Winter Shortages

Posted on Mon Apr 28th, 2025 @ 7:13pm by René Rouen & Juliet Parrish & Cassandra Lennox & Dmitri Volodin & Samuel Garrett & Bartholomew Addington
Edited on on Tue Aug 19th, 2025 @ 4:08pm

2,560 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Safe Harbour
Location: Cassandra's Cottage
Timeline: 022 December 2012 0930 hours (9:30am GMT)

Juliet made her way the snow covered streets of Thistledrift. She had woken up early that morning and gone downstairs to check the infirmary medical supplies. She had meant to make her inventory the night before, but it was interrupted when two children were brought in to treat several minor cuts and scrapes from climbing a tree to escape a small group of the undead. She heard noise coming from the garage along side Cassandra's cottage and went to investigate. She saw a young man Working on a motorcycle and was curious. "Who might you be?"

The sound of a woman's voice startled René and his hand sipped off the wrench he was using to remove the motorcycle's carburetor. He looked up at the young woman standing in the doorway. He stood up and rubbed his hand tenderly after banging it on the fuel tank. "René Rouen. I just arrived in Thistledrift late yesterday afternoon."

"Mmhmm. Well, I am Juliet Parrish. Would you happen to know if Cassandra or Maureen are home?" She gave him a curious glance as she introduced herself and inquired on the residence.

René nodded, it was barely sunrise on the snowy morning. "I heard them moving around as I came outside to work on my motorcycle Mademoiselle Parrish."

Juliet nodded and turned to go. "Merci René." She went to the side door of the cottage and knocked.

Cassandra had a slow start to the morning especially as the was no longer any central heating in winter. It made her freezing and almost wishing she had someone in bed with her for body heat. She shivered as she set about cleaning up and brushing her teeth in the en suite. She grabbed up her clean clothes for the day and added her fingerless clothes for good measure dressing before she headed down stairs hearing what she could only gather as René or her mum pottering around.

Coming down stairs she quickly realised it was not her mum as the stove was not lit or any water boiling. She glanced up from where she was bent over the stove putting in wood and lightning it when the knock sounded. “Come in.” She called as the stove fire took and the stove started to warm up.

Juliet entered and looked at Cassandra as she rubbed the soles of her shoes on the mat inside the door. She smiled, "Good morning Cassie." She hitched a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the garage. "Who's the French hottie working on the motorcycle in the garage and...why is he working on a motorcycle in the garage?"

The woman smiled at the way people called her Cassie or Cass. It was like she had never run away from the town and then returned to it in everyone's darkest hours. "Because it is a garage and the space is there, and the French hottie is far too young for me to class him as that, but he was a messenger who arrived late last night." She chuckled slightly.

Juliet's glanced out the window to see René exit the garage and pause as he looked into the back yard. He disappeared from view and a moment later the two women heard the sound of wood being split. "I don't know, but it sounds like he is pretty handy at the moment and he is pretty easy on the eyes." She turned back to Cassandra. "Anyway, I actually came over to let you know that the infirmary is starting to run low on supplies, mostly antibiotics. More snow is probably going to fall in the coming week or two and we might want to make a foraging run."

"Aye, what the meeting is all about this morning," Cassandra said, wishing she had woken a little earlier to prepare better, but she could make do as she poured water from the container into the large kettle and then another saucepan with water onto the stove. "This is our first proper cold winter without electricity, and we cannot rely on the Europa for everything." They would not be able to supply enough for everything priorities would need to be made.

Juliet gave Cassandra a knowing expression as she wandered over to the window that looked out at the back yard. He had already stripped off his jacket due to his exertion. "Hmmm? He may be young, but he does have some fantastic muscles. He is definitely athletic." She turned back to Cassandra. "Just an observation from a medical standpoint."

Cassandra rolled her eyes as the younger woman took her not commenting as a freedom to comment more on the man. “I do not need a golden retriever boyfriend plus he isn’t staying. He a messenger passing through and I am far too old for him. You aren’t though.” The woman commented turning it back on the nurse. “Are you having coffee or tea?” She asked grabbing down mugs and items to make things once the water boiled eventually.

"Coffee please. I didn't have any time to brew any at home before the meeting this morning." Juliet stepped away from the window, turning to Cassandra. "You might be right about me not being too old for that young man, but I think Trevor wouldn't like me showing interest." The man she spoke of was the man she had been seeing the last two weeks. He ran the stables that housed the town's horses. She smiled as she took a seat at the table. "He came over with Alicia and Johnathan. They had a few scratches and scrapes from climbing up and down a tree trying to get away from the undead." Her expression lit up. "Wait, is René the man who rescued the children?"

“Trevor?” Cassandra raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Trevor was a kind man, never going to make waves in the community but he was exactly the type of person Juliet needed if she was honest. Someone down to earth and willing to give her the world. “He is indeed brought me some stuff and offered some resources in exchange for sanctuary for a bit and the garage space.” She explained thinking it would not be long until her kitchen was full of people bjt until then it was just them talking about Juliet’s love life and waiting for the water to boil.

Several minutes passed with Cassandra and Juliet in idle chit chat. The sound of wood splitting ceased and the sounds of footfalls descending the stairs from upstairs could be heard. There was a knock on the front door as well.

Dmitri followed Bartholomew to Cassandra’s cottage, noting the newcomer and his motorcycle. Dobrya padded alongside of Dmitri, sniffing here and there, noting the scents on the ground as well as on the air.

“Don’t go too far, my friend,” Dmitri muttered in Ukrainian to the dog as they reached the front door of Cassandra’s cottage.

"The front door." Cassandra laughed a little, already knowing who it would be as she went to the door and opened it to find Bathelowmew standing there politely. "Come in... I have told you a million times to come in around the back door."

Out of habit, Dmitri left his bow and quiver at the front steps. His machete hadn’t been resharpened, yet, so he had opted instead for a hunting knife and a wooden-shafted spear. This he also left at the front door out of respect.

He followed Bartholomew into the kitchen, careful to wipe his feet on the mat, and stood to one side as Cassandra started speaking.

The man said nothing just wiped his feet as he came in, followed by several other people, until the large kitchen area was warm and cozy with people. Cassandra found herself smiling a little at the atmosphere of the kitchen, it was what she wanted from her community. Safety and a sense of community that they could do this in anyone's home. "Is everyone here?" She demanded doing a quick head count of everyone.

Juliet glanced around the table as well. There were representatives from craftsmen, protection, area reconnaissance, and she represented health and welfare. She gave Cassandra a nod before looking to the window where the sound of splitting wood had resumed. "That's everyone, unless you want to invite Monsieur Rouen to the meeting."

Cassandra looked out the window and tapped on it loudly indicating for the man to come inside. She waited for him to join the group looking confused before she started. “We all know we are in winter now and that we are low on a lot of supplies, the biggest being medical supplies but what other things are we in need of?” What they needed depended on where they went.

René did indeed look confused. He cast his gaze around the table at the others. This appeared to be some sort of town council meeting or some such. He didn't know the anything about what the town's stores consisted of. He had no idea what he was expected to contribute unless it was to share knowledge of his travels as a courier.

Cassandra smiled softly at re confused looking carrying on regardless as she started listing off supply issues. “Fuel,” Samuel grunted. “We need to find coal or a wood store.” He advised softly hoping for coal as it make his work ship easier to operate.

Juliet piped up next. "The infirmary is running short on supplies as well. Bandages, gauze, but most especially medicines. We need to find antibiotics, My concern is that we might not be able to find something that hasn't surpassed the expiration date. If we can find the proper equipment and the raw materials, we might be able to produce are own supply."

Dmitri nodded at the thought of medicine.

“If we find verba …you call them…uhm….willow, we make tea for pain. Also, if find…uhm…how you say chebretsʹ ”, he trailed off for a moment, glancing around at the others for help. The collection of blank stares encompassing the kitchen frustrated him. He grumbled something in Ukrainian, an edge of helplessness in his voice. He looked around Cassandra’s kitchen, spotting her herbs. He practically lunged for the rack once he spotted it and began digging through the canisters and bottles, tossing and scattering several on the countertop as they weren’t what he was looking for.

Cassandra was confused by the man trying to explain what he meant and looked around at everyone to see if they understood. Her skills were in people management seeing graphic design was no longer needed in this world.

“I hope you will be cleaning up my kitchen.” Maureen stated at the mess on her counter from the man trying to find the herb he was looking for.

“ Tochno! ” he finally exclaimed, holding a tin canister up. He held it out for the others to see, hoping someone would read off the label.

“You mean thyme.” Maureen stated. “If it was summer time my garden is taken over by it and the rabbits eat it all.” She said approving of where he thinking. They needed to move from conventional medicine to more old fashioned ways of healing.

“Da, da…is good for…uhm….cleaning wounds,” he fumbled in halting English, wiping his hand down his arm to pantomime cleaning something. “If we find shop that has more, I can help with medicine,” he volunteered. “Also, look for animal doctor…for medicines,” Dimitri offered with a shrug.

“A vet would be a good shout. We could do with animal medicine to maintain their health too.” Hamish spoke up from his seat as he looked bemused at Maureen scowling at the mess.

“So we have 2 locations.” Cassandra said indicating on the map the 2 location. One was about an hour away by boat along the coast and the other was inland about a day in the truck.

René glanced at the map and pointed to the coastal location. "I recommend the coastal community. The inland location is too close to York. I've been hearing rumors during my travels and you don't want to meet up with one of their patrols."

“Yeah. Let’s not go anywhere near York not until the Europa gets back.” Bartholomew commented nodding at the younger man. If the Europa crew were there at the very least they had a little fire power if things went south.

“We should not fight…supplies only,” Dmitri agreed, nodding his head. His time in the army had taught him that a smaller force could fight and win against a superior force, but only with surprise and overwhelming firepower. All it would take to blow that would be a run-in with zombies or even one of the patrols from York.

“This is like trip to market, no?” he elaborated, looking around the room.

Juliet turned to Dimitri and smiled. "Kind of I suppose."

Cassandra listened to the back and forth before she nodded. She could not help but agree to the thought of not going anywhere near York. “We will need to head to a big town soon but I think we can get away with stocking up at Tarnmouth.”

Juliet nodded as she stared at the map before looking up to Cassandra. "Okay, We have the where. So who's going?"

“I would go as scout with Dobrya,” he volunteered.

Juliet looked to Cassandra. "I should probably go as well. I will need to inspect any pharmacy products we find to ensure their viability."

René looked at the map. He had a feeling that his usefulness at this meeting was at an end. Part of him wanted to help these people, but he was a stranger. He looked at Cassandra. She had given him shelter for the night and he felt he owed her for that. He just wasn't sure she or the others gathered around the table would want his help.

“I will be going too.” Cassandra assured before anyone could argue or comment. Leadership in her opinion showed and did not tell which meant she went out on the runs, she did the watches and more importantly she lead. “Bart?” Cassandra asked and the man simply nodded as did several other people.

“You be careful.” Maureen commented in a whispered tone to Cassandra which which made the woman role her eyes. “You are never to old for a mother's worry girl.”

René looked from daughter to mother and back. "I will go with you, if you will allow it." He did need to scavenge a few parts for his motorcycle before he got back on the road again, though his primary reason was so he could provide extra protection for Cassandra. Maureen and Cassandra had been very kind to open their home to him, even if only for one night.

Cassandra looked around the group and several people nodded. The young man could come along if he thought he could handle the situation. “Okay messenger. You can come along.” She stated.

René nodded. "So. When do we leave?"

"3 hours," Cassandra stated, looking at the heavy-duty watch on her wrist. She glanced around at the group seeing the nervous determination on their faces. "Get your lists and meet me at the docks in 3 hours."

 

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