Living With the Dead: This New Disease (Book 5) (33 page)

Posted
by 
Josh
Guess
For
days on end we've had rain and storms, but yesterday morning they got
bad. Not enough to knock down houses, but nearly enough rain to drown
us out. Between clearing out as many zombies as possible from the
local area and trying to get some groundwork laid for the big
expansion, we've been busy. Our plumbers and the people helping them
haven't been wasting any time, though.
The
first of the giant cisterns is already filled. Instead of taking a
long time to build one big enough to service all of New Haven, the
decision was made to build smaller (but still big) reservoirs spread
out over a large area. Several reasons: the water pressure inside the
tanks will be less, which makes it more manageable. Losing one won't
be as damaging.
It's also less work. Which means we can bring
running water to sections of our home one at a time. For now the
quick reservoirs will be pairs of tanker trailers buried underground
and fed by catch basins. Depending on what sizes tanks we use, each
site will hold between 10,000 and 20,000 gallons of
water.
Filtration is something we're still working on, but
most of us have systems at home if it comes down to that. In general,
we're doing pretty well.
That's a lot more than I can say for
the Exiles. In all the recent craziness I've drifted away from
talking about them much. Partially because of how busy I've been, but
also because they seem to be less of a threat than ever.
The
lookouts tell us that the screens they erected in front of the
fallback point to block our view have been shredded by the storms.
That side of the river still has a lot of trees, unlike New Haven
which has had all trees within a hundred yards cut down long ago.
That means during heavy winds a lot of debris gets thrown around.
We've had gusts up to seventy miles an hour lately.
Since
killing Scar and his lieutenants, the Exiles seem to be aimless.
Sure, they're still farming and trying to turn those buildings and
their patch of land into a home, but there are signs that some vital
thread that held them together is gone. Maybe it was fear of Scar
that united them, made them work as a whole. It's a stark reminder
that while some of those people were once disciplined survivors from
right here where I live, the majority were marauders. Many small
groups grown set in their ways.
I hate to give the murderous
fucker any credit, but Scar seemed to keep the Exiles focused and on
task. Guard duty there used to be clockwork in its efficiency. Now we
see a lot of erratic behavior, missed shifts, arguments between
people, and, worst of all, some deaths at the hands (teeth) of
wandering zombies. People over there are dying because no one has
taken up the reins of leadership. At least, I assume that's the case.
I don't know.
Strange as it is to say, I feel a little sorry
for them. I don't feel less anger or hate toward them than I did, but
there's tinge of pity now along with those emotions. It would be
almost impossible not to. Those folks stood up to a tyrant and made
the hard choice, the dangerous choice. They risked everything for a
chance to make it on their own. They fought for freedom, twisted as
it was.
Facing the daunting task in front of us, I remember
sharply being where the Exiles are now. They're just beginning the
massive work we started two and a half years ago. It's vivid in my
mind, those days of workign breakneck speeds to make something better
than I had. Being afraid of the chaos outside, not knowing where the
future would take us and only having myself to blame for
failures.
We're doing that all over again right now, and that
makes me pity them. We've got a huge support structure to help us
out. Years of practice and friends to lean on. A safe home with
resources we can utilize. The Exiles aren't as blessed. They aren't
helpless or without means, but we've surpassed them now.
I
feel for them, but it's the generalized sadness I have for all human
beings enduring a struggle. As hard as it is to say, despite the fact
that they have children there and are to all appearances trying to be
better people...
I'd let them die. I won't advocate breaking
the truce and making war on them, but neither will I suggest offering
them any help. It might hurt me to do it, but I could watch from the
cliffs as the last of them passed from this world and not lift a
finger to help. I feel that way for a variety of reasons, a slew of
them over time that add up to the inescapable sense that the risk of
every helping those people could never be outweighed by any possible
good.
Each of my reasons is the result of a corresponding
number of bad decisions both large and small from the Exiles
themselves. I believe in redemption and moving forward. I'm no angel.
I won't kill them without cause, but I won't risk anything to help
them, either.
New Haven is growing into something more,
something amazing beyond our imagination. At the moment it's as
simple as running water, but even that is an achievement in
engineering to be proud of. Step by step we'll add on to what we
have.
I can't help but think of what's ahead for both groups.
I don't wish them well, but as time goes by I become less interested
in them as long as the Exiles leave us alone. Maybe a strange reason
for peace, but given all we have and are working on, and thus stand
to lose, it's one I'll take in a heartbeat.

Posted
by 
Josh
Guess
You
may remember a while back--a long while back--that we once had plans
to expand New Haven in a very specific way. That idea was derailed by
a series of events beyond our control, and though current events are
trying to do the same thing we've decided to use that old plan as the
basis for our current expansion.
At the risk of making us
appear weak at a time when several major aspects of our future are
balancing on a fine edge, I can't help but share. We're seeing cases
of the new plague come up again at a rate that makes us pretty sure
this is a variety brought in from the outside. That itself isn't
surprising; we expected it. We aren't back to a point where we have
to worry because so many people have become ill again, but six
falling ill in one day, two of them people who have had the plague
before, is something to be concerned about.
As always, our
dedicated medical staff are on the case. Though somewhat more
resistant to heat than the previous strains, a nice hot sauna seems
to do the trick. Our clinical people are on the ball with the newest
outbreak, and it's a major advantage that people with symptoms know
better than to write them off as a summer cold. People get sick, they
come to the clinic, and the illness is treated as fast as humanly
possible.
If recent history is any kind of measuring stick
then this whole situation could turn bad very quickly. We don't know
if previous exposure makes a person more or less likely to get sick
again. We don't know if the new version is more or less virulent than
the old one. Just as before, there are a lot of factors in play that
we have no way of understanding other than guesswork based on
evidence before us. To gather that evidence, people have to get sick.
A lot of them.
On top of that, a few prior victims of the new
plague have fallen ill with what looks like regular old illnesses.
Maybe the trauma of the zombie plagues fighting in their lungs has
weakened immune systems. Since the people in question all live and
work together and have similar symptoms, this probably isn't as big a
deal. I know when I get sick Jess usually follows or vice versa. The
situation isn't more than a blip on the radar right now, but long
experience coupled with a healthy desire not be caught off guard
means I'll be keeping an eye on this even if no one else does. Which
they will. Which probably makes me paranoid and
overprotective.
Considering the work ahead, I don't think
being overcautious is a bad idea. One interesting thing about the
next phase of our plan is the amount of work that is being done
off-site to make it happen. Part of the reason we abandoned our
original expansion plan was due to the difficulty we foresaw in
setting up a new wall around any areas we wanted. The idea was to go
eastward, which we began with the annex of the smaller neighborhood
next door. That didn't end so well. You may recall that the wall
there was breached and the place set on fire. That's why the whole
thing is a big farm now.
But the people coming to join us have
been working with the brainy engineers in North Jackson on a
solution. A way to quickly put up walls and cordon off sections of
neighborhoods and empty land for our use. The idea was taken from the
smaller expansion we did with shipping containers not long ago. Those
giant metal boxes don't need supports or any more work than putting
them into place.
So the NJ people came up with the idea to cut
a bunch of shipping containers up, put hinges on the edges, and send
a bunch of them (salvaged from defunct trucking companies and
railyards. Thanks, Michigan, for being full of those things) to us on
flatbeds. Many varieties of the them will fit together snugly if you
lay the sides flat, meaning large numbers of the cut-apart boxes can
be moved at once. Just slice 'em up, stack the pieces like paper, and
away you go.
It does represent a heavy investment in fuel,
which we're struggling to find more and more, but we've got enough
ethanol to make that stretch for a long while if we use vehicles that
can burn it. North Jackson has a couple heavy trucks that can. We've
got a small team of people working on setting up support posts for
the new walls even as I type this, based on the specifications sent
to us by the folks in NJ. I'm curious to see how this will work out.
It's a brilliant idea, honestly. Instead of using a whole shipping
container to make a wall section, we'll be using the hinges to put
half a box together. A ninety-degree angle, tall side standing up,
short side on the ground. A little welding of braces, then attaching
the thing to the posts our people are placing, and
voila.
Wall.
It's a great idea, and it means being able
to grow at a much faster rate than we could have ever hoped for. Most
of the work is going to wait until we have the hands to do it, but
with this plan in mind I see not just a greater possibility that
it'll work, but a high probability that it will. Think about that.
More than two thousand people living here, working together. Making
the future happen as one.
We'll certainly have to dodge some
obstacles to get there, but when was the last time our lives were
easy?

Posted
by 
Josh
Guess
One
of the advantages to having our teams out clearing away the undead is
the freedom we have to work outside with minimal protection. True,
the local zombies are extremely pissed off at the assault teams,
which means the odd straggler our other workers come across have to
deal with unusually aggressive enemies, but it's well worth the
price. For their part, the teams seem to take a twisted pride in
being the object of so much hate from the undead.
As long as
our numbers hold out--and they are so far, no crippling outbreak of
the newest version of the plague yet though a few more people are
sick--then we'll have people out there working on the expansion.
We're moving in three directions, primarily, since the last expansion
takes up a good chunk of our western wall. The small groups moving
around are putting up posts on the southern edge of New Haven at
present. That area has traditionally been our weakest front, and once
the expansion actually takes place there will be some advantages to
starting there.
You may remember that the southern edge is
where one of the abandoned nursing homes is. We've got plans to set
it up as our central clinic. My mom's old house has been our medical
center for so long that it's going to take some adjustment for all of
us to deal with the change, but it'll be a good one. More room, more
resources, a more centralized location for the new New Haven.
After
the southern area is done being dotted with posts to hitch the
sections of wall to (hopefully coming soon!) then our people will
work on the entire eastern and southeastern section. We were going to
avoid moving into the southeast if possible because there isn't a lot
of residential space over that way, but Will and Dodger have made a
pretty strong case for going there. The medical pavilion we'll be
engulfing is full of brick buildings with a lot of floor space. Good
for group dwellings and emergency defense. Also, the idea is to keep
New Haven as square as possible to reduce the number of guards and
sentries we need on the walls.
That area will be farmed
heavily next year. We already have a ton of wild greens growing
there, though the heatwave has been less than kind to them. Great
thing about clover is that as soon as the rain starts up--and it has,
this month--it starts growing like mad again. We can fill a lot of
bellies if need be.
The biggest and hardest part of the
expansion will be annexing the neighborhoods across the road from New
Haven. There's a whole hell of a lot of houses over that way, butting
up against my old high school and middle school. We're going to take
them all. Some of those houses are crazy huge and were expensive back
when money was still a thing, while an older adjoining set of
neighborhoods are filled with more modest homes. It goes without
saying that people will be assigned places. If we leave it up to them
it will be inevitable that tons of people will want big houses. And
everyone is going to have to share.
Depending on how many
sections of new wall we can get in our mitts, we might try to expand
all the way to the schools. Those things are on a lot of arable land,
and they're built like fortresses. That's not in our current game
plan, but it's a nice dream to have. If for no other reason, we'd
like to have the schools for the number of folks we could move in
there. Yeah, it'll all work with just the houses, but that's not an
ideal situation and isn't meant to be a permanent one. As time goes
on, we plan on using the surface area we have available to its
fullest capacity: we want to build upward. Dave has been keen on this
for a long time. He even has some ideas how to integrate living
spaces with vertical farming.
I'd love to move outward, but we
have to think upward with such a large population. Babies are going
to be born and we'll need space. Given our recent (and now very
recent) bouts with illness, I'm of the opinion that clustering ten or
fifteen people to a house is not a sustainable or smart way to do
things. We'll need people more spread out for the sake of their
privacy as well as preventing a disease from rampaging through our
citizens with ease because they're packed together like sardines.