"Hey, kid."
He trudges into the building, deciding not to help unload the van.Inside the receiving room of the gun shop Mike bumps into an attractive young woman wearing a nomex flight suit and ammo harness. She's carrying an AK-47 with a lot of cute little heart stickers on the stock.
"..."
"Hey, kid."
"... Ah, *cough* hi..."
"Oh, Sam mentioned earlier that we should maybe pick up some extra ammo if we're going south of the bridge. Sounds like a plan - got any more for us guys?"
He looks inside and spots the chick that Mike is talking to (or not). "Hmmm. Nice."
To Mike: "I'm Geena. Born here in Van, probably gonna die here, too, looks like."
<Long uncomfortable pause, she rubs the little hearts on her AK.>
<She pulls out a bag of thick zip straps and hands them to Mike.>
"These are handy, have some. Saved my life last night."
"Oh, Sam mentioned earlier that we should maybe pick up some extra ammo if we're going south of the bridge. Sounds like a plan - got any more for us guys?"
He looks inside and spots the chick that Mike is talking to (or not). "Hmmm. Nice."
"Attitude."
"South? F!&*. You'll need lots. Eddie loaded a s#&+load this afternoon, I'll go grab some bricks."
"Thanks mate." He glances again at Geena. "Yeah, looks like. Go Alex."
Patrick hauls the goods to the shop. He sees Alex conversing with a young chick, but doesn't feel very sociable right now. He keeps his head down and returns to Lucretia for another load.
To Mike: "I'm Geena. Born here in Van, probably gonna die here, too, looks like."
<Long uncomfortable pause, she rubs the little hearts on her AK.>
<She pulls out a bag of thick zip straps and hands them to Mike.>
"These are handy, have some. Saved my life last night."
Mike takes the zip-ties, a bit puzzled.
"What did you need these for?"
He pauses for a moment.
"I'm Mike, by the way. Mike O'Neill."
"I used them to zip the handles of the double doors in Queen Victoria High School yesterday - used three of them - kept me from getting eaten... or worse. I was substitute teaching."
"I used them to zip the handles of the double doors in Queen Victoria High School yesterday - used three of them - kept me from getting eaten... or worse. I was substitute teaching."
"Thanks."
Jack brings out 500 rounds for any automatic weapons and an extra 100 box for each of the guns. They are waterproof ammo cases.
"Thanks."
"You could, like, handcuff someone too...."
<Trails off. Looks embarrassed.>
<Jack nods his head and sticks his lower lip out in a frown that says impressed.>
"Niiiiiice."
"Quit playin around down there kids this is making me nervous!"
Patrick works robotically, unloading the vehicle in silence
Dave looks around, scratching his chin after stowing the extra ammo.
"C'mon guys. If we're gonna do this, let's do this."
Patrick looks up, his face a blank
"Yeah. Let's hit the marina and see what we see."
"Thanks.""You could, like, handcuff someone too...."
<Trails off. Looks embarrassed.>
Mike cracks a wry smile.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Seeya."
<Geena heads up the stairs packing a clip while she walks, looking really great in her flight suit.>
<Looks relieved to see Johnny.>
"We're gonna use the building next door for quarantine. When you guys come back you should go in there. it should be finished by tomorrow."
<Look's at the nervous faces.>
"Be careful, all right?"
"Seeya."
<Geena heads up the stairs packing a clip while she walks.>
"Yeah, you too."
<Looks relieved to see Johnny.>
"We're gonna use the building next door for quarantine. When you guys come back you should go in there. it should be finished by tomorrow."
<Look's at the nervous faces.>
"Be careful, all right?"
"I'm always careful, hon."
<Johnnie kisses Mary Ann.>
"Be careful yourself. Err on the side of caution. I mean it. It's getting very crazy outside."
He trudges into the building, deciding not to help unload the van.Inside the receiving room of the gun shop Mike bumps into an attractive young woman wearing a nomex flight suit and ammo harness. She's carrying an AK-47 with a lot of cute little heart stickers on the stock.
Patrick gets behind the wheel of Lucretia and does a quick check of her. He fiddles with the iPod, looking for a good song to start the journey off with.
Everyone piles into the van, spacious again without the lootage. The streets are numbered and easy to navigate as you wind your way to the Mosquito Creek Marina.
Everyone is silent. You pick your windows, eyes scanning continually and the stress of the last few days melt into smothering haze of paranoia. Three times someone bursts out with "Zs" then trails off "false alarm"...
Sam is in the back of the van, looking out the back windows with one earpiece of her O-ROKRS in her ear and the other flipped up so she can hear the others talking. Those close by can just make out the song if they listen closely.
She took the chance to get changed back at EA and now has this shirt under her camo gear.
“Cool shirt. I’ve got the album on my iPod. Wicked jacket design for the CD too…” Judd trails off, wondering if Maynard’s been infected yet…
"Thanks, I've seen them a couple of times but didn't bring any tour shirts with me. I've got all their albums on my iPod. A Perfect Circle are pretty good too, I've got their three albums down there too." She reaches down and pulls her iPod out of her bag and throws it to Dave for a look.
"You'll probably find some strange stuff on there," she says with a smile.
Judd shakes his head. “Nah man, maybe later. I better keep an eye out for Z’s.”
Johnnie, who is at the back, closes his eyes and rests.
Patrick smiles for the first time in hours. He flips around his iPod to another song
"I'll go with some Tool for the drive."
Onto Marine Drive, head east.
You cross the band of trees and creek that bounds the small industrial district where the gunshop and the construction supply are. The same band of trees that was churning with undead.
Marine Drive takes you into a commercial zone that looks down on north side of the mall (all of North Van slopes down to the inlet to the south so you can see quite a bit wherever there are openings between buildings on the right), and you have a good view of the whole shopping complex, eyes just level with the roof of the one story sections between department stores, near the entrances.
Judd puts his rifle scope to his eye as you pass the constipated on and off ramps. A few cars burn here and there, and police cars sit in circles near the main ramps, lights flashing and doors open. All empty.
None of the survivors Judd saw before are anywhere to be seen, although granted, he watched them attacked on a higher level at the west side.
Nor are there any zombies.
North Van has never had a high population density, but the lack of people is very unsettling. One would think that there would be either panicked Canadians or Zs everywhere, but just bodies litter the lot here and there. Or pieces of them.
The glass is broken in both the north-west and north-east entrance doors, lending them a sort of maw-like "gates of hell" look especially for Judd, whose imagination goes wild with speculation of what it looks like in there.
While Sarge winds through a snarl of abandoned cars and tries to turn south onto... (you look up for the sign... ahhh...) Belwicke Ave, half of you see the Marina about a km away, down the easy slope of the tidy industrial side road. The end of the road is bumper to bumper car. You see a few boats left in the Marina.
The other half of you look down into a Honda Civic as Sarge slows. Inside is a woman, eyes open, hands on the wheel, sitting rigid and eyes fixed. Like a statue.
Patrick keeps his eyes trained on the oncoming marina, restlessly searching for any zombies or other unwelcome surprises.