right?” He asks, seemingly looking for approval.

>Uh, yeah, sure. I mean everyone gets nervous, it’s a natural response, and what we are doing is dangerous, but we have weapons, and I don’t think the undead can swim, or at least I hope they can’t.

“Yeah, you got that right. OH! I almost forgot to introduce myself. I’m James Ackerson, from Monmouth.” He says, as he goes to shake your hand.

>Monmouth? That’s a little bit away from Stronghurst, and quite a big town. How’d you get here?
>You didn’t happen to play on any football team, did you? You certainly are built for it.
>Have you ever handled a rifle before? No offense, but you look a little green with it.

Include a 1d100 roll please, to see if anything fucks you over.

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>1686972
>Monmouth? That’s a little bit away from Stronghurst, and quite a big town. How’d you get here?

>Monmouth? That’s a little bit away from Stronghurst, and quite a big town. How’d you get here?

“Ah, yeah, I guess that might make you think a little bit, huh? Well, I was out with a couple of friends in the country, probably halfway between Stronghurst and Monmouth. We were shooting off some guns and drinking, as country boys do, and we had passed out. We went to some small town the next day to get something to eat, and found the entire fucking town eating and shooting each other. We promptly turned around and drove until we found some guy from Stronghurst. One thing led to another and here we are, on a fucking boat, heading to a city.” He drearily says, slumping a bit.

Right on cue, the two boats start sailing past Burlington. You notice that there is no sound coming from the city, where as when you were there, you heard the random sporadic gunshot or glass break. Now, it’s a fucking ghost town, completely quiet. No moans, shambling or anything else a walking corpse would emit. Even though you don’t want to admit it, the end of the world is a little peaceful. Everyone knows each other now, there’s a close community, and you are actually someone important.

Your daydreaming is once again broken by a soft shout from the cabin of the trawler.

“Doctor? We got a problem here!” The driver shouts, as you rush up to your binoculars.

Up ahead is a dam, that normally would have workers opening it’s large doors for your boats to travel through, but now it is abandoned, hopefully of both the living and the undead. You really only have one choice, which is to try to open the dock doors. You could turn around and go back to the General, but you don’t really think the General would be too happy. So, now who do you take?

>Just you, it’ll be easier to sneak in and out
>Just you and James, he’ll be able to handle anything heavy or big, but would probably be a clutz
>Just the men on your boat, three should be enough to take anything on, but trying to sneak in would suck
>Take everyone, the combined firepower should prove enough
>Other

>>1687170
>Just you and James, he’ll be able to handle anything heavy or big, but would probably be a clutz

>>1687170
>Just you and James, he’ll be able to handle anything heavy or big, but would probably be a clutz

Shame to see the quest die. Was fun while it lasted.