A day passed and the Seneca Preppers had agreed to set up shop in ODTA. It was early morning, and the preppers and gotten access to the old 95.3 Jack FM radio station. A few preppers began trying to get the radio back up and running.
The Ghost and The Tigress laid in bed, she was still asleep, and he held her tightly. She hardly moved in her deep sleep, just laid there, breathing slowly. He smiled and laid next to her.
"You're safe here, I promise." he whispered, kissing her head.
They'd known each other since before the bombs fell, two relics of a bygone era reunited after what seemed like an eternity.
Everyone in town was either asleep or just waking up. The guards had been rotating, taking in the Prepper guards to distribute the workload. Heavy snow and icy storms hit the region hard. The Skattlkin threat had be stopped for now as they'd hunkered down to stay warm during the storms.
The weather was going from bad to worse. The power substation was beginning to encounter trouble. It was fortified and protect from lighter storms, however, it was powered by a water wheel taken from an old wrecked steam boat. The River was becoming one giant icy mess. The wheel was barely turning at this point, but with more inclement weather on the way, they'd need an alternate form of power.
The snow drifts measured 16-feet-tall, and had now end in sight. The power flickered every night, as icicles hung to the already damaged powerline's. The Reddick Mansion was heated by a fireplace, and had little to worry about during the freeze. However, most of ODTA was barely making it through the winter, but other places weren't faring any better. Old Marseilles was drowning under the snow, barely able to keep its tribes alive.
The preppers, now citizens of ODTA, were beginning to tinker with the old 95.3 Jack FM radio, looking for stations, any other survivors outside the ODTA area.
One of the preppers plugged in the radio and it buzzed to life. He quickly hopped on it and began to scan through channels.
"Hello can one hear me? Over."
*Static followed by no response*
He continued flipping through channels repeating his message.
Finally on the verge of giving up, he got something.
"Hello, my name is Greg, I am a survivor of Seneca, does anyone read me? Over."
"-*static-* -S Army National Guard, we read you, over."
"Thank god! Someone can hear! What's your situation? over"
"Snow is making things rough but we are gathering survivors via helicopter, how many are you?"
"Too many for a single chopper. over"
"We will fly over, stay inside, stay safe."
The Preppers quickly informed everyone that the US Army National Guard was on their way.
The citizens listened carefully as the sound of a chopper grew closer and closer. The Blackhawk soared above ODTA seeing the lights on, barely, but just light up enough to be noticed by air.
However, the snowstorm was picking up and the guard had no choice but to land in the former lower lots to keep from crashing. The Soldiers were taken to the Central Life Building and warmed up, there they met most of the people, and the Ghost. They talked about the things they'd seen and heard about, only to have the Ghost confirm their suspicions about Chicago, the Skattlkin, and the mutants.
"It's worse than we thought, if these "Skattlkin" are truly as bad as you say, forget the idiots of Old Chicago, even Jigsaw and I couldn't make heads or tails of it. We lack the firepower to take Aurora and Morris."
"We have the numbers, but with the weather, we lack the means to get there. It'll be spring before we can mount any attack."
The group continued talking late into the night, trying to find a solution to a growing problem....