Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons (26 page)

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2:54 PM

Posted by Josh Guess

Anyone who's a Sherlock Holmes nerd will recognize that the title of this post is a variant of the title of the first Holmes story. I use it not because I have some great mystery in front of me that only I am clever enough to solve, but for the wonder I felt when I looked outside this morning.
At first, most of us woke up terrified at the loud cracking sounds that woke us. They were sharp and seemed close; months of living on the edge of death have made all of us light sleepers. It was just on the verge of dawn when I sat bolt upright in my sleeping bag, which also woke Jess since we share one. She wasn't all that thrilled with being slammed around inside the tiny space we sleep in together, but she was only irritated for a few seconds before the cracking and breaking sounds made her realize that something strange was going on.
We made our way to the large window we use as our sentry post. The man on duty was alert and watchful, but hadn't yelled out any warnings, so we relaxed a little. Couldn't be that bad if the alarm wasn't raised.
What I saw through that window was a world changed overnight. The weather has been pretty bad lately, though after the snowstorm the other day the temperature did manage to climb up to the low thirties--not enough to melt the snow, but not windy either. Just enough to be tolerable compared to the skin-freezing extremes of the previous week. Overnight, though, we apparently got some rain and some colder air, because this morning everything was covered in ice.
Not the devastation that most of the midwest, but especially Kentucky, suffered back in 2008. That was one of the worst ones in memory, more than an inch of ice covering everything. It looks like about half of that out there right now, but that's not the important bit.
When snowfall covers the land around you, it creates a lie. Everything is coated and appears pristine, a blanket of white that makes the world uniform and simple. Maybe that underlying thought is why it bothered me so much to see the new, cold resistant zombies (who various people are still trying to convince me to call "SnowTroopers") walking around in it, breaking the even snowfall into chunks and pieces. We've watched them pretty closely over the last few days, but while these new zombies are a threat simply for what they are, they are still relatively slow and plodding. They're easy to avoid.
It just bugged me to see half-rotted corpses walking around in the untouched snow. Something about that image really got to me. So when I saw them tripping and stumbling across the ice today, I couldn't help but compare and laugh. There were a few dozen wandering in the open field in front of us, covered in ice themselves while they slid and crunched through newly hardened covering over the snow. It was funny and a little sad to me, but mostly a relief. Because of the ice, we can hear them coming way before we can see them. As long as the cold weather holds out, mother nature has given us a decent early-warning system.
For all the practicality of the ice, though, I have to say something about what struck me when I looked at it. I said that snow lies, because it covers and homogenizes. Snow hides what's really underneath but doesn't change what actually is. The ice, though...
The ice made the world shine and sparkle. You could still see what was under it in some places where the snow had been thin, and it was beautiful. Everything had this layer of diamond covering it, yes, but you could still see what lay beneath. I was hit by the sheer awesomeness of it. It may not seem very important to some of you, but I'm a strange guy.
Taking small pleasures where we can find them is vital to continuing to survive. Life in our world of the dead is so hard at times, and there is little to console us at the end of the day. We go to sleep when there is enough heat to ensure that we won't die of exposure in the night, knowing that the next day will be just as difficult and full of danger. Our survival instincts make us go on, to do our best. To live.
Taking a moment to witness and appreciate something as simple as the amazing power of nature to candy-coat the world in a single night helps me. I think a lot of people get through the day by finding small joys in the everyday routine. Watching a leaf dance in the breeze. Making someone smile.
Shooting a zombie in the face. That one seems to do it for a lot of people.
We're going to be busy over the next few days, trying to stock up on firewood and supplies if at all possible. The rain made a lot of the snow melt, but there's still a lot of it out there. Since we've seen how badly the zombies outside fare on the ice, we want to take advantage of that while we can to really prepare for a long haul here. We are trying to find more propane as well, so that we can use the generator more often. As it is we only use it when we have to in an effort to conserve fuel. That first day was so bitter cold that we really didn't have a choice but to turn it on, though I regret the need now...
I will try my best to post in the next few days, but no promises. My hope is to hear something (anything, really) from Patrick soon, and Gabrielle or Aaron might be posting again in the near future. Be safe, be warm, be cautious.
And for your own good, take a look outside tomorrow and try to find something beautiful to enjoy.

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8:30 PM

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Cold Hard Numbers

Posted by Josh Guess

It's been a busy few days. There was a minor zombie attack yesterday when it warmed up just enough to make the ice weak. None of them managed to even break a window before we cut them down, but it was a reminder to all of us that we aren't at home anymore. The safety of the compound combined with the winter weather made it hard for many of us to be so constantly on the alert, which is understandable given how mentally and physically draining that can be.
Today, though, is cold enough that all the melt froze over, harder and slicker than before. So for now, we're good.
I've been in touch with a lot of people over the last few days, trying to get a feel for how everyone is doing. Patrick is still out of contact with us, though I'm not at all surprised by that. He's trying to get all the way to Florida by himself, so we don't expect him to have a lot of free time (or the ability more often than not) to talk with us. Gabrielle and her group are doing well. Very well, but I will leave that for her post tomorrow. She'd kill me if I ruined the surprise.
I've talked to Courtney briefly about her exploits out in the wider USA, but she's insanely busy managing the relief effort so I don't know if she will be able to post anything in the near future. I have been trying to encourage Aaron to come out of his shell a bit more, wherever he is, and write some more posts on the blog. He's got the free time to do it with his injuries, and I think for the most part the kids have their camp secured...
I've talked to Jack's people in Michigan, and they are doing well. Their food supplies are holding up, power is fairly strong considering the cloudy skies and dimmer winter sun, but otherwise everything is good for them. Except that most of the people a his compound are really, really pissed about Will and the Richmond soldiers taking our home from us.
You have to remember, Will was something of a hero to those folks. Not that we didn't regard him with a lot of respect, but Jack's people saw him do amazing things. Heroic, stupidly brave things. They saw his mind work in creative and powerful ways to defend their home, which makes his betrayal of us that much worse. I've cautioned those I've talked with to keep an open mind, because in the end our lives right now boil down to survival. If, down the road, Jack's people need the food that my former home provides, it would behoove them to keep civil. There aren't a lot of options for most survivors, and I would hate to see Jack's people cut off if they were in dire circumstances.
That's why none of us went there when we ran. Jack offered us a safe haven, confident that his vastly superior numbers and distant location would keep his home from being threatened. None of us were willing to risk it, though, and I'm glad that Jack is the kind of thinker that sees the wisdom of neutrality when feasible.
The reason I spent so much of my day yesterday and this morning trying to get in contact with people was actually because of the SnowTroopers. (Yes, I finally gave in and started calling them that. Because it's shorter and easier than "Cold-resistant zombies" and frankly, it just sounds cool as hell.)
I've been trying to get some info from the others about whether or not they've been seeing these types of zombies and in what kind of numbers. Around here there are only a few dozen at any given time up and about. Gabby previously reported that there were a similar number where she is located. I thought, before yesterday, that the number of them relative to the number of normal zombies was about the same as the smart zombies, maybe one in ten.
Apparently I was wrong. Jack's folks have reported seeing hundreds of them in big herds up north, sometimes entire groups of hibernating zombies getting up and moving. Thank god that they're so stiff from the ice in their bodies that they have a hard time moving at first, because that makes them easier to kill. Courtney has gathered reports from most of the people she's met, and the numbers vary pretty widely across the board. Some places have swarms of hundreds, while others will have maybe a few out of a group of a hundred rise while it's still cold. I don't know what to make of it, but I'm going to keep trying to figure this out.
I need something to work on, besides this blog and staying alive. Being stuck in this nursing home means that my world has gotten a lot smaller in the last few days. I want to do something bigger to help out the rest of you. So keep me informed, alright?
Gabby will be posting tomorrow, and I think you'll enjoy it.

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9:06 AM

Posted by Gabrielle

We've got some good mojo going on here. Our group has decided to stay for a while in the small town with the two hospitals. I know Josh told you guys that we had some exciting news, but I don't know how big a deal it will be to people. 

There are resources here, a lot of them. We have access to electricity from the generators, and between the two hospitals we're pretty well stocked up. There's a LOT of stuff. The weird thing is, once I posted about this place, some survivors that live near here figured out where I was talking about. They started coming here in small groups for medical care. 

At first, it was just some people who needed stitches or a bone set. Maybe some antibiotics. Then they would leave, giving us food or other necessities in payment. That was how it was the first few days. Then, people started showing up with vehicles packed with their stuff. Most of them needed medical attention to some degree, but a few just wanted to be close to doctors and nurses. 

Some of them have brought us even more medical supplies, and they aren't charging for any of it. It makes sense. If you want to live next to what might be the only skilled treatment within a hundred miles, you want those professionals well stocked. So now we have a community growing here, increasing every day. Not big numbers, of course, but about triple what we had just a week ago. I know we couldn't share this place so easily if the newcomers weren't bringing supplies, but as long as they do none of us can see any reason to turn them away. 

Evans and our new doctor feel that this is an excellent way to build good relations with the outside word. I agree, though some are still angry that we have to charge for our services. Also, we are really only running at about half capacity, since our second doctor (who still doesn't want his name shared, so we'll call him Doc Two) hasn't dealt with the sort of injuries and illnesses we've been managing since The Fall began. He's an Oncologist, and before the dead began to rise, a pretty wealthy one. He hasn't seen ER duty since his rotation in med school, so he's back on a refresher with Evans. 

That's the big news. Slowly but surely we're building a group of people around us. Most of them have said that they want to come with us when we leave, and that's great. More survivors with us means that humanity has a chance to survive, and with me and the Doctors here to keep them healthy, those chances just got better. 

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8:50 AM
 

Posted by Josh Guess

Just posting during a lull to let you all know that we're under attack here. The ice is still everywhere, but that isn't stopping a large group of zombies from getting up the hill to the nursing home. There are more than we've seen in one group since we've gotten here, maybe sixty all together, and they seem to be concentrating their efforts on the western wall, the one we use as a watchpost. The window we've been using as a lookout has been shattered, and a few of them actually got into that room.
Thankfully we were awake when it happened, and the lookout responded fast. He backed out of the room when the first crack appeared in the glass, and locked the door. We came in through the shared bathroom and cut down the zombies in there before blocking off the broken window.
They're still out there, and while the sound of their frozen hands beating on the walls and windows has slowed, it hasn't stopped. We're going to bite the bullet and get onto the roof to start picking them off. Which uses ammo we can't easily replace as well as sending out a huge dinner bell to any zombies within a few miles.
And to any people out there as well...
Got to get to it, just wanted to update you all. Will post tomorrow if things have calmed down by then.