Chapter 22: 22
We skipped the big gate where the houses were since the truck is almost full. We decided to stop to the small gate with four doors first since there are fewer items to take.
Same as the earlier scavenging trip, we took the essentials and left the ones we don’t have the immediate use for. We loaded the truck and drove inside the compound.
“Why are you guys getting so many?” Lois remarked as he saw the truck.
“It only has been two days since it started here as far as we know and almost everyone still has their belongings in their houses. Most of them just rushed to the camps.” I said.
We then returned to the gated house where the family has left their cat.
We found less food and water than usual although we found a few bottles of antibiotics on one of the cupboards. We also found a few tanks of gasoline in the kitchen along with a few bottles of alcohol. I also found a dartboard, a basketball hoop and a ball. I decided to load it up to pass the time to who are resting or for the kids. When we are about to leave, we found more kibble for the cat that we found inside earlier.
I looked at the truck and only a quarter of it was full since we only took the essentials. It could also be attributed that the family packed most of their items before leaving.
“It would be nice if we could find weapons at some of the houses.” Jared said. The other guys nodded.
“It would be a very lucky find to even get a revolver from this neighborhood. Gun laws are strict at this country. Though I really wish we could find some.” I said.
“So how did you get those then?” they pointed at my guns and Kaley’s rifle.
“This? Well I did hard work on it, I used to know someone from the government and after easily acquiring a license for everything and a few under the table payments, I managed to haul a few guns. Some ways that I wouldn’t tell you, well, what’s the point now, I have acquired a lot more in illegal channels. Turns out, if you have lots of money, people would actually look the other way around. Good thing I started on investing guns early on or else we would be using blades and stuff.” I said.
“How about Oscar then? He surely has stocked on guns too.” Jared replied.
“Hah! Oscar? Let’s just say that when he sold everything he owned there to go here, guns among other things weren’t the ones he let go. In fact, he bought a few more. One of the reasons that he took a lot of trips abroad is that he is stocking up on a lot of them. Guy has to have a hobby, I suppose” I replied.
Jared’s eye lit up as he heard the story, he seems to want to ask more questions but we arrived at the gate where Derek’s family used to live.
We made a thorough search and found a lot of food items both preserved and perishable. Kaley immediately took the rabbits and she tied a small ribbon to a rabbit ‘Bugs’ which she named. There was a total of 7 rabbits in the cage.
“Kaley, place them near the cans of food to be categorized easily later.” I teased.
She looked at me with a glare and a pout as she placed them away from where the food items are placed.
We also found different amounts of rice on sacks or on their own dispensers. Though some of them have no labels, I could easily identify what kind are they because I was selling them in my stores. Among the items, we found two water containers that has a plastic spigot attached to it, we took it because I also planned to have that same container for each room.
We loaded the truck and it was full again, even up to the seats. After locking the gates, we started walking back to the compound. They waited for us to come in before they fully closed the gate but Oscar walked outside.
“Kid, how about building a 2-layered fence instead of a single barricade?” Oscar said.
“That sounds good, we could drill a hole to our wall and the other side so we could weld the rolled-up fence in it.” I nodded.
“We could put it in the plans.” He said.
“How about the catwalk? Are you done?” I said.
He waved us inside to take a look.
“The catwalk on the left side is done though the one on the right still has a few beams that could be placed to prevent it from wobbling. The things that could hold the climbing rope is also installed. We could finish the one on the right side if we work on it till midnight.” Oscar said.
“No, take some rest, you could finish it in the morning. We need people to have energy for watch duty.” I said.
The guys stopped working though they helped with unloading the items on the truck. Rin also helped with listing everything properly and she was in charge of where each item could be placed in the bas.e.m.e.nt.
I looked at my watch and it reads 4:00 PM, a few moments pass and Olivia and Aya ran outside the doors. “Guys! The President is having another broadcast!”
We rushed to the living room and took our seats immediately. We saw the man again with the same getup though vigor has appeared on his face unlike the hint of stress from yesterday.
“Philippines, this is your President speaking. We had a f.u.c.k.i.n.g hell of a day, didn’t we? We stopped the emergency sirens this morning because we learned noise attracts these sons of bitches! We’re slowly learning about them so we could fight back more effectively. Our situation here is much more advantageous than the other countries since we are a smaller country than the others unlike the USA, China, Canada, Russia and other countries that are close to each other.”
“We have lost a lot of people in just these two days; a few DDR camps are now unresponsive. They are either overrun or have been taken control by my military personnel that has gone AWOL. Do me a favor and kill those sons of bitches for me! They are the sc.u.m of the society that we need to root out! They are a shame to their uniform and should be put down!”
“We have set up a fortress in Davao City my hometown and we are slowly taking over it. The worst of the three Island groups is Luzon, followed by where I am Mindanao, and lastly Visayas. The Luzon island group is where most of the populace are located and some cities are reported to be overrun, take refuge in the DDR camps if they are close to you and do what you must to survive if you are very far.”
“Our dams for our waters are the most guarded of all our resources, we will continue to supply your homes as long as possible. Our power supply will be only available in a few selected places, we will start on conserving our energy for communications and these broadcasts will still be aired for as long as we can, every day at 4:00 PM. News reports will still be continued and survival basics will still be aired but only after these broadcasts until midnight, we encourage you to do your work while there is still light. To those of you who have Satellite Phones in this country our numbers are 0063 333 232 6900 to 0063 333 232 6909. We need information from all parts of the country. The military is doing its best to overcome this disaster, but we would also need your help so we could overcome this ordeal and those that have sacrificed themselves for the cause will be honored by those who are left. This will be a hellish climb but we will need each other if we are to survive. That will be all for now, stay strong.”
The broadcast ended. We looked at each other and gave each other solemn looks, far from the fear and helplessness from the first broadcast. Each one of them are slowly adapting to the situation and having the mindset necessary for this scenario.
“It sounds like despite what’s happening, the government is still doing its best.”
“I agree, I first thought that the president would be holed up in a bunker waiting for everything to pass.”
“Hey, even if you say that, we’re very far from where he is. And he said that Luzon is the most dangerous island zone and we are in it.”
“He said that some of the soldiers have gone AWOL. Do you think the camp next to us is?”
“We’re not sure yet, but if they did, most of those living there would die. They would either form their own utopia there or take everything from that place and leave everyone behind. So far, that’s not the issue.”
“Good thing we have this place here.”
“Yeah.”