Game Night

Clumsy Ninja, Space Cat, and Chubby Unicorn looked down on the small town. It seemed the only structures still standing were a few houses, a couple supermarkets, a department store, a gun store, and what looked like a hippy farm.

“Do we have to go down there?” Space Cat asked, watching a few zombies shuffling around.

“We don’t have enough supplies,” Chubby Unicorn replied.

“Plus we’re going to need weapons,” Clumsy Ninja pointed out.

Reluctantly Space Cat agreed, and they decided one of the supermarkets would be a good place to start looking for supplies. They stayed out of sight and crept along the eerily quiet streets. Space Cat was so busy looking out for zombies, she didn’t see the metal trash can. She ran into it with a crash, and the others turned to her with wide eyes before they all hastily moved on. They had almost made it to the doors of the supermarket when Chubby Unicorn bumped against a shopping cart. She grabbed for it, but it rolled out of her reach and crashed into another abandoned cart.

They dashed inside only to find a zombie.

Clumsy Ninja was in the lead and took an instinctive swing at the zombie using her empty shotgun as a blunt instrument, but she was off balance and completely missed. Space Cat and Chubby Unicorn jumped in, each landing a solid hit on the undead. Space Cat cried out and pulled back, her arm bleeding from a deep scratch, but Chubby Unicorn was able to finish off the zombie before it could do any more damage.

“I’m not going to become a zombie, right?” Space Cat asked.

“You’ll be fine,” Chubby Unicorn assured her. “It would help if we could find some bandages. Just try to keep pressure on it.”

Space Cat nodded, and the three of them looked around the store.

“Doesn’t seem to be much left,” Clumsy Ninja noted.

“Let’s split up and meet back here with what we find,” Chubby Unicorn said.

It didn’t take long to gather the meager supplies left. They managed to find an intact backpack, an energy drink, and a box of provisions.

“Do you think we can move this?” Space Cat asked, waving the others over.

It was a barricade and looked pretty heavy.

“I saw one of those flat carts,” Clumsy ninja said. “If we could tip in onto that, we might be able to move it.”

“Then we could block the doors, and bunker down for the night,” Space Cat said.

It sounded like a good idea. Chubby Unicorn took the backpack and filled it with the provisions, and Clumsy Ninja pocketed the energy drink. While Clumsy Ninja went to find the cart for the barricade, Space at pulled a small bag out of her pocket.

“What’s that?” Chubby Unicorn asked.

Space Cat opened the drawstring and unfolded the fabric. “It’s a backpack. If we’re going to be picking up stuff, I figured I should have it ready.”

Chubby Unicorn nodded as she tightened the laces on her running shoes. Clumsy Ninja returned with the cart, and between the three of them they managed to move the barricade just outside the doors.

“I think we should stay here for the night,” Chubby Unicorn said. “With Space Cat’s wound, we don’t want the zombies smelling fresh blood.” The others agreed. “Also,” she said a bit sheepishly, “I forgot I had these in my pocket.”

She handed Clumsy Ninja shells.

“Well, we’ll probably need them later.”

With that they settled in for the night.

---

The next morning they decided to start with the department store next door, unfortunately Clumsy Ninja and Space Cat both made quite the racket in their dash and drew the attention of what looked like a ravenous and rather vicious zombie. Now that Clumsy Ninja had shells for shotgun, she fired and killed the zombie with one shot. They ducked into the store before any other zombies could show up, and started looking for supplies.

“What kind of department store is this?” Space Cat asked, holding up another shotgun and a pack of C4.

“A weird one, but I like it,” Clumsy Ninja said as she displayed her finds: jumper cables and ninja spray.

Chubby Unicorn didn’t think Clumsy Ninja needed any more energy, and tucked the energy drink she found into her backpack. “Now that you both have shotguns, should we see if the gun store next door has any more ammo?”

“We might also be able to find you a weapon,” Clumsy Ninja pointed out.

It should have been simple. They only had to go next door, but there was so much debris on the sidewalk that they couldn’t help but make noise. It wasn’t surprising when a zombie came into view. Even though they didn’t have ammo, Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja managed to take down the zombie and enter the gun store.

“Now this is what I’m taking about!” Clumsy Ninja said wielding a katana with one hand and holding up a bear trap in the other.

Space Cat’s grip on the baseball bat she’d found seemed to tighten, but Chubby Unicorn didn’t say anything. She simply loaded her new hand cannon.

“Doesn’t seem like there’s any more ammo here. Where to next?”

They would have to cross a street now, and the house seemed closer, so they ran headlong and heedless of any noise they made. Still the zombie managed to catch them by surprise, and Clumsy Ninja’s wild swing missed. Though Chubby Unicorn had completely forgotten about her new weapon, she and Space Cat managed to take care of things. Unfortunately they didn’t find any ammo in the house, but Chubby Unicorn found more provisions and a baseball bat. Space Cat managed to find running shoes for her tiny feet and bandages for her wounded arm.

“It’s going to be getting dark soon,” Space Cat said.

Chubby Unicorn nodded. “This isn’t the best play to stay. Maybe we should head back to the supermarket for the night?”

They agreed and felt like they were doing really well until they were spotted by a zombie. Space Cat got lucky with her swing, and managed to kill the zombie.

“Nice!” Clumsy Ninja said when they were safely inside the supermarket. “I’m glad we’ve got you on our side.”

“Thanks.”

They settled down with their meager supplies, hoping the barricade would continue to keep out the zombies.

---

“I think we have to hit that other supermarket,” Clumsy Ninja said the next morning. “It’s our best chance at more supplies.”

The others agreed, and they headed out. Everything was going fine until Space Cat dropped her baseball bat. She snatched it back up, but the damage had been done, and in moments a zombie was shuffling towards them.

“Does something seem different about this one?” Chubby Unicorn asked.

“It does look a little… volatile,” Clumsy Ninja said.

The bigger concern was that it was coming right for them. Chubby Unicorn shot at it but missed, and Space Cat also couldn’t manage to connect with her bat. Clumsy Ninja stepped in with her katana, and after a brief skirmish she killed the zombie. Unfortunately she came away with injuries of her own, and there weren’t any bandages left.

“Let’s get inside before the blood attracts any more,” Chubby Unicorn said, and they ducked into the supermarket.

Clumsy Ninja went off in search of bandages, but only managed to find a backpack and a good pair of running shoes for herself. Chubby Unicorn found some more provisions and a funny looking alarm clock which she thought might come in handy, and strapped on a set of football pads. They felt bulky and awkward, but she hoped they might provide some protection. Space Cat tucked another set of jumper cables away in her backpack just in case they needed them.

“That house might have bandages,” Space Cat suggested.

There was even more debris in this area, and both Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja tripped over some of it.

“Oh no!” Chubby Unicorn said when a zombie shambled into view.

“What is it?” Clumsy Ninja asked.

“It’s Bill! So that’s what happened to him.”

“You know him?” Space Cat asked.

“Well, I did. You know, before he was a zombie.”

Perhaps her personal connection to this new threat was why she missed, but Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja managed to do some damage. Unfortunately, Clumsy Ninja was once again wounded. Chubby Unicorn fired again, and between her shot and Clumsy Ninja’s katana, zombie Bill was no more.

Then the unexpected happened. The undead corpse exploded! Chubby Unicorn and Space Cat were fine, but Clumsy Ninja had just been in close combat with the zombie. They rushed to her side.

“I can’t find a pulse!” Chubby Unicorn cried.

Space Cat looked around and noticed an abandoned car nearby. She ran over. The inside was a bit messy, but she managed to find the latch to pop the hood. She ran back to Chubby Unicorn.

“Quick, help me get her over to that car.”

Chubby Unicorn didn’t question her, and they dragged their lifeless companion over to the vehicle.

Space Cat opened the hood. Then she attached the jumper cables.

“What are you doing?” Chubby Unicorn finally asked.

“Don’t worry, I saw them do this on TV once,” Space Cat replied and touched the cables to Clumsy Ninja’s chest.

There was a loud pop and a puff of smoke. Chubby Unicorn was sure Space Cat had lit Clumsy Ninja on fire, but she watched in amazement as Clumsy Ninja groaned and coughed.

“What happened?” she wheezed, looking at her scorched clothing.

“I brought you back to life,” Space Cat said, holding up the cables and smiling.

“Thanks,” Clumsy Ninja said.

“I think you can put those away now,” Chubby Unicorn said a little fearfully.

They helped Clumsy Ninja to her feet, and headed back to the house.

“Look, I think that zombie dropped some stuff,” Space Cat said.

Sure enough, around the area of the explosion they found football pads, a smoke bomb, and bullets. They were surprised it had survived the explosion intact, but gathered it up and went into the house. Once they’d searched the place, they used the bandages they’d found to patch up Clumsy Ninja and insisted she wear the football pads. They also gave her a baseball bat and the smoke bomb. Chubby Unicorn used the bullets to reload her hand cannon and kept the ninja spray.

“I think we have time to go to that last house before heading back to the supermarket,” Space Cat said, putting the energy drink in her backpack.

As Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja stumbled through the debris on the way, they marveled at Chubby Unicorn’s ability to move silently through it all.

“Is that a mutant zombie? Or am I delirious from recently dying?” Clumsy Ninja asked.

“It definitely doesn’t look normal,” Space Cat agreed. “Also, it’s dressed like it should be in a music video.”

“I say we kill it anyway,” Chubby Unicorn said, shooting at the zombie.

Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja jumped in with their baseball bat and katana and finished it off. They quickly stepped back in case it exploded, but when nothing happened they continued on their way into the house.

“Any idea what these weird alarm clocks do?” Chubby Unicorn asked, holding up two devices that looked exactly like the one she’d picked up earlier.

“Maybe we could use them as a diversion,” Space Cat suggested, taking one and passing the other to Clumsy Ninja.

“Maybe,” Chubby Unicorn replied and put some more provision and a can that said Zom-B-Gone into her backpack. “Let’s get back to the supermarket.”

“I would definitely like to rest,” Clumsy Ninja said.

Chubby Unicorn tried out her ninja spray, and surprisingly no one made any noise as they trekked back to the supermarket. Despite their stealth, they were met by three zombies outside the store. To make matters worse, it appeared that one of them was on fire, and Chubby Unicorn was out of bullets. They attacked with their baseball bats and katana. Space Cat took out the burning zombie, and Chubby Unicorn and Clumsy Ninja managed to kill another, but there was still that last one.

“Why is it always me?” Clumsy Ninja wailed as the zombie lunged at her.

Thankfully it only got a mouthful of her football pads. She was at a bad angle to hit it, and her swings missed. Chubby Unicorn, afraid she might hit Clumsy Ninja, also missed with her baseball bat, but Space Cat got in there an managed to knock it away. It lunged again and again it latched on to the football pads. Clumsy Ninja managed to get them off, and once she was clear, Space Cat killed the zombie.

They scrambled into the supermarket before anything else could happen, and collapsed on the floor.

“I say we don’t go out there again,” Clumsy Ninja said.

“I think we have enough supplies to stay for three nights,” Clumsy Unicorn said, taking stock of her backpack’s contents.

“Good, let’s do that.”

---

Two days later, they emerged from the supermarket and slowly and carefully searched the town. There were no zombies anywhere.

“I can’t believe it,” Clumsy Ninja said. “We survived!”

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• Quarantine Z on BoardGameGeek.com
• Quarantine Z on Amazon.com