Tiffany Crystal's Forecast for the day:

What happens when a person with some common sense wakes up to a “zombie apocalypse”? Shit gets done, that’s what.

Spoiler: the dog doesn’t die.

Please note: this work of fiction involves a lot of swear words/cussing and adult themes. Kiddos beware.

April 22nd
Day 5
The sky is starting to get lighter.

Fair warning: I’m fucking exhausted, so mistakes galore. Bear with me, okay? it’s been a fucking rough 24 hours. Or, around there, anyway. I’m not even sure what time it is at this point. My phone is turned off for now I made sure it was fully charged before we left, but that’ll go fast if I leave it turned on. *snorts* All of the scavenging we did, and never thought to grab cellphone batteries.

We made it to the docks, by the way. We have meds, too. Lots of meds. We also have two new people. Ben (needaride guy), and Shane, who has replaced Scott as “dumbfuck”.

We found this dumbfuck at the pharmacy. He had barricaded himself in the staffroom, venturing out now and then to grab a bag of chips and a soda, and then running back to his little hideout. He came scurrying out without even checking to make sure the way was clear and almost got his ass shot.

All Scott saw was a moving body, and it wasn’t one he recognized. If it hadn’t been for his bum arm, Shane would be a dead man. Or at least an injured one.

We almost left him behind. We probably should’ve. He’s an idiot. a grade A, first class idiot. He’s also a pharmacist though, so he was a big help when we were gathering medicine to take with us. With him there, we were able to hit up two other drug stores before we got to the docks.

Oh, and Dave did some scavenging on his own. He took the bike Abby and I has found and rode off after we picked up Shane.

I was pissed. Scott had just been injured doing the same damn thing, but hey, whatever. I told him if he wasn’t at the pier when we got there, we were leaving without him.

He caught up with us as we were leaving the last pharmacy. We all have shoes now. And maps. And ropes. And a few plastic water bottles. We emptied some of the glass jar of water into the plastic ones so we could make more molotovs. I was expecting trouble when we got to the Narrows, but we got past the bridge, no problem.

We’re camped at the little island in the bay now (I forget the name of it. There’s the bigger one and a little one. We’re on the little one). Everyone but Jason and I are sleeping. I’m fucking exhausted, but we all agreed. At least two people on watch at all time. Jason managed to catch a little bit of a nap on the boat earlier, so he volunteered to sit with me. We both ate ourselves a can of ravioli (Ben offered to cook it on the boat stove thing, but we decided not to risk it for now). When the sun is up, it’ll be their turn to eat, and our turn to nap.

I’m writing this to keep myself awake. Jason is practicing tying knots. Ben showed him a couple, and drew him a picture of the sails and stuff so he can learn the different parts of the boat and what they do. Ben is supposed to give Dave and Scott some sailing lessons when they all get up. Ben’s gonna look over the boat we nabbed, too. Supposed to give us some idea of what it can do, and how fast it’ll go.

So anyway, we got to the docks…and, oh, that part was fun.

Ben was right. There were two boats left. He just neglected to mention that they were both sailboats. Abby knows how to drive a stick? shift? Automatic, I don’t fucking know, a regular boat. One with an engine. Not one with the flappy sail thing, and especially not fucking huge ones like these,

And even better: as we’re standing there, looking at the boats like “wtf??”, guess what started coming into view?

Did you guess a bunch of fluffy wabbits with cute wittle noses and cottonpuff tails? Cause if you did, you’re fucking stupid. Just sayin’.

Scott has done some sailing, so he took over the bigger boat. He took Dave and Shane with him. Abby, the kids and I got on the other. We untied (undocked? unmoored? I don’t know what to call it) the boats, and thankyougodorwhoeverisupthere, the boats had engines.

Didn’t do us much good without the keys, but Scott threw out a rope, we tied it to the front thingy and we managed to get away from the dock enough that we didn’t have to worry about the trolls. Dave said he knew how to hotwire a car, and, it took some finageling (however you spell the damn word…) but we got him onto our boat and he worked his magic.

We got…kinda turned around, looking for Ben. He said he’d be waiting at the south tip, but not how or where exactly. We didn’t even know what he looked like, and we were worried about getting too close to shore and damaging the boats, so we’re just kinda….floating there, not knowing what to do, trying to see if we can spot anyone moving. We finally spotted someone paddling out to us on a kayak.

He got onboard, made the guys bring up his kayak for him, then showed them how to get the boats right next to each other right without bumping so we could all talk.

He’s the one that suggested the little island. He said it was close enough that the boats would be able to reach it without running out of gas, and since it’s not open to the general public, the islands should be empty. The only problem is that they’re easily visible from the shore, but as long as bandits haven’t gone to sea, we’ll be okay.

Oh, and Scott managed to get himself in my good graces.

When we were at the store and Shane was blathering on about how useful he could be, Scott told him to shut up, got our people busy getting what we need, and pulled me aside.

him: “We agreed. You’re in charge of planning shit. I’m in charge of killing shit. Here’s my opinion: he’s a loudmouth, and an idiot. He’s gonna get us all killed. We should leave him behind.”

me: “I agree, but he also gave us useful information, and might be useful later on. We’re going to need all the leverage we can get when, if, we run into other survivors, and medicine is important to staying alive in the long run.”

him: “So what do we do now?”

me: “we get him out of the city, at least. we’ll probably be on the boat for a while. Maybe by the time we reach land, we’ll be able to teach him some skills to actually be worth keeping around. If not, we part ways.”

him: “fine, but if he starts running his mouth or doing something that puts my niece at risk, I will split his fucking skull.”

All paraphrased of course, but still. Scott is apparently over his “me Tarzan, you Jane. I lead, you follow” bullshit, so I am fucking thrilled.

Course, it could all also be for show, who fucking knows.

Ugh. Running out of stuff to say. Jason keeps asking what I’m writing, and why I’m writing it. I told him, eventually someone will find this. It might be an alien civilization at this point, or a new form of intelligent species might take over once the humans are gone, but whatever it is, they’ll need to know this part of our history. It’s a fucked up “how did this even happen?!” part, but it’s still history.

Oh my god, I’m yawning my brains out. What else is there…

The boats are nice. I’m not sure what kind they are, but they’re pretty big. There’s enough room that everyone is on a bed. They’re sharing, but still beds are good.

Oh! something to add to the “shopping list”: a tool set. It doesn’t have to be big, but you never know when you might need a screwdriver or a wrench, you know? I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, honestly.

Oh thank fuck, the sun is up. Time for sleep.

---

sometime after noon 2:45pm (thanks Ben)

Writing this while Jason and I eat something real quick.

I don’t remember all the specs, but the boat we have is a “Tayana” something, and it’s not bad. Ben gave some sailing lessons while Jason and I were napping, and they made up some plans (Scott’s on a roll here. Ben wanted to get a move on while I was sleeping, but Scott insisted they run the plans by me before we did anything).

So, plans.

First things, first, we’re getting the fuck outta dodge. We’re not far from the mouth of the bay, and then we’ll be out on the ocean. I was hoping we could stay on the boat all the way down to the Carolina coast, but Ben says that’s a no go. Not with us not knowing our main sail from a hole in the ground. The gas we have will only get us so far, and that’ll have to do.

Since we can’t get all the way down to the Carolinas, Ben is going to try and get us at least past Jersey. He said if we stick somewhat near the coast, he’ll be able to paddle in when we’re near a few port towns and see about siphoning out some gas for us to use. I suggested just grabbing a new boat from the docks, but Ben said 1) we can’t count on Dave being able to hotwire any old boat we come across, 2) the boat we have is one of the better ones out there, so we should stick with what we have, 3) we can’t be sure that the boat we nab won’t have trolls aboard, 4) the longer we stay near land, the more risk we have of trolls and/or bandits spotting us.

We have enough food that it shouldn’t be a problem to stay out at sea for that long, so that part is fine.

Ben says we’ll need to take frequent breaks since we’re not used to being on the water, and we have kiddos with us. We’re also going to be passing by a national park thing where people camp, so depending on how the coast looks, we might use that as a stopping point. I was worried about it being crawling with trolls, but Ben says it’s not a busy season yet and there’s the coast guard on the other side of the peninsula (sand bar?) thing, so anyone who was there, was probably evacuated.

If the coast is clear, Dave and I are gonna check around for deserted campsites. Ben had a tent and some basic camping gear on his boat, so that brings us up two tents…for nine people. Yeah, not gonna work. We need more tents, and more sleeping bags. Preferably cold weather ones. We’re having a warm spell at the moment, but that won’t last long. The sky is already starting to look kinda grey, and I didn’t remember to check the weather before we left, so for all I know, we’re all fucked. Again.

So yeah, we’re basically going to hop and skip down the coast, picking up supplies and gas where we can. Ben says Delaware is only about six or seven hours, but with all the stops we’ll need to make, we should try and get at least half the distance out of the way, before nightfall, if we can. I have no idea how this is going to work, but hey. We’ll see.

Okay, we’re done eating. Time to get on the road (ha).

---

8:30pm

We’re…kinda camped? The boats are anchored off a beach. We’re squatting in one of the beach houses. Ben says we’re still off the Jersey coast, but we had to stop while we could still see well enough to do it safely.

The camp site thing on the other side of Sandy Hook was a bust. We ran into the coast guard. They have the whole peninsula blocked off. They let us pass, but we had to let them search the boats. It was a lot more low key than I expected, to be honest. According to the guy in charge of the inspection(?), they only stopped us cause we were headed to shore. They’re more worried about people trying to get in, then out.

While the grunts were searching the boats, I asked Mr. In Charge if there were any updates on the whole FUBAR sitch. There really wasn’t anything new. The cause of the outbreak is still unknown, so there’s still no cure. There are symptoms to look out for though.

It starts out with a headache. Then they start getting dizzy and nauseous. From there, it goes downhill. They said it’s almost like the person develops dementia or alzheimer’s, but it moves really fast. Within a day, they start forgetting things like how to drive, or ride a bike. They get lost if they stray too far from home. On the second day, they start fixating on people. They’ll call a person’s name and try to get as close to the person as they can, sniffing at them. They also start giving off this cloyingly sweet smell. Day 3 is the end. They lose their vision early in the day, and within a couple hours, they’re throwing up blood. When the vomit turns black, the change is complete. Bash their head in or start running your ass off.

They said there’s been a few cases where it didn’t even take a full 3 days, so to keep a really close eye on anyone who shows the symptoms, even if it’s just the first day.

When they were done checking the boat over, they offered to let us stay on base, but I told them we have a destination in mind. They couldn’t give us any extra supplies, and they wouldn’t allow us to scavenge any tents from the park area, but they were helpful in their own way. They warned us that a storm is making its way up the coast and we would need to find a place to shelter by tomorrow night.

We left Shane behind.

When the guy told us about the symptoms, Abby just about yanked my arm out of the socket. Apparently Timmy and Chloe, both, were complaining about Shane. Chloe said he smelled weird, and Timmy said he kept looking at them “funny” and was sniffling a lot.

I don’t remember him saying anything about a headache or whatever, but I guess it would explain him not checking for trolls before running out of the break room last night. And the way he kept just kept repeating the same thing over and over again. “I know the drugs, I know what medicines you need. I know the drugs.”

I talked it over with the guard. He agreed to take Shane with them, but I’d be surprised if Shane actually made it to land without a bullet to his brain.

Anyway. Like I said. We’re camped.

Ben had to take his boat to ground, get it anchored or whatever, then paddle out to Abby and mine’s boat to take us in. Then, he and Dave hot wired a truck off the street to tow the boats even more inland. Something about high tide, which actually kinda made sense (yay me!)

The boats needed gas, and the roads were pretty deserted, so they took the bike into town, Ben riding on the fucking handlebars, I almost hurt myself trying not to laugh too loud. They came back and jerry rigged the cart to drag along behind them, then went back and brought back about 8 of those big red gas can things. It took a while, but the boats are fully loaded with gas, and we have about 40 extra gallons of gas to go with it.

Scott and I broke into one of the houses facing the beach. Found a couple dead bodies in the bedroom upstairs. Looks like they blew their brains out, but we didn’t find the gun. We locked the door to that room and checked the rest of the house. Once we were sure it was clear, we brought Abby and the kids in.

Our “host” had a freezer full of tv dinners and frozen pizzas, so we all had a hot meal tonight. We have all the windows covered and the doors are locked. Dave ate his dinner by the back window. He’s keeping an eye on the boats.

Every once in awhile, a troll will shuffle by out front. It’s a male. He keeps walking from one end of the street to the other. I’m not sure if he was following Dave and Ben on one of the runs earlier, and lost them at the end of the street or what, but it’s making things a bit tense.

On the upside, we found two more bikes in the garage (Dave was so annoyed when he and Ben got back the first time and saw them. oops?), and a couple sleeping bags. Still no extra tent, but with Shane gone, we might be able to make do.

There will always be two people on watch, so we only need sleeping space for six of us. Abby and the kids will have my tent. It’ll be a tight fit with all four of them, but they should fit. That leaves only two other people. If they don’t mind the closeness, they could probably fit in Ben’s little one-man tent. It’d be a hell of a tight fit, but it’s better than nothing.

Jason also offered up his spot in the main tent when he’s helping keep watch, so there’s that, too. Still gonna be keeping my eyes open for another tent. And we need at least one more sleeping bag.

We made a cake. We found the mix in the pantry. I didn’t trust the eggs in the fridge, and we didn’t have any milk, so the guys went for another ride to the gas station. This time they went all out. They grabbed the milk and eggs, but they also brought back all of the ramen and canned foods they could find, and a bunch of frozen pizzas. They brought back ice cream, too. It’s been seven days since this shit started, and we’re all alive. Seems like a good enough reason to me for a little party.

Besides, Abby informed me, with all the food she found in the pantry, the food the guys brought back, and what we already had, we should be good for about a week, if we’re careful. We’ll be eating a lot of ramen, so the water isn’t going to last us very long, but at least we don’t have to worry about food.

We’re working on a watch shift, but we can’t really implement it yet. Not when only three of us can actually make the boat go somewhere. So for now, Jason and I are keeping watch til around one.  Then Jason is going to bed and Dave will take his place til dawn.

Hate to say, but as much as I dislike having a large group, it would be a lot easier if we had a couple more adults. It’s going to be hell trying to cart Chloe through the woods and crap. I’m trying to think if there’s a way we could put Chloe in that cart we found, but we need that for the suitcases. Maybe we could sit her on top of them?

I don’t fucking know. We’ll figure something out. We have to. In the meantime, I’m going to close this for the night. It’s already 10. Time to change places with Jason. I’m tired of looking at the street. Now I get to go stare at the boats instead. Woohoo. So excited.

See you tomorrow.