Reflections

Patrick, Jess and I have been out and about since my last post, checking out some areas that we've missed for supplies. You might think that we are overstocked at this point, and you would be right. We're trying to amass as much food and fresh water as possible, and storing a lot of the extra in neighboring houses, but a lot of our searches are for other things than vittles. 

Construction materials are key. With all of the new folks around here the last week, we are working like mad to get suitable living spaces ready. While there are tons of empty houses around, none of them are very secure. So we work to make them like our home. We started with the houses on either side of ours, after we tore down the fences in between. I am trying to design a roof-to-roof catwalk between them, so keeping a guard on all of them will be easier. 

We are still trying to get in touch with anyone and everyone we know, because we still want to turn this neighborhood into a safe haven. The looters taught us the value of preparedness, so the massive amount of work ahead of us will continue, regardless of whether or not we get new bodies to help us do it. 

The pressure is getting pretty intense. When we are out in town, we see evidence that the group of looters we killed aren't the only ones around. Buildings that were untouched when we burned them out are suddenly tossed and stripped of goods. Other things, many things, and all of them worrying. 

But conflict teaches, and we are all determined students. We might weep and wail after the fact, but at this point I don't think there is much that we won't do to stay alive. 

Of course, the massive effort isn't just aimed at barely-seen survivors. I might not mention them in quite the tones of fear that I once did, but please remember that there are always zombies around. They have a hard time getting into our subdivision in small groups, but we still get herds of them fairly often. We're hoping that covering the front in cars will slow them down, but it remains to be tested. 

So much of our time is spent outside that it's pretty much necessary to keep one person free to watch out for the rest of us who are working, because they do make it up to us in ones and twos fairly often. 

Not a lot of news to speak of. The job of turning my entire block into one huge community continues. Jess tells me that her planting is going well, and that some of the tomatoes she planted have tiny sprouts showing. Pat mentions that our water capture and retention system is working very well, and that we have about a thousand gallons saved up. We're trying to find ways to retain as much as possible. Kentucky has little rain in the summer. 

I think that the hours of backbreaking labor, having to constantly be on guard while out in town among the swarms of zombies, and being forced to think in new and creative ways to safeguard our lives have been pretty key in keeping us from going crazy over killing all those looters. I can't seem to get it out of my head, but at least all of it keeps me from dwelling on it too deeply. 

If only they had been decent people, they might have been a great help here. 

I wonder how many more like them there are? Men and women who, when the thin veneer of civilization i burned away, become monsters by choice and lack of reprisal. We can't be the only decent folk around. 

But it feels like it, if you can call us decent.