The Survible

Survival Guide Entry #3

The Fatherland.

That's what my friends and I used to jokingly call home improvement stores and garden centers. 

They're a surprisingly overlooked place for a lot of people, especially garden centers. But garden centers are where it's at. That and nurseries. 

I'm pretty lucky, my parents were big into gardening, so I knew what sort of food you could get from a well-maintained flower bed. I also enjoyed gardening, and getting my hands dirty. I drifted away from that when I got older, because it was cooler to hang out with your friends at the mall or whatever...I wish I'd spent less time doing that. Oh well. Now it's gone forever.

Garden centers are prime areas to grab anything that isn't nailed down. You'll need seeds, and plants, if you're gonna survive. No more imports, no more supermarkets. Dirt, fertilizer, tools, it's all there. Rain collection barrels too. It all helps, and you'll need as much as you can. DIY stores are awesome for these too, but are more picked over sometimes cause people want the power tools and stuff. It's hard to shake those priorities of what's valuable. 

GC's (there's only so many times I can write 'garden centers' before I feel like a weird green thumb version of The Shining) also sometimes have little pop up shelters, which are always nice. They're sturdier than tents, but less mobile. Eventually, you'll want something permanent I guess (maybe you won't! I did) and the raw building supplies at a DIY are likely to mostly still be there.

Any time I find a vehicle that still has fuel I always go straight to the nearest DIY or garden place and load it up with stuff.

Oh yeah, that reminds me...cars. I never thought about cars before. Like when I watched stuff like Mad Max or whatever, they still always had cars and motorcycles and stuff. But that's just crap, it turns out. The fuel's gone. No one's pumping oil anymore, and the gas stations have all been raided already. Half of them are gang hideouts now. So when the gas is gone, it's gone. 

I've thought about a horse, but they're skittish, hungry, big, and it just seems like a lot. I have a mountain bike, though, and that's alright. It's no good for big loads but I can put a lot on it and push it back and forth when I'm not riding it.

So yeah, no vehicles. Don't even bother. I only ever use them for grabbing big stuff I've marked on my map and hauling it back to my hideout.

I guess that's the next thing to mention...maps. I got the idea when I saw that other girl with one, and turns out they're an amazing idea. One in your hideout, and one in your pocket.