American Recovery

by Joshua Guess

  Make the cal yourself and go forward from there.

  Saturday, December 29, 2012

  A Different Kind Of War

  Posted by Josh Guess

  I'd call it a cold war, but given the time of year and the half a foot of snow outside the label seems like a bad joke. You might say instead that what is happening with the UAS at present is a different kind of war instead. Let's not be shy about it; their statement to the Union was clear. They want to form a new, larger government with us as their citizens.

  That itself wouldn't have really been a problem if the UAS had been less intrusive and brash in how they interacted with us initially. I'm all for a larger affiliation of citizens working under a common set of laws. Together we can accomplish things far beyond what our individual communities can manage. I'm behind it in theory all the way.

  Yet the UAS isn't proposing a cooperative effort. The thing about the Union is that while we have formed our own tentative government, a larger structure that ties us all together, we did it out of choice. Federalism, if you want to call it that, is a decision on our part. The UAS wants us to join up with them--in fact, to live under their rule--regardless of our say in the matter.

  It seems like a weird distinction to make, but there you go. We're happy to cede power and control to leaders of our choosing and to building the Union into something resembling the previous government of the United States. We're much less inclined, after two plus years of fending for ourselves and living through hell, to bend knee to people who've suffered little or not at all.

  Beyond that, we've had some suspicions over time that seem borne out by facts. I mentioned a while ago that I had a theory but that I wouldn't share it unless Will and the council gave me permission. I can't publicly disclose the details of the evidence (messages will be sent to everyone who needs to know) but I can tell you the final conclusion.

  The Hunters were the military arm of the UAS. There's no question about it.

  You remember them, right? The group of people whose compound we assaulted and burned to the ground after they spent a few weeks annihilating small communities and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down? Those guys. They were UAS members.

  Even if the evidence didn't prove beyond doubt that this was the case, we were already at war with the UAS. For us the idea of war since The Fall has been one of pure combat. We fight the dead, we fight the living, we protect what belongs to us. Simple. Now things are different. We aren't dealing with people who just want to take what we have. If the above is correct, the UAS has very few soldiers left after the slaughter of the Hunters. Why else send obvious amateurs out to gather critical supplies?

  They don't want to fight us. We don't want to fight them. This is a war of politics, of resources, and of willpower. Neither side can afford to be drawn into serious conflict. We have more people and much more experience, they have vastly superior firepower and weapons resources. In any scenario (and I've run through several over the last day) everyone loses. So yeah, I suppose it's a cold war after all.

  Here's what you can do if you're out there unaffiliated with any group, or a mobile group like Ketill and his people, or even a small group that remains hidden:

  Join up. If you prefer to remain mobile, then we have patrol jobs for you. I'm going to contact Ketill tomorrow to see if his folks would like some work. The Union will pay in fuel and supplies. We'll pay in food and weapons. Whatever your need, we're happy to oblige. Borders are going to be enforced, the enemy will be watched, and we will prevent incursions at all costs .

  The undead are quiet throughout the Union, but that won't last. I keep saying that, but I'll drill it into the heads of anyone who wants to pull a John Wayne and fight because the other party deserves a beating. That's how we've operated before, and it's not always a bad thing. But we're evolving into something else, and it's time to put away childish reactions and act like grownups. We must endure insults, previous attacks, and anything short of armed conflict the UAS throws at us. We've got work to do and a short time to do it in. We all need to come together and get it done while we can. When the world begins to thaw we'll face an enemy with a full season of preparation behind them. They'll be plotting and planning, and we have to be ready.

  For months shots may never be fired. But make no mistake about it: this is a fight and we intend to win it.

  Monday, December 31, 2012

  Will Of The People

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Do you know what frightens me? A lot of things do. Only the stupid are fearless. I still feel it every time I face on of the undead or a living enemy. I'm afraid every day that I'll lose someone important to me.

  This morning I saw something in a friend that sent shivers right through my bones. Will has always been in control of himself no matter how bad things got. I've seen him a hero, a prisoner, a leader. No matter what life throws at him, Will Price has always remained a solid rock of calm in the storm.

  But dear god, not today. Not this morning. He came in hours before dawn--he sleeps very little--in a fury like nothing I've ever seen. I asked him what the problem was, and he screamed. Not words but a formless shout of wrath tinged with the frustration of watching too many good people make too many bad decisions for stupid and selfish reasons.

  The cause of Will's anger came out after a few minutes. There exists a small town on the edge of the Union's territory where a group of survivors live. Their community is called Farlane, and this morning they sent a message telling the Union's leaders they were leaving. Joining up with the UAS. The reason was simple enough; the flu has hit their small community hard. Nearly a quarter of their people are sick. The UAS promises to come in and remove the ill people, take them back to their bunker, and treat them for as long as needed. Farlane has jumped ship for the well-being of their citizens. As hard as the pill is to swallow, Will and the rest of us at least understand that motivation.

  Damn, it's a morale crusher. Farlane took a vote on it, sick people included, and though it wasn't a landslide the vote wasn't especially close, either. We might not like it but the whole point of the Union is to respect personal choice and the right to do as you choose without harming others. The people of Farlane have promised not to raise arms against us, but you have to wonder if they'll be able to keep that promise in the future. Easy to say now, but what if the UAS finally decides to come for us and tells them they won't get any medical attention or critical supplies if they don't fall in line? There are dangers to selling out, no matter how necessary you may consider that choice to be.

  Today Will wants to organize a vote across New Haven (and preferably the Union as a whole) to let people decide if they're going to stick this united government thing out of free themselves from it. The UAS wants to drive wedges between us. The old divide and conquer is way easier when the cracks start at home.

  Still, I see both sides of the equation. We don't do politics well, but I know that a decisive action is needed to weed out those who might be wavering and to reinforce those who aren't. People deserve a say in this, and so far the Union has been acting solely on the actions of the leadership of each constituent group. Granted, the people voted for those leaders, but the UAS isn't going anywhere. This is a major change in the way our world works. It's only right to give everyone equal say in how we choose to deal with it.

  I know it pisses Will off that anyone would choose the UAS, just as it angers him that we even need to hold this vote. He supports the idea of everyone having a voice. Even in this, he believes in that right. No matter how furious he gets, I know that to be true.

  Tuesday, January 1, 2013

  Resolution

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Things around here have been so insane lately that I didn't even notice yesterday was the last day of 2012. With all the activity over putting the Union's existence to a hard vote, the date sort of just slipped my mind. We won't know until tomorrow what the final count is, but I'm sure New Haven at least has chosen overwhelmingly
to stick it out with the Union. We're the ones who started this whole thing when we began working on trade schemes with other communities. It's kind of our baby.

  This early in the morning I don't have much to say. Unless my reading of the people here is completely off, we won't see any surprises in the vote. That's not to say other communities won't choose to leave the Union, but I'd be shocked if any of them followed the lead of Farlane. There are reasons, of course, and as usual I'm not at liberty to say much beyond that.

  Jess is sleeping beside me. She has had such a rough few weeks, I really don't know how she has managed so much for so long. I feel closer to contentment than I have in a long time. My beautiful wife is here with me, the zombies are hibernating for longer than we could have hoped, and the many projects we've been working on will soon bear fruit. We're taking that first step toward a future much brighter than the past we're leaving behind us.

  I should be thrilled. Right here, right now, I should be overwhelmed with the joy of it. I truly am happy, but there's a sour note of unease that never leaves the back of my mind nowadays. Call it whatever you like. Could be depression or practicality or cynicism. I don't know how to explain it. I just know that at all times I'm hyper-aware of how precarious our house of cards really is.

  I don't mean survival. Each of us can do that easily. At times I think it might have been better for humanity in the long term if we hadn't clumped together in large groups after The Fall. Maybe it would have been more natural and healthy in the long run if many thousands of individual people fled into the wilderness to survive alone or in small clusters. Then, over time, we could have come back together out of a desire for common purpose rather than a need for protection and comfort. I don't know, exactly. Just this feeling that the structures we've built between us are fragile at best.

  The UAS knows this. Take out a main support of a bridge and the whole thing falls to pieces. Our network of communities has functioned so far because we trade with each other and offer support. What happens if a group deep inside Union territory decides to switch sides? All it would take to cripple us is a single defection along a crucial artery of our trade route.

  That's just one example, but the more I think about the UAS and their tactics the more I realize that's how they operate. If you hit a piece of crystal just right the whole thing shatters. So it is with us. Some of us have spoiled for a fight with the UAS, but now more than ever the truth is obvious: they don't need to fire a shot to beat us. All they have to do is exploit a weakness with exactly the right amount of pressure at exactly the right time.

  Take out one card and the tower falls. Every child of five knows it. Which is why we--the Union--have to make a promise to each other. We have to weather the storm no matter what. We can survive this by doing what we've always done, by making the hard choice to persevere no matter what tricks the enemy throws our way.

  The only way we can do it is if we hold firm and stand as one. It's a bit overused, but today of all days we should make a resolution not to abandon each other. We're brothers and sisters in suffering. Survivors who thrived despite the worst parts of The Fall happening all around us. If anything can keep people together, it's that.

  If it doesn't, then maybe we don't deserve to win this fight.

  Wednesday, January 2, 2013

  Border Town

  Posted by Josh Guess

  The vote here went as predicted. There weren't many people who thought it would be a good idea for us to bend knee to the UAS. As for the other communities, their votes are still ongoing. Will tells me the full results will be available tomorrow. No idea what the delay is about but considering the world we live in I'd say getting a vote at all is a minor miracle.

  I've been thinking about Farlane a lot over the last day, trying to figure out why their choice to switch teams bothers me so much. Other than the obvious reasons, I mean. They had a need--sick people--and the solution to their problem was dangled right in front of them. It's very hard to blame them for the choice. In the heat of the moment people make decisions that seem like the best outcome.

  Yesterday the UAS sent messages telling us that Farlane would become a border town. Maybe reading their words helped keep my mind focused on the situation. Farlane is, according to the UAS, going to be something of a free port. People from both sides can go there for trade. The UAS will enforce a weapons ban inside the town limits. They plan on setting up some kind of marketplace there.

  To me this is an obvious ploy, nearly as blatant as their clinic scheme. What's the best way to tempt survivors into switching sides and joining them? A taste of the benefits, of course. In carefully controlled circumstances that make the UAS look vastly appealing. Once I realized that, it was only a short leap for me to realize why the situation has been bugging me so much.

  The UAS have a different perspective on The Fall from our own. For us, The Fall meant a total collapse of society and government. We were all alone out here, no support structures. It's not that I hold that against the people in the UAS. They had the option to be safe during the madness. There's not many people among us who wouldn't have made the same decision if we'd have had the choice.

  But see, there's the rub. We didn't have a choice. It's very easy for the UAS to say they did the logical thing because they certainly did, but they also don't get that they come off as arrogant assholes. Think about it for a second. From our point of view, you have these people who haven't known the hardships and dire straights the rest of us have had to fight through. No zombies, no starvation, no outbreaks, none of that. I actually envy them for that, but to finally come above ground and make demands of us? Fuck that.

  One person from the UAS has commented on the blog recently, and their points were reasonably said and fairly stated. I'd love to have a face-to-face with that person if it were possible. Because while I understand his perspective--that the UAS leadership are people who were legally elected officials in the world that was and thus have authority over this country--that doesn't make his point of view at all in sync with reality.

  Let's dissect the concept for a minute. You're the UAS. You're led by a bunch of congressmen, senators, civilian leaders of all types. Okay, I get that. The people of the United States voted you in and whatever disaster plan you followed left you in charge of the place.

  Two problems. One: the United States no longer exist. Not as a government. The infrastructure and support the UAS claims to be offering seems like a smokescreen. Because why the fuck would they come out after all this time unless they needed something desperately? Yeah, they've got some things we could use, but instead of just trying to trade, they concoct plans to steal and kill to get what they want.

  Two: even if the UAS is correct on a legal level about being in charge, the simple fact is that the voters who put them in power are now dead.

  Let that sink in for a minute, UAS people. Especially the reasonable man who commented on my post the other day. Think about that hard. You want to enforce the will of the people on us, people who are long dead with no stake in the world today. People who couldn't survive the very circumstances we've managed to adapt to and even thrive in. Does that make a ton of sense to you? Is it fair for you to make a claim to power in that case? You aren't swooping in to conquer the undead and suddenly restore modern civilization to the world. Hell, if you were somehow able to make that happen even I would be thrilled to join up.

  You're desperate and puffing out your chests. You're led by tiny men whose life experiences before The Fall made them believe they mattered to the world in some real way. Men whose experiences since The Fall (oh, look at me, I must be special because I got elected and that gets me a spot in the bunker!) has only served to reinforce that. So, before the final votes are in, allow me to reiterate to you one last time what reality is.

  You're nothing. You wouldn't last three days out in the world. You can strut and demand all you want, but nothing short of living as we have lived will ever make you more than a joke to us. You could
give up the charade that you care about anyone in the Union and declare open hostilities, wage war on us with the horded weapons we know you have.

  And you'd still be a fucking joke. Even as you killed us we would laugh at you, because like all bullies you would be proving your dick was bigger than ours the only way you know how. Basically what I'm saying here is that until and unless the UAS is willing to stop all these games and act like adults, we'll treat you like the ignorant children you are.

  Oh, and your border town? I doubt you'll see even one of us go there. Have fun spending resources on that.

  Thursday, January 3, 2013

  One Voice

  Posted by Josh Guess

  Let me tell you: after all the months of darkness, doubt and depression, this morning is one hell of a bright spot for me. The voting results are in. Not only did every remaining group in the Union choose to stay together, but the vote wasn't even close in any of them. No single community was below 70% in keeping the Union together, and most of those who voted differently or didn't vote only had issues with how we should respond to the UAS, not whether we should give in to them.

  The reason the vote took so long aside from the general problems with getting people together and counting them was due to a separate vote that didn't get cast here. That one was a surprise to me, to most people in New Haven.

  That vote was for a leadership council. So far the process of managing the Union has been informal for the most part. New Haven didn't cast any ballots for this part because we're the ones who spearheaded the entire idea. There was never any question we were in to the hilt. Now that the voice of the people has been heard, we're on our way to being a single government rather than a loose association of groups. That last vote was for a sort of high council. People to set policy, propose laws and rules that apply to every person in the Union.