It was actually easier hiking than we expected. The ash wasn't as deep as the stuff we've been hiking through before, though the landscape is just as cracked and broken as before. We're camped on a ridge above Cheyenne. Which is actually quite a ways away from Cheyenne mountain and Norad. To be fair the map we have is kinda falling apart and we read Cheyenne and a few other road markers and jumped to a conclusion... you're think Rogan would have noticed something like that being from this area in the first place.
As an added bonus, there are people in the town... not a lot, but enough that we're actually pretty wary of just walking into town out of the wastelands... so we're just going to sit up here and watch a few days and brush up on socializing.
So, where I left off earlier in the week. The weather. Our first experience with a lightning storm was one of shock and awe. Eivan and I were up topside trying to get the radio antenna sitting rightside up when the first bolt of lightning dropped from the sky about a mile away. Brilliant blue against the orange and black of the eternal twilight. It was blinding, and we stood there watching as another strike occurred. It finally hit us that we were in a very exposed position, trying to wrangle a massive lightning rod and we quickly headed back to the blast door. No rain fell from the storm as it whipped over our location, but the wind howled and the raw static buildup seemed to charge everything, and after a few minutes as quickly as the storm had arrived it settled and dispersed. That seemed to set the score for our time above ground, we'd always keep one eye on the sky as it could turn foul rapidly and send us running for cover, lightning and wind for one storm with relatively clear skies for a few hours and then a sudden downpour of firebrands and ash that would light wood, and clothes alight as well as the thankfully much rarer hail storms of pumice that were thankfully few and far between. After a month of this all of us had sort of picked up on the subtle cues and could almost time a storm's approach minutes before the first wind or thunder reached us.
Our first long trip from the bunker occurred about a month and a half of emerging from the bunker. By this point we were beginning to have to ration our supplies, and so we had to seek something out. It wasn't far though. Without the ash and other hazards it would have only been a couple hours of hiking down the mountainside, but it was nearly a full day out and back to where we found the resupply truck. It appeared that it had been knocked over on its side from the pressure wave of a bomb, or possibly had wrecked if the driver had panicked when he saw missiles launching in his side view mirrors. We didn't find his body though, and most of the dry goods were still intact however the refrigerated section had the dried remains of rotted food. We took what we could carry and returned to the bunker. With the realization that rescue wasn't coming we started making plans to eventually leave the bunker. It had served it's purpose, but if we didn't leave, it would eventually become a tomb.
Our initial plan was to try and fix a vehicle and build a makeshift plow onto the front of it, however with that failing, we ended up walking out having made sleds using sheet metal and carrying only what we needed, we set out for our first long term trip to the nearest town of Sherridan to our northwest.
This is where I'll stop for now, Eivan and Leishey asked me to append a set of letters home that they wrote once we found we had an internet connection.
This one is from Eivan:
Дорогая сестра,
Я надеюсь, что вы и ваш ребенок сделал это в московском метро, как мы были обучены, как дети делать, если сирены называется. Я также надеюсь, что ублюдок Сидорович споткнулся брусчатка на дороге, и вы оставили его позади. Я живу, как и моих товарищей. Есть три среди нас, что я могу доверить свою жизнь. Я, Leishey, и американский доброволец, который решил помочь бороться с китайцами. Тем не менее, я жив, и наша группа двенадцать сильным. Я надеюсь вернуться в Москву весной следующего года.
Ваш брат, Eivan.
and Leishey:
Мать,
Я не знаю, как вы добились, так как я оставил Донецк. Я надеюсь, что все будет хорошо. Я путешествовал далеко, так как я ушел с двоюродным братом Eivan бороться китайцев в Америке.Площадь мы находимся в является частью Вайоминг, я хочу отец жил знать, что я сделал это здесь. Я прошу вас хорошо и дом в порядке и кузине Анне сделали это к метро и является безопасным.
-Ваш сын
Leishey
The rest of the group hasn't decided yet if they want to make a letter to their loved ones or not. I however am going to get some sleep now, since the hike was exhausting and I have watch in a few hours.
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