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Post by texican on Apr 24, 2019 11:08:43 GMT -6
FB,
Fresh meat is always good....
Now a fire and spices would make the meat better....
Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 24, 2019 13:29:32 GMT -6
If a gourmet chef is a prepper, does he carry an Altoids emergency tin with 37 kinds of spices in it?
OK, one of our authors who is also a cook - I've given you a great premise for your next hero. A guy turns up with a small backpack and 3 or 4 Altoids emergency tins and no one wants him as part of the group until he does his magic with possum or squirrel or whatever.
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Post by freebirde on Apr 24, 2019 15:28:09 GMT -6
FB, Fresh meat is always good.... Now a fire and spices would make the meat better.... Texican.... The character didn't have their Emberlit stove and fuel tabs in their personal bag. Kind of hard to build a fire in a rubber raft.
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Post by freebirde on Apr 24, 2019 15:31:49 GMT -6
Day twenty one:
Breakfast was more shark tartar with the hot sauce from the freeze dried meals. The shark jaw is hanging below the raft for the fish to clean. There are strips of meat and fins hanging to dry in the sun. There is more shark than I can eat before it goes bad, so if it doesn't dry, I won't consider it wasted. I've saved some of the shark skin. Have I mentioned how boring it is being on a raft alone?
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 24, 2019 20:08:56 GMT -6
Great way to tell the story. I start thinkin' that there should be more, then realize there can't be much goin' on all day and night.
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Post by texican on Apr 24, 2019 20:48:02 GMT -6
Have I mentioned how boring it is being on a raft alone?
Better than the alternative....
Texican....
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Post by freebirde on Apr 26, 2019 18:22:51 GMT -6
Night of day twenty three:
Just before sundown I saw light reflecting off the mast of a ship. I took a compass bearing and headed toward it. I sailed on until I thought I would be close to it. I put down the sail and put out the sea anchor. I'm going to put this flashlight away and try to get some sleep, tomorrow promises to be a busy day.
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Post by bluefox2 on Apr 26, 2019 18:52:33 GMT -6
Day twenty one: Breakfast was more shark tartar with the hot sauce from the freeze dried meals. The shark jaw is hanging below the raft for the fish to clean. There are strips of meat and fins hanging to dry in the sun. There is more shark than I can eat before it goes bad, so if it doesn't dry, I won't consider it wasted. I've saved some of the shark skin. Have I mentioned how boring it is being on a raft alone? shark skin? shoe soles maybe? If I remember right they are fairly tough skinned.
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Post by freebirde on Apr 26, 2019 19:01:36 GMT -6
"shark skin? shoe soles maybe? If I remember right they are fairly tough skinned."
Tough? Some places use shark skin for sandpaper. Main use right now is something to do.
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Post by gipsy on Apr 26, 2019 21:15:48 GMT -6
I don't think you want that skin anywhere near the liferaft. It would wear a hole right through it and he will be in the ocean, without a raft.
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Post by freebirde on Apr 28, 2019 7:20:00 GMT -6
Evening of day twenty four:
I am sitting here at a table and eating the most delicious thing I have ever eaten, a can of generic chicken and rice soup. This is after three weeks of meal bars and raw shark.
When it started to get light this morning I started to look for the ship. Of course I was looking in the wrong direction. It was west of me and I couldn't see it until the sun came over the horizon. It was a few hundred yards off and it took me more than two hours to paddle the raft to it. There was no signs of life except for three gulls that were sitting on the aft railing.
After I tied off the raft and climbed aboard, the first thing I saw were the remains in the stern. Between the weather and the gulls, there wasn't much left but bones and rags. There were signs of two people, two coffee cups in the sink, two unmade beds, and such. My best guess was one of them had gone over the side. The boat, the "Right Angler", was a private fishing boat out of Destin, FL. The fuel tanks are half full which should be enough fuel to reach Pensacola or maybe Tampa. The twenty pound propane tank the ran the fridge was almost empty, the one on the stove was almost full and one of the two spares was full. There wasn't much eatable in the fridge, some pickles, some olives, and a block of cheddar that I ate after I trimmed off the gray.
I decided to go back to Pensacola, since that is where I was based. I bagged the bones and rags that were on the deck. By the time I had the raft unloaded, deflated, and everything put away, it was late afternoon. I didn't think it would be wise to approach the base in the dark. With some difficulty I got the engines started and idled northward to charge the batteries and to check to see if everything was working with the boat.
A couple of hours after dark I checked and the batteries were fully charged so I shut off the engines and prepared my feast. When I get through eating I plan on changing the sheets on one of the bunks and see if I remember how to sleep in a bed.
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 28, 2019 20:52:58 GMT -6
Why do I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of the raft? Of course, my feelings ain't always reliable.
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 28, 2019 21:12:55 GMT -6
Why do I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of the raft? Of course, my feelings ain't always reliable. Maybe when the folks at his intended destination start shooting instead of talking? Remember that those who survived on land have had to deal with hungry, thirsty, angry, hysterical, paranoid, ignorant and/or stupid unprepared people while he's been out fishing and sunning himself ;-)
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Post by texican on Apr 29, 2019 0:31:03 GMT -6
Yep, one should consider before sailing into port to glass the area for trouble and smoke from fires could be visible long before land....
Texican....
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 29, 2019 20:03:36 GMT -6
Why do I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of the raft? Of course, my feelings ain't always reliable. Maybe when the folks at his intended destination start shooting instead of talking? Remember that those who survived on land have had to deal with hungry, thirsty, angry, hysterical, paranoid, ignorant and/or stupid unprepared people while he's been out fishing and sunning himself ;-) "hungry, thirsty, angry, hysterical, paranoid, ignorant and/or stupid unprepared people" Hey, I didn't know you'd driven through my county!
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Post by gipsy on Apr 29, 2019 20:49:04 GMT -6
Nope he is in downtown Chicago
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Post by udwe on Apr 29, 2019 21:28:15 GMT -6
So far a great story, different from what you usually do. I like it!
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 29, 2019 22:23:32 GMT -6
Not in 9idrr or gipsy's territory. That group of people is endemic to - and a plague on - the landmass. And that description is when they are sober* ;-)
* sober - not under the influence of alcohol, recreational drugs, prescription medication or any of Aunt Sybil's herbal concoctions.
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Post by freebirde on Apr 30, 2019 18:44:45 GMT -6
Day twenty five:
I wake up before dawn as usual but it took me a while to remember where I was. I heated a can of stew for breakfast. After breakfast I restarted the engines and headed north again. After the sun was up I checked the horizon and saw dark clouds to the southwest. I moved the throttle a little more open. Not as fuel efficient, but neither is being overtaken by a storm. By the time I could see the Pensacola skyline, the storm was just a dark line on the horizon. The skyline told me where I was, so I turned toward the naval base.
About two miles out I saw a cutter headed towards me. There is no way this boat could outrun it and I didn't want to, I cut back the throttle. When they started slowing down I cut it back to idle. When they stopped, I stopped. They dropped a ship's boat off the lee side of the cutter. Four people got on the boat. The first got behind the controls and the second got behind the thirty cal. machinegun and trained it on my boat. That was in addition to the fifty cal. or twenty mm that was on the bow of the cutter. I made no sudden moves.
P.S. Only one more post left in this story. Put up your trays and seats in an upright position.
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 30, 2019 19:16:15 GMT -6
I think my only move would be clenchin' my cheeks!
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Post by bluefox2 on Apr 30, 2019 20:30:07 GMT -6
I think my only move would be clenchin' my cheeks! Both sets of them at that.
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Post by freebirde on May 2, 2019 16:15:06 GMT -6
Epilogue:
"Name and reason for being in restricted water."
"Captain Mary Stillwater and I am returning to base, Chief."
"What is your call sign?"
"Deep."
"Hold" and the chief petty officer called back to his ship on the radio.
"They are confirming your information back at base."
"I see operation 'Mayhem' worked."
"Yes Ma'am, they got some electronics out of a bunker and had a helicopter in the air in just a half hour after the attack. I heard that 95% of communications are online at the base and 70% of the aircraft are flight worthy."
"Chief, you are a little free with information."
"No ma'am, I remember you. I was working base security the night you busted up that drunk civilian contractor."
"He tripped and fell on the stairs."
"Yes ma'am, that is what the official report said, but it seems rather difficult to dislocate your right shoulder, break your nose, and crush your left instep in a fall on some stairs when you end up at the top of the stairs. I heard the self defense instructor mention almost all the women in that barracks signed up for advanced self defense classes."
"Never mind about that chief, I heard on the short wave about what happened out west, what happened here?"
"The base commander put the base on lockdown immediately. When there was enough vehicles running he sent convoys out to pick up off base personal and what families that were willing to come. The helicopter saw the plane spraying the city on the way to the base. They forced it down in the bay."
"Did they get the pilot?"
"They put some hazmat suits on and took a boat out. They thought it might have been some type of nerve gas and got a sample from the tank. They went through full de-com when they got back to base and they were fine, but the pilot died from an antibiotic resistant pneumonia.
The pilot was from Bolivia and thought he was learning to fly for the Cartels. When they filled his tanks, they gave him a pill and told him it would protect him. We lost a lot of people in town, but it seems to be under control. Anyone going into town or coming onto the base has to go through quarantine and get tested."
"Me too?"
"Considering you have not been in contact with anyone, probably not. You will still have to go to the infirmary and get checked out. Afterwards you will probably have to fill out a bunch of paperwork explaining why your paperwork is not up to date."
"Civilization may be ending, but somebody has to have their paperwork done."
"It's not as bad as it was, the C.O. has been pulling able bodies out of offices and putting them to work. I think he hates paperwork and is enjoying eliminating a bunch of busy work.
"The Skipper says to bring you on board. What do you want to do with the boat?"
"It's a good boat, can we tow it in or fuel it up some and have someone drive it in? Let me get my gear. Would the cook like some dried shark?"
The End
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Post by 9idrr on May 2, 2019 19:44:55 GMT -6
Nice change of pace from you, sir. I like it. Believable.
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Post by texican on May 3, 2019 0:43:23 GMT -6
FB, Great end of this section.... Now when will the next one start? Texican....
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Post by freebirde on May 10, 2019 22:20:09 GMT -6
FB, Great end of this section.... Now when will the next one start? Texican.... Do you want me to post "Bordello Bugout" or something else? I'll toss in a very short one into completed for now.
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