whew its been a big two days. first of all the biggest news. two survivors from Bismarck ND arrived yesterday. Two brothers, Matt and Jed. they rode a snomobile down the frozen river all the way here. we'll take it from the top.

it was late afternoon and Jay was up on the barricade popping rounds at a dead head that had wandered up and started hollerin for me. i thought maybe he needed help and came a foggin' with my FPW. Instead of a dead head he had spotted a snomobile. i grabbed a flare gun from the nearest firing point and shot a red multi star in the sky. the sled slowed turned and headed our way. Jay relaoded and i flipped off the safety. We had no idea. the sled pulled up and two kids got off. One couldnt have been more than 11 or 12. they were well armed. both had glock pistols, the taller of the two had a M4 and was dressed in desert camo. the younger had a cut down youth 20 ga pump shotgun and both had packs. the sled was loaded heavy with ammo cans and a long gun case. the two dismounted and the older walked up to the barricade. jay lowered the ladder and i climbed down.

"Howdy."

"Hello. Um, can we trade for some gas? we're about dry."

I grinned. "theres plenty for the asking. You guys hungry?"

the younger of the two perked up at this. I waved them over to teh ladder.

"What about our sled?"

I motioned for Jay to open the barricade. "run er' in and Jay will close up behind you."

"can we keep our guns?"

"Heck yeah. this aint no place to be unarmed."

Jay fired the cat and moved the barricade. the older of the two ran the sled inside while the younger covered him. these two had been around the bend a time or two by the look of things. the younger had a predatory look about him that belied wisdom beyond his years. the older looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. All too common now.

He killed the engine and climbed off. the younger looked at me and Jay hard. "come on boys. we got plenty of chow. Jay fire up the genny and we'll cook." Jay nodded and went to crank it up.

We cooked potatoes, ham and tomato soup. the two boys ate like wolves. the older looked at us a littel self conciously and i smiled. "Eat your fill. Theres more where that came from." He smiled and laid into his plate. when they were finished we cleaned up and retired to the living room. There was a balnket across the top fo the couch and the younger asked if he could borrow it.

"ill one up you. theres a made bed in the back room. its a littel cool but help yourself." his eyelids were heavy and he plodded off to bed. The older nodded his thanks. Jay brought out a bottle of schnapps and three glasses. He poured three glasses and handed them to us.

"To us. to being alive." we clinked glasses and drank. it was a good moment.

The young man sipped his drink. "well i guess i best fill you in. its been a hell of a year eh?" We nodded our assent. "I lived in bismarck for the last ten years. mom and dad both worked in management and my sister worked at home depot. i was a junior when the shit went down. Jed was just a kid. he had to grow up mighty fast." He grimaced and took a swig. "there was a group of about 15 survivors that shacked up in a third story apartment complex. Mom and sis got cught up in the first infections so all that was left was Me Jed and dad. it was...ugly there in teh first weeks. Dad had to shoot several survivors who tried to riad our apartments. it was a war zone. after about a week the water gave out and we had to forage for more. Dad got wounded in a gun battle with bandits. i ended up doing most of the scavenging with Jed. then a group of religious people showed up and took over the fourth floor. mormons or something liek that. they spent alot of time praying and such. Im not much of a church person i guess. they shared what food and supplies they scrounged and we kept the zombies at bay. they were anti gun i guess cause they had no weapons and refused the few we tried to give them. little by littel the zombies got them all the first summer. one of the women went whacko and jumped off the roof. that was messy. Dad wouldnt let jed look at it. they moved away after that and we never saw them again. a group of mixed people replaced them after a couple weeks. they were drunks. Bad drunks. they partied every night. one got drunk and came after me and Jed shot him with his shotgun. i took his M4 and his uniform. he may have been a soldier, i dont know. anyway things basically went on like that until three days ago. we had smelled something like gas fumes for a day or two. the refinery was shut down of course but there was still plenty of stuff around there that was flammable. Dad got worried and found the sled. he packe dit up and locked it int he downastrais garage.

the next day dad went out to dig around. about three hours later a huge explosion shook the whole frickin' city. We waited and waited for dad but he never came back. fires burned in the entire half of the city that was near the refinery, im assuming from buring debris. they got worse and worse over the next day and ahalf or so. when the block next to ours started burning, Me and Jed pulled out. we just made it to the river when another large explosion happened. we ran past the edges of town a full throttle with burning debris falling around us. it was unreal. i figured dad must have been killed in the explosion since he didnt come home. he was smart enough not to screw around with anything that might blow up but you never know now. We had enough fuel for around 200 miles but when we stopped at Fort yates to scrounge some extra chow, someone started shooting at us and punctured one of our spare fuel cans. we're just about bone dry now. My plan was to head for pierre as it was the capital i thought any type of structure would remain there. crappy idea but it was the best i could do."

He grinned then emptied his glass. Jay lifted the bottle and he nodded. Jay refilled his glass and he knocked it back. I cold see the kid was worn out hard.

"Theres another bed in the other back room if you're tired." he nodded.

"ill rack out with Jed. Help keep him warm." I nodded. There was a few nights id've liked a warm body to snuggle up to as well. "you guys keep a watch?"

"Not yet." i replied its still cold enough the dead heads are frozen at night. they need the sunlight before they thaw. gets a bit wormer we'll start running a night watch. the barricade is pretty much impenetrable but we do a perimiter run twice a night."

"If you need a watch, wake me." he siad.

I nodded. "Sleep. it looks like you could use it."

more tomorrow im tired, and a littel drunk.