I’ve driven so far the map can’t show all the places I’ve been to anymore. The Marauder took serious damage in one town when I suddenly turned right and drove through a building. It was a deliberate turn, but I wasn’t intending to do that. I was sure a bend in the road was coming up, but then it wasn’t there. Tiredness, I guess.
It was a long time before I saw another town. I drove through an infestation of triffids, crushing several queens who had set up shop on the road. Their bushes tore up the Marauder quite a bit. After that I drove across a bridge, over a river lined by swamps. All sorts of nasty things fell beneath the wheels of my deathwagon. It turns out windscreens aren’t so resiliant against giant bugs. Who would have guessed?
Beyond that was a town with a garage, so I decided to stop for repairs. I ran down most of the zombies and then holed up for a while. The Marauder was more busted up than I thought, so I ended up dismantling it completely and rebuilt it into a smaller car - the Phoenix. I thought the ability to squeeze through smaller spaces would be an asset. I was right, although I’m skipping ahead.
Gas became a problem at this point. I filled the car up from my jerry can, but the town had no gas station or hardware store. Fortunately, it wasn’t much of a drive to get to the next town. There was gas in the town centre and I decided to clear it out myself. I didn’t feel like patching up the car again so soon.
We drove onward again, travelling across the most inefficient bridge I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t so much crossing the river, as following it. We touched land briefly before using another bridge, but I had a scare when it turned out this bridge didn’t connect to the shore at the other end. I don’t know what happens if you drive into a river, but I didn’t want to test it out right then. I backed up and went around.
The next problem I encountered was an end to the northbound road. The new east/west road seemed quite long, and the one direction I tried turned out to be a dead end. You know what that means: shortcut! There was a gap in the forest to the north and I decided to follow it. It was smooth sailing for the most part. I passed a triffid grove, but got pretty far north before the forest closed up again. I was surrounded by triffids and faced a huge detour if I went back.
This is where the Phoenix’s smaller size came in handy. The forest thinned out a bit to the left, and I could see another road on the other side. I don’t know how I manuevered so well but I managed to weave between the big trees without once getting stuck. The main problem was that half of my windows were broken, and the car wouldn’t protect me if I had to sleep out in the open.
The new road turned to the north again and I came across a town with four garages. It also had a major fungal infection in addition to the usual zombie horde. I came under attack numerous times while making my emergency repairs. There were running battles as I collected all the glass and some more batteries to power the welder. The only part I’m lacking is a replacement solar panel to charge the battery for the kitchen unit. Not one of the four garages had one. I don’t know how rare they’re supposed to be, but previously I’d only stumbled across one garage without one.
Soon it was time to move on once more. I had to drive across country again but found another north road after a short westward diversion. And that’s where I am right now. Another town is coming up, but I don’t know what it holds just yet. I’m kinda getting bored, but this is the first character to survive beyond the first spring and he’s almost reached his second year. It would be a shame to force his demise. I’m hoping for something to go horribly wrong though so he can get the send off he deserves.
Urist:bangbang: says always make sure you have fire extinguishers in your safe houses.
