Story Market Day

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
Surgery completed, now home and recovering. I’m home for the rest of the week and next week. I hope to get more done on Part 9, and on Part two while I’m on 10lbs max lifting for the next six weeks
So, good news on several fronts then.

Excellent timing too; except for some new pieces the LotH wanted, we should be in our new digs come Mon-Tuesday.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Down South


“I don’t see why all the focus on weapons now. We aren’t doing more than driving straight through with just some stops to refuel the vans from what we are carrying with us, and to swap drivers and eat. It’s not like we are going into towns and trying to buy stuff. We shouldn’t be a target for people like the raiders who hit the store and motel. We won’t be anywhere long enough to attract that type of attention.” Lacy asked as Gabe was showing her how to work her new to her pistol.

“And all we were going to do was drive north a couple months ago. We almost got killed for our stuff when all we were doing was trying to catch a nap at a rest stop. If all of us are ready, then if a problem shows up, we will ahead of the problem.”

“If it comes down to my shooting, we have a problem.”

“If trouble shows up on the drive, there should be plenty of people to work the issue, but I want to make sure you’re comfortable with them before we break off for the walk. That’s when we will be traveling slower and taking longer stops.” Gabe pointed out.

“I know that, and…I guess it’s just all becoming more real now.”

“The attack on the store and the motel wasn’t enough to make it real?” Gabe said a lot harsher than he wanted to. He killed his first person in the store that first night.

“That was months ago. I guess since I haven’t been out sneaking around like Stephen and Elsa, I just blotted it out. There’s a bunch of medical terms for it like repressed memories and memory distortion, but you get the idea.”

For a moment, Gabe heard the strong confident medical-ish version of Lacy instead of the worried and doubtful one of a minute ago.

“I know, so have I, but Stephen and Elsa seem to think we need to spend the extra time. At least the pistols are simple. You and I have the same type of pistols so if you grab the wrong one from under our pillow, you will still be ok. A Glock is a Glock.”

“That I get, and you have walked me through it a couple times. I guess I just need to fiddle with it some more to get comfortable with it.”

“OK, so how about your M-1 Carbine? I don’t know a lot about them.”

“Dad is going to go though it with both of us. I’ve shot them a bunch over the years, but he is going to go through them in extreme detail since he won’t be there to fix it for me.”

“So I guess you need me to go over my stubby little noisemaker.” Gabe grinned as he said it. This was his current choice after finding it in the last batch of battlefield pick-ups and something to solve badguy problems if they came too close.

“This is a VEPR-12 shotgun…”

“It’s a shotgun? It looks a lot like the one your brother has. Is it a shotgun too?”

“No, his is a stubby rifle. This is a stubby shotgun, but it’s made basically the same. The magazines go in like this,” he showed how to put the front of the magazine in and rock the rear in until it locks. “The magazine release is right here. You can activate it as you reach for the magazine.”

Gabe went through the general operations of the magazine-fed shotgun. He still didn’t know where the assholes came up with all the crap that was illegal to have in California, but right now, he was glad to have what he had available. From the 17-round magazines for their pistols, to the mag-fed short barrel shotgun, all of this was to their benefit right now.

“And the rifle Stephen has works the same way, but he has a lot more bullets in his magazines than I do. I only have eight rounds in each, but each shell has eight pellets so I can still put a lot of hurt out fast. Out of all three of us, you have the best ranged weapon, then Stephen’s then mine, but if it’s that far out, we hide or run if we can.”

“Let’s try to make sure it doesn’t come to that.” Lacy said.

“That’s the plan, and once we get into the park, we’re home free.”
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Bill’s Workshop


“Dad would have a ****ing coronary if he saw what we are doing to these poor pistols.” Stephen said to Sam as she sat there ratcheting the hammer and trigger on the revolver again and again.

“Bill says it smooths the action and trigger. It won’t be as good as Dad did for Mom’s gun, but it works.” Sam said.

“It still feels wrong.” Stephen said as he screwed the sideplate back onto the S&W revolver after packing the insides with jeweler’s rouge. He shook his head side to side as he cycled the hammer and trigger, cringing at the gritty sounds from the inside the pistol’s action.

“…98, 99, 100.” Sam said as she put the pistol down on the table. She picked up the other one on the table and started hammer and trigger. “Did you see that witches brew Bill was mixing up in the parts washer to flush this gunk out?” Sam asked as she tried to keep count.

“See it? Yes. Understand what all it’s supposed to do? Not so much. I just know we got to get all the gunk out and re-oil the guts before we put the grips back on. Dextron transmission fluid, kerosene, mineral spirits, acetone, and I don’t know what else he tossed in when I wasn’t looking…70, 71, 72…”

“At least we don’t have to do the heavy barrel one.” Sam said, glancing at the fourth revolver on the table.

All the revolvers on the table were being gone through and set up for Samantha and Jessica. Samantha was already familiar and comfortable with revolvers and had the Colt Detective her father built for her mother, so the plan was for her to carry the larger heavy barreled thirty-eight as well. They had a snub-nosed thirty-eight set aside for Jessica in an emergency, along with a pair of K-38 Combat Masterpieces getting the same treatment for Dave and Bill to have for the drivers of the vans.

“Did Bill go over the Carbine with you?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah, it was simple.”

“Of course it was. They made them for Lieutenants to use. I wasn’t worried about it being too complex, just wanted to make sure he showed you.” Stephen smiled.

“We shouldn’t need them. We are driving straight through. I worry more for you. You’re the one hiking through the middle of things.”

“It’s me, in the woods. As long as Gabe and Lacy listen and pays attention, we will be fine.”

“That’s why I’m worried. Gabe hasn’t listened to anybody in years.” She smiled as she said this, to take a bit of the sting out of her words.

“I don’t know. Lacy has had quite an effect on him. He’s thinking more and more like an adult. It’s kinda scary. I’m thinking she’s exactly what he needed.”

“Mom wouldn’t even recognize him. She’d be proud of him, but…”

“She always knew he had it in him. And you. She would be so proud of you.” Stephen stopped what he was doing.

“Me? Right…” Sam scoffed.

“She told me. She said she was proud of how you made such responsible adult decisions while you were away, and how she was a little sad you didn’t keep the baby because she knew you would make such a great mother. Watching you with Jessica these past months, I got to agree… you’re a great parent.”

“Nurse maybe, but parent? I don’t know about that.”

“That’s ok Samantha, I do.”
 
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Armadillo3

Contributing Member
Thanks CCG!
just reading and cleaning and lubing my Smith & Wesson 686 for deer season.
Taking one of the grandsons that has taken an interest in guns and hunting.
Can't actually let him hunt until I can get them into the young hunters safety course.
It seems like they never offer this course, so I have now volunteered to the state to teach some
of the courses.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Up North


“At least with the change in who’s coming, that lets us put shelves and hooks back in the other room for storage.” Benji said as he moved things around on the table.

“No more building!” Barbara said as she sat at the table.

“It won’t take long to knock out some shelves along the walls and a hanging bar or two.” Randy said as he set some books down on the end of the table.

“Is that before or after the workbenches and cabinets in the addition? Oh, wait! I know, it’s after the parquet floor in the ballroom.” Barbara said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Oh, come on! It wasn’t that bad.” Randy tried to defend himself.

“I agree with Barbara. No more building for now. We have to let the shit in the addition dry, or cure, or harden, or whatever that shit we put on the wood is supposed to do. While we wait for that to happen, we take a break from construction.” Benji said.

“That could be a few days.” Was Randy’s reply.

“Sounds good to me. We could even wait for our long lost ringleader to get back and lend a hand.” Barbara said quickly.

“That could be a week or two still.” Randy replied.

“You said the stuff in the addition needed a couple coats to be done right. This will give it a chance. I’d rather do it right once than keep redoing it” Benji countered.

“OK, fine. You convinced me. So what are we going to do while we wait?” Randy conceded. Barbara had the answer.

“Spring cleaning. We air out the cabin, do laundry, sweep, mop, and make this place presentable again.”

All three looked around the main room. The place wasn’t trashed, but as they looked, they could see where the cabin needed some work. The fireplace had splinters of wood over by the kindling box where they had been splitting small logs. There was ash escaping the firebox. Books were stacked haphazardly around the chairs in the living room. Kerfuffle’s blanket nest next to the hearth had a visible layer of fur accumulated.

“I guess it’s time.” Benji said.

“Yeah.” Randy agreed.

“Tomorrow, we split the place up and work on a good deep clean.”

“And the next day we get the next coat in the addition if the first one’s dry. I’d like to get three coats done before they get here and we start using it.” Randy added as he set up the cardboard divider on his end of the table.

“While the second layer cures, we can see if we can scare up some more meat for the smoker.” Barbara added as she emptied a small bag of dice onto the table next to her notebook.

“We have plenty of scraps in the barrel to feed the smoker.” Randy said as he flipped through some pages in his own notebook.

“I saw some pig tracks over towards the shale ledge. Barb and I should be able to bag one.” Benji offered.

“Shoot! Would be nice to have some fresh bacon on hand for Stephen and crew when they get here.” Barbara offered.

“I was thinking jaeger schnitzel.” Benji said. The breaded and fried cubed pork with mushrooms and hunter gravy over a bed of noodles was one of Benji’s favorites, and he had made it a few times for them. At the very mention of it, Randy and Barbara’s mouths began to water.

“Of course you were, and it sounds like a great idea. We just have to find the pigs that made those tracks.” Barbara said before she added “but that’s after we clean this place up.”

“Works for me.” Benji replied.

“Everybody ready?” Randy asked as he looked over the divider in front of him.

“Sure.” Barbara said, followed by Benji’s “Yup.”

“You guys were in the secret tunnel leading away from the cavern where you fought the Kobalts…”

Deep in the winter, after most of the radio stations they could pick up on the shortwave faded away, they were stuck for some entertainment to keep them busy during the long winter nights. Barbara remembered Stephen’s stash of old roll-playing books and supplies. When she mentioned them, Randy perked right up. Turns out he was a gamer in his youth. Benji had done plenty of online gaming but this was something new to him and Barbara.

Barbara knew they needed some sort of escape, a release from all the seriousness their situation was demanding of them. She was the one to convince Randy to teach them how to play. This led to their ongoing gamming session in the evenings a couple nights of the week. It was something they could do with their minds while their hands did other things. This escapism seemed childish on it’s surface, but she was sure it helped them.

The antics of the half-orc / half-dwarf bumbling his way through encounters with his trusty elf and halfling sidekicks was just the distraction to vent off stress and worry they needed. The hours of entertainment provided helped them stave off cabin fever, offset fear of the unknown, reduce frustration at being unable to solve problems well beyond their control and influence, and helped provide a structure to their weeks and months of winter isolation.

Tomorrow, they had a lot of cleaning to do. Tonight, they would continue their quest for the Orb of Davros, the key to defeating the invading queen’s army.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Down South


“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Dave and I are just going to ride over, doublecheck the place and buzz right back. Should be back well before dawn.” Stephen said.

“You and I both know better than that. You might be gone three days or three weeks if you end up with someone else around.” Elsa shot back. “It should be me and you going. We know how to do it and not get caught or tracked.”

“Yeah, but we don’t know shit about fuel pumps. Your Uncle Dave knows what should be where, how he broke them, if there’s enough parts to make them run again, or if we will need to use Bill’s makeshift pump to fill everything up. We can’t be working all of this when we roll up to leave. We need everything planned out so we can swoop in, load the vans and the spare tanks with all the fuel we can, and drive off. No sticking around there when we are in the vans. That’s why we have to go scout it out now.” Stephen reasoned, again, with her.

“Uncle Dave hasn’t been doing this stuff like you and me. you are going to have to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t screw it up. He’s nowhere as young as he likes to think and his health isn’t much better than Uncle Bill’s.”

“As long as we stay careful, everything should be low-key and his health shouldn’t play into it.”

They both heard Dave coming around the side of the house.

“See what I mean.” Elsa said as she waved her arm towards the sound. Before Stephen could reply, Elsa grabbed his head with both hands and planted a deep, passionate kiss on him. When she let go, she locked eyes with him, her glare fierce as she spoke.

“We’ve come too far for you to get killed by something stupid.” Before Stephen knew what to say, Elsa turned and walked quickly away, passing her uncle on the way without saying anything to him.

Dave wheeled the bike he would be using up next to Stephen.

“You ready for the little ride tonight?” Dave said even as he glanced back towards where Elsa just went.

“I..ah..yeah. Are you ready?” Stephen said as he tried to refocus his thoughts.

“She’s getting to you, isn’t she?”

Stephen took a big breath then nodded.

“I don’t think anyone would blame you for a moment of weakness…” Dave started talking.

“Elsa can’t understand me. I can’t make her realize how much anything like that kiss, or even a hug, how much it makes me miss Barbara even more. Instead of the Siren from the rocks, tempting me to give up and join her, it just crushes me. Worse, I can’t even tell her the truth in a way she can accept. I love Elsa. I really do, but just not in the same way she wants me to.”

“I guess that’s the worst part. I see the deep connection between you two. You two are wonderful together but she sees you differently than you see her, and I don’t know what she’s going to do when we split, but I doubt it will be pretty or over quickly.”

“I don’t know what to do other than to be me. Anything else just won’t work.”

Dave shook his head as he spoke. “She’ll get through it. She just doesn’t have to like it. Let’s check the fuel at the station so we can get out of here. Your Barbara needs you and we need the fresh start with Jason.”
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Inside


“You want to keep it down.” Bill said as Elsa was storming around the living room, pack and carbine in her hands.

“I got to be ready to go help them.” Elsa said as she pulled her coat on.

“I know, and that isn’t what this is.”

Elsa looked over at Bill, confused.

“This has nothing to do with you ‘being ready to help them’ and everything to do with you and Stephen.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said too quickly.

“You’ve been cow-eyed over him since he’s got here. Problem is, he isn’t smitten with you like you are with him.”

“It isn’t ****ing fair!” Elsa blurted.

“You’re right, it isn’t fair, honey. You love him. I get it. To abandon Barbara to be with you would break him. He would no longer be the person you love. To just cheat on her with you? Not an option either.”

“But….”

“Be happy in what he can give you. Don’t destroy that trying to make it something more.”

Elsa just stood there staring at her feet. She jumped at the sound of something being dropped on the coffee table. She looked at it. A bandoleer of magazines for her carbine.

“Well, don’t you have some gear to get ready?”

Elsa picked up the bandoleer. Uncle Bill was right. She had gear to get ready.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Later


“This makes no sense.” Dave said as he walked around the concrete pad.

“The only thing I could think was they came back to do the plan you arranged with them, found the buildings burned, still liked the location.” Stephen said as he walked around the pad.

“With the buildings gone, it’s just a concrete pad with a bunch of junk. I don’t get it. There are plenty of places with that without burned out building rubble all over it. What’s so special they would start bulldozing, and if it’s special enough, why didn’t they finish and start using it?”

“Someone higher up got a clue and decided the lemon wasn’t worth the squeeze, is what I figure. I’m just glad they didn’t finish. I have no idea what we would have done for fuel if they actually put a unit here.”

They kept walking, trying to keep alert as they eked the most out of the waning moonlight as they could. The pumps were piled in one of the rubble heaps off to one side. When Dave got closer, all he could do was swear.

“Those pumps are long gone. I think they ran over them a couple times.”

“I guess it’s up to Bill’s backup pump idea.” Stephen said as he swept the horizon. He didn’t like how exposed they were out here. The building ruins would have broken up their silhouettes. Now they stood out on the concrete expanse.

“Come on. Let’s check what we came for.” Stephen prompted.

They went to the fill pipes for the tanks in front of the store first. It didn’t take long for Dave to get the heavy caps open. The next part wasn’t as straightforward. Normally the old-school method was a long stick dropped down the tank to measure the fuel remaining. This was nowhere to be seen.

Dave’s solution was a weighted string. Bill had tried to make a one-way float that would ride up the string when it hit liquid and stay at that position when they pulled the string up, but he couldn’t get it to work. What they were left with was feeling the string as it came back up and making note of where it was wet.

This would take a hot minute. One tank in the front to check, just in case, but they didn’t expect there to be much in it at all. The real prize would be the one in back of the store. With it being hidden when they left, that would have the most chance to still have fuel.

The tank in the front yielded the expected results. Not a lot of fuel in it and with it being that low, the watery, gritty sludge in the bottom would have to be filtered several times. Even then, it might not be safe to put in the vans. This put their hopes on the one behind the store.

When they burned the store and moved everything to the houses, they hid the fill port under a dumpster before they left. That dumpster was now shoved off the pad into one of the other rubble piles. This made Dave and Stephen very nervous. If the dumpster was still in place, they would have known the fuel should be there. Now, it was anybody’s guess.

“It still has a bunch of dirt and crap around the hatch.” Dave said hopefully.

“Who knows. We might get lucky.” Stephen answered. He knew his heart was racing. So much hinged on this.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Near Dawn


“They should have been back by now!” Elsa said again.

“I know that. There’s a thousand reasons thy could be late. We wait.” Bill said.

“We need to help them.” Elsa continued.

“Help them how? What is the problem they need help with? If they had to detour, which way did they go? Remember, we didn’t want to have any traffic headed this way in the daylight. They could have just gotten slowed down or had to hide. Let’s not press the panic button just yet. We need to focus on getting the last of everything packed.”

“What if they need help? How long do we wait until we go looking for them?”

“We need to wait until dark at least, unless something else comes up.”

“How can you be so calm? They’re in trouble and you just blow it off? What the hell?”

“What choice do I have? Rushing off with no plan is stupid and could bring the wrong kind of attention to us here. What we need to do right now is wait and finish our preparations. We need to trust Dave and Stephen to take care of themselves.”

“That’s a bullshit answer! They need our help!”

“No, Elsa. They MIGHT need our help. We need to give it a little time before we do something rash and stupid. Right now, you need to either finish packing or go rest up incase you have to go out tonight and help them.”

Elsa turned around, grabbed her gear from the couch and stormed off deeper into the house.

“And I thought I was all done raising teenagers.” Bill said to the empty room.

He filled the thermos on the table with coffee, grabbed his binoculars and headed outside. They had a ladder set up so they could get on the roof. The extra height would let him scan farther, looking for Stephen and his brother. He was just as worried as Elsa, but one of them needed to be calm.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Later


It was a long day of two hours on, two hours off for Bill and Elsa. They took turns up on the roof, sweeping the horizon looking for signs of Stephen and Dave. Bill had his hands full keeping Elsa in check. The rotating schedule of watch was the best tool he figured to keep her involved in something addressing the issue while also getting something done in the final packing.

Bill was just grateful Gabe was working so hard keeping Lacy, Sam and Jessica hard at work on the final preparations. They had almost everything packed. The last piece would be confirmation of the fuel. If the fuel was still at the store, it would be a simple matter to roll down there, fill everything up, and head out. Who was he kidding? None of this was simple.

Fuel was their biggest worry and the thing they worked hardest on solutions. It wasn’t the actual fluid that was causing the issue. They thought they had more than enough hidden at the store. Their big problem was how to carry enough with them.

The two vans were set up for the touring company with two of the biggest tanks available when they were originally bought. The problem was they couldn’t count on it to be enough for the whole trip. They could go hundreds of miles without an issue, making the reason to stop all about what the paying customers on a tour needed instead of standing around with them pumping fuel. Well no gas stations to count on for their little trip.

Stephen and Elsa had gathered every single gas can they came across. Fifteen to twenty lawnmower gas cans wouldn’t be enough to do the job of keeping two heavily laden vans with trailers moving for long. After plenty of brainstorming, they settled on a solution. They scavenged several fuel tanks for other trucks and mounted them underneath the two trailers.

A flexible fuel fill spout was put in place to get the fuel into the tanks, and a water spigot type vale was added to the bottom of the tank. Depending on where they were, they had a hose they could use to run the fuel out of the tanks and refill the van, or if need be, go from the tank to one of the gas cans to then transfer to the van’s tanks. It was a clumsy system at best, but it just had to make the trip, not win an award.

Bill tried to think, tried to figure out what else he could do to make improvements to any of their preparations. He went over and over everything in his head another thousand times, all in a feeble attempt to distract himself from his growing worry for his brother and Stephen.

On the next changeover with Elsa, maybe they should start making plans to go looking for them after all.
 
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