Living With the Dead: Year One
Page 38
Jack briefs them on the modifications we've made to the weaponry, shows them how to properly handle our little chemical grenades so they don't get frostbite on their hands, and the two of them are enthralled. Will has no doubt been privately longing for an opportunity for his abilities to really shine, and, I suspect, is genuinely relieved to be following orders again. Steve was running messages, tinkering in the lab, backing up the medics, and manning the wall, and running at insane speeds to fill in whatever position needed an extra bonus Steve. Once he saw Will gearing up to go outside the compound, though, he didn't hesitate even a moment to volunteer. Jack somehow knows just what to say to get the two of them fired up, which they pass on to the other warriors. Amadi smirkingly warns me that he thinks Steve and Will might both propose marriage to Jack at any second. I quip back that they'll have to beat me to it, but they're welcome to try. Amadi is an utter genius at chemistry who has been helping translate some of my half-baked plans and strategies into innovations that will actually work in a universe that operates according to the laws of physics. I say, "We need to do this," and he says, "Here's how."
Some part of my mind is screaming at me to get everyone to safety, to pull my people off the battlefield, to keep Steve far away from such a hideously dangerous position, but I, too, am caught up in the moment. It's as though the difference in setting between a residential neighborhood and a factory has flipped some switch in all our brains. Everyone is where he or she needs to be, everyone is doing more than seems possible. The compound in Kentucky is full of people, and feels like a living entity, a child that we are nurturing and teaching so that it will grow up strong and brave and free. The compound here is full of machines, and feels like a machine. Each weapon we build is a part of that machine, and we ourselves are spinning, whirring components in this machine as well. This is the heart of it, then, the part that enraptures and terrifies me. Is that what Jack was trying to get across? A chill is doing its best to work its way through me, giving me goosebumps, but I have no time for chills. Any one of us has plenty of reason to be afraid; any one of us may die in this unprecedentedly vicious battle. But the compound will not fall. We are smarter, faster, better prepared. The ghouls can adapt to our strategies, but we adapt faster. We will prevail.
The last time I checked outside (funny world where "getting some air" necessarily includes shooting shambling corpses from atop a wall) the smoke from various explosive devices and the fog from dissipating dry ice covered much of the battlefield in a haze so perfectly befitting a zombie movie, I had to make a concerted effort to stop laughing, lest I disturb my more stoic fellow combatants, or bungle a crucial shot. It's too cinematic. My ears keep straining, I think, to hear the orchestral score triumphantly playing in the background.
Oh, yes, one last thing. We could really use some ammunition. As we've proven over and over again today, practically anything can be a projectile weapon with the proper preparation, but a victory with fewer casualties would be so much more desirable.
I need to go. Lisa has been pacing back and forth across the room, waiting for me to finish, though only now she tells me it's because she has a few contacts who might be able to help us out. Cryptic, but hopeful. Also, it seems she neglected to mention that Jack wanted to see me for something. (she wanted to go with the group that was testing weapons, and has been somewhat sulky since Jack told her no. Not really sure what is going on with that power dynamic, except that Jack is a bit protective and old-fashioned about women in some ways, though progressive in others...) In a moment I'll leap up in a way that is hopefully not too reminiscent of an eager puppy, and see what it is that he needs. Love to everyone back home. We're going to win this fight, but I apologize in advance for the pain our losses are likely to bring. Later, guys.
at 1:55 PM
Friday, October 8, 2010
Siege Mentality
Posted by Josh Guess
As many of you probably noticed, I didn't post anything yesterday. This was for two reasons.
The first is that Courtney's post was something I felt needed to be read by as many people as possible. Her rushed words perfectly relayed the madness that's going on up north right now, the incredible danger that Jack's compound is in. Her writing, to me at least, demonstrated the ingenuity of people dealing with incredible and difficult circumstances. That post acted as a shining example of why every survivor needs to come together in helping one another.
The second reason is that I spent most of yesterday trying to organize some help for Jack's place. We sent out two teams of people in armored vehicles to help out up there. They contacted us a few hours ago to tell us that they had made it, and that Jack's compound is still under siege. We sent as much ammo as we could spare with them, and i hope it helps to make the difference.
Initially most of us thought that it would be almost impossible to get more people up there in time to help. But the incredible efforts of Jack's people and our own have managed to hold off disaster even though more and more zombies appear to attack.
We here at the compound have managed to get in touch with a few other groups of survivors over the last day. Many of you out there have worked very hard to make this possible, and for that my thanks will never be great enough. We have managed to coordinate some volunteers from those groups into a task force of about fifty people, all of them heading north to help in the fight.
They are going to aid by doing hit and runs against the main body of the attacking undead. I gave them Will and Steve as contact points, since Jack and his council have seen how effective they are as field leaders and have given them joint command of operations on the ground.
I wish we could send more than two teams of people up there, but the warm front has reached Frankfort now as well. It was in the sixties yesterday and is shaping up to do the same today, leading to an increase in the number of zombies around here. No attacks to speak of, really, at least nothing larger than a dozen at a time, but with so much more wall to patrol and defend, we have to conserve our people now as well.
My thoughts are with everyone who is in danger right now. I hope to hear good news from the north soon, and with luck, the cold will come back soon and give us some time to hunt down the hibernating undead...
at 8:11 AM
Saturday, October 9, 2010
War Heroes
Posted by Josh Guess
The continuous assault from the massive swarm of zombies on Jack's compound has broken. It didn't come without a cost.
The attacks are still going on, but much smaller in scale and totally lacking any coordination. Teams on the wall are able to repel them with relative ease and minimal ground support. That's really good news, because the strike teams took a very hard beating yesterday. I hope that this is an end to large attacks, because no one knows if the people at the Michigan compound can handle another like it.
I am going to reconstruct the strike that broke the zombie assault from the reports I have gotten from Courtney and a few others up north. It's pretty amazing.
Last night at dusk, a very cold wind began to blow across the battlefield at Jack's place and against the wall. The zombies surrounding the place seemed agitated from the sudden cold and with what I have to assume was a last rush of desperation, they charged as one. The swarm was so large that it spread out four hundred feet from the wall on the northern side. The defenders were pressed very hard, every weapon on the wall swinging and firing at breakneck speed.
Will and Steve were out on the field, still directing the overall hit and run strikes and leading some of them. They were operating on a very strict rotation schedule in order to always have vehicles full of fuel and ready to go, stocked up on ammo and bombs. It was Steve's turn to go out, and with Will in command to direct support and coordinate, he wasn't too worried about it.
Steve went out with his group and did his best. They skated along the edge of the swarm, firing into it and spraying explosives. Steve certainly achieved his goal of drawing attention...
Will didn't even hesitate. Seeing a huge chunk of the swarm move against the truck, he tore out with two other units to rescue any survivors. Courtney described it in great detail (I hope she has time to relay her own version of these events on here, I can't be doing it justice) and from what she tells me, it was nearly perfect in its execution.
Will's support vehicles laid down suppressing fire, blowing massive holes in the carpet of undead around Steve's truck. Will's truck mowed down everything in its path, his gunner clearing a space around the damaged vehicle.
Will's two passengers were the ones to actually drag the survivors from the truck, while Will hung out his own window calmly firing at every zombie that approached the rescuers. Even with virtually no time to plan or think about it, Will still managed to create a defensible area by angling his own vehicle at about a forty five degree angle to Steve's, making a narrow wedge the he could defend alone.
At that point, pretty much every other strike vehicle went out at once. It became clear to most of the strike teams that only a massive amount of damage would slow the assault...
About half of them survived. Most of the casualties were gunners in the backs of the trucks. Far too many of them were the volunteers we solicited from the small groups of survivors between here and Michigan.
I'm sorry, this is just too much. I can't write about it any more. All those people dead, and nothing I can do to help directly. I need to get some air, try to calm down.
Back tomorrow.
at 9:23 AM
Sunday, October 10, 2010
News from home
Posted by Josh Guess
Going to take a bit of a break from what's going on up north (mainly because the assaults have calmed down quite a lot today) to talk a bit about what is going on around here at the compound.
In all the excitement I think I forgot to mention that the giant herd of sheep and their farmers made it here safely. I really don't recall mentioning it, so let me apologize if I am repeating old information. One thing I can be sure that I didn't mention before is that every one of those guys left literally tons of raw wool in storage. That's a resource I am very happy about...
The recent quiet around here has led to many meetings of the council. We decided to take advantage of the lack of zombie attacks and have a round of comprehensive discussions about a wide variety of topics. Some of it was pretty boring, whether or not to go ahead and work on adding platforms and walkways to the wall of the new annexes and things like that. Some was of vital importance, such as whether or not to send out more groups of people to search for yet more food to see us through the winter. We have discussed everything from defense to shoe leather, and every subject had one thing in common.
We talked and argued too much, and only came to agreement on anything about half the time. Funny how early one we were so driven by fear and worry that we seemed almost a united front in some things. I suppose having a few comforts and effective defenses does allow the average person to get a little more opinionated about some things.
I want to say that we have come to some kind of agreement on the important stuff, but the reality of it is that all of it is important. I hate having to work on all of this without Courtney and Steve, even Will, though he isn't on the council. The frustration of reaching a major consensus without any useful method to prioritize topics or break deadlocks is something that we finally had to address.
So Rich Whitney agreed to serve as our "leader" for a short time, until out the council members that are currently out of town are back. He specified that he would only be acting in council meetings to make sure that the most important problems are dealt with first and with appropriate consideration, and to act as a last measure for our lack of consensus on am issue. He won't do anything else in a leadership capacity, partially due to the fact that he's already our judge for criminal issues.
We're going to have ourselves an election when the others get back. A real one this time, where everyone gets to vote. We need a leader that has the confidence of the majority, that is chosen by them rather than by a small group of people. That's where we went wrong when I was chosen. That is why Rich refuses any more authority than he absolutely needs to ease the gridlock in our decision making process.
I hope it comes soon. The worst thing is inaction. We have pressing concerns, and I would rather do the wrong thing rather than wait too long and be able to do nothing at all.
If and when we are certain that the attacks on Jack's place have weakened enough that they no longer need our help to defend, our people will come home. Then we can choose, and finally have a leader to bring us together, to give us direction.
at 12:31 PM
Monday, October 11, 2010
Heat Wave
Posted by Josh Guess
Damn weather.
I would love to give you a detailed update on what's going on up north, but all Courtney had time to read was that larger zombie attacks were being warded off by the defenders there. That's about all I had time to read, since the weather here has gotten frustratingly...tropical.
It's a third the way into October, and it's just before noon. It's also seventy seven degrees outside and climbing. Which brings angry, hungry undead beating at our walls and surprising our scouts out in town and beyond. Two teams were attacked this morning with casualties from both. Three people dead even as we were being attacked here. We had some people working outside when the swarm can in. One of the farmers died trying to keep his sheep from panicking.
I wasn't there, but the report was disturbing. The zombies must be ravenous by now, they tore him apart in seconds. I call that a small blessing for him since he didn't have to suffer long.
The zombies also started going after the sheep. Thankfully we've spread them out around our farms, so they didn't get a large number of them, but about twenty were taken away. To be shared with other zombies to fend off starvation, maybe? I don't know. It seems pretty difficult to reconcile the vicious rending of a man with the careful abduction of woolly snacks. But there it is.
The compound itself was hit as well, and mostly at the new wall around the annexes. There were smarties among them, so it pretty much goes without saying that they were testing our defenses. All seven times they hit us. Never the same stretch of fence twice, and never a similar set of circumstances.
I estimate about two hundred of them total, and the attacks were easily repelled. Many of the zombies had fresh blood on them, some of the ones we killed showing a slim dusting of loose hairs on them and chunks of fur in their teeth. I have to wonder if they came out of their cold-induced stupor and hunted down the first moving thing to regain lost energy...
We held them off here, but the clever nature that defines the smarties and their ability to lead other zombies makes them an insidious threat. Our teams and people out on the farms will have to be especially careful to look for ambushes.
I hate to think that the smarties can make regular zombies hold off their desperate hunger in this way. It means greater and more subtle danger for all of us. The good news, I suppose, is that it has to get and stay cold eventually, and that will mean hibernating zombies.
It's looking to be eighty degrees today. In October. Bet all those global warming deniers are smacking their foreheads in whatever bit of the afterlife they ended up in.
at 12:11 PM
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
All God's Creatures
Posted by Josh Guess
I expected a large zombie attack here today, and so
far have been pleasantly surprised that nothing has come. On the other hand, all of us were shocked to hear the reports from our scout teams this morning about what they found during their morning rounds.
The stripped remains of lots and lots of animals. Piles of rabbit, deer, groundhog...you name it, and they seem to have found them. Several heavily wooded areas around town have been discovered with these grisly collections, and if the zombies are eating animals, something they have been reluctant to do until very recently, then it means they must be getting desperate for food. We don't know if that means they are stuffing themselves to try and survive the coming winter as they slow down and hibernate, or if they are trying to top out their energy for one last huge push at us and our defenses.