Entry 10
After I had settled in for the night yesterday I realized I had made a huge mistake. I had been so distracted going through the apartment I never thought to check the window and door, let alone properly barricade it. It was too late to go back without risking them seeing the light. I had to just sit and wait for morning and hope none wandered in. They would have to get through two locked doors and a love seat so I felt reasonably safe.
Once it was bright enough I got my spear at the ready and cautiously opened the door. I slowly and quietly checked my apartment and then my neighbor's. His front door was locked and the window was not damaged nor open. It was such a stupid thing to miss, an oversight like that could get me killed. I needed to get the neighbor's apartment fully barricaded.
As I was looking through the other apartment for materials to use as a barricade I realized he had quite a bit of wood furniture. I started to consider what I was using in my apartment as barricades. The window was the weakest point for sure. I saw them smash through the side windows on cars and I think that glass is much stronger than an apartment window. The best the glass could do is warn me they were breaking in. The mattress in front of the window is probably not good to rely on either. They are not really built to be used as barricades. The furniture I found would probably give me enough wood to properly barricade both apartments. The addition of my neighbor's tools mean I also have all the tools I should need. The best tool is the cordless drill and a box of screws. While I did get a full-size hammer and nails, the drill means I can anchor the wood with very little noise compared to the hammer. The other tools mean I can tear down furniture for wood without having to smash it apart. Now all I had to do was figure out how to set up the barricades.
While pondering how to better build the barricades, I remembered watching a TV show about ancient castle defenses. They used rings of defense so if one ring was overrun they could fall back to the next ring and defend. It seemed like a good way to go about building up my defenses. In both cases being able to keep the attackers back was a matter of life or death. If they overcome my barricades I have no-where to go. At first I considered completely blocking both doors, but being able to get in and out could be useful. I just need a way to make the door strong but still functional.
I think if I use my neighbor's front door as my outside access it will be safest. I can reinforce the door and barricade the window creating an outer line of defense. Then I will make a removable barricade for the bathroom door in my neighbor's apartment and completely block up my window and door to complete my inner defensive line. It seems like a big undertaking but I am pretty sure I need to prepare for the long haul now. After spending so much time planning I realized I needed to get some work done today.
My plans were rather comprehensive and required quite a bit of wood. I needed to break down a good bit of furniture which could be noisy, especially if I had to cut anything. I ended up turning my bedroom into a workshop. I could shut the bathroom door in the other apartment and my bedroom door and fill the gap with a towel to help muffle any noise. By the time I had organized the tools and moved the furniture around to get the workshop set up it was already starting to get late. I realized I was running out of time to make barricades for the other apartment.
There was not enough time to build the barricades I had in mind so I decided to put up something temporary. I double checked the lock on the door and then moved his sofa in front of it. I blocked off the window with a large shelving unit. It already had some metal brackets at the top with screws I had to remove to move it, so I just used them to anchor it in place over the window. I made sure to move all the tools back onto the workshop and locked the door between the apartments. Even with just the temporary barricades in place the apartment felt much safer. Hopefully, I will have my own fortified apartment tomorrow.
