Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons (9 page)

at 
8:11 AM
 

Posted by Josh Guess

The continuous assault from the massive swarm of zombies on Jack's compound has broken. It didn't come without a cost.

The attacks are still going on, but much smaller in scale and totally lacking any coordination. Teams on the wall are able to repel them with relative ease and minimal ground support. That's really good news, because the strike teams took a very hard beating yesterday. I hope that this is an end to large attacks, because no one knows if the people at the Michigan compound can handle another like it. 

I am going to reconstruct the strike that broke the zombie assault from the reports I have gotten from Courtney and a few others up north. It's pretty amazing. 

Last night at dusk, a very cold wind began to blow across the battlefield at Jack's place and against the wall. The zombies surrounding the place seemed agitated from the sudden cold and with what I have to assume was a last rush of desperation, they charged as one. The swarm was so large that it spread out four hundred feet from the wall on the northern side. The defenders were pressed very hard, every weapon on the wall swinging and firing at breakneck speed. 

Will and Steve were out on the field, still directing the overall hit and run strikes and leading some of them. They were operating on a very strict rotation schedule in order to always have vehicles full of fuel and ready to go, stocked up on ammo and bombs. It was Steve's turn to go out, and with Will in command to direct support and coordinate, he wasn't too worried about it. 

Steve went out with his group and did his best. They skated along the edge of the swarm, firing into it and spraying explosives. Steve certainly achieved his goal of drawing attention...

When the truck slowed down to turn back away from the swarm, the swarm hit back. They managed to strike in a large group, and flipped it onto its side. Al Carmack, the gunner in the back of the truck, was torn to shreds in seconds. Luckily, Steve and a companion whose name I don't know were both in the cab. Well, luck is a relative term, I guess. Steve was in the passenger seat and landed hard on the armored window, then his partner landed on him, which broke several of his ribs and one of his collarbones. 

Will didn't even hesitate. Seeing a huge chunk of the swarm move against the truck, he tore out with two other units to rescue any survivors. Courtney described it in great detail (I hope she has time to relay her own version of these events on here, I can't be doing it justice) and from what she tells me, it was nearly perfect in its execution. 

Will's support vehicles laid down suppressing fire, blowing massive holes in the carpet of undead around Steve's truck. Will's truck mowed down everything in its path, his gunner clearing a space around the damaged vehicle. 

Will's two passengers were the ones to actually drag the survivors from the truck, while Will hung out his own window calmly firing at every zombie that approached the rescuers. Even with virtually no time to plan or think about it, Will still managed to create a defensible area by angling his own vehicle at about a forty five degree angle to Steve's, making a narrow wedge the he could defend alone. 

At that point, pretty much every other strike vehicle went out at once. It became clear to most of the strike teams that only a massive amount of damage would slow the assault...

About half of them survived. Most of the casualties were gunners in the backs of the trucks. Far too many of them were the volunteers we solicited from the small groups of survivors between here and Michigan. 

I'm sorry, this is just too much. I can't write about it any more. All those people dead, and nothing I can do to help directly. I need to get some air, try to calm down. 

Back tomorrow. 

at 
9:23 AM
 

Posted by Josh Guess

Going to take a bit of a break from what's going on up north (mainly because the assaults have calmed down quite a lot today) to talk a bit about what is going on around here at the compound.
In all the excitement I think I forgot to mention that the giant herd of sheep and their farmers made it here safely. I really don't recall mentioning it, so let me apologize if I am repeating old information. One thing I can be sure that I didn't mention before is that every one of those guys left literally tons of raw wool in storage. That's a resource I am very happy about...
The recent quiet around here has led to many meetings of the council. We decided to take advantage of the lack of zombie attacks and have a round of comprehensive discussions about a wide variety of topics. Some of it was pretty boring, whether or not to go ahead and work on adding platforms and walkways to the wall of the new annexes and things like that. Some was of vital importance, such as whether or not to send out more groups of people to search for yet more food to see us through the winter. We have discussed everything from defense to shoe leather, and every subject had one thing in common.
We talked and argued too much, and only came to agreement on anything about half the time. Funny how early one we were so driven by fear and worry that we seemed almost a united front in some things. I suppose having a few comforts and effective defenses does allow the average person to get a little more opinionated about some things.
I want to say that we have come to some kind of agreement on the important stuff, but the reality of it is that all of it is important. I hate having to work on all of this without Courtney and Steve, even Will, though he isn't on the council. The frustration of reaching a major consensus without any useful method to prioritize topics or break deadlocks is something that we finally had to address.
So Rich Whitney agreed to serve as our "leader" for a short time, until out the council members that are currently out of town are back. He specified that he would only be acting in council meetings to make sure that the most important problems are dealt with first and with appropriate consideration, and to act as a last measure for our lack of consensus on am issue. He won't do anything else in a leadership capacity, partially due to the fact that he's already our judge for criminal issues.
We're going to have ourselves an election when the others get back. A real one this time, where everyone gets to vote. We need a leader that has the confidence of the majority, that is chosen by them rather than by a small group of people. That's where we went wrong when I was chosen. That is why Rich refuses any more authority than he absolutely needs to ease the gridlock in our decision making process.
I hope it comes soon. The worst thing is inaction. We have pressing concerns, and I would rather do the wrong thing rather than wait too long and be able to do nothing at all.
If and when we are certain that the attacks on Jack's place have weakened enough that they no longer need our help to defend, our people will come home. Then we can choose, and finally have a leader to bring us together, to give us direction.

at 
12:31 PM
 

Posted by Josh Guess

Damn weather.
I would love to give you a detailed update on what's going on up north, but all Courtney had time to read was that larger zombie attacks were being warded off by the defenders there. That's about all I had time to read, since the weather here has gotten frustratingly...tropical.
It's a third the way into October, and it's just before noon. It's also seventy seven degrees outside and climbing. Which brings angry, hungry undead beating at our walls and surprising our scouts out in town and beyond. Two teams were attacked this morning with casualties from both. Three people dead even as we were being attacked here. We had some people working outside when the swarm can in. One of the farmers died trying to keep his sheep from panicking.
I wasn't there, but the report was disturbing. The zombies must be ravenous by now, they tore him apart in seconds. I call that a small blessing for him since he didn't have to suffer long.
The zombies also started going after the sheep. Thankfully we've spread them out around our farms, so they didn't get a large number of them, but about twenty were taken away. To be shared with other zombies to fend off starvation, maybe? I don't know. It seems pretty difficult to reconcile the vicious rending of a man with the careful abduction of woolly snacks. But there it is.
The compound itself was hit as well, and mostly at the new wall around the annexes. There were smarties among them, so it pretty much goes without saying that they were testing our defenses. All seven times they hit us. Never the same stretch of fence twice, and never a similar set of circumstances.
I estimate about two hundred of them total, and the attacks were easily repelled. Many of the zombies had fresh blood on them, some of the ones we killed showing a slim dusting of loose hairs on them and chunks of fur in their teeth. I have to wonder if they came out of their cold-induced stupor and hunted down the first moving thing to regain lost energy...
We held them off here, but the clever nature that defines the smarties and their ability to lead other zombies makes them an insidious threat. Our teams and people out on the farms will have to be especially careful to look for ambushes.
I hate to think that the smarties can make regular zombies hold off their desperate hunger in this way. It means greater and more subtle danger for all of us. The good news, I suppose, is that it has to get and stay cold eventually, and that will mean hibernating zombies.
It's looking to be eighty degrees today. In October. Bet all those global warming deniers are smacking their foreheads in whatever bit of the afterlife they ended up in.

at 
12:11 PM
 

Posted by Josh Guess

I expected a large zombie attack here today, and so far have been pleasantly surprised that nothing has come. On the other hand, all of us were shocked to hear the reports from our scout teams this morning about what they found during their morning rounds.
The stripped remains of lots and lots of animals. Piles of rabbit, deer, groundhog...you name it, and they seem to have found them. Several heavily wooded areas around town have been discovered with these grisly collections, and if the zombies are eating animals, something they have been reluctant to do until very recently, then it means they must be getting desperate for food. We don't know if that means they are stuffing themselves to try and survive the coming winter as they slow down and hibernate, or if they are trying to top out their energy for one last huge push at us and our defenses.
So far there aren't any reports from any of our allies about similar finds, but that may not mean anything. Most of them can't or won't send out scout teams like we do. The only other group that does so right now is Jack's compound, and they only patrol on the roads twice a day under normal (as in, not under constant attack) circumstances. When there isn't a horde of pissed off undead on their doorstep.
Of course, right now they are patrolling everywhere they can reach in a vehicle. Moving along at a good clip in a vehicle on some nice open road looking to see if there are large numbers of zombies doesn't really do much good when you know for sure that they are out there, and attacking you. So our volunteers, among others, are travelling around all the areas near Jack's that they can reach, trying to find scattered groups and taking them out when possible.
It isn't going too well up there right now. No huge attacks since the nearly disastrous one last week, but the last day or so has had that constant grind of bodies coming for the walls that seems to be something of a trademark for zombies. Frustratingly, the smarties seem to be herding the majority of them toward the gates in and out of Jack's compound, which means that more defenders have to cluster together to take them out. The scouts have to leave and return whenever there is a break in the crowd, which has led to logistical problems.
Once so far today, they actually had to open the gates to clear out the last few zombies in the last wave to hit them, which scared the hell out of a lot of people. I fear to think about what could happen if enough of them at once tried this tactic. Our people and Jack's are all very good, but given how tired and hurt so many of the defenders are, a thrust with even a quarter of the numbers they saw last week could be enough to break through.
So again, I ask anyone out there who can send help to do so. If you can't, then please share links to this page, or to this blog in general. There have been several posts recently that detail just how dire the situation has been, and may again become soon. Every place you post links is a chance that someone may help, and thereby save lives.
It's my hope that the cold weather snaps back soon. It's still far too warm here and in Michigan for my comfort. The sooner the temperatures drop, the better for all of us. Frozen, hibernating zombies are no threat to anyone, and easy pickings for kill teams. If we are lucky enough to survive through the winter, by spring we might have killed most of them in their immobile states.
And then? Zombie barbecue.
Kidding. I swear.