Episode Two - Alternative Energy
The Black Dog growled down the cracked pavement of the old Confed Route 82. It was a quiet ride for the most part. The small group of survivors take a chance to rest and breath easy after the harrowing convenience store stop. Or perhaps quiet for other, more introspective reasons. Despite the fatigue and potentially broody inner thoughts, the energy in the cab of the truck is strangely upbeat. Excited. It wars against any weariness and negativity. The Black Dog is free to run the highways again. And it is happy.
The trip east had taken Kelly and Harry over half a day on the heel-toe express. Harry guessed they should be able to make it back the same distance in under three hours. Back to the survivor city of Texarkana. Or, based on the "corrected" signs they remembered from their recent visit: TexarCana. The K getting covered over with a spray-painted or rough sheet metal "C". The exact reasons for this were never made clear to them. But, at a guess, it had to do with the junkers. TexArcana is a haven for junkers in the East-West. Especially since the population upheavals caused by the invasion of tinhorn walkin' dead from across the Mississippi. In fact, it was those junkers, along with the surviving remnants of the nearby army repair depot, that managed to hold this little city against the hordes. The "safety" provided by the strange weapons, contraptions, and cobbled together war-machines have attracted more displaced survivors seeking some new safe haven to continue surviving in. Of course, increasing populations put new strains on already hard lives....
Martin and Harry do manage to make some educated guesses on between the old maps and their own knowledge of the area. By the time they reach the loop highway around the burg, they have some pretty good ideas on the next route they are going to be taking. So long as they can figure out some way to get hold of supplies. Hand painted signs on the loop direct them towards the TexArcana Welcome Center. Which is, in reality, the campground the locals have set up for refugees, travelers, traders, etc. outside the walls of the downtown areas of the survivor city proper. Tent cities are never the most pleasant places, but, as Harry and Kelly experienced before, the TexArcanists really are trying to do their best to help the refugees without just allowing all of them right inside the walls. Yet.
The local militia troopers posted up at the exit ramp from the loop seem to perk up at the sight of the pristine paint and gleaming chrome of the Black Dog as it grumbles down to their checkpoint. The four "soldiers" are set up around a armored-up military transport truck across the bottom of the ramp as a gate. All of them are standing up, armed but not aiming, just goggling at the sight of this truck straight out of the past.
One woman, possibly the "officer" of this unit, shouldered her hunting rifle and walked up to the driver's side. She obviously took a bit of extra time to get an extra close look at the apparition to make sure it was real before yelling up to the cab, "Welcome to TexArcana. How can we help you?"