Access granted.

Todd hisses in triumph when he finds the right key. Quickly, he's undone all three bolts and the reinforced door pushes open easily.

Inside, you are overwhelmed by the smell of metal and oil. There are dozens of firearms neatly racked up, lockers filled with piles of boxes of ammunition. This is a goldmine. You could take all this stuff and likely would immediately become the most heavily armed survivor group in the state.

But you have to keep your eyes on the prize. All the weapons in the world will only be a hindrance to you, because you can't carry much. Trying to suppress the urge to just grab everything, you **** yourself to think carefully.

You're going to need to hunt at your destination. That means rifles, and non-sawn off shotguns. You pick up two marksman rifles complete with powerful optics, and look them over. This is the kind of thing a SWAT trooper would have when perched on a building to snipe at a hostage taker. This will be ridiculous overkill, but will certainly do. You take eight boxes of the corresponding ammunition and put them with the rifles in the middle of the floor. You also grab a sleek black Remington shotgun much like the one you've been carrying, prior to when you modified it. You also check the magazine and see that it's configured to hold several more shells than yours, which could prove useful.

Next you think about personal protection. You're decently well equipped as it is, but getting your hands on something rather beefier can't hurt. You gravitate towards a short military-style automatic carbine. Some of them have scopes and others have some kind of battery powered doodad that puts a dot in the field of view. Much as this seems like it would be useful, you don't want to have to depend on getting power to be able to use the weapon, so you reluctantly figure that stripping it off and relying on the iron sights would be preferable. Again, you grab as much of the right ammunition as you can reasonably add to your payload, as well as some spare magazines. These also join the increasing pile of weapons on the floor.

Todd is just looking at you in wonder throughout all of this. You reflect ruefully that having had a sheriff father and a brother in the army, you really must have absorbed more than the usual amount of knowledge about this stuff. Well, it's useful now.

Finally, you look for some additional ammo for your existing weapons. Unfortunately, Todd's .45 seems to use a round size that wasn't part of any standard equipment for the deputies, so you can't add to the limited stock of that. You can however pick up a 9mm handgun and lots of rounds for that, for if and when Todd eventually has to shoot at something and probably rinse both of his mags in short order. Maybe you should switch this out for the .45 and keep that for yourself when you absorb all this gear into your own. Finally, you also grab a few boxes of shotgun shells, giving you a healthy supply that should last you a long time.

After grabbing a kit bag to put it all in, and some useful bits and pieces like holsters, straps and magazine pouches, you looking at the pile of loot, and reckon you're probably adding 50-60lbs of weight to your overall burden. It may prove to be too much, however it's worth trying especially with the uncertain future ahead.