Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Actually, Griz3752 (due to some long forgotten issue. It was Griz375. What's in a name? )

Oh yes: like all the rest of your readers; ready when you are.......

I have no idea what you are referencing:eye:
Or to quote the character on my tv screen at the moment

“I see nothing, NOTHING!”

there are three types of people when it comes to numbers ; those that are good with them and those who arn’t
 

2T2-Crash

Contributing Member
they wouldn’t have an AC at their disposal but I would imagine a few fast moving ground vehicles bristling with crew served weapons rocking and rolling would make the target feel like it’s raining from above.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Parts 1-3 of Market Day-

952 pages of 12 font word document, 453,739 words, and at 300 words per page in normal novel format, 1514 pages as a novel.

With everyone's encouragement and readership, what started a a small 3000 word short story based on one of the wife's extra credit school assignments that I posted here because I was tired of reading the same formula-matic prepper fiction back at the end of July of 2019, has blossomed into what it has become a year and a half later.

Hopefully by Monday I will start laying down Part four to you guys. Part four should answer many questions and make some things make more sense, and hopefully make some of you guys go "Holy Shit! I didn't see that coming!" enough you want to go back to the beginning and start it all over again. Soon I hope to have Part 1 actually published so you guys can get the product improved version rather than the clunky version you guys started with here, but rest assured, no main elements are changed, just things smoothed and more detail added.

In writing this story from Part 1, up through part 6 or seven as currently projected, I start with the rough framework and know basically where it’s going and what most outcomes will be but there are details of how that show up as I work through it and the muses and wife throw some elements for me to consider and, with her editing, make me sound intelligent and keep my characters in character.

I still try to work contrary to the typical stereotype elements

women heroines who do more than wring their hands and cook, not everyone with the same solution/weapons/ cars

In reading a lot of prepper fiction, an author locks into what he thinks is the best solution and equips the heroes with it, regardless of how many books and characters later, it keeps happening. Another trend is the six hundred part catalog of items i.e 'BillyBob pulled out his XYZ brand thing and attached it to the turboencephelator which was the new and improved model made of real genuine cast molibnium and.....'

I have used some brand names for some things, but I try to keep it rare and primarily for identification (like Bekka's Subaru, Paige's Cherokee and so on and so forth) I went down the rabbit hole with some things sometimes for a reason and sometimes because I thought it was neat. I wanted the touch memory moment with Doug and his grandfather so I used the watch as a vector. I then went and found an unusual one that fit the timeframe and the writers needs. The watches scenes in Part three at Christmas was in many ways too much but I wanted to convey Sabine giving away items of worth, both monetarily from what others would see and personally from what Andrea and Amber (and later Silas) would see.

In most prepper fiction, there would have been pages about the sewing machine they gave Andrea, everything from model to capability. There would have been whole build sheets on the exact engine, transmission and every other part of Paige's Cherokee build, Sabines, Garen's truck and so on and so forth. I mainly threw enough to give people a feel for how they thought when they designed and worked them. All told, I'm trying to make it about the people and along the way have enough gear to keep it interesting and informative from that aspect as well.

When I started writing this, I made it a point to try to break some of the common stereotypes. No SEALs, no Green Berets, no unlimited funds for everyone, no thousand items in their pockets, no 8000 cubic inch pack with everything they might want. The hero's for the most part are the middle of the road people depending on perspective. Even the special operations affiliated people are mostly the support people for the special operators. They need cooks and medics and truck mechanics and finance to do their mission just as much as everyone else.

Most of the gear load outs were built and tested by me or friends. The weapons are trying to be what would be appropriate for them to have, not what was the exactly right tool.

Some elements I try to the best of my ability to get right, or if they aren't right, make sure they aren't right for a reason. A couple places such as medical and firearms are the prime places. What Paige did with the 1911 truck guns is completely feasible, quite easy to do in a short amount of time and a hand tool or two if you have the knowledge and ridiculously illegal. I made sure I didn't describe it much at all, otherwise too many people might be tempted.

I try to make whole characters with complex backgrounds and motivation. That way, regardless of what situation I throw at them, I know how they would act. 98% of the characters backgrounds the readers will never see, like Sabine’s favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla and Garen likes ranch dressing on baked potatoes which Bekka finds disgusting, and so on and so forth.

I hope I have made characters you feel like you could meet , chat with and so forth as opposed to some cookie cutter fill in the bad-ass blank prepper dude that knows everything and never gets something wrong, always has the right tool and always survives or goes down in a blaze of glory.

For example, Henrik was a red shirt from day one, but the story wouldn't be served properly to develop Paige, Sabine and Andrea if he wasn't a likable character to invest in. He went out in a way that was shocking to someone accustomed to standard survival/prepper fiction, but it is more realistic, just like having injured or less than capable characters early in the book instead of a flesh wound for effect in the final reel that doesn't impact performance (Bekka and her gunshot/broken ribs in the first third of Part 1, leading to problems all the way through)

All told, I hope I am entertaining people because writing it is entertaining me. Part 4 is coming
 
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Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
No rush; it's Easter Weekend. Take a break, recharge and spoil your wife a bit.

We're here and I doubt anyone is dropping off the list .....

And the 1911 truck guns? I bounced that off a machinist/shooter I know well - he has a very longstanding relationship w/ that platform; he accused me of hanging out with people who could lead me astray and said if he had time, he could crank one out this weekend but he's repairing some down hole tool for an obscene amount of money.

Thank you sir - looking forward to Part 4

G.
 

FireDance

TB Fanatic
Parts 1-3 of Market Day-

952 pages of 12 font word document, 453,739 words, and at 300 words per page in normal novel format, 1514 pages as a novel.

With everyone's encouragement and readership, what started a a small 3000 word short story based on one of the wife's extra credit school assignments that I posted here because I was tired of reading the same formula-matic prepper fiction back at the end of July of 2019, has blossomed into what it has become a year and a half later.

Hopefully by Monday I will start laying down Part four to you guys. Part four should answer many questions and make some things make more sense, and hopefully make some of you guys go "Holy Shit! I didn't see that coming!" enough you want to go back to the beginning and start it all over again. Soon I hope to have Part 1 actually published so you guys can get the product improved version rather than the clunky version you guys started with here, but rest assured, no main elements are changed, just things smoothed and more detail added.

In writing this story from Part 1, up through part 6 or seven as currently projected, I start with the rough framework and know basically where it’s going and what most outcomes will be but there are details of how that show up as I work through it and the muses and wife throw some elements for me to consider

I still try to work contrary to the typical stereotype elements

women heroines who do more than wring their hands and cook, not everyone with the same solution/weapons/ cars

In reading a lot of prepper fiction, an author locks into what he thinks is the best solution and equips the heroes with it, regardless of how many books and characters later, it keeps happening. Another trend is the six hundred part catalog of items i.e 'BillyBob pulled out his XYZ brand thing and attached it to the turboencephelator which was the new and improved model made of real genuine cast molibnium and.....'

I have used some brand names for some things, but I try to keep it rare and primarily for identification (like Bekka's Subaru, Paige's Cherokee and so on and so forth) I went down the rabbit hole with some things sometimes for a reason and sometimes because I thought it was neat. I wanted the touch memory moment with Doug and his grandfather so I used the watch as a vector. I then went and found an unusual one that fit the timeframe and the writers needs. The watches scenes in Part three at Christmas was in many ways too much but I wanted to convey Sabine giving away items of worth, both monetarily from what others would see and personally from what Andrea and Amber (and later Silas) would see.

In most prepper fiction, there would have been pages about the sewing machine they gave Andrea, everything from model to capability. There would have been whole build sheets on the exact engine, transmission and every other part of Paige's Cherokee build, Sabines, Garen's truck and so on and so forth. I mainly threw enough to give people a feel for how they thought when they designed and worked them. All told, I'm trying to make it about the people and along the way have enough gear to keep it interesting.

when I started writing this, I made it a point to try to break some of the common stereotypes. No SEALs, no Green Berets, no unlimited funds for everyone, no thousand items in their pockets, no 8000 cubic inch pack with everything they might want. The hero's for the most part are the middle of the road people depending on perspective. Even the special operations affiliated people are mostly the support people for the special operators. They need cooks and medics and truck mechanics and finance to do their mission just as much as everyone else.

Most of the gear load outs were built and tested by me or friends. The weapons are trying to be what would be appropriate for them to have, not what was the exactly right tool.

Some elements I try to the best of my ability to get right, or of they aren't right, make sure they aren't right , its for a reason. A couple places such as medical and firearms. What Paige did with the 1911 truck guns is completely feasible, quite easy to do and ridiculously illegal. I made sure I didn't describe it much at all, otherwise too many people might be tempted.

I try to make whole characters with complex backgrounds and motivation. That way, regardless of what situation I throw at them, I know how they would act. 98% of the characters backgrounds the readers will never see, like Sabine’s favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla and Garen likes ranch dressing on baked potatoes which Bekka finds disgusting, and so on and so forth.

I hope I have made characters you feel like you could meet , chat with and so forth as opposed to some cookie cutter fill in the bad-ass blank prepper dude that knows everything and never gets something wrong, always has the right tool and always survives or goes down in a blaze of glory.

Henrik was a red shirt from day one, but the story wouldn't be served properly to develop Paige, Sabine and Andrea if he wasn't a likable character to invest in. He went out in a way that was shocking to someone accustomed to standard survival/prepper fiction, but is more realistic, just like having injured or less than capable characters early in the book instead of a flesh wound for effect in the final reel that doesn't impact performance (Bekka and her gunshot/broken ribs in the first third of Part 1, leading to problems all the way through)

All told, I hope I am entertaining people because writing it is entertaining me. Part 4 is coming
You’ve done a great job with this. I like the way you’ve done the equipment load outs because it has been enough to get the idea and not so much that it is like reading a manual. But your characters? Perfect.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Parts 1-3 of Market Day-
952 pages of 12 font word document, 453,739 words, and at 300 words per page in normal novel format, 1514 pages as a novel.
I've been told by many authors it isn't uncommon for a really good story to take on a life of it's own once the original seed has germinated. Speaking for myself, I don't care what prompted you to start; I'm just glad you did and look forward to the finished product in my mail box.

G.
 

Chapulin

Veteran Member
In case this helps anyone else:
Part One ends #1395 on April 17 2020
Part Two ends #2302 on July 31/2020
Part Three ends #3873 on April 1 2021
 

Sportsman

Veteran Member
CCG, Thank you. You’ve found that find balance that most authors search relentlessly for. And thank your wife as well.
Looking forward for part 4 as well as the opportunity to purchase a completed volume to help reward you for all this work.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Market Day Part 4
3 April 2021

During the first week or so of her recovery, Angelique felt like she was drowning. She was enrolled in several crash courses at once. Any one of them would be overwhelming, but all together? She was swamped. She barely had a spare moment to rest her brain. The bad part was, she knew this was exactly what it was designed to do. She wouldn’t have it any way.

Garen insisted on half a day, every day for her medical training. Since they weren’t worried about a formal certification test, he devised a streamlined straight to Paramedic level course of instruction, without the intermediate stopping and testing points of EMT and Advanced EMT. He also cut a lot of the minutia for the certification. Instead, he focused on the medicine itself. Between this and the four teachers to one student ratio, the four-semester minimum for someone to go from zero to paramedic was to be cut to ribbons and compressed.

Two weeks on anatomy, physiology, and body systems was followed by a focus on patient assessment skills. The next step was individual system ailments, how to identify, differentiate and treat each from initial discovery on up through a week or more.

The techniques employed by her teachers were not what she was used to from high school either. For example, in learning ailments and systems, Angelique would be told the ailment they would cover the next day. She would them have until the next morning to learn all she could about what they were, how to detect it, how to differentiate it from other similar ailments and the recommended treatments.

Angelique assignment was to spend the first hour of the class teaching Garen or Kara, or Allyson about the topic. This would be followed by an in depth discussion and expounding on it. If individual skills tied into the treatment, they would be taught, practiced and critiqued.

It didn’t take long to see how effective the flipped classroom style of teaching was in this setting. Angelique was learning by leaps and bounds. Not all of the topics she was learning worked that way, however.

Bekka was teaching planning and critical thinking in addition to radios. This was more hands on and traditional style, which was a strange break for the other classes. All four were taking turns teaching and learning outdoor and survival skills and techniques once Angelique was recovered sufficiently for short walks around the grounds.

Angelique pushed for more combat type training. She had felt somewhat useless during the fight in town and wanted to be more useful. Garen and Allyson agreed she wasn’t up to strenuous maneuvers yet. Bekka had a solution.

One afternoon Bekka had Allyson and Angelique meet her down in the range. Neither knew what Bekka was up to. When they arrived, Bekka had a pair of old scoped BB guns and a stack of kid’s books.

Bekka smiled as they walked up. “Good. I have a combat type exercise for the pair of you. This is to teach a great skill to Angelique and she needs a shooter to help her with it.”

Allyson was a little confused but she was up for almost anything to help Angelique.

Bekka continued. “Now, you know what we had to do from the roof in town. That was when we had moving targets with no one else to discriminate among to find your target. We need the ability to find a target and relay it to the person on the gun. Rather than waste ammo, I have a simpler way to do this.”

Bekka reached over and flipped on the switch for the lights along the tunnelway, revealing a 11x14 sheet of paper in the target frame. She then held up a book for them to see.

“We are going to paly a game until we all can talk someone’s crosshairs onto a point target. I have up a page out of the book on the table. The mission is simple. One of you has the binoculars while the other has the scoped bb rifle. Your mission: find and kill Waldo.”

Allyson was laughing now. “Oh, this is going to suck! This is some evil stuff. My old trainer would have loved this exercise!” Angelique was still looking at Bekka with a confused look. Bekka explained some more.

“It’s hard to find someone with binoculars sometimes and really hard to talk someone else onto the thing you are seeing but two sets of eyes looking is better than one.”

They spent hours looking for and eliminating Waldo. After the initial exercise, Bekka would make it more difficult by changing distances, lighting conditions and time constraints.

All of this was a great distraction to engage the other side of her brain in addition to teaching a really useful skill.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
I really threw myself into Angelique’s training. Garen and I felt it would help her put some distance and perspective on the events of the past month or so. By focusing her mind on things like how her body actually works, it would help her understand and work through the physical limitations of her rehabilitation.

Garen also was looking at using the work of teaching to help Allyson work through the shift in her world. It was to be the anchor, the glue of our little group. We have already proven we would kill or die for one another, some of us many times over.

Kara, Garen and I are still us, but in a moment of either clarity or drunkenness, we came to understand what was needed was to train those that would carry on. Garen and I are closer to the end than the beginning of our lives. Kara and Allyson will be the bridge to the next generation. Angelique is the next one after them.

Garen and I will never have children of our own to pass things on to. Kara is our only heir right now. We discussed the whole situation with Kara and our wants, desires and fears. The three of us came to a decision. Unless something big changes, as long as Allyson and Angelique are willing to stay and help us work the land and defend it, one day it will be theirs.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique was working her butt off studying. She knew the major reason they were working her so hard on the medical was because her body wasn’t up to anything else yet. She could walk slowly and carefully but she was under strict orders to not push herself at all for several more weeks.

She was doing hydrotherapy every day with Allyson supervising. Allyson was a harsh taskmaster for her physical therapy. She was very focused on one thing; range of motion. Allyson had her moving each side exactly the same spot and angle as her uninjured side. With a dislocation, the biggest thing they wanted to avoid was accidentally popping it back out while strengthening the ligaments.

As much as Angelique was loving learning the medical, she kept fighting to learn other useful things, things that could have helped her in the battle she got hurt in. She needed more combat skills if she was going to pull her weight around here. She was finally able to convince Bekka to find a way, a skill she could learn, to help and to not be a burden in combat.

Bekka told her she would start with things at a distance and work closer and closer as Angelique gained skills and got back in physical shape. Soon, Bekka and Angelique were walking around the grounds, Bekka working on her leg and Angelique on her hip.

Kara had a plan for strengthening Angeliques hip. She would teach her cross country skiing along the roads in the compound. It was non-impact and would give her a way to work cardio without impact. This would let her work up to light running which would be with Allyson since Garen and Bekka flatly said they wouldn’t be running unless someone was chasing them and Kara’s stride was far too long for Angelique starting out.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Garen was working in the workshop/classroom downstairs. He had a couple plastic bins of pistols he was sorting through. Between all the weapons they pulled from the bad guys, the weapons the bad guys had collected at checkpoints and at the stadium, and the stuff he brought back from the Center, this place was awash with firearms. These all needed to be sorted, checked, categorized and stored.

Garen was slowly going through this process. He still had cartloads down in the training building needing the same attention, but if he brought them, or at least some of them, up here, he could be in the classroom while Angelique and whoever else were going through lessons. This wasn’t really any different than the team teaching techniques they had employed at the Center. This way two brains could fill in each other’s gaps to ensure proper coverage of whatever topic or question.

Today was different. He had the room to himself. Kara was covering urinary and Foley catheter skills with Angelique and wanted a bit of privacy for it. This wasn’t because Kara was shy. She didn’t want Angelique to be too nervous since she would be performing her first live Foley insertion. Kara figured she was the best one to be the patient for this. She could sell it as a quid pro quo since she was the one to take Angelique’s out. She also had more experience on the receiving end after her multiple surgeries after her injury. Kara had them working in the tiny studio apartment over the garage. This put them close to a shower and toilet and kept them out of the main traffic areas of the house.

Garen wasn’t really working hard at his sorting. He was using it as a method of putting his mind in neutral for a bit. He was mainly trying to figure out which ones he was going to dig deeper into and which ones he was going to set aside for later. Doing things like this, and reorganizing medical gear and coming up with new gear configurations was, to him, like doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku was for others. It took years for Bekka to realize he wasn’t brooding or worried or upset. It was a jigsaw puzzle to him and let his mind coast some.

He found some hidden gems and some real trash as he went through this bin of pistols. Another bin held all the 40 S&W Hi-Powers they took off of the bad guys. He had enough of them he might start experimenting with.
 

Cohickman

Veteran Member
I am a huge 40 HP fan!! It is an often overlooked, extremely reliable system. I've owned HPs for 40 years. Love the fact that you mention them. Thanks!!
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
“I don’t understand. Tell me again why you are having me do this to you? I did ok with the training dummy, didn’t I” Angelique looked up at Kara. Her tone gave away how nervous she was. They were both on the floor of the tiny room above the garage. Angelique had a headlamp on. It was the only light in the room since the curtain on the small porthole window was closed.

“Because the trainer was plastic and not even part of a full dummy. It’s a lot different when you can feel the flesh and how pliable and mobile it is. Just like with the plastic IV arm, the real thing is a lot easier in some ways and harder in other ways.” Kara was trying to sound placating and explain in a positive manner. She wasn’t necessarily looking forward to it, but she knew this would be a lot better for Angelique to learn this way on a real person. It also might get her past a little bit of the intimidation factor, just like when she was doing IVs on all of them.

“But I know how uncomfortable they are and I don’t like doing that to you.” Angelique countered.

“This will be nowhere near the most uncomfortable thing I have endured. Besides, it’s not that bad and I will put up with a lot from you to teach you. I figure turnabout is fair play, I took yours out so it’s only fair I am your training victim. I figure you would be more nervous if it was Bekka you were putting a Foley into.”

At Kara’s comment about putting a Foley into Bekka, Angelique winced at the thought.

“That’s what I thought.” Kara laughed. “Hell, you’ve seen me naked a few times and I don’t mind.” Kara paused “It’s the least I could do after almost getting you killed.” Kara’s last comment was quiet and full of remorse.

Angelique didn’t know what to say after Kara’s comment so she started preparing the equipment.

“Angelique. This isn’t a rush job. What were some of the things we talked about making it more comfortable for your patient?”

“Oh, yeah!” Angelique grabbed the small tube of lidocaine gel. They taught her you could start with putting some of it into the urethra to numb it up a little to make it a bit less sensitive to the tube going in. Now, with the little tube in her hand, she had to go to the next step, the one that intimidated her. This wasn’t a plastic model and this wasn’t something like an arm. She needed to manipulate the very private parts of another person. She started to reach out a few times but wasn’t sure where to start.

Kara reached out and put her hand on Angelique’s to quiet the tremors. “It’s ok, relax.” Kara pulled back the towel covering her groin. She manipulated her position to expose herself fully to Angelique in such a way Kara could see her as she would put the Foley in place. “Now. Start by cleaning the area with the iodine swab, then putting the lidocaine in. Find the urethra with your finger. “

Angelique reached out hesitantly with a finger and put it next to the urethra.

“Good, now…” When Kara spoke, Angelique jerked her finger back like she was electrocuted.

“No, you’re fine, you were in the right place. Swab it with the iodine, then take your thumb and index finger on each side of it and hold it still.” Angelique reached out again and lightly took hold of it. “Now, squirt about a third of the tube up the pipe.” Angelique did this, still a bit unsure. The next part made her nervous again.

“Now, with it in, with just a little pressure, rub the urethra back and forth a little, just a little, to smear the lidocaine around some.”

Angelique was gentle and careful…..and nervous and shaking.

“Now, we have about ten minutes to let it soak in and do its magic.” Kara slowly lowered her legs some to take the tension off of them. “Angelique, you have been working your ass off learning. We have been throwing more and more at you. You do know we will just keep loading more and more on you until you tell us to slow down or lighten up, right?”

Angelique wasn’t sure if this was a trick or if Kara was serious. Either way, it was a funny time to start up this conversation.

“It’s ok, I got this. I’ll be fine.” Angelique wasn’t going to show weakness, or failure.

“It’s not ok. We don’t know the right amount to feed you on this. We have to have some type of feedback to get the right pace. Allyson and I were talking the other day and she is concerned we might have already accelerated things too fast and need to slow down some so you can absorb it better.”

“So now you guys think I can’t keep up?” Angelique started to get upset.

“No, listen to what I said, not what you think I said. I said we are worried we may have set the pace too fast. I know Garen and Bekka want to teach you as much as they can as soon as they can, but there is a happy medium between what we can give you and what you can process. The medical aspects alone normally take a year to train what we have been doing in weeks. We love you. We don’t want to break you trying to teach you stuff!” Kara was starting to get worked up. She wasn’t doing this right!

Angelique had a confused look on her face as she tried to process what Kara was saying. Before she could ask a question, Kara started talking again.

“Look, let’s just talk more after you put a pipe in my groin. I have been holding a pee for a couple of hours now and it sure would feel good to empty my bladder.” Angelique looked a bit startled as her mind was jerked back to the matter at hand as Kara raised her legs back to her earlier position.

“Now take the rest of the lidocaine gel and lubricate the Foley tube.” Angelique made sure to get a good coating on the tube. “Stabilize it just like you did with the lidocaine.” Angelique’s hand found the position again. “The next part is easy. Place the tip of the tube in the opening and slowly advance it.”

Angelique looked at her hands and focused on what they were doing. She didn’t want to look up at Kara and see her staring at what she was doing. She placed the end of the catheter in Kara’s urethra and advanced the tube.

“How do you know when you have gone far enough?” Kara’s question was to keep Angelique in the task.

“When I see urine in the tube, I go about an inch more, then inflate the cuff with saline.” Angelique knew this answer. About this time, Angelique felt the tube get warm in her hand as urine flowed down the tube to the catch bag. She did it! Angelique filled the cuff with saline and sat back.

“Great job!” Kara had a smile on her face now. “Once I’ve emptied, why don’t you start the shower so it can warm up? Then we will have you remove this, I’ll clean up and we can go get dinner. What do you say?”

“Did you mean it? Do you guys love me?” The question had a weird tone to it.

“More than we can probably tell you. We just don’t always show it in ways you can understand.” Kara thought about her earlier conversations with Bekka and Garen. “Come on, let’s go. I’m hungry.”
 

Texican

Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
What will Angeliqu do when it is Garen that has to have a catheter which is not as easy?

Texican....
 
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