Dodger's Discovery

Posted on Fri Jan 16th, 2026 @ 3:36pm by New York Survivor Briar Maddox & New York Survivor John ("Dodger") Smith

1,306 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Winter's hope
Location: Root Cellar
Timeline: 27th September, 2010

Dodger was in the root cellar rotating stock for the group. So they would use the oldest first. he was moving some of the bags of potatoes they had when he made his discovery. Moving one of the bags revealed a small, narrow closet that would not be noticed by anyone not looking for Dodger only saw it because he was looking down when moving the potatoes. Curious, he opened the narrow door and jumped back. inside was a gun, a shotgun to be exact with a box of shells beside it. He didn't touch it. he wanted one of the other older teens to be there with him.

Closing the door and putting the potatoes back in front of it and went in search of Amy, Briar or George. Getting back to the ground floor, he headed for the kitchen and found Briar.

"Hey Briar, can you come with me down to the root cellar? I found something you need to see. the others do as well but I found you first and I don't want to draw attention to what I found."

Briar nodded and wiped her hands on the dish towel as she had been washing up plates. "Sure."She moved to follow him.

"Good, Thanks." Dodger replied as he led her back to the root cellar. "I was rotating the stock and I found this." he replied as they arrived at the root cellar and he moved the bag of potatoes. "A small door and look what is inside." He said as he opened the door and stood aside so Briar could see in.

Briar peered inside the small hatch. "Hmm well that will be useful." She said carefully. Guns were very useful these days.

"I know!" Dodger exclaimed excitedly as he pulled the gun out along with a box of shells next to it. "It is a Remington 870 pump shotgun, 12 gauge." He told her. "This could put a serious hurt on whatever it hit."

Briar nodded. "So we store it with the other weapons" She knew they had to keep it clear from the younger children.

'Absolutely." Dodger agreed. "However finding this has got me thinking. What if there are other weapons stored secretly around here?" He finished looking at Briar for her opinion.

"There might be." She admitted. "That said, we would need to look and we cannot include the younger children."

"It will have to be the four of us and we will need to be subtle about it. Not drawing attention to what we are doing." Dodger replied.

Briar nodded. "Some are very curious." She said. "Hide the keys."

Dodger nodded in agreement. "Yes. That is a start. We're just going to have to stay one step ahead on this."

Briar considered it "And when or if we leave here? How will we transport the guns?"

Dodger thought on Briar's question after a moment he replied. "We wrap them in blankets to hide them or we place them in Tupperware containers with one of us watching over them."

"We will need a roster.. maybe in the extra stuff Amy and George brought back there is a lock box."

Dodger nodded his head in agreement. "A lock box would be perfect. Have to go down a look through all the extra stuff they brought back."

"She piled up all the miscellaneous stuff in the main bedroom on the ground floor." Briar said. "She said there was walkie talkie system in there too."

"Alright, that's where the search will start. A walkie talkie system is good as well and will come in handy." Dodger admitted.

Briar nodded and headed up the stairs. "She brought a lot back. If.. we need to go we will need to cull or leave a lot."

"For sure." Dodger agreed "But right now first things first. Let's get the walkie talkie system and see if we can find a lock box or something similar."

They entered the room. Boxes were piled on the bed and floor. Briar sighed. And headed to the bed. "Lets get started."

"Geez, I knew they brought back a lot but I had no idea it was this much." Dodger replied and moved towards the bed with Briar.

"The clothing is up in the attic and more than this. Amy said she grabbed as much as she could in all sizes even adult sizes as we are going to need them eventually. IF we can make this place totally self sufficient it wont matter and we will be fine with everything." Briar said as she opened a box. "Laundry supplies." They both knew Amy had stocked what she could in the required areas, so this was mainly surplus.

Dodger nodded, "Oh, I don't fault her thinking. I hope we can make this place totally self sufficient. It's just when your trying to find something like we are that you realize just how much stuff she and George brought back." he opened a box and looked at Briar, "Towels."

Briar opened another box and sighed. "more cans of soup." she closed the box up. "I hate the idea of having to keep moving."

Dodger started to open a box, stopped and replied, "I know. maybe we won't have to. This is a good step up with the house, the dock the boats. We've done a lot of work here improving the place. I hate for us to leave it." he opened the box and sighed, "Canned vegetables and some cans of canned meat."

Briar nodded. She hoped the same but she had her doubts. She opened another box. "Hmmm Maps, and books." She frowned. "There" she pointed to the corner. It was a wooden Chest. "That could be used to hold the guns." On top of it was several shoe boxes.

Dodger's eyes drifted to where Briar had pointed, falling on the wooden chest. "Yes! I think that will do perfectly. Good catch Briar. Just need to move the shoe boxes but I think we have a winner here.""

Briar grabbed the shoe boxes, empty as the shoes within had been assigned to the children. "I think the radios are over there" She pointed with her chin to another box.

Dodger scrambled over to the other box and opened it. "Right you are." He exclaimed as he reached in and pulled out the walkie-talkies.

Briar pulled the chest clear and said "Ok, lets get these set up and this chest somewhere a bit more secure."

Inside the box with the radios was a base unit, charging ports for the ten radios and instructions on how to use it.

"Good deal." Dodger replied, "Let's get this gun and shells put up and the chest locked and in a more secure place and then we can tackle the radio."

Briar paused. "We should check out more of the islands. The one called Fort Mason... we might find more stuff there."

Dodger nodded his head in agreement. "I'm all for that. We can take the fishing boat. How far is it from here?"

"no not far. 5 Km west I think the map said." Briar said softly.

"Okay, a quick trip. May prove interesting and hopefully we'll find some more stuff we can use."

Briar nodded. "More fuel would be good. George was talking about only a few more trips before we cannot use the boats any more."

"Fuel would be great." Dodger agreed, "Find a couple of drums would be a dream come true. It would allow us use of the boats for even longer even if it is the fishing boat."

Briar began to store the things they needed to hide and said "We could do it in the afternoon."

"I'm all for that. You got my vote." Dodger answered as he helped Briar hide what needed to be hidden. "Let's do it."

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