Reyes Albert, Prisoner, Ch. 35, "Ludlow"
Reyes drove west across the lake, back to his prison compound. It was a clear and bright Spring day. He looked at a watch he had taken from one of the dead weeks ago. If it was accurate, it was the first day of Summer today.
He had mapped out most of what he assumed to be the eastern sides of the lake. That side was mostly woods, and included a few small towns such as Barnet, West Fairlee, and East Haddam. The cities of Bethlehem and Nobleboro were also there, albeit inland a ways. He had no intention of going back to either of those hellholes any time soon.
To the northwest, another large city was marked on his survivor’s map. Ludlow. It was possible it was closer to the shoreline, but Reyes couldn’t say for sure. His curiosity and greed egged him on. He wanted to scout the entire shore of this lake, and Ludlow looked to be the best target.
Reyes pulled over at a small island along the way. Since he had no charcoal for his cooker, he decided it would be best to just make a campfire.
Oh boy, was that a lot of work.
He chopped down a dead tree, then chopped its trunk up into planks. This took some time, and he missed the convenience of that charcoal smoker. He packed the extra logs and planks into the Lowrider, for later.
The fire was hard to keep alive. He had to burn down almost a whole tree to make his food for the next day or two. Life in the city was a helluva lot easier. Reyes didn’t want to make this wilderness thing a habit.
Reyes made some deluxe rice and beans, cheese fries, dumplings, and even some caramel out of sugar and water. It took him most of the day, but at least The Lowrider’s battery recharged with gusto the whole time.
After he finished up, he loaded the last few pieces of wood aboard The Lowrider. He decided to sleep at the prison island tonight.
The cows crowded around the fence to meet him.
He walked the island, and picked up a forgotten gun inside the warden’s office. Maybe he had ammo for it already. It would be better stashed on The Lowrider.
Reyes worked on the garden until the sun went down, and then went to sleep.
The next morning, Reyes drank a dark cola for breakfast, and headed north. His goal today was to scout the northwestern shores of the lake, near the city of Ludlow.
As luck would have it, the city of Ludlow was indeed a lakeside port. The road went practically right up the the water, and Reyes could easily drive in and out – provided he had room behind The Lowrider to reverse.
This was extremely fortunate. What a prize to find here! Reyes salivated at the looting opportunities. This town would be easy to get out of, and Reyes knew that if he worked slowly, he could even draw the zombies into the lake, to be dispersed into the waters.
His feelings of good luck were smothered when he saw just how numerous the zombies were here. It would be a lot of work before this place would be remotely safe.
Suddenly, memories came back to him. He knew of three convicts who lived around here. He wasn’t sure where he recalled their names from, but they were there in his head.
They were holed up nearby, just past the giant horde of zombies. Of course.
Reyes tried to remember if they were friends or not, but simply couldn’t. Whoever this trio was, they were on their own for now.
He traced the shoreline east, passing a garden. Seeing no zombies here, he pulled up and took anything that was growing.
While picking the home’s door open, Reyes was interrupted by a group of zombies from around the corner. He hopped into The Lowrider and continued to trace the shoreline east.
There were a number of houses here. Reyes drove by, scoping them out to see if there was anything of value.
In the chaos, he just noticed a Canada goose had found its way into The Lowrider, in front of him. It sat rather passively in the wire mesh box.
A huge, dense swarm was on the road ahead.
He lured the horde into the lake’s watery depths, and kept scouting the city’s shore.
Up top, there was a homeless shelter, as well as a hardware store and radio station.
A pizza parlor, grocery store, and hunting supply store were towards the northwest, inland by one block.
As Reyes scanned the coast, he spotted an eyebot escaping the grasp of several zombies.
Reyes continued south, embarking onto the shores for a few short seconds to grab the attention of the zombies, before heading back into the lake. This would help move more of them out of the city.
Something was bashing against the Lowrider’s hull. Reyes picked up the pace, and left. There were too many zombies underneath the water here.
To the south, Reyes saw something remarkable. A giant salmon was tearing apart zombies, and had already killed one. The salmon was huge; the size of a large dog.
Reyes kept moving. He found a quiet spot, and pulled over to do some crafting. He finished some lockpicks, and then set back into town.
He saw a lone zombie, and crushed its skull with copper spear. He did the same to four other zombies around, that had been killed by the wildlife.
Finally, the goose got out. Farewell, goose.
Reyes drove deeper into the town. One house had a giant spider outside, and it looked like the inside of the home was coated in thick webs. He spotted a few zombies inside, struggling.
Reyes pulled up beside a police van. It was int he middle of town, but could be worth the quick stop. It looked like there were still some things sitting on the seats…
50 bullets for his pistol. A compact suppressor. He scrambled over the seats. Zombies had seen him and were headed his way. MBR vest. SIG Pro, and an MP5 SMG. FN Five-Seven. Six canisters of tear gas. This was a jackpot.
Through the windshield, he could see the zombies were dangerously close.
He closed the door just in time, and kicked the Lowrider into a speedy reverse.
The zombie on the hood was crushed, as The Lowrider took a few hits. So long as the solar panels were OK, the Lowrider could handle some damage. After all, it was mostly just made of wood.
Crunch! Another zombie went under the wooden frame as The Lowrider backed up out of the horde.
The bicycle wheels of The Lowrider must have been burning rubber from this maneuvre. Reyes turned south, passing by a dense horde of zombies at a playground.
Reyes drove into a tough zombie, and the collision launched it into the air, half a block forward.
He swerved to avoid a zapper zombie, crashing into three zombies. Their bodies rolled off the side of The Lowrider.
As he drove through the streets, Reyes noticed an atomic SUV in good condition. It was fully mobile, with all wheels and engine intact, although the wheels were not in great condition. He noted it on his map. A vehicle like that could be a great skeleton, if Reyes ever wanted to really amp up The Lowrider.
Towards the outskirts, Reyes parked in the back yard of an abandoned home. He wanted to search this place for anything of value.
On a counter, there was a pack of 100 nails. He also found the place had a full log, sitting beside a wood stove. He hauled it into The Lowrider for later. He could turn that into charcoal, for his charcoal smoker.
There was also duct tape, and a locked door. After making a few attempts and breaking seven lockpicks, Reyes took out his wood axe and chopped it down.
Protein powder, caffeine pills, and soap. Not a bad haul, in total.
Reyes wanted to get one last thing… some metal sheets, to craft his charcoal kiln.
But he was interrupted by a firefighter zombie, pursued by a gang of beavers. Whatever insanity this was, it was not worth sticking around. He booked it back to The Lowrider and left the town of Ludlow.
The battery was down to 20%. He’d made enough noise for one day. Reyes let the Lowrider drift slowly into the lake, and relaxed. That was enough town scouting for now.
Ludlow proved to be one of the easier towns to loot. He would certainly return sometime soon. Being right up on the shoreline meant that it was easy to maneuver his boatcar on and off of the shores, drawing zombies into the lake’s depths to become blinded and unable to hurt him as he explored.
It was mostly houses, without much in the way of business. There were a few places; the hunting supply store, the hardware store, and the grocers, that he knew he could get into if he applied more effort.
For now, he was content. He felt The Lowrider rock back and forth upon the lake’s waves, as he drifted to a safe distance.
