Chapter 8
Date: March 7, 2292
Location: Republic
'So here we are' I thought as our convoy arrived at Republic from the south, stopping at an old church. The plan we made up was simple, we would go through all of the stores and anywhere else of value, find a central place to set up camp and store our loot, and then come back the following day and go through all the housing in the southern section of town and anywhere else we skipped.
We would split up into three different parties. Roy, Alex, and Chris would take a jeep to check the hospital and northern stores, which included the sheriff's office, looting them and checking the hospital to see whether or not it would be a good base. George, me, John, and Dusk would take the eastern portion of town with a truck and the second jeep, and finally Alice, Chris, Lucy, and Boxer would check out the western and southern areas with the remaining truck.
As we divided up into our three teams, George spoke up "Alright kids, be careful and on alert. While the town's mostly empty, there's still going to be the occasional radroach and ghoul, especially in the north, so be extra alert north team.". Roy and Chris nodded in response, with Alex letting out a grunt as he climbed down from the truck he was in. George then continued "Alright, just make sure not to go out of town, since there are other people living nearby the town." He said, reminding us of the numerous farmers to the north, a small group of raiders who lived on the highway to the west of Republic, and a follower's of the apocalypse outpost that was in the old high school on the road back east to the red rocket gas station.
We nodded and went our own ways, starting the job of cleaning out Republic
3 Hours Later
It was about three hours since we had started, and we had made good progress. We had already looted a small amount of gas stations, grocery stores, private businesses, the federal bank, and the court. It was going good for the other teams as well, with Chris's team already scavenging through the western portion and already working their way south, making their way to the city hall and the bank. Meanwhile, Alex's team had finished up their scavenging and were now at the hospital, clearing it out. I had heard over our radio the there were a few ghouls, but they were being dealt with. Otherwise, the hospital looked like it was in good condition, with only a couple of holes in the perimeter's concrete fence and damage to one of the outer buildings, along with the more than 200 years worth of decay.
I was walking in the street, next to the slowly moving truck, with the jeep behind us, when I saw a glimmer in a nearby grocery store. Curious, I went in the investigate, motioning for George to follow. As we entered the store I took notice of my surroundings. The store was small, with a checkout counter on the left, and 5 isles in front of me, with moldy and out of date products, with an occasional skeleton lying on the ground. But what got my attention was the metal door in the back, with a slight glow coming from a small window in it. As I walked toward it, I prepped my m4, and I heard George pump his shotgun, ready to meet any threats.
We soon reached the door and after waiting a moment, breached the room. What I saw surprised me. Half of the room was covered in what looked like a blue tinted force field. What really got my attention though, was the food inside of it. There were breads, cheeses, meats, chips, cans, and fruit. "There was a Preservation field here?!" I looked over at George, who was just as shocked as I was, staring at the field. "If I had known that this was here, I would've come here months ago." At my slightly confused look, he chuckled and said "I've been looking for this kind of thing for a while now, and I would have searched this store, except the only grocery stores that usually do have them are ones belonging to big companies, and even then they're usually only found in the bigger towns and cities."
After a little while and a discussion with Dusk, we decided to lock up the room and leave it for now, promising to return once we had a proper storage area set up. As I left the store, I wiped my face with a piece of cloth, looking around the town. Besides some minor decay and an occasional crashed car or more damaged building, the town looked to be in good condition.
4 Hours later
It was starting to get dark by the time we all finished up and met at the hospital. Everyone had little difficulty scavenging, occasionally encountering a ghoul, radroach, or mole rat. The only ones who had trouble were the hospital team, where they had some trouble with a bunch of ghouls who were on one of the top floors. Even so, they managed to clear them out within half an hour.
We had agreed to leave behind anything too big, heavy, or numerous to scavenge later, marking the locations on the map and taking the smaller and useful items. We collected numerous guns, ammo, food, water, med supplies, tools, and some other utility items. We left the other supplies (like the bulk food, construction material, etc.) to either be collected within the next few days, or to be left there until we needed them or had an efficient way to transport and store them.
"A toast! To a great beginning!" John hollered, raising his bottle of water in the air. A few of the others responding in kind, or just nodded in agreement. As they did so, I looked out of a nearby window facing south and I could see one of our jeeps coming back from the farm. As a moving in gift, George had left us the two trucks and said we're welcome back to the farm anytime. Roy had gone ahead and driven the George back in the jeep, and was now returning with Nat.
I looked to the right, seeing the sun set, a sight that I haven't gotten tired of since we left the vault a few days ago. I heard a shuffle and I looked over to see Dusk standing right next to me, watching the sunset with me. Looking back at it, I thought of all the hardships that we'll soon have to face. We'll have to scavenge the rest of the town and fortify the hospital, repairing its perimeter defenses and bringing its front blast door, it's couple of lobby turrets, and the camera system back online. We'll have to meet up and discuss relations with the nearby groups and possibly take out the raider gang. We'll have to recruit more people and prepare them to fight against scum like raiders and slavers. I thought over these things and more, wondering how we would be able to accomplish this. Then, Dusk nudged me, making me look over at her curiously. "You're thinking about the future, aren't you?" She asked, knowing what I was just thinking. "Yeah" I responded "You're not the only one, but for now, let's just relax and leave the thinking and planning for tomorrow, okay?" She said, slight concern on her face. After chuckling, I said "Alright, I guess that's a good idea." She smiled and taking my hand, she led me back to the group.
About an hour later I was in bed. We had agreed to take our own separate rooms and had them on the third floor. John had agreed to take the first shift and Chris the second after midnight.
I heard a knock on the door, and looking up, I saw Dusk standing there. "Hey Adam, do you mind if I can sleep here tonight, I just can't seem to sleep." Nodding sleepily, I patted the other side of my bed, earning a soft smile from Dusk as she walked over and crawled under the covers.
"Good night Adam." She said, starting to drift off to sleep. I replied in kind, turning on my side and closing my eyes, resting myself for the tasks needed to be done within the next few days.
