William drew out a rough sketch of the neighbourhood on the pad, explaining while he did that there were about 40 houses abutting this stretch of the river, about twenty on each bank. He admitted that he didn’t have much knowledge on the situation on the other bank, but 3 of the 4 houses downriver on their side would be unoccupied, the same for about 8 to 10 houses upriver. There was a well-travelled footpath running along their bank which generally was used by bikers and people walking their dogs, in his opinion the best way to reach the houses as most properties, including theirs, had a small gate to the riverbank and the group would have cover and the chances of being seen would be lessened.
Their best bet, William said, would be the Mitchinson’s place, the large property at the top of this stretch of river. The parents were both above 45 and the two sons were currently skiing somewhere in the Swiss Alps, on holiday from their studies. They very avid campers, fishers and hunters and generally likely to have all sorts of equipment and tools there. They also had no pets, which everyone by now realised could become a problem.
The second and third choices were the two properties below that, also likely to hold useful loot, but he was uncertain whether the kids were there or on holiday overseas, they would have to scout the places out first. Both properties were guarded by dogs, so they would need to be dealt with first. John suggested that they leave it at that for now, preparing to empty his bike-trailer so they could carry more loot. William provided two empty hiking packs, saying that there would likely be some at the Mitchinson’s place and it wouldn’t hurt to collect more and fill them up there.
The next question raised, by Carmen, was about arming themselves. She provided her .45 Revolver, saying that she would prefer something with more capacity and preferably something quiet. Alexis handed her the dart gun which she appropriated from the shelter, together with several darts she had filled with the, for lack of a better description, poison. “Should be quiet enough if needed” Carmen commented, showing her proficiency by expertly loading the dart gun and racking the slide. They also discussed using John’s and William’s hunting rifles, but decided against them as they were unwieldy in close confines and prove difficult to aim in the darkness in any event.
William then quickly disappeared into the garage, returning with two pangas, an axe and a crowbar. Between the 7 of them they were now armed with three handguns, the dart-gun and the three melee weapons. William handed his Glock to Lizzy and took hold of the axe, handing Alexis a panga for the time being, which she didn’t know how to use but which provided a small measure of comfort nonetheless. Lucy decided to go without weapon, as she didn’t know how to handle a firearm and, according to her, a klutz and more likely to hurt herself with a blade than not. Carmen tried handing her revolver to Mike, who refused it and said he’d prefer a melee weapon so he could protect them in close quarters if necessary.
The braai was down to glowing coals so they just left it as it was before making their way down to the small gate at the riverbank. William unlocked the gate and they filed out in single file, the gate not allowing more than two persons to pass at a time in any event. The river was dry, no flash-flood having gone down recently. As a group, they methodically made their way along the bank, up to the Mitchinson’s property. Kira was once again ranging ahead, but steering well clear of the dogs in other properties. Alexis was again reminded that she would need to investigate the pet system more closely at the first opportunity, first of all to make proper use of her companion and secondly to provide John with more data.
They arrived at the target without complications, nothing had bothered them so far, the neighbouring dogs apparently focusing on the other side of the properties. The dogs from across the street were barking back at them and thus likely attracting them to the far side, in addition, they were downwind of the properties in the first place. Alexis had also noticed lights, most likely candles, in a couple of the houses they passed as they snuck along the riverbank and reminded William to make a note of them so they could be investigated the following day.
Breaking into the property proved easier than expected, the electric fence was down and it was a matter of moments to forcibly jimmy the gate open with the crowbar. Proper application of leverage with a smattering of force could solve a lot of issues Alexis thought to herself. William and Mike darted ahead, securing the entrance for the rest of the group. Last to enter was Kira, who apparently had decided the property was safer than the riverbank and taken up the rearguard.
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Sticking together within sight at all times the group advanced through the property, securing it before settling down next to the side entrance to the triple car garage. William, expert wielder of the crowbar, forced open the door of the garage and they all snuck in, the last softly closing the wooden door behind them. John struck a match and lit a petroleum lantern they had found among the Hunter’s camping equipment. The unsteady lighting provided for a tense and suspenseful atmosphere as they started investigating the garage.
Two cars and a boat were parked in the garage, taking up most of the space. To their joy a lot of equipment of various sorts was shelved along the walls and a ladder led up to the storage built along the roof trusses. Jackpot. Alexis climbed the ladder and lit a candle at the top, unable to see anything in the pitch black darkness covering the loft. Once again, bonanza. Camping and fishing gear was neatly stacked, she also saw three unstrung compound bows and a lot of paraphernalia for hunting and fishing. She decided to call up William and Lizzy to help her get the gear down, handing down pop-up tents, camping stretchers and mattresses, quivers, arrows, fishing rods with tackle, and best of all, five massive hiking backpacks. She left most of the bigger gear, asking John to join them up top to decide what should be taken that night and what could be left for later.
Meanwhile, the rest had made a sizeable stacks of various pieces of gear and a good collection of various tools at the bottom. Alexis looked at the pile and came to the conclusion that they would need several trips to carry it to base, acknowledging to herself that the night was going to prove even longer and that they couldn’t expect to loot any other properties tonight. She quietly mentioned her thoughts to John and William. While William concurred, John disagreed. If they could rig up a framework extending the footprint of his trailers loading bay they could move most of the stuff in one trip, leaving the rest for during the day if necessary.
John also considered the scouting of the other targeted properties of utmost importance so that they could plan ahead. He further stated that they would still need to go through the main house to see if they could liberate more useful gear. They hadn’t found any sleeping bags for example, and would need toilet paper. Food preserves would also be good, though they should consider building other caches similar to the one at the Hunter’s place.
They got to work, everyone putting the smaller loot into the various backpacks. John rigged up a contraption for the bike trailer with the help of some string, bungee cord, carbon fiber salt water fishing rods and a hacksaw, expanding its volume. The contraption definitely looked like the hack-job it was, made by moon- and lantern light. John reassured them that although it didn’t have the capacity to take a lot of weight, it greatly increased the volume of gear they could safely transport by trailer, allowing them to take most of the camping and hunting gear with the trailer.
Scouting and looting the main house took a bit longer than expected, once again adding a lot of useful loot to their remaining pile in the garage. The group considered then rejected building a cache at the place for the simple reason that they hadn’t managed to identify a suitable location anywhere on the property. Lizzy also added her ten cents by stating that this place would be high on the list of any neighbouring looters too, as the Mitchinson’s were known to be well equipped, adding that it would probably make sense to move all the loot now and then also hide their tracks.
The managed to return to the base with the third and last load of loot a few hours later, still unhindered and without having spotted a single soul during the entire raid. The only change being the dogs now barking at them because the wind had changed unfavourably.
This time around Kira stuck close to the group, but not looking agitated, which calmed Alexis’ nerves. Carmen muttered in the background, something which Alexis failed to understand but which John loudly agreed with. William, being at the front and having missed Carmen’s muttering, asked what John was talking about. Carmen had muttered about eliminating the dogs, which John agreed with as they didn’t serve as a warning system anymore and they could prove dangerous if they managed to escape their respective properties. At this stage they should also prove easy to handle and could safely be dealt with, hopefully providing decent experience for the party.
Once they returned to base and offloaded the looted gear they were all showing signs of exhaustion and William suggested that it would make more sense to get some rest as they were tired which might lead to unnecessary mistakes, which they couldn’t afford. He asked the first to wake to get everyone else up, to which Lucy replied: “Why don’t we set alarms?” The whole group looked at her in bafflement, until John asked in a strangled voice what she had meant. Lucy looked confused for a moment, before her face cleared and then in an incredulous tone asked whether nobody was aware that the interface had a time function and that they could set an alarm. “It also works as a calendar, sort of like Outlook” she added.
William sighed and just asked Lucy to set an alarm for 5h30 so that they could get an early start. Nobody was paying any attention to him though because John smacked his forehead and growled to himself about the several levels of stupidity he was worthy of for overlooking such a fundamental functionality.