By how my luck has played out yesterday, least I missed out on the Halloween night everyone was throwing inside the hotel. Sometimes I love/hate my brain, but from what the hell I was thinking yesterday morning, we're on non-speaking terms for awhile. Since the usuals for the reconnaissance team wanted to spend the day decorating the hotel for the holiday, I decided to jump in since this would be the first time I'd left the hotel grounds since day one.
I woke up at a painful 5am seminar with three other volunteers being drilled on what to expect and what to do if the unexpected occurs (and non surprisingly it occurs more than we all imagined) After a two hour training session to make sure that if we somehow survive this reconnaissance mission, we would probably be put on-call if someone bit the dust or called off. Being fitted with some padding and a bulletproof vest and helmet, we looked like a bonafied swat team ready to whoop ass. We got loaded into the metal bank trucks that were outfitted to carry weapons, supplies we'd fine, and people. The security controlling our group got us huddled inside as quickly as they yelled at us.
Once inside they shut the doors and got into the cab to start up. The roar in the engine bellowed out loud enough to rile up the roaming undead by the fences. Hearing the commotion, I wasn't sure if we were even going to get off the grounds. I tended not to try and look out of the back windows like some of the other volunteers did as in a few minutes I started to feel consistent turbulence just go through the truck hard. I tried to grip on my seat and not wobble as violently, but one hell of a ram through probably five corpses sent my head ramming into the edge of the metal seat opposite me. Luckily the helmet helped or else there would have been bait for them to use to occupy the zombies running in their way.
It felt like hours as we only traveled some miles from the hotel and mainly through alley ways to bypass the congested streets.
Once we finally stopped, we waited for the team leaders to unlock the doors and rush us into a building they hoped wouldn't be too filled up with the damn things. The doors opening wide opening they pulled at us to run into the grocery store through the broken glass doors. Rushing inside in an instant, one of them got back into the cab to park the truck behind the store. Once everyone was accounted for inside, we blocked up the broken doors with metal shopping carts and items we wouldn't take.
Spending a good hour in the store, we took some carts and started moving around and inspecting what we should take and what was still good. Half of the perishables like meat and frozen items were either gone or had gone bad. What was mainly left in the store was pet food and canned soup and vegetables which was gold to us. There were still plenty of candy bars as well as medical and other remedial supplies. Once we were done at this store, we were soon forced to move the carts back into the truck and rush back inside. It was stated that they had planned for two more places that looked promising.
The second place ended up getting passed since it had been overrun, the third place would actually be on the outskirts of the city so it took us half a day to get through more back roads as well as two gas stops to fill and stock. It was excruciating and tiring.
Finally making it to the third stop, we repeated our first stop routine and ran into another grocery shop to look for anything good. Taking another set of carts we paroled the place. Finding plenty of more stuff than the last place, we were worried on having to take two trips. We were soon informed by one of the main security that there was a delivery truck with the keys still in the cab. Making sure there was nothing in the back, we stocked all of our stuff inside and collected back into the bank truck with three being left to maintain the other truck.
With two vehicles and a wealth of supplies now in our grasp, we decided to gun back towards the hotel since it would be five pm by the time we'd get back through our route. Since we had the bigger delivery truck with us now, it seemed we would have to spend time finding ways that the truck could fit through but most alleyways were just too narrow. We decided to try and make our luck through one of the bigger roads.
Finding one not as densely crowded, the drivers decided to stomp full speed to knock over what was in front of us. Feeling the vehicle just rumble through the debris on the road, we felt home free... but in an instant, we heard a large clang right above us. We thought a corpse might have landed on top of us from one of the buildings, but suddenly we felt getting pelted with things around us. One of us got up to see what was going on outside.
Looking up above, there seemed to be a small group of people throwing empty glass bottles at us. Waving their arms to try and get us to stop, we just kept driving away as their pleas look to grow down with defeat. It wasn't soon till we started getting bombarded with flaming Molotov's. Out of nowhere, an army of bikers started driving beside us just banging on the truck's walls just spouting obscenities.
We kept going full speed as they did too, probably hoping to find out where we're holding up. One bike drove behind us and in front of the delivery truck. The passenger behind him loaded up their revolver and tried to shoot at our rear window. Being gorilla glass, it had no effect. The delivery truck decided to speed up and ram them right behind us. Pressing up against our back doors for a minute, I only saw their bewildered faces for a minute before they got sucked under the delivery truck's bumper and the bike being tossed in front of another.
Seeing what had happen to one of theirs, they all quickly backed off and drove the other way to regroup. We didn't know who they exactly were, but we did know that they either wanted to join us, or take what we got.
Making sure no one else was following us, we continued on by heading into a street that was much more dense than we were on, but it headed directly towards our base. Once we were clear, the security leaders reported our new biker friends as possible threats and/or allies. The rest of us just unloaded supplies and took what we earned. I got back to my room and my mates just quickly started raiding the box I had laid on the table. I plopped on the couch bed just looking at the lamp. My legs were sore and my brain was pounding badly. Everyone was getting ready for the Halloween party while I just slept to rest for the next day...
PS: A lovely photo I took with Sara's camera during our trip. Sad, who knew journalism would have actually been the death of him...I woke up at a painful 5am seminar with three other volunteers being drilled on what to expect and what to do if the unexpected occurs (and non surprisingly it occurs more than we all imagined) After a two hour training session to make sure that if we somehow survive this reconnaissance mission, we would probably be put on-call if someone bit the dust or called off. Being fitted with some padding and a bulletproof vest and helmet, we looked like a bonafied swat team ready to whoop ass. We got loaded into the metal bank trucks that were outfitted to carry weapons, supplies we'd fine, and people. The security controlling our group got us huddled inside as quickly as they yelled at us.
Once inside they shut the doors and got into the cab to start up. The roar in the engine bellowed out loud enough to rile up the roaming undead by the fences. Hearing the commotion, I wasn't sure if we were even going to get off the grounds. I tended not to try and look out of the back windows like some of the other volunteers did as in a few minutes I started to feel consistent turbulence just go through the truck hard. I tried to grip on my seat and not wobble as violently, but one hell of a ram through probably five corpses sent my head ramming into the edge of the metal seat opposite me. Luckily the helmet helped or else there would have been bait for them to use to occupy the zombies running in their way.
It felt like hours as we only traveled some miles from the hotel and mainly through alley ways to bypass the congested streets.
Once we finally stopped, we waited for the team leaders to unlock the doors and rush us into a building they hoped wouldn't be too filled up with the damn things. The doors opening wide opening they pulled at us to run into the grocery store through the broken glass doors. Rushing inside in an instant, one of them got back into the cab to park the truck behind the store. Once everyone was accounted for inside, we blocked up the broken doors with metal shopping carts and items we wouldn't take.
Spending a good hour in the store, we took some carts and started moving around and inspecting what we should take and what was still good. Half of the perishables like meat and frozen items were either gone or had gone bad. What was mainly left in the store was pet food and canned soup and vegetables which was gold to us. There were still plenty of candy bars as well as medical and other remedial supplies. Once we were done at this store, we were soon forced to move the carts back into the truck and rush back inside. It was stated that they had planned for two more places that looked promising.
The second place ended up getting passed since it had been overrun, the third place would actually be on the outskirts of the city so it took us half a day to get through more back roads as well as two gas stops to fill and stock. It was excruciating and tiring.
Finally making it to the third stop, we repeated our first stop routine and ran into another grocery shop to look for anything good. Taking another set of carts we paroled the place. Finding plenty of more stuff than the last place, we were worried on having to take two trips. We were soon informed by one of the main security that there was a delivery truck with the keys still in the cab. Making sure there was nothing in the back, we stocked all of our stuff inside and collected back into the bank truck with three being left to maintain the other truck.
With two vehicles and a wealth of supplies now in our grasp, we decided to gun back towards the hotel since it would be five pm by the time we'd get back through our route. Since we had the bigger delivery truck with us now, it seemed we would have to spend time finding ways that the truck could fit through but most alleyways were just too narrow. We decided to try and make our luck through one of the bigger roads.
Finding one not as densely crowded, the drivers decided to stomp full speed to knock over what was in front of us. Feeling the vehicle just rumble through the debris on the road, we felt home free... but in an instant, we heard a large clang right above us. We thought a corpse might have landed on top of us from one of the buildings, but suddenly we felt getting pelted with things around us. One of us got up to see what was going on outside.
Looking up above, there seemed to be a small group of people throwing empty glass bottles at us. Waving their arms to try and get us to stop, we just kept driving away as their pleas look to grow down with defeat. It wasn't soon till we started getting bombarded with flaming Molotov's. Out of nowhere, an army of bikers started driving beside us just banging on the truck's walls just spouting obscenities.
We kept going full speed as they did too, probably hoping to find out where we're holding up. One bike drove behind us and in front of the delivery truck. The passenger behind him loaded up their revolver and tried to shoot at our rear window. Being gorilla glass, it had no effect. The delivery truck decided to speed up and ram them right behind us. Pressing up against our back doors for a minute, I only saw their bewildered faces for a minute before they got sucked under the delivery truck's bumper and the bike being tossed in front of another.
Seeing what had happen to one of theirs, they all quickly backed off and drove the other way to regroup. We didn't know who they exactly were, but we did know that they either wanted to join us, or take what we got.
Making sure no one else was following us, we continued on by heading into a street that was much more dense than we were on, but it headed directly towards our base. Once we were clear, the security leaders reported our new biker friends as possible threats and/or allies. The rest of us just unloaded supplies and took what we earned. I got back to my room and my mates just quickly started raiding the box I had laid on the table. I plopped on the couch bed just looking at the lamp. My legs were sore and my brain was pounding badly. Everyone was getting ready for the Halloween party while I just slept to rest for the next day...
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