Michelle! Guess what I found...
The two are exploring one of Ivydale's train yards. Michelle climbs
through between the rotting cars on an adjacent track, looking for him.
No idea. Where are you?
Up here.
Jack is standing on top of atop? one of the
metro trains. Michelle climbs onto the link between cars, from there
onto the the edge of the broken windshield, and Jack helps her up to the
rather sketchy-looking roof.
Look, over there...
He points across the deteriorating trains, towards the outermost track of
the overgrown train yard. A small roof – or in places what remains
of it – extends over the track from the side of a large building.
Several tank cars sit under it. Some are rusted through or missing
parts, but a few look like they might still hold liquids.
Oh, wow! Maybe there's some gas left in
there or something...
My thought. Let's check it out.
They climb back down and make their way over to one of the tank cars. Jack clmbs onto the end of the car and attempts to use the ladder leading to the top. It crumbles under his feet. I guess I found the way down – hey, use me as a ladder instead. He leans against the tank and helps her on top of it.
Michelle inspects the lid. It's held on with large nuts.
Do we have a wrench or something?
Jack looks around.
I don't know. Lemme take a look in
there...
He disappears through an opening in the wall where used to be a door.
After a moment, he reappears, triumphantly holding a huge adjustable
wrench.
It's a bit rusty but should do the
job.
I'm afraid to see what you call very
rusty.
This thing, for example.
He hits the ladder with it, causing a large section to break off and
crumble. Then, he hands her the wrench. After a bit of fiddling, she
manages to get a good grip on one of the nuts holding the lid in place
– it doesn't budge.
Need a hammer or something?
One of these pipes over there should
do.
Jack picks up a section of metal pipe and passes it to her. Putting it
over the wrench for additional leverage, she pushes against it until the
bolt snaps with a bang.
That's certainly one of the ways to
unbolt this thing... she says before moving on to the next one.
One by one, she removes the other nuts. Some of them snap off, some
unscrew with considerable force. She lets go of the pipe and attempts
to lift the lid – it's still stuck in place. Using the wrench
as a hammer, she whacks it until it comes loose...
There's nothing in here.
Great. I guess there are a bunch more
we can try. needs a better reaction, may
want to state disappointment explicitly
She jumps back down onto the end of the car.
Looks like we'll be climbing a bunch of
tank cars today.
Let's see about that... Mind giving me
the wrench for a moment?
She hands it back to Jack. He jumps over the gap between cars and uses
it to knock against the wall of the next tank.
Sounds empty.
The third tank seems more promising. It only makes a dull clunk
when Jack hits it with the wrench. Michelle climbs on top again.
The nuts on this one come off more easily and it doesn't take
long until she lifts the lid.
Jackpot! She sniffs the smell coming
off the liquid inside. Smells like
diesel.
Nice! Let's find a truck or something
to drive around in... Wait, stupid idea but I need to show you
something.
Oh no, what are you up to again?
Nothing in particular... Wanna follow me for a
sec?
Michelle jumps down and follows him to the entrance of the building. They walk over the door on the floor, past a counter to the left, into the wide open hall. It is dimly lit by the light that makes it through the dirty windows and small holes in the surprisingly intact roof. note: Make it more clear that the windows are below the roof. Also, I imagine them to be milky windows for some reason. A few rows of large industrial shelves on the other side of the hall hold partially rotting crates. To either side of them are open spaces with machine tools, small cranes, and other machinery. A few plants grow here and there. Through the center of the hall leads a single train track with additional sets of rails for a gantry crane besides it. At the end of the hall to the right, below the rusty crane, sits a train wrapped up in tarps.
The following dialog nededs to go / be entirely rewritten.
Stupid idea indeed, she says while
walking towards it. Then, she corrects herself:
Actually, it might be useful. That's one
of the diesel-electric ones, right?
Oh, I thought we drink the diesel and push
this thing around for fun. He grins.
Okay, so can we use its generator?
Maybe, if we can get it to a location where
it's useful.
There is no railroad close to the
bunker?
Not that I know of, the closest would be
somewhere around Ivydale South.
Okay, not very useful. That wasn't very
well planned, Mr infrastructure guy.
Let's go find a truck.
Copyright © 2023 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.