Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons

by Joshua Guess

  at 1:15 PM

  Saturday, November 27, 2010

  Brave Face

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Sorry my post for today is so late, and sorry it's going to be a short one.

  We're in the process of loading up and getting the convoy ready for travel. Our relief team is heading out tomorrow to meet with their counterparts from Jack's compound. I'm not going to say where they are meeting up, but I'm not too worried about saying they are going. It's going to be a big group when everyone gets together, given that people from at least five groups of survivors are joining in. And they will be well protected. No force that goes against them will have a chance at stopping them short of blowing the whole thing apart.

  Please, don't blow the whole thing apart...

  Will isn't very happy with the idea that we have to send out guards with them. He's worried that the walls will be left undermanned in the event of an emergency, but the duty rosters say otherwise. We have more people than we need to mount full patrols and man the walls for defense. We'll be fine there.

  I'm worried about so many of my friends going out into the world, but I couldn't be more proud of them for what they're doing. The same goes for Patrick, who is looking to leave any day now to go look for his family. He's been such an integral part of this place for so long that it sort of feels like my hand is going to be cut off when he leaves. I know he intends to come back, but Florida is a long way from here, and a world of danger in between.

  We're having a dinner together tonight before everyone goes. Even though I will see them later today, I still can't help but imagine what the morning will bring. Saying my goodbyes, watching them roll away toward unknown dangers to provide hope for others...

  The thought has occurred to me that all of us are really alone at the end of the day. We share our triumphs and tragedies with those we love, our friends and our families. The test of our character is how we react when there is no comfort or understanding to be found. No encouragement or guidance. It's ironic to me that I want to be strong when they leave, when it's just Jess and I left here from our tight group of friends, so that when they return they can be proud of how strong we were.

  I've fought and killed more zombies over the last nine months than I can count. I've done the same for men and women who attacked us, tried to take what we have rather than ask with an open hand. Strangely, this is much harder for me to face. They've left before, but this is a trip that at a minimum will take many times longer than any before. The risks will multiply with time...

  But they are strong. They will be careful and safe, and with luck and the determination that has kept us alive this long, we'll all see each other again.

  Feeling all of that makes seeing them bittersweet. It will be wonderful to spend time with everyone before we part, but all that much harder to be around them knowing that all of these words will rise up in me when they are sitting around the table with me. The key to it will be the same as any other time.

  Smile for them, and put on a brave face.

  at 1:23 PM

  Sunday, November 28, 2010

  In the Night

  Posted by Patrick

  I leave this post just down the road from the compound just as I'm about to leave cell service. I'm posting here to apologize for sneaking off in the night and because I couldn't look anybody in the eye while I told them that I had to leave by myself. Josh had a plan that I would go out with the convoy going to Louisiana and Alabama and then we would swing down in to Florida to look for my family, but I just couldn't do that. The mission to establish contact with these people is just too important for it to be jeopardized looking for my family, and is a dangerous precedent to set. Everyone here has family and friends that they haven't heard from or know what happened to, and we don't have the resources to look for people that may or may not be alive, there are too many that we know are alive and in need.

  I know in my heart that my family is dead or undead, yet I can't rest until I know for sure. I know from my repeated requests to Google that there is little to no power or internet usage in Southern Florida and none in the area that my family lived in, but I must try. The dreams of my parents being eaten alive are keeping me awake most nights.

  Since I have returned from the last trip to retrieve the turbines I have been stocking away supplies for this trip and it makes me feel the thief, stealing what others have worked so hard to make or procure is heavy on my soul but hasn't stopped me. The worst is the ammo, just knowing that if any big action or zombie attack happened and that if for some reason people ran out and died as the result has me in cold sweats. But I need a chance and so must be selfish.

  I'm going on a small dirt bike that David had modified the exhaust on for scout work, so it runs really quite. I'll miss the safety of being encased in steel but with fuel getting harder to find the small but quick engine will be best. Not to be flip but thanks to Jessica's leather work the holsters for my shotgun and rifle make me feel like a real cowboy.

  To everyone back at the compound I'm so sorry to leave you, but I tried to wait until everyone was as safe as could be in these times. Believe me when I say that leaving that safety and your love is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It's my hope that you can forgive me and understand what I do now. Please don't come after me there is to much good work to be done. I'll try to post every day if I can to let you know that I'm still alive and doing well.

  Well the night is moving on and so must I, goodbye for now and I hope to see you all again real soon.

  at 11:30 PM

  Monday, November 29, 2010

  Patrick's Trip, round 2

  Posted by Patrick

  I finally got to Fort Knox and it only took me sixteen hours. Has to be a new record. First, the good news. There is a small group of ten people now making there way to the compound and should be there tomorrow, under fed but otherwise healthy. Now the bad news, there is no one here at Fort Knox. All the surviving soldiers and their families have moved on taking most of the heavy transports and tanks from the base and are moving around locust style, for food and diesel.

  I ran into their scouts south of Louisville as I was speeding down a back road trying to avoid any zombies that might have been up and around with the warm weather. Being knocked from you bike at 40 mph is not a fun experience and recommend avoiding it at all cost. The impact threw me into a ditch on the side of the road about 30 yards from my bike the engine still running. After a minute to catch my breath and get my bearings I got up and started toward the bike and was knocked back down. This time I heard the shot and pulled off my helmet to see four holes in the top.

  This is when I began to panic just a little bit. My rifle, shotgun and sword were all on the bike and a quick look around showed that my pistol was no longer in my holster or an where near me. Didn't know what the hell to do so just sat there like a lump and tried to get my brain to come up with something. Finally figured that giving away my position by shouting wouldn't hurt since whoever was out there already knew where I was. Got ready to call out when I heard footsteps, and the sound of a pump shotgun coming out of the frosty moon lit night.

  The silhouette of a large man with a lot of guns stood over the edge of the ditch and told me to come out with my hands up, that they just wanted to talk to me. Laying flat on the bottom of the ditch I didn't make a sound hoping that he wouldn't see me in the low light. Then he fired into the ditch three times causing me to shoot up off the ground with my hands up. I couldn't see his features as he lowered the shot gun at me and I couldn't bring my self to move or talk.

  A shot rang out in the darkness and the man fell into the ditch not twenty feet from me. I got up and ran to him only to hear two shot ring out, one from each side of the ditch. A voice called out for me to stay down if I wanted to live, so I complied. I crawled to the man in the ditch and found him dead and in uniform one corporal Davis. The shot took him through the heart and though it was fairly cold out sharing a ditch with a zombie is n
ot my idea of a good time. I poked corp. Davis' head up out of the ditch and was rewarded with a quick and accurate response.

  At least then I was armed. Didn't need to be though, I was in that ditch for close to eight hours before a shot rang out followed by a voice that told me it was ok to come out. Of course that didn't make me feel better and told the voice so. To which the reply was fine stay in the ditch he didn't give a damn and it would be better for him when the rest of the soldiers came looking for there scouts if I was around to do the explaining. That was followed by foot steps and a quick decision from me. I scrambled out of the ditch and found an older man in hunting camo holding a scoped rifle on me.

  Turns out that the old man was Wayne Hockensmith and had been hiding his family from the zombies and more recently from the troops from Ft. Knox. He told me that he had been keeping in touch with another family and when he went to check on them last he found the men dead and the women and children missing. He then tracked the people that left the house back to what he describes as a field command. He then found Stacy and her kid sitting in a fenced in area with many other women and children but was shot at before he could get to them.

  The next night when he went back with his sons and grandsons the whole thing was gone, but was easy to track because of the tanks and armored personal carriers. He found them in the early morning over ten miles from the first camp. This time he set up a distraction while his sons free their friends and some of the other women being held but he said most wanted to stay and wouldn't leave. Guess they felt that safety from the dead was worth their freedom.

  Wayne and his family have been dodging the scouts and troops since that night and was tracking them when they fired on me. Wayne is a good man and one hell of a survivor, he's kept his family safe and fed through the end of the world and still managed to save the wife and children of a friend when it might cost him everything. I told him about the compound and how to get in touch when he gets close. They wont have much with them when they come but the people that he rescued might have something to say about the troop that captured them and what they are planning.

  I pray they make it to you safely, they have been through hell.

  at 5:36 PM

  Tuesday, November 30, 2010

  Gears of War

  Posted by Josh Guess

  As you can tell from the previous two posts, Patrick has left the compound. We all knew he was going to leave, and while it irks me a little that he didn't even say goodbye, I understand why he did it. While I would love to talk about his experiences outside the walls of the compound (which is why I gave him access to the blog to begin with, weeks ago...) something else has come up that makes everything else unimportant.

  We've been worried as hell that the Richmond soldiers would come for us. So worried that the council secretly sent out one of our people to live covertly in Richmond to keep an eye on the situation. You'll understand why I never mentioned that fact. The bad news is that our spy has come home, telling us that the soldiers there have already mobilized and started to move out.

  He saw some heavy gear being moved out, and while there were plenty of smaller and faster vehicles along with the armored and armed ones, everyone seemed to be sticking together. If that holds true, they should be here sometime around noon or one. I think we have a little longer than that, though.

  When they hit us a few weeks ago, they avoided our scout patrols and sentries along the highway by getting here by back roads and over land. With the ridiculous amount of rain the last few days, there is zero chance that some of those vehicles could go across the land around us to hit the compound. And I doubt too many of those back roads will be able to handle the weight of many of those vehicles.

  So it's the highway all the way here. They can afford to be obvious--after all, they are coming in force and well protected.

  Then again, we've left some surprises for them along their path to us. Hope you fuckers are reading this. Have fun finding them.

  If I sound reasonably calm about this, don't consider it very surprising. We've dealt with enough insane shit since March that this is just another nasty bump in the road. Yeah, we are being threatened by a military force that is heavily armed with unknown goals. But we have the advantage of home turf, high ground, and a degree of innovative thinking that, when combined with our general sneakiness, is formidable at the least.

  It helps that we have more than three times their numbers as well. There are plans set up for nearly any contingency, and I think we'll have until tomorrow before we have to face them head on. I don't know if it's going to come to a firefight, but since the idea seems to be conquest rather than destruction, you can call it a safe bet that they probably won't shell us with heavy artillery or anything...

  I'm terribly glad now that so many of us are away from the compound right now. I'm confident that we have made ourselves too difficult to take, but the danger is still very real. One of my favorite authors, Raymond E. Feist, has a quote that he likes to use in some of his books.

  "The best battle plan in the world means nothing once the first arrow is fired."

  Something like that, anyway. And it's true. The great thing about fighting mostly zombies up until this point is that the majority of them are predicable and therefore relatively easy to beat. People are different--creative and efficient in finding ways to kill each other. It's almost a racial superpower for us. Which means that Mr. Feist's quote is Truth with a capital 'T'. We've planned and designed defense after defense, but the hard reality is that once the fighting starts, anything could happen.

  The only really comforting thought there is that it goes both ways...

  At any rate, we're on red alert here (thanks for that phrase, Star Trek) so I need to scoot. If I'm alive tomorrow, I will update you on what's going on if possible. We might be fighting, but I will try to do something to at least let you know I'm alive. Wish us luck, and stay away from here if you want to be safe.

  at 8:45 AM

  Tuesday, November 30, 2010

  There and back again (Continued)

  Posted by Patrick

  Still in Ft. Knox, after talking to Josh on the phone briefly I decided to stay and see if there was anything useful for the impending attack upon the compound but the place has been picked clean. No weapons that I recognize any way and only a couple of transports, mostly broken are all that are left here.

  I wonder how long it will take mother nature to reclaim the land now that there are no more people here. Even as I scoured the base looking for anything that might help I realized what was so odd about the place, the lawns were uncut. That doesn't sound like much but you have to spend time on a military base to know what I'm talking about. The lack of people hurrying all over the place is unsettling, but that and the lawns being over grown really kind of sets in how hard the human race is going to have to struggle to even make it.

  Well with nothing here to help and a hostile army between me and the compound, I've decided to move on in the morning. Right now I'm trying to find some fuel for one of the armored personal carriers. I'll be able to sleep much better in the hotter south with some steel around me, but I won't hold my breath.

  My prayers go out to everyone in the compound. I hope all goes well for you tomorrow. I know enough of you to know that you will make a stand with everything you have, and make the people trying to deprive you of life pay a horrible price. Good luck and god bless you all.

  at 6:31 PM

  Wednesday, December 1, 2010

  Seven Minutes to Midnight

  Posted by Josh Guess

  They're coming. Every soldier from Richmond, and they will probably make it here in the next hour or so. We set up a lot of traps along the highway, dug a lot of holes below the road to weaken them. One of those holes cost them a tank.

  But still, they come.

  A few people pretty much went crazy when we broke the news at seven this morning. One guy started screaming about having to run, shaking people by their shirts
and demanding that they follow him. That man is at the clinic, sedated and restrained. Another man took the news to mean that all bets were off, and tried to rape a woman he cornered between two houses.

  My wife saw it all from the tower. Saw the group of people running toward the poor woman's screams. It took her a bit to line up a shot, but she nailed the guy right through his knee.

  The crowd did the rest. There's not a piece of her attacker bigger than a piece of steak left.

  Darlene hasn't been our leader very long, but she's a fast learner when it comes to true leadership. She's leading the teams that will be acting as our first line of defense today. She's a brave woman, and a hellishly fierce one in combat. I know she will make the right calls, especially with someone as brilliant as Will to rely on for advice.

  These soldiers represent a much bigger threat than anything we've faced before. It's strange to think of them as some unavoidable event, rolling towards us inexorably. In an open conflict, our small collection of assault vehicles just can't match up to their armor and firepower. Of course, we don't have any intention of playing by any rules but our own.