#s1m3

SAM YAO: Raise the gates! [gate siren, gate raising] Runner Five, ready... and... go!

EVAN DEAUBL: Thanks, Sam. I'll take it from here.

SAM YAO: No problem, Evan. I'll keep the comms link operational in case of trouble. Runner Five, Seven here is our head of runners.

EVAN DEAUBL: That's not an official title, Sam.

SAM YAO: Oh, unofficially.

EVAN DEAUBL: That's what I get for surviving longer than most of the others. [laughs] I'll be taking you on a quick tour around the perimeter of the base today, and show you the main routes into the city. Should be a quick, easy run.

SAM YAO: Oh, you know what happens when you say that.

EVAN DEAUBL: Whatever happens, we'll handle it. We always handle it.

EVAN DEAUBL: We're sad to lose the old Runner Five, but that's the reality of life on the ground. We've spoken to Mullins, the base you came from, and they're not willing to send down another helo until we know who fired that rocket launcher at you. 

So, this is your new home. You're the new Runner Five - congratulations! They've told you nothing about us, I suppose. That seems to be the way up at Mullins Base. Send people in, take them out, don't talk about where you're going, don't let anyone get attached. It's not the way I'd run it, and it's not how the Major runs it here at Abel Township. We care about our people here, and as long as you work hard, we'll take care of you.

So, you see, we're circling clockwise around the base. The bunker to your right is half the reason any of us are here. Take a look at this - narrow slit windows, built into the ground. We use it as an armory now, but at the start of the outbreak, some of us spent three weeks sheltering in there whilst the world went mad around us. Thank God for survivalists building well-stocked fallout shelters, and for the owner of this place. She still lives here with us. 

The other half of the reason we're here is that building in the very center of the compound - that old farmhouse? Thick stone walls, good high vantage points, particularly as we're on a hill. You can see why those of us who knew anything about tactics came here. With just five rifles, we fought off three hundred of the walking dead in our first week here. We're under the command of Major De Santa. She had lost most of her squad but managed to keep us all going. That's how we earned our place.

Hmm... what's that over there? Can you see it, caught in the trees downhill? Something white and fluttering, just past that zombie lurching towards the pines. Might be nothing, might be something... A good target for a quick run, anyway. Don't worry - if that zom gets too close, our sniper on the roof will be covering you. Go!

EVAN DEAUBL: Ah, I think I see what it is. Mullins said you'd been at the base almost since the outbreak started. It's a government drop. Do you see that part hanging down - the green tab? Pull that, and it should come straight out of the trees. Ah, we've got company. Our position between two large cities does mean that we get a steady stream of wandering dead. You should be able to do it, just put on a burst of speed now, and you'll get the government drop and outpace the zombie. But don't wait – run!

EVAN DEAUBL: That's good, I can see you'll be a valuable asset to us at Abel Township. We don't have bullets to waste on zombies, not unless we have to, and we certainly can't waste them firing wide, so we rely on runners. You'll be well rewarded if you do a good job. Run along the main road here with me for a while. I've got something to show you.

EVAN DEAUBL: Here we can get the best view of the land. There are the major cities. We'll probably send you in there looking for supplies, but never try to spend the night there. Crawling with the undead.

And see that castle on the hill? That's New Canton. They're the biggest settlement of living humans within one hundred miles, we think. For the most part, we don't talk to them, they don't talk to us, and that's the way we all like it.

And see over there? The burned mountains to the west? That used to be a little settlement, called themselves Skoobs. Mostly teenagers. They were about the size of Abel Township. We... don't know what happened to them. One day they were doing fine, swapping DVDs with our runners, keeping chickens, growing their own marijuana, next day - burned out shell. [sigh] Probably a zombie attack caused the fire somehow. Right, another practice run. Let's outpace those zoms and head back to Abel!

EVAN DEAUBL: You know, some people at Abel Township were worried about taking you in, Runner Five. That rocket launcher attack spooked us all, of course. We weren't aware that anyone in this sector had that kind of capability, and Mullins Base haven't always been straight with us.

Funny thing, Runner Five. Just before Skoobs settlement was destroyed, they'd had a man sent in from Mullins Base. Arrived on a helo, just like you, but without half the supplies they'd been expecting. Strange.