Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons (24 page)

I'm married and the mother of two boys. My husband and kids made it out of the compound with me and the group of people from the clinic that made a run for it together. My sons are old enough to learn the basics of first aid and patient care, so they worked shifts at the clinic just like the rest of us. My husband is disabled. His back causes him serious pain almost all the time, but he didn't let that stop him from being useful in so many ways that he became vital to the daily workings of the clinic. He did a little bit of everything, from changing dressings to repairing the various electronics we used in our daily routine. 

I guess that leaves me. I'm an RN with fifteen years experience. I've worked everything from emergency rooms to long term care, which is where I met Josh. I was his supervisor on the weekends, in addition to being the wound care specialist at our facility. I don't want to brag too much about myself, but there isn't a lot about the human body that I can't diagnose. Chalk that up to being curious my entire career mixed evenly with a passion for books and learning. 

Josh already mentioned that we've been running a sort of mobile medical unit. The vehicles we took out of the compound were the ones we kept parked right at the clinic as storage units for extra supplies and ambulances if the need came up. Lucky for us, or we would be out here in the cold with little to eat or drink and nothing to trade for.

When we left, we focused on getting away above anything else. We did manage to find two of the vehicles stashed away from the compound, packed with enough supplies to keep us going for a few days at least. The idea for our little band of gypsy doctors (as I like to think of them) came from Evans. It was only our second day away from home when we were flagged down by a group of people who came pouring out of a big farmhouse set on a hill. We figured they had to be either really trusting or in desperate need of help. Probably didn't do any harm that there are big red crosses set on white painted on the side of three of our vehicles. We were either medical personnel or Knights Templar...

The people holed up at the farm were two families who had stuck together through the worst of the zombie plague. They had hundreds of acres of food to live from, and managed to catch water and store it. They were all old-school farmers who knew how to make do, but the one thing they didn't have was access to people with my particular skills, or Evans'. 

One of the kids with them had slipped on the ice when he was bringing in a load of firewood, broken his leg. It wasn't a terrible break, and the cuts he suffered in the fall weren't too bad except for the one on his head which needed stitches. He'd been laid up for most of a day, the family doing what they could to care for him. I was willing to help without thinking twice, but Evans was the one who made the rest of us realize that without some sort of trade, we would be out of food and medical supplies in no time if we just handed out help to people with no payment. 

The families weren't too thrilled to be asked to pay, but after a bit of grumbling they did admit that it was fair. Evans and I set the bone and put together a splint, stitched the head wound, and patched the kid up as best we could. To the surprise of the boy's parents we also gave them some antibiotics and pain medicine. I guess they didn't think we'd be stocked up that well. Don't think I just ran from the compound without snatching a few things first. First thing I picked up was the huge pair of suitcases we use as a pharmacy.

There was a definite moment of pure greed in the eyes of the people we'd helped when they saw how well stocked we were. All of us were armed in some way or another, and I think the fact that we had helped their son was the deciding factor in why a few of them didn't just go for it and try to take our supplies. I can't blame them for having the thought. Who in the world right now isn't desperate to do everything they can for their families?

In the end we drove away with a large stock of extra food (mostly potatoes, some corn and two live chickens...well, not live anymore.) and a good lead on where to get a safe rest for the night. That last bit we ignored. I don't think they would have come after us at the place they suggested we stop for the night, but none of us was so certain that we were willing to risk it. In the end we camped out in an abandoned clothing store, covered in layers expensive ladies' wear to ward off the chill night. 

Wow, I didn't think I would write quite so much. I will send this off to Josh to be edited, since it's his blog this is going on. I'll try to write again soon. 

[Editor's note: Josh here. I had to trim some bits and pieces from this post that might have given the soldiers back at the compound an idea of where Gabby and her people are. I did do a little cleaning up and made a few of the sentences flow a little better, but the above is pretty much as she wrote it. All in all, I have no complaints.]

at 
6:03 AM
 

Posted by Josh Guess

Just a super short post here, because we are really busy at the moment.
We've seen a few more zombies in the last few days. None of them really seemed to be a threat, but that they were up and moving while the mercury sits so low on the thermometer is making all of us worry. We've decided to set sentries at all hours just to be safe.
We have heat, rudimentary though it is. We manage to put together a few stoves from things we found around town, and hacked away parts of the walls until we could manage to run some duct through the ceiling of this place. Thank god it's really old and lacks firewalls between sections of the building. That gave us enough room to run a lot of duct, which lets the smoke and gas from our fires cool off before it gets pushed outside. It's not a perfect system, but it does reduce how much exhaust goes out. We have to be warm to live, so we'll just go with it and hope for the best.
I'm pretty optimistic about it. I mean, this town was pristine when we got here. No one had looted it, no signs that anyone has been within a dozen miles for months. We're about as safe as we can be outside of the compound. Come to think of it, we're probably a lot safer than we would be 
in 
the compound at the moment.
Oh, before I go--I just found out this morning that Aaron made it out of the compound as well. Apparently he got a bunch of the younger kids and some of his older students out in one of the buses. I've asked him to post something in the near future, but I won't push it. He's acting the part of father for a lot of needy kids, so he's pretty busy.
He was nice enough to sift through some email for me, though, and has given me an exact count of the number of people that managed to escape the compound. We think that pretty much everyone that got out has checked in at some point or another, so the number seems accurate. It's 112.
That's a pretty damn good number of folks. If need be, it's enough to start all over again, though I hope that we don't have to go that route. That's a worry for another day, however. I need to get going and make a run into town.

at 
11:52 AM
 

Posted by Josh Guess

It''s above freezing for the first time since we got to this town. Not much above, but apparently enough to make it a lot easier for these weird cold resistant zombies to move around a lot easier. There aren't many of them by our standards, maybe three dozen total. We're in a pretty safe place, though, and we've managed to gather a lot of firewood and block all the windows.
There's roof access from inside. That makes it pretty easy to mount a sentry, though it's a pain in the ass to get up there. I think they designed this place for a race of slender midgets to do all the maintenance. All of the crawlspaces and utility areas are small and cramped.
So far we haven't had a lot of trouble from the zombies milling around outside, but we're keeping a sharp eye out anyway. I still won't say where we are, but I will tell you that we're north of the compound. Not straight north necessarily, but farther north than we were...
I wonder if there were multiple versions of whatever plague causes people to rise from the dead. It's a chilling thought, but given the boom in genetically modified foods and designer bacteria back when society was still running (somewhat) smoothly, I wouldn't be shocked by it. A part of me wonders if it isn't all one base organism, though, that just evolves and mutates really quickly.
I mean, the smarties (my word for the smarter zombies that popped up a few months back) came about at a time when we were pretty much managing to protect ourselves from attacks all the time. Maybe it was a one-off mutation that stuck, and then spread. Now we have these cold-resistant undead, and I curse the lack of consistent and easy communication. Back at the compound I would have been able to talk to a lot of folks very quickly, to find out if others have seen anything like this or if we've discovered something new.
I would think that Jack's compound would have, if anyone. They are in Michigan, where it's way colder than it is here. If the undead were to suddenly develop an ability like this, you would think that it would have been there. Then again, I lose my cell signal for most of each day, and I haven't talked to Jack's people in a while, so maybe it did come from farther north and just spread here.
In case these new zombies aren't isolated to our location, let me give you some information that may help you out. They seem to operate down to at least zero degrees--it was only five above the other day and they were still managing to move about. Jerkily and awkward, but moving and able to bite. Above freezing they do a lot better, though it seems they aren't capable of running or too many other fast motions other than snapping at flesh. Maybe a way for them to conserve their energy reserves, which we theorized back when it first started to get chilly out. I think the biggest danger for anybody out there that lives in an area where the weather gets cold enough to affect them is carelessness. It's entirely likely that after weeks or months not seeing a mobile zombie, you might get a little to comfortable and make a mistake.
So, be paranoid. Pull your weapon at the slightest sound. Peek around corners and keep vigilant. If this thing goes farther than where we are, or has cropped up in more than one place at the same time, then the danger to all of us is much higher than most of us realize.
As much as I hate to say it, I really hope these things haven't appeared at the compound. Not for the sake of the bastard soldiers that took the place from we who built it, but for the friends and loved ones left behind. I can imagine all too well that our people would be the ones sent out to capture one of the "Snowtroopers" for examination.
Gabrielle will be back with a post tomorrow, and then just me for the weekend. I realized today that we're almost at our three hundredth post, and I want to try to do something special for it. I realize it might not mean much to you guys, but every time I hit that publish button, it's a victory for me. It means that I have survived another day, loved another day. When I click the mouse, I am passing on something that might directly teach a person something about survival. I might be showing them something about humanity. I could be making them smile, or feel connected.
So getting to three hundred is a big deal for me, and I hope it is for many of you as well. Keep an eye out for it on Sunday, and stay safe.

at 
10:05 AM

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Posted by Gabrielle

There isn't a lot of good that's come from us having to escape the compound. None of us liked leaving, or knowing that good people were left behind. We hid a lot of vehicles out in the wild, but even though the number that escaped were about a quarter of our total population (not half as Josh mentioned the other day), we're still pushing the limits of what the supplies we put in those cars and trucks can do. A lot of our refugees are getting hungry. 

Our group is doing well. Very well, actually. We've been scouring every town we go through for more medical supplies, and trading our services with those we come across. It was slow going for a bit, we went a day and a half without seeing another living person. That was kind of strange given how often we were running into little groups of survivors. Josh and the others are right--there are a lot more survivors out there than we could have imagined. It's just that most of them don't have a means to discover that there are others out there. 

We came to this little town yesterday afternoon and have decided to set up shop here for a while. We've been gathering all the food we can carry so that we can set up a camp for some of the other refugees. Evans has sent out messages telling them where we are, so that they can come join us. While I still can't say where we are, I will tell you that we stopped here for a few very important reasons. One is that this town, while small, has two large hospitals. Well, large for such a rural area. There are also two medical pavilions packed with what used to be the offices of a variety of specialists. I've never heard of this town before, and never been to this state. But my guess is that this place used to exist pretty much because of the healthcare facilities, sort of how lots of old cities sprang from goldmines or lumberyards. There are enough supplies here to keep us going for a long time, and we've found a large tank of gasoline.