Chapter 131: 131
“Rin?” Tatiana asked.
“Yeah. Someone as meticulous as her would be perfect.” I said.
“Has she had experience before?” Matthew asked.
“No but we’re both perfectionists. Every small attention to detail counts when you’re reloading ammo. Sure, even a normal person could do it but if I teach her how, she could definitely produce the ammo to my standard.” I explained.
“She really is meticulous.” Tatiana said helplessly.
“Why, what happened between you two?” I asked, smiling.
“Since we’re living in the same room now, she told me about her everyday routine and forces me to follow them as well. Even in how the items at our rooms are placed is handled by her. She’d pout if I moved anything without putting it back the same way it was.” she said.
“That’s one of the reasons that she’s a perfect candidate.” I said smiling.
“I see, can you also replace the few 5.7s that I used? I picked the casings that I used before. I placed them at the workshop too where the buckets are located.” Tatiana asked.
“Sure. Though I would prefer if you switch to another caliber pistol. We have a few and I’ll let you pick one from my armory. I have 5.7 ammo stocked but the amount is fewer than my 9mms. You could switch to a .45 or a 9mm.” I replied.
“That is okay too.” she replied.
“Wait. So as long as we have the casings and the bullets and the whatchamacallit things, we could make ammo indefinitely?” Matthew asked.
“Yeah, as long as we got the materials. Though we need to make sure of the items we’re reusing is still okay. Sometimes the brass will have cracks or the like so it would be unusable. Also, if the brass is used a lot, it would get unusable over time. So, we need to check everything first before we use them. We can’t just reload our ammo recklessly. That’s where the accidents occur.” I explained.
“Accidents?” he asked.
“Well, sometimes it would explode to our faces when we put too much gunpowder on it. If less, it wouldn’t just fire. Even when casting the bullets could have a few problems. I melted a few blocks of lead before and when it came out it’s not the perfect shape from the cast.” I said.
“What’s the problem with that?” he asked.
“It wasn’t 100% lead. That’s why I bought an XRF Analyzer. It has a few metals mixed in so that’s why there’s a few imperfections on the cast. When it’s not 100% or to the percentage of lead I wanted it, I’d add a bit of other materials such as Tin to make it a bit to what I want it to form into.” I explained.
“Does it need to always be lead though?” Tatiana asked.
“Not exactly, it could be a multitude of materials such as steel or tungsten. It’s harder to work with those materials though so I just use what I’ve been using for my casts.” I said.
“Wait, we get our lead mainly from the shipyard in the pier, right? It’s overrun by those things, right?” Oscar said.
“Yeah, though we still have a lot stored from before. Let’s talk about this later, I’m gonna clear a few in the street while we wait for Kaley.” I said as I stood up and drew my weapon.
Tatiana was behind me and I immediately put down the closest to me when we went to the other side towards Jollibee after walking a few feet. This store is just separated from Puregold by its drive-thru area. The rest that are waiting did the same thing we did though they went to the other side where there is a small school that teaches vocational skills.
I never noticed it first but from each body I dropped to the ground, something is peculiar. I thought it was normal at first so I just made a mental note of it.
“That’s weird though.” I thought to myself.
I continued on sinking my blade through them and flicking the blood off after a couple of swings though Tatiana would just use the momentum of the fire axe to continuously strike a few down. It once got caught up in the neck of a zombie wearing a hoodie but she just let go of the axe and threw her knife at its head. She pulled the knife and the fire axe like it’s nothing and we continued.
“357 and 9… no 16 if I add from before.” I thought to myself.
A few moments later, I could already see two vehicles approaching us. It was the two trucks we have at home and I can see Mark driving the truck from this place. When they parked it, Oscar bid us goodbye and they drove back.
“If they’re done unloading our truck, bring it here too!” I shouted before they drove off.
He just puts his thumb up and they made the turn. I then made the guys haul the items from the small warehouse towards the trucks that Kaley and the group brought. We prioritized on taking all the food first since who would fight over school supplies and other electronic devices if we left them here unprotected? However, it will be a few trips before we get everything from here. Not to mention this fast food place next to it too.
“Hey bro.” Lois said.
“You actually stayed behind. What’s up?” I asked.
“We actually met other people when we we’re hauling the other building materials. I think they’re from the camp here.” Lois said.
“Really? Why are they outside? Did Oscar talk to them?” I asked.
“I dunno. They’re looting one of the shops there though all of them don’t have guns on their person. All of them are just holding different kinds of melee weapons. Oscar was talking to them while I stood guard at the truck but one of the guys there seemed to be looking for you.” Lois said.
“Me? They’re civilians, right? No way they would go out without using guns if they’re soldiers. What is the shop that they are opening? What does the guy look like?” I asked.
“One at a time bro. Hmmm, they’re wearing civilian clothing not sure if they just changed or something but the shop is a local restaurant. They were first afraid when we came in with guns but Oscar told them that we were just getting building materials and Oscar let them take the food they already have. The guy seems to be a normal dude, didn’t look at him that closely since I was scanning around the place.” Lois said.
“Wait. Are they starting to run out of food then?” Tatiana asked.
“I thought they were well-stocked too.” Kaley chimed.
“Are you sure that they were from the camp here?” I asked.
“I heard him say that he came from the South Supermarket before. He made a mention of you to Oscar and he asked him if we know you. Oscar acted like he didn’t and we all did the same. They were already about to leave so he didn’t get to ask more questions.” Lois replied.
“What could he want then?” Kaley asked.
“Could be a few things that’s going on there now. They could be starting to run out of food that’s why a few are leaving and not coming back. Or, the soldiers there are now keeping the food for themselves while the civilians inside are forced to find food on their own. Or, the important ones are given the priority and the normal civilians are doing the looting by themselves. Could be much more but we never know.” I said.
“Why would they still live in their premises if they don’t feed them?” Lois asked.
“Well the soldiers there have guns, medicine and shelter. Much better than having all of it gone now, are we?” I replied.
“Well… that is true.” he replied with a solemn expression.
We just stared in the distance for a while before I started on killing a few that are starting to walk towards our perimeter. It took a bit of time loading everything and the 8-wheeler came back with Oscar driving it with Russel.
“Finally escaped dad!” Russel shouted.
“Why are you trying to get away with unc?” I asked.
“Ever seen dad work? Sometimes I feel he could work for a week without a break! It’s crazy! He works fast too! We already took down three houses while the others are only about half done! I’m so tired!” Russel exclaimed.
“Hah! Help the others loading the boxes then.” I said with a grin.
His lifeless expression after me saying that is priceless! Lois came with him inside to help as well and Jared is still at the rooftop looking at everything below. Each and every food item from the warehouse is loaded successfully. We got several packs of biscuits, canned goods, beans, oats, sauces, condiments, spices, oils and etc. The trucks are full to the brim and we decided to just leave the other things for later since it’s almost lunch.
We haven’t gone to Jollibee yet though even if the people from Woodlands get the food items there, it wouldn’t amount as much as we got from a store that actually sells bulks and bulks of these items. The items we left there are items we already have at home and not as important as what we took already. We just stood guard in the place in case they try something but luckily, they didn’t.
“I hope it stays that way.” I thought to myself.