It snowed some today. I scrounged for supplies on the east edge of town for few hours. not much. Jay has the flu and is down for the count. Back to our story i guess.

Where were we? Oh yeah, on the roof.

Jay had a pair of binoculars around his neck and was scanning the area.

"the rangers intact. We'll have to get the keys from the locker in the shop though."

I chuckled. for once my crappy memory had served me well. I pulled the spare key out of my coat pocket and jingled it on its ring.

"No fucking way." Jay said.

"i left em' in my pocket the other day. i kept forgetting to put them back. Looks like a good thing i forgot."

Jay grinned. "I got me a plan." We hopped the roof to Jays apartment and entered through a hole in the roof. I asked "Where's Tina?"

Jay got a pained look on his face and i regretted the question. "She called from work. she got pinned in the back room by zombies with noithing but her .38 revolver. she had five rounds. I was on the cell phone with her when they started breaking down the door. I heard her fire four fast shots. Then a fifth. then the phone went dead. You guess." He turned away for a moment and i found another direction to look. After a moment i spoke.

"Becca and Lil headed west towards her folks before they blew the bridge. At least you know."

Jay nodded and we moved on. He filled a duffel bag with weapons, ammo and a few personal belongings. a backpack was stuffed with clothing and what littel food he had. He grabbed the two propane tanks out from under the gas grill and unhooked the hoses. I knew what he had in mind.

"that wont work. mythbusters tried it and couldnt get them to explode."

"myabe but they didnt use road flares." Jay taped a eight inch road flare to the handle of each tank. "ill throw em', you shoot em. You throw like a girl." He laughed and we headed out. there was a stairway on the back deck of teh shop that had been cut about six feet from the ground. easy jump if you were careful. We positioned ourselves and got ready. I adjusted the sight on the AK on nodded. Jay lit the flare and heaved the tank out into the street and i waited until it rolled among the undead. When it stopped i fired.

A plume of fire filled the street and a shockwave pummeled us. Jay threw the other tank and i fired when it was a few feet off the ground, closer to us. a second shockwave cleared a path.

"GO!" Jay yelled. We dropped off the cut ladder and ran like hell. I hit the unlock button on the remote and heard the clack as the doors unlocked. "You shoot, I'll drive." I yelled to Jay. I threw my rifle and shotgun into the bed and Jay hopped in. the deadheads were right on our heels when i started the engine and Jay opened fire as i pulled out inot the street. I dodged the smoldering remians of the propane tanks as Jay unleashed a racket of fire from the bed. Empty brass rained down across the windsheild and hood and i heard him stop to reload.

We handnt discussed where to go beforehand but at the rate we were burning ammo, we needed a hell of alot more. there were several hardware stores and gunshops we could hit up for ammo. There was a sporting goods store outside of town but that was miles away. I slid open the back window and yelled over the wind.

"we need supplies. what do you think?"

"Runnings first, then the hardware store, then Jeffs pawnshop. If we arent under attack by then we'll try for the grocery store too."

The Runnings parking lot was deserted, and the front doors were locked. All the better. I found a crowbar in the toolbox of the truck while Jay watched for incoming. It made short work of the glass doors. the inside doors were unlocked. I slung my rifle and drew my Glock. I cut the pie as i entered the building, watching for threats. None presented themselves. emergency lighting was still on bathing the store in an unearthly yellow glow.

"Back the truck up to the roll up door and ill let you in." Jay said.

I nodded. So far so good, no zombies yet. Jay rolled up the door and i backed the truck in. He rolled the door back down. "i barricaded the front so we got some time. Lets load up."

We both grabbed a shopping cart and headed for the ammo. the shelves had been hit some by buyers but the placed had closed in an orderly fashion. There were crates and boxes out for the night crew to restock, but they never showed. we helped ourselves. PIstol, rifle and shotgun ammo was loaded by the case and rolled back to be loaded in the ranger. When that ran out we loaded cases of beef jerky, camping food and gear. that pretty much filled out a load and night was beginning to fall.

"You want to shelter here or bug out for the house?" I asked.

Jay pondered for a moment. "Hell you still got heat, lets do your house."

No dead heads found us on our way back to the house and we off-loaded the ammo and supplies. We used the push bar on the ranger to clear the dead bodies away from the front deck and used a towrope to clear them from the murder hole. after hauling the supplies we gathered i fired up the propane wall heater and warmth flooded the room. We took stock of ourselves. Jay was a ragged mess. His clothing was torn in a dozen places and he had no hat. loaded mags stuck out from his pockets at all sorts of angles and my Hi point pistol was tucked in his belt. i had lost my overcoat along the way and was cut up from the truck crash. Open pockets on my combat vest flapped as i walked and one canteen was missing. We looked at each other and suddenly burst out laughing. I have no clue why but we rolled on the floor like kids bellowing out laughter for at least ten minutes.

Im tired tonite. the walking today took alot out of my legs. I haven been able to find a decent pair of winter boots yet. Im still wearing my old Carolina boots id worn for years and they are getting in rough shape. Id love to find a pair of army "bunny boots" but they were few and far between around here.