Story Market Day
- Thread starter ComCamGuy
- Start date
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Unknown situation and injured team members. Is that really the time to go wandering about trying to find vehicles of unknown reliability and such? They know what got them there and Garen knows Johns truck’s general condition. Besides, he kinda knew what he wanted to get. Greed leads to mistakes as well
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Garen finally convinced Bekka to let him go downstairs and double check the gathering. Kara had already gathered all of the small assortment of outdoor clothing they had as part of the “store”. Cargo pants, smock style jackets, polo shirts and t-shirts, all of these went into some of the empty A-Bags they had brought along just for this sort of thing.
A-Bags were not really called that. They were a type of bag designed to hold an unpacked parachute that was long ago hijacked for almost anything the military wanted to temporarily issue someone for a trip. It was a three foot canvas cube with a beefy zipper and big loop handles. You could cram a great deal of stuff into one. The square nature of their shape also made packing them into spaces easier without wasting space. It just turned into a big game of Tetris. Garen and Bekka had two or three of these bags stuffed with probably ten to fifteen empty bags in each of the three. They brought one with them so a large amount of stuff could be organized and packed.
The hand tools and all the spare parts had been packed up out of the oversized closet that served as the gunsmith and armory there at the Center. Kara was packing up the few weapons they had in the armory when Garen came in. This is where they kept a few dissimilar weapons for training as well as some spares for classes and anything that was broken and needed a simple fix. Anything serious as far as repairs would be taken out to Garen’s house where he had more resources to fix things.
“Hey Kara, leave the two AUGs out, along with all their magazines. We are going to load those up along with a couple of pistols into a pair of fallback kits. Bekka has some backpacks upstairs she is loading up with all the stuff for them. After she gets them loaded up, including these, we are going to put them in the ceiling above the air conditioning ducts so they can’t be seen from below. I’m going to my office to get some other things we will need for the upcoming weeks against the druggies. I’m going to hijack Angelique to start carrying stuff out of there.”
“Holy cow! Bekka let you off the leash far enough you found your way down here! I already packed out all the tools and such, as well as all the spare batteries and chargers. You have all the extra comm gear and night vision gear in your office, plus who knows what all else. Who has final walk through?”
“I’ll do final and pull the doors as I go. We don’t have much time. Bekka told me your idea for the extra vehicles and I agree, we need to get those away from here. All the consumables and such on the first floor are probably trash already, so just a quick sweep there. We still have to divide and load the vehicles, too. We have more room with the Subaru and John’s truck than what we though coming out here, but let’s be careful what we add.”
“Gotcha boss. Everything is out of here if you want to go ahead and sweep and lock”
Garen went through the small room looking for anything else they should take from in it. Finding nothing, he closed and locked the door. He then wrote a capitol ‘G’ right above the doorknob and moved off to his office. Once inside, he moved right to his desk. From it he grabbed his external hard drive from his computer and two or three books from the bookshelf. The cabinets and cases at the back of his office held the real goal in here. One cabinet held quite a bit of night vision equipment, both light intensification and thermal as well as the batteries, mounts and other support gear. This cabinet also contained several more sets of radios. The other cabinet had a serious jumble of stuff. Advanced medical gear shared the shelves with laser rangefinders, rifle scopes sat next to boxes of drugs. There was a space behind the cabinets. Anyone looking behind them would see six or so backboards standing upright. Garen moved these out of the way. Behind them, in the corner, were two medium sized hard cases. These he pulled out. Inside one case was a variety of weapon suppressors. The other case held some suppressed upper receivers for AR type rifles. All of these were going with him. He finished grabbing stuff from his office. He placed all of this on a wheeled cart Angelique brought to him. She then wheeled it all up to the next floor, adding to the stack. Garen closed and locked his office door. A stylized ‘G’ and he moved on to the next spot.
A-Bags were not really called that. They were a type of bag designed to hold an unpacked parachute that was long ago hijacked for almost anything the military wanted to temporarily issue someone for a trip. It was a three foot canvas cube with a beefy zipper and big loop handles. You could cram a great deal of stuff into one. The square nature of their shape also made packing them into spaces easier without wasting space. It just turned into a big game of Tetris. Garen and Bekka had two or three of these bags stuffed with probably ten to fifteen empty bags in each of the three. They brought one with them so a large amount of stuff could be organized and packed.
The hand tools and all the spare parts had been packed up out of the oversized closet that served as the gunsmith and armory there at the Center. Kara was packing up the few weapons they had in the armory when Garen came in. This is where they kept a few dissimilar weapons for training as well as some spares for classes and anything that was broken and needed a simple fix. Anything serious as far as repairs would be taken out to Garen’s house where he had more resources to fix things.
“Hey Kara, leave the two AUGs out, along with all their magazines. We are going to load those up along with a couple of pistols into a pair of fallback kits. Bekka has some backpacks upstairs she is loading up with all the stuff for them. After she gets them loaded up, including these, we are going to put them in the ceiling above the air conditioning ducts so they can’t be seen from below. I’m going to my office to get some other things we will need for the upcoming weeks against the druggies. I’m going to hijack Angelique to start carrying stuff out of there.”
“Holy cow! Bekka let you off the leash far enough you found your way down here! I already packed out all the tools and such, as well as all the spare batteries and chargers. You have all the extra comm gear and night vision gear in your office, plus who knows what all else. Who has final walk through?”
“I’ll do final and pull the doors as I go. We don’t have much time. Bekka told me your idea for the extra vehicles and I agree, we need to get those away from here. All the consumables and such on the first floor are probably trash already, so just a quick sweep there. We still have to divide and load the vehicles, too. We have more room with the Subaru and John’s truck than what we though coming out here, but let’s be careful what we add.”
“Gotcha boss. Everything is out of here if you want to go ahead and sweep and lock”
Garen went through the small room looking for anything else they should take from in it. Finding nothing, he closed and locked the door. He then wrote a capitol ‘G’ right above the doorknob and moved off to his office. Once inside, he moved right to his desk. From it he grabbed his external hard drive from his computer and two or three books from the bookshelf. The cabinets and cases at the back of his office held the real goal in here. One cabinet held quite a bit of night vision equipment, both light intensification and thermal as well as the batteries, mounts and other support gear. This cabinet also contained several more sets of radios. The other cabinet had a serious jumble of stuff. Advanced medical gear shared the shelves with laser rangefinders, rifle scopes sat next to boxes of drugs. There was a space behind the cabinets. Anyone looking behind them would see six or so backboards standing upright. Garen moved these out of the way. Behind them, in the corner, were two medium sized hard cases. These he pulled out. Inside one case was a variety of weapon suppressors. The other case held some suppressed upper receivers for AR type rifles. All of these were going with him. He finished grabbing stuff from his office. He placed all of this on a wheeled cart Angelique brought to him. She then wheeled it all up to the next floor, adding to the stack. Garen closed and locked his office door. A stylized ‘G’ and he moved on to the next spot.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Bekka was starting the allocation of stuff and load planning. The first thought was on the fuel cans, since they were heavy and dense. The Subaru platform was filled with full cans. They remaining full jerry cans of fuel were put in the bed of John’s truck. All the empty jerry cans were put into Garen’s truck since it had a much larger fuel capacity than any of the others. She then split the motocross fuel cans between John’s truck and the trailer. After that, she split most everything else into three and a half shares. One share for the trailer, one share for each of the trucks and the half load for the Subaru. This way, if anything happens to any one vehicle, they don’t lose everything of one item. Extra armor, the surplus weapons, a-bags of clothes, the all got distributed. Once she had caught up to what was being brought, she slipped away for a quick errand.
She went up to the cop car on the roof. She stripped the radio out of the car, giving them access to the encrypted frequencies. She also raided the trunk for anything useful as well as grabbed the bags out of the passenger compartment. She did a second check of the SUV while she was up there. The weapons in the back were junk, already starting to rust and not worth the hassle. She set the other elements up for Kara’s plan for the vehicles.
She looked around at the city since she was on the roof. There was still lights and noise off towards the city center. She got a bad feeling about it and wanted them to get done and get gone. She headed downstairs.
She went up to the cop car on the roof. She stripped the radio out of the car, giving them access to the encrypted frequencies. She also raided the trunk for anything useful as well as grabbed the bags out of the passenger compartment. She did a second check of the SUV while she was up there. The weapons in the back were junk, already starting to rust and not worth the hassle. She set the other elements up for Kara’s plan for the vehicles.
She looked around at the city since she was on the roof. There was still lights and noise off towards the city center. She got a bad feeling about it and wanted them to get done and get gone. She headed downstairs.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Allyson had finished carrying stuff up and down and up and down. Kara sent her out to the panel truck to double check the contents before they ditched it. Moving around inside the back of the truck, she could see what Kara had said about the contents. Most of it was stuff that just wasn’t worth the space or effort. Half a pallet of children’s DVDs, buckets of mustard, a pallet of diet soda, loose boxes of action figures and toy cars, all worthless at the moment. There was one shining spot in the whole truck. Allyson came from the truck with her prize; two huge boxes of feminine hygiene products.
As Allyson walked over to the ambulance, she was almost overwhelmed by a terrible sense of wrongness as she approached. Her feet stopped of their own accord. She could not walk closer without a serious effort. She knew in the pit of her stomach there was nothing in there they needed. She went back inside to put the boxes with the gear to go, and to talk to Kara about the ambulance.
As Allyson walked over to the ambulance, she was almost overwhelmed by a terrible sense of wrongness as she approached. Her feet stopped of their own accord. She could not walk closer without a serious effort. She knew in the pit of her stomach there was nothing in there they needed. She went back inside to put the boxes with the gear to go, and to talk to Kara about the ambulance.
Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
As Allyson walked over to the ambulance, she was almost overwhelmed by a terrible sense of wrongness as she approached. Her feet stopped of their own accord. She could not walk closer without a serious effort. She knew in the pit of her stomach there was nothing in there they needed. She went back inside to put the boxes with the gear to go, and to talk to Kara about the ambulance.
The ambulance may hold life and death for the crew....
So it is bloody, TS, do your job....
Thanks CCG for chapters....
Texican....
The ambulance may hold life and death for the crew....
So it is bloody, TS, do your job....
Thanks CCG for chapters....
Texican....
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Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
Could be explosives, or a nuke, or biologicals, or blood brains guts and body parts....
Or....
Either dead or dying children which would be very sickening....
Now it could be just sick children that need help....
Texican....
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Garen was down on the ground floor now. He was wandering through the waterlogged and disheveled remains of the classrooms and such. He saved the simulation bays until last, knowing the devastation that awaited him there. There were a host of conflicting emotions in him. He remembered how they had done this improvement and that modification. New projectors in the classrooms, computer upgrades, new this, improve that. This was all his now. And it was all ruined.
He remembered when they started moving most of the larger supplies stockpiles out to his place to let them turn what was the storeroom into another classroom. This has turned out to be a good thing, since they didn’t lose as much as they might have. He found a couple cases of IV fluid and some other training supplies he marked to be retrieved, as well as the six backboards. He shuffled around some more collecting odds and ends for a few more minutes until, with a resigned sigh, moved through the doors leading into the simulation bays.
This was their baby, their main tangible investment that was in this building that couldn’t be easily relocated. Several full-fledged shoot house scenario stations. In here they were able to simulate day, night, outside, offices, homes, almost anything they needed. Part of all of this capability was the high tech systems. Cameras, sound systems, fog machines and mannequins. Most everything was fairly replaceable. The high fidelity mannequins would be the toughest. They had 23 of them. Each of them were built to allow almost every medical intervention possible and interact via computer to simulate real people. This wasn’t cheap though. Each one was around eighty thousand dollars. They had been submerged in seawater for an extended period of time. The electronics were toast. The physical mannequins’ body may be salvageable, but that is a long way down the road. Several million dollars of the Center’s assets lay scattered across the floor. Garen had an idea. They could serve one more mission for the Center while they waited. He went to get a couple of chairs.
He remembered when they started moving most of the larger supplies stockpiles out to his place to let them turn what was the storeroom into another classroom. This has turned out to be a good thing, since they didn’t lose as much as they might have. He found a couple cases of IV fluid and some other training supplies he marked to be retrieved, as well as the six backboards. He shuffled around some more collecting odds and ends for a few more minutes until, with a resigned sigh, moved through the doors leading into the simulation bays.
This was their baby, their main tangible investment that was in this building that couldn’t be easily relocated. Several full-fledged shoot house scenario stations. In here they were able to simulate day, night, outside, offices, homes, almost anything they needed. Part of all of this capability was the high tech systems. Cameras, sound systems, fog machines and mannequins. Most everything was fairly replaceable. The high fidelity mannequins would be the toughest. They had 23 of them. Each of them were built to allow almost every medical intervention possible and interact via computer to simulate real people. This wasn’t cheap though. Each one was around eighty thousand dollars. They had been submerged in seawater for an extended period of time. The electronics were toast. The physical mannequins’ body may be salvageable, but that is a long way down the road. Several million dollars of the Center’s assets lay scattered across the floor. Garen had an idea. They could serve one more mission for the Center while they waited. He went to get a couple of chairs.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
One of the last things being loaded in the vehicles was the personal gear of each of the drivers. This required decisions to be made about who was riding where. Bekka knew how she wanted it, but wanting it and it being right was two separate creatures sometimes. She wanted to throw Garen in the Subaru, her behind the wheel and hall ass to the house. Her analytical mind overload this though. Three vehicles. Three drivers, since she wasn’t sure how good Garen was yet. Five people. If Garen was hurt bad enough to be incapacitated still, she knew how to work it, but he was up and walking and talking. She was finishing tying things down on the vehicles while she played out all the scenarios in her head to figure who went where. They had to hurry, dawn was soon. They could see the darkness lifting somewhat. No one was on the third floor with her to bounce the ideas off of. Kara and Allyson were getting the extra vehicles set, and Angelique was on the first floor helping Garen. She finally came to a conclusion and placed everyone’s gear with their vehicles. A short blurb over the radio to let everyone know the stuff was ready, they needed to finish and brief.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Kara stood in the back of the ambulance, double checking her earlier impression that they didn’t need any of this stuff. She checked the cabinets inside the rear compartment but there was no hidden gems. The narc box was missing as well as the jump kit. The cardiac monitor was there, as well as the piles of cut up and bloody clothes, alongside puddles of various fluids and fecal material. Once again she got the feeling of something wrong or foul taking place in here. She went to the front compartment and rummaged around looking for anything of use. The only thing she found was a set of binoculars next to the hazmat book in the passenger door pocket. She checked the batteries and the fuel. There was enough for what she needed to do. She went to check on Allyson at the moving truck.
Allyson checked the front of the truck and found no useful tidbits to add to their stuff. There would be sufficient fuel for the trip. She was about to go tell Kara when Kara showed up at the window of the truck.
Everything prepared, they went back up to get with Bekka, Garen and Angelique to finalize things and head out. And not a minute too soon, it was beginning to get light out.
Allyson checked the front of the truck and found no useful tidbits to add to their stuff. There would be sufficient fuel for the trip. She was about to go tell Kara when Kara showed up at the window of the truck.
Everything prepared, they went back up to get with Bekka, Garen and Angelique to finalize things and head out. And not a minute too soon, it was beginning to get light out.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Garen and Bekka were deep in conversation planning who went where. They had finally come to a consensus between the two of them on several key points. The three most familiar with the area around the house and the town should be split among the three different vehicles. That meant Bekka, Kara and Garen were each in a vehicle. Bekka wasn’t sure Garen would be up to driving, but at least he could navigate. The vehicle with the most gear needed the two most able bodied if they needed to shift gear around. This basically determined it would be Kara and Angelique in Garen’s truck. Also, with it being the heaviest and longest with the trailer, it would be in the middle. Bekka had a long chat with Kara about Allyson and their drive down to the Center. Kara basically told Bekka that Allyson drove on the street as good or better than Bekka did in the dirt. This she relayed to Garen. This was no surprise to him. He had vetted her for the Center and found out she had been to ‘Mad Max’ school. It wasn’t really called that. It was a school for advanced pursuit driving instruction, sometimes called interceptor school. One of the unofficial mottos of the school was ‘We don’t chase, we catch.’
Bekka’s proposal was Allyson and Garen in the Subaru in the trail position, and herself in John’s truck in the lead position. Her thought process was it had one of the lighter loads and was also less valuable so it it had to be abandoned due to ambush, roadblock etcetera, she could just bail and drop into one of the other two vehicles and they wouldn’t be out that much.
Garen had just agreed to her reasoning when the rest of them arrived. Bekka started briefing the others on the plan. A couple of other elements were laid out as well. The first rally point if they were scattered was the convenience store they had gotten the gas from the underground tank. If the area looked safe enough, they would circle the wagons there and fill all the cans and tanks they could. If it didn’t look right or they were scattered after that, there was an old barn at a huge fallow farm on the outskirts of the city they would use for the next rally point. The gas point was in the GPSs as volleyball, and the barn as hockey. If for some reason things got too bad and they had to abandon the vehicles, everyone was reminded to eject the microSD card from the GPS. That would render them unusable and prevent someone from using it to follow them back to the house.
After the details for the trip were gone over, the plan to get rid of the other four vehicles was worked. The fifth vehicle, Logan’s truck, was going to be left here as an emergency fallback resource. The keys were hidden in an unlikely location. The other supply caches were placed in the ceiling over the heating ducts to reduce detection.
Everyone moved their personal gear to the vehicles and got things ready for the trip. Bekka then went to the roof with her rifle to provide overwatch for operation vehicle dump. Allyson and Kara went first to the two vehicles in the yard and secured their secret weapon for this task. Garen went to the gate into the yard. As soonas the two vehicles started up, Garen swung open the gate. Allyson drove the moving truck out and drove it about a mile away, stopping at the top of a downhill street headed towards the city center. She stopped the truck in neutral, set the parking brake and got out. She then retrieved one of Johns mountain bikes from the truck. With the truck’s engine off and in neutral, she then released the parking brake. It began rolling down the slope slowly towards the city center. Alyson didn’t stick around to see how straight it would stay. She hopped on the bike and made a bee line straight back towards the Center.
Kara did basically the same thing with the ambulance but in another direction. She pointed it downhill towards the shore. They got back to the Center and rode straight up the now open parking structure gate. Garen had closed and locked the yard gate and moved around front to open the parking structure for the next phase.
Allyson drove the cop car a few blocks away and left it in a back alley. Kara had the harder task. She drove the SUV several blocks away. Once there, she moved Logan’s body into the driver’s seat. They had also arranged some of the weapons and drug leftovers in such a way to look like a drug deal gone bad. Once everything looked right, Kara fired a single shotgun round through the driver’s door into Logan’s body, to try and make it a more muddled scenario. She then went as fast as she could pedal back to the Center. The two bicycles Kara and Allyson used went onto the trailer. Everybody but Garen onboard the vehicles, they rolled out into the street. Garen closed the roll down doors and closed up the Center. As he stepped out the ground door, he patted the mannequin in the chair by the door on the head, telling him they would be back. He had left a multi-system trauma mannequin, complete with bullet holes and moulage blood in chairs just inside all the doors. On their chests was a sign reading “Looters Will Be Shot”. Hopefully it will give anyone some pause if they broke in. Garen climbed into the passenger seat of the Subaru at the tail of the convoy. They began to roll, aimed away from the city center. Not a minute too soon, the sun rise was here.
Bekka’s proposal was Allyson and Garen in the Subaru in the trail position, and herself in John’s truck in the lead position. Her thought process was it had one of the lighter loads and was also less valuable so it it had to be abandoned due to ambush, roadblock etcetera, she could just bail and drop into one of the other two vehicles and they wouldn’t be out that much.
Garen had just agreed to her reasoning when the rest of them arrived. Bekka started briefing the others on the plan. A couple of other elements were laid out as well. The first rally point if they were scattered was the convenience store they had gotten the gas from the underground tank. If the area looked safe enough, they would circle the wagons there and fill all the cans and tanks they could. If it didn’t look right or they were scattered after that, there was an old barn at a huge fallow farm on the outskirts of the city they would use for the next rally point. The gas point was in the GPSs as volleyball, and the barn as hockey. If for some reason things got too bad and they had to abandon the vehicles, everyone was reminded to eject the microSD card from the GPS. That would render them unusable and prevent someone from using it to follow them back to the house.
After the details for the trip were gone over, the plan to get rid of the other four vehicles was worked. The fifth vehicle, Logan’s truck, was going to be left here as an emergency fallback resource. The keys were hidden in an unlikely location. The other supply caches were placed in the ceiling over the heating ducts to reduce detection.
Everyone moved their personal gear to the vehicles and got things ready for the trip. Bekka then went to the roof with her rifle to provide overwatch for operation vehicle dump. Allyson and Kara went first to the two vehicles in the yard and secured their secret weapon for this task. Garen went to the gate into the yard. As soonas the two vehicles started up, Garen swung open the gate. Allyson drove the moving truck out and drove it about a mile away, stopping at the top of a downhill street headed towards the city center. She stopped the truck in neutral, set the parking brake and got out. She then retrieved one of Johns mountain bikes from the truck. With the truck’s engine off and in neutral, she then released the parking brake. It began rolling down the slope slowly towards the city center. Alyson didn’t stick around to see how straight it would stay. She hopped on the bike and made a bee line straight back towards the Center.
Kara did basically the same thing with the ambulance but in another direction. She pointed it downhill towards the shore. They got back to the Center and rode straight up the now open parking structure gate. Garen had closed and locked the yard gate and moved around front to open the parking structure for the next phase.
Allyson drove the cop car a few blocks away and left it in a back alley. Kara had the harder task. She drove the SUV several blocks away. Once there, she moved Logan’s body into the driver’s seat. They had also arranged some of the weapons and drug leftovers in such a way to look like a drug deal gone bad. Once everything looked right, Kara fired a single shotgun round through the driver’s door into Logan’s body, to try and make it a more muddled scenario. She then went as fast as she could pedal back to the Center. The two bicycles Kara and Allyson used went onto the trailer. Everybody but Garen onboard the vehicles, they rolled out into the street. Garen closed the roll down doors and closed up the Center. As he stepped out the ground door, he patted the mannequin in the chair by the door on the head, telling him they would be back. He had left a multi-system trauma mannequin, complete with bullet holes and moulage blood in chairs just inside all the doors. On their chests was a sign reading “Looters Will Be Shot”. Hopefully it will give anyone some pause if they broke in. Garen climbed into the passenger seat of the Subaru at the tail of the convoy. They began to roll, aimed away from the city center. Not a minute too soon, the sun rise was here.
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ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
They moved out, trying to go down roads different from the ones they abandoned the excess vehicles on. One of the other issues in their path choices was an attempt to avoid long lines of sight. This may sound strange, not wanting the ability to see far down the path, but sight works both ways. They didn’t want people to see the little convoy of vehicles blocks away and be able to set up for them, or rally a crew wanting to take everything they had. Upon reflection, they figured their pursuers from the day before were probably members of a gang looking for easy pickings and figured a truck with a couple of women up front would be a pushover for robbery and more. Garen was harder to see in the back seat area and was probably misidentified. They detoured around the area they first encountered the SUV, just in case.
This, by necessity, took them through sections other than the ones they had come through the day before. They had punched the fuel point (volleyball) up on the GPS’ in each vehicle. Each vehicle also had someone in it that was there when they stopped the day before, so they would know how it was when they left it, enabling them to spot changes. These were not so much for the routing as much as to give a moving map display of the nearby streets. They were older dedicated GPS units, and everyone was picking on Bekka and Garen for still using them. They were wondering when they would catch up to the times and use their cell phones instead. There’s an app for that was the common statement. They just shook their heads and pressed on, not bothering to explain for the tenth or fifteenth time that cell phones needed cell towers to tell it where it is, whereas, these just needed to see the sky. They had kept the map software updated but as time went by, the files got bigger and bigger, until they exceeded the onboard storage of the old units. This required them to add a Micro-SD card to hold the bigger software updates. The side effect was, without the card it, it wouldn’t work. Micro-SD cards are tiny and easy to break, lose or hide, as well. Bekka was the one to worry about how fast they could wipe the GPS’s if they had to abandon them. She remembered the cumbersome process required back when the XL12 GPS first went into the Aircrew Survival Vests and was concerned before this trip. Garen remembered the Micro-SD issue with the older ones, so they put the oldest ones they had in the vehicles for the trip to the Center. For any trip, they normally had two in the vehicle, one for the driver for main route info, and one for the co-Pilot to plot food, detours and such. These stayed in the vehicles at all times. They moved the second one from Garen’s truck to John’s truck for the drive back.
Bekka was moving them along at a moderate speed through several mixed houses, businesses and older neighborhoods with brick homes. These seemed to fair decently as far as the quake, but there was definitely flooding throughout the areas, most of which had receded. More encouragingly, there were signs of life as well. Not a great deal, but here and there. There were also signs of looting; houses with the doors kicked in and belongings strewn in the yards and it didn’t look waterborne. Some of this stuff was dry on top, with no marks of mud or water. In a few instances, there were bodies. Most of these bodies looked several days old, obviously dead. Sometimes they saw a vehicle moving around. When this happened, they tried to get out of their line of sight as quickly and unobtrusively as they could. So far, no of the moving vehicles seemed to notice or acknowledge them. They wanted to keep it that way. On through the streets their convoy wound, always trying to move forward to their next objective.
This, by necessity, took them through sections other than the ones they had come through the day before. They had punched the fuel point (volleyball) up on the GPS’ in each vehicle. Each vehicle also had someone in it that was there when they stopped the day before, so they would know how it was when they left it, enabling them to spot changes. These were not so much for the routing as much as to give a moving map display of the nearby streets. They were older dedicated GPS units, and everyone was picking on Bekka and Garen for still using them. They were wondering when they would catch up to the times and use their cell phones instead. There’s an app for that was the common statement. They just shook their heads and pressed on, not bothering to explain for the tenth or fifteenth time that cell phones needed cell towers to tell it where it is, whereas, these just needed to see the sky. They had kept the map software updated but as time went by, the files got bigger and bigger, until they exceeded the onboard storage of the old units. This required them to add a Micro-SD card to hold the bigger software updates. The side effect was, without the card it, it wouldn’t work. Micro-SD cards are tiny and easy to break, lose or hide, as well. Bekka was the one to worry about how fast they could wipe the GPS’s if they had to abandon them. She remembered the cumbersome process required back when the XL12 GPS first went into the Aircrew Survival Vests and was concerned before this trip. Garen remembered the Micro-SD issue with the older ones, so they put the oldest ones they had in the vehicles for the trip to the Center. For any trip, they normally had two in the vehicle, one for the driver for main route info, and one for the co-Pilot to plot food, detours and such. These stayed in the vehicles at all times. They moved the second one from Garen’s truck to John’s truck for the drive back.
Bekka was moving them along at a moderate speed through several mixed houses, businesses and older neighborhoods with brick homes. These seemed to fair decently as far as the quake, but there was definitely flooding throughout the areas, most of which had receded. More encouragingly, there were signs of life as well. Not a great deal, but here and there. There were also signs of looting; houses with the doors kicked in and belongings strewn in the yards and it didn’t look waterborne. Some of this stuff was dry on top, with no marks of mud or water. In a few instances, there were bodies. Most of these bodies looked several days old, obviously dead. Sometimes they saw a vehicle moving around. When this happened, they tried to get out of their line of sight as quickly and unobtrusively as they could. So far, no of the moving vehicles seemed to notice or acknowledge them. They wanted to keep it that way. On through the streets their convoy wound, always trying to move forward to their next objective.
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Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
The family thinks I'm hopelessly old fashion for keeping obsolete hard copy maps in all the vehicles.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Alyson was nervous. She was in the Subaru with Garen at the tail of their tiny three vehicle convoy. She had several conflicting elements working in her head. There was the fatigue issue. She had been on a rollercoaster of adrenaline and hard labor since the middle of yesterday, for one. She also had a very serious casualty she had treated, who also was her boss, and the one responsible for her current food and shelter. This patient is sitting in the seat next to her. Part of the reason they were in the vehicle together was so she could keep an eye on his condition. This was in addition to driving one of the vehicles, at the rear of the convoy, which meant any ambush or roadblock they encountered, she was last through the chokepoint, and anyone encountered would past the point of surprise by the time she arrived. She was also still feeling the effects of the betrayal of Logan. She hadn’t known him that long, but trying to kill Garen when he had extended the invitation on the day of the earthquake to come join up Was mind boggling to her. She now knew how big an offer that was. She also had lingering unsettlement form the ambulance and her conversation with Kara about it. She had been on rape scenes and murder scenes, but that ambulance just felt wrong to her core for some reason. Kara agreed that there was just something that felt seriously wrong. To top everything off there was an intense one on one conversation with Bekka after seating assignments were determined. She had flashbacks to the woods scene when they came and got her. She could hear Bekka’s words echoing in her head; “I don’t care what was just briefed. I am telling you right now, part of the reason you are in the seat you are in, with the person you are with, is this- Anything happens, crap goes south, I don’t care what it is, you get Garen safely back to the house. You are driving the fastest, most capable vehicle in in this string. Kara says you can drive. You better make it happen. If you don’t, I will beat you to death if I survive. Do you understand?” Allyson nodded. She saw the conviction in her eyes. She wasn’t kidding.
I had been playing catch up all through the evening, deep into the night, on into dawn. I was worried about Garen. I was horrified at the things I had missed. I was committed to pulling off this mission that almost cost me Garen. I threw myself back into planning and packing as best as possible. I try to find anything that might help us. Once we leave the Center, we may never come back. There’s no telling what may come in the future. I just know I have to do everything possible to get as many of us possible back home. In this aspect this is just like downrange, got to get my team home in as much as one piece as I can. I started thinking on the drivers for the trip. One of the decisions that looked on the face of it as a mission driven one was really a selfish one. I put Allyson in my Subaru with Garen. It’s the fastest and most nimble. It is really an escape pod for me to get Garen out of there as safe as I can. I realized that for that to work, I had to tell Allyson this part of my plan. I pulled her aside after the driving assignments were made. She looked tired. I didn’t beat around the bush.
“Allyson, I don’t care what was just briefed. I am telling you right now, part of the reason you are in the seat you are in, with the person you are with, is this- Anything happens, crap goes south, I don’t care what it is, you get Garen safely back to the house. You are driving the fastest, most capable vehicle in in this string. Kara says you can drive. You better make it happen. If you don’t, I will beat you to death if I survive. Do you understand?” Allyson just nodded at me. At this point I just had to walk away for a moment. Part of me was still wanting to just throw Garen into the Subaru, and take off, but I fear Garen might hate me for it. God, I just want to get everybody home. We are all tired and not thinking too clearly, but to stay longer and rest up leaves us out here in no man’s land for too long.
I had been playing catch up all through the evening, deep into the night, on into dawn. I was worried about Garen. I was horrified at the things I had missed. I was committed to pulling off this mission that almost cost me Garen. I threw myself back into planning and packing as best as possible. I try to find anything that might help us. Once we leave the Center, we may never come back. There’s no telling what may come in the future. I just know I have to do everything possible to get as many of us possible back home. In this aspect this is just like downrange, got to get my team home in as much as one piece as I can. I started thinking on the drivers for the trip. One of the decisions that looked on the face of it as a mission driven one was really a selfish one. I put Allyson in my Subaru with Garen. It’s the fastest and most nimble. It is really an escape pod for me to get Garen out of there as safe as I can. I realized that for that to work, I had to tell Allyson this part of my plan. I pulled her aside after the driving assignments were made. She looked tired. I didn’t beat around the bush.
“Allyson, I don’t care what was just briefed. I am telling you right now, part of the reason you are in the seat you are in, with the person you are with, is this- Anything happens, crap goes south, I don’t care what it is, you get Garen safely back to the house. You are driving the fastest, most capable vehicle in in this string. Kara says you can drive. You better make it happen. If you don’t, I will beat you to death if I survive. Do you understand?” Allyson just nodded at me. At this point I just had to walk away for a moment. Part of me was still wanting to just throw Garen into the Subaru, and take off, but I fear Garen might hate me for it. God, I just want to get everybody home. We are all tired and not thinking too clearly, but to stay longer and rest up leaves us out here in no man’s land for too long.
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Snettrecker
Contributing Member
Just caught up with this story. It's great. Everything to do with the medical parts is spot on too. Great job. The only qualm I had was when Bekka got into the hot tub with fresh wounds. It only seemed like a couple days since they were closed. Maybe it was longer, but that would really put a strain on the healing edges. You are obviously a well experienced individual with great writing abilities. Thanks
ETA forgot about the waterproof dressings... disregard
ETA forgot about the waterproof dressings... disregard
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ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Stitched plus waterproof dressings. I would be quite embarrassed if the medicine parts were wrong unless I did it intentionally.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique was still coming to grips with all that has happened since they left Garen’s house. She was so used to doing things on her own, trying to figure it out by herself. This served her well in the trip through the woods but she was still trying to figure out where she fit in here. If she wanted to fit in. She had to be honest with herself in that question. True, they have taken her in, clothed and outfitted her, and more importantly seem to be willing to help her get her revenge on the assholes that attacked her and her family. This was a major issue. She knew she didn’t have enough knowledge, skills and resources to do it on her own. She also didn’t want to mislead them on why she was looking to stick around.
She was tired and hurting. Getting shot in the chest will do that for you. She felt her mind wandering. She was in the passenger seat and Kara was driving. They were in the middle of the group so the navigation was being done by Bekka up front. They had Garen and Allyson in the car behind them. She felt like a spare wheel. Nothing really productive to do. She rechecked the way her equipment was arranged in case they had to bail out of the vehicles for the fortieth time. She then looked over at Kara and began studying her. She had never met someone like her before. Allyson she could understand, having a father who was also a cop. Garen and Bekka fit together and were not as intriguing. Kara was the zebra in the pasture, different. She wondered what her story was. Maybe she could get Kara to tell her sometime when they get back to Garen’s.
She was tired and hurting. Getting shot in the chest will do that for you. She felt her mind wandering. She was in the passenger seat and Kara was driving. They were in the middle of the group so the navigation was being done by Bekka up front. They had Garen and Allyson in the car behind them. She felt like a spare wheel. Nothing really productive to do. She rechecked the way her equipment was arranged in case they had to bail out of the vehicles for the fortieth time. She then looked over at Kara and began studying her. She had never met someone like her before. Allyson she could understand, having a father who was also a cop. Garen and Bekka fit together and were not as intriguing. Kara was the zebra in the pasture, different. She wondered what her story was. Maybe she could get Kara to tell her sometime when they get back to Garen’s.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Garen’s head pounded. He was having some trouble keeping his eyes open and his mind outside the vehicle. At their next stopping point he was going to have to tell Allyson so she could double check things, maybe add drugs or fluid. He won’t do it himself. Self-care for things as serious as this was, clear minds needed to make the calls unless absolutely necessary. She would do a MACE exam on him again, but it wasn’t very accurate on him since he knew the answers by heart. The worst part was they would have to tell Bekka he was having issues. He knew it was most likely simple side effects of having a bullet gouge your skull and rattle the shit out of your brain, but he knew Bekka would worry even more. He wanted to avoid this so he didn’t induce stress-borne mistakes. He also knew there wasn’t much they could do out here that would help without drugging the snot out of him and eliminating any amount of usefulness he might be able to offer.
Finally he could take it no more. He had to say something. Every bump and twitch of the steering wheel was an iron spike to the side of his head.
“Nurse, I’m late for my sponge bath and Propofol milkshake” pointing to the side of his head when Allyson looked over. “Pain, photophobia, nausea, and balance issues. Probably time for Propranolol, Phenergan and Fentanyl. I’m not much use right now. Please don’t worry Bekka. Sell it as precautionary, mild concussion.” Garen slumped down and held his head in his hands. His eyes were closed as he tried to calm his breathing.
Finally he could take it no more. He had to say something. Every bump and twitch of the steering wheel was an iron spike to the side of his head.
“Nurse, I’m late for my sponge bath and Propofol milkshake” pointing to the side of his head when Allyson looked over. “Pain, photophobia, nausea, and balance issues. Probably time for Propranolol, Phenergan and Fentanyl. I’m not much use right now. Please don’t worry Bekka. Sell it as precautionary, mild concussion.” Garen slumped down and held his head in his hands. His eyes were closed as he tried to calm his breathing.
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