Elder Joseph was holding back his anger, but when he calmed down, he became even more confused. Judging from what his men saw, this sudden armed convoy had quite mature and powerful logistics capabilities, which was very unusual.
The Brotherhood of Steel, which controls the northern United States, dare not say that the troops it sends can take a shower if they want! Especially in the current environment of nuclear winter, do you still want to take a shower? As long as they don't freeze to death, that's good.
"They have more than 20 vehicles, including a large-caliber howitzer, and are equipped with a large number of heavy weapons. We'd better not conflict with them."
"Their total number exceeds one hundred. They are divided into two groups. The core personnel have extremely high equipment and morale, and there are also a large number of handymen who work. I asked and it seems that the handymen were recruited from nearby settlements.
"
"They occupied about five or six houses to the north of us, and then centered on these houses, they used chainsaws to cut down the surrounding trees to build a camp. The work was completed in a few hours, which was very efficient."
The more information he learned, the worse Elder Joseph's expression became. It seemed that the other party had great plans to stay with them for a long time, but the shelter could not deploy a large number of manpower outside for a long time.
The Granit Shelter could only accommodate about 2,000 people to survive inside, but at its peak, more than 5,000 people were crammed into it. With so many people crowded in the underground city, their living conditions were extremely poor, and only drinking water in the shelter was available.
Everything has become so scarce that even breathing is a problem.
In a closed environment with a lack of material resources, many bad qualities of human beings continued to show up. Various evil incidents continued to occur in the shelter, and the population finally stabilized when it dropped to more than 4,000. The more than 1,000 people who disappeared can be regarded as the establishment of the shelter's governance system.
And the tuition fees paid.
If a defense circle with a radius of two kilometers were to be deployed, more than a thousand people would be active on the surface. If the shelter had to keep so many people from freezing to death outside, just the extra food consumed would be unbearable.
"Don't worry, we are in trouble, and that convoy is even more difficult. I don't believe how long they can last outside." The next day, in the shelter, Elder Joseph expressed his opinion at the elders' meeting. He was still very confident in his own safety.
.
Another elder asked, "Can we take the initiative and drive these people away?"
This is not easy. Elder Joseph shook his head, "The people in this convoy are very vigilant, and their mobility and firepower are very strong. The drones are always watching us. If we attack rashly, we may lose four or five people."
Hundreds of people."
Although losing four to five hundred people can reduce the survival pressure of the shelter, the loss of so many backbones and soldiers is enough to severely damage the vitality of the shelter. In the end, the result of the elders' meeting was to increase vigilance and take a look at the situation.
"I believe that as long as it takes a few days, this convoy will still be unable to bear it." Elder Joseph was very sure of this. "They are alone in such a convoy and there are so many people. They cannot hold on for long."
In order to face the long-term confrontation with the armed convoy of unknown origin, Elder Joseph ordered the shrinking of the defensive circle, reducing the number of people on the ground to guard against it, and reducing consumption. Then he passively waited for the opponent to get out when he couldn't stand it anymore.
But just waiting until the next day, a call came from the intercom, "Hey! Turtles in the shelter, I can make a deal with you."
"Go away! I will never sell any supplies to you." When Elder Joseph cursed these words, he still felt very relieved. He thought to himself: If you bastards are against us, you should just stay outside and enjoy the cold wind.
.
But the intercom continued to shout: "I don't need your supplies, I just want some people. For example, how about selling me some people? I can exchange them with medicine or weapons."
Swapping people for drugs?
There is a shortage of everything in the shelter, but there is no shortage of people. In fact, the underground space on the fifth floor is overcrowded. In the crowded environment, more than half of the people are mildly and seriously ill, and medicines and medical equipment are more scarce than food.
"We can change them one by one to ensure that you will not suffer any loss and will not pose a threat to you." The intercom continued.
Elder Joseph had to seriously consider that there were many dispensable people in the shelter, and exchanging these people for urgently needed medicines did not seem to be a loss-making business. After discussing with other elders, he decided to give it a try.
A skinny woman was singled out, with dull eyes and she was pushed out of the shelter like a puppet. The soldiers in the shelter thought this was just a test, and no one thought that such a useless waste could be exchanged for
For precious medicines, it would be good to know the exchange price between population and medicines.
However, the Baltimore Action Team's way of doing things is always beyond others' imagination. The person who came to negotiate was the butcher. This ugly rough man did not get angry or scream after seeing the woman as the trade object. He carefully inspected the woman's body.
After the physical condition, detailed inquiries were made.
"May I have your name?"
"Paddy."
"Ms. Patty, what was your previous occupation?"
After a moment of silence, the woman's rigid brain thought for a long time before giving the answer, "I used to be an air traffic controller at Baltimore Airport."
"Oh..., there are not many people in this profession. How many years have you been a controller?"
"fifteen years."
"Then you must have a lot of experience in airport aviation management. You are very weak, severely malnourished, and have a variety of chronic diseases. But it doesn't matter. A professional like you is actually very useful, and our airport just lacks it.
Professional managers.”
After the butcher patiently asked, he stood up straight and said to the escort: "We want this woman, and we can pay for her medicine. What medicines do you need? You should often encounter diarrhea in the shelter, norfloxa
Star or montmorillonite are both good medicines."
Do you really want to change your medication? This is a joke, right?
Diarrhea is a seemingly inconspicuous disease, but it can easily kill people in the last days. In a closed environment like a shelter, if hygiene is not done well, diarrhea can cause people to die of dehydration.
The butcher simply exchanged a box of norfloxacin for a sick, good-for-nothing woman who was about to die. When he left, the soldiers in the shelter who escorted the woman were all stunned, and no one thought about it.
I understand that the transaction was completed so easily.
"Could this medicine be fake? How could it be given to us so easily?" Several soldiers looked at each other, but they didn't know how to make a decision, so they could only return to the shelter and hand over the medicine.
When they returned to the shelter, several elders looked at the medicine that had been exchanged with blank eyes. Elder Joseph looked at the English label specially posted on the medicine box and said in confusion: "A dying woman has been exchanged."
A box of life-saving medicine, are there any brain problems with these guys?"
Diarrhea is a common disease, and there are many patients in the shelter who have loose stools and become weak in limbs. Norfloxacin is extremely effective in treating diarrhea, and it works quickly. In order to induce people in the shelter to have more contact with outsiders, the butcher also specially gave away a box
Montmorillonite powder and the combined use of the two drugs have allowed many patients suffering from diarrhea to recover within a few hours.
Seeing that several people in the shelter were saved, the elders who came specially to see the effect were all very surprised - this exchange is really worthwhile!