Vaxdemic Book 2 Chapter 7 (Unlocked)
Chapter 7
The day of the expedition is finally here. Smith’s Summit dam sits northeast of the city, it’s easy to find if you’re on the lake the dam makes possible. You just travel south along any shore and eventually you’ll see it. This isn’t an option for us since we have so much equipment, we need to find the access road. This means going into the mountains.
No one has been coming from this area to the market. We hoped someone eventually would so Matt had people stationed there in case someone showed up. Smith’s Summit Lake is huge by local lake standards. The people who live around it were a strange mix of rich and poor. Since no one has shown up from the area it’s assumed they either don’t want company, they don’t know about the market, or they can't. Makes looking for locals a daunting prospect.
At first, I thought it would be quicker to split up. Then the scars the cougar had left me started to itch and my opinion quickly changed. We spent the first day mapping out roads into the area so we can find our way around, and more importantly back. We tried using the map I used to navigate the city, but the roads it shows don’t exist anymore. Our only solution is to drive and hope for the best.
The roads out here are in even worse shape than those in the city. They’re covered in a thick matt of leaves, twigs, and debris. Most of the time you only know a road is there because the ground is slightly flatter than the ground around it. At least there are street signs, most of the time. We spent ten hours on the road before we stopped in the parking lot of a long-abandoned gas station. There was an elevated concrete pad where the gas pumps would have been decades ago. It was two stories tall with the second floor offering some cover for the area in front of the empty store. Matt decided this was the best place to set up camp.
I need to complement Matt on the guys he picked for the trip. In less than an hour four large tents were up and a fire was built. Since I’d never been camping in my life I agreed to help with the cooking. I thought I would get complaints about serving roasted meat and potatoes, but all I got were compliments. I also brought several jars of sauerkraut, because I knew at least I would eat it. Matt organized a watch with ten of us sleeping while three kept watch, then they switched. I offered to take part, but was turned down. Matt said he didn't want me over exposed.
The second day went much like the first, until we came to a tree which had fallen across the road. It took about an hour to get it to the side. An hour later we found a second. We didn’t gain much ground that day. The third day we had to swap the propane in the vehicles. We’d brought enough to operate for five days before one of the trucks would have to head back and retrieve fresh tanks.
On the third day we passed an overlook on the side of a mountain. That’s where we caught our first glimpse of the lake. It looked like it was still about a day of travel away, but this is where we stopped. Matt decided to send men off to retrieve fresh propane and set up camp here for a few days while we waited. We loaded the empty tanks into the truck with some meals and equipment for the three men who would be making the trip back. I made them a copy of the directions we’d taken to get this far.
This was the first night I really felt homesick. I’d brought Abby with me, but left the other dogs with Claire and Brock. Originally, I was going to leave Abby with Claire, and I know how crazy this sounds, I could swear she looked so said when I told her. It’s good to know I have five minutes of resolve against a look I think a dog gave me, because that’s how long it took before I was packing food for her. Matt laughed at me when I told him, but said it would be good to have a dog around. On this night I was really grateful I’d brought her along.
It took two days for the men to return with fresh tanks, but they weren’t alone. It turns out Matt’s son sent six other men to secure the location for restocking. This way we wouldn’t have to travel so far, and from here, if they saw trouble they could report back quicker. I keep hoping there won’t be trouble.
We set off the sixth day with fresh supplies. Seeing the lake and getting there are two separate things. It didn’t take long before we were lost in the maze of roads again. It struck me as odd how few houses we’d seen. We hadn’t exactly been seeking them out but there were a few. Those we stopped at were either empty or had rotted corpses inside. The latter tended to be the much nicer homes we stumbled upon.
On the seventh day we ran across a farm. The farmer was very surprised to see other people. Apparently, he and his family had been living alone out here for nearly two years. He’d let most of his fields got to seed and was simply growing food for his family at this point. We bartered some food and lodging from him that night and we exchanged directions. He gave us directions to the approximate area of the dam. We gave him instructions on how to get to the market. Luckily, he had a horse. I wondered for the first time if the market had started selling buggies yet.
On eighth day we returned to the resupply camp. We also gave them a copy of the roads we had found, If we got lost others would have a chance. One of the men were talking about setting up a permanent home on the overlook as a kind of trading post, if we found enough people. It’s starting to feel like a lot of old-world ideas are coming back.
The ninth day we finally reached the road that we were sure led to the dam. It had an eight-foot security fence and the road was blocked by an electric gate. It was too dark to proceed that night, so after forcing the gate open, we made camp on the other side, hoping it would keep away most of the wild animals. You couldn’t see the dam from here but the sign on the fence made us hopeful.
That night was strange. We kept hearing things in the trees around us as soon as it got dark. Several times I thought I caught movement, but when we went to investigate there were no tracks, prints, or any sign that an animal had been there. I was hoping it was bats, but as we sat around the fire, I got the sense of being watched.
On the tenth day we started up the road to the dam. Until one of the lead vehicle's tires popped. When it was removed, we found a small bolted caltrop stuck in the tire. A quick sweep of the area revealed dozens more all over the road. We secured some branches with leaves just starting to change color and used them to brush the road ahead as clear as we could. It was slow going. We discovered a few dozen more of the small traps before we heard water. After another hour of work, we found the dam.
I’m sure there are bigger dams in the world. I know, I played a game featuring one. While this one was not a match for the Hoover dam it was still probably one of the biggest structures I’ve ever seen. Water was spilling from an opening on the south side of the dam. I fell down a spill way into the river beneath it. I know this is the same river that passes through the city. Out here it looked wilder. The dam itself also had a lot of debris on it. There appeared to be tree branches covering the area between the two concrete buildings that marked the entrance on either side. I thought I caught a glimpse of something behind the branches but couldn’t be sure.
The entrance to the building was locked, but after an hour of work we found it was also barred. We pounded and kicked it for an hour before more drastic measure were needed. Matt and two of his men started cutting down a nearby tree. I’ll be honest when I first saw the axes, I thought they were for the door. The tree they chose was about a foot wide. Once it was down, they removed all the branches and cut the remaining log to about eight feet. Then they got the straps. By this point I knew what they were making. Soon eight of the men were carrying the tree by the straps, the log daggling between them. They had made a huge battering ram.
They placed the ram against the door. Then on the count of three pulled the tree back and raced it forward. The door stood absolutely no chance. On the first swing the it buckled. On the second it was knocked clear off its hinges taking the bar with it. The room beyond was dimly lit. The fact that it was lit at all was surprising. We readied our weapons and advanced.
The room was large and bunker like. Bare concrete walls greeted you at every turn. We entered in teams. I went in with the second. There was a large amount of trash so we moved carefully. Matt was leading the first group and advancing on the door to the walkway between the two buildings. The third team was securing a door that appeared to lead further down. My team was sweeping the room. There appeared to be something written on one of the walls so I asked my team to move closer.
Old boxes littered the floor. They looked really familiar. I finally saw one laying with the front of the box up. In glossy letters it read RTX 3080. I was instantly taken back to before all of this. Then I was curious, what would that be doing here? We advanced closer to the words written on the wall. We were finally close enough to read them. In faded grey paint it read “The Wolf’s Den”. I was dumbfounded. Was it graffiti?
A pile of collapsed boxes and trash exploded outward. I was suddenly knocked off my feet as the men around me panicked. A man in dark clothes holding a crude spear made from a sharpened pipe yelled, “Now” and the room filled with a buzzing sound. Small quadcopters appeared from behind piles of trash. They moved toward everyone in the room, each bore what looked like a cattle prod projecting in front of the main body. The man stood above me pointing his spear in my face. “I am Lord Garv Farkas, master of the dam. Surrender now and you might leave here alive.”
Bob Stackey
October 11, 2023