Saturday, October 16, 2010

Winding Down

The weather has taken a turn for the worse. Well, I guess that's a matter of perspective. It was cold enough to frost today, both here and up north at the compound in Michigan, which is great for us and bad for zombies. Our guards haven't seen a single one from the compound's walls today. 

Still a lot of chaos going on up north. The huge slaughter of zombies there along with all the shrapnel and destruction requires a huge amount of cleanup. There were some explosions quite close to the wall that caused damage that has to be fixed, and the leadership there has been busy down in the trenches working with everyone else. That being said, things there are going well now that the worst of the fighting seems to be over. 

There remains the question of where the helicopters that strafed the assembled zombies the other day at Jack's came from. So far we haven't heard anything from any other survivors about where those choppers might have come from. No one has any clue. I highly doubt that they came from Richmond, which is the only military outpost that I know of with personnel still living at it. Too far away, and anyway Will says that they only had two functional helicopters left by the time he and his crew set out for Frankfort, and both of them were Blackhawks. Add to that a lack of fuel for them, and it seems that we have a mystery on our hands. 

But it's one that will have to wait for another day. Too much to do, and no time right now to investigate what is essentially a minor curiosity compared to other problems. 

Patrick and his team of salvage volunteers are anxious to get back to the factory where all the equipment is loaded up to be brought here for the construction of our power plant. He wants to get as much of it here as possible before the snow starts coming in, secure the turbines and flywheel modules. I have looked over the one flywheel that came in with their first run, and I have my doubts about whether or not we can make the things work as intended. These things are sensitive and complicated, and frankly I only have faint clues how it all goes together. Jack might be able to spare a person to help us with the plant, since his folks have specialties in things like this, but the technology we're trying to work with was still pretty new and untested, so we are trying to think up backups to the flywheels as a method of grid-level storage of energy...

I digress. Pat and his team are staying here until our people come back from Michigan. We are going to hold a leadership vote when we get all our folks assembled, and that's not negotiable. We've been fragmented and arguing for far too long. And that's with external threats to unite us, hardships to prepare for as a community. I can't imagine how bad it could get with little to do during the winter as the zombies slow down and stop from the harsh weather. We need centralized leadership, a voice and vision to guide us. Someone to blame. That certainly brings people together. 

Ha. 

I kid, I kid. At any rate, we're all looking forward to having all our people home again. There are many places we are planning to go in the near future, new survivors to meet and some old friends that we have yet to sit face to face with that might come and join us. Once we have decided on a structure of leadership and those who will fill it, I and the council think that we will have stable enough foundations to truly begin to move forward as a community. 

After the vote, of course, people will go out again. Pat and his people will begin moving loads from the factory in earnest, our small group of diplomats will take trips to try and build relations with other survivors, and of course trade with the north will resume. 

And I will continue to pass it all on to you, so that every person who finds this blog in the here and now becomes aware that somewhere in th ruins of America, people are trying to keep the candles lit on the hope for a better tomorrow. 

But I also write for that very future, so that those who will hopefully come after will perhaps garner a better understanding of what we've done for them, and had to do for ourselves. My hope is that they can forgive us our mistakes and the brutal decisions we've had to make. And that by making them, our progeny realize that we had to make them so that they were spared the need. 

I'm off tomorrow, but back on Monday, as always. 

Be safe. 

Defend yourselves. Protect others. Hope for everyone. 

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