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<section class="frontmatter-separate" id="cmbtrulz">
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<title>Rules for Close Combat</title>
<link class="prev" idref="weapons" />
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+ <link class="next" idref="sect1" />
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<meta><title>Numbered Sections</title></meta>
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<p>You take hold of the crate, ready to wrench it open but, to your surprise, the wood is infested with dry rot and crumbles to dust under the slightest pressure. You strip away the flaky timbers to discover hundreds of square plastic tubs, held together by a sheet of clear polythene<ch.emdash/>just what your uncle wanted! Using your hunting knife, carefully you lay open the sheet, peeling it away from the tubs, and rolling it up for future use.</p>
- <p>On the tubs themselves are blue and white labels that display the letters: NaCl.</p>
+ <p>On the tubs themselves are blue and white labels that display the letters: N<ch.thinspace/>a<ch.thinspace/>C<ch.thinspace/>l.</p>
<p>Pick a number from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a> and add to it your current Perception skill total.</p>
<choice idref="sect240">If the total is now 7 or less, <link-text>turn to 240</link-text>.</choice>
<choice idref="sect4">If it is 8 or more, <link-text>turn to 4</link-text>.</choice>
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<p>As you watch the town shrinking in your rear-view mirror, the shock of your encounter, especially the death of Long Jake, makes you shiver despite the burning midday heat. <quote>D<ch.apos/>you know those guys?</quote> you ask, anxious to make some sense of the situation.</p>
<p><quote>Yeah,</quote> replies the girl, her voice shaky, <quote>though not by choice.</quote></p>
- <p>As you race back along the highway to McKinney, the girl, whose name is Kate Norton, tells you about the events leading up to your meeting. She comes from Kansas City and is one of the lucky few who have managed to survive there since the holocaust. A month ago her colony was attacked and wiped out by a gang of motorcycle renegades called <quote>the Lions</quote>. Their leader, who calls himself Mad Dog Michigan, took a liking to her and spared her life. He was once a high-ranking HAVOC agent who had escaped from Pontiac Deep Pen near Detroit, and he and his gang, most of whom were also HAVOC escapees, were heading for the Fort Hood Military Reserve near Killeen, the largest armoury in the whole of the United States.</p>
- <p><quote>He hopes to find enough weapons and ammunition there to equip the other HAVOC clans who are in control of cities all along the eastern seaboard. Once he<ch.apos/>s armed his army he<ch.apos/>ll take over the rest of the country,</quote> she says, her blue eyes brimming with tears. <quote>Three days ago the Lions reached Oklahoma City. They were desperate for food, so Mad Dog decided to camp there and forage the surrounding area. Until then they<ch.apos/>d always been kept closely guarded, but while most of them were away I managed to steal a bike and escape. I was beginning to think I<ch.apos/>d made it. I was wrong. I ran out of fuel just north of Sherman and had to ditch the bike. I met up with your friend this morning when he walked into town. Soon after he<ch.apos/>d told me all about you and your colony and your plans to head west, those guys back there arrived. Mad Dog sent them to find me.</quote> She pauses to wipe her tears and brush the tangle of windswept blonde hair away from her beautiful face.</p>
+ <p>As you race back along the highway to McKinney, the girl, whose name is Kate Norton, tells you about the events leading up to your meeting. She comes from Kansas City and <!--ERRTAG-RE-414342-->was one of the lucky few who managed<!--/ERRTAG-RE-414342--> to survive there since the holocaust. A month ago her colony was attacked and wiped out by a gang of motorcycle renegades called <quote>the Lions</quote>. Their leader, who calls himself <!--ERRTAG-RE-414589--><quote>Mad Dog Michigan</quote><!--/ERRTAG-RE-414589-->, took a liking to her and spared her life. He was once a high-ranking HAVOC agent who had escaped from Pontiac Deep Pen near Detroit, and he and his gang, most of whom were also HAVOC escapees, were heading for the Fort Hood Military Reserve near Killeen, the largest armoury in the whole of the United States.</p>
+ <p><quote>He hopes to find enough weapons and ammunition there to equip the other HAVOC clans who are in control of cities all along the eastern seaboard. Once he<ch.apos/>s armed his army he<ch.apos/>ll take over the rest of the country,</quote> she says, her blue eyes brimming with tears. <quote>Three days ago the Lions reached Oklahoma City. They were desperate for food, so Mad Dog decided to camp there and forage the surrounding area. <!--ERRTAG-RE-415547-->Until the bikes<ch.apos/>d always been kept closely guarded, but while most of them were away I managed to steal one and escape.<!--/ERRTAG-RE-415547--> I was beginning to think I<ch.apos/>d made it. I was wrong. I ran out of fuel just north of Sherman and had to ditch the bike. I met up with your friend this morning when he walked into town. Soon after he<ch.apos/>d told me all about you and your colony and your plans to head west, those guys back there arrived. Mad Dog sent them to find me.</quote> She pauses to wipe her tears and brush the tangle of windswept blonde hair away from her beautiful face.</p>
<p><quote>I<ch.apos/>m really sorry about what happened to Long Jake. It<ch.apos/>s all my fault.</quote></p>
<p><quote>Don<ch.apos/>t blame yourself,</quote> you say, trying to console her. <quote>It<ch.apos/>s over now. Once we get back to DC1 and take off for Big Spring, Mad Dog and his gang will be just a bad memory.</quote></p>
<p><quote>I hope you<ch.apos/>re right, Cal,</quote> she says, unconvinced.</p>
<data>
<p>The instant you set foot in the store, two hands reach out of the darkness, grab you by the jacket lapels and pull you away from the doorway. Immediately, there is a long burst of fire and a hail of bullets scythes the air where you were standing only moments before.</p>
<p><quote>These ain<ch.apos/>t no ordinary punks,</quote> growls Long Jake, peering cautiously over the edge of the bullet-shattered window frame. <quote>They<ch.apos/>re scouts for a Yankee gang that<ch.apos/>s headin<ch.apos/> this way, looking to take over. They<ch.apos/>re a mite anxious to get their hands on her, too,</quote> he says, nodding towards the girl who is crouching behind the store counter, her eyes wide with fright.</p>
- <p><quote>What do they want with her?</quote> you ask, but before Long Jake can reply there is a flash and a deafening explosion. The store<ch.apos/>s rear door is blown inwards and a searing wave of heat and flying debris knocks you off your feet. Stunned by the blast, you rise unsteadily and reach for a weapon. A grey shape fills the rear entrance, its outline fuzzy in the smoke and dust that hovers there. Then the shape draws into focus and you see the silhouette of a tall man, lean and sinewy, his thin mouth set in a cruel sneer.</p>
+ <p><quote>What do they want with her?</quote> you ask, but before Long Jake can reply there is a flash and a deafening explosion. The store<ch.apos/>s rear door is blown inwards and a searing wave of heat and flying debris knocks you off your feet. Stunned by the blast, you rise unsteadily and reach for a weapon. A grey shape fills the rear entrance, its outline fuzzy in the <!--ERRTAG-RE-431763-->smoke and dust that hover<!--/ERRTAG-RE-431763--> there. Then the shape draws into focus and you see the silhouette of a tall man, lean and sinewy, his thin mouth set in a cruel sneer.</p>
<p><quote>Look out!</quote> screams Long Jake, as the figure leaps through the doorway, a shotgun held before him ready to fire.</p>
<p>Pick a number from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>. If your current Shooting, Stealth, and Perception points (when added together) total 8 or more, then add 2 to the number you have picked.</p>
<choice idref="sect191">If your total is now 0<ch.endash/>3, <link-text>turn to 191</link-text>.</choice>
<data>
<p>The rotten wood splits and crumbles under the slightest pressure, enabling you to open the crate with your bare hands. Inside, you discover hundreds of square plastic tubs, bound together with tape into units of twelve. Sealing the whole consignment is a vast sheet of clear polythene<ch.emdash/>just what your uncle wanted! Using your hunting knife, you slit open the sheeting at the corners, remove it from the tubs and fold it away carefully for future use.</p>
- <p>The tubs themselves are each adorned with blue and white labels that display the letters: N a C l.</p>
+ <p>The tubs themselves are each adorned with blue and white labels that display the letters: N<ch.thinspace/>a<ch.thinspace/>C<ch.thinspace/>l.</p>
<p>Pick a number from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a> and add to it your current Perception skill total.</p>
<choice idref="sect134">If the total is now 6 or less, <link-text>turn to 134</link-text>.</choice>
<choice idref="sect201">If it is 7 or more, <link-text>turn to 201</link-text>.</choice>
<p>At gunpoint you are led from the cell and taken across town to a broken-fenced corral around which the clansmen have gathered. This site is all that remains of the Albany Stockyards and Rodeo that once thrived here during the late 1990s. Its No. 1 enclosure is to be the place of your initiation into the Kicker clan.</p>
<p>Lying on the ground at the centre of the corral is your Hunting Knife, and beyond it, leaning against the wooden rails of the corral, is your adversary. As punishment for a breach of clan discipline, Manhattan has chosen him to fight against you in <quote>the Rite</quote>. It is a dubious honour, for he knows that his life will be forfeit if he fails.</p>
<p>The rules of the initiation ceremony are simple. When Manhattan fires his pistol, you must both dash towards the knife. The one who reaches it first will then hold the advantage in the hand-to-hand combat that follows. The combat is to the death; only he who survives the fight will be declared a worthy clan member.</p>
- <p>The crowd grow silent and nervously you wait for Manhattan to fire. His shot rings out, and you launch yourself towards the centre of the corral.</p>
+ <p>The <!--ERRTAG-RE-442204-->crowd grows<!--/ERRTAG-RE-442204--> silent and nervously you wait for Manhattan to fire. His shot rings out, and you launch yourself towards the centre of the corral.</p>
<illustration class="float">
<meta>
<creator>Melvyn Grant</creator>
<p>(<a idref="sect313">313</a>) Replaced <quote>handrails</quote> with <quote>hand-rails</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect314">314</a>) Replaced <quote>Weapons list</quote> with <quote>Weapons List</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect315">315</a>) Replaced <quote>on to</quote> with <quote>onto</quote>. Replaced <quote>ignition and</quote> with <quote>ignition, and</quote>.</p>
- <p>(<a idref="sect318">318</a>) Replaced <quote>rear view mirror</quote> with <quote>rear-view mirror</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="sect318">318</a>) Replaced <quote>rear view mirror</quote> with <quote>rear-view mirror</quote>.<!--ERRTAG-RE-414342-ITEM--> Replaced <quote>is one of the lucky few who have managed</quote> with <quote>was one of the lucky few who managed</quote>.<!--/ERRTAG-RE-414342-ITEM--><!--ERRTAG-RE-414589-ITEM--> Replaced <quote>Mad Dog Michigan</quote> with <quote><ch.lsquot/>Mad Dog Michigan<ch.rsquot/></quote>.<!--/ERRTAG-RE-414589-ITEM--><!--ERRTAG-RE-415547-ITEM--> Replaced <quote>Until then they<ch.apos/>d always been kept closely guarded, but while most of them were away I managed to steal a bike and escape.</quote> with <quote>Until the bikes<ch.apos/>d always been kept closely guarded, but while most of them were away I managed to steal one and escape.</quote>.<!--/ERRTAG-RE-415547-ITEM--></p>
<p>(<a idref="sect321">321</a>) Replaced <quote>indian</quote> with <quote>Indian</quote> and <quote>north-west</quote> with <quote>northwest</quote>. Replaced <quote>on to</quote> with <quote>onto</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect325">325</a>) Replaced <quote>C.B.</quote> with <quote>CB radio</quote>. Replaced <quote>decayed and</quote> with <quote>decayed, and</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect327">327</a>) Replaced <quote>north-east</quote> with <quote>northeast</quote>, <quote>north-west</quote> with <quote>northwest</quote> (x2), and <quote>south-west</quote> with <quote>southwest</quote>.</p>
- <p>(<a idref="sect329">329</a>) Replaced <quote>set in cruel sneer.</quote> with <quote>set in a cruel sneer.</quote>. Replaced <quote>Stealth and</quote> with <quote>Stealth, and</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="sect329">329</a>) Replaced <quote>set in cruel sneer.</quote> with <quote>set in a cruel sneer.</quote>. Replaced <quote>Stealth and</quote> with <quote>Stealth, and</quote>.<!--ERRTAG-RE-431763-ITEM--> Replaced <quote>smoke and dust that hovers</quote> with <quote>smoke and dust that hover</quote>.<!--/ERRTAG-RE-431763-ITEM--></p>
<p>(<a idref="sect336">336</a>) Replaced <quote>letters,</quote> with <quote>letters:</quote>.</p>
+<p>(<a idref="sect337">337</a>)<!--ERRTAG-RE-442204-ITEM--> Replaced <quote>crowd grow</quote> with <quote>crowd grows</quote>.<!--/ERRTAG-RE-442204-ITEM--></p>
<p>(<a idref="sect338">338</a>) Replaced <quote>bushwacked</quote> with <quote>bushwhacked</quote>, <quote>Rickenbaker</quote> with <quote>Rickenbacker</quote> and <quote>fusilage</quote> with <quote>fuselage</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect343">343</a>) Replaced <quote>Shackelford county sheriff<ch.apos/>s office</quote> with <quote>Shackelford County Sheriff<ch.apos/>s office</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect348">348</a>) Replaced <quote>gulley</quote> with <quote>gully</quote>.</p>
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