Players:
Manu as Officer Ivan Barnes
Jason as Ralph Lauren
Adrienne as Bruce "The Canon" Johnson

Plot:
Initially, Ralph and Bruce are lounging in a police station waiting room while Officer Barnes tries to persuade Ralph to come clean in order to get a lighter sentence. Ralph's mother is sick of bailing him out and rejects him - something she'd never do to her favourite son Lewis. Bruce meets Lewis in a bar near the station and overhears him talking about skate-boarders being mysteriously bitten. As Officer Barnes interrogates Ralph, it comes out that he actually hangs out with the crew of some of the reported bite-victims. He agrees to wear a wire and go to their haunt to find out more. Once there, and overcoming a brief zombie attack, they work out that there's a link between the 'disease' and the new drug that they've been pushing. Since Lewis is the main dealer, they resolve to pay him a visit and find out more. Lewis is persuaded to visit the last three people he's sold substance to.
As Bruce is watching his wife moan and uncoordinatedly try to get out of the sofa, he gets a knock on his door. Lewis and Ralph come in and Bruce discovers the cause of his wife's symptoms. Instead of running, like they want to, he persuades them to go pay their dealer a visit. Mr Shin tells them his manufacturer tried a new, but structurally really very similar, chemical in the most recent batch of drug. As they prepare to ply him for more information, the door is beaten down by zombies. There's a scuffle, but with the help of Officer Barnes (who has been listening all the while on his radio), they are able to escape.
After making their way to the bus tunnel and taking over a bus, Bruce tries to persuade his colleagues to attack and not flee. He loses and more zombies rush the bus. Their situation seems hopeless, but even as Bruce tries to persuade Lewis to sacrifice his (weak) younger brother so they can escape, and in the ensuing fight, Lewis is bitten by one of the zombies. Officer Barnes bursts in to save the day.
As they make their way to the harbour, Lewis barely manages to quell the others' suspicions about his bite. The first boat they approach seems safe enough, but ultimately is infested with zombies. But these zombies are faster and smarter than before - working as a group to close in on their prey. Bruce and Officer Barnes fight over the gun as Lewis and Ralph take to the water. Bruce succeeds in acquiring the gun - only to be torn to shreds before he can use it. Officer Barnes also escapes into the sea.
The owner of the boat they swim to wants to shoot Lewis when he see's his bite-wound, but dies in the end. Ralph refuses to hurt his brother, even as he begins to steer the boat back to city (murmuring about bodies), instead of away to safety. A young girl emerges from the cabin, looking for her father. Officer Barnes tries to save her before Lewis can attack, but in the end only reveals his own hiding place. He is (accidentally) shot in the back by Ralph while locked in conflict with Lewis. Lewis turns to his brother and persuades him to join him in undeath - so that they can be together, as brothers, as they always have been in the past. Ralph lowers his gun, and the screen fades to black.

I think I might have got the details of Officer Barnes' death (doubtless among other things) incorrect, but you get the overall gist.


Opinion:
This game was stellar. I have read one zombie book and seen maybe two zombie movies in my entire life - and playing this came as naturally as breathing. Partly, I'm sure, this was due to having such excellent co-players. Every time Jason opened his mouth he was spewing more plot and back-story - it was incredible. And Manu really knew how to keep us on track and steer us toward interesting conflicts. He also does great zombie sound effects - and Chinese accents.

The game itself I think is really well-designed. The rules take less than 10 minutes to cover, and it's in-built pacing system seemed to ramp up the tension pretty well. (I have to admit we sometimes got ahead of ourselves with assigning the zombie's additional horror.) Also, like Montsegur 1422 and many other games, I liked that it handed you some initial cards to inspire your character. I think none of our players used all three aspects handed to them, but that ended up not being necessary to make a great story and have a great time.

Thanks, Adrienne! The game was an absolute blast, great fun. For not being very familiar with zombies, you sure took to it quickly. It was great to game with two players who got so into things and were so imaginative! I also loved how the story ended: was Ralph going to become another intelligent zombie, or just be chow? :-) By the way, have you seen Shaun of the Dead yet? ;)