Chapter 37-3: Balance of Power

[LiamKerrington]

Hello there,

Other issue I have is not with this chapter but the story in general now... where is all the ammo coming from? After 8 months in a Zombie Apocalypse that is including multiple wars and shootouts will another band of marauding convicts, which happens to be located in a part of the US known for is incredibly strict gun and ammo laws and no ammo manufacturers... and considering that 2 areas of the map that likely held what little ammo is even left were nuked recently, and whatever ammo was left is getting shot out of the mini-gun on the chopper at about 5,000 rounds per minute... how would anyone even have anything left? It doesn't make sense and whenever I hear the .50 cal or mini-gun firing it snaps me out of the story.

I am not so certain. Just consider a couple of "facts from the WA-verse":
The zombocalypse spread within 2 two days through the complete areas of LA. And only like four major groups "survived" by hiding and fighting. The groups were of various sizes, with the Colony and the Mallers having been the bigger groups; the Mallers had their size based on the people held in custody AND by enslaving other people; the Colony grew in size by allowing more and more people to get involved in the survival-campaign. With all four groups in mind we speak of likely less than 1000 people from the LA-area. Ok, we had several hundreds, maybe even several thousands of people being rescued by Irwin and Boulder in order to find shelter far away from the hotspot. So all in all there were less 1% of the people in and around LA who survived the zomb-onslaught.
As for the survivors who remained in LA: each group had its scavenging groups, which searched all the places for things you need - food, water, dipers, the latest Playboy magazin, batteries,..., AND guns and ammuniation. Guns and ammo they would find in any police station, gun-shop like Burt's Locked and Loaded, and many (if not all) military, and coast-guard facilities etc. Ok, you might argue that during the first two days a lot of the ammo was spend to fight the horde; and you may also argue that a lot of ammo and guns would be brought to Irwin or Boulder (or other safe spots); and still: you would have things left. And considering the bits and pieces in relation to the low number of survivors I would felt hard pressed to believe that the survivors in LA would run out of (sh)it sooner than later - especially because the considerations so far do not account for any guns held by private people - no matter how tight gun control regulations are in LA.
Also keep in mind: The number of events in which a lot of ammo was used to fight (the War; any bigger zomb-encounter; the taking over of, the rebellion within, and finally defending the Colony) is quite low; in any other situation only very little amounts of ammo was used to shoot solitary or small numbers of zombies, which in return would be no stress or burden on the ressources ...

What do you think about these thoughts?
Best wishes!
Liam