Bustle and Flow

I wasn't kidding about things getting busy around here once we started cleaning out the undead. If anything I underestimated how much work it would be to constantly revise and update our game plan. New Haven is a hive of activity, but the good thing is that it isn't constant. I sort of thought that I wouldn't have any time at all to do other stuff but manage the assault teams, but night is actually pretty quiet. Our people--and all of them are our people now, spilling blood together makes you family--have to head back home before darkness falls.

It also helps that the constant updates mean that by the time our teams head out in the mornings we've go game plans ready for them. That gives me all morning to spend with Jess if she's free, or on other things if she isn't. Reports don't start coming in until late morning, which is when the crazy starts.

The good news is that the assault runs are going well. Our people are steadily taking down zombies and finding out a lot about their movements and gathering points. One major piece of information uncovered so far is the fact that there are a lot more of them out there than we thought. The teams are ranging pretty far from home, up to thirty miles in a given day, and many of the New Breed seem to be foraging for old school zombies. Kind of makes sense as they're easy prey. New Breed are breaking their teeth trying bite us. Maybe this is a good sign.

Even though there are far more of the enemy than we expected, they're spread out and easier to surprise. Nipping at the small groups and only harassing the larger ones into running where we want them isn't nearly has hard as fighting a large-scale conflict.

What we're really getting concerned about is water. We aren't in any danger of running out or anything, though our crops are taking up a tremendous amount of it. We've had a few light showers in the last two days but they've been brief and nowhere near enough for our needs. Other than those overcast days we've gone weeks without rainfall. The reserves here are getting small very quickly.

Our plumbers assure us that when they're done we'll have water reserves like we've never imagined. As it is now, we can haul it from the river or any number of large creeks. We've got a few trucks that work for that purpose--my favorite combo is using a small fire truck pump to fill empty tankers and bring them back here--but that's slow and takes up fuel. Better if we had rain to fill our cisterns and reservoirs here rather than send people out to bring the stuff here in ten thousand gallon increments.

Then we have to filter it, disperse it, and do the whole thing over again. It works, but with the constant heat our needs are spiking. We're sending people out several times a day to make water runs. Our crops alone require thousands of gallons. People have to drink a lot to keep hydrated even if they're just walking around, and about zero percent of us are doing that little. Hell, at any time we've got fifty people out with the assault teams, that many again manning the defenses, and a hundred more working on various projects. Even the people who aren't pulling a shift are still working their own gardens and whatnot. We're all doing something.


Thankfully water is a problem that we can solve, if not in a way we can sustain forever. Our food supplies are holding up well, hugely aided by the fact that all new arrivals bring a lot of food stores with them when they come to keep from depleting our reserves. Jess is back to running our agriculture full-time now, and Will is working with her to figure out what we'll need to make sure winter won't be a death sentence by starvation. It's not a great time to start more crops, but there are many workable options on the table.

But, you know, I still got to sit down with my wife and chat this morning. We even played a hand or two of cards. The last few days have been even more hectic than I imagined, but they've settled into a pattern of chaos if that makes any sense. I'm really hopeful things are going to work out. So far, so good.