From the Journal of
Jason Forrester
Unknown Date in
August 2013
Security
Front Door: Barricaded with trophy
shelves and extra tables
Roadside Side Doors: Barricaded
with trophy shelves and desks
Roadside Windows: Painted black and
blocked with desk tops
Rear Windows: Painted black and
blocked with desk tops
Far Side Windows: Painted black and
blocked with desk tops
Far Side Doors: Blocked with trophy
cases and desks
Ø Need to cut down trees to help barricade the doors on the lower
level
o
Should build fences around
power and food supply areas as well
o
Might want to build a
pallisade (sic) around the building as well if possible
§
Are there enough trees in
the area for this?
o
Why am I worrying about
this, we won't be here long enough?
§
Just need to keep this
going long enough to get out of town
Ø Watch Schedule
o
First Watch 1800 - 2400
Jayce
o
Second Watch 0000 - 0600
Booker
o
Third Watch 0600 - 1200
Arturius
o
Fourth Watch 1200 - 1800
Michael
§
Jessie wants to stand watch
as well
§
might need to implement a
rotating watch schedule at some point
§
Gavin and Hollisters want
in as well
·
This is going to get
complicated
Ø Power Supply
o
4x Vertical Axis Wind
Turbines on the far side
o
Solar Panels on the far
side of the building
Ø Food supplies
o
Potatoes in the far side
practice fields
o
Corn in the road-side
practice fields
o
Open land for sheep and
goats
§
We need to look into
pulling up the pavement to increase land
o
Most likely will not need
it, but better safe than sorry
o
Tilapia would provide good
source of meat protein
o
1 rooster / 16 hens would
create a sustainable chicken population
§
Five eggs a day / eight
hens on average
o
Pygmy Goats would provide a
quarter-gallon of milk a day
Shawnee Mission
Northwest
12 September 2013
Arturius knocked on the door to the
former Principal's office, "Jayce, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Jayce turned around from the
blackboard he was working on.
"Anything to get away from these numbers, Arthur. What's up?"
"I was browsing our library,
there are some books on useful subjects missing, even with the inclusion of the
ones you bought."
Jayce quirked an eyebrow,
"Really, you think I might have missed books on important subjects?"
Art smirked, "Strange, I know,
but your books deal primarily with how to establish a farmstead and survive in
a medium or light density rural area - not an urban area. Do you remember those books on castles and
siege warfare from when we were at McAuliffe?"
"You think we can use
it?"
"If I remember correctly, it
had the basic instructions on how to build a palisade."
"Really?" Jayce asked.
"Yeah, I think so, and we
might be able to find some other useful books as well. Besides, assuming it hasn't been looted, we
might be able to scavenge some medicine from the nurse's office."
"Good point," Jayce
nodded. "Talk to Booker, his family
walked past the school on their way down to Midland. He might have some intel - out of date intel
but intel nonetheless - on what it's like in that area. I don't want you getting hurt out
there."
Arturius nodded his head, "Aye
aye, sir."
Jayce shook his head, "Get out
of here. Booker was in the hall with his
kids and Codie last I saw them. Grab a
bike, I want you to get in and out quickly."
"Anything you saw in the last
patrol?" Arturius asked.
"No, just a feeling. This is when the people start to reach their
most desperate."
Arturius took his leave and walked
down to the lunch room, where he could see Booker sitting there, axe close at
hand, with Abigail and Jessie chatting.
As it turned out, Abigail was a
prepper as well and a hunter besides. Oh
the damage those two would do to the local deer population now that hunting
quotas no longer existed.
"And so you hang it up by its
feet, make the incision like so, and with a single good tug, you can remove the
rabbit's entire pelt as a single pull.
Granted, they aren't the best source of food as they are very lean and
you will burn more calories preparing it and eating it than you gain. You want to feed them something which will
fatten them instead."
"But it is really that
easy?"
"Oh yeah," Jessie
responded, "I made the kids each a coat from rabbit fur in case something
like this happened. Sadly it looks like
I was right to be worried."
Abigail nodded, "How easily
can you smoke the rabbits?"
"As easily as you can smoke
any other meat. Easier than fish for
that matter."
Abigail nodded, "I think I saw
a book on non-lethal, or less than lethal anyways, traps for rabbits and other
such rodents. We might be able to grow
them here. Would certainly make it
easier for us to get the meat."
"Yeah, let's go check,"
Jessie commented. "Oh, hey honey,
what's up?"
"Not much, just about to go
raid an elementary school for resources.
Anything you want me to grab?"
"Not at this moment."
Abigail looked curious, "Which
school?"
"Christa McAuliffe."
Booker perked up at that,
"What are you looking for?"
"There were a number of books
when we went there on fortifications we might be able to use. Plus there is always the nurse's office and
the lunch room. It's probably been
raided, but there might be some useful supplies."
Booker looked uncertain, "I
don't think that will work?"
"Why?"
"We saw some people leaving
the building with arms full of stuff. I
can't speak to what has happened since."
"Still, worth a look. Besides, we need information from that area
anyways. That is the whole point of
going on patrol in the first place."
"Better take a weapon with
you," Booker said, "And I don't mean your baseball bat. I would suggest grabbing a blade and a bow as
well. You are going to want
stealth."
Jessie piped up, "Do you want
my compound bow?"
Arturius looked uncertain,
"I'm not a good shot with the bow, remember? Did you bring your crossbow?"
"Yes, but you need to know,
that thing takes forever to load, even with the repeating mechanism I had built
for it. I would be much more comfortable
with you using the bow instead."
"I would rather be able to hit
something babe, Its going to have to be the crossbow."
Jessie sighed, "Okay, let me
grab it and the hip quiver for you.
Please at least told me you won't be going on foot."
"Nope," Arturius
responded, "Jayce told me to grab a bike.
He wants me to get in and out as quickly as possible in case something
goes wrong."
"Good," Jessie responded.
Christa McAuliffe
Elementary School
12 September 2013
Arturius felt wrong as he rode
through the abandoned neighborhood.
Dead, broken windows looked out at him like the eyes of dead
giants. Part of him knew he should be
going into houses to scavenge supplies, especially as far as he had ridden, but
he didn't want to go inside. It would
feel too much like desecrating tombs in some way.
Judging from the smell coming from
a few of the homes, several of them were actual tombs. He needed to get out of here.
He picked up speed and turned right
up 80th street in order to avoid the hill going up Woodstone. Arturius had never minded the sheer number of
hills in the city when he was driving; but when you are on foot or riding a
bike, Northeast Kansas could be your worst enemy.
At least he was a professional
athlete, he had the muscle tone and stamina to get back rather easily. If it was anyone else in the colony - with
the exception of Jayce - this would have been a two or three day patrol.
As he turned back towards his
former elementary school, a sound he was not used to tickled at the edge of his
hearing.
Frowning, he stopped the bike and
listened with one hand hovering over his axe.
It was familiar and yet strange at the same time. It was like a distant memory, and yet so very
close.
Finally he recognized it. It was the sound of chanting crowds invoking
a deity or a divine force of some kind at least. The possibility that it was a group of
refugees briefly entered his mind, but this wasn't a fearful chant. The voices were angry, defiant.
Arturius listened and decided to
come at the school from another angle.
If they turned out to be hostile, he could not take that many
people. He felt like something of a
coward for not simply marching up into their midst and asking them what they
were doing, but Jayce had hammered it into his head that desperate people are
more likely to act irrationally.
And a man known to be wealthy in
the old world would be one more likely to be targeted in the new. He was not going to put his wife and daughter
in danger.
Finally getting back to the school,
he hopped off his bike and crept up to the school between houses. Dropping his bike, he grabbed the crossbow
and snuck up on the crowd of people ahead.
What he saw shocked him.
The books from the library where
piled in front of the school as a crowd of three to four dozen swayed slightly
as they chanted a prayer to - and Arturius was certain he was hearing this
wrong - Guya. A man whom Arturius was
certain was their leader - dressed in a leather jacket with denim pants and a
crown of twigs - stood before a group of barechested men painted in blue and
red and carrying torches. Everything
about the scene was just too weird for Arturius to comprehend.
Pulling out his field glasses, he
could see the book he needed laying on the side of the pyre closest to
him. It was only 50 feet away from him. He could get there and get out, but the
warriors would kill him first. He needed
a distraction.
Fading back, he found an open front
door and stepped inside. The garage door
was open as well, and to his luck he found a jerry can. It was half full from the sound of the gasoline
sloshing around. Looking around, he
found a rag and stuffed it down the spout.
He would have preferred to find a bottle or something which would
shatter upon impact, but the gasoline tank would send the crowd running.
Crawling back up, he lit the rag
and tossed the can at the crowd. Their
leader spotted it and let out a warning as the crowd of chanters tried to
disperse through each other. The
warriors leapt out of the way as their chief warrior dragged the prophet to the
ground.
It wasn't gasoline in the tank, it
was something else. Arturius never knew
that, and he didn't care. As soon as the
crowd had dispersed he was off like a shot.
His training to run down opposition
players had honed his sense of timing to a T, and he used it to grab the book
and run. For the briefest moment, he
locked eyes with the chief warrior and Arturius saw in his eyes the same flint
sharp look he recognized from Jayce.
---
Cooper had knocked Eklund to the
ground, but as soon as he realized the can wasn't going to explode he was up
and chasing after the man who had grabbed one of the books. He let out a shout and a few of his warriors
were following close at hand.
He thought he had the interloper
when he burst through an over-grown bush, only to pass through himself and
watch as the man he had been chasing after pedaled away at full speed on a very
complex bicycle.
The man was wearing a Shawnee
Mission Northwest jacket, and Cooper had recognized him. It was the new Short Stop for the Royals,
Arturius Berringer. Cooper couldn't remember
where the new kid had gone to High School, but he was certain for some reason
that it wasn't SM Northwest.
"What did he take?" Cooper growled as he returned to the pile of
books and noted with anger that several of the torches had gone out when the warriors
holding them had dropped them to the ground.
"A book on ancient
fortifications, Brother Hawk."
"Hmm, burn the books and then
start on the school. I will report this
to the Reverend."
"Of course, Brother
Hawk."
The reverend was looking at his
crown of twigs in anger, it had been broken when Cooper knocked him to the
ground to protect him from the explosion.
Had he been in range, he would have jumped on the explosive himself.
"Reverend Eklund, I recognized
the man who did this. His name is
Arturius Berringer, he was a baseball player before Gaia asked Helios to send
the storm. To make matters worse, he
arrived and left on bicycle and carried a crossbow."
"This was not a random attack,
Brother Hawk. What did he take?"
"A book on ancient fortifications,
but I believe it might have been a random grab."
"Hunt him down, Brother
Hawk. I want him dead for this."
"Of course, Reverend. It will be my pleasure."
Shawnee Mission
Northwest
12 September 2013
Arturius managed to arrive back at
the High School without falling off his bike.
He was certain he had lost them back at 79th and Lackman when he plunged
down the trail and into the park beyond. The trees had helped to hide him as he dodged
up a road of gutted building and watched.
No one had come running after him, so he was uncertain if they were
following him in the first place.
Now that he was home, he was simply
glad he was still alive. When that
warrior locked eyes with him, Arturius was certain he would run him down. If that guy wasn't a soldier at some point,
Arturius would eat his baseball bat.
Jessie came running out of the
building with Bastion and Rebecca not far behind. The door had closed before Jayce could arrive
as well. Jessie handed over a bottle of
water as Jayce told him to drink it slowly.
Arturius did so, fighting the urge
to chug it down. The water within still
tasted slightly like pool-water, their distillery was only so good after all,
but it still tasted fantastic.
Once he was half-way through, he
set it down and looked at Jayce, "We have a problem, buddy."
"Come on inside then, I don't
want to alarm too many people. Jessie,
Rebecca, I want you in there too. I will
want your advice."
They walked into the auditorium,
and Jayce sat down with his feet hanging over the edge of the stage. Arturius slumped in a chair with Jessie
beside him as Rebecca leaned against the stage.
She was still trying to get used to her status as the de-facto first
lady of the colony, but she rather liked her status as the group's ambassador. Assuming they ever made contact with an
outside group that is.
Jayce leaned forward, "Arthur,
what did you see out there?"
"A group of radicals, four or
five dozen of them. They had the books
piled up and ready for burning. I could
hear some of the things their leader was saying. Something about purging the evils of the
world in order to bring about a new dawn."
"And they were burning books
to bring it about?" Rebecca asked, incredulous.
"Yes, he mentioned something
about bringing about a great simplification."
Arturius was shocked by how rapidly
Jayce's face seemed to darken and his eyes seemed to sharpen. His fingers tightened their hold on the edge
of the stage and his muscles bulged for a moment as if he were going to throw
himself off.
"Frack." The expletive was stated simply with no force
or emotion behind it. The last time
Arturius had heard him act like that was when he had rushed headlong in to stop
a mugger back in High School.
"I knew this would come
eventually." Jayce sighed and
tightened his jaw. "The Great
Simplification. Let me guess, they were
praying to Gaia."
"Yeah, you know what that
means?" Arturius asked.
"Ancient Greek goddess of the
Earth and the soil beneath our feet."
"Really?" Arturius had trouble imaging honest to God
pagans.
"Yeah, it means they are
Luddites." He leaned forward and
said simply, "Tell me everything."
