Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Conflict by Joshua Jared Scott Page A

place.
    For
transportation, we took some of the extra pickups and SUVs that had been parked
in and around our meadow and stashed them in the woods, generally close to one
of the weapon drops. Again, the keys were left under the driver’s side floor
mat. These were also kept fueled and started weekly to ensure they were working
and that the batteries had plenty of charge.
    Also
regarding vehicles, we finally began to sort through the multitude we had on
hand. The useless ones, sub compacts foremost in this group, were taken out of
the forest and abandoned on the side of the highway. The keepers were either
placed within our fenced parking area or lined up off to one side of the
castle. Things had been getting too cluttered, and it was past time to organize.
The other side of the castle held most of the U-Hauls and similar trucks, which
served as overflow storage. The corrals and animal pens remained out in front
as before.
    Steph
suggested burying some food as well. It seemed like a lot of work, not to
mention hard to recover, but we had no shortage of canned goods. Kenneth even
contributed by helping dig the holes. He still walked unsteadily, having lost
most of his toes to frostbite, but the pain was gone. The underground caches
were all small, consisting of the pre-mentioned cans, along with a few knives
and can openers, all of which were inserted in a cloth sack. This was then
placed in several plastic trash bags sealed with duct tape. I’m not certain if
they will keep moisture and dirt out or not, but it was worth a try.
    We
stacked rocks on top of the subterranean supply depots. It was obvious these
were placed there by a person, but no one would think there was something worth
stealing underneath. Instead, they would likely be thought graves or location
markers. There was a small risk the caches would be pilfered, but there was no
other way we’d find the things again.
    The
twins went through our weapons in great detail. They tore these apart, put them
back together, and switched pieces between different guns. In all honesty, I
was completely lost as to what they were doing. Tara said it was important
though and set aside quite a few which Dale explained were only good for spare
parts. Our small armory inside the castle was restocked with .45 caliber
semi-automatics, .30-06 hunting rifles, and M-16’s, along with extra clips and
plenty of ammunition. Previously, we focused on rifles and 9mm pistols. It was
a solid upgrade. They also included a couple of rocket launchers and some flare
guns for good measure.
    Everything
else, save what was taken for personal use, went back into storage, again
sorted by the type of ammo used. And we went ahead and hid a few guns in other
places about the castle, after lecturing Johnny that he was not to touch them
under any circumstance. Then Steph reconsidered and had these removed,
exercising her mommy veto. With everyone carrying at all times, it was somewhat
redundant and not worth the risk of an accident.
    It was
as the calendar turned to April, and the roads were again fully passable, that
we began to seriously consider additional excursions. Driving this was the fact
that the raiders had all but destroyed at least two vibrant and secure
communities – there was no telling how many others had fallen to them. Plus, we
knew there were more of the nut jobs out there, probably active and moving around.
Add in normal crazy people, which had to be numerous, and we were back to our
original problem of being too small to properly defend ourselves and those we
cared about.
     
    *
* *
     
    “Two
choices,” stated Lizzy. She burped, neglected to excuse herself, and reached
for another muffin. “We look for others to hook up with us or we go join the
Mormons.”
    “Mormons?”
asked Sofie.
    “I think
she means Salt Lake City,” said Marcus. “Biggest place this side of the country
that’s standing, and only about half the population was Mormon.”
    “As far
as we know, it’s