The Survivor Chronicles | Book 1 | Say No! To Zombies

by Crystal, Tiffany

  Besides, Abby informed me, with all the food she found in the pantry, the food the guys brought back, and what we already had, we should be good for about a week, if we’re careful. We’ll be eating a lot of ramen, so the water isn’t going to last us very long, but at least we don’t have to worry about food.

  We’re working on a watch shift, but we can’t really implement it yet. Not when only three of us can actually make the boat go somewhere. So for now, Jason and I are keeping watch til around one. Then Jason is going to bed and Dave will take his place til dawn.

  Hate to say, but as much as I dislike having a large group, it would be a lot easier if we had a couple more adults. It’s going to be hell trying to cart Chloe through the woods and crap. I’m trying to think if there’s a way we could put Chloe in that cart we found, but we need that for the suitcases. Maybe we could sit her on top of them?

  I don’t fucking know. We’ll figure something out. We have to. In the meantime, I’m going to close this for the night. It’s already 10. Time to change places with Jason. I’m tired of looking at the street. Now I get to go stare at the boats instead. Woohoo. So excited.

  * * *

  April 24th

  Dawn. On the boat.

  Ready for bed. Not going to sleep in quite as much this time. Nothing exciting happened. Sky is looking grey again. It rained a little bit last night, but I checked online (net is still working, hell yeah!), and the storm is still not expected to hit til tomorrow night. We need to get about 100 miles south before that happens though, and even if we go at top speed, without stopping, Ben said it’ll take damn near 5 hours. That’s not counting any rough water, though, and we’ll have to stop for gas at least once, so that puts us closer to 8 hours, maybe more.

  Which is another thing. We’re going to go for as long as we can in both boats, no stopping. The Tayana’s tank is smaller than Ben’s, so once the Tayana runs dry, he’s going to siphon the rest of his gas into our tank and come aboard. We’ll add the 40 gallons we have in the cans, head for the nearest shore, fill the tank, and the cans and keep on trucking sailing. I thought we should take his boat, but he says the Tayana’s engine has been upgraded, and it goes faster. He wants us to get to shore asap.

  Time to sleep.

  * * *

  9 something? or 10 something, I dunno. Ben’s not here to tell me this time, sorry folks.

  I wouldn’t be awake except that it’s time to fuel up. We made pretty good distance though. I think Ben said we only have about 50 more miles to go. I’ll ask him when he gets back. Maybe. If I remember. Right now, I’m just focusing on keeping my eyes open. He and Dave are doing a gas run again. Abby and Scott took a second truck to help out. They found more gas cans so things should go faster now.

  * * *

  Noon-ish.

  Gas is refilled, we’re moving again. I’m ass tired, but there’s no point trying to sleep. We should reach port in the next couple hours, and we’re already running into rough waters. Chloe and Timmy are curled up with Abby, looking terrified. Jason is trying to put on a brave face, but you can tell it’s getting to him. Ben has taken over the helm (look at me, talking all sailor-y and stuff!), since he has the most experience. He showed me the target he’s hoping for, and it looks good. He’s going for a private dock, rather than setting us down at a beach. He said he’s been there before and knows his way around.

  I don’t care, as long as we get to shore and get somewhere inside before the storm hits. And there’s no trolls.

  * * *

  4:1718 PM

  According to the clock on the fancy ass stove.

  We arrived at...I don’t know the address, but it’s Delaware. We’re inside, and the storm is outside. And not here. Yet.

  House has been thoroughly searched and declared troll-free. I am tired to the point of being silly, and I know it. I don’t care~ I’m happy. We’re out of Jersey, we’re on land, and this place is gorgeous. Seriously. If my parents weren’t waiting for me, I would say ‘screw it’ and just stay here. Fuck the world, the trolls can have it. I’ll stay here on this nice comfy couch or in the bathtub big enough to fucking swim in. And the hot water that NEVER ENDS. We have ALL had a nice hot shower. All eight of us. Okay, the kids didn’t have one as hot as the rest of us, so all five of us, still! I’m in love with a house. And tub. And...just. Yes. ALL THE THINGS.

  And oh fuck me sideways, of course something is happening.

  * * *

  April 25th

  6:13 am

  Sorry, fell asleep after dinner.

  It’s raining its ass off. Met the owners of the house. It was all good. They’re not trolls. They’re an older couple, but they’re not fossils. Mike loves boats, so him and Ben hit it off quick. Karla rolled her eyes at the men, and started assigning rooms and figuring out what to cook for dinner.

  Got a little bit of their story from them. They saw the news reports, packed up their perishable food, and headed for the boat. They would’ve stayed out longer, but the storm started rolling in.

  We told them about our plans to head south. They’re thinking of joining us. They’re supposed to let me know when they wake up. We’re going to be here for a couple days, regardless. Mike is a lot like my dad. He likes to build stuff by hand. I was complaining about trying to cart all our stuff through the woods, and how Chloe is going to slow us down, and he said he might be able to help with that.

  He showed me a yard cart he built last year. It’s easily big enough for us to use as a type of wagon. He said if we give him a day or two, he should be able to make another one. He has all the stuff he needs (his neighbor had just asked him to make one for her husband before the FUBAR happened), he just hasn’t had the time to do it yet.

  It would be a huge help. Even just one of the wagons would be good. We could put the suitcases in there, and still have room for Chloe to ride in it. If we had two, we could split up the luggage and Timmy and her could both ride.

  I’m just worried about the noise attracting the wrong kind of attention. Drills and saws aren’t exactly quiet, but it might be worth it to have the extra wagon.

  We just have to get everything else done before he starts using the big guns.

  Chloe’s awake. Time to see what I can scrounge up for breakfast.

  * * *

  10:20something, the clock is too far away to tell what the last number is.

  Thought of a way to get around some of the noise problem. Karla suggested moving the power tools and materials into the basement. We just have to move enough stuff out of the way to give him room to work. As soon as her and Abby are done eating, we’re gonna get started on that, while the guys help Mike move the stuff from the garage into the basement.

  They’ve decided to join us, so we’re up to 10 people. The only reason I’m not pulling my hair out is because at least these two will be helpful. Even Scott approves.

  I get to help Mike build the wagons. Okay, we all kinda get to help. Mike has a couple cans of stain that is supposed to help keep water out. He wants an extra coat put on the wagon he already built, so the guys get to do that while Abby helps Karla pack. I’d help with the packing, but I’m going to be working with Mike on the other wagon (being a daddy’s girl really paid off. The look on Scott’s face when Mike assigned him to the “easy” job…priceless). I’m no expert, but I know a table saw from a circular saw, so ha!

  Oh, and apparently Mike and Karla go camping and kayaking just about every year. Their neighbors used to go with them, but the man (Jack? Jake? something like that) had a major heart attack last fall and the doctors told him those days are over. Karla said Jack/Jake’s wife had just told her last month that her husband wouldn’t let her toss out their camping gear, so it’s shoved in their garage somewhere. David, Ben and Scott are going to take the wagon and run over to the neighbors house before they put the extra layer of stain. The idea is to check on the neighbors, and depending on how things go, we’ll either have two more people in our group, or we’ll ha
ve extra supplies.

  I’m not entirely sure which result I’m rooting for. Does that make me a bad person? Cause I kinda think it does, but at the same time, I just want to fucking survive this shit.

  * * *

  3:33 pm

  We’re mostly done. The second wagon is in the garage getting its first stain coat. The metal plate already had the holes drilled, but we still need to bolt it to the frame. We’re going to wait a little bit before we do that though. Abby and Karla are done packing up the stuff upstairs and have already brought down everything to the living room so it’s ready to go.

  The guys just came in from the garage. Dave and Scott are going to get up around midnight and put another stain coat on wagon 2, so in the morning, all Mike and I have to do is attach it to the base and we’ll be ready to roll.

  Karla is double checking the gear from the neighbors house. We now have enough sleeping bags for everyone, and even one extra. We also have enough tent space, a camp stove (we’ll have to take the propane tanks from the boats), and some good rope.

  And a rake. Mike’s idea. I forgot about it, but it’ll be good to have when we have to set up camp. No one wants to sleep with a rock digging into their back.

  There was also an inflatable double bed in the gear haul. She was gonna toss it at first, but I told her to hold onto it. We might have to cross a few streams and rivers, and we might be able to use them to float the wagons across. We’ll have to unload them first, of course, but it might work. Just have to figure out a way to attach ropes to the mattress without poking any holes in it. Super glue maybe, but I don’t know if I trust it to be strong enough for this.

  Storm is still going strong.

  Nothing else to write about. Maybe after dinner.

  * * *

  8:45pm

  The power started flickering in the middle of dinner, so Mike and I went ahead and finished putting the wagon together. Dave and Scott are still going to put another coating on it, they’re just gonna work around where it’s attached to the bottom.

  Jason and Ben are taking first watch. When Dave and Scott are done with the wagon, they’ll take over. Abby and Karla are cooking as much of the food still leftover in the fridge as possible, before they head to bed. They already grabbed trash bags and bagged a bunch of ice.

  Oh, we have a cooler now. Forgot about that. And our phones are all charged. I called my dad. Josh and Anna made it to the house earlier today. They had to take it slow but they've always been pretty active, so their idea of “slow” is a bit skewed.

  I told dad about the group. He said, with so many people traveling, we’d better get our hands on a bottle of bleach. Apparently you can purify water with a few drops of bleach. We just have to make sure we use the gallon jugs for that, and then pour them into the smaller bottles. That will help a lot though. I know there’s a lot of creeks and stuff between here and home, so we don’t have to worry as much about running out of water anymore. When I told Abby, she did a little dance at the stove.

  She’s taking her role of “inventory management” pretty seriously, so this makes things a lot easier. She got a notebook from Karla to start keeping track of how much food and water we have. Since we’re eating out of the fridge/cupboard here, we don’t have to worry about running out of food just yet. With two more adults, that will, of course change, but for now we’re good. If we stick to squatting in houses whenever we can, we should be able to make our food last a while. It’s just the nights when we have to camp that are going to be rough.

  Nothing else to add for now. Goodnight.

  * * *

  April 26th

  8:35am

  The power went off about an hour ago. The stove is gas though, so we still got to have a hot breakfast.

  The rain is dying down. I think, by tomorrow, it should be over. Mike and Scott are going to run out to the boats here in a few and get the propane tanks out of them. Mike says the one on their boat is just about empty. They conserved as much of it as they could, eating cold sandwiches and showering together, but they were out there for over a week.

  For now, we have the kids practicing putting up the tents in the living room. Mike and I are trying to figure out how we’re going to pack the wagons. We have two big tarps, but can’t decide if we want to line the bottoms of the wagons with them, or cover the cargo with them. I’m thinking we should cover them, personally. The wood has been water treated. Our suitcases and stuff hasn’t been.

  I was antsy about getting the wagons packed so we could get on the road as soon as the rain stopped, but Mike reminded me that the ground is going to be soggy after that storm, and it wouldn’t do us any good to get on the road, only to be bogged down. Especially if we’re trying to stay offroad. So now, instead of us leaving tomorrow, first thing in the morning, it looks like we won’t be leaving until the day after.

  I suppose it’s for the better. It gives us more time to work out who is doing what, and teaching the kids useful things (hence the tent pitching practice). Jason has volunteered to take turns with Abby, minding the kids and taking watch. Abby wants to start working on building up arm strength, so she borrowed some old purses from Karla and put bottles of water in them. She’s using them like dumbbells. She says she doesn’t want to be dead weight, which honestly is a fair point. I think Jason would be doing the same thing, but he doesn’t want to be seen carrying a purse - even by a troll.

  Ben is scrawny, but he’s got some strength to him. Scott’s arm is looking better. It’s red and scabbed over, but it’s not oozing or anything, so I think it’s healing alright.

  * * *

  10:23am

  Our boat is gone.

  Apparently we didn’t tie it off right or something, and it’s gone. We could probably hop in the other boat and chase it down, but it seems rather pointless. The only thing on it we really wanted/needed was the propane tank anyway, and we can get another one of those when/if we raid a gas station.

  Karla came downstairs, looking pissed as shit, and spent a good 10 minutes having herself a bitch fit at Scott, until I told her to knock the shit off. It wasn’t his fault. Yes, he was the one who tied the boat off, but he had also never done it before. We probably should’ve had Ben do the tying, but he was helping unload the boat and getting shit inside before the storm hit. And anyway, it’s not her place to reprimand one of my people, and she’d better get that shit out of her system before we leave.

  A lot more was said, but I think we have it sorted out. She’s been upstairs sulking for the past 10-20 minutes though, so I dunno.

  I’m not sure where Mike and Dave are. They took off while Karla and I were having our….discussion.

  Ben and I made a tentative job chart. All of the adults (we’re including Jason on this one. He’s old enough to help) will spend time on watch, but there’s more to this survival thing than just keeping an eye out. Abby, Karla and Jason can take turns watching the kids. Karla, Mike and I can teach the others how to cook over a fire, so all of us can take turns cooking. Scott is going to have to train us with the gun. We can’t have only one person who knows how to do shit. We all need to know.

  Ben and David are both small but quick. They’ll take turns scouting ahead as we go. Mike is good with fixing stuff, so he gets to be in charge of making sure the wagons are rolling alright and patching up the tents and tarps and crap like that. I’ll help him where I can.

  Which reminds me: when the guys get back, we’re gonna need Mike to pack up some nails and some basic tools. It’d be kinda hard for Mike to patch up anything without the tools for it.

  Annnnd, Karla’s back.

  * * *

  Sometime afternoon.

  Ben is in the other room, so I don’t know what time it is. I really need to get me a watch of my own, dammit. Actually, we should all get watches. It’d be easier to coordinate shit.

  Anyway, Karla is done being mad. She apologized to Scott. She liked the “job chart” idea. She suggested having Jason be in charge of setting
up the camp. Getting the younger kids doing their chores, supervising and all that. The younger kids can pick up pinecones and dry branches as we go. They make good tinder for fires. Timmy is big enough to start learning how to rake the camping area, and Chloe can gather rocks for the firepit.

  When I mentioned Mike doing maintenance, she grabbed a flashlight and went running back upstairs. Mike and Dave stomped in while she was up there. They had made a run back over to their neighbors. Now we have a small axe and a bunch of those nylon cord things. I don’t remember what they’re called, but they’re great.

  Karla came back while we were talking about the tarps. She had a sewing kit with her. She suggested using shower curtains to line the bottom of the wagons, and the tarps to cover the tops. I would think the stain Mike and them put on the wood would be enough to protect the bottom of the wagon against any kind of rot, but Mike doesn’t want to take any chances, so whatever, I guess. At least that takes care of that.

  Karla also came up with the idea of extending the sides of one of the wagons upwards so we could strap the bikes down. They have kickstands, so I mean, we could just stand them up in the wagon, but the kids will be riding in the wagons, too, and we don’t want to risk the bikes falling over on them or the supplies. Plus, with the sides up like that, we can drape the tarp over the whole thing to make it like one of those old covered wagons. Protection from the elements is a good thing. If it starts raining too hard, we can all pile into the wagons and wait it out. It’ll be cramped as fuck, and won’t do much against hail, but it’s one of those take what you can get things.