Dawn Riders

Wow.

Jess came in about two hours ago and woke me, and in my half-sleeping state I couldn't tell if she was excited or if something was terribly wrong.

There were several school buses of people waiting outside the compound's main gate. With them, two semi trucks and a fuel tanker. She gave me this news while I was pulling on clothes, and we ran as fast as we could to the gate.

As it turns out, the people of North Jackson aren't done helping us out. Their community is strong and growing, flush with extra people and an abundance of materials. With several hundred folks without duties to draw on, they've managed to scour southern Michigan clean of just about everything useful.

The soldiers that came down this way and eliminated the zombie swarm that nearly overran us in a blaze of coordinated gunfire had to take a detour on the way home. They took a trip through a small town whose only industrial center was a truck stop. A really big truck stop. There were two diesel tankers there, and they managed to siphon hundreds more gallons of fuel from abandoned trucks.

Since they had the means, the leadership of North Jackson contacted the council to arrange a mission of mercy. They couldn't bring any food, as they're on tight rations themselves, but we've been doing okay in that area. Instead they brought people: engineers, workers, and soldiers to guard us. They want to help my brother build his wall. One of the trucks carried a stack of panels to make concrete forms with. Dave says this will allow us to set up forms for a hundred feet of wall at a time.

That's fucking NUTS.

With all the extra help, we can get this thing built fast. Maybe in a few weeks if the fuel holds out as we move materials here. Everyone here is excited.

The only thing that bugs me is the fact that I was caught off guard by this. I would have thought someone would have mentioned it to me, since I...

Well, I don't really do much in the way of my coordinating job anymore. My trainees have all graduated to fully capable of doing the job themselves, and I've been doing other things. I'm still a councilor, technically, but I bounce around the compound so much doing what I can to help everyone at least a little that I don't get to many meetings.

I guess I've become obsolete. I'm strangely fine with this.

Hmm.