With Spring Comes the Fall (10 page)

Posted by Josh Guess at 
4:41 AM
 

I haven't really celebrated Easter in a long time. I grew up catholic but stopped going to church years ago. Call it the general malaise that many folks feel about religion, the gradual starvation of faith from lack of miracles.

Today, though, feels pretty miraculous. 

I have a lot of friends and family out of state, or at least I used to. I haven't gotten very specific with a lot of them, for several reasons. I don't like to dwell on how many of the people I know and love must be dead, and mentioning them here doesn't help that. As well, there must be dozens of them, and it would be unfair to the memories of all to mourn one but ignore others.

Imagine my surprise that my mom finally, after all these weeks, got in touch with my sister. She lives in Illinois with her family, and we lost contact with her very early on. We tried and tried, to no avail. 

Now, though, mom has gotten word. They are holed up many hours from their home, having tried to get to southern Illinois from their home up north, not realizing how badly the southern part of the state was hit. So it looks like I have another trip to my old stomping grounds planned out. 

Jackie and her family aren't the only ones we will be going for. Courtney, one of my best friends and wife of Steve, has asked that we search out our friend Treesong, who lives in the same area. Tree is a good friend of mine, and very close to Courtney and Steve, and since I will be there anyway...

I realize that I am talking like it's only me that will be going on this daring rescue mission, but that's not true. We had a pretty easy time getting Courtney and Steve out, but things can't have improved in that area since, so we are preparing a bit more this time. That area of the country is so thick with zombies that we are worried about even being able to drive through it this time around. I will be going, as will Steve, Jess, Patrick, and Dave, my brother. I have asked Courtney to stay here and keep an eye on things. 

You see, when the argument was raging over what to do about the captive looters, most everyone decided that since none of them could agree on what to do, they needed an impartial person that everyone agreed on to make the call. Courtney was a loud dissenter to them putting the burden on me, being a good friend and not wanting the stress of that to fall on me. She argued for a council (which we also got anyway), saying that no one person should have to be the scapegoat for the indecision of others. It became clear, though, that none of them were going to bend, and she eventually relented and cast her vote for me as well, after she and I talked about it. She is, like Patrick, Little David, and others, more friend than I deserve. She is also the perfect person to cover while I am away. She doesn't like the way the people here have put the onus of tough decisions on one person, but she has agreed that it's the only way to keep folks happy. 

It shouldn't be any real work for her, to be honest. It isn't for me, since we have no issues at present that require an arbiter. I haven't had to make a call on anything since we let the looters go, and since the compound is in agreement on most everything else at present, my hope is that things will run just as smoothly for her, in my absence. 

Keep an eye out for a post or two by her on here, in addition to any posts I put out. 

I need to go and help Dave with the last minute alterations we are making to that school bus that was abandoned down the road. He added a platform on top to shoot from yesterday, and right now he's out there working with the generators humming, giving him light and power for his welding gear. He really is a genius. He's armoring parts of the inside with sheet metal, so we can duck behind them if we get shot at. He wants some help adding in a huge backup gas tank, because we probably won't find any after we leave here. Patrick is out right now, gathering as much diesel fuel as he can find for the trip. Jess is loading up all of the food, weapons, and ammo we will need. Steve is securing a rope ladder to the top, so we can get people in without opening the door. We aren't going into this blindly, I promise you that. 

Jackie, her husband, and all four of their kids, along with whatever friends we have left in southern Illinois, are coming back with us, and we will make sure they get here safely. We leave as soon as the modifications are done. Dave will likely sleep the whole way there, he's been doing so much work on the bus. We'll have to throw some mattresses in there, come to think of it.

Jess is yelling for me. It's sort of becoming my sign off call. I write way too much. Going to grab some police armor on my way out the door, along with a few gi and some chainmail. She's had people working on that for a few days now. 

Next time you read a post of mine, with luck, we will be in southern Ill. Though we moved away from there a long time ago for the green hills of Kentucky, and though the world has moved on quite a long way since then, somehow it still feels like going home again. 

Wish us luck. 

Posted by Josh Guess at 
4:51 AM
 

The drive is one I have made many, many times, though never before in something that still mostly resembles a school bus. We are sitting on interstate 57 south, just outside of Marion, Illinois. We didn't go this far last time, having taken an earlier exit to get to Courtney and Steve's faster. I don't know if this mess was here before, but we certainly have to deal with it now.
From one side of the road to the other, from tree to tree, is a huge pile of debris. Cars, trees, bodies, furniture, and what looks like the contents of several semi trucks. Oh, and the semi trucks themselves. We are about a hundred yards away, staring at it, all of us sort of struck dumb. Dave is mumbling to himself, tracing the outlines of parts of the pile. This is a good sign, and a frightening one. It means he is actively using that overactive brain of his to come up with a solution. Bad, though, because I have seen him doing the same thing immediately prior to something going incredibly, if creatively, wrong. I have to wonder which way this will go.
The plan is pretty simple. We go to Marion, find my sister and her family, get them out. We plan to keep all of them hunkered down behind one of the armored sections until we get to relative safety, at least, my sister and the kids. I won't turn away her husband if he wants to help us out. Every body helps. But neither will I blame him if he wants to stay hidden and safe. They haven't had an easy time of it, especially with four kids.
Dave is fiddling with some supplies in the back of the bus. I can't see what he's doing, but he's still mumbling, and I'm pretty sure there is math involved. A chill is running up my back.
After we get out of Marion, we head toward Carterville. This is where Courtney and Steve are from, and I have some more family there. Jess and I couldn't find any of them last time around, but a twenty minute drive around is the minimum I need to keep myself happy. I need to try. I doubt that we will find anyone after this much time, but hope is one of those parts of the human mind that could reasonably be described as rationalized insanity.
On from there to Carbondale, the place where I was born. I don't have any plans to stop by the hospital where I was delivered, but I do have some hefty fears that I will meet my maker there. Because while it's not a huge place, it does have a frighteningly dense population, due to the location of Southern Illinois University, smack in the middle of it. There are a ton of students there, or rather were. Now most of them are roaming around, hungry and vacant shells. Hmm. I just described most college students. Alright, let me add: also dead.
Carbondale is swarming, from what we have been able to gather. We plan on finding Treesong if we can, and if he has kept true to what I know of him, he will have tried to help as many people as possible. I don't really want to drive this thing packed with people all the way back home, but I'm not planning on turning away people if I can help it. Unless we run out of room, we'll keep on letting them on. It's a problem I hope we have to deal with. I am much more inclined to think that we'll be hard pressed to find anyone in Carbondale that doesn't have a hankering for my brains.
Oh my. Dave is driving us toward the pile. He has something sitting next to him that 
really
 makes my blood run cold. Though there seems to be more to it, the device contains two elements that, together, really make me wish that I had left him at home.
He has parked us about thirty yards away, and he is running toward the roadblock, carrying the damn thing with him. Jamming it into the pile...fiddling with it...running back like Satan himself is poking him in the ass. He's got us moving backwards pretty fast.
Wow. That's a big explosion. I didn't think a pipe bomb strapped to a propane tank would have that sort of power. We're about a thousand feet away, and shrapnel is tinkling down on the roof. The smoke is clearing away, and I see a big, clear space we can drive through. Guess we just have to wait for the fire to die down a bit.
Dave is looking back at us, a grin stretched across his face. The rest of us are staring at him like he's from the moon or something. I really hope that if I die on this trip, I get killed by zombies. Because falling prey to my brother's love of explosives is just too stupid a way to die.
We're rolling forward, heading toward the exit. Here we go.

Posted by Josh Guess at 
10:39 AM
 

I really wish whoever built that damn wall was still around. We could use the help.
We are still in Marion right now, having finally gotten to the church where my family has take refuge. It took a long time to get here. The zombies in Marion are thick, extremely so. We had to try several routes to find one that was at all navigable, and even then we had to fight our way through so many zombies that we eventually had to stop to sleep. The bus is pretty secure from them, but enough bodies in the way will stop pretty much any vehicle.
Right now Jackie is getting the kids settled in. Dave threw up a few more pieces of sheet metal he had strapped to the roof. We don't want to take any chances, so the armored area is boxed in, reinforced, and should be thick enough to stop rifle rounds. I can't imagine that we will be able to avoid armed and probably violent people.
The trip to Carterville should be a short one, though it seems pretty likely that the roads will be further packed with zombies. They tend to fill in any gaps when you mow a bunch of them down. Route thirteen is sure to have some surprises in store; to expect anything else would be optimism bordering on stupidity. If we have to, we can take alternate routes there as well. It helps to be from this area.
When we get there, it's going to be up to Steve and me to do any searching on foot that may be needed. Dave will join Jess on the roof, covering us with rifle fire if needed, while Pat will be manning the steering wheel for a quick exit. Jackie and her husband will be wrangling their kids. That's a job, let me tell you.
We're ready to go. I hope that we do find some people, and that we can keep ourselves safe if or when we do. It's a lot more dangerous here than back home. Not only is there virtually no rise or fall to the land, which keeps us in near constant sight of zombies, but I think the same folks that built that wall of junk are also responsible for all the damn traps we keep finding. It is slightly amusing, in a dark way, to see a zombie get caught in a snare and get hung up by the ankle, or stumble into a pungee pit. It's sobering to realize that we could easily fall prey to them as well.
Off we trot. Next stop, Carterville, Illinois. Population: 3,600. Survivors: ????

Posted by Josh Guess at 
9:56 AM

Thursday, April 8, 2010

We're stuck in Carterville right now. Someone set some very well hidden traps, and the bus is now short two front tires. Luckily, we think the school district here used the same buses as Franklin county, so new wheels are on their way. Steve is showing my brother where the bus garage is, and it will be up to Dave to get them on, since I have no idea if there is a jack big enough to do it...
The rest of us are hanging out in the bus. I haven't talked to anyone back home today, but last I heard, all was well, save for a few minor zombie attacks. We got a fair look around here after we made it into town, but haven't found anyone alive. My aunt and uncle, as well as my cousin, are gone. I have to assume they are dead, though I searched their house and found no signs of violence. It had been looted, but no blood, no bullet holes.
There are signs that 
someone 
is out there, though. The wall may have been there last time we came this direction, but I can tell you with total certainty that some things have changed. Areas that we drove through freely before are blocked off, whole blocks are burned down that were fine last time. I can't tell you if they are a threat to us or not, because we haven't seen them. The huge changes around here are part of the reason I am not following through on the strong urge to run around and search for people. Our passengers have to be priority number one.
...Just got a call from my brother. Apparently he and Steve have come across something. He thinks they've found the place where these survivors are operating from. It's pretty close to the bus garage, apparently. I have talked to everyone about it, and the consensus seems to be that we should check it out. Not in a stupid way, of course. Two of us can go, leaving the rest of the group out of sight in the bus, ready to roll if we need to go in a hurry. I am conflicted, though. One of my best characteristics is my boundless curiosity, but it also happens to be my biggest flaw. Jackie is all for us just leaving now, and when I look at the tired, dirty faces of my nieces and nephews, I agree completely.
Dave argues that we need to start opening lines of communication with other camps like ours. I agree with that sentiment, since it appears that the human race has become a minority on the planet earth.
It's too important a chance to miss. I think I will go, and Steve has volunteered. We can watch them from a good bit away for a while, see if anything incriminating happens. If we decide it's safe, I can leave my phone in an open call to Dave's, keeping a sort of bug going. Besides, they might have supplies we can trade for, and topping off our fuel couldn't hurt, as we've found none here so far.
I will try to post more later today. Hoping that whoever that anonymous poster was the other day gets in touch with me before we run into Carbondale. After the ridiculous wait here after having to try several different routes to get into town, I would love to justify all the extra time and risk by bringing out a big load of folks.
Dave is calling again. He and Steve are on the way. Found a truck to haul those tires in, and a big ass jack to lift this beast up with. Hope we can get moving before too long. Getting tired of the zombies wandering too close and us taking turns killing them. The first few are a nice distraction, the next thirty a tiring chore.