American Recovery

by Joshua Guess

  Friday, December 7, 2012

  No Child Left Behind

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Brian decided to move in with a nice couple that lives over in the Box. I'm glad he found people that he gets along with and shares interests with (Brian has a great interest in woodworking and tools) but it does make me a bit sad that he won't be here. With Jess out most of the day planning the huge greenhouses we're going to be building in the old shops next to the Box, I'm pretty lonely here at home. I admit, I was kind of looking forward to having a kid around. We're basically working at the same level.

  I don't feel too bad about the fact that the poor kid, having lost his only remaining family, will be safely behind heavy walls and doors in a building that requires literally no manned defenses at ground level. The chance that he'll lose one of his adoptive parents in his new home, at least to zombies, is slim.

  Because those fuckers are hitting us hard right now. Rain came in a few days ago and brought a warm front with it. Not balmy swimsuit weather, exactly, but nowhere near close enough to slow down the undead, either. Like much of the year they drift in across the roads and accumulate in the countryside until they reach some undefined critical mass and come at us.

  Only now they aren't coming in waves. I guess the slaughter of such a large group has put the surviving members of that swarm on notice about how to attack us. Instead of massing and slapping us all at once, they've been organizing those among them brave (or hungry) enough to hit the walls alone. Except instead of just one or two a night trying it, there are thirty or forty. Which means a lot of successful attempts, which means a lot of people getting caught off guard in the darkness by hungry undead where there should be none.

  So we're working on making streetlamps of some kind at least around the inner perimeter, and until that happens we're running a lot of extra patrols inside the walls. For now people are being told to stay indoors at night unless they have work, and children are to be kept from leaving their homes at all costs until sunrise. I can't help wondering, given the current level of danger inside New Haven, if it wouldn't be a good idea to move all the kids to one secure area until we can get a better handle on this.

  Then the ice-cold practical me speaks up and points out that doing so puts all our eggs in one basket. Which is a bad idea.

  Still, we have to keep the kids safe one way or another. There are just too many opinions on what the best way is.

  Saturday, December 8, 2012

  Gatecrashers

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Damn New Breed have been playing us like a cheap guitar. We've killed so many of them, lined them up and driven them into the ground like nails, that it's easy to forget how smart they can be. We've been so careful the last week, watching out for them to prevent attacks as they've slipped over the walls in weak spots. Our victories over them have been so resounding that at some point or another we forgot they're capable of long-term planning.

  Last night a small group of them got over the walls in East and somehow managed to evade detection long enough to get to the main gate there. The gate is metal and not exactly a weak point, but the undead managed to damage one side of it anyway by yanking out the pins that held one side of it to the wall and pulling at the whole thing in unison, using the weight of the gate to bend itself once it was hanging mostly on one hinge.

  People heard them, of course. And the fight, once the zombies inside were discovered, was short. But the damage was done and seven guards are dead in East, patrol units from around the gate area overwhelmed by the New Breed one by one. We're incredibly lucky that so many people responded to the disturbance, because the massing group of New Breed outside that gate was large enough to do some serious damage if given a free pass inside New Haven.

  I've spent most of my morning arguing with anyone who will listen that we've got to open our eyes to the reality that the New Breed might have been playing a longer game with us than we imagined possible. That, or they're getting smarter. Which itself is an idea so frightening that my mind rails against even considering it.

  Will doesn't disagree with me, not really, but he's also somewhat dismissive of how urgent the situation really is. I understand where he's coming from, I guess; we've managed to beat back every assault by the New Breed both major and minor, and he thinks we will keep that streak going. I don't doubt our collective strength, but last night we came within a hair's breadth of a full-on assault inside our walls thanks to less than a dozen zombies.

  I think that merits some serious consideration. Mainly that we should reorganize--right now and without wasting a minute--how everyone sleeps at night. I've advocated setting up secure shelters for all the kids that they have to enter at dusk and lock themselves into. Shipping containers would be easiest, but I don't care what we use as long as the most vulnerable among us, the ones most likely to be targeted should the next attack succeed, can't be reached by any zombie no matter how strong they are.

  Will thinks that's pretty extreme and sends a message that we're living in fear. I don't want to sound like a dick, because I know he's thinking of the Strangers when he says that and wants to project an image of strength, but these aren't terrorists we're talking about. The undead don't know or care what the politics of our reaction appear to be. The Strangers might give some kind of crap about that and choose to attack while they see us as being weak, but they've refused to engage at all so far. Don't know why they'd start now.

  Point blank fact is that we need to change things up. Our efforts to prevent incursions like this aren't working out as well as we hoped. We have to be realistic and plan for failure and come up with ways to mitigate that. Otherwise I really believe we're just a stone't throw away from tragedy.

  Sunday, December 9, 2012

  The Long Night

  Posted by Josh Guess

  I'm keeping it short and sweet today because I'm bone tired and barely able to keep my eyes open. It was another sleepless one for me. I went out on patrol all night. I wasn't asked and I'm pretty sure Will is going to be angry about it, but we've had enough close calls. I don't want to sit inside my house safe and secure while others deal with the danger inside the walls.

  Not that there was any this evening. The New Breed have an uncanny sense for when we're about to lay serious hurt on them. Maybe it's something about the way a few thousand pissed-off humans smell, but there wasn't so much as a sighting outside the walls all night, much less any attempts to go over it. Not that we could see. I must have walked the perimeter of the wall here in Central a dozen times and the only thing I saw was grass and other weary people.

  Most people are running short on sleep because of the extra patrols. We're exhausted and worried. It's one thing to deal with assaults from a fortified position. It's another entirely to know a zombie could be hiding just around the corner. We've felt safe on the streets of New Haven for so long that it feels like a violation to be so...vulnerable.

  But though the clouds overhead are heavy and grey, the sun is still bright enough to light the land. We can relax for a while now and try to sleep. But while I'm on my normal day off tomorrow I intend to find out what is being done to address this problem. We can't keep doing this. If so many citizens keep losing sleep and productivity, New Haven's functions are going to suffer. Meals will be missed, crafts will get behind, trade shipments will be late.

  A few hours of blissful unconsciousness, and then I start pushing as hard as I can to get some kind of action. If no one else is willing, I'll step up.

  Story of my life.

  Tuesday, December 11, 2012

  Rolling Ones

  Posted by Josh Guess

  One thing I'm very happy to see survive the end of the world is role-playing games. My friends and I still occasionally find the time to play Dungeons & Dragons from time to time, and it is thanks to the existence of the game that I can make the reference that is the title of this post.

  In short: when you encounter virtually anything in a role-pl
aying world, you roll a 20-sided die to see how well you deal with it. In this case I'm very specifically referencing traps. When you roll a one, you critically fail. Thanks to Patrick and Dodger, the zombies coming over the walls now critically fail every time they try.

  It's not so much that they don't get over, but that they don't enjoy the trip once they do. There was a heated argument between Will and I yesterday about how we would address the whole problem, and some unkind words were exchanged. Mostly from me. When I get upset and feel I'm in the right and the other person isn't, I tend to lose control of my mouth. It was Dodger and Patrick who saved the day with their brilliant and simple solution.

  We've got nearly the entire interior perimeter of the wall set with traps now. It didn't take very long once the idea was born, not with a thousand people doing the work all at once. We have the buffer on the outside of the wall--the inspiration--and now we have a buffer inside as well. Except instead of being a huge jumble of thick cables, wires, ropes, and cords, this buffer is made up almost entirely of wire strands. We had to cannibalize a lot of the extra power lines we've cut down from the county to use as extras, but stripping the insulation and splitting the wires apart into thin strands was the hardest part.

  After that it was just securing them to the wall in sections. There are bells, scavenged from every corner of town, attached to the wires at regular intervals. When a zombie comes over the wall it has to fall to the ground. The ladders and stairs down are too close to guard posts for the undead to risk using them. They fall into the wires, which does a good bit of damage in addition to tangling them up, and bells sound. Our patrols or sentries and guards hear the bells and go running. The hope is that eventually the New Breed outside the walls will learn that figuring out the weak spots in our patrols and climbing the wall isn't in their best interests and give it up. For now we'll happily take this as a solution since it takes far less people to keep New Haven safe.

  I'm still not thrilled with the leadership's response to this problem. It took a group of us getting together and fighting about it to come to a solution, and the situation never should have gotten that bad. We're supposed to be the people who work together for the common good. I confess myself disappointed.

  But then, we do have a solution, so I can't complain too much. That's very good news considering some reports we've had about the Strangers, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. I want to give any new developments regarding those folks my full and undivided attention.

  Wednesday, December 12, 2012

  Lines On A Map

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Well, they aren't the Strangers anymore. In addition to the information about these people I told you yesterday I'd share, some new stuff has come to light. The folks I've been calling the Strangers have given themselves a name. Guess they got tired of me calling them that. For the record, they're calling themselves the United American Survivors. I'm going to shorten that to UAS because it's easy and the name is pretentious.

  We got the news yesterday while I was having lunch with a couple named Linda and Troy. They're the folks who took Brian in. They have a nice little apartment kind of place set up over in The Box, and thanks to the almost biblical drop in temperatures over the last few days, it's not very dangerous to travel the short distance from East to the Box. Brian was the one who invited me. He wanted to introduce me to his new family, show me some of the small projects he has been working on.

  Will sent a messenger with the news. Linda, a woodworker and welder, laughed so hard at the name that I though she was going to pass out. Troy just kind of shook his head and went back to cooking. That's his whole job over there, making food for everyone. Guy was a sous chef before The Fall at some nice restaurant in Indianapolis. Nice guy. Don't know how he does what he does in the kitchen with just one hand, but he makes it happen with that hook.

  Linda made if for him. That's kind of how they met. Love is deeply weird but just as deeply awesome.

  At any rate, the other bit of news is that the UAS is drawing lines in the dirt. They don't have the stones to come this way any longer. They aren't going near any of the allies that make up The Union, actually, or even traveling through the vast tracts of land in between. I guess they don't want to chance interfering with our trade caravans and supply lines. They're very cautious, and seem eager to avoid anything that might be construed as an act of war.

  Can't blame them for that. They might have a lot of hardware and gear, but they clearly don't have the experience and willpower to deal with a lot of the same things we've had to handle over the years. Or maybe they do and they're just biding their time. Who knows? We'll take being feared over being underestimated, no problem at all. It saves us a lot of work.

  I'd tell you to ask the Hunters about that, but there aren't any of them left.

  The interesting thing to me, and to all of us here, is that the UAS are patrolling their own little corner of the country one hell of a lot. Don't know if that means they're spreading out and setting up outposts or even founding small communities, but our allies and even our own long-range scouts have seen groups of them moving in repeating patterns all over a huge swath of the southwest. Not all that bothersome for us since we aren't interested in that area. No allies there, no trade routes through it. As far as we're concerned they can take Texas and the areas they're running around further toward us and do what they please with it. Live and let live, and all that noise.

  Linda and Troy pointed out that if the UAS are spreading their people around, then that probably explains why they were after so much more fuel. Any large-scale effort to relocate is going to require a lot of fuel. Given the enormous area they're trying to cover with their patrols, Troy suggested that there might be a lot more of them than we originally thought.

  Even Brian said that made sense. Again, not a big concern for us as long as they stay timid and respectful of the fact that we have no desire to deal with them in any way, shape, or form. If so, everything is Kosher and they can form their own little country and do whatever they like, including coming up with self-important names. If not, well...we can always cross that bridge. Or burn it to its foundations, as the situation dictates.

  Thursday, December 13, 2012

  Dark Passenger

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Did any of you ever read the 'Dexter' books? I watched a bit of the show and read the first book. That feels like years ago. But while I don't feel the overwhelming urge to be a serial killer like that character, I kind of understand how the author described his urge to kill as a Dark Passenger. I've got one of those, too. Except for me it's depression and anxiety (as I've mentioned probably way too much) instead of homicidal tendencies.

  It's twenty degrees out this morning, which means we're pretty much zombie free. It was too cold last night for the undead to even attempt scaling our wall, and that should put me in a good mood. It actually does mitigate my mood a bit, but I felt that shadow over my thoughts as soon as I woke up.

  That's the fucked up thing about psychological problems, you know? They can sneak up on you at any time and sideline you. I'm blessed because my own issues have never been as crippling for me as they have for other people I've known. I've always been very lucky that way. My heart goes out to anyone who has to deal with the deeper depressions and truly uncontrollable anxiety problems. By comparison my own are small potatoes.

  But it never feels that way to the person going through it. For me a particular thought or event becomes persistent in my mind, eating away at me over time and generally pulling me down. For example, I know intellectually that today I'm feeling low because the UAS sent a messenger to one of our allied groups yesterday, and that group shared the message with us. It's way too long to share here in its entirety--it's about thirty pages--but the basic gist of it is why I'm not at my best this morning.

  Many of you commented on yesterday's post, explaining what you thought might be happening with the UAS. I have to hand it to you; you were right.
They aren't just people from a bunker. Many of them are former officials, a few congressmen and senators, and from what I understand even more important personages than that. Nor are they all from a single bunker. There are members of at least three of them all gathered in one place. Too many, they said, which is why they're expanding outward.

  All that is fine and good. I could care less. But the hard pill to swallow is that they don't plan to stop their expansion. The message was long-winded and mostly written in the self-important prose only found in legal documents, but the nuts and bolts of it say that the UAS intends to form a new government. That everyone falls under their authority.

  Look, I was not (and am not) one of those anti-government people. I don't have a problem with folk coming together and deciding en masse to create a large structural system of governance. That's totally cool with me. Always has been.

  But that's not what this is. The UAS admitted outright that they know they can't force us to do anything. They know we've been struggling out here in the world since The Fall and they know we're better survivors. The resources we're relatively rich in, such as stores of food, they aren't. They're getting by off the remnants of their canned goods and similar items from their little hidey-holes and whatever they can hunt. That's part of why they've been spreading out so far and wide. Takes a lot of game to feed so many damn people.

  I have a suspicion about them, but I'm keeping that close to the chest. I want to talk it over with Will before I make any accusations.

  The really insane thing about this message is the sheer scope of the cognitive dissonance in it. The UAS says on the one hand that they feel every survivor out here is under their authority. They make that claim despite the fact that there is no government left of any kind. I'd be thrilled if a fully functional federal government suddenly popped up out of nowhere and was capable of curbing the harshness of the lives we live. That would be fucking great.