June 22nd
It was trivia night tonight and the last question was one on world flags. There are very few of us who remember what the flag of Belarus actually looks like. And it kind makes you wonder how many of those small nations still have any living population. We still have an American Stars and Stripes on the flag pole in front of the Peru Town Hall. Until tonight I had not thought much about that but America is still alive.
June 23rd
It was a kind of nothing day, there were no significant events that took place. Everyone just did their usual things. I did not previously mention that over the last week Mark and Lauren went out and found a fair sized above ground swimming pool. It is now up and running and although the water is not super warm yet even I have climbed in. I hate cold water.
June 24th
It was a rainy day today and that is good for the crops. I ended up taking the day to just look around at everyone and everything. I just observed. We have all lost weight, and that has been for all of us I think a good thing. I notice that even though Anne’s folks are in their 80s that this weight loss has seemed to do a lot of good for both of them. They seem to get around a lot better. It is even to the point where Cyril, Anne’s dad, is taking Biter out for walks almost every day. Our diet may not be exactly based upon the old FDA food pyramid but we stay kind of close. We certainly have much less in the way of breads and processed flour.
I thought about what we have and what we had built over the last 4 months. It has not been easy, but we have been resourceful and fortunate. One of the things that is important in our efforts is that we try to waste nothing. We are all becoming more and more attuned to that. We recycle as much as we can, and are always on the lookout for something that might be usable down the road. In the old days that would have been called junk collecting or even hoarding. Here in the new world it is trying to survive.
June 25th
I liked the rain more than today; it is very hot and humid. A few of us took the ride out to Kendall Field to watch the air jockeys practice. They seem to actually be getting kind of good at it. Apparently some of the Hinsdale crowd was as bored as we were and there were a few of them hanging around and watching also.
In the “Sorry, I am a guy department”. Michelle, the ex-stripper was there, and thinking about my comment a couple days ago about weight loss, she has lost weight. But it would seem that there may have been some enhancement work done because her “puppies” are not getting any smaller.
She had been accompanied by Grace and Steven to watch the flying. I saw Grace but Steven was among the missing. Not that it mattered but he was last seen walking toward one of the hangers.
June 26th
It was a standard morning with each of us working on our own little tasks, or pet projects. But just after lunch we got a call from Kendall. Ron was coming back to the field from a little flight practice. It may have been that he went a little too far north but we are not sure. But he had taken small arms fire. The plane had been hit and he had also suffered a bullet wound. He was coming in toward Kendall but the plane was not running well. He radioed that the oil pressure was dropping and that he must have taken a hit to one of the fuel tanks. He was losing gas. He estimated that he was about 35 miles northwest of the field and was on a heading of 140 degrees.
We started a group out toward the field. But Matt and I decided that it might be better if we headed a little more northerly and held position. Hinsdale had also received the report and the Major had gotten a crew ready to head west if needed. We were hoping the “if needed” was not the case because that meant that the plane went down. It was all just a matter of waiting to see if he could bring the wounded plane home.
While we were in standby mode Fred took off in one of the other planes. He went out to find Ron, and to try to help him back as he could even if it was nothing more than to offer moral support.
“I have a visual on Ron, I am closing with him now,” radioed Fred.
“Hey Buddy, what you doing up here, Jan’s gonna be pissed,” answered Ron
“Yeah, I know, got to get you down safe, figured I could help.”
“Well, I have little fuel left, and the stick is sluggish so I figure my hydraulics are going away.”
“Can you make it back?”
Ron was quiet for a minute then said, “ah, no, I am gonna have to set down.”
There was a silence over those of us back at the field, this was what I had been concerned about.
“Ron, Look, I think we can put down on a little section of the Mass Pike about a mile from here, can you make it there, and get lined up?”
“Yeah, Fred, I have that much left.”
“Ok, let’s do this!”
We waited.
“Ok Ron I am following you in, you look good……..easy……..nose up a little……good, slow, ………..almost……….down………..just a little…..you’re down…….”
“Yes!” I shouted.
Ron got on the radio and simply said, “Houston, the Eagle has landed.”
Fred radioed and told us he was getting Ron loaded into his plane and they would be back shortly. He described Ron’s gunshot wound as minor, or at least not life threatening. Charlene and Major Barkley were waiting when they landed and went to work on it immediately.
After things had settled down I met with the Council of Three and the counter part from Hinsdale. This attack on the plane was bad, we had a group that was within about 50 miles radius of us that was hostile, or at least defensive of their turf. And now they know that they have a group within that radius that is flight capable and conceivably better equipped than they were.
We need to think about this and about defensive precautions.
June 28th
Lance is working on a system by which we can receive a radio notification as soon as someone crosses Check Point Charlie. It is not all that elaborate, but it should give us a beep tone when that happens. This will allow us about 5 minutes to prepare for “raiders’.
The weather is getting hotter and we are in the high 90s right now. We are seeing a lot of Thunderstorm activity in the afternoon and evening. Unfortunately it is not really cooling it down and it seems to make the humidity even worse.
It makes me wonder if this is just my age making me more attuned to the weather, or if we are really seeing climate change. The interesting part is that with the almost complete shutdown of traffic and manufacturing it would seem logical that there would be a reduction in the warming and the greenhouse gases, but then it has only been about three months.
Charlene and Mark are off to Hinsdale today. Mark came back with a new truck. It is a red diesel Ram four seat cab. The boys will start prepping it tomorrow. He has decided that despite the gag with the Prius he will call it the “Zoidberg”.
Ron is getting around pretty well, but he is sore from the wound. But he is already looking to get back in the air as soon as possible. The flight crew will be heading out to Kendall tomorrow to work on getting another plane operational. It will leave us one spare left.
June 29th
Lance finished up the surveillance warning alarm today and it seems to work fine. Frank and Matt took the day to get the plane ready and that was much easier than we though.
Henry says that we should begin to see the corn crop ready to start eating and storing in about two weeks. Some of the other veggies are already starting to show up in meals.
Nick’s rabbit breeding program is showing some success. We are up to eight bunnies at this point, and the alpha mom is pregnant again. He also had recently captured a couple of chickens, but sadly no roosters.
We had a scary moment today with Anne’s dad. Although he is getting around better than he was he does not see so well, particularly in dark or low light situations. He ended up taking a tumble today when he tripped over a hose of the floor. Fortunately it was just some bruises and a couple of cuts. It could have been a broken hip or fractured bone. While he had been laid up letting the b
ruising go down Biter has been there with him the whole time. It is almost as if he knows that Cyril is hurt and is doing what he can to comfort him.
June 30th
This may sound a little late in coming but Anne and the Major figure that it must be through certain contacts (bites or tears) from the undead started an infection that killed you. They had also realized that a zombie attack was going to be them tearing you apart.
Fortunately we have had only a few single zombie attacks which we ended with our impact type weapons. But we never really considered what would happen if blood, or other juices from them got onto the skin.
The opinion is that the skin acts as a barrier and prevents the fluids from entry into the inner body. But what we had not considered was the impact of fluids that were able to get into the body. Open wounds as well as natural openings are all places that this could happen. The eyes, for example would be one of those areas.
So, as a result of this, the scavenging crews went out and found rain suits, gloves, goggles and paper breathing masks. The rain suits were not so much for day to day wear, but in the event that we knew we were going to get it some type of battle. In the cooler times of the year these suits would be fine, but during the summer they would be unbearable. The goggles and paper breathing masks are something that should be always with you when you were outside.
I know that it does really sound like one we missed the boat on but there have been so many things going on in trying to build a safe haven and prepare for the future that some things were put to the back burner or forgotten. This one was not pursued that aggressively because we just have not had all that much combat contact with the Z’s.
June 31st / oops July 1st
The calendar is getting tricky I had us down for the wrong day to start. Thirty days hath September, April, May and November was what I recalled but in reality it is April, June, September and November. I guess it is another reason to make certain that I stay on top of this journal.
Lance spent most of the day out with the Hinsdale Survivors. He is working to set up a warning system for them. Charlene tagged along, not that is was a big surprise. Mark and Henry went. Mark drove, he wanted to show off the Zoidberg and play guard. Henry went to take a look at a potential site for an indoor gardening operation like the one that Margo, Cody and he had put together. But unlike ours it appears that Hinsdale actually had a real greenhouse that had been built in the city.
When they got back we were all told that we had been invited to a picnic and evening fireworks display in Hinsdale for the Fourth of July. I think that it hit all of us Frederick folks pretty much the same. Uncle Elgin, our last direct relative had invited us up to his place on Otis Reservoir each year for a similar event. I can’t speak for the others but I wondered how he was doing. We have had no real contact with the outside world, or what was left of it. I can only pray that he was hanging on and that things are not too difficult on that community.
July 2nd
Another series of wicked thunderstorms last night kept us all awake until about 3 a.m. The wind was pretty strong and we lost a little bit of the fence line due to a tree coming down. Matt, Frank and I spend much of the morning clearing a gap and repairing the fence.
Right now we are in pretty good shape with our must do projects. We have a good defensive perimeter established thanks to the efforts of the fence crew and Lance and Ethan had created the surveillance and warning systems. Our weapons and ammunition situation is good. We can always use more ammunition, but we really rely on the impact weapons much more and not waste bullets.
The food situation is manageable and we are looking at additional stores and crops as the growing season continues. The water situation is good with the filtration system that has been supplied by the Hinsdale folks.
We have turned over half the fleet to diesel vehicles to reduce our need for gasoline. We have not seen anything in the way of a zombie in our sector in about three weeks. The air group is coming along with currently three operational pilots and are back up to four operational aircraft. Ron is getting around pretty well and should be back ready to go in another week or so.
Our health situation is for the most part good. Anne’s folks are really the biggest issue and they are doing remarkably well considering the age and the frailties that go with it. I can only hope that as I approach that age I am doing as well. But then with the potential harshness of the new living style and the lack of medications I rather doubt that I will need to worry about it.
July 3rd
For a change Nick and Lauren have headed up to Hinsdale. “Chez Neeck” has offered his aid and assistance to them for the preparations for the first annual 4th of July Bash. Charlene has also gone along and so has Mark.
About a quarter mile down the road from where we are is a stream. I took a walk down there with Henry and we found that there are what looked like trout in the stream. It ran into a small pond. I have always wanted to learn how to fly fish, and this was finally an opportunity to be able to do it. There is a little tackle shop inside the general store so we did a little shopping and spent the afternoon preparing for a new adventure.
Frank is an accomplished fisherman, with a passion for it. But he is not a fly fisherman, so he was not really all that able to help us with the casting and techniques fooling the fish into thinking that there was a tasty treat landing and floating on the surface. But we actually were getting the casting and routine down by dinner time.
After dinner Henry and I headed down to the stream and tried our luck for the first time. The thought being that in the evening the fish would be rising, and feeding at the end of the day. It was fun, and relaxing, but today the fish won.
July 4th
The morning things were done and there was a fair amount of excitement about getting out of Peru for the day. As we drove up toward Hinsdale, we talked about the old days and shared stories of the Fourth of July’s we had all had over the years. I was not overly happy with the idea of leaving Peru unguarded. But then I had no great desire to spend the day watching grass grow. It had been quiet for a while and it seemed a few hours away would be fine.
If one did not know better, it was almost like a real family picnic. Hinsdale and Nick did a great job in getting everything set up. But what was the big surprise was the pig. Larry and Armand had gone out to get some rabbits for the cookout and had come upon a young pig.
The gathering itself was held at a park in the town. It had a ball field, and basketball, and a pool although I am not sure I would want to be swimming in that scum and algae filled thing. In the course of the day there was games and just living like normal people in the old days before The Event. It was shorts, and tank tops and t-shirts, no heavy clothing, or guns at our side. There were a few people who wandered off together for a while. Biter was chasing Frisbees. It was as it once was. It was just awesome.
The food was beyond expectation. Nick and Grace, his Hinsdale counterpart did a fantastic job. Besides the pig there were burgers, although rolls were lacking, potato salad, macaroni salad and even a Jell-O mold with fruit in it. A keg of beer and some wine was rolled out but there were not too many takers on that.
It got dark around 9:30 which was when Lance and Ethan started setting off the first fireworks. They had found a supply that had been stored away in one of the warehouses. We had a display that lasted for about an hour.
I never thought that I would say this but it got to the point where I was thinking “another one? Geez, can we stop now?”
But it really meant a lot to the people of both towns as the flaming flowers lit the sky. I may have been a little tainted from back in my cop days where I had to work the firework celebrations and was unable to enjoy the display because of it.
It was kind of interesting to see who was sitting with who, and the bonding that was or had taken place. Anne’s folks, of course, and Anne and I, Frank and Teckla, Nick and Lauren, but we were all more or less together before The Event. And there was Grace and Ar
mand, Jan and Fred and we all knew about Major Barkley and Charlene. But there were a couple of surprises. Mark it would appear had become friendly with Michelle and Margo spent most of the day hanging with Cody.
It was a quiet ride back, each of us appeared to be either tired or in thought about the day. I know I was wondering about who would be with us next year at this time. I am sorry that I tend to get caught up in this. I am what I have always considered a cynical optimist. It appears an oxymoron but it is just I plan for and expect the worst and hope for the best.
The Peru facility was clear when we got back, no stray Zoms found their way in and we were not burglarized by some band of marauding nomads.
July 5th
About 10 am this morning Matt and I was summoned to the Group of Three’s office. Lance was already there. They all had a look of concern on their faces. Lance explained that he had been monitoring a number of different police radio frequencies.
“I have picked up some transmissions this morning. I think it is the frequency that belongs to NY State Police.” He said.
The Event Series (Book 1): Life After the Meteor Page 20
