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“Come on in, Five! Raise the gates!” Sam spoke, trying to keep his excitement at bay. His legs were shaking, and more than once had Maxine told him to calm down before he had a heart attack. He watched as Runner Five trotted quickly through the gates, backpack and arms full of the things picked up on what was, frankly, the most amazing entertainment run he had ever witnessed.
The second the gates were completely down (he had made the mistake of leaving the Comms Shack too soon once before) he ripped off his headset and dashed out the rickety old door. The gates weren’t far from him, but that’s not where he was headed this time. He knew the protocol: drop off all supplies with Janine and then immediately to the hospital.
If he was lucky he would be able to get his hands on it before anyone else could.
Turns out that he wasn’t so lucky. He reached the farmhouse just as Runner Five was leaving for their bite check. They gave him a small, breathless smile and a wave before jogging off. They hadn’t said anything about it during the run, but Sam briefly wondered if they would be willing to join in on game nights. He shook the thought out of his mind as he tried his best to sneak into Janine’s farmhouse.
It really was a good thing that Sam wasn’t a runner because his ‘sneaking’ was the exact opposite of sneaky.
“And what can I do for you, Mr. Yao?” Janine’s voice came from what used to be her living room. It was now being used for sorting and storage of supplies. He poked his head around the corner with an embarrassed grin. The walls were lined with cardboard boxes and milk crates; some filled to the brim with minor medical supplies, non-perishable food, and other necessities, but most were at least halfway empty. He did note that at least two large boxes were overflowing with what looked like sports bras. Maybe they should stop picking those up for the time being…
“I was…” he began while making his way fully into the room. The floorboards creaked under his feet as he walked. “Uh… just checking on… actually! I just needed a bandage! I got a paper… cut…” he trailed off as Janine raised an eyebrow at him.
“A paper cut?” she repeated. He could hear the sounds of her rummaging through Five’s backpack. “And you came here. Instead of the hospital?” He could practically hear the taunting in her voice.
“Well, yeah. Max- er, Dr. Myers was busy with post-run bite checks and I didn’t want to interrupt,” he explained. He was surprisingly coherent for how much he was freaking out on the inside. The large table was literally covered in Demons and Darkness paraphernalia. Books, figurines, TWO boards, and an ENTIRE BOX of dice. This was it. He had literally died and gone to his own personal heaven. There was no other explanation.
“That’s rather thoughtful of you, Mr. Yao,” Janine’s sharp tone brought him out of his awestruck daydream. “But you should know by now that we wouldn’t waste a, quite frankly, rather essential medical supply on something as minor as a paper cut.” She continued to pull things from Five’s pack – she must have harnessed Time Lord technology or was Mary Poppins or a wizard or something because he had absolutely no idea how that much stuff fit in there. His eyes went wide when Janine pulled out yet another figurine and slammed it on the desk with an exasperated sigh. “I honestly don’t know what Five was thinking! This was supposed to be an entertainment run to benefit the entirety of Abel and these…” She trailed off with a frustrated sigh.
Sam saw this as his opportunity. “What did Five bring back?” he asked, feigning curiosity. He knew exactly what the runner had brought back and he was going to be the first to get his hands on it! “You know I can’t see inside the stores or anything. I just assumed they would bring back, like… Monopoly or something.”
He could tell that Janine was suspicious. Her eyebrow was still raised in his direction and she massaged the bridge of her nose to ward off a headache. “It’s some sort of storytelling game, I think. Demons and Darkness? Have you heard of it, Mr. Yao?”
That was it. That was the bait. She was trying to figure out if it was his fault or not. “Wh-what? No, never heard of it at all. That stuff is for nerds, obviously I wouldn’t be interested in it,” he rambled on, mentally patting himself on the back for what he assumed was a fantastic cover-up.
“Right. Well, I suppose we can figure out something to do with all of this. The cardboard will be useful for repairs and I’m sure the kids would appreciate some action figures… even though they’re a bit… grotesque…” she picked up a pristine package and held it up to examine more closely. She grimaced and set it back down on the table.
“But compared to zoms they’re not… they’re not bad, are they?” he asked, moving closer to see which figure she was looking at. Regilan the Magnificent! How could she think Regilan the Magnificent was grotesque? He was, well, magnificent! “Plus, this one’s got a cape. He could be, like, a superhero or something, yeah?” He picked up the figurine with care, resisting the urge to jump up and down. Pre-apocalypse he couldn’t afford even a quarter of Five’s haul and now he had all of them. Well, Abel did, but it was the same thing, right?
They were still examining the goods when the door swung open again and Maxine came dashing in. “Sam! Is it in here? Did Five get it all?” she called, the floor creaking as she darted into the room to stand next to him. “Oh they did! What a saint! Sam, we’ll have to set up a game night soon. I’m thinking Friday – we’re going to be busy painting all of the figurines tomorrow anyway. Oh! And we need to find a Game Master and – thank god! Five got plenty of dice, I was worried for a minute there.” She continued to ramble on, picking up everything piece by peace and examining them. “This is going to be amazing, Sam! What a great haul! Aren’t you excited?”
She glanced over at him between figurines. He stared back at her with wide eyes. “Ah… n-no… Why on earth would I be excited-“ he tried desperately to save face, but was interrupted by Janine.
“I’m not exactly stupid, Mr. Yao. It was blatantly obvious that this was your request,” she explained, indicating to the book. “It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do have to say that I’m glad you went with the Fourth Edition rulebook instead of the Third. We would want to be as up-to-date as possible. And, Dr. Myers, I do agree that Friday would be the best day to start. We’ll have Radio Abel make an announcement in the morning.”