My Zombie Shelter (open to everyone)

[gearhead73]

"That's where you are wrong Pandora. We are not the monsters. You had the opportunity to make things easier right here, right now, and you didn't. YOU, made a choice, you chose not take the easy way out. You chose...to put up with my dumb ass, no matter how hard it may be."
I took my hand and placed them on top of hers at my face.
"You didn't kill your little girl, the walkers did. You killed a walker, plain and simple, and you did it because if you hadn't, it would have killed you. Me, that's different. I killed some asshole that was hiding in his apartment, scared and trying to survive. I did it without pause, without feeling, like it was nothing."
I dropped my hands and pulled away from her. I bent over and picked up my pistol returning it to my holster.
"The only one of us like the walkers is me. I did what I did with no regard for life. I acted on pure primal instinct. I guess in that sense, I am worse. They kill for food, I killed to try and make myself feel better."
I turned and walked back to the wall looking out over the surrounding fields.
"I wouldn't trust me either."

 

[prettyserpentine]

I didn't know what to say. I don't think there were any words to console him. It was perfectly natural to seek retribution for what happened to his wife and son. I wouldn't blame him for it, not now. I walked up behind him and leaned my cheek against the middle of his back, between his shoulders, and I rested a hand on each shoulder blade.

"I want to trust you."

 

[gearhead73]

"Pan, look, I don't expect us to just fall for each other instantly, and ride off into the sunset. I know things take time, I mean shit, what else do we have but time?"
I turned slowly letting her hands slide around me to rest on my chest.
"I'm just asking that you try. You have nothing to fear from me. I talk a lot of shit, and I am rough around the edges, but I know who I am and what I am. I'm not trying to lull you into a false sense of security. I don't have some long-term strategy for lure you in and then betray you when you are at your weakest. I am just some peckerwood with too many guns that likes to run his mouth."

 

[prettyserpentine]

"You do talk a lot of shit," I agreed, looking up at him, my hands resting lightly on his chest. "But I'm pretty sure Mike is ex-services so I'm going to learn from him, and who knows. Maybe I'll kill you first."

A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I looked up at him, hoping he would at least smile back. "Besides, maybe you'll assault some other hot piece of ass out in the wilderness. It seems to be your go-to move on women. I suppose I should consider it mild. If you had actually shot me we might be having sex right now." I chuckled sardonically, and reached up to brush a wisp of hair off his forehead.

 

[gearhead73]

I was happy to hear the threats and insults starting to come back.
"Well then I only have three things to say. First, learn all you can sweetheart, I look forward to putting you to the test when you feel you are ready."
A smile was starting to grow on my lips and I started moving forward trying to get into her personal space.
"Second, you can count on me admiring, following, backing up, staring at and most likely dreaming about that hot piece known as your ass from now on, but I have no plans on assaulting it...unless you're into that."
My smile had to be a mile wide by now. I could hear how the shit that was coming out of my mouth sounded and somewhere deep inside a pert of me cringed. However right here, right now, in the top of a guard tower after everything we knew and loved had ended, this was Willie Shakespeare stuff. I put my hand back on my pistol.
"And three, I'm locked and loaded. I promise, it'll only be a flesh wound. You say the word and I'll do the rest."

 

[prettyserpentine]

I had managed to keep a straight face through the first and second points, but when he said "locked and loaded" and "flesh wound" I burst into peals of laughter. I couldn't help it. I laughed so hard tears started rolling down my cheeks and I was waving my hands for air.

"Oh ... My god. After all the books I've read..." I covered my mouth with my hands and looked at him, my face crimson. The laughs still spilling from my lips. I hadn't laughed in forever. It sounded strange.

 

[gearhead73]

I couldn't help but join in her laughter. Things had been so serious and heavy that even it I had meant any of it, it didn't matter because her laughter told me that things were ok. It was good to see her, red faced and gasping for air. It was as if she were shedding weeks of emotional burden and letting the woman underneath shine through. We continued laughing for a bit and after we started to settle I opened my arms asking for a hug.
"Are we good now?"

 

[prettyserpentine]

I wiped the tears of laughter off my face and put my arms around his waist, and my head came to rest on that part of his shoulder that just seems made for a woman's head.

"We're good. As long as you don't try and kill me again." I squeezed him a little. Closeness felt good. It felt nice. It had been so long since I'd been close to anybody, the last person was Joel. It felt like, I don't know, it made it better somehow, even just a little bit. My hands opened out on his back and I just held him and wondered if it helped him at all.

 

[AmenRa]

When Randy brought his maps in and laid them out with mine, I was thinking about some of the gear I wanted us to find. I had made a list in my head, and while we were looking over the maps we decided that heading towards the coast would be our best bet.

It seemed like Randy and I were on the same page. It had been that way since I first met him. This was a good thing, because if we thought alike, then we would be able to move and act as one. As a team.

Smaller stores would be more likely to have gear and stuff we needed. The larger stores would probably already be hit hard by scavengers like us. So, a trip to Lowe's or Wal Mart was out of the question.

I wanted to find a farm supply store, maybe a small-town feed and seed place. I was hoping to acquire a hand-crank siphon pump and a length of hose we could use to pull gasoline out of the tanks of gas stations. I also realized we'd probably need a good set of bolt cutters to open the tank lids. There might even be a set of those in the back area where Randy had already scouted some tools. We'd need gas containers, plastic ones, and at least a five gallon size.

I also wanted to find a place that sold propane barbeque grills. Not because we needed one, but because I wanted to find one that had electronic ignition. I wanted the battery operated igniter wire and element from it. I also wanted to find a hand pressurized yard sprayer (the kind you used to spray weeds and stuff) and several packages of moth balls. I had plans for all this, combined with some gasoline, to help fortify our defenses.

And, of course, we needed ammo and day-to-day stuff, too. I was wondering if there was any gasoline around here that was okay to use. We would need a vehicle to haul all of this back, and the Subaru was the only one around. It needed fuel. I suppose we could attempt to go out on horseback and take an extra horse or two to use as a cargo hauler. I suddenly got an image in my head of a scene from Planet of the Apes: a post-apocalyptic world where zombies rode horses and humans were corralled and eaten. "Get your filthy paws off me you damn, dirty zombie!".

"I should see if Pan can tell us any of the places she has been, then we can mark them too."

"Good idea," I agreed. "I'll be right here planning and plotting."

 

[gearhead73]

Pan moved into my arms and I closed mine around her being mindful of the injusry to her back. It felt so good to be this close to someone, and evn though there were distant pangs of guilt coming from holding another woman, I somehow resoned that Fiona would beok with this. She had alwayd looked after me and made sure I felt needed, and I couldn't help but belive that now looking over me, she and Ethan would approve. After a few short moments I let go of Pan and backed away.
"Right..., so now that we got things straight between us..." I swiveled my hips as if needing to adjust myself and shot her a mischeivious grin. "How about we head back down to the kitchen and help make a plan, together. We could use your input about where you may have already been so we can figure out where we can head to get some supplies."

 

[prettyserpentine]

I started to head down the steps ahead of Randy, and I felt a little more content. "I didn't keep maps. I just walked, I was heading for Canada." I waited at the bottom of the tower for him and then walked alongside him back to the house. "The last town I remember being in was Lewiston. That's where I got this." I gestured to my back. "A survivor. But she almost seemed like a zombie. I would think she had gone mad." We entered the kitchen, and both of us flanked Mike. I looked down at the maps. "Oh, there's already an X through Lewiston anyway. It was pretty badly torn up."

"Whereabouts are you guys thinking of heading?" I asked. "And when?”

 

[gearhead73]

"Well, as you can see by my map, I came from the southeast out of Boise. I stayed mostly in the forests and back roads after that. Some crazy shit goin on in that town. Walkers weren't the only things lookin to eat ya there. People had started turning on one another...nasty!"
I gave a bit of a shudder as I remembered watching through my scope as a family was ambushed and then taken down killed by three crazed men just before I made it to Walla Walla. I was about four hundreds yards out and had a stiff wind from my left. I missed the first shot, but managed to scratch two before they were on me. I washed the third's mouth out with the Kimber when he tried to take a bit out of me.
"I made it to here out of Walla Walla and this is as far west as I have been. I was thinking heading westward and see if we can find some small towns and neighborhoods. If Mike doesn't mind sacrificing the battery outo the Subaru, I can get usa truck going so we can haul more stuff back with us. A three-quarter or one ton truck should do it, anything bigger and we would move to slow and not be as nimble."

 

[prettyserpentine]

I nodded in silent agreement. "We should each try and get a truck of some sort. That way we have more exit opportunities if we ever get compromised here. We need to build up our defences too." I walked around the kitchen, thinking. "Tripwires, stuff like that to alert us to walkers. We have to think old school. It's not like we have Wikipedia anymore or Internet to teach us computer ways to do such things." I tapped my temple with my forefinger. "We have to think medieval about this stuff."

 

[gearhead73]

"Good thinkin..." I said nodding at Pan. "...but there are still lots of things that we can use that are still a bit new school. If we find and auto parts store, we can look for motorcycle and ATV batteries. Depending on the brand, they are stored dry, with the acid in a separate container so they can be stored indefinitely. A few of them and it's just a matter of finding UTVs or four wheelers and we have alternate transportation. The natural gas industry has exploded throughout the country, a lot of the trucks used to service the wells have seventy-five or hundred gallon tanks on the back, we could use on of them to carry fuel that we fund along the way."
I started to pace as Pan had, it always seemed to help me think.
"Out west here, there are a lot of save the earth Burkenstock wearin' hippies, so we might find small wind generators as well for power. We have the solar panels so between the two we should be good. Lighters, flashlights, batteries, are all common and may have been overlooked by the first wave of looters."
This was starting to sound promising. Just the work of survivng can keep one from going crazy by having a goal to achieve.
"Coms would be nice too, like a set of Talk A Bout's and such, they have a short range but would keep us in touch as we move. Fishing line, and a bow and arrows. It may seem unconventional, but a bow is accurate to fifty yard and silent, and the arows are reusable. Crossbows ar too hard to load on the fly, plus they are heavy to carry, but a nice Mathews compund, is deadly."
I was actually starting to look forward to scavenging, there were somany things that couldprove useful in the right hands.

 

[prettyserpentine]

"I'm pretty good with a bow and arrows. I used to teach the extra-curricular Archery club at school. Came first at the local Renaissance Faire three years running." I said this and immediately regretted it. I was face palming in my head, damning myself for the boasting.

"We should consider setting off in a couple of days or so. I mean, rest up, eat well and stuff before we go. We are pretty well defended here, so we should be okay at least a day or two. Maybe we could take a little scout out, see if the commotion last night attracted any more walkers, or more survivors. What do you guys think?"

 

[gearhead73]

Her admission of her archery skills caused me to raise an eyebrow with interest. I started having visions of he slaying the undead with a traditonal type bow and then switched it to a compound.
'A little Mossy Oak camo and a Team Mathews ball cap and she could be a redneck playboy bunny. Like Hunger Games, only hotter, and of age.' I thought.
"I'm up for it whenever. We might think about finding River in the mean time. She may have even more to add."

 

[prettyserpentine]

I nodded. "I'm sure she's wonderful with a sonic screwdriver." I smiled. "She strikes me as the kind of girl who will be found when she wants to be." I did worry about her though. I hadn't seen her around since last night.

I put my hand on Mike's shoulder. "I think I'll leave the logistical strategic planning to the General here. I'll be around, just tell me what you need me to do and I'm your girl." I stalked out of the kitchen and headed to the barn, picking up a bucket as I started pulling open the huge barn door. It didn't take me too long, I had more muscles than I used to. I put my hand over my eyes and tried to acclimatise myself to the dark again.

 

[gearhead73]

I watched as Pan left the room and then went back to my musings about the scavenger hunt. It wasn't until I made my third pass around the table that I noticed the tattoo on Mike's arm. I guess i should have seen it before, but honestly I am just not in the habit of looking at dudes. What strck me was the trident above three block stenciled numbers, 1-6-8.
'Holy shit!' I thought to myself, 'he's a SEAL.'
I had always had a reverance for guys that served. It didn't matter if you were in the band or a spec op warrior, if you voluteered to put you ass on the line for me, you had earned my respect.
I had seen Hell Week many times on the Military channel, but seeing an actual SEAL, here, in the kitchen was inspiring, and at the same time hugely intimidating. These guys had always been considered the elite of the elite in my book. Altough a lot of there training and operations were in secret, was was widely known was that SEALs handled their business. I remembered in particular a group of Somali pirates that learned that lesson first hand a few years ago. Four trained snipers firing simultaneous shots from four different vessels at individual tergets while underway, that is the stuff of legend. I am pretty hady with a rifle, but I am sure there is a good bit I can learn from him.
I decided, that finding River was important so we could find out what she knew of the area, so I decided to go look for her.
"I am gonna go see if I can find River. She may have intel to help us form a rock solid plan."
I started out of the door and turned back to Mike at the table.
"Hey, for what's worth man, thanks for your service. Now that things have gone to shit, it may not seem like it mattered, but it did. I am proud to be on your team man."

 

[prettyserpentine]

It kind of stank in the barn. I picked up a shovel and started to lift the dung from around the animals and loaded it into my bucket. It was pretty nasty, but didn't take very long. Basic common sense. I never really figured I'd ever be doing this at the end of the world. I carried the bucket outside and looked around. Randy was wandering around, he must be looking for something. I found a little spot around the side of the barn that I figured would be pretty good for a vegetable patch. Maybe on our recon mission I could get seeds if we visited a farm shop.

I thought about the layout of the vegetables as I was digging, turning the earth over in little mounds so I could bury the dung and fertilise the ground. I basically ended up burying it, it smelt so bad. Maybe this was something me and Kristi could do together. I put my hand on the top of the shovel and looked around. Where was she? I shoved the shovel into the ground and dusted off my hands.

The sun was rising high, I pottered around the barn, let the animals out to graze and brushed out the inside of where they had all been cloistered. Keeping active was good, I thought. I was enjoying it. Not worrying about looking over my shoulder all the time. It was therapeutic, I thought as I wandered around the place, swinging a piece of bamboo I'd found in the barn. I walked down to the lake and looked to see if there were any fish but it didn't look like it. I frowned. Still. I bet I could swim in there. A breeze stirred the water and I just wanted to throw myself into it and feel the cleansing water all over my skin.

I groaned a little.

 

[AnonymousSpecto]

(This is an added character, if you don't mind, I have been wanting to join in since for a long time naw.) I swear, for a while now I have been quite scared, yes quite scared indeed. Why? Because ever since then, when people started finding out the existence of these things, that is when the press snooped around. That is when they exposed us. I being a government agent would have had no problem masking my identity, if it wasn't for the press following me around the whole time, and now look, every time I go you find that everyone knows me and my name. I am being headhunted, when the news aired I tell ya all these people came and tried to kill me, now, survivors would give up their kill just to see me dead. Every one hates me and my colleagues, I don't even know if my buddies were killed yet, by those beast, or by those beastly people. One thing for sure, I have to stay hidden, this cave I am hiding in in this waterfall in yellow stone should be enough. Others shouldn't find me here, but one thing is bad, who knew Native Indians would know how to thrive again when the modern world went to hell, when all that shit started happening, the natives now become top dog in survival. Hell they even some how were able to raid and have control over our facilities! Who knows what they are getting now, and what they are doing. They say it is time to connect back to "Mother Earth", and to speak with our "Fathers from the Sky" again. Crazy retards, I have a lot to take care of, because up in Greenland, my bosses and higher ups are there, waiting for whoever, and I need to get back there, to give them what they need. I am heading out to the Washington/Canadian boarder, underground there is a facility no found yet, there I can meet SOMEONE at least to give me my team or at the least instructions. Hope fully no one recognizes me from the news, or I might get killed.

 

[AnonymousSpecto]

SHIT!!!!! Where the fuck is HE!!!!! I can't wait in this facility too long, it is built in caverns underground but who knows when someone might find its entrance just 2 and 1/2 miles underground! The entrance to the catacombs which leads to the entrance to the facility is up on the surface, under a huge boulder near a mountain, actually, I think it's near a fort purchased around the Washington/Canadian boarder. DAMN!!! If any survivors where to find this place they won't only raid it, but kill the gov agents left here after what we've done, creating those things, everyone want us dead, I am more worried about Jacob though. He was the side leader of the team. The team hasn't showed up yet, they must be dead most of em since they where all over the news when the testing was discovered, but Jacob is always one to attract good luck, and also extremely stealthy, he is trained in many arts, he can dodge any bullet and projectile almost ANY object hard enough to snap a gun out of anyone hands 20 feet away, plus he knows his way around a gun when it is in his hands, has skill man, even for an agent. I hope no ones has found him yet and tried to kill him what with his affiliation with the testing done, it being all over the news and all. Me, well the news just said my name, Jerome Sickamore, and that I am an informant plus possible scientist of the incident, I am, I hope i don't get hunted for a cure or immunity by any survivors or any thing else gets me. Please, anyone up there do NOT find the entrance, you might just also let in a hoard of zombies too!!!!!!!

 

[gearhead73]

I couldn't find River. The place wasn't that big, but there had been others that had disappeared, so anything was possible. On my way back toward the barn and saw Pan digging in the dirt. My first thought was that she was preparing place to hide my body when she finally had enough of my shit, but as I watched, it seemed more likely that she was preparing dirt for a garden. I guess in all of my mental preparations, I had forgotten to think about the long term. Fresh vegetables would prove necessary after we had gathered everything within a days drive from here. I made a mental note that we should get some jars, lids and rings so we could can them after we harvest them. Being able to store food like that would hold us through the long northern winters which would be here before we knew it.
As I neared Pan standing near the lake near the southern edge of the property, thoughts of her in a two piece flashed through my mind and I shook them away. This getting close thing was starting to affect me in way I hadn't anticipated.
I was going to scare her but then I noticed the bamboo rod she had in her hand. She had a thing for bats as it was so I thought maybe I should announce my arrival.
"What up P?" I said in my best gangsta style. "You aren't thinking about jumping in are you, Cause if you get into trouble, then I would have to jump in and save you."
I pulled the bottom of my shirt away from me and looked at it.
"And these are the last clean clothes I have."

 

[prettyserpentine]

I looked around at him and eyed him up and down. "Clean?" Then I laughed sarcastically. "I can swim. But the thought had crossed my mind. The water doesn't look so bad. I was actually checking to see if there were fish, don't know why I thought there would be." I swished the rod around, through the reeds by the side of the lake.

It was lovely and quiet. The sounds of the animals, and the breeze. You could imagine a different world. I turned to Randy and squinted in the light. "So when do you reckon we should start putting up the solar panels?"

 

[gearhead73]

"Anytime I suppose. It's getting on in the afternoon now, but first thing tomorrow would be good. I am going to look for a tarp or something to sleep on in the tower tonight."
I looked out over the water and thought about last night. Her and I seeking comfort from one another. I was hoping that we would repeat it, but somehow I didn't figure we would. We had become so close in such a short time, that I wasn't willing to risk overstepping and ruining everything.
"Whoever built this place, positioned the house perfectly for the panels. It's smooth and has a direct southern exposure, we should be able to maximize energy output, even at night."

 

[AnonymousSpecto]

(The first character I introduced) Jacob:Walking now after my long travel of five weeks on foot , I see this barn area near a fort. Ahhh, just my luck. 'DAMN!!!' I know this means that someone built it, and if someone built it then someone is there, or maybe survivors. 'GOD! Why the fuck am I in this situation!!!!!' One would call my stress an exaggeration but for me just no, it was not. I know people want me dead and gone after all that is happening, so any living person would definitely be a civvi out to kill us, unless it's just us and just me , I can trust them, but if the others are dead I will be then the only person the civvi wants dead. I have to be quiet, the mountain is just far from this area, I can see it there. I have to hide in the trees now and stealth through, lucky I am quiet as a mouse. Also no dogs can smell me, I have chemical solution designed to confuse any animals scent inputs to where my smell just becomes a confusing and annoying inconvenience that they just ignore it or don't notice it, it tricks the brain. A flaw is that this was an experimental solution, and it turned to make the dogs whine and act up in a suffering kind of way, rolling around like they have an itch until they started just plain flipping out. That's when people start to notice someone is around causing the ruckus. I am going around the perimeter to the woods area to make my way to the mountain, that's where the underground facility is, and hopefully Sickamore is waiting.