Room 508, Tuesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was hunched over her computer, muttering to herself. "Raven, what the hell? Don't wander off! No, get back--Dante, how do you have dysentery? Again?! No, I am not stopping this car, there are too many--Dammit, Ringo, how did you break your arm?! Were you AT-ing during the zom--DANTE YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE, YOU JERK! Anders, you're a goddamn magic-user, heal somebody! OH MY GOD, DON'T MAKE ME TURN THIS CAR AROUND AND DRIVE BACK TO THE NUKES, SO HELP ME!" A moment of quiet and then, "Hey! Somebody stole my last battery!"

Someone had discovered Organ Trail on Facebook. And had foolishly decided to play using the names of her friends. And had nearly decided to give up on this carful of people and try again. Surely Kira and Ezra would be more sensible during the zombie apocalypse.

"Raven! I said not to wander off! Great! Now you're dead and I have to start over!" Kathy didn't believe in leaving anyone behind. Even in the pixelated apocalypse.

[Open! Link to the conversation with Dante]

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

There was a lot of yelling coming from Kathy's room. Exasperated-type yelling.

And, wait, was that Ringo's name?

Frowning, she walked down the hall and knocked tentatively at Kathy's doorframe. "Um, is something wrong?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"It wouldn't be if you'd stop breaking your darn limbs," Kathy grumbled. And then, about a second later, realized she was actually talking to Ringo, rather than just bitching out loud. "I mean...hi?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked in surprise.

"Um." She looked down. "I haven't broken anything in, like, a year?"

"Have I?" Because this was Fandom, so it was probably worth checking.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I don't know, have you Tuned recently?" Kathy sniffed, before beckoning Ringo over and pointing at her screen. Currently, there was a message about Anders eating some bad fruit and having a stomach ache, but Kathy figured Ringo would get the jist from that. "It's a road trip with four of your friends during the zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately--" and now she was turning a baleful glare onto Ringo, "--some of my friends have less sense than others."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo flushed. But then she tried to straighten and look, you know, respectable. "I'm sure that I'm being very helpful." She pointed. "Besides, it looks like it's Anders who's not-helping."

So there, Kathy!

[spin_kick_snap]

"At this exact moment," Kathy conceded. "But you've managed to get eaten by zombies twice and break, like, all of your limbs. Twice. No one else has broken one! It's like the game knows you!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I just told you I haven't broken anything in a year!" And she'd never actually admitted how often she'd broken things before that, so it was all conjecture on Kathy's part. Pure speculation!

"And what about you?" she demanded. Because clearly Kathy couldn't be much more help than anyone else. Well, maybe a little more help, since, you know, it was Kathy.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm the driver," Kathy snorted. "I'm the one who searches for food and trades with people and decides when we rest and move on. Basically, without me, this whole thing falls apart."

Because, you know, she was the one playing the game. And zombie bites didn't count for her. She was actually a little disturbed how many times she'd been bitten while scavenging for food.

Instead, she raised a tragic wrist to her forehead. "You're all dreadfully lucky to have me."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Mmhmm." Ringo quirked an eyebrow. "And how do we know that if we weren't stuck with you we wouldn't be running into so many zombies to bite us?" Huh, Kathy? Huh?

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because the zombocalypse has swept through America and no where is safe," Kathy countered. "I got you away from Baltimore--" okay it was DC in the game, but whatever, close enough. "--before the nukes went off. You're welcome. Do you know when zombies are most likely to be agitated? I do."

Because she'd read the writeup at the beginning of the game. Low bar, Kathy.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I could totally figure it out!" Ringo shot back.

She might even be able to do it before she got bit. So take that.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You think so?" Kathy challenged. "Then here! Try it!" She killed her current game and pulled up another for Ringo to try, then carried her laptop from her desk over to her bed, so they could both sit and watch. "Let's see how good you are at hunting zombies and getting people to Oregon without any casualties."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I'm probably awesome at it."

Spoiler alert: Ringo was not awesome at it.

She frowned. "Kathy, why did you die so fast?"

Because it totally wasn't Ringo's fault!

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy sighed. "Because you didn't scavenge any food. Everyone is starving, if you notice."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"But there are zombies out there." Duh, Kathy. "It would be really bad to get bit, right?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was up here largely just to see if the fifth floor common room had better food.

"Hey, keep it down," he called, from just down the hall. "Some of us have hangovers!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's also really bad to starve to death," Kathy pointed out. "Also, you just started the game without getting any supplies at all, so you don't have ammo to shoot the zombies off while scavenging. Or spare tires. Or med kits. And now I'm dead and we didn't even make it to the first pit stop." She shook her head. "This is why I get to be in charge during the zombie apocalypse."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"And how far did you get the first time you played this?" Ringo asked suspiciously.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Dante, it's a Tuesday," Kathy called back. "How do you have a hangover on a Tuesday?"

By drinking on Mondays, god Kathy, keep up.

"I have Gatorade in here if you want it, but you're going to have to deal with me bitching about you getting typhoid. For the third time!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Texas," Kathy deadpanned. "But then again, I remembered to start with a car full of supplies."

And had, you know, grown up playing the original Oregon Trail and knew the basics of the game.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"How far is that?" Look, America was big. Ringo felt like she knew a ton of geography just knowing where New York was from the island.

[rebelseekspizza]

"By drinking on Mondays!"

Never let it be said Dante couldn't echo a narrative correctly.

"Wait, did I get typhoid?"

Probably a good idea to get out of the hall, Dante.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Almost 2600 kilometers," Kathy said. Which, you know, didn't really help much in game terms. "More than halfway to our goal of Oregon."

[spin_kick_snap]

Captain of the Obvious, that was him.

"You've gotten typhoid like a hundred times! And a bunch of other diseases. This game thinks you're a frail and precious flower, Dante. I should put a fainting couch in the backseat of this car for you to swoon onto."

Kathy wasn't sure what algorithm was in charge of divvying out the incidental events in this game, but it was amusing her greatly.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante heaved a big sigh, nudging her door out of his way as he made his way into the room. "I don't get typhoid."