(Recap) Day 224 - Smash and Grab

It's been quite a while since I've had a chance to hop on here and update, and I apologize for that. Things have been crazy these last few days.

After that day with Molly and Rachel coming over, and Molly spending the night here to reassure me, I think I've finally come to terms with the encounter with Rose. Some nights I still relive pieces of it in my dreams, but more often than not, in the morning I wake up with a renewed sense of the urgency of the situation. We have a lot to do, and every day the fight is going to get a little harder. Ian, Crista, Alec, and Brian have been nothing but supportive, and they've done more than their fair sure in keeping things moving along while I've dealt with this. I've got to make that up to them soon.

As if the Rose situation weren't enough, everything we'd been doing was put on hold on Saturday. Ian and Crista were out taking a stroll around our territory and making sure all was well. When they got down to Washington Square, which we've kept pretty clean for a while now, they ran across something unexpected. It seems a major zed population to the south had started shifting its territory, and Washington Square was now sporting more than its fair share of zeds. Ian and Crista backed out of the area quickly and quietly, and b-lined for home.

When they got here they gathered us together so we could figure out what our course of action should be. We haven't had to go on a major hunt in a while, and we were woefully unprepared for this one. We took care of the easy part first, spending some time planning our attack. We decided to move in from the north and then pull our way out to the west to draw any stragglers away from us. Then we moved on to the more arduous and tedious process of getting our supplies together. Unfortunately, we realized our lack of diligence in monitoring our supplies had really bitten us in the ass.

For one, it took us far longer than it should have to pull everything together. Some of our equipment was in pieces so we could maintain or enhance it. Also, our supply of non-perishable food suitable for extended trips was running a bit low, as we hadn't taken the time to refill it recently. We gathered what we could, putting the equipment back together, and taking stock of what we didn't have. This took us the better part of the afternoon, meaning we'd have to make a run tonight, and push our attack back to the morning. We could only hope only a few of the zeds wandered up this way.

What we were really hurting on more than anything was beef jerky and bottled water, the two main staples for our prolonged operations. The water is an obvious necessity, but beef jerky is perfect for these sorts of runs in that it's the lightest and most nourishing food you can carry. It gives you most of what you need, if it's a bit heavy on the sodium, and doesn't require you to set up camp or build a fire. You can snack as you need the energy, and keep moving.

Once we'd finished gathering the supplies, Ian, Crista, and I took off to go try and find what we needed, leaving Alec and Brian to get all of our supplies loaded in to our bags.

Over the past couple of months, we've scouted and recorded a few locations that hadn't been raided yet. Today's trip, we decided, would take us in to Brighton Center, where there was a convenience store that hadn't yet been touched. We'd avoided hitting this store so far because Brighton Center hadn't been swept clear yet. It would mean a bit of risk, but this was the closest location that had supplies, and we didn't have a lot of time.

We hopped in the truck and headed north, taking the most direct route. It would need to be a smash and grab operation so we could get as much as we could and then get out, with the minimal amount of zed activity. Ian would stand guard by the truck and cover us as any zeds came by, and Crista and I would run in to make quick work of the store and get everything out in to the truck.

As we pulled up outside of the store, I overshot the store a bit, slammed on the brakes, threw the truck in reverse, and swung the truck back, around, over the curb, and through the store window. We jumped out and Crista and I dove through the window and began grabbing things as quickly as possible. We'd gotten about halfway through the store before we heard the first shots from Ian's guns. He yelled through the window to pick up the pace, as there was a small group of zeds that had started our way.

We flew through the store grabbing everything we could, and made quick work of the rest of it. Right before leaving, I dove behind the counter and cleaned out their cigarettes (there's not time like the end of the world to start smoking, not to mention the stress relieving effects), and the rest of the valuable stuff they hide back there. We left the register. It's unnecessary weight, and if we survive long enough that having money becomes important again, we'll be happy just to have survived.

I dove out of the window, dumping the last armful of stuff in the back of the truck, and jumped in the driver's seat. Crista jumped in, and Ian jumped down in to the seat, closing the door behind him. We took off quickly and wove our way back home.

We pulled in to the parking lot just a little before sundown, and started unloading the supplies. It was a good haul, and replenished a lot of the things we were lacking. Alec and Brian reported that there had been a little zed activity filtering up from Washington Square, but nothing they couldn't handle. After we finished unloading and storing everything, and getting our gear all set for the morning, I elected to take first watch and headed to the roof.

On my way to the roof, I snagged a cigar. It's my sort of good luck routine the night before a big fight. Ian joined me once he finished squaring his equipment away. We stood there, looking out over the streets, smoking and chatting, and mentally preparing for the next few days.

- B