//------------------------------// // 05/28/2015 Arrival and Recruitment // Story: The Unicorn Lost in the Woods // by Spleedude //------------------------------// Day Six, 05/28/2015: Well, I finally have some good news today. Not only did I make it to the armory, but I found another survivor! His name is Jack, he's 24, has a dark brown coat, and a dull, silver colored mane. In other words, hes a pony like me. It may seem a bit selfish to say, but I'm actually kind of glad that I'm not the only one who's been forced into the different body. For the longest time I feared what would have happened if I had been found by any human survivors. The options ranged from keeping me as a pet, all the way up to killing me for my pelt and horn to make magic wands with. It's just...One less thing to worry about, you know? But notice how I didn't say he was a unicorn like me. Jack has the immense fortune of not having a super sensitive piece of his skull sticking out of his forehead. So I guess that makes him just a regular pony then, a small, dis-proportioned, oddly colored, regular pony. Let me start from the beginning, and I'll tell you where and how I found Jack. After waking up, eating a good breakfast of some carrots, and looting scavenging the rest of the house for food, water, medicine, and some cloth to stuff between my skin and my bungee cord harnesses to prevent chaffing, I was off. Something strange I noticed, was that there were no cars on the road anywhere.I didn't notice it yesterday because, you know, backwater country road and all, but you would've thought that I would've seen at least one car by now. Anyways, the walk to the town, if you can even call it that, it's more of a glorified rest stop then anything, Was pretty uneventful. Also, I appear to be even worse at judging distances that thought ( something I'm already terrible at to begin with), because it was barely even noon by the time I reached the hospital on the outskirts. I had totally forgotten there was a hospital here. I didn't scavenge from it then and there, because I figured the Wal-Mart on the other side of town would be filled with medicine and first aid equipment that didn't need a PhD in order to pronounce. Still, it's nice to know it's here. As I walked through town I found myself really appreciative that I decided to come here, whether I was forced to leave my home or not. I passed no less than four different gas stations, seven different fast food places, a construction site, and a lumber mill. Those last two are definitely going to be useful for any construction me and Jack here might need to get done. Then, I laid my eyes upon the most glorious site I had seen for the past two days, the Armory. The large artillery piece gleaming in the front parking lot showed to the world that America had put in this building here and we're ready to defend it. Just from the parking lot I could see behind a chain-link fence the multitude of different military vehicles, including Humvees and, a large supply truck we in basic called, the cattle wagon ( guess why). To bad artillery and Humvees couldn't protect America from what has happened. The place apparently had enough electricity to keep up security measures, because I had to use my military ID to unlock the door to get in. After doing that, I unloaded the survivor wagon In one of the offices so that I could take the now empty wagon out scavenging. Gunther wanted to come with me, while the cat seemed to be wanted to be left to his own devices. So I left him some food and water, and told him not to break anything ( two which I swear he rolled his eyes), and set off to Wal-Mart Oh Wal-Mart, Once the epitome of America corporate business, once filled with hundreds of people going about their day, buying the food and entertainment products they needed, a communal club of sorts, now brought down to being nothing more than another building on the looting list of a tiny unicorn and his dog. How the mighty have fallen. It was before we even entered the building that I knew something was up. The sliding glass doors were smashed, shards of glass littering the outside of the building telling me that this break had happened from the inside. Not only that, but Gunther started acting strange as well, sniffing and looking around like he expected to find something. It wasn't until we reached the wet food section ( previously the frozen food section) that Gunther took off barking down the aisle.I chased him as best as I could, but ultimately had to rely on the sound was making to find out where he went. I found him at one of the employee bathrooms, barking and scratching at the door while shouts of "No!" and "Nice doggie!" emanated from inside. This, is where I found Jack. Apparently he'd fall asleep on the night shift working here at Wal-Mart, and had woken up to find himself as he is now and with no communication to anyone. He had been living off Wal-Mart and the surrounding area for the past six days. The dude was scared out of his wits, it took me a good 15 minutes to convince him I was a part of the National Guard and was here to help him before he would even open the door. Eventually, I was able to convince him to come with me to the armory where I had power and limited access to the Internet. I think it was the Internet part that really won him over, would've been the same way with me. He seems really jumpy, like around every corner there this some sort of predator ready to pounce on him. I guess I would be the same way if I had not had any sort of training, or maybe it's not even the training, maybe it's just because I already had my breakdown. Either way, After enlisting his help in filling up the wagon we headed back to the armory. Where right now Jack is exploring, looking for food and stuff I guess, while I write this journal and get ready for bed. I'll start the radio and set up a few permanent survival structures tomorrow, It's too late in the day and I'm too tired for now. <<< Useful Survivor Tips>>> 1. Find others - You may have more resources to yourself when you are alone, but three days spent setting up a renewable water source is three days you are not spending setting up a renewable food source. 2. Scavenge everything - Everything is going bad, anything left in one place too long is either going to rot, or get taken by animals. So don't think because you left that granola bar in that cabinet in that one house, that it will be there the next day when you come back for it. 3. Set up a base - You may be able to survive pretty good being mobile right now, but when all the food in houses and stores goes bad and you have to grow your own you're screwed. Not only that, but you fortify a base, as well as build more advanced equipment. There is a reason our ancestors stopped being nomads.