Let's Clean House

I hit the ground running this morning since I need to replenish my supplies. I still have the lowest level of the prison on my mind and wondering if there are any survivors down there waiting for rescue. Perhaps later today I will venture into the cell block to investigate. I surmise that if there was anyone jailed at the time of the outbreak, they may still be OK though I haven't determined the full degree of how the virus spreads. Could it be airborne; a body fluid pathogen; can you get infected by being scratched? I have so many questions but no answers it would seem. The only thing I can do at this point is presume that any contact could cause infection until I get my hands on one of them to do some checking. So far, this virus only appears to affect humans but that could change and impact other species as well; only time will tell.

One thing I have got to do is either get my car or steal a car. I grab some diesel fuel and bring it with me to get the generator next door to work. So I fill two 10 gallon gas cans, put on my gear and bring them with me. I take a look out the window to the road below facing my building and it is vacant. Even though it looks like I've caught a break, I'm still going to be careful anyway. I open the door to the police station and lock it with a set of keys I found on one of the desks. I slowly creep down the sidewalk looking all around for any sign of trouble; so far, so good. I have no choice since the other entrances are locked and the key fob won't work without power, so the lobby is my only option. However, the one nice thing is the plate glass windows so you can see what's going on inside.

I round the corner to the front of the building and take a peek into the lobby and I spot two or three infected stumbling around the lobby. Now I have to decide, go in with guns blazing or should I try to sneak? I decide to just go in but not use my guns, I'll use the hunting knife I found in the evidence room should I have to kill. It saddens me because these people were my neighbors but I have to stay alive. I kick the first and second set of doors open and run through the lobby past them. They've spotted me and they try to grab me as I run past. One actually touched me but I manage to squirm free. Too close for comfort if you ask me. I get to the roof access doorway and jump inside and lock it. Yikes, 18 flights of stairs in the dark to the roof where the generator is. At least coming down will be easier, though this is going to suck with the fact I have two gas cans I'm lugging with me plus my weapons. I turn on my flashlight which I have to hold with my teeth since both arms are occupied. At least I get my exercise today so I begin my climb.

Finally at the top, I open the door to the generator room. I hear a shuffling and realize someone is in here. I look around and spot the person who appears to be infected. This one must be recently infected because he is moving around pretty good, oh no, it's my neighbor John who works on the maintenance team here. He makes a run at me and when he gets to me, I grab him by the shoulders to stop him. Damn these guys are strong; I have no choice other than to try to disable him. I take my knife and strike his forehead with the handle end, he falls down and I think he's out cold. He's not moving but at least I can get a chance to see if these things have a heartbeat...they do at least from what I can tell with John. This is good news because it means that it could be cured.

I turn my attention to the generator and look for the fuel port. I pop the cap open and the generator's gas tank is filled to the top. Maybe no one turned it on? So I look around for the starting mechanism, I find it and hit the button, the generator starts up and the lights go on. At least I have a 20 gallon reserve of fuel later should I need it. You can tell the power has been out for a bit as the building is starting to stink from spoiled food in people's fridges and freezers. Now, let’s get the car and get a move on.

I make my descent into the parking garage down the 20 flights of stairs to the automated parking system. I open the door to the garage and fortunately there is no one around. I quickly move to the scanning station to request my car, punch in my code and it accepts it and fetches my car. The bay door opens after positioning the car and I jump in and pull out quick. I hit the garage door opener button on my remote and the door begins to open as I roll up the ramp to exit. The noise of the garage door opening has attracted some of the nearby infected and they immediately begin to run at the car. Fortunately I don't have to run any of them over as I am able to veer around them. Out the garage door I go and proceed to the street. I have to drive on the sidewalk in a few places due to road blocks caused by abandoned vehicles. I look at my gas gauge and it shows a half tank. That's good but I need to find a supply of more gas soon because it won't last forever.

I drive around for a little while trying to find a store with some food that hasn't already been stripped bare. I find a super Wal-Mart within about ten miles of home; strangely it looks like this one hasn't even been touched. I'm immediately suspicious so I have my guard up. I park on the sidewalk, grab my duffel bag and loaded shotgun and look inside to determine if I can see anything, stranger yet it's vacant of people. I break the window and begin entering. The lights are off but that is fine because daylight is illuminating the store some. The darkest part will most likely be the second floor since there are no windows up there. Good thing I have plenty of flashlights. I can tell people have been here before as most of the shelves are in disorder but there is still plenty of food like canned soups and camping supplies.

I fill my bag to the top with any non-perishable food I can find. I also grab some more arrows and ten boxes of 12-gauge shells so I don't run out of ammo. I think to myself, 'Uh oh, I'm going against that new gun legislation, oops. Oh well, let them write me a threatening letter', I laugh to myself and keep moving. Who's around to enforce that law or any other law? At this point, it seems like I'm a 21st century Adam, much like Will Smith was in that movie 'I Am Legend', being that he was immune to the viral outbreak. I on the other hand don't know if I am immune because I haven't been in contact with the infection yet. What's this...hey, I just found a great tool in the automotive department, a syphoning tool with a hand operated pump. The concept is you pop the cover to a car's gas tank, drop the hose down and pump the fuel into your tank. Just what I needed in this situation, sorry but Visa isn't going to get you where you're going anymore nor is American Express or MasterCard.

I leave the store and pump gas from several abandoned cars to fill my tank. Now I can branch out and see how far out this whole thing stretches. I plan to be on the road for a few days to search for survivors. While Max is great company, I still need human conversation too. I still need to keep in mind that I may very well be the only survivor at this point; I really miss my wife. However, there is no point in reminiscing right now because I have work to do and it's only just begun.