Z-Day 008 Pt 2- Thor's Journal
Day Eight Part 2 – Traffic Jam
an ATZ FFO Batrep
Day 1 – TMP link
Day 2 – TMP link
Day 3 – TMP link
Day 4 – TMP link
Day 5 Pt1 – TMP link
Day 5 pt2 – TMP link
Day 6 TMP link
Day 7 Pt 1 TMP link
Day 7 Pt2 TMP link
Day 8 pt1 TMP link
The night quieted down a couple of hours before dawn. I went down to wake everyone up, so we could hopefully get out of Riverton before the quarantine locked us in. When I told everyone we had a second vehicle Gwyn asked from where. She was none too pleased with the answer and stormed off to get her things. Becca loved the new dog on sight, grabbing him and instantly naming him Spike. Stark wrangled everyone into the van, then he and Abe covered me as I went and got the pickup truck. The 1951 Ford fired up like it rolled out of the factory yesterday and purred on over to the Circle K. Abe piled in and with Stark driving the van, we headed over to the Exxon where Abe's unit was supposed to be. As we drove thru the silent streets, I asked him a delicate question. I said I had a friend who had acquired an AR15 but didn't have any ammo. Could he spare a mag or two. With a wry grin he told me not to get caught with any military gear as looters could be shot and then gave me three full magazines and an empty spare. We eased up to the Exxon where a military tanker truck was parked. They must have been draining the storage tanks. Abe saw his unit was still there, after wishing us luck, clambered out and went to rejoin his squad. Before we could head out, Gwyn jumped out of the van and piled in next to me. By the dashboard lights I could see her eyes were red. I tried to convince her to ride in the van with the others, but she wouldn't listen.
Easing back out into the streets, a hint of light was in the sky. I pushed it to get us free of the quarantine zone and the streets so far were pretty empty. STOP! Gwyn yelled. Slamming on the brakes, I had to swerve to keep Stark from rear ending us. Gwyn jumped out and ran to an alley. I thought she was crazy until I saw her leading tow small children by the hand, a boy and a girl, Cory & Sue. They couldn't have been older than 10. She put them in the van and then rejoined me. They were looking for the baby sitter she explained. A couple of blocks away we came to the roadblock. It looked like a couple of school buses were about to be used to block the street by the Guardsman who seemed to be everywhere. I eased into the intersection and they waived us forward. They asked if we had anyone sick aboard and we said no. I did tell them about the two kids we just picked up and asked them if they would take them. They replied to take them to the refugee center set up just North of here off of Old Brownsville Road. Not wanting to be delayed or stuck here I agreed and off we went.
We were almost out of town when cars were starting to be seen and before too long we hit traffic.
Thor & Gwyn are in the 1952 Ford F150 Pickup Truck.
Stark, Ginger, Abu, Priyanka, Becca, Cory & Sue are in the Van.
Wrecks were everywhere & a building burned out of control on the right.
Traffic was bumper to bumper but was slowly moving.
Ahead on the right some thugs were breaking into a car.
But more important to me, they blocked one of the two lanes.
A love Zombie could be seen
and some poor Bloke was being viciously attacked by a gang farther down on the left
Law had clearly broken down
as we eased past the burning building, people came running out
fleeing past the thugs
meanwhile the gang attack was drawing Zed attention
while we keep creeping along
the punk was almost done searching the car [the die on top shows how many turn he will search]
another Zed drawn to the noise
and more
slowly we creep
right next to the thugs
I recognize those colors
the mugging turns into a Zombie brawl
with more Zeds coming
they seem to recognize me and lead starts flying, Gwyn ducks down
some of the fleeing people attract Zed attention and another brawl develops
the Thugs start losing
one of the civilians is desperately holding his own
the blue Mustang in front of me charges up onto the sidewalk, trying to get around the cars stopped by the brawl
I follow, Stark hot on my heels
the Mustang clips a Zed
two more come out of a building to attack some folks
the scene is total chaos, zeds and thugs everywhere and none of the cars moving!
Zombies start attacking the people trapped in the stopped cars
Stark punches it onto the curb,
plowing into a sedan
I follow while Gwyn screams about Zeds to the right
I shoot the Zeds
while the green pick up tries to get through
the Mustang tries to follow but hits the Challenger
and rolls
a stranger [the valiant civie] runs and dives into the truck bed
Take me with you! He pleads.
OK!
The Zeds finish off the gang bangers and start on the cars
the Challenger tries to get past and wrecks as did the green pickup
Stark get the van's nose in
and floors it
pushing thru
and into the clear
we try to follow, but upon jumping the curb hit the green truck
with a CRASH the punk who were chasing us slam into the Mustang
and the Zeds swarm
The truck won't start! Get Out!
We grab our stuff and run for it
We run and quickly catch up to the van, once again stuck in traffic. Piling into the way over crowded van, the new guy gasps his thanks. I takeover shotgun from Abu and watch some of the most horrific scenes go by. Gwyn and Ginger keep the kids heads down so they wont see the horror we passed. After what seemed like an eternity we got clear and left Riverton behind us. Stark nodded towards the dash. The engine temperature gauge was creeping towards the red and the scent of antifreeze was in the air. I prayed the radiator would hold up just a little longer.
Another fun game in the can.
I was really worried at the end, but Stark came thru!
The civie that joined the group was a surprise. He was doing so well in his fights with the Zeds I started cheering him on. Then when Thor's truck stopped near him I thought, why not have him make a leap for survival.
Thanks for looking.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!