Applies everywhere · does not remove the need for self-sufficiency
Salvage: what to look for and where to put it
The world does not disappear in a day. Asphalt, metal, glass and plastic will outlast us by decades, and some of it by centuries. Nothing in this section replaces the skills in the biome chapters; it shortens the timescale. What used to take weeks, one find does in an hour. You still have to know how to lay a cord — but if a car seat-belt strap is lying at your feet, there is no reason to lay one today.
The frame you cannot read this section without. While the law works and things have owners, other people's property stays other people's, and this section is not about that. It is about what has been abandoned: things that belong to nobody any more and are falling apart on their own. And even then three rules apply: take what you need, not everything; do not break what could still serve someone; and never go into somewhere people are living. In a small world your reputation is worth more than any find — see the "People" chapter.
Six rules of searching that are worth more than anything you find
- Ten minutes outside. Before you go in, look and listen. Fresh tracks, smoke, light, sound, dogs. An occupied place shows from outside.
- Not alone, and not silently. Someone has to know where you went and when you are due back.
- Look at the ceiling and at the floor. Cracks in load-bearing walls, sagging floors, water in the basement, a smell of rot — turn around. Someone under rubble does not get to use what they found.
- No flame until you have checked for gas. Do not flick a switch, do not strike a match, do not turn a torch on inside until the place has been aired.
- Hard-soled boots and gloves. A rusty nail through the foot with no doctor costs more than any find.
- Take only as much as you can carry at a run. A loaded person cannot run and cannot defend themselves. Two trips beat one that turns out to be the last.
Where to look, and what makes it dangerous
| Place | What is valuable there | What makes it dangerous |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol station | Канистры, воронки, шланги, ветошь, инструмент, карты, бумага на розжиг. Топливо и масло — только по штатному назначению | Пары топлива, статика, подземные резервуары. Не курить, не искрить, не переливать топливо без навыка и исправной тары |
| Roads and cars | The richest place of all. Battery, wiring (copper), mirrors (signalling), seat belts (webbing), seats (foam, fabric, leather), jack, tools, first-aid kit, extinguisher, glass, tyres, petrol from the tank | Petrol, battery acid, airbags that have not gone off. Do not open up the steering column |
| Building site | Nails, timber, sheeting, insulation, buckets, spades, a barrow, wire, sacks | Collapses, open drops, protruding rebar |
| Allotments and farms | Seeds — the only find that multiplies. Tools, glass jars, greenhouses, wells, firewood, polythene | Dogs, neighbours, derelict outbuildings, old wells |
| Shops and warehouses | The obvious (tins, salt, matches, soap) plus the non-obvious: stretch wrap, tape, pallets, sacks, trolleys, shelving | The first place everyone goes. The danger is not the shelves, it is the people |
| Pharmacy | Bandages, antiseptic, saline, syringes, plasters, a thermometer | People. And one rule: never take or swallow a medicine you cannot identify |
| Offices and banks | Paper (tinder, hygiene, insulation), furniture as timber, water coolers (19-litre containers), extinguishers, cable, first-aid kits | Glass, and false hopes: there is no money there, but the paper is worth having |
| School, laboratory | Magnifying glasses (fire!), atlases and maps, sports kit, ropes, spirit burners, glassware | Unlabelled chemicals — do not touch them at all |
| Pipelines, substations | Metal, cable, valves, insulators | May still be under pressure and live even on a "dead" grid. The worst risk-to-reward ratio in this table |
| Landfill | Metal, glass, fabric, tyres, containers. Safer than a shop and it draws no competition | Cuts, infection, methane deeper down |
| Railway | Spikes and fishplates are good steel, and tools can be made from them | Sleepers are soaked in creosote: do not burn them indoors and do not build a house out of them |
A tin can is the most underrated find there is
Из всего, что можно найти, металлическая банка особенно универсальна: это посуда, корпус для простого инструмента, отражатель сигнала и сухая ёмкость для мелочей. Перед нагревом убедитесь, что в ней не было топлива, химии или неизвестного вещества; внутреннее покрытие и краска не должны гореть.
- 1 The lower holes. Four to six of them in a ring right at the base — air comes in through these. Without them the can smoulders instead of burning.
- 2 The upper holes. The same ring just under the top rim: hot gas leaves, and that creates the draw. The difference between "it smokes" and "it roars" is only these holes.
- 3 The stand. A second can or three stones: the stove must not sit straight on the ground, air has to reach it from below.
- ! Do not cook in a lacquer-lined can the first time you use it — fire it empty on a strong flame for 10 minutes so the coating burns off, and only then boil food in it.
Cookware and stovePot, mug, wood-gas stove. A lid with the edge turned up is a frying pan.
A signalling mirrorThe base, polished with ash or sand, is visible from the air for miles (see "Signalling").
ToolsFrom the lid: a knife, a scraper, arrowheads, fishing spinners. The metal is soft — it sharpens on stone and bends by hand.
Сухое хранениеБанка с крышкой защищает спички, трут, лекарства и мелкий инструмент от воды.
An alarmSeveral cans with pebbles in them on a line across the approach — against animals and against people alike.
A trapA can sunk flush with the ground catches beetles and small rodents while you sleep.
A plastic bottle is the second most useful thing
- 1 The filter. The same layered filter as in the "Improvised gear" chapter, but the body already exists: cut the base off, turn it neck down, pack in the layers. It does not disinfect — boil the water afterwards.
- 2 Disinfecting with sunlight. A clear bottle of clear water, laid on its side on a pale surface: 6 hours of bright sun, or 2 days under cloud, kill most pathogens. The method is known as SODIS and is recommended by the World Health Organization for places with no fuel. Cloudy water will not do — filter it first.
- 3 A trap for small fish. Cut the neck off and push it back in as a funnel. Bait inside, and the bottle into the water with a stone. It catches fry and crayfish, which make a soup.
- + What else: a bottle of water works as a burning lens (you need bright sun and very dry tinder); cut into a spiral it gives a strong cord; set into a hole in a roof and filled with water it lights the room like a bulb by day; buried, it is a drip-feed waterer.
Other things worth picking up
A car batteryWeeks of light from a bulb. Fire lighting: short it with a wire through a wad of steel wool or a thin strand — spark and heat instantly. The acid burns, and charging gives off hydrogen — outdoors only, with no flame nearby.
Copper wireThe best material for snares: a stiff loop holds its shape by itself, which cord cannot do. Plus hooks, repairs and lashings.
Seat beltsReady-made webbing rated to hold a person. One of the most valuable finds in a car.
A tyreПодошва для обуви, разрезанная — корыто и грядка. Не сжигать: дым токсичен, огонь трудно контролировать. Для сигнала используйте яркую ткань, зеркало, фонарь или разрешённый небольшой костёр.
Glass and lensesLong-sighted people's spectacles, a magnifier, the base of a bottle — fire from the sun in seconds. A shard is a cutting edge sharper than any stone.
SeatsFoam for insulation and bedding, upholstery for fabric, leather for cuffs, hinges and mending boots.
Engine oilТолько техническая смазка и защита металла от ржавчины. Не сжигать в жилье, не наносить на кожу, не пить и не использовать при готовке.
PaperTinder, hygiene, insulation (crumpled paper in wall cavities works as insulation), notes and counting the days.
Stretch wrap and tapeNot shelter but sealing: sealing windows and doors against a chemical or radiation threat, a cloche for seedlings, wrapping stores against damp, splinting a fracture. In direct sun ordinary film breaks down in about a month, and it burns readily — keep fire away from it.
What never to take. Unidentified chemicals and unlabelled medicines. Tins that are swollen or rusty inside. Antifreeze and coolant — they taste sweet and they are lethal; this is one of the commonest household poisonings there is. Screen wash — often methanol, which kills and blinds. Old asbestos sheeting — do not cut it and do not burn it. Sleepers and poles soaked in creosote — do not build shelter from them and do not burn them in a stove. The general rule: if in doubt, leave it. Poisoning with no doctor is not "a day lying down".
How finds change the tech tree
- They do not raise your level, they shorten your timescales. Finding a pot saves you a week of making cookware, but you still have to know how to make one yourself for when the pot burns through.
- The one exception is metal. Ready-made steel tools are a jump over a whole level: what the "Taiga" chapter needs bog ore, charcoal, a furnace and six hours of blast for is already sitting in a car boot.
- Finds run out, skills do not. The city and the roads are a finite warehouse; a forest grows back. Build a way of living that survives the finds running out.
↳ The city: this is where there is most of it↳ The filter in full↳ People: what makes searching dangerous↳ What to buy while the shops still work