With Hank driving, Layla in the passenger seat and Bill taking up his now customary position on the bed of the pickup (now slightly cramped due to the corpse of the bear as well as a half-dozen jerry cans full of fuel), the group rolls out along with the US jeeps and Bradley APC. Rain starts to fall, getting heavier as they slowly head south, clouds building as they negotiate the sodden grasslands. The VW is clearly not suited to this kind of driving, Layla and Bill far from comfortable as the pickup rocks and jolts at every bump in the terrain while the two US Jeeps and the APC make far lighter work of the driving.

A few hours into the morning and they come to the fringes of the woodlands to the south, following the general direction of the river as they head south towards the bridge over the River Prosna. The US contingent pulls up, asking Layla to check on Captain Carmichael as he has woken up a few times during the drive. Everyone takes the opportunity to eat, using some of the extra ration packs the soldiers had escaped Kalisz with. During the brief rest Pvt Brad Phillips approaches Bill, having been looking at him for a while. Possibly feeling a little guilty after taking the wristwatch from the young man's dead brother, Bill makes a gesture by taking off the watch and showing it to Brad before handing it over.

"Possessions can be great, but in this crazy world memories can bring far more comfort than simple material things. I hope you can gain some measure of comfort from your brother's watch." Bill says in an uncharacteristic display of compassion. So much so that Layla comes over to check his pulse, announcing “You do have a heart after all Bill.”

For his part, young Brad Phillips is almost overcome with emotion and thanks Bill for giving back a family treasure. His father had passed the watch to his eldest son on his deathbed and Brad is relieved to have been able to recover it to keep up a family tradition.

Making their way through the forest, the VW starts to fall behind a little and the windshield becomes fogged with condensation. Winding the window down to clear it, the trio hears the sound of barking close by. Bill notices a German Shepherd dog in a small clearing a short distance away, standing still, barking at the passing vehicles.

“Just keep going.” Bill mutters to himself, thinking that Layla will want to stop. As a way of keeping her happy he hacks off a bit of one of the bear’s legs and tosses it to the dog. To his surprise, and no doubt disappointment, the dog only manages to move a few feet from where it stood before it is stopped by something tied around one of it’s hind legs. Reluctantly, Bill bangs on the roof of the cab and Hank pulls to a stop.

Seeing that the dog has been caught in a wire snare, Layla and Bill get out and after a few moments discussion (Bill’s initial assessment of “Just put a bullet in its head and put it out of its misery” doesn’t go down well with Layla), Bill cautiously goes over to the dog having taken another bone from the bear’s corpse.

Slowly approaching the dog, Bill gets it’s attention and as it accepts the bone, Layla carefully removes the snare from the nervous but thankful dog. It looks like it has been there for a few days, on the skinny side with a nasty looking wound on its hind leg where the wire has dug into the flesh of the leg. Layla names it Bella (they checked her gender before) and she and Bill take the dog back to the van and puts it in the cab on the front seat with her.

Moving off the trio catch up with the Americans who had slowed down and after another few hours of tiresome driving through the forest and the hilly terrain, the group comes out of the forest on a downward slope heading towards the road. Dusk begins to fall as they drive in heavy rain though countryside that gets boggier as they move further south.

They halt just before the crest of a hill, with the soldiers confirming that the bridge should be just on the other side of the rise. Sgt Emmer feels that they should have a look before committing the vehicles to approaching the bridge and suggests that he, Pvt Phillips and Bill check out from a relatively safe vantage point.

Scanning the scene with binoculars, Bill sees that the bridge seems to have been destroyed and that a small industrial area on the western bank of the river has been flooded. Three warehouses and several other buildings appear to be surrounded by floodwater and there is a lone articulated lorry parked up by the loading bay of one of the warehouses. Bill also notices what appear to be a number of bodies on the loading bay, though from this distance and in the driving rain and coming dusk, he’s not sure how many and what condition they are in.

Meeting with the others back at the vehicles, the group comes up with a plan. Three groups of three (one for each of the large warehouses) will investigate the area with the remaining men (Hank included as Jerry couldn’t make this session) looking after the injured captain and vehicles. Everyone going to the flooded industrial hub clears out their packs so they can fill them with scavenged items and each team has a coil of rope and some weapon reloads.

With everyone ready, the three teams make their way carefully down to the warehouses, each team heading to their assigned building, with Bill, Layla and Pvt Phillips heading to the warehouse with the truck parked outside. Once they get close enough, Bill checks out the truck, finding it empty and unfortunately without the keys in the cab. Making it up to the raised loading bay, the trio discover the grisly sight of disembowelled bodies, the blood having been washed away by the heavy rain of the last day or so. Layla’s quick examination tells her that their limbs have been cut off by extremely sharp blades of some kind and their bodies have been partially eaten. She also deduces that this has happened in the last 3-4 days.

The young soldier Phillips retches at the slight of this and everyone is more than a little unsettled. After composing themselves for a few moments, they get ready to enter the warehouse, noticing that the large roller door is raised a few feet off the floor level, allowing them to peek into the dark interior of the building before entering… Crates, cardboard boxes and other debris is strewn across the floor by the entrance, perhaps an indication that the corpses were in the process of looting the building?

As they move towards the partly opened door, they realise that Phillips is the only one with a flashlight. Everyone readies a weapon (pistols in the case of Bill and Layla, an M16 for Pvt Phillips) and ducks under the door and into the warehouse. Inside is dark and large industrial shelving reaches from the floor almost to the vaulted ceiling of the building which blocks everyone’s line of sight for most of the warehouse, though there is a more or less central aisle running from front to back that is relatively clear of obstructions. The walls are lined with containers and shelves and the closest row of shelving appears to be filled with household electrical goods, from washing machines to VCRs.

Though there is a hole in the roof around half-way down the building, it is virtually pitch back inside and the only light source is Phillips’ flashlight. Deciding on a cautious exploration, the trio slowly head towards the rear of the building, intending to check each aisle as they cover each other.

To be continued next session…