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Monday
(Flashback) Day 225 - Let's Talk About Hand Grenades
Oh, yes. Let's talk about hand grenades.
There are misconceptions about the use of hand grenades when dealing with zeds. Most of the advice you read says not to use them, and this, for the most part, is very good advice to follow. Though any zeds right on top of the grenade will probably be taken out, you'll launch little pieces of zed everywhere, and, in the end, you'll probably only take down a couple of zeds. The rest might lose limbs, but as we know, then you just have torsos dragging themselves after you, or diembodied heads snapping at you from their spot on the ground. Strictly speaking, hand grenades are usually a horrendous idea...
... unless you need a distraction option. The trick here is that, given the choice between a human or animal target and a hand grenade, the zed will always go for the living creature. So, if you're going to employ a hand grenade, make sure you are well away and hidden from the zeds. You might also try dressing the grenade up to look like a small animal, but this more for the amusement of the survivors than it is to get the zeds to chase after it.
In the case of our current push, I decided that we should head by back ways back to the base of operations, and chuck a grenade from there to pull any wandering zeds back to the center of the square. This is always contingent on shaking whatever zeds had caught our scent, so that they won't draw any attentino away from the distraction. I motioned Ian over and whsipered my thoughts. He nodded assent and told the rest of the group. Then we began to pull out and headed back to meet up with Crista.
We found Crista much as we had left her, scouting on the roof. I told the guys to take cover, dug out a grenade, and went to join her on the roof. As I stepped up to the ledge to watch what was happening, she started to draw back and get cover. When I was certain where the grenade should be placed, and that no zeds knew where we were, I dropped back to the far edge of the roof, pulled the pin, and chucked the grenade as acurrately as I could.
I'll admit I was about 5 feet off, missing the best cluster of zeds to hit, but I took out a second, slightly smaller cluster none the less. After about 5 minutes, when the distraction had had enough time to have some effect, I crept back to the edge to see how things were going.
There's little better than seeing a plan come off, but one of those is seeing a plan come off that involves blowing zeds to little pieces with grenades. The carnage may smell foul, but it's actually rather pretty in its own right.
Assured that the distraction was going pretty well, I slipped back to the edge of the roof to meet up with the rest of the crew. The general plan in these sorts of situations is to wait about 30 minutes for as many zeds to amass as possible, and then head out and clean up. Wait any longer and you begin to lose some to idle distractions, so this is kind of the optimal time frame. After quietly chatting about the rest of the plan and waiting for a good time to spring, we geared up, and moved out.
I think at this point everyone was charged from how things were going, because finishing cleaning up the square was short work. It seemed almost calculated at times. There were few surprises, and we adapted quickly to them. All in all it was just a very clean little operation that left us a bit tired, but also exhillerated. With the main part of the square clean, we could now focus on the last little bit of cleanup to the west of the square, and then be done with it.
Truth be told, the rest of the clean-up went pretty easily, and there's not much esle to say about it. We swept through the last bits of the square, pulling out to our escape vehicle, and, once satisfied with our work, we headed for home. All in all, I think we were expecting that this outing would take longer than it did. Thankfully, the whole excercise went pretty flawlessly, and it's always a good feeling to clean things up and get home in one peace.
So that wraps up my story. I hope it provides some insight you can use in your own operations.
Ian tells me he has some stories to tell here, but he was waiting for me to finish up my part. Expect to hear something from Ian soon.
Ciao,
- B
There are misconceptions about the use of hand grenades when dealing with zeds. Most of the advice you read says not to use them, and this, for the most part, is very good advice to follow. Though any zeds right on top of the grenade will probably be taken out, you'll launch little pieces of zed everywhere, and, in the end, you'll probably only take down a couple of zeds. The rest might lose limbs, but as we know, then you just have torsos dragging themselves after you, or diembodied heads snapping at you from their spot on the ground. Strictly speaking, hand grenades are usually a horrendous idea...
... unless you need a distraction option. The trick here is that, given the choice between a human or animal target and a hand grenade, the zed will always go for the living creature. So, if you're going to employ a hand grenade, make sure you are well away and hidden from the zeds. You might also try dressing the grenade up to look like a small animal, but this more for the amusement of the survivors than it is to get the zeds to chase after it.
In the case of our current push, I decided that we should head by back ways back to the base of operations, and chuck a grenade from there to pull any wandering zeds back to the center of the square. This is always contingent on shaking whatever zeds had caught our scent, so that they won't draw any attentino away from the distraction. I motioned Ian over and whsipered my thoughts. He nodded assent and told the rest of the group. Then we began to pull out and headed back to meet up with Crista.
We found Crista much as we had left her, scouting on the roof. I told the guys to take cover, dug out a grenade, and went to join her on the roof. As I stepped up to the ledge to watch what was happening, she started to draw back and get cover. When I was certain where the grenade should be placed, and that no zeds knew where we were, I dropped back to the far edge of the roof, pulled the pin, and chucked the grenade as acurrately as I could.
I'll admit I was about 5 feet off, missing the best cluster of zeds to hit, but I took out a second, slightly smaller cluster none the less. After about 5 minutes, when the distraction had had enough time to have some effect, I crept back to the edge to see how things were going.
There's little better than seeing a plan come off, but one of those is seeing a plan come off that involves blowing zeds to little pieces with grenades. The carnage may smell foul, but it's actually rather pretty in its own right.
Assured that the distraction was going pretty well, I slipped back to the edge of the roof to meet up with the rest of the crew. The general plan in these sorts of situations is to wait about 30 minutes for as many zeds to amass as possible, and then head out and clean up. Wait any longer and you begin to lose some to idle distractions, so this is kind of the optimal time frame. After quietly chatting about the rest of the plan and waiting for a good time to spring, we geared up, and moved out.
I think at this point everyone was charged from how things were going, because finishing cleaning up the square was short work. It seemed almost calculated at times. There were few surprises, and we adapted quickly to them. All in all it was just a very clean little operation that left us a bit tired, but also exhillerated. With the main part of the square clean, we could now focus on the last little bit of cleanup to the west of the square, and then be done with it.
Truth be told, the rest of the clean-up went pretty easily, and there's not much esle to say about it. We swept through the last bits of the square, pulling out to our escape vehicle, and, once satisfied with our work, we headed for home. All in all, I think we were expecting that this outing would take longer than it did. Thankfully, the whole excercise went pretty flawlessly, and it's always a good feeling to clean things up and get home in one peace.
So that wraps up my story. I hope it provides some insight you can use in your own operations.
Ian tells me he has some stories to tell here, but he was waiting for me to finish up my part. Expect to hear something from Ian soon.
Ciao,
- B
Saturday
(Flashback) Day 225 - The First Push
It's late and I can't sleep, so I thought I would continue the story I was working on. It's good to be back online and to see things pretty much how we left them. I've even had some messages from Jaco, and he should be along soon with an update on what he's been up to. Anyway, back to our story.
We gathered everyone up and checked all of our supplies. We'd be leaving Crista on the roof during this run, working our way back to her. This is one of the only times we ever leave any one member of the group by themselves, but with no way for the zeds to get to her on the roof, it's still relatively safe. In these sorts of cleaning operations, we need all the strength we can get. This sweep was designed to start with the farthest inbound groups of zeds, and slowly clean our way back to Washington square. This first sweep is always the most dangerous, because you have no clean ground to work from.
In Boston, the closer you get to downtown, the larger the zed population centers become. This makes the decision of where to start when cleaning out an area pretty easy. By starting closest to downtown while we're still fresh and focused, we'll be more basically careful about the noise we make, and hopefully draw less attention. Also, once we finish cleaning this area up, we can then keep our eye on it during the remainder of the operation, and clean up any zeds that may wander in.
With Alec and Brian accompanying us this time, we set off on the outbound lanes of Beacon street again, and dropped down to the inbound lanes once we had passed the main concentration of zeds. The first group we ran into were 5 zeds wandering aimlessly across the tracks. We pulled our melee weapons and made quick work of the group, with Ian doubling up to grab the extra kill. We got them all before any of them could get off a moan, which we were quite thankful for.
The next group to take care of was much larger, and a bit closer in to the square itself. This group probably had between 25 and 30 zeds in it, and was pretty well spread out over the inbound lanes and T tracks. This kind of grouping requires much more care. There's no way you can take care of them all without at least some of them having enough time to realize you're there and start moaning. Add in the potential stumbling block of fighting zeds on top of train tracks, and you could have a pretty nasty mess on your hand fairly quickly.
You best weapon here is a clear head. You have to be methodical and deliberate. You have to be careful not to get put in a position you don't want to be in, and never engage more targets than you know you can handle. You also don't want to get separated from any of the other survivors your with. You have to engage groups of this size as a crew, sweeping from one side of it to the other, and never letting the zeds surround you.
We all checked out pistols, making sure they were fully loaded and the safeties were off. We try to go as long as possible without having to use firearms, so as not to draw too much attention, but sometimes you really need them. This time we only got through about 10 of the zeds before anyone had to draw.
We had made it through the first handful of zeds before any of the other ones caught on to us and started moaning. As they all turned their attention to us, we stepped up to take care of the next closest handful. It was then that Alec noticed one careening down the hill towards us, and pulled his gun to down it. He was able to pick it off with only two shots, while the rest of us were able to take care of the incoming zeds, but still, it was an unwelcome surprise so early in the game.
Having cleaned out that group, we recomposed ourselves and moved forward again toward the square itself. Some of the population at the center of the square had started moving our way, which was something we would have to change, but there were another dozen or so zeds still to take care of on this sweep, and we needed to get through those first.
This group was much more dense than the last, and we would have been risking too much to try and use melee weapons here. It just wasn't worth the risk of being grabbed. We all pulled out our pistols, and took up positions a good deal away form the group. I have to say, I consider myself lucky to be with the group of survivors I'm with at times like that. It's always encouraging to see each member of your team take one well-aimed shot and down a zed. Apparently we were all on our game today, and we took out this group with only a few misses between us.
Now it was time to make sure the main grouping of zeds in the center of the square stayed where we wanted them.
- B
We gathered everyone up and checked all of our supplies. We'd be leaving Crista on the roof during this run, working our way back to her. This is one of the only times we ever leave any one member of the group by themselves, but with no way for the zeds to get to her on the roof, it's still relatively safe. In these sorts of cleaning operations, we need all the strength we can get. This sweep was designed to start with the farthest inbound groups of zeds, and slowly clean our way back to Washington square. This first sweep is always the most dangerous, because you have no clean ground to work from.
In Boston, the closer you get to downtown, the larger the zed population centers become. This makes the decision of where to start when cleaning out an area pretty easy. By starting closest to downtown while we're still fresh and focused, we'll be more basically careful about the noise we make, and hopefully draw less attention. Also, once we finish cleaning this area up, we can then keep our eye on it during the remainder of the operation, and clean up any zeds that may wander in.
With Alec and Brian accompanying us this time, we set off on the outbound lanes of Beacon street again, and dropped down to the inbound lanes once we had passed the main concentration of zeds. The first group we ran into were 5 zeds wandering aimlessly across the tracks. We pulled our melee weapons and made quick work of the group, with Ian doubling up to grab the extra kill. We got them all before any of them could get off a moan, which we were quite thankful for.
The next group to take care of was much larger, and a bit closer in to the square itself. This group probably had between 25 and 30 zeds in it, and was pretty well spread out over the inbound lanes and T tracks. This kind of grouping requires much more care. There's no way you can take care of them all without at least some of them having enough time to realize you're there and start moaning. Add in the potential stumbling block of fighting zeds on top of train tracks, and you could have a pretty nasty mess on your hand fairly quickly.
You best weapon here is a clear head. You have to be methodical and deliberate. You have to be careful not to get put in a position you don't want to be in, and never engage more targets than you know you can handle. You also don't want to get separated from any of the other survivors your with. You have to engage groups of this size as a crew, sweeping from one side of it to the other, and never letting the zeds surround you.
We all checked out pistols, making sure they were fully loaded and the safeties were off. We try to go as long as possible without having to use firearms, so as not to draw too much attention, but sometimes you really need them. This time we only got through about 10 of the zeds before anyone had to draw.
We had made it through the first handful of zeds before any of the other ones caught on to us and started moaning. As they all turned their attention to us, we stepped up to take care of the next closest handful. It was then that Alec noticed one careening down the hill towards us, and pulled his gun to down it. He was able to pick it off with only two shots, while the rest of us were able to take care of the incoming zeds, but still, it was an unwelcome surprise so early in the game.
Having cleaned out that group, we recomposed ourselves and moved forward again toward the square itself. Some of the population at the center of the square had started moving our way, which was something we would have to change, but there were another dozen or so zeds still to take care of on this sweep, and we needed to get through those first.
This group was much more dense than the last, and we would have been risking too much to try and use melee weapons here. It just wasn't worth the risk of being grabbed. We all pulled out our pistols, and took up positions a good deal away form the group. I have to say, I consider myself lucky to be with the group of survivors I'm with at times like that. It's always encouraging to see each member of your team take one well-aimed shot and down a zed. Apparently we were all on our game today, and we took out this group with only a few misses between us.
Now it was time to make sure the main grouping of zeds in the center of the square stayed where we wanted them.
- B
Wednesday
Don't worry, we aren't dead!
I know it's been almost 4 months since our last post, and those few survivors out there who read this probably thought we died, but fear not, we're still here. The cause of our disappearance was a loss of signal. Shortly after Brandon's last post our signal went dead for no discernible reason. We established that it was simply the Satellite Internet relay we had tapped into going down (due to heavy infrastructure damage it would seem), and after doing a little reconnaissance and research decided that if we built a stronger antenna, we'd be able to pick up the next relay down the line. It took us 2 months to scrap together the right parts and figure out how to amplify the signal and link us back into the web.
About 3 days after we got all of this working and where in the final stages of testing it for reliability and power usage, a storm rolled in and zapped the new antenna. Luckily we had scrounged up quite a bit of extra material, and it only took us another week to fix it and get it back up again. This post marks our official return to the web, as well as the official final test of the network. Sorry it took us so long, but as you know, Survival > Internet Access, so we had to put the project on a hold for a few days in there to scout for food and whatnot. You'll be happy to know we also found another survivor cell north of us in Watertown, and I'll relate that story in another post soon.
As it stands, it appears that our signal is steady and strong, and we'll be tweaking with the power flow a little bit, as it requires a little bit more juice, but all in all it seems that we were successful and looking forward to keeping the information flowing again. Good luck to all of you out there able to read this, and even more luck to those who can't. And remember: Aim for the head.
Oh yes! Brandon will also be continuing his previous story soon, he's written most of it down on paper in his free time and will be updating you on what happened by next week. So keep your eyes peeled.
Until then, I'm signing off.
~Ian
(Recap) 225 - A Satisfying Crunch
We now resume our previously interrupted story.
We left just before dawn. Whenever we go on excursions like this, we go completely on foot. It's easier to move through and not draw a lot of attention running without a vehicle, but it does limit your escape options. With this in mind we've scouted the area for potentially useful vehicles should we need to make a run for it. We hold the same perspective on ow we fight on these missions. In the midst of a large group of zeds, firearms can mean the difference between walking out and getting swarmed. Most of the time though, especially when dealing with smaller groups, we stick to melee weapons. This way we can keep our profile low and run our scouts without the zeds interfering too much.
We swept down Washington Street, making our way methodically towards Washington Square. Ian was out in front, scouting for the first groups, and Alec had elected to take rear guard. That was a lesson we learned quickly. You never know what might pop out behind you. The rest of us were concetrating on moving as quietly as possible so as not to attract undue attention from any unseen swarms or stragglers. We cleared the last turn in the road before Washington Square, and Ian signaled for us to stop as he crept forward to get a better look at the situation.
He came back a short while later and let us know there were about 20 zeds milling around at the end of the street. They seemed to have congregated over either a fallen zed, or a yet to reanimate corpse. They were wandering aimlessly, seeiming disinterrested in the fallen zed/corpse, but with no other inclination or prey to draw them away from it, that's where they would stay.
This is a tricky situation. It's a big enough group that guns might be worth the risk, but it's also the very beginning of our mission. If we blow this and draw too much attention to ourselves, we might lose our grip on the situation. We do have silencers, which helps to make the choice easier, but it's still a risk. All things considered, we decided to risk having the best shots hang back and pick a few off. The rest of the group would then wind their way up to work on the remaining zeds hand to hand. Once the group was engaged in close combat, the shooters would run forward and help the rest of group pick off the last few.
Ian and I were elected to hang back and start taking shots. I was ok with this, as I tend to prefer to stay out of melee, but Ian seemed a little crestfallen. He's always been more of the charge in and have some fun type. When the rest of the group had started their move forward, we started picking off the closer targets, drawing the attention of the rest of the group and causing them to condense a bit. We were able to drop about 6 of them before the rest of the group got close enough to engage.
Once I saw Brian take a swing with his machete, I holstered my gun, and began my move forward. I heard Ian let off another shot before he did the same. I hefted the hammer (I've grown quite fond of it recently) in preparation for meeting the zeds head on. The rest of the crew had managed to dispatch about 8 more zeds before we got there, so I adjusted my course slightly to crush in the head of one of the few remained standing.
Oh man, it was a satisfying crunch.
With this patch of zeds cleared, we moved to set up a base of operations for clearing out the rest of the square. In the time before "Z-Day" this had been a great little pizza shop. Now it was gutted and abandoned, but the large windows and arrangement of exits made it perfect to keep a lookout and to embark from while we cleaned out this half of the Square.
It's a good gauge of your progress and your current situation to set up a central point to work from. This way, you can monitor the activity and how it's being drawn. We hoped that by the time we noticed a steady migration of activity to this point, we'd have cleaned out a good bit of the Square. Then, we could break down shop here, and start moving through and cleaning out the rest of the square, always moving towards our planned exit.
We put Crista up on the roof to act as our eyes, and let Alec and Brian take duty at the windows, picking off anything that got too close for comfort. Ian and I decided to take the first swing out of the back of the building, and down Beacon St. towards the city proper. We were mostly scouting for concentrations, but were going to take out any smaller groups we ran across.
Beacon St., inbound from Washington Square, splits so that the outbound lanes run up on a hill. From here you can look down on the inbound lanes and the T tracks. The added benefits of this viewpoint, and the fact that it has traditionally been clearer, meant this was our chosen path. It wasn't long until we were able to suss out how the concentrations on the inbound lanes and T tracks were moving. Thankfully, we only had to take out a few small groups in the process. It was nothing overly special. A few zeds caught wandering here or there, maybe chasing a squirrel or bird. Nothing to worry about. We got the the edge of the main zed concentration and hustled back to report our findings.
So far, so good, and soon it would be time to make out first push in to really reclaiming the square.
We left just before dawn. Whenever we go on excursions like this, we go completely on foot. It's easier to move through and not draw a lot of attention running without a vehicle, but it does limit your escape options. With this in mind we've scouted the area for potentially useful vehicles should we need to make a run for it. We hold the same perspective on ow we fight on these missions. In the midst of a large group of zeds, firearms can mean the difference between walking out and getting swarmed. Most of the time though, especially when dealing with smaller groups, we stick to melee weapons. This way we can keep our profile low and run our scouts without the zeds interfering too much.
We swept down Washington Street, making our way methodically towards Washington Square. Ian was out in front, scouting for the first groups, and Alec had elected to take rear guard. That was a lesson we learned quickly. You never know what might pop out behind you. The rest of us were concetrating on moving as quietly as possible so as not to attract undue attention from any unseen swarms or stragglers. We cleared the last turn in the road before Washington Square, and Ian signaled for us to stop as he crept forward to get a better look at the situation.
He came back a short while later and let us know there were about 20 zeds milling around at the end of the street. They seemed to have congregated over either a fallen zed, or a yet to reanimate corpse. They were wandering aimlessly, seeiming disinterrested in the fallen zed/corpse, but with no other inclination or prey to draw them away from it, that's where they would stay.
This is a tricky situation. It's a big enough group that guns might be worth the risk, but it's also the very beginning of our mission. If we blow this and draw too much attention to ourselves, we might lose our grip on the situation. We do have silencers, which helps to make the choice easier, but it's still a risk. All things considered, we decided to risk having the best shots hang back and pick a few off. The rest of the group would then wind their way up to work on the remaining zeds hand to hand. Once the group was engaged in close combat, the shooters would run forward and help the rest of group pick off the last few.
Ian and I were elected to hang back and start taking shots. I was ok with this, as I tend to prefer to stay out of melee, but Ian seemed a little crestfallen. He's always been more of the charge in and have some fun type. When the rest of the group had started their move forward, we started picking off the closer targets, drawing the attention of the rest of the group and causing them to condense a bit. We were able to drop about 6 of them before the rest of the group got close enough to engage.
Once I saw Brian take a swing with his machete, I holstered my gun, and began my move forward. I heard Ian let off another shot before he did the same. I hefted the hammer (I've grown quite fond of it recently) in preparation for meeting the zeds head on. The rest of the crew had managed to dispatch about 8 more zeds before we got there, so I adjusted my course slightly to crush in the head of one of the few remained standing.
Oh man, it was a satisfying crunch.
With this patch of zeds cleared, we moved to set up a base of operations for clearing out the rest of the square. In the time before "Z-Day" this had been a great little pizza shop. Now it was gutted and abandoned, but the large windows and arrangement of exits made it perfect to keep a lookout and to embark from while we cleaned out this half of the Square.
It's a good gauge of your progress and your current situation to set up a central point to work from. This way, you can monitor the activity and how it's being drawn. We hoped that by the time we noticed a steady migration of activity to this point, we'd have cleaned out a good bit of the Square. Then, we could break down shop here, and start moving through and cleaning out the rest of the square, always moving towards our planned exit.
We put Crista up on the roof to act as our eyes, and let Alec and Brian take duty at the windows, picking off anything that got too close for comfort. Ian and I decided to take the first swing out of the back of the building, and down Beacon St. towards the city proper. We were mostly scouting for concentrations, but were going to take out any smaller groups we ran across.
Beacon St., inbound from Washington Square, splits so that the outbound lanes run up on a hill. From here you can look down on the inbound lanes and the T tracks. The added benefits of this viewpoint, and the fact that it has traditionally been clearer, meant this was our chosen path. It wasn't long until we were able to suss out how the concentrations on the inbound lanes and T tracks were moving. Thankfully, we only had to take out a few small groups in the process. It was nothing overly special. A few zeds caught wandering here or there, maybe chasing a squirrel or bird. Nothing to worry about. We got the the edge of the main zed concentration and hustled back to report our findings.
So far, so good, and soon it would be time to make out first push in to really reclaiming the square.
Tuesday
A Brief Delay
Apologies, but we've been having some power problems recently. We've been able to maintain enough juice to keep the connection up, but not to run the computers we usually post with. Our time and energy has been spent resolving this issue. We're most of the way there, but we've got a few kinks to work out. We'll be back to finish that story and catch you up soon.
- B
- B
Wednesday
(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
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
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