1742

Scavengers

The outside is cold, a litle cloud cover and the moon is no where to be seen, suits me. I look around the entrance to the steps, rubble in the immediate area further out i can see the relatively clear path that must be the road, then more rubble that looks like shops. Our direction is south, the other groups are headed out to scout whats left of the main road and shops according to Tim we're a few meters from King Street, which also had shops and leads directly south from here. Tim seems pretty able, i tried giving him my sidearm but he's having none of it, said he saw a shotgun blast have no affect.

I signal for him to move up to me. We move across the road quickly going over some debris moving towards the clearer area to our right. A sign still standing in the rubble says King Street, spot on Tim. With all the buildings around here levelled i can see over most of the rubble for quite a distance, the occasional wall still half standing blocking certain areas. Crouching we start down King Street. Couple of buildings in i spot a sign with most of it destroyed but enough to know that it was a pharmacy, worth a look i suppose, the roofs caved in there is not much visible but maybe we'll get lucky.  I signal to Tim for him to go look then point to myself and point down the road. I've spotted some blue panelling in the road ahead, which must mean there was a whsmith down there, maybe thers bottled water.

I slowly approach the sign looking to my right and left to see where it came from, looks like left, theres more panelling. Approaching the rubble i can see empty bottles that look like they've been melted. Moving further in kicking out some of the loose material the rubble shifts and i can see the remains of a counter. Damn whatever did this was thorough. Looking aroung to get my bearings i'm about half way in, nothing so far if they follow basic layouts the stock is at the back of the store or upstairs, since there is no upstairs anymore only one place to check. Nothing here, it's like it was vaporised.

Moving back out to the street i see Tim making his way down towards me, he looks up shaking his head. Damn it, I signal for him to follow me. He nods and i turn to my left and continue on.

What seems like the end of the street approaches, the buildings are thinning out and there a small patch of grass. I signal Tim to pause over where the last of the cover is before we go across this open area.

"Tim, wheres best to head, that road there is directly south and looks like it leads out of the town." I point straight across the open grass to a road.

"That does go out of the town and it has trees either side of the road."

"That's where we're headed from what i've seen so far theres nothing left here."

Tim nods and we move across the grass and down the road hugging the trees. We move past houses in the same condition as the shops behind us, they're thinning out though and the gaps are starting to get larger, still through the trees i can see the remains, nothing much left that warrants looking further.

Walking further down the road the trees are becomming thicker, the houses are further removed from the road and have little access lanes to get to them. Was that ....

I signal to Tim to stop, "That house, see it in the trees?"

"Yes. What about it?" he said peering through the trees.

"It's intact, we need to check it out." 

"OK, I'm following you remember." 

Getting up and moving down the short lane towards the house, my heads on a swivel. Hehehe where the hell did they come up with that one it's got to be one of the weirdest sayings there is. Shit, spinning to the sound of the twig snapping i can just make out the shape of a fox darting across the front lawn, startled. Micahel, get your head in it dumbass, time for crap later. Turning back to face the house and moving along the hedge, nothing is moving, no light sources the place looks deserted.

Moving down the side of the house towards the back garden, straining to listen for any sound other than the very slight crunching our walking is making. Nothing not a peep. Rounding the corner, the garden is clear and the patio doors are open, the curtains swaying slightly in the breeze. 

Entering via the patio doors, scanning the room, it's quite an odd mix, old style sofa and chairs, old coffee table, new plasma flat screen, new stereo and a collection of toys. Moving into the hall and across into the next room, dining area big table seating eight. Back out and down to the next doorway, kitchen, i signal to Tim to check it. I move onto the archway where i can see the living room, clear. Just off to the side i spot the stairs, by the front door and move towards them. Taking them one at a time, slowly pointing my sidearm up, i switched to it, the rifles just too long for this. Cresting the stairs i see what looks to be a childs bedroom, toys all over the floor but no one there. Moving along the landing checking each room in turn, another childs bedroom, master bedroom and bathroom, all deserted. Clothes sprawled across the bed, on the floor and othr personal items just thrown here and there. They left in a hurry.

I make my way back down to Tim. He's gone through the cupboards and found tinned food but no water. A house like this must have a larder or stoage area of some kind. I saw a garage when we approached the house so i head out the front door and to the closed garage door. It doesn't take long to pop the lock and swing it open. No vehicle but, bingo, water and food storage area. empty packaging too looks like they loaded what they could and left the rest. Thank God i decided to take the bergen mostly empty. Emma has the rest stashed in the cave. I go back to the kitchen, Tim has found carrier bags and has loaded up the tinned food so we both head back to the garage, Load up the bergen with as much as I can and loading up the wheelie luggage that was stored here too we got the lot. It's heavy but at least it'll help us with supplies for a bit.

On the way back to the cave, it's starting to get light, we can see smoke rising from different directions from the towns around us in the distance. The devastation becomes a bit more evident in the twilight. It's hard going over the rubble but we make it back in good time. Entering the cave to find the other groups are already back, with mixed success. We now have a few blankets, at least enough for one each, a stash of canned food and now bottled water. All in all a pretty good haul.

No one has found any shelter we could use and from their accounts of where they searched we've covered roughly a 3 mile area. No one saw any survivors, which is worrying but to be expected, we just need to find out where they went too. I've sorted out watches of the entrance, Tim's taken the first watch with Stacey, in 3 hours they'll call the next pair then it's me and Emma. Time to get some sleep, Emma is sitting watching Sarah, Sarah is playing on the floor with Bear Bear and a few of the other toys that Emma could carry for her. Sitting next to Emma as i drift off I can't help wondering what is going to happen next, we need to find a better base. ....