Before both men head to the rear of the store, you can see inside through the large glass doors. The various walkers have moved deeper within the building. Several of the large shelves have fallen over, and what few lights stay on are red.

Walking to the back entrance is now very dark indeed. The metal gate is down, but the outside lights are all off. Under the gate, red lights can be seen inside.

Ryder stands and stares at the gate. "Something's happened, Sean. The walkers out front aren't all crowding the windows, which means something drew them back into the store."

He points at the red light visible behind the metal grate.

"No prizes for guessing what, or who. And there's nothing on the walkie."

He lifts the AR-15, resting the muzzle against his shoulder. It's dark, cold, the scent of rain in the air. It may be quiet, but the convoy was going somewhere, and Juan and Jacques are out there, too. The city may be silent, but it isn't still.

"We could open the gate there and get a faceful of walkers." What's the alternative, though? Going back to the boat empty handed? Telling Laura he didn't even look for them? They'd only end up coming back.

With a sigh, he approaches the gate. He sniks the safety onto the rifle and slings it over his back. Ryder points at the Range Rover in the lot. "If you see walkers, scream hysterically and run that way, should get them chasing you, not me." He bends down and grasps the gate. "Open sesame."

---

OOC: not sure if we need a roll to open the gate, here's a Force roll just in case:
Ryder Hudson rolled 10d6 with rolls of 2,1,3,1,4,1,4,1,5,4. STR:4; Force:2; Stress:4. Which is aptly no successes and a walker. The rolls I've been having lately, I'm thinking of becoming some kind of monk, and withdrawing from taking any and all actions in the world.

The lack of activity in the front of the store- shambling Ghouls bumping into one another and pressing against the glass- is concerning. I take a deep breath.

"Say 'friend' and you shall enter." Grinning, I acknowledge Ryder's direction on screaming and wait until the gated entrance is opened.

Not only does Ryder not manage to open the metal grate, he strains his arm. It is not a break, but fairly painful. Sean already knows he is lucky to have pulled his back...or worse.

Even with this mishap, suddenly all the lights go on. The gate does not move, but the store normal illumination is active.

OOC-Ryder takes 1 damage.

"What is going on in there?" Between Ryder straining himself and the lights turning back on, I express concern while giving a quick examine over the his arm. "Don't stress his arm any further. Want me to handle the rifle?"

Please say no.

Ryder curses loudly. That will teach him for not paying attention to what he’s doing. “No, I’m good.” He takes a step back just as the lights come on. “Hey, what do you know? I tug on the gate and the lights go on.”

He looks at Sean, his face deadpan. “The store runs on pain. It’s the only logical conclusion. The more people get hurt, the longer the lights stay on.”

“Or they’re still alive in there and planning a surprise party. Either way, you might want to try the walkie again.”

He bangs on the gate. “Anyone in?”

Luck he’s having, it’ll be yes, every walker in Oregon state.

"Might be best if I drive us back to the ship. Your arm needs a break." Ryder probably wouldn't admit to being in severe pain, I think to myself.

"Purely coincidence, no doubt." The overhead lights are a welcome surprise. "Do you think the cameras are functional?"

I point to camera as I raise the walkie talkie to my mouth. My eyes are fixated on the surveillance device. "Anyone copy? Is everyone alright? We're here."

"Either they've changed channels or this thing isn't working." There's a tone of annoyance in my voice as I look over to Ryder.

Ryder massages his shoulder. It hurts like hell. What he needs is some liniment and a massage. Maybe the Walmart has the liniment, maybe he can persuade Laura about the massage. Maybe life isn't so bad.

"I've had worse fighting. Just a muscle. It's like they say, you should always warm up before facing the living dead ... or lifting gates."

He stares at the damnable gate in question. There is no telling what is happening inside. Lights on, lights off.

"I guess we wait." If nobody turns up by the time they get bored, they can always try to sneak in through the roof, or the front. Maybe boost some stuff while the dead are chowing on the others. He looks around the parking lot. "Although, I would prefer not to wait here. If those gurnacks in the convoy turn up, we may as well paint targets on ourselves."

The convoy. Yeah, that's a great threat. If all of those armed folks showed up, we'd be in a bad situation. Typically, I can talk my way out of things, such as my encounter with the Hill. Many of them wanted to kill me on the spot, along with Devon, but I was able to stay alive long enough to escape. My oratory only works if it's me pontificating and not someone in my party, such as Ryder. I can only imagine he's quite the hot head when it comes down to something stressful or dangerous. In fact, he seems to be drawn to dangerous situations and in our current environment, that isn't always a good thing- especially when facing a larger, better armed group.

"Well, someone has to be alive in there. I mean, how else would the lights turn on? I doubt they're on some kind of timer." I look up to the cameras once again, as if I am peering into the abyss. "Do you think they're alright in there?"

The Radio flares to life, however there is only static and very low sounds coming out of it.

"Oh!" The sudden eruption of static from the walkie talkie startles me. I step close to Ryder and hold the device close my mouth. Only low sounds are audible. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

In reply to Sean Anderton (msg # 75):

You get no response other than weird sounds.

Ryder frowns at the walkie. "Sounds like you're talking to a walker."

It's not a happy making thought. All too easy to imagine the group getting overrun. If the walkers from the store somehow broke into the back rooms, it isn't hard to believe everyone ended up as snacks.

"Yeah, it can't be on a timer, or Bob would have said. Got to be someone alive in there. Hold a message up to the camera, or you can play that game... you know, where you have to guess the name of the film or whatever by making all those stupid gestures. If they're all fine, why are they dicking around?"

He makes a dismissive sound and turns to consider the parking lot again. "You know what's weird? Where did all the cars go? The place is full of dead shoppers. They all come by bus or something?"

---

OOC: is there a small human-sized door whose lock they can bust/pick to get in?

In reply to Ryder Hudson (msg # 77):

OOC-There is, but it is a metal security door. Lockpicking would be difficult and forcing it open without the proper tool would be near impossible.

In reply to Fate 2 (msg # 78):

OOC: Cool, thanks. Guess we'll wait ;)

OOC-Matt and Rebecca, please post opening the door and getting Sean and Ryder into the other group thread.

Sounds like you're talking to a walker. I shake my head, dismissing Ryder's comment. "No, I don't believe that. There has to be some kind of mechanical error. Not all of them can be dead."

Not again. Please, no.

Turning to the camera, I mouth OPEN THE DOOR in a dramatic fashion as I make hand motions towards the locked door.

"Well, let's hope that did it."

Glancing back to Ryder, my brow furrows at his question regarding the lack of vehicles in the parking lot. It's a valid question, but it doesn't change our predicament whatsoever. "Who knows, maybe they all came back here out of a memory of some sort, a muscle memory. Maybe they were drawn to the lights and became trapped? Ultimately, it's irrelevant. The only thing that matters is getting out of here with everyone else."

And preferably with a shit ton of supplies.

Rebecca opens the door, her free hand on her rifle with it slung from her shoulder and her finger off the trigger. "Ryder, Sean! You're a sight for sore eyes. We have to move fast, I think someone's jamming the radios. I'll lead you to the others." It was a relief to have Ryder there again, give that he was good with a rifle, even though he and her sister seemed to push each other to more reckless acts.

The immediate opening of the door startles me. I jump back a bit and turn to Ryder, then look back to the door.

Oh, thank God. A familiar face.

"Rebecca!" I reply with a sigh of relief. "What the Hell happened in there? Our radios aren't working and all of the lights went off, but they're back on again. Is everyone alright?"

Rebecca pulls up short and was silent a moment. "No, not everyone's all right. The office wasn't abandoned, someone was there who siced the walkers on us. Robert got bitten. The rest of us are uninjured, and we've captured the man who set the walkers on us" she says, businesslike and official.

"I... if anyone had to be bitten it should have been me" she adds softly. "I keep running it back in my mind, trying to think of what I did wrong."

"Bitten?" I echo her statement about Robert, though my tone is blend of concern and curiosity. Without missing a beat, I approach her while clipping my walkie talkie to my belt. "How bad is the bite?"

If I remember correctly, infection can spread by bites from these Ghouls. I don't recall reading any type of cure or treatment in those papers at Gaia.

"Don't shift blame to yourself for an accident." Sighing, I offer her a small smile of consolation. "That isn't going to help anyone, especially you. Alright?"

"Good to see you guys," Matt chips in. "We've had quite an adventure."

"This way ..." Matt becons Sean and Ryder into the room, and closes the security door behind them. "Alex and Zoe are waiting."

"Likewise." Ryder levers himself up, groaning at the flare of pain from his shoulder and frowning at Rebecca's comment. "Someone is jamming the radios?"

That sounds like a lot of effort. There must be a reason. He's reminded of that Star Wars movie Abbie took him to, back when it was re-released back in around two-thousand-four or maybe five. When that guy Lando is attacking the Death Star, 'How can they be jamming us ... when they don't know we're coming...'

Something like that. It was a good movie, he recalls. That's something about the old world he'll miss. Movies, popcorn, making out in the theater. And that Leia had a great bikini. He tried to persuade Abbie to get one, she called him a pervert.

But she did get one.

"Guess someone must know we're here and using walkies. ...or the target is someone else, and we're caught in the backwash."

He shrugs and follows Matt back into the store, overhearing Rebecca telling Sean about Bob. "Huh, Bob got bit, eh? Aaliyah's going to be pissed."

And they captured the guy who sicced the walkers on them? Yeah, that's going to work well with Aaliyah on the boat. He can just imagine the sunny smiley hours in the galley.

"So, what else did we miss? Hey Matt, you guys get any of those cinnamon tamales?"

OOC-Everybody feel free to post into the regular thread-Wandering to Walmart.