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[Pastinator]

Harvey flicked the switch and started the broadcast. It had been a month since the outbreak started and Harvey had a plan. It would be dangerous but could mean safety for a long tiem so he went with it.

"Hello, if you are listening to this message then you are alive and well prepared, keeping a radio on you was a wise move and seeing that you have one you must be well equiped in other ways also. I am calling all survivors to meet so that we may have safety in numbers and be able to protect each other. This outbreak is exterminating man-kind and the only thing that will redeem it is co-operation. Humanity must stick together through all that wishes to drive it apart. i am a police officer and have holed up in the police station where there is a stockpile of weapons and ammunition." pausing Harvey took a deep breath and continued on, giving directions to the Police station.

"Do you think that sounds to preachy Gina?"
"No dont worry about it hun" reasuring him.
"Good" replied Harvey and then went on, broadcasting it through all the frequencys he could manage,even trying police radio, hoping that he could contact survivors.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

The prison was eerily quiet. Gary sat in his cell, waiting for something to happen. There was nothing else to do. Him and 7 other inmates, along with 2 guards, were the only survivors from that first devastating attack of those... things. They had been holed up in the supply block for almost a month now, and they only had enough food for a few days left. It was almost intolerable...
Gary paced around the room, angrily.
"We've got to do something, guys. We can't just sit around and do nothing anymore!"
"Yeah, Gary we know," replied Marco, another inmate "but what exactly do you propose that we do? Huh?"
Gary's angry reply was cut short by the crackling of the radio. All talk ceased immediately - this was only the second time anything had come up on the radio for the whole month - the first time had been a government broadcast on the first day advising people to stay together and inside until the crisis was over.
Slowly, Harvey's message came through. When it had finished, no words were spoken. As one everyone got up, gathered together as many weapons and supply packs as they could carry, and walked to the barred door. They quickly tore down the wooden bars strapped across it and gary threw the doors open wide.

Gary and the others charged out guns blazing, and the shambling horde turned its head towards the new threat...

[Ash]

((OOC: Well, I might be out of the way here, but I figure Regina would make her way to the survivors' area))

The helicopter set down towards the central park region of the town. Dust, trash and old stale newspapers fluttered as the rotor blades created a violent downdraught.

It was the only sound in the otherwise dead streets. The port and starboard lights illuminated the dullness of the twilight with red and green, and from the open passenger side a young female form hopped down from the chopper. Her red hair flopped over her eyes, and she forced it back with her hand, holding it there.

Following her was a young caucasian male with blonde hair, only two years older than she. He had a very stern look on his face.

The heli dusted off, and the woman closed her eyes and covered her face as it shot off into the sky, abandoning them, alone in this city of ghosts. This city with no lights, with no sound, with no life save their own.

Her comlink beeped with a green light on her hand, and she brought it up to her ear.

"Remember, Regina, find survivors and get out. That's your job. No heroics now."

"Got it. Any other radio chatter?"

"Not yet. We're sending intermittent hails over all frequencies, civvy and police-bands...nothing so far. We'll keep trying."

"Roger that. Regina out." She lowered her COM and turned to the male. "This area looks deserted, we'll check the civic buildings first. City hall...cop-shop, hospital..."

"Okay," he replied, his voice ice-cold and stern, "We better split up ((OOC: Yeah. Because they always split up right before someone dies )) I'll head to the police station, you take city hall."

The two split up. They would never meet again. Regina clutched her MP5Ks, one in each hand, holding the barrels up to the sky as she ran through the empty streets. Her eyes darted all over as she heard a loud gunshot...like that of an assault rifle.

"Gail!" she instantly got on her radio, trying to raise her comrade. "Gail!"

No response. She knew he was dead.

She picked up her gun again and began to walk towards the city hall, when she got a report from the chopper team, telling her that the police station had just sent out a transmission.

Great, she thought, Gail just got fucked over going that way. Guess I'm next. Well, I'll take a ton of them with me if I'm going out.

She unsafetyed her guns, and made her way towards the police station.

[MSpencer]

The lab door was still locked tight when Thomas heard the radio broadcast from the other side. A month? He'd been in here for a whole month? It certainly didn't seem that long. The broadcast must have been coming through on the radio off that dead guard on the other side of the door.
Apparently, for a month, the corpse had been sitting there, a silent, rotting guardian of the four scientists inside. No... couldn't be... someone had their dates wrong.
Thomas stood up slowly, picking up the fire extinguisher to his right, and stepped forth towards the door.
"What are you doing?" a voice behind him inquired.
"You heard the man, people are alive," he answered, inserting a keycard he fished from the pocket of the lab coat. The shatter-proof glass door, designed to keep particles in, not people out, slid open, overwhelming them with the stench of rotting flesh. Flies swirled around the body as Thomas reached down, covering his nose, to grab the radio off the dead man's blue shirt. Quickly retreating with the radio in hand, the door slid shut at the press of a button, but the smell remained.
"You don't suppose the cars work, do you?" he asked, while eyeing a set of syringes designed for immediate immunization in case of a leak.
The lab they were in was a BL2 prep lab, Biohazard, Level 2, meant only for highly trained immunologists studying all sorts of diseases from the flu to the common cold. By all means, none of them were supposed to be in here, being molecular biologists restricted to an open-door lab down the hall, but the flesh-eating walking corpses apparently had some issues with them following the rules.
-------
Ten minutes later
-------
"We need to make the most potent poison possible," the young woman to Thomas' right said, her eyes scanning a multitude of chemicals which they had gathered from the chemical storage room down the hall. Oddly enough, the "things", as they had taken to calling them, were gone, perhaps drawn off to better food supplies after trying unsuccessfully to walk into the door enough times at an agonizingly slow pace to try and magically open it. Maybe they'd see them at the supermarket gorging themselves on Tuesday four weeks ago's specials. Somehow, Thomas doubted it.
"Got it, nicotine," Dr. Chao, down the table, holding a fairly large bottle marked poisonous, "Five grams and it should cause a massive heartattack."
Well, it had begun, for better or worse.
At least they didn't have to go on eating candy bars and raided food from the cafeteria...

[earini]

((OOC: I hope I didn't go overboard with this, seeing as it's only the beginning))

Niall was sat down on the couch and thought about what he was going to do next. He had been locked up inside the apartment of somebody who had apparently fled for about a month now. The store of food was running low, and the lack of contact with anyone else was starting to get to him.

Well, I can't be the only survivor, right?, Niall thought, There must be others...I need to find them.
The infected people were all over the place in the streets, though, and that was a problem. All he had was his knife, which wouldn't be very effective against an attack from five or ten or twenty of those. Maybe if he could get a hold of a radio, he could get into contact with somebody else, like an organized group of survivors, that he could join up with.

He started looking in all the other apartments, but then he realized it was probably useless. He searched for two hours, and in all the apartments he searched in, he found one radio, and it was broken. He'd have to find some place where there were many radios, like an electronics store. If there was one nearby, he could try to sneak by the infected to get there. It would be risky, but he would have to give it a shot. He didn't really have much to lose anymore.

He went up the stairs to the roof so he could try to find someplace he could get a radio. He leaned out over the railing and saw that two buildings down was a small electronics store. Looking down at the street again he saw maybe 20 or 25 of the infected wandering aimlessly around. He went over to the side of the building. The gap between the buiding he was on and the next one wasn't very wide. He thought maybe, just maybe, he could get across with a running start. He walked to the other side of the building, and started sprinting back. He was getting closer, and closer, and then, when he was just about there, he was overcome with fear, he thought he couldn't do it, he was going to fall, he was going to die. It was too late to stop though, he had too much momentum. He jumped and sailed through the air for what seemed like an eternity, though it was really only a couple of seconds. His feet hit the top of the other building...he made it.

With the adrenaline coursing through him, he felt unstoppable. He kept running and tried to jump to the other building. Unfortunately, though, the other building was a bit further away. He didn't make it across, and started to go down when he landed on the platform of a fire escape. Well, I made it, he thought. But as he started climbing up the fire escape to the top of the building, he heard a growling noise below him. He looked down, and there was one of the infected. It was climbing up the fire escape, too. He started scrambling faster to get to the roof. If he had to face the thing, he didn't want to do it on the narrow stairs.

He got up to the roof, and took out his knife. The thing came up and started slowly approaching. Niall backed up until he hit the railing on the edge. The thing suddenly stopped...and then began to charge. Niall held his knife in front of him with both hands on the handle, and when the thing got to him, Niall dove out of the way and brought his knife up at the same time, slashing the creature across the abdomen as it smashed into the railing and plummeted down to the street below. There was a cracking noise as it hit the concrete, and Niall stood up and looked down. There was quite an amount of blood, and the thing looked dead. Then it rolled over and started trying to stand, despite it's obviously shattered bones. "Damn, those things are tough," Niall thought aloud. Then his adrenaline started to wear off, and the terrible ordeal he just went through finally hit him. He vomited, before passing out.

*An hour later*

Niall woke up with the stench of blood and vomit in his nostrils. Standing up, he suddenly felt nausous again. He bent over, holding his stomach. Then it passed, and he straightened up. He remembered what he had to do. He had to get to the electronics store on the ground floor. He went into the building through the roof access stairs and got to the bottom floor. He found that the door to the store was locked, so he looked for another way in. The air ducts looked too small, and he knew he couldn't break down the strong metal door. He slumped to the floor in anguish. He was out of ideas.

Then, he saw it! A key, simply lying on the floor. He picked it up, and tried it in the lock. It fit...and it turned! He was in. He found a scanning radio and took a few sets of batteries for it. He turned it on, and it started scanning. He kept it on as he made his way back up to the roof, and just as he stepped onto the top of the building, the broadcast came. Niall rejoiced. There were survivors, and they were only a couple blocks away.

Edited by earini, 19 July 2006 - 04:43 AM.

[Blodo]

In the docks, a man was lying down on some crates smoking a cigarette, looking at the ceiling. A few metres away, another man was sitting down, holding his leg.

- "Arghh.. my leg is starting to rot off." - the man said with an apparent english accent
The second man with the cigarette took a breath and turned his head to the englishman.
- "Told you to stay the fuck away. If you did as I said that bastard wouldn't have bit you." - he said pointing to a corpse of a policeman, with a fireaxe stuck firmly in his skull.
- "Told you I'd handle it.." - he finished.
- "Oh shut up, Yuri you sod.. I need a smoke.." - the other guy remarked.
Yuri reached for a cigarrette and threw it towards him. He took the last puff off of his, and threw it away, while sitting up and pulling a handgun from his pocket.
- "I took this Beretta from that dead guy, but it's only got three bullets left... You know this is the wrong warehouse, Chris?"
- "Oh, thanks to you.. running.. in the wrong direction!" - Chris said heavily. Yuri turned a scowl on his face.
- "We won't survive with three bullets.. Heck, I won't survive with three bullets. I'm going to get the stack, then we run to the ship and -maybe- we'll make it out of here alive.."

The corpse of the policeman looked almost like it was moving. Neither of them looked like they had any idea what was exactly going on. A radio lying near the dead body suddenly changed from a low hiss to someone actually speaking. As he was giving directions, Yuri reached for his personal pen and noted all of them on a scribbled piece of paper. Once he finished and the radio went silent again, he picked himself up and went over to pick up the radio.

- "So there is somebody normal left in this fuckhole." - he spoke loudly, his voice echoing across the warehouse.
- "Hey Chris... Chris, you alive or what?"
He turned to see the englishman standing up, and starting to walk towards him with a blank look on his face.
- "Oh so you turned into an asshole too?" - Yuri muttered to himself. He paused while lifting his Beretta.
- "Too bad." - he said while aiming the now zombified man between the eyes. Moments later a bullet pierced the skull and one zombie fell dead. For good. Two bullets left.

- "Why do I always happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.." - the young man said to himself. He came up to the dead policeman, grabbed the axe in his skull and pulled it out.
- "Obviously my warehouse had to be stormed by the fucking FBI at exactly the right moment.."
He looked outside the opened door, locked and loaded.
- "So what do I get? A band of assholes ruining my day by not letting me get to the weapons with which I can kill them all..."
The area around him was quiet. Everything must've moved somewhere else. Or perhaps they just didn't get here yet. He crouched carelessly in the middle of the road right next to the warehouse, looking upwards.
- "Guess I'll be going to whoever is alive back at that police station. Maybe they can give me the firepower to get rid of all the pricks near my stuff, and I can be out of here." - he said while standing up and walking down the road with his gun ready in one hand, his axe in the other...

- "According to the radio, it's just down the road, two blocks away...hmm.."

[Paladin58]

A few blocks away from the police station, two mechanics were scurrying about a garage, fixing the barricades for the doors and windows that were keeping the creatures out of the garage. One of them had a blue jumpsuit with a badge that said "Titus" in blue lettering on white background. Shotgun in hand, he partially opens a window, to get a bead on one of the creatures standing outside. When it heard the window open, the creature dashed towards the opening.
"Ha. Big mistake, pal."
He waited for the creature to be average body length away from the door, and opened fire. The Remington turned his entire head and neck into mincemeat. The fleshbag then dropped to the ground, never to live again, not even by a strange virus that can make the dead walk, and turn normal people into mindless monsters.
"Well, Jones, when do you think this will end? But, before you answer that question, edit out all the religious referrences."
"Well, personally I think-"
Just then a creature comes crashing through the barricaded window and jumps onto Jones, biting him in the process. Titus swivels, and watches a friend get slashed, clawed, and bitten to death.
"No! Jones! You're gonna pay, you psycho!" he says as he puts a slug right in the spinal column of the creature. It writhes and falls over, lifeless, again. Right after this, the CB radio from a Silverado in the garage picks up a signal from the police station, telling what the survivors should do. As he listens intently, he doesn't notice a body that's supposed to be dead slowly rise from the ground, with a blank expression on its face...

[Pastinator]

"Do you think anyone is going to make it Harvey?" came a voice from across the room.
"I don't know Gina, stop asking me, i'm only doing this 'cause it seems like the only thing i can do, its not like any of us have any idea whats happening,but if we don't take control, who will?Most of the millitary are dead, and those that are left are in the worst areas, fighting in pickets, just to be overrun eventually.But my this plan has given me hope, and with luck and god's will we will be able to make it."
Gina silently agreed with him but although she knew he was right still held in contempt his overwhelming beleif in God, surely after all this he would stop, but it seemed to make him even stronger!At least it gave him hope.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Gary heaved a huge sigh, and quickly quieted himself. He knew they were still nearby. His fear was confirmed when one rounded the corner just ahead of him. Incredibly, it failed to notice him. They may have been tough but they sure were stupid. As soon as it had passed by he heaved himself up and moved on towards the police station.
While he walked unhurriedly towards the station he reflected on the situation. He remembered being split up from the others after they charged out of the prison and making his way towards the police station on his own. He wondered what had happened to his fellows. Perhaps they were at the station already. Well, some of them, anyway. Four had died in the prison break, and possibly more since. Perhaps they-
His musings were interrupted when Marco rounded a distant corner at a run, heading towards Gary. He was unarmed and yelling in a way that made Gary laugh. The scream of a man being chased by a large number of beings attampting to rip him limb from limb. Gary ceased to lauch when he saw the large mob of beings.
They were all charging at Marco and quickly gaining on him. A quick shot from Gary's revolver left one mob member with an imploded skull and granted Marco survival for one more second.
Unfortunately that was all he got. The thing that Gary had avoided earlier stepped out into the road and Marco ran straight into it. This knocked it flat, but gave the others time to catch up. Marco didn't last long without a weapon.
"Sorry mate" Gary whispered as he turned away, and ran towards the station.

Edited by Fire Ze Missiles!, 19 July 2006 - 08:25 PM.

[Ash]

While cautiously making her way to the police station, the SORT operative found herself only a couple of blocks away. She saw a man wielding a gun and an axe. She couldn't make much out; she was a long way away, and in the dullness of the night could only make out a silhouette. But she could see his weapons. This guy wasn't taking any chances, either. From her perspective, he wasn't military, and probably wasn't a cop; he didn't appear to be moving in any particularly calculated way.

She jogged over, her boots making loud clopping noises that echoed annoyingly in the empty streets. There was no way he, or anyone else who might be around, could not hear.

As she approached, she thought she heard a faint and distant shuffling, but wasn't totally sure. She jogged over and shook her head to move another wisp of her hair away.
"You're a survivor, right? Are you hurt at all?" As she spoke, her head darted all around, her eyes and ears on proverbial stalks. But she wasn't about to lose this guy like she just lost Gail. He might be more familiar with the town than she was, and so could help her every bit as much as she could him.

[Blodo]

The man stopped walking, crouched, and just sat down on the pavement.
- "I'm fine. Why?"
He scanned her quickly noticing the military issue weapons on her. After a second or so he stood up, joined his legs together in a military fashion, lowered his head and extended his hand. Then he spoke with a tone:
- "The name.. is Yuri."
He raised his head again and looked her straight in the eyes.

- "What are the spec ops doing out here? I thought the military moved to higher ground."
He said with a specific look on his face, that made him seem .. interested. In a bit of a twisted manner.

[Ash]

Regina was a little surprised that Yuri had recognised her as a spec-op. Then again, given the hardware and technology she was packing there was no way she was from the Red Cross.

"They did. We're here to look for survivors. Well...I am." She wasn't sure she could trust this guy, but she had her orders, and he didn't have a grand amount of choice but to help, due to the crisis going on.

"I'm Regina. From SORT. What were you doing out on the streets? I wouldn't be here myself if I didn't have a job to do."

[Blodo]

Yuri backed up, turned around and paused for a moment.
- "I'm attending... a migration! To the police station."
He turned back around on his heel.
- "Everyone is coming, even the assholes.. I suppose you want to join in the fun then?"
He picked up the fireaxe from the ground and tossed it onto his back.

[Ash]

"Lead the way, Yuri," Regina replied, checking her weapons were unsafetyed. There was something slimy, but maybe it was her suspicious nature. Besides, the thought of being suddenly having her brain eaten by a freshly-turned zombie didn't really appeal to her, so she wanted to keep her eye on him.

[earini]

Niall knew where the police station was. He had walked by it a few weeks ago, before the outbreak, and he could see it now from his vantage point atop the building. He wasn't sure how he'd get there without the things getting him. Then he looked down, on the opposite side of the building that the thing that attacked fell, and saw that there was a corpse of a woman in the driver's seat of a car. If the person was still there, the keys probably were too. If he moved fast enough, he might be able to move the body and drive off before the things got him, providing there was still fuel. It was a bit of a stretch, but he thought he could do it.

He went back down inside the building and to the back of it where he saw the car. He opened the door, and sprinted to the car. He opened the car's door, dragged the corpse out, and got in. Luckily, none of the things were looking that direction. He closed the door and put the key into the ignition when he heard a scratching noise. The corpse he had just dragged out was clawing it's way up the side of the car. "Oh, shit! It's one of them," Niall exclaimed. He locked the the doors and turned the key. The car wasn't starting! The thing started hitting the window, cracking it. He turned the key again, and this time it worked. The thing smashed open the window, started reaching in, and at that moment Niall slammed his foot on the accelerater, and squealed away.

Two blocks and 45 seconds later, he pulled in front of the police station and stopped. There were a couple things wandering about, but Niall opened the door and sprinted faster than he ever had in his life to the police station door. It was locked to keep the things out, of course, and he began pounding on it, screaming, "Let me in!"

[MSpencer]

"Holy shiiiiit!"
"Keep running! Don't stop!"
As the voices continued to call out behind and next to him, Thomas kept running, suppressing the urge to violently cough up a lung, or vomit all across the pavement. Behind them, normally lifeless bodies chased the three lab technicians. One of them had been caught by the creatures and torn asunder before their very eyes, now, almost out of nicotine syringes, they were stuck fleeing from an enemy which was almost impossible to kill, and wouldn't stop until they had eaten you.
Now, they came up to somewhat of a clearing. Thomas turned around, to see that their number had been diminished to two. Chao was gone, nowhere to be seen, not in the stumbling crowd forming behind them.
To his left, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elizabeth, the sole remaining person from the lab except himself, collapse. A distinctive crimson stain was visible on the side of the stark white lab coat. A month ago, trying to get out of her workstation, she had hit the side of the table, and a scalpel being used to remove rat liver for testing. She had cut herself badly, but stitches were holding in place until now.
Thomas reached down and slung her over his shoulder, running towards the intersection with a larger street. In front of him was perhaps their salvation. In the middle of the road, two people... two armed people, a man and a woman, seemed to be walking down the street, checking every possible angle probably expecting an attack.
"Hey! Over here! Help!" he shouted, still running, the extra weight upon his shoulder slowing him to a quick walk. Behind... the horde grew ever closer.

[Ash]

Regina heard their cries, and looked over to them, one of them hutched over the shoulder of the other. He was running from something...a mass of what looked like people, but Regina knew better. This was not good. She wasn't going out this way, and she wasn't about to let them go out this way either.

"If you're coming, Yuri, come on. I could use your help." She said, already running towards the ailing scientists.

"Come on!" she yelled to them, arms outstretched holding her submachine guns. "Hurry!"

As she neared the two humans, being sure not to point the weapons anywhere near them, she pulled the triggers. Very loud shrill hisses accompanied the spray of bullets from the barrels, and she succeeded in knocking a good few of the horde over. She knew they'd get back up, but a couple of those behind tripped over the falling creatures. The clips emptied fast, and Regina holstered the weapons, running back and helping the male carry his female associate.

"Come on! The police station's not far. This way!"

She wasn't sure if they'd make it, though. The horde were still not far behind.

[Blodo]

- "What the fuck? How many of them is there?" - Yuri said to himself while just standing there. He pulled out a cigarette, put it in his mouth and lit it with a match. Regina was wasting a horde of monsters in fornt of his eyes, and he was rather amused at the situation. It wasn't clear whether he didn't realise the seriousness of it all or just chose to disregard it.

One dead man came out of the alley, and got put down by a quick shot in the mouth by Yuri's berreta.
- "One bullet left.. How am I supposed to survive in America without bullets?"
He looked at Regina running away in the stations general direction, with the other people.
- "Shit... exit, stage left." - he said to himself while starting to run towards the station. From the alleys to his left more dead people came out. One of them ran out in his way. Yuri lifted his axe and shoved it straight into the skull of the walking corpse.
- "Sure, take it if you want it!" - he shouted. Then he ran some more. A few seconds later he was at the station doorstep, surprised how fast he actually was. The door was barricaded. Regina and the two people were still trying to catch up.

- "Hopeless .. " - he said outloud while expanding his arms, and shooting the last bullet into the crowd of creatures. Surprisingly he hit yet another one in the head, putting it down and making another dead man trip over it. With a smug look on his face he turned around and slowly made it up the stairs to the station.

- "I wonder whether they're gonna make it up here.." - he said while sitting down on the top stair, lighting another cigarette and waiting for someone to open the door.

Edited by Fire Ze Missiles!, 22 July 2006 - 03:34 PM.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Blissfully unaware of all the commotion, Gary jogged on towards the police station. He was almost there when he saw the creatures round the final corner behind him. It was also when he noticed the shabbily dressed man hammering on the doors, and the two creatures shambling towards him.
He saw the man turn round and shove a knife into one zombies face, then kick it away. It fell off the curb and into the other creature. As the both stumbled around the door opened slightly and the man was pulled in.
"Oi!"Gary yelled "Wait up!"
The door opened a fraction more and a head poked out. it called "Make it quick!"
Which was precisely what Gary did. Pausing only to kick one of the zombies in the groin as he ran past (which had dissapointingly little effect) he ran through the doors. They slammed shut behind him.
"Thanks for that," he panted "names Gary"

Yuri arrived on the doorstep about 30 seconds later.

Edited by Fire Ze Missiles!, 22 July 2006 - 03:32 PM.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

Harvey slammed the door shut.
"OK" he said "what are your stories?"
Gary answered first. "I was in prison. It was pretty high security so there weren't many of those things. We hid in the supply block for a while then came out when we got your transmission.
"The rest of my group is dead." he answered to Harvey's enquiring look.
"Alright. What about you?"
"Before all this I was a drifter, wandering across the country, sleeping wherever I ended up at the end of that day. I happened to be around here when the the goddamned corpses came. You can call me Niall," then with the faintest hint of a smile on his face,"like the river."
There was a pause.
"Sooooo," Gary drew out the syllable "what's the plan?"
"We're gonna get together all the survivors we can and head off to the military base out of town. it's about a day's walk."
Gina added "It'll probably take longer, with all these corpses around."
"Right," Niall confirmed "so when do we leave?"
"We'll wait here for a while to see if anyone else shows up then -"
He was interrupted by a fierce rapping on the doors.
"Hey!" cried a woman's voice "let us in!"

Edited by Fire Ze Missiles!, 23 July 2006 - 06:49 PM.