Slow Game

It's taking armed guards holding some of out people at gun point to keep us from starting a war. Well, escalating a war. The Exiles started it, but it took us a few days to realize how deep a game they were playing. 

Last night about a dozen people got sick. Really, really sick. By this morning, five of them had died. We track everyone's meal assignments at the mess, and it's obvious what the cause is. They've been poisoned. 

We were so goddamn arrogant to think that the storehouses had been left alone. We saw signs of tampering and assumed that since the same signs didn't appear elsewhere that we were safe. The Exiles didn't want to kill all of us, or they didn't have enough poison to go around. Instead they simply laced a bag of black-eye peas, the only bag we had, with something deadly. Everyone who ate those peas are victims of this conflict. 

One of those victims was a child of five. He died just after midnight. 

I want to haul ass down the hill and rain down bloody murder on these fuckers, but I know it isn't a viable option. It's taking all my willpower to sit here and write this rather than load up a gun and fight my way to the river bank through the zombies still walking along it. Jess is a great help in keeping me steady. I only wish I could do the same for all the others who've lost someone or may lose someone to this attack. 

Make no mistake, I'm furious with the Exiles, but I can't escape a lesser rage at the council. The situation isn't entirely their fault, since we all chose to kick out the homesteaders and to give amnesty to the marauders. But they did make the situation worse by attacking the remaining marauder camps. That was likely a big factor in bringing two different groups of enemies together against us. 

I can't get my thoughts straight this morning. And I really don't have much time to write. I have to help sort through all the remaining supplies we brought back from our storehouses and see what we can salvage. God only knows if anything else has been poisoned. You'd think the Exiles would have done something bigger if they had the means. It's pretty clear they mean to fight us despite how roundabout they've been about it. Maybe this is just an attempt to keep New Haven off balance. 

I can't say much, but I will say this: Newton had it right. For every action, there's a reaction. Don't doubt it.