by T. W. Brown
Sunday, July 1st
Mama Lindsay is home. I guess she got word of everything from an outbound convoy. Well…almost everything.
I told her about New America’s new president.
Jenifer is coming over tonight to meet with Mama Lindsay and a bunch of the folks in charge of security. We will be prepared for the worst of possibilities. One of the benefits of who I am—Mama Lindsay’s daughter, not the offspring of Sam and Meredith—is that it will happen under my roof. I will be in the know.
Monday, July 2nd
I leave in seven days.
The EEF now has a new mission statement. An offshoot branch will be tasked to embark on “recon and becoming a general pain in the ass” is how our eloquent president put it. We will be undertaking our first mission. There is a railroad bridge about three days out that we are tasked with taking down, sabotaging, or impeding by any means necessary.
The task is very open to ingenuity. I guess it would have been easier in the Old World era. However, the tools and/or explosives to make a job like this happen are not readily available. We will have to improvise in the field.
THAT is exciting!
Two of the people coming with us are old friends of my birth mother: Jeff and Rodney. It is ironic that they are now considered explosives experts. When Meredith met them, she believed that they were Army Rangers. They were…sorta.
Jeff and Rodney were supply clerks. They were also the ones responsible for blowing up the house of The Genesis Brotherhood. They were informed of the situation with Dominique and both men stepped forward to volunteer.
The real humor in this situation is that both men had to officially enlist in the EEF. They are in the training now. I wonder if they are having flashbacks.
The normal enlistee for the EEF is between seventeen and twenty-five. In their mid-forties, Jeff and Rodney are going to be the oldest and most junior members of the force. I can’t wait to actually meet them.
This brought up some new feelings. I have always tried to live my life as the daughter of Mama Janie and Mama Lindsay. I have made it a life choice to put being Sam and Meredith’s daughter in the back…to the point of almost pretending they don’t exist. I am not sure that is the right way to go anymore. I have avoided meeting a bunch of people from their past, people in the books just because I wanted to avoid mixing with their past too intimately.
I tried so hard to be something else. Yet, here it has come back…full circle. I never understood that phrase until now. All that has gone before is coming back like that bad taste in your mouth you can’t get rid of no matter how much you rinse. The whole time you were rinsing your mouth you were forgetting that the source of that taste is deep in your belly.
I maintain that I will NOT be taking off to see the world. There was an aspect of selfishness in my birth mother that does not course through my veins. I think my heart is more like my birth father’s. I want to help my home…serve in the EEF…and maybe even settle down someday.
Wednesday, July 4th
Today was one of those Fourth of July celebrations that made everybody feel connected. Not just to each other, but to the past. For those of us who have no recollection of the way things were…this day has always been about the food and the games and seeing so many people come together.
I’ve seen pictures of fireworks. I guess they are much prettier in person, but to me, they don’t seem that special. Today, President Jenifer Emory gave her first speech since accepting office. I waited until she was busy and snatched all of the pages because I wanted to write it down. It just seemed really important. I realize that she is only the president here at Corridor 26. I realize that there is a person declaring herself the actual president of all the colonies. I could say I am the President of the Moon…that doesn’t mean a thing.
So, here is the president’s speech:
“Ladies and gentleman of Corridor 26, I want to welcome you to our Fourth of July celebration. Every year for the past fifteen years, we have come together on this day to remember the spirit that made this nation great.
We come together to celebrate the accomplishments of a people who had no business winning the war that they undertook in the name of Life…Liberty…and the Pursuit of Happiness. Yet, for many of us, those words have held little or no meaning for too long.
We live behind walls made from cars and trucks and cement. We leave the protection of those walls at great risk to our lives. None of us could have foreseen this all those years ago. The events that transpired were out of a movie that few of us would have probably watched, and none of us would have believed possible.
By hard work and the determination inherited from our forefathers, we have carved out a life for ourselves and our children. Yet, to some, it seems that it has come at a cost of the very freedom we celebrate today.
I say that is a load of crap! (There was a good round of applause here along with the laughter. I guess presidents didn’t use words like that in their speeches in the Old World.)
As I stand up here and look out at all the faces, I can say that I recognize most of you. I have spoken with most of you. I have yelled at half of you. (More laughs.) I have cried with all of you.
Since this crazy world got tipped over and all Hell broke loose, we have all had to start our lives over. We have done well for ourselves here. We have shown that pioneer spirit that the men and women displayed when they came out on covered wagons. We have endured hardships beyond imagining. We persisted during those two winters when there was barely enough food to survive after the terrible storms destroyed most of our crops.
Now there is a new threat.
Some of you have heard rumors, and I am here to clear the rumors out and give you truth. I know that today is a day of celebration, and I don’t want that to change. However, I need you all to know what we have ahead of us.
It seems that the American government is alive and well. They have a stronghold in the old NORAD complex. From there, they have been building their strength and resources. We have all seen the trains that have come, and the fine men and women of the New American Army who helped us build stronger walls and dig channels to provide our community with fresh water.
This government has decided to try and reclaim sovereignty over all the organized communities like ours that it helped. An individual has taken the office of president through assassinating the president in office when he refused to submit to her ideas of this New American rule. She has assumed control of a large part of the organized military and intends to wield it as a club to knock down any who would stand up to her regime.
I say she better be prepared to wield that club personally because the citizens of Corridor 26 will not acknowledge any leader that we did not elect. We will not serve anybody who has not toiled in the fields or stood watch on the wall. We will not follow somebody who is unfit to lead.
We will fight anybody who tells us that we are here to serve their pleasure. There will be no negotiations and I will make no concessions. As long as I am your president, I will not permit our community to be occupied by any force that has designs on assuming control.
So, on this Fourth of July, I want to quote a famous sea captain of the Revolution. I want to borrow from a man who was facing the most powerful naval might in the world at the time and had no business doing so. I will share with you the response that I sent when I was informed by messenger that refusal to accept an occupational force will mean that we stand against the New American government and that such actions will be dealt with swiftly. I will share the words I gave in answer to the question, “Are you ready for a fight?”
“I have not yet begun to fight!”
That got everybody yelling and cheering. After that, President Emory (she wasn’t Jenifer today) waded out into the crowd. I watched as she vanished in a sea of people. For just a flash, the scene turned to one of her being pulled down by a thousand undead hands. I shook it off as a mixture of the sun and the venison pepperoni I’d been snacking on all morn
ing.
I hope that wasn’t some silly foreshadowing dream. I have heard of people who have those. In fact, there is an old lady here that has a small business telling people their future. I can’t say that I buy into that sort of thing, but stranger things have happened.
The rest of the day was all about celebrating. Maybe it was me, but folks seemed a bit more vocal and just plain noisy today. It was like everybody wanted to prove how resilient we are through excessive volume.
Friday, July 6th
I met with Mama Lindsay, Jenifer, and the captain who would be in charge of our mission. His name is Jackie Vaughn. Also on hand was his second-in-command. Phaedra! So the team is set. There will be six of us. I was curious as to why I was called in for a meeting, but it didn’t take long for the answers to come.
The concern is that my going out in the field could lead to other problems. If I am ever captured by these NAA forces and it was discovered who I am, then it might go badly for me. All three of the journals have been copied and are strangely widespread. I say strangely because it is not like there are any companies shipping books around the country (or however books used to get distributed in the Old World).
I tried to explain that it wasn’t that big of a deal, but apparently people feel that Dominique is so focused in this region because of her feud with my birth mother and Jenifer. They seem to think that she will make some effort to get me.
What a bunch of hooey!
So, after the meeting where I made it very clear that I would not give up my position, and that I am not afraid of any crazy lady with a grudge against Meredith, I left with Phaedra. We sat down by one of the streams where the children play and just talked about food and boys and how many ways we were going to send the NAA running back home with their tails between their legs.
Saturday July 7th
Met with Jeff and Rodney today after graduation. They were both very nice. We studied the map of the route we will be taking. I won’t pretend for a second that the idea of venturing into Old Portland is not equal parts thrilling, scary, and creepy.
You hear all sorts of stories, but I am quickly discovering that you can’t believe everything that you hear. People tend to take things and twist them into something that they understand. The problem is, as soon as it gets passed on, the next person in line does the same thing. Pretty soon, what we have is nothing even close to the actual thing it started out as.
I was also surprised to hear that they feel we will be out in the wild for possibly two months or more. That gave me just a little pause of concern. It isn’t that I’m afraid to be out there…EVERYBODY is afraid to be out there. For Pete’s sake, that is where all the zombies are! It’s just that this will be a big step for me. I have a sense that, if I am feeling this conflicted now about my life and my past and my history, this might change things in such a way that I can’t ever be the same person again.
I get the idea that they expected something different from me when we met. It was like they were studying me and watching every single thing they said. It was weird.
So, the six of us will leave on Monday morning. It is me, Jeff, Rodney, Phaedra, Captain Vaughn, and a guy named John Collie.
John has been in the EEF for almost four years. He seems like a real quiet guy. At first I thought it was the whole thing about me (somebody needs to get over herself) until Phaedra told me that he has been like that as long as she’s known him.
Tonight I am packing everything I will need. Then, Mama Lindsay says that she will go through my pack tomorrow and make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Things are different here at home now. It seems like Mama Lindsay is nervous. I don’t know what I can say or do to convince her that I won’t just up and leave. I can’t understand how people could see me that way after knowing me all my life. I am very happy living in Corridor 26. I get more than my fill of the wilderness when I leave as an agent of the EEF. I am even looking forward to returning from this mission because all of us have been promised a two week R & R period.
I love my home. I love my bed. And I love my mom. My mom’s name is Lindsay Wells. It does not matter who gave birth to me…she is the person who raised me to become the person that I am today.
Monday, July 9th
First night out is always the hardest. You have to get used to the quiet. Oh…and the occasional sound of a zombie. Some moan, and some make that icky “cry baby” sound. Nobody has ever figured out the Crybabies. (That’s what they are called in the field.)
There are a few differences in the zombies from twenty years ago. At least that is what I am told by those who remember. I guess they are even slower now. Also, they don’t move unless they are in an active herd or actually in pursuit of something. They can continue on in pursuit for a few days even after losing sight of their prey, but they are like a wind up toy and eventually run down to a complete halt.
A few weird stories include one related by a Traveller who says that there is a valley in what used to be Utah where a herd of over a hundred thousand walkers are just standing there. They finally came to a halt and nothing has triggered their need to move. Supposedly, in a place called Death Valley, over a million of them have come to a stop and have stood so long that they are buried up to their knees in sand.
Nobody that I know has ever seen these herds with their own eyes, so I can only pass that on as a rumor. However, there is a zombie up near the old zoo that has been standing at the entrance for over six years. Lots of people from Corridor 26 have seen it.
Anyways, we are camped out in what Jeff says used to be an outpost of something called The Salvation Army. I didn’t ask him to specify, but the building is in surprisingly good shape.
We did have to travel through a vast grid of homes. I still can not wrap my mind around people living in such large residences…and still so packed in that close to each other. I can see how the zombies overcame the population like they did, though. People jammed themselves into every piece of ground they could build a house on top. And it seems that if they couldn’t build because of the surrounding landscape, they just ripped it apart until they could.
It is almost embarrassing.
We didn’t see any zombies until just as we set up camp for the night. Actually, we can see hundreds of them down below in the ruins of Old Portland.
I couldn’t get a really good look today because we arrived just around sunset. The shadows were already blending together to form the blanket of darkness that you only find away from the settled areas. I did get enough of a look to be completely in awe of how incredible the fire had to be that destroyed so much of this city.
Also, I have never seen buildings so tall before in my life. What would possess anybody to go up in such things? I was even more amazed when I was told that people lived in some of those buildings!
No Thanks.
Tuesday, July 10th
I just know my body is going to hurt tomorrow.
To put it in perspective, yesterday we travelled several miles. We walked through some empty neighborhoods until we reached the heavily wooded hills that separate Old Portland from Corridor 26. (I guess it used to be called the West Hills, not very creative.)
The terrain was the limiting factor in how fast we could travel. There were places that felt like we were walking straight up to the sky. My calves burned, and I woke to some soreness in my legs. No big deal.
Today we might have managed to travel a mile. Yep. One mile. I had a feeling when I woke and actually got a look down into the ruins of the city that it was going to be a busy day. I had no idea.
Shortly after we broke camp and headed down to the ruins, I got my first twinge of what I can only describe as “bladder-squeezing-fear.” We stuck fairly close together as we moved down that first street. I don’t think we got a full block when the first zombie attack occurred.
A hand reached out from under the almost melted ruins of a car. When I say melted, I mean that the car is fused to the road. I have no idea what chain of
events led to a zombie wedging in underneath, but when that hand snaked out and caught Phaedra’s booted foot…I think everybody screamed—even Jeff and Rodney.
That was the ringing of the dinner bell. I’ve never in my life seen so many of them. There is a rule that you learn on day one of your training in the EEF: Always work in pairs. The reason is simple: you need somebody watching your back in the field.
I was trying to work my way past a small cluster of five when something crashed into my back and sent me sprawling to the concrete. If I had better instincts, I might’ve rolled one way or the other. Instead, I made the rookie mistake of trying to crawl forward for my dropped weapon. That meant I was giving the zombie an open shot at the back of my neck.
Now, before you think I am a total idiot, the standard attire for an EEFer in the field is full leathers, double-lined gloves, and protective eyewear. Also, long hair is a big no-no. You don’t want to give the zombie anything extra to get ahold of. There are other accessories that are optional like vambraces, shin guards, and shields. Mama Lindsay packed the first two; I was just being a little stupid and decided to pass on the extra outerwear because it was promising to be a hot day.
I will never forget the feel of that dead hand as it brushed my cheek. Fortunately, Phaedra was right there to kick it off of me and spear it. That is the first time I’ve ever been touched by a zombie…I pray it is the last.
We managed to fight our way out of the first skirmish and had a chance to retreat back up into the wooded hills. Had we done that, I bet we could have made another attempt to get through the city tomorrow. Some of the zombies might’ve wandered up into the woods, but the hill is steep enough that they wouldn’t be able to walk up it, and they would eventually turn around and stumble away.
We didn’t do that.
Captain Vaughn insisted that we “push on” and try to make a run for a cluster of buildings that he said would offer us a place to regroup. He said that we would be able to go up high enough so that we could actually see our target: The Steel Bridge.
