Gear

My sleeping situation wasn't ideal. I'd completely left it out of my plan. When it was time to go to bed, I pulled my car into a garage and parked it around the corner from the exit. I leaned my seat back as far as I could and tried to get some sleep. (I'm gonna have to get a pillow...)

I hardly slept at all, mostly due to the fear of theft or another form of attack. My car made lots of noise compared to the now silent city and it would be obvious to anyone in the area if I drove by. I knew Amy would likely alert me before anyone could cause too much trouble, but without a weapon, I wasn't confident that I could find anyone off. The night ended without a single threat. I probably got about four hours of sleep. I didn't have a good way to heat water yet, so I drank some bottled tea I had grabbed. "We're gonna fix our situation today, alright Amy?"

Overnight, the power had gone out. The only man made noise left was from the few business and government buildings with noisy generators. "No more easy food for us." I said while taking in the darkened city as the sun began to come up.

I set my goal that night. I had a firm idea of what I wanted to do. I couldn't begin that plan without proper preparation though. I drove to the one gun shop I knew about.

Even this store wasn't ransacked. (If people weren't rushing to defend themselves, there must be barely be anyone left.) Again, the door was unlocked. I strode right in and was faced with a massive selection of guns. I'd never used, or seen one personally. I knew the basics- handguns were generally for close range and rifles, especially with scopes, were good long range weapons. I picked out a desert eagle for my hand gun. It looked powerful and came in the caliber of what appeared to be the bullets in highest quantity, the .44 magnum. I was worried about recoil, but I'd done research and screen recorded a few training videos the night before. It was plenty powerful. (Hopefully, I'll never have to use this thing to its full potential.) I grabbed three, just in case, along with as many bullets as I could find. For the hunting rifles, all I wanted to do was avoid a semi automatic. I grabbed two different basic looking ones and compatible red dot scopes. These were more for food, which wouldn't be an issue for awhile. After grabbing their respective ammo, I also grabbed a bullet proof vest... just in case. Next up was the camping store.

They had plenty of survival meals. Most had an expiration date five years into the future. After grabbing all that was in stock, I estimated that my car had enough food for a single person for nearly six months if I didn't ration. It might be overkill since I would hopefully have a self sustaining system going on by then, but it made it so I had one less thing to worry about for now. (Besides, I'm sure another person will show up soon enough. Hopefully I'll be the one offering help.)

I also found a filter straw, some portable pots, jackets, wetsuits, and a waterproof sleeping bag that doubles as a hammock. If I ever needed to camp in the wilderness, I was ready. I grabbed a bunch of matches and flint as well. At this point, I was already using a powerful flashlight that I had found in the store since the power was out. I took a few with me.

My car was quite full at this point. Amy barely had any space other than the front passenger seat to lay down. I even strapped some things to the roof.

As I was making some of my last rounds through the store, a fishing pole caught my eye. (Now this could come in handy!) I knew how to and loved to fish. I grabbed the rod and a bunch of hooks and quite a few lines, since they could get tangled easily. I was now confident in sustaining myself. This confidence and Amy were the last two things keeping me sane at this point. (I really need to find someone. Socialization is one of the things that makes us human after all.) I already felt like I was loosing part of my humanity. All I could think about was surviving.

By the time I was done looting the camping store, it was only one o'clock. With the luxury of a solar powered battery pack, I could watch videos on my phone to relax. The internet was still up, so I assumed that there were enough backup generators running to sustain servers and cell towers for now. After this, I took Amy for a walk. This time, I had a gun at my side. While I wasn't confident in my ability to shoot it, the sight of a gun could make the majority of people back down. I never let the car leave my sight. After eating lunch, I felt ready to go.

"Let's go get us some meds!"