The cars were advancing slowly, giving a chance to the bikes to follow safely. The batteries would be able to last until the end of the journey easily, but it was not a good idea to stress them too much either.
Each time they saw a shop open and abandoned at the side of the road they would stop 5 minutes and take a part of the food available, after a short while the cars were now full to the brim.
They took the highway, and about 8 km (5 mi.) of travel they were approaching the National University Hospital. Lots of ambulances and cars were going toward the building.
In the front car, Geoffrey was in the driver seat, next to him was Nicolas.
"Do you think we can get a car from there?" Geoffrey was pointing at the NUH.
"I think this is too dangerous," answered Nicolas, "and I have something in mind." Nicolas has been using his tablet a lot while they were driving, using his mobile phone connection.
"You remember when we said we would need a lot of supplies to last during the trip to France?"
Geoffrey nodded.
"I have just found a company that specializes in water tank delivery for offices. If we can get a truck, we could secure water for the boat."
"Are you serious?" Lexie at the back of the car was incredulous.
"Yes, the boat that we will take will probably have water, but look at us, we are quite a lot, and the journey will be very long. What if we can't resupply in water during the journey, it is better to stockpile right now, right?"
She nodded.
"Yes, that's a good idea, they might even have the truck themselves," added Geoffrey, how far is it from here?"
"It is 10 km from here and it is barely a detour from our objective." Nicolas was happy about his idea, drinking water was something that was a synonym to life, and he was convinced that to face this unprepared journey stockpiling it would be of great help as it would be one less thing to worry about!
They kept going in the same direction, following the highway. Luckily for them, the next 9 km was quite calm as very little cars were going this way. They did not even come across a meteorite! They were leaving the highway and about to turn right at the roundabout when Nicolas saw a lot of Police officers barring the road on the left.
"Geoffrey slow down." Nicolas was staring, he wanted to understand what was happening. "They seem to be some police officers over there, and fully geared!"
He then saw fumes coming from further away almost in the same direction.
"Ok, keep going to our destination." Nicolas started to use his tablet again.
They were almost arriving at their destination. The neighbourhood was devoid of a soul, this was an industrial zone and since it was Sunday, nobody was working here, and the few who did, would probably be hiding anyway.
"Here, this building on the left." Nicolas pointed to a square grey building.
"knock knock" Baptiste was knocking at the window. Nicolas lowered it.
"Why are we here?" asked Baptiste, Tomomi and Jesper were listening just behind him.
"We are going to steal a truck from here, and use this chance to take water tanks to stock on the boat."
Baptiste started to look at the building in front of them, two trucks were parked at what looked like a loading area.
"You want to break in there?"
"Yes, what do you think? We secure the water, have a truck to store your bike, and we can finish the journey to the harbour safely." Nicolas was smiling.
"I think you're making things too complicated," interjected Jesper.
"But he has a point, water is important." Retorqued Baptiste.
"Whatever, but we should be quick, did you see the police blockade over there?" Jesper was a bit anxious now.
"Yes, and I think I know why," answered Nicolas. "I saw a lot of fumes coming from the direction of the Police Coast Guard base."
"And how do you know that?"
"I checked on my tablet" Nicolas showed the maps to the others.
Suddenly Georgie came to them from the other car.
Georgina, Georgie for short, was a 26 years old British girl. Her parents immigrated in London from Hong Kong 35 years ago. She was 166 cm tall, very fit, with dyed brown/blond hair and a cute hamster face. She could easily be called an ABG*.
"Why are we stopping here?"
"To steal water for the journey" answered Baptiste shortly, he then added toward Nicolas, "do you want to take a look, see if we can be lucky like at the Rochor police station?"
"What!" "No!" exclamation came from the back of the car. Georgie, Jesper and Tomomi might have heard the story, but they did not know first-hand how dangerous it was to face a meteorite and people holding guns, but the others knew better!
"Calm down, this is just a suggestion. But this is the coast guard, and since we're going to the sea by stealing a boat, this could be good to know more about their situation, what do you think?" Baptiste did not want to drop the idea so easily.
"You're going to steal water at the police coast guard?" Georgie was confused.
"No, the water is in this building," Baptiste answered briefly while pointing toward the building next to them. "While some will handle the water, others could go to take a look at the coast guard base that is over there," this time he pointed in the south-west direction, where the fumes were raging in the air.
"Ahhh, that makes more sense! But what about the coast guard base? Should not we avoid this place instead of going there?"
"My thought!" shouted Lexie, to make sure people heard her from inside the car.
Followed a heated discussion where everybody shared their opinion. After a while, they came to a decision. Nicolas, Jesper and Baptiste would go to check on the Coast Guard base riding the bikes. Geoffrey and Delphine will be waiting for them, with the truck they were about to steal, north of the base. The rest would keep going toward the harbour while looting more supplies. Since they were now in an area of the town where little people lived, they could plunder easily. Also, the night was coming, it was past 7 pm and the Sun was setting at a very fast pace.
Both groups were expecting to use the cover of the night to succeed in their objectives.
A few minutes later the two parties split.
"Do you think it will be fine?" Jiajin asked Lexie, they were both very worried.
"Don't know"
"Don't worry, they should at least be able to avoid most of the trouble," answered Tomomi who was looking at Jesper back by their side.
The two Chinese girls looked at the Japanese, 'She sure did not see a zombie close up,' they thought.
"Yes, you're right," Lexie faked a positive answer.
"Hey girls! Time to break in!" Georgie was in high spirit, she found behaving like a delinquent quite fun and refreshing. She was holding a metal bar and a flashlight.
Only Fred and Emmanuelle stayed behind to keep the car running just in case.
They climbed the portal easily and reach the building. Everything was closed tight. After searching for a moment, they decided to break in the post guard at the entrance of the perimeter in the hope of getting the key of the building.
Luckily, they were no alarm! After they got inside and search for a while they finally found keys to open the building, the funny part was the code of the alarm of the building was on a sticker next to the door key.
"They sure are helpful!" Georgie was grinning brightly while mocking the security.
After a while, Fred and Emmanuelle brought the cars inside to look less suspicious while the other broke inside the building. It took them a while to understand how to open the loading deck shutter, but it did not hinder their good mood.
They started to load one of the trucks, finding the key of it was quite easy as they found a panel with all the company car keys tidily lined up. Everything in this company was perfectly tidy, organized and clean. Thanks to that, the robbery was like a walk in the park.
"I feel bad doing this," said Sunny while grinning, she was totally not feeling bad!
She was Josh girlfriend and Georgie's roommate. She was Korean, and Josh, British. They both decided to follow the group as they felt staying in Singapore would not give them a bright future. Josh wanted to have the chance to join his family and Sunny, Sunjoo from her Korean name, did not really want to join hers.
"Like you do!" Josh's eyes were lifted toward the sky. He has been entrusted the automatic rifle as he was the only one in the group with military training as a reservist member of the British army. "Should we go and find if they have more stuff inside?"
"I don't think we should, they just sell water, and I think we have stocked pile enough water tanks to last a few weeks! Maybe we should now focus on finding supplies that would be useful for our journey. While you do that, I'll go with Delphine to wait for the guys," answered Geoffrey.
"Did you receive some news?" Delphine asked Lexie.
"Just a text saying they might have found a good opportunity but they needed time," she answered.
(*ABG = Asian Baby Girl; just check online)