The Town of Compton

Having looked at your options out of the towns Nikki gives you, Compton, Lanesville and Summerhill's you chose Compton as it is the town you used to visit the most, they had the only mall in what felt like a thousand miles that held a shop you needed to shop at. After informing Nikki you will take the team going to Compton she instructs you to come to a briefing in an hour as she will be giving the layout to the teams heading to each of the towns.

Not having much to do now all you can do is chat with a few people round the place before taking a seat in the briefing room. An hour later Nikki is in front of everyone with a laser pointer and her projector again. " Right ladies the next order of business is making contact with these three towns, once we get a solid read on what is happening their we can set up a trade route as each of them has something to offer us as well as us having something to offer them. Compton has a refinery and laser printing station so they will be able to make any parts we need in the future. Lanesville is livestock country and they have kept large numbers of livestock alive as well so meat is one thing we can get from them. Finally Summerhill has a small but still working pharmaceutical production plant so if we can make a vaccine or cure we will need it, not only that but they can still produce other medicines the town may need as well as having a massive stock pile on site already. We on the other hand have power, each of these locations need hydrogen fuel cells and now with the modifications in place we have began to produce them and in numbers we can use to trade to the people who need them, what with winter just round the corner they are very worried about making it through the winter without power".

Hearing this it looks like Nikki's plan to get the fuel cell plant out of the military base and installed in the hydro plant finally happened. Nikki once more brings up lists of people, " so we will be sending three parties to each town to make a deal with each hopefully, Veronica you get Compton, Ava you get Lanesville and Alex you have Summerhill each gets a small escort who will go with you to keep an eye on things but we do not expect any trouble". Almost slapping your forehead you along with a number of other women in the room groan thinking that little statement is just asking for trouble.

Twenty minutes later you are filling a bag with gear as your mother fills one as well along with the other member of your group Kerry. " Kerry four of each please, stun and flash for sure but also lethal as well, Tim how's the ammo going we will not be needing as much as you can carry but close to it and before you ask we are not bringing the LMG but go pick up what I asked for earlier please honey". Getting a little disappointed you go to the armoury and select the weapons your mom asked for and come back then hand them round. Starting the checking process while the others finish loading the bags it is a simple but strange time as last year you would not think this would be the norm now.

After checking the weapons, at least your mom wants you to use the auto shotgun again along with the tricked out AR Jules set up for you and putting them in to a transport case you start shifting all the gear to the SUV you will be using. Kerry is putting spare mags and clips along with her own weapons in to another case along with your mom as you finish up and not long later all three of you are on the road. It is not a shot drive, it used to only take four to five hours but with nothing on the roads and your mom getting to drive at a constant speed it only takes three to four hours to arrive at the town of Compton. Arriving at around just after one in the afternoon, hoping out and looking around the town it is a ghost town, far worse then home you think as nobody is moving on the streets along with almost no sign of life at all in any of the buildings.

Driving deeper into the town your mom pulls up in front of the town hall and not long later a woman who claims to be the current mayor and only by the fact she is the only member of the mayors office still left alive in town comes out to great you. " A pleasure to meet you Mrs Galore I am Rachel Irons please come with me, I am very excited to meet some new faces. I can only assume from the conversations I have had with the others on the radio how much we are all in the shit so I will be blunt we need food, medical supplies, ammunition and fuel cells to have any hope of making it through this winter". Listening to Ms Irons your mom goes straight on with the planned negotiations, all you are here for is support and to play beta incase things go south, so you keep your mouth shut and your eyes open. Leading you all in to a conference room with two other women already seated. Been directed to one side of the table your mother takes the lead. " Of course Rachel it is ok for me to call you that, fuel is not an issue we have a fully working set up back home so as long as you can provide us with the parts we need to keep things running the fuel is not going to be an issue, food also not to much of an issue it will not be a very diverse diet but again trading of supplies is not an issue, medical supplies that will depend on how another party does they are trying to make a deal as we speak. Now for the elephant in the room, ammunition why do you think we can help with that".

Rachel nods to each of the points your mother makes. " The parts are not a problem if you have the blueprints Sharon here was a floor supervisor in the plant and she tells me as long as we have the blueprints its easy as pie to run off what you need, as for the other things any food is good we have burnt through most of what we could scavenge in the local area as we lost too much when the power went out and medical is not urgent. But as you put it the elephant in the room we know you have military personal with you and they have access to the bases in the area not to mention someone has stripped the highway patrol stations of every usable piece of equipment and sure as hell it ain't us, so you want to tell me again about the ammunition being an elephant".

Taking all three of you by surprise nobody in your town has hit the highway patrol stations as you are still using the military base for ammo and guns. " Rachel while we have visited the base nearest to us we have not gone near the highways when did you start noticing they had been stripped". Seeing the earnest look on your moms face Rachel gets worried. " Let me get this straight you have not touched a highway patrol station at all, then who the fuck has, according to what Massy here says they have been cleaned out of all ammo, guns and equipment. We are talking about thousands of rounds from each station and dozens of guns as well, could it be one of the other towns maybe ".

Eventually everyone calms down and talks things out, tomorrow someone will drop off some blueprints and a down payment of fuel cells along with some food as well to the town. Racheal and your mom shake hands and both promise to look into the highway patrol stations. Driving back to town all three of you cannot help but talk about and wonder just who has been raiding the highway patrol stations as you all have nothing better to do. " It is not us and the amounts is too much for a few people, it has to be a large group, it could be some highway patrol officers who have so far survived, maybe even a military unit as the doors have not been **** Veronica if you believe that girl that is". Snorting you mother just waves her hand, " who knows only time will tell, unless we run into someone raiding the station nearest town that is not something we will be able to find out Kerry. A couple miles out from Compton on the way home you are relaxing as this was the most simplest job you have done so far. Just as you are about to ask your mom what is next, something hits the SUV from the side and sends the SUV skidding across the road and then it all goes black.