Side Jobs

I may not talk about it in great detail, but most people around here have some kind of project going on that is somewhere between a hobby and an obsession. For some it's working on the compound itself, making sure things are in repair and functional. For others, like Will, it's an obsession for creating offensive and defensive ideas and strategies. Gabby, of course, has been digging deep into the realms of chemistry, herbalism, and medical technology. Many people have been inspired by that.

Becky, who has been useful in a hundred ways but absent from the house because of that, has been working on her own project: homemade dynamite.

If your stomach went cold as you read those words, that's okay. It's a sign that you've held on to your sanity.

It should be mentioned that Becky has a ludicrous amount of training and experience in practical chemistry along with many years of learning the theory of it. I've said she's one of the smartest people I know, and that's still true. She's also very careful, meticulous, and cognizant of the danger in what she's doing.

Rather, what she's done. Because this morning, Becky brought a dozen sticks of the stuff to the house. She even made blasting caps, though none of them were actually inserted into the explosives. She's been talking to Will about ways to weaponize the explosives that won't endanger any of our people.

The zombies won't know what hit them. Bring on another five thousand of them, right?

Maybe not, but at least we'll have some heavy artillery to throw at them if and when a large group comes. One positive thing about the apparent constant evolution of the undead is that they have some capacity to learn, at least when it comes to the very basic things like threats. Enough explosions ripping dozens of them apart might lessen their desire to attack us.

Will is working on a defense system that is brilliantly simple and easy to construct, but at least in theory devastatingly effective. He's arranged a small-scale demonstration. I'm off to attend right now.

So much going on at the moment, such a dramatic turnaround from how terrible things have been. We're facing a new dawn of creativity and willingness to try new things, and it's awesome.