Fictonal Scenario act 2

[NorthernRaider]

The next day
06.35 Adam the survivalist with a heavily bandaged left arm struggled to clean and re-cock the crossbow he had recovered from a cache of survival supplies he kept in a U –Hire 24 hour access Storage Company on the industrial estate. His crossbow was from the Barnett stable and was the RC-150 compound bow, it was chosen for its lightweight but powerful 150ft pound capability. With him was a numb with shock, bruised and battered but very much alive was a young nurse who he came across during the night.
He had heard her scream just about 3AM the night before just as he passed an access road to the wine shop. He looked into the access road to see a group of young men clearly drunk to the point of almost collapse, totally inebriated but desperately trying to drag a young woman further up the access road.
Adam shouted a warning to the thugs to stop but just got verbally abused and a half empty bottle of vodka thrown in his direction. He had already seen enough over the last 18 hours and heard enough on the radio to realise no cops were likely to arrive any time soon. That is why he had elected to draw on his cache of survival supplies before trying to get out of the city. Boy was he pleased he had decided to collect his reserve Bug out Bag and crossbow.
He shouted again and two of the thugs turned to face him, one held a large bread knife and the other a Stanley craft knife. That was enough for Adam and he shot the guy with the breadknife with his crossbow, immediately reloading he shot the second before he was able to respond. Adam started to advance on the pair of which only the second one was still standing and screaming abuse in Adams direction. As he passed the vocal thug he brought his telescopic baton down hard across the thugs head and he fell like someone had turn off a switch, but not before the thug slashed Adams arm with the craft knife. The baton was one of his tools chosen for its near silent operation and because it telescoped down so small, it was an ideal item for the Grey-man survivalist philosophy he believed in.
The noise, swearing, screams and sight of a manic in a combat jacket carrying a crossbow and a baton advancing on them certainly got the attention of the rest of the gang, they could see very clearly their two chums were down and out, and before they could decide what to do the biggest member of their group suddenly doubled over with another crossbow bolt embedded in his lower abdomen. This was not the sort of “Agro or Bovver” they liked, they preferred defenceless opponents and as they saw the guy with the combat jacket raising the crossbow to the aim again they decided discretion was the better part of valour and they fled leaving the young lady on the floor.
It was a good ten minutes later before Adam managed to persuade the young nurse she was safe from the gang and that he would not harm her, her eyes kept flickering between him, the bow and the two original thugs laying still on the rubbish strewn access road. It did not take her long to persuade Adam to help her get home which fortunately for Adam was not too far off his own route home.
But first she used Adams first aid kit to bandage the knife wound in his arm.
0.00AM The BBC news reports that her Majesty her family and the ministers of her government had relocated to Balmoral and Winsdor for the duration of the temporary crisis. A state of emergency was also declared. Also the news reported that many police and emergency services staff along with many UK based soldiers had not responded to the emergency order to report to work. The news also said the government was implementing a curfew from dusk til dawn and ordered that people stay at home and don’t go trying to leave the city, emergency supplies would be brought to the people but they must be patient.
A final comment noted the arrest of some people found hoarding stocks of food they had stolen from an abandoned warehouse.
7 days later without power, water or sewage the first reports of dysentery and cholera were reported, numerous apartment blocks had burnt down as people tried to cook and light their flats with improvised tools like candles.
21 days later people who still had the energy and strength started to leave the city by any means available.
3 days later a very sick, heavily coughing refugee who was originally from Kazakstan arrived in a refugee camp that had spontaneously formed on the downs outside the city. He was a former deck hand on a scrap metal carrying ship that came from the Black Sea to the UK twice a year.
He was coughing badly, sweating profusely though complaining of being cold. A first aider gave him Aspirin to try and get his temperature down. They placed him with hundreds of others in a huge circus marquee tent where he lay down on the blanket he had brought with him. Four hours later someone realised he was dead and as they carried him out they noticed large black blue pustules around his neck and on his face. The camp was desperate for warm clothing for the survivors so they pulled off the seaman’s Norwegian army shirt and put it in a pile for giving to the needy. It was then some else noticed that those black blue pustules were also prominent under the sailors arms, and realised it looked like plague. They burnt the shirt the sailor had been wearing but not thought about the wool blanket he had worn when he arrived. At that very moment a family of four were just settling down for a few ours rest on the sailor’s blanket.
35 days later the survivors abandoned what was left of the camp and spread out in all directions, many of the survivors scratched at flea bites as they walked away.
Are cities just necropolis in waiting?
The Bug Out Bag
John Smith the senior manager in a big city company is sat at his desk one late afternoon when suddenly all the lights went out in his office, as he peered over his shoulder out of the window he was taken aback to notice that the lights were going out right across the city like a rolling wave, even the street lights went out. He looked at his self-winding watch and noticed the time 4.45 PM
John stood up and turned to view the events unfolding in the world outside, he could see the trains grind to a halt, the guy on the gate of the tube system was using a flashlight to guide out stranded passengers, after he cleared the station he locked the gates and disappeared inside. To his left John could see the main junction that fed traffic out of the city, the traffic lights had failed and a multi vehicle crash had totally blocked the junction. As John observed events unfold around him he could clearly hear the sound of other vehicles crashing into each other as people tried to get through various other traffic light controlled junctions further into the central area of the city.
He returned to his desk and sat down; first he unclipped his key fob from his trouser belt and turned on the tiny single white LED flashlight he normally used to find the door lock on his car in the dark. Peering under his desk he grasped a rather plain looking Uncle Mikes Cordura Attaché case that he always kept at work. Opening the bag he found a small Roberts battery and hand cranked SW radio which he turned on and set on his desk. From the radio he immediately picked up news reports of the total chaos that was affecting the entire region, A total failure of the national grid had caused a cascade failure plunging many towns and cities into the dark, thousands of commuters were trapped on trains and tubes with many more being stuck on buses and in vehicles stuck in ever growing traffic jams.
The police were asking people to remain calm as the 999 and breakdown services were overwhelmed with thousands of calls for help. The fire and rescue services simply could not reach the stranded train and tube passengers because of the gridlocked road network.
John once again dove into his attaché case and produced a bundle of Cyalume chemical light sticks, he opened one and activated it, his office was once again illuminated and as far as he could tell his was the only one in the entire complex.
Clipping his Fenix L2D LED flashlight to his belt, along with his Gerber multi tool he took stock of the contents of his bag, In it he found a pair of broken in walking shoes, a waterproofed fleece jacket, two bottles of water, a Silva type 4 tritium compass and a full sized OS map of his city, He also found four long life food bars and two tins of all day breakfast , soap, hand wipes, cell phone, spare batteries for phone and flashlight, £50 cash, a small medical kit, a sealed packet of five dust masks ( he remembered the images on TV of the dust from the collapsing 911 towers), two Bic lighters, a good quality lock back folding knife and a titanium pry bar, last but not least he had a notebook and pen, a small pair of binoculars, a pair of leather gloves and a spare pair of specs, and a small hexamine camp cooker.
John decided there was no point in hanging around, even if the power came back on it would be tomorrow at the earliest before the transport system could possibly be restarted, besides the office heating had also gone off as it was electrically fired so it was time to leave. On the radio the news reports were coming in of panic and looting along the main city roads that passed through the centre of town and out towards the ring road, John wisely decided that route was no longer suitable.
He changed his shoes and swapped his suit jacket for the fleece, repacking his bag then sliding it over his head cross belt style John headed out of the building, stopping only to use his flashlight to check his route out across the car park and onto the main street. Using his bug out map he selected from one of five pre planned routes marking the best possible way out of town, it was along the old towpath down by the canal.
Access to this old industrial relic which led in an almost straight line out of town towards his semi-rural home was gained via a padlocked gate leading down to a water company flow metering station, John reached the gate after a brief walk of about 7 minutes during which time he could hear screaming, shouting and the sound of breaking glass assailing his ears from all directions.
Using the pry bar from his bag John quickly snapped off the elderly brass padlock and slipped through the gate remembering to close it behind him.
As the city descended rapidly into chaos and anarchy John quietly and calmly navigated his way along the canal towpath until it intersected with the ring road, He kept the pry bar in his hand until he was certain he was far enough out of town to not bump into anyone with hostile intent. By now it was 11.25 PM and behind him John could see the flicker of flames from burning buildings, he stopped and heated himself a tin of all day breakfast. John listened to the late night news about the army being called in to restore order and provide help before checking his bearings for one last time then continuing his long walk home.
The EDC
Blast and damnation said Chris as the Dodge pickup ground to a halt neatly half way between the railroad freight depot where he had been repairing the staff canteens aircon unit, and the quiet northern town he called home. Chris thought to himself “That will teach me to put off fixing the fuel pump on my truck, I won’t get back to my trailer tonight” with that thought Chris got on with making himself comfortable for the night. It was not going to be any real hardship for Chris to spend the night in the open as he routinely kept his truck supplied with basic but essential survival kit.
15 minutes later he was well sorted, his sleeping bag was laid out over a foam campa mat in the load bed of the truck, his mini butane cooker was happily heating up a can of Chicken and vegetable soup, and Chris himself was sat reading the trucks repair manual while chewing on a protein bar.
As the night wore on to the early hours he realised that this normally very quiet back road to town was rather busy. Not more than a few minutes passed by without a vehicle or group of vehicles speeding past heading away from town. Oddly enough for such a close knit area no one bothered to stop to check over Chris’s Dodge. After a while Chris felt the need to answer a quick call of nature and dismounted from the truck to relieve himself. “That’s Strange” said Chris to himself “I know that I should be able to see the towns lights from here, but its pitch black out there, I wonder what’s going on”, with that he jumped back up to the comfort of his temporary bed. Chris pondered briefly the night’s events before he finally drifted off to a deep sleep.
Dawn came upon Chris when all of a sudden a female voiced roused him from his sleep “Hello, are you all right? I don’t suppose you have a tyre pump? would you like a coffee?, Have you been here all night ?” Said the rather attractive lady chattering away excitedly as she peered down at Chris in his sleeping bag.
“Erm Yes to the first, second and fourth” piped Chris and no to the third but I could drink a fruit juice if you have one?” He said quickly gathering his wits and taking stock of the morning.
After the usual platitudes, greetings and getting his stuff tidied away Chris found that the ladies name was Diane and her car was parked not twenty yards away from his immobile truck. Diane had stopped mainly because she did not like driving late at night down unfamiliar roads; she had seen Chris’s truck and decided this was a good a place as any to stop for the rest of the night.
Chris explained his predicament to Diane and enquired as to why she was heading out of town so late at night.
“I’m trying to get to my friend’s house, her name is Sharon and she lives well out of town and it should be safe from the troubles” said Diane
“What troubles?” said Chris “what are you talking about?”
“Last Night, Last Night” said Diane, The power went off about 4 pm, then there was some explosions, first at the police station, then at the big hypermarket fuel station, then shooting started in various areas. I got my weekend bag together and set off for Sharon’s house, I thought it would be safer there with her until things got sorted. I was OK until I realised my tyre was flat this morning that’s when I came over to investigate your truck and found you.
Within the hour they realised that the trucks fuel pump was not going to play ball, and the tyre of Diane’s car would not hold air, so Chris swapped over the tyre for her spare and agreed to accept a lift back to town from her, even though it meant going the opposite direction to where she wanted to be.
Soon they were climbing the stairs to Diane’s apartment, but sat outside her front door was a mountain bike, a rucksack and a very tired lady, it was Sharon. It turned out that the power was out state wide and trouble was brewing all over the region. Sharon had tried repeatedly to contact Diane, and eventually decided to cycle the 35 miles from her house to Diane’s place. Being cautious she had come down the old cycle way (used to be a railroad track years ago) to avoid meeting strangers, and apart from falling off a few times she had got here in a little over 6 hours and two punctures later.
Sharon was feeling rather chuffed with herself as she had repaired the punctures using the repair kit on the bike, her multi tool and two spoons from her camping kit. She had kept the dust off her face and out of her eyes using the bandana and sunglasses she carried as part of her EDC along with the Leatherman multi tool. She had used her Inova X 5 LED Flashlight to illuminate the stairs and passageway to Diane’s apartment, then cracked off a Chemical light stick to provide the needed light allowing her to save the batteries in her flashlight for later. Being stuck in a lobby exposed to anyone passing through the building she kept her A G Russell Sting 1 A boot knife close to hand,.
Shortly there were three people happily resting and cleaning themselves up in Diane’s pad, Chris set two bring up some pieces of kit he had brought with him from the truck. A Butane camping stove, A World band battery powered radio, Some 12 freeze dried mountain warehouse meals and his portable water filter. The ladies after cleaning themselves up as ladies do set too taking stock of their supplies and preparing a meal.
After everyone was cleaned, fed and rested the trio used their combined intelligence to assess the situation. They agreed that it was best they stay put until early morning and to leave town for the safety of his self sufficient residential trailer. (Composting toilet, PV cells, Micro turbine, own deep well, and thriving vegetable garden) So before settling down to get as much rest as possible they packed everything that they thought would be useful into an assortment of rucksacks and fanny packs. Clothing, Diane’s .38 Ladysmith revolver, the bits Chris had brought with him, Two Silva Expedition Compasses Diane had inherited from a previous tenant, and the travel EDC kit that Sharon had brought on her bike.
Sometime in the early morning Chris woke to the sound of glass breaking and people yelling, Carefully peering through the closed blinds into the street 15 feet below he was just in time to watch a group of about 6 men, clearly drunk and all carrying guns, as they threw three blazing bottles of gasoline through the smashed windows of an apartment below and to the left of Diane’s first floor apartment.
As the 6 men wandered off up the road Chris watched with great alarm as the fire took hold in the apartment below, it only took seconds for the flames to begin roaring out the smashed windows and up the side of the building. By this time the girls were up and peering over Chris’s shoulder.
“We had better get out of here quick said Diane to none in particular and they all grabbed for the rucksacks and fanny packs, put on their coats and fastened their boots as they headed for the door.
Chris was at the front and his hand was reaching for the door handle when Sharon screamed at him “Don’t open the door” which made Chris jump back as though the devil himself was walking in.
Before he could ask what was the matter Sharon leaned past Chris and briefly put her hand on the door before pulling it away quickly, “ The door is very hot to touch” she said “ The fire is obviously raging in the hallway, we need another way out” said Sharon as the retreated back to the lounge.
Even in the short time since they tried the front door, the temperature in the lounge had gone up dramatically, and it was getting harder to breath as noxious fumes from the fire came up through the floor. The three of them grabbed their bandanas and scarves and wet them under the tap before tying them round their mouths.
“The bathroom, the bathroom quick” said Diane as she led them across the apartment, down the hall and through the bedroom into the bathroom.
“The children’s play area has a sand pit, and its right under this window, the problem is the window is a sealed double glazed unit that does not open” said a worried Diane. “It does now” said Chris as he drew his fire fighters Life tool from his belt, and using the tungsten tip quickly smashed through both panes of glass.
Within two minutes of Chris smashing the window the rucksacks and fanny packs were tossed out of the window, quickly followed by three hot and bothered survivors.
After gathering their packs and their wits the three survivors set off on foot as quiet as they could, soon they dropped onto the towpath that ran passed the playground, after about an hour’s walk Chris found a linesman’s Dodge truck just like his own, and being very familiar with this model he quickly hotwired the vehicle with the aid of his multi tool and flashlight. The trio boarded the “borrowed vehicle” and drove as carefully as they could straight out of town towards Chris’s secluded trailer home.
Many a night over the following weeks was spent round the wood burning grill in the garden of Chris’s place having heated arguments over the merits of various items of essential kit. They agreed to disagree on many aspects but they all agreed that no wise person should venture out without the following.
A good quality fixed blade or lock knife.
A good quality multi tool
A Flashlight and spare batteries
Eye glasses or sun glasses
A Compass
A Bandana
A Lighter
The rest is they say history.
The Bug Out
“What do you mean you have no seed grain” said Rick to the warehouseman.
“Just as I told you Sir, We simply have not got any seed grain, no winter Wheat, no Rye, no Corn, no Barley, nuthin we aint had squat from the suppliers for three weeks now “ said the guy behind the counter.
“Heck I can’t seem to find any at all this year, not even from the wholesalers” said Rick as he walked out.
Rick decided to ponder over his problems with a coffee down at the cantina near the railroad yards, when he arrived his old friend Jim was already there scrawling notes on a lined pad. Getting his coffee Rick sat opposite Jim and asked him why he looked so worried this morning.
“You need ask, you really need ask” said Jim bitterly, “you have been complaining about getting hold of two 25 pound bags of seed grain for weeks, but your problems are nothing compared to mine” snapped Jim.
“Ok I’ll bite, what’s up then”
Jim leaned over the table and whispered “ You know my company supplies 95% of the grain and milled flour for this region doncha ?, Well we are running out, we only have enough grain and flour for another 8 days, the silos, mills and bakeries are almost empty” .
Jim continued “God knows what is going on, I know its been only a modest harvest but the farms still produced millions of tons of grain, but its not getting to me, My opposite number who runs the eastern area reckons he has only four days supplies left. But that’s only part of the problem. The grain company is part owned by the railroad and Northern Oil Inc as you know. What you don’t know is the two refineries in the estuary have not had any crude oil deliveries for 3 days and the railroad only has enough diesel bunkered to last until Friday. Oh and according to the gossip there no tankers due to arrive in the near future”.
Hells teeth said Rick “I wonder what’s going on, I think I’ll ask on the preparedness forums the only sure fire thing I know is just about everything I like from coffee to wine that comes from abroad has nearly doubled in price lately.
That evening Rick found the true value in having a communications link with other members of the survivalist community, these folks picked up news that the mainstream media missed, ignored or were prevented from broadcasting.
Much of the nation’s basic food stock of grain was going overseas to pay for the oil that kept the nation moving and working. Because of political problems in various areas (plus a few anti-western governments) the oil producers were not accepting more than a third of the payments for their crude oil in Dollars, Sterling or Euros. The oil producers were demanding payment a third in grain, a third in gold or silver and the last third in ordinary currencies. This was being compounded by the oil producers giving preference to the growing economy of China. We were giving away our food for oil and not even getting enough to keep the fires of industry burning. The worst part of it was the government was pretending nothing was wrong.
The information shared between the survivalist communities soon spurred them into activity, almost immediately every family or group went out shopping. Every credit card got maxed out as the survivalists stocked up on essential food stuff that had long shelf lives. The survivalist’s pressure canners and vacuum packers worked over time, and the fuel drums and jerry cans at caches, houses and retreats were filled up with fresh diesel and treated with Sta-Bil fuel preservative. Prescriptions were filled and medical supplies updated. Water filters set up, vehicles serviced and defensive weapons cleaned and loaded into BOVs. Vacations and long trips got cancelled, kids who were schooled outside the neighbourhood stopped getting the school bus each day, instead Ma or Pa did the school run in a fully fitted out Bug Out Vehicle. If trouble hit the kids already knew exactly where to go and what to do while waiting for their parents to arrive and pick them up.
While the motivated members of the preparedness community worked themselves into a frenzy in order to best protect their homes, retreats and families, the average man in the street either ignored the warning signs or believed with blind obedience the information being put out by the western governments.
Six days later the government announced that rationing of fuel and food would be implemented immediately as a temporary measure, that same day Jim from the yard phone Rick and told him “Rick you are a friend and I trust you so I thought I would let you know, last night the fast freight from the capital did not arrive, nor did the stopping freight or the bulk oil train turn up this morning. I’ve just seen some reservist troops putting up a barricade by the hypermarket and mall. I may not be a survivalist Rick, but I’m no bodies fool. I’m getting the wife and we are heading up our fishing cabin, I think you………………………………………………….
The phone line went dead, Rick pressed 3 to return the call to Jim and the phone rang but it went unanswered. Shortly after Rick noticed a police car cruise slowly passed his home, pausing only briefly as the driver peered across the lawn towards Ricks house before driving off.
Rick phoned his wife and told her to get the kids, he said “AB” which his wife well knew was his coded warning for her to drop everything and get home now. He then went to his computer and sent a group posting to the people he knew and trusted in the survival community. It simply said “Alas Babylon” in homage to the far sighted author of a book that inspired so many survivalists.
Then Rick got changed into boots, cargo pants, T shirt, and leather ranger belt with his knife and multi tool on it. He then put on his old Regatta OS 4 travel vest containing his EDC and his PSK, finally putting on his shades and baseball cap he proceeded to add the last few items of supplies into the van.
An hour later with the gas, electricity and water turned in his home Rick and his family drove quietly out of the street and set off the meet the other two survivalist families who should be waiting by now at the lay by outside of town.
On board the vehicle they had each individuals own Bug Out Bag (BOB, food, spare clothing, tools, weapons, first aid kit, camp cooker, defensive weapons etc. The vehicle based survival kit was as always permanently loaded in the vehicle itself (extra fuel in five 20 litre jerry cans, breakdown tools, portable toilet, camp kitchen, sleeping bags, extra food, extra weapons etc) plus a few boxes of extra supplemental supplies from their home.
What future they faced was absolutely uncertain but at least they went into the unknown as well prepared as they can be.