We drove down the main drag in Pierre and saw no one and nothing that moved. We figured if anyone was alive it would be around the capital building. We weren’t wrong.

There was a military checkpoint about two blocks from the capital built into a dirt and debris berm, topped with steel sheeting and concrete. The checkpoint was manned by SD national guard troops. Jay opened his viewport and spoke to them. He told them who we were, and where we came from, and that we were looking for his family. The guard nodded and waved to the gateman. The gate swung open and we drove indside the compound.

Our arrival made no small amount of commotion. We handed Ed and Mark back their weapons and bid them goodbye. They thanked us for the ride and left. The guard troops were suspicious of us and kept us discretely covered all the time. A man came up and asked who we were and what we were here for. We explained ourselves and asked if Jays family had made it. The man said hed check into it but in the meantime Governor Rounds had requested the visitors be brought to him.

We trooped inside the capital building where the guards requested we turn over our personal weapons. There were some small moments of tension when we both refused and said we would leave if required to be disarmed. Then a booming voice from the end of the corrdor silenced the guards.

“You let them boys by! If they made it this far they certainly arent going to go gunning down anybody who don’t need it!”

Apprently Gov Rounds still had his rather cavalier attitude about life. He invited us into his office. A M-16 leaned on the desk and he had a 1911 .45 pistol on his belt. Pretty much everyone we had seen was heavily armed.

“You boys drink?” we both nodded and he poured a stiff drink for us. He stood and offered a toast.

“To meeting new faces.” we clinked glasses and drank. It was mightly smooth ill say that. Packed a wallop too. He sat and leaned back.

We filled him in on the events that had transpired in the months since the outbreak. He seemed quite disturbed when we told him about the dead head horde that besieged us. When we finished he mulled things over for a bit and then spoke.

“well id say you boys did one hell of a job keeping yourselves alive. Putting together your barricade and that mighty dangerous looking vehicle speaks to your ingenuity. We have around 450 people here now. Most are state workers and military but some are civilian. We evacuated the civilians south in the first stages of the outbreak. There is a large tract camp in the dry lands in new mexico that is secure and most of the refugees are there. “

Jay asked about his family at this point and Rounds called for his aide. Jay gave him all the names and addresses he had and the aide left.

“We’ll do our best to find your people but you understand records and communication is spotty at best.” Jay nodded . “I just want to know more than anything.” Rounds nodded back. “ I know the feeling.”

“Heres the deal. You boys are just fione where you are and with what youre doing. Hell its far more than most people have accomplished. Most people just hid out in their basements until someone showed up to get them. You boys have a functional, defensible and most importantly heavily armed fortress. Plus you have plans to expand and pacify. We have the same plans but lack enough heavy equipment to do so. Heres what we need to do: you guys have acces to a bunch of heavy construction equipment. If you can get it running and functional we’ll get it here. We can get you whatever supplies, fuel, weapons and ammo you need. We’ll send trucks and operators when you tell us you’re ready. We NEED that equipment in short order. Our defenses here is rudimentary at best. If a horde like you describe would come here we could be over-run.”

“Let me and my partner here talk about this for a bit.” I answered. We retired to an anteroom where there was food and drink. We ate a bit and discussed. This would put us back time wise on our plans for expanding the barricade but the return of fuel ammo and supplies would far offset it. We put together a proposal and wrote it all out.

We returned to the governors office with our proposal.

“Here is what we can do and what you need to do in return. We will head back to Mobridge and we want you to send the follwing with us.

3 semi truck lowboys with drivers and a full fuel loads for a trip there and back
5 fully qualified mechanics to assist us with getting the equipment running
Fuel, oil and misc shop supplies
Food
Ammo
Body armor

And the trucks needed to transport said suuplies and equipment. We’ll house and take care of the people and keep them safe inside the barricade when they are not working. We will keep them there as long as you keep us in fuel, ammo and supplies. We will provide you with whatever heavy equipment there is to be had save what we need for our own use. “

Rounds mulled it over and stuck out his hand. “You got a deal.” We spent the remainder of the day picking out supplies and equipment. We spent the night in the governors mansion in the guest room. We had a DELICIOUS supper of locally grown vegetables and venison steaks after which Rounds played a movie neither one of us had seen before in the entertainment room and the cooks even made us popcorn. It was ahell fo a good night.

SUNDAY

Most of the day was spent preparing the convoy for the trip back to mobridge. The drivers and mechanics would ride in the three low boy trucks and the two remaining mechs would drive two five-ton supply trucks. We loaded down heavy with dehydrated food, 7.62 and 5.56mm ammo. We did take time out to go to church as well. It was a rather bizarre affair that was a mixture of almost every religion. We sat through it for the others sake. Afterwards we were approached by several people wanting to ride along. They had the look of leechers to me and we told them no, maybe next time. We made sure to tell gov rounds that unless he authorized them to go we didn’t want any extra people except those we required to come. There wasn’t enough supplies as it was.

Late in the day the governors aide showed up and talked to Jay for a time. Jay seemed happy and sad at the same time. He came back and talked to me. He said his folks had made it to the camp in new mexico. His dad however later died from a cholera epidemic that swept the camp. His mother and sister were there and in good health. The aide said he would send word to them the Jay as alive and well. Jay said he was happy thye made it but sad he couldn’t see them. I knew the feeling.

MONDAY

We left pierre early Monday morning. The hard part of the trip would be getting the trucks over the road we had blown. No roadblocks, gunfights or anything else deterred our trip. It had rained heavily it appeared as we got cloder to Mobridge. We halted at the bottom of tower hill and we rode death metal forward to inspect the road. Surprisngly, the hole was possibly passable. The rain had washed the edges down and made a ramp into and out of the hole. The trucks could cruise right through if they took it slow. We went back, appraised them of the situation and took it slow. We all made it through with no problems save some sweaty palms.

Matt and Jed were on pins and needles (and manning the M-60s) when we rolled up with a convoy of trucks in tow. They whooped and hollered when we started unloading the supplies we brought. We got everyone squared away and bedded in and let Matt and Jed in on the plan.