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.Michelle sat on the floor with her knees tucked under her chin, trying to conserve her warmth as best she could.“Jaden I wish I knew.All I know is the old man Gilbert and the young man Gavin said they would find us somewhere near the east coast.It could be any day, or next year for all we know.” Michelle pulled the small military blanket up over her knees and huddled underneath it.It would be another cold night.The cold always made people unhappy.Becky and her daughter Shelby sat beside Michelle, huddled up with Kevin.Michelle smiled at the three people who she’d grown close to.They were a very impromptu family, but a loving one nonetheless.Sometimes great things can grow out of tragedy.Joel, one of Jaden’s special operations men screwed a long pipe-like suppressor onto his pistol and sat it down on a rag.He’d just cleaned and reassembled it for the umpteenth time.The weapon had seen heavy use lately.“Well we need to assume that we aren’t going to be contacted by anyone, so we need to start thinking about a safe place we can secure that’s near water, and can sustain us.Food is a major concern right now.We’ve only got maybe two more weeks of MREs and that’s assuming we stay on two a day.We could go to one a day soon but that’s gonna suck.”Everyone agreed with his reasoning.Quan, the Vietnamese operator that had worked for Kevin before the end of the world, spoke up with his heavy accent.“What if we go into the mountains? Or to the lakes? Drive very far.A few days of driving at least.Some small town.Less people means less dead people.More animals to hunt, more land to farm.”Everyone also agreed with his reasoning.After thinking, Kevin finally added his two cents, “The highways seem fairly clear near here.We can make good time heading out.Maybe find a town off the interstate.A few towns off the interstate.We find a place large enough for us to all live in with land nearby.Something industrial maybe like an old grocery store, or a school.Maybe not a grocery store.Too much glass to protect.Something sturdy and large.We can build some walls fairly fast, or maybe even just relocate some fencing.Doesn’t have to be perfect.Once the snow falls the undead will be hamstrung and it’ll likely be a lot safer for us.”“That’s all true Kevin, but don’t forget, that snow also means we can’t run for shit either.We need to get our hands on a plow.One of the big state operated ones if possible.You and I both know that the vehicles we are driving by now are total shit.All the batteries are dead.Half the gas tanks are water logged, and the rest are drained dry.There’s dry rot to contend with, and most of the tires are flat as fuck,” Jaden said, his hands rubbing at the stump of his missing leg.He'd just taken off his prosthetic and after a long day of being on his feet, he was always uncomfortable.It was a testament to his strength that he was even able to move now with just the single leg and the ramshackle false leg he used.“Doesn’t change the fact that we need a plow does it? We’ll make it happen.Bitching about it won’t change shit.Tomorrow I think we should head out, maybe west so we can stay near the coast, but also head more towards the center of the country.I know some of you guys have been talking about maybe leaving the group to head home to find your families.Maybe that’ll help you if you decide to do that.”Several of the men present nodded.Each had loved ones they desperately wanted to find, but they also didn’t want to leave their friends and fellow servicemen behind.If anything, the bond they shared here was still quite firm, and quite tangible.Leaving this group might be more painful than they realized.Kevin tested his idea again.“So if everyone is cool with that, we head out at first light and start moving.When we get a day or so out of the city, we’ll start looking for towns to set up in.”No one argued, and so it was settled.*****Joel calmly walked from window to window in the upstairs offices of the building the group had fortified hastily earlier that night.It was far from perfect, but still better than some of the places they’d had to stay at since they arrived in the States [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]