Settling in

Posted on Sat Apr 26th, 2025 @ 7:20pm by Leader Connor McLean & Survivor Roxy Santiago

1,626 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: New York, New York
Location: Connor's building
Timeline: 7 September, 0832 hours

It was early in the morning, and Connor was sitting out on his patio, drinking a mug of coffee, when he heard gunfire down at the nearby pier. Picking up the binoculars that were on the nearby table, he quickly looked through them.

He saw three adults, all men, apparently shooting at an advancing horde of the undead. As he looked, he saw one of the men run out of bullets, and time, as he was suddenly overrun by at least six of the creatures, who began eating him immediately. The other two men turned an ran back to a nearby truck and sped off.

Suddenly, he saw a woman running back up the dock towards the parking lot, trying to get to the truck. However, when it sped off, she stopped and turned back to run down towards the end of the dock. Connor moved his glasses along her path, and saw a forty foot cruiser start to pull away from the dock. It looked like there were at least three kids on board, maybe teenagers. When the woman saw that she was trapped, she dropped to her knees and seemed to start to weep. From behind her, several of the creatures started towards her. Seeing them, she put her gun to her temple, and pulled the trigger, spraying her brains over the boat tied up next to her.

Roxy came out behind him. "Good morning" she said softly. "What's going on?"

Turning back to see Roxy step out onto the patio, Connor couldn't help but grin softly as he took in her beauty. Tilting his head towards the river, he replied. "Looks like some kids just grabbed a boat, while a few unfortunate souls became zombie food." Turning fully from the ledge, he put the glasses down. "How did you sleep?"

"okay" Roxy said watching the boat roar off in the distance. "Not sure they will be safer out there..." she mused.

He shrugged. "If they can find a quiet place to anchor, they might be okay." He started towards the open door leasing back into the apartment. "Want some breakfast?" He called out over his shoulder.

Roxy paused as she turned back. "Hmm no i am not hungry.." she considered things. "What is next for us here?"

He considered the question for a moment. "Well...as nice as it is here, our supplies are only going to last so long, and I've got no way to grow more food here. Perhaps...I'd you want to tag along, we could try to get out to my family's estate, out on Long Island." He took a breath and continued. "Normally, it would be a trip if about an hour or so. However, if the bridges and tunnels are all sealed or destroyed, well then, it will take a bit more."

"And need a boat. Those kids were lucky that boat was not destroyed in the bombings." Roxy mused and stepped up to stand beside him. "And the two of us? We are going to hard pressed."

He turned to look into her eyes, as he grinned. "Well, my dear, then it's a good thing I have a boat in storage, over on the east side. It's in a hardened warehouse near the water. It was to be used as a fast escape boat, if needed."

"How many can it carry?" Roxy asked curiously. "If we might be able to save others?"

"It can carry twelve. Less if she's loaded with supplies instead." As he finished speaking, he stepped into his kitchen and started to get some eggs scrambled. Looking back at her, he asked again, "You sure you don't want to eat anything? My eggs are so fluffy, it's like eating a cloud." He gave her a friendly grin as he finished speaking.

She shook her head. "No thank you." She wondered how long the power would last. "How long until people figure out you have power and such here." she wondered softly.

He pursed his lips as he considered her question. "Provably sooner than we'd like. Even though it would be very difficult for anyone to get up to us, we could become surrounded and trapped, down on the ground." He was silent for a beat, then let out his breath in a frustrated huff. "Damn. I thought about almost everything with this place. Now, the idea that we need to leave, sooner rather than later seems better."

Roxy nodded slowly. "Well we better make sure we plan well. Because looking out there... its going to be a fun trip and we may only get one shot at it."

Connor nodded. "Let's spend the day inventorying what we have on hand, then planning the best way out of the City, even if we don't go out to my family's estate on Long Island, I think you're right...the City is going to get way worse, before it gets better."

Roxy nodded. "I will get started. Keep in mind your estate might be unreachable as well." she hoped it was not.

He nodded solemnly. "I know. Though it would be a great place to defend and try to rebuild some form of civilization." He pulled out an iPad and opened it up. Though there was no wifi, he scrolled through the pictures stored on the device. Finding the one he wanted, he handed it over. "Here's an overhead pic. It's called Summer Hill."

Roxy looked it over and gave a small smile. She handed it back. "Nice. But two people cannot defend that. Do you have areas where your group might have taken refuge in?"

Connor thought, the nodded. "If anyone survived, and chose to stay loyal to me...there is a safe house out in Red Hook, with another boat stores away in an armored hanger by the East River." He sighed then, before adding, "But of course, as you know, Red Hook is based across the East River, in Brooklyn. So, we would still need to get to the boat I have stashed here."

Roxy nodded and then she turned back and headed to the balcony and picked up the bionoculars and studied where the boat had left from. "I think they came up via the sewers." She said back to him. "Underground..."

He chuckled, arching one eyebrow. "There's hundreds of miles of tunnels down there." He raised his right hand and started counting points with each finger. "One, we don't know the condition of any of the underground structures following the bombings. Two given that the subway was exploded under the river, we don't know how much is flooded. Three, we have no idea how many of those creatures are down there." He shook his head slowly. "Our best bet is above ground, in that armored truck, over the streets."

"Okay" Roxy said softly. Everything was starting to hit home but she pushed it down and out of her mind. "Blankets, warm clothes, food. Do you have access to the rest of the building?" She could not remember.

"Don't forget weapons, ammo and armor," he chuckled softly, them shook his head as he continued. "Speaking of armor, while we have the tactical armor for bullets and such, we should also take some time to reinforce it to protect us from bites and scratches. Last thing I want is for either of us to become chew toys for those things out there." He then grew more serious. "And speaking of those creatures...we need to make a vow to each other. If it looks like one of us, or even the both of us, won't make it, we need to swear that we will put a bullet in the other's head, so we don't turn into those things." He extended his hand to her as he looked her straight in the eye.

She held his gaze. And shook his hand. "Agreed," Roxy though would swallow her own gun first if she even got a scratch.

That done, Connor gave her a small, lop-sided grin. "As to your question regarding access. I own the building, so we have access to its entirety. However, with the elevator out, it would be a lot of up and down stairs walking. That might not be time we have. You're right, the sooner we get to a more secure location, the better. So, let's focus on what we have here, in the penthouse. We can load up my private elevator, which has enough power to get to and from the garage a few more trips, then get the hell outta here."

"While that makes sense, I want to make sure we have as much as we can carry." She turned. "I will start packing."

Connor nodded as he watched her go. He then looked around his penthouse. It had cost him a good deal of money to buy this building, and it had been a great avenue to launder some of his organization's ill-goyten gains. However, now it was just another concrete tombstone of an age that no longer existed. If they were to survive, and find someway to thrive, then they had to get our of the City and back to the land. His time of looking after his own desires was ended. Now was the time to start rebuilding humanity. He knew that it would be a struggle that he would never see the end of, but, he hoped that the next generation would be able to feel safer in the new world that they found themselves in.

He finished up making his breakfast, ate it, cleaned up after, then made some food that they could eat along the way, before he started to pack up everything in the kitchen that would help them survive.

~OFF~

 

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