I was on light duty today after yesterday putting in a pretty fast nearly 8 mile run. I was running inside the fort I wouldn’t have to worry about Zombies today but I did have to train. I was at the Mine Loading Building (#32 on the map) at a gentle pace when I noticed a path cut behind it. I had never ran it before and I wondered if it went to the old Marina and if it did - if it circumvented our fencing somehow. If the zombies could cut back behind the fence at low tide we could have an unexpected swarm on our hands and the eastern flank isn’t well guarded.
The path behind the Mine Loading Building lead far back to a white ‘house’ structure, which had electrical from the 40's obvious by an old light socket on the front, so had to be part of the old camp. In a clearing was some equipment, "Coast Guard Search and Rescue Use Only" Did the commander know about the equipment? I wondered.
The little house looked uncomfortably lived in sans a door and even including a pillow on the floor. The whole 'house' was about twenty square foot and had - of all things an attic with an exposed square crawl hole. The roof appeared not to leak despite a foot thick of moss and ferns growing on top of it. The house is not on the map for tourists. The floor was a thick heavy concrete with a raised section, obviously military use of some sort but of what I can’t guess.
So the front entrance lined up with the back out which was a path which I took a few feet down into a ravine. It struck me as the most obvious location of a toilet and headed back up having made that stinky mistake before and valuing my shoes decided I would just make a note about it.
The front door had a path leading off into the scrub and I hate that because the grass and ferns are knee high and wet but worse: Spiders. I hate them.
Spiders are useful however in that they let you know if a path gets used much if zombie, human or elk is using a path actively there won't be an established orb weaver residing there. There were two humungous spiders on the path. Nothing had traveled down it in awhile. I was too chicken to fight off spiders so doubled back and ran out to our high fence that protects us from the Marina.
I saw a few zombies in the park area shuffling around looking lost. Had they been tourists? Boaters?
It was time to run back and give the commander my report. On the way back on the parameter was runner 8. He walks anytime day or night along the main fort areas and sometimes outside its fences. He’s an older fellow, often has his dog and a baseball bat with him. He always wears an Oregon Ducks t-shirt. I never have caught his real name, but I see him more than anyone else on my outings.
Tomorrow the commander says there will be cross training in the Training Yard. He wants my arm strength to improve and my sprint speed. Until tomorrow – Runner 5 Signing Out
