- "The rest of you will begin Operation Restock."
- — Niko Mills to the Monument 14[1]
Operation Restock was an effort planned and led by Niko Mills on Day 5 in Monument 14 to restore order to the Greenway.
Background[]
First Proposals[]
As early as Day 3, Niko had plans for providing some structure and organization within the Greenway. Jake Simonsen was still leader, and both him and Brayden Cutlass opposed Niko's proposal, with the former arguing that "I think we deserve a little break. A little chance to just like, relax, and, like, chill out and even enjoy what we got here."[2] At the time, both Jake and Brayden were drunk.
Brayden figured out that Niko was a Boy Scout, and began taunting Niko with implications of Niko being gay. This resulted in a fight breaking out between Niko, Brayden, Jake, and Dean Grieder (the latter two initially tried breaking up the former two's skirmish before joining in themselves). The brawl is interrupted by an air horn blown by Josie Miller. She announces that the next day they will hold an election, as well as a ceremony to honor those killed on Day 1.
Elections[]
The election is held after lunch on Day 4. Jake arrived late, with him and Brayden performing a football touchdown for Jake's entrance. Jake wants to turn the Greenway into a day camp, where fun is more important than long-term survival. By contrast, Niko's speech talks of needing "order and structure", with Niko noting that he knows how to "organize and delegate" and "keep my [sic] head in a crisis".[3] Ultimately, Niko is elected group leader.
Operation Restock[]
Greenway 2.0[]
While Dean and Ulysses make breakfast on Day 5, Niko finishes working on a map of the store and a daily schedule. After everyone has eaten, Niko addresses his plans for the day, which will consist of "restoring and cleaning up the Greenway" and "assess[ing] . . . resources".[1] Alex and Niko will take an inventory of their "power and security"[1] while the others carry out Operation Restock. On the map, Niko placed sticky notes labeled with kids' names in different areas.
Niko stocked a shopping cart for each individual or group. The carts contained "a mop, a broom, a dust pan, 409 spray, Pine-Sol, paper towers, rags, and trash bags—lots of trash bags."[4] First, they would use the carts to take everything that is "broken and damaged"[4] to the Dump, and afterwards they would "replace the remaining items on the shelves, and clean up."[4] They would work three hours from nine a.m. to noon, take a break for lunch and rest time, resume work for another three hours, and then have free time time until dinner.
All of the little kids except Sahalia were excited for the work.
Josie's Secret Assignment[]
While everyone else was cleaning up their respective aisles, Josie had been improving their living quarters. She decided that the dressing rooms, located in the northewest corner of the Greenway, were the "coziest, safest-feeling space in the store."[5] Unlike the rest of the store, which had linoleum floors, the dressing rooms had bamboo floors.
The ladies' and men's dressing rooms were identical to one another, with a common wall dividing them. Both the ladies' and men's dressing rooms had one big dressing room that measured six by ten feet and eight smaller dressing rooms that measured four by four feet. Josie asked Dean to help her take down some of the walls dividing the small dressing rooms, with the goal of creating a total of eight four by eight feet berths for the bigger kids; the younger children would simply all sleep together in the handicapped accessible dressing room.
Brayden interrupts their work to ask if they knew where Jake was. Instead of leaving to continue his search for Jake, Brayden volunteers to help, since he "used to frame houses in the summer"[6] and knows "how to handle a hammer"[6]. Josie accepted his help, so Dean decided to leave.
By the end of the day, Josie and Brayden had completed the task. They had finished taking down the desired walls (including the one separating the ladies' and men's dressing rooms) and had labeled each berth with a name Sharpied on the door. In addition, they made a living room just outside the dressing rooms.
| “ | The floor was carpeted and they had laid down a bunch of throw rugs over it. They had brought over the beanbag chairs from the Media Department and added some more furniture. There were two futon couches, a fake-fur butterfly chair and two coffee tables and a desk. A lava lamp gently oozed on one of the coffee tables. There was a mini-fridge and a case of water bottles next to it. They had tricked it out to an absurd degree. Right next to the furniture, there was a small clearing, with three card tables and seven folding chairs distributed among the tables. A table lamp stood on each table and two bookshelves had been stocked with what looked to me like one each of every book in the Book Department.[7]
— Dean Grieder
|
” |
Ulysses observes that the dressing rooms look like a train, which leads to their living quarters being nicknamed the Train.
A Shift in Routine[]
During breakfast on Day 7, Niko announces that there will be a shift in their routine since the aisles have mostly been restocked and inventoried. The big kids will continue to work on projects, while the little kids will be attending school, as taught by Josie. The children were not very excited for school.
In addition, to save electricity they will have the lights on only in the Kitchen and Living Room (the school), per Alex's energy plan. Everywhere else would be dark and require a flashlight. While the children are at school, the kids consolidated the frozen foods to the freezer in the Kitchen. In essence, this marked the end of Operation Restock.
Participants and Areas[]
Most of the Monument 14 participated in Operation Restock, however there were a few who did not. While Niko did plan Operation Restock, he (and Alex) technically did not participate otherwise because him and Alex were busy taking inventory of the power and security. Astrid did not help because she was hiding from everyone due to her guilt of nearly killing Batiste a few days prior.
Jake and Brayden did not participate on Day 5, as they had built a bunker in the Sports aisle and "were busy drinking beer and playing laser tag."[8] On Day 6, however, Brayden helped out Josie with her secret assignment. It is unknown if Jake participated at all.
The areas of the Greenway, and the kids assigned to them, were as follows:
- Media Department — Sahalia
- Pharmacy — Chloe
- Automotive — Max and Ulysses
- Toys — Batiste
- Home Improvement — Henry and Caroline
- Food and Drinks — Dean
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Greenway 2.0." Monument 14, 2012. p 132
- ↑ "Air Horn." Monument 14, 2012. p 101
- ↑ "Elections." Monument 14, 2012. p 127
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Greenway 2.0." Monument 14, 2012. p 133
- ↑ "The Power of Pancakes." Monument 14, 2012. p 141
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "The Power of Pancakes." Monument 14, 2012. p 142
- ↑ "My Food Aisle at Night." Monument 14, 2012. p 144-145
- ↑ "Greenway 2.0." Monument 14, 2012. p 133