good for at least the next six weeks.”
I let that sink in and tried to figure out what the problem might be. Six weeks was plenty of time to remedy the situation. I guess they anticipated my response.
“You haven’t ever lived out this way, have you?” Sunshine asked.
“Seattle born and raised,” I replied with a shrug.
“This is just the start of winter, Steve,” Sunshine said with a leading edge to her voice like she thought I might figure out whatever secret code she was apparently speaking.
I looked at her and then at Jon. “Look, I imagine you have a point, I’m just too burned out to pick up on it so spill it.”
“This is just the start of things.” Sunshine used her arms to gesture at the heavy snowfall coming down behind me. “Unlike what you might be used to in the city where this sort of weather clears up in a few days or a week, this will go on for weeks if not months.”
“That is why the porch to this place is eight or so feet off the ground,” Jon cut in. “And those tall posts along the road the lead to this place? Those are snow markers. This place could realistically see enough snow to reach the windows…or worse. Back in the day, they used plows to keep this place cleared. And that little Snowcat they have here is probably operational, but we don’t have any fuel for it. This whole thing kicked off in the spring. They had probably just put her away for the season and hadn’t gotten around to stocking up on fuel and such.”
“So what’s the bad news,” I sighed. I guess I really had not planned on having to hunker down for three or four months. Once again I doubted my ability to lead this bunch of people effectively.
“I want to make one more run,” Jon said. “I will take my boys with me and we will gas the cat up using the truck fuel. I already checked and that baby had a big forty gallon tank as well as a twenty gallon spare. We should be able to get to La Grande and Enterprise fueling as we go. This will be a food only supply run using the list that Sunshine has given me.”
“You want to go out in this and then try and deal with zombies…possibly raiders…and then get back here alive?” I just didn’t see the likelihood of anybody—not even a Marine and a pair of soldiers—making a run like this.
“I think we are the only ones who can do it,” Jon stated matter-of-factly. “We have the training to deal with extremes and will have the best chance if it comes to a living enemy. That is why it has to be us three despite your previous decision that foraging runs were not to be gender exclusive. This has got to be more of a military operation.”
Everything he said made perfect sense. My only problem with it was the fact that if, like they were both saying, the bad weather was just getting started, then I could be sending my three best fighters to their death.
“I don’t like the idea any more than you do, Steve,” Sunshine said with a hitch in her voice. “But if they don’t do this, we might all die of starvation.”
“How long before I should worry?” I asked.
“My best estimate puts us out for three weeks tops.”
“So we hit the halfway point on our stores before we know if we will be surviving the season?”
“You can still hunt for game in the area, but if you have noticed, it has been scarce. It has either migrated, or it has been chased away by the herds of undead that have come through,” Jon said.
“When do you intend to leave?”
“First thing in the morning, I already told Jake and Jesus to prep…I didn’t want to go outside your wishes, but I had to assume you would see the necessity.”
Jake Beebe and Jesus Sanchez were the two soldiers from the United States Army who showed up with Jon a couple months back. My relationship with them had been tenuous at best ever since they took Thalia and Emily—ages five and ten respectively—out into the woods and had them kill a walker. Yes, they had disabled it by taking its legs
I let that sink in and tried to figure out what the problem might be. Six weeks was plenty of time to remedy the situation. I guess they anticipated my response.
“You haven’t ever lived out this way, have you?” Sunshine asked.
“Seattle born and raised,” I replied with a shrug.
“This is just the start of winter, Steve,” Sunshine said with a leading edge to her voice like she thought I might figure out whatever secret code she was apparently speaking.
I looked at her and then at Jon. “Look, I imagine you have a point, I’m just too burned out to pick up on it so spill it.”
“This is just the start of things.” Sunshine used her arms to gesture at the heavy snowfall coming down behind me. “Unlike what you might be used to in the city where this sort of weather clears up in a few days or a week, this will go on for weeks if not months.”
“That is why the porch to this place is eight or so feet off the ground,” Jon cut in. “And those tall posts along the road the lead to this place? Those are snow markers. This place could realistically see enough snow to reach the windows…or worse. Back in the day, they used plows to keep this place cleared. And that little Snowcat they have here is probably operational, but we don’t have any fuel for it. This whole thing kicked off in the spring. They had probably just put her away for the season and hadn’t gotten around to stocking up on fuel and such.”
“So what’s the bad news,” I sighed. I guess I really had not planned on having to hunker down for three or four months. Once again I doubted my ability to lead this bunch of people effectively.
“I want to make one more run,” Jon said. “I will take my boys with me and we will gas the cat up using the truck fuel. I already checked and that baby had a big forty gallon tank as well as a twenty gallon spare. We should be able to get to La Grande and Enterprise fueling as we go. This will be a food only supply run using the list that Sunshine has given me.”
“You want to go out in this and then try and deal with zombies…possibly raiders…and then get back here alive?” I just didn’t see the likelihood of anybody—not even a Marine and a pair of soldiers—making a run like this.
“I think we are the only ones who can do it,” Jon stated matter-of-factly. “We have the training to deal with extremes and will have the best chance if it comes to a living enemy. That is why it has to be us three despite your previous decision that foraging runs were not to be gender exclusive. This has got to be more of a military operation.”
Everything he said made perfect sense. My only problem with it was the fact that if, like they were both saying, the bad weather was just getting started, then I could be sending my three best fighters to their death.
“I don’t like the idea any more than you do, Steve,” Sunshine said with a hitch in her voice. “But if they don’t do this, we might all die of starvation.”
“How long before I should worry?” I asked.
“My best estimate puts us out for three weeks tops.”
“So we hit the halfway point on our stores before we know if we will be surviving the season?”
“You can still hunt for game in the area, but if you have noticed, it has been scarce. It has either migrated, or it has been chased away by the herds of undead that have come through,” Jon said.
“When do you intend to leave?”
“First thing in the morning, I already told Jake and Jesus to prep…I didn’t want to go outside your wishes, but I had to assume you would see the necessity.”
Jake Beebe and Jesus Sanchez were the two soldiers from the United States Army who showed up with Jon a couple months back. My relationship with them had been tenuous at best ever since they took Thalia and Emily—ages five and ten respectively—out into the woods and had them kill a walker. Yes, they had disabled it by taking its legs
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