Out of Action

Hey, this is Kincaid again. Josh is away for the day. He said he was out of action, but the opposite is true. He's in the field this morning with one of the attack groups. There's a big congregation of zombies nestled inside a stand of trees that butts up against the bottom of a cliff. It isn't that far away, and he needs eyes on the target to decide how many people to dedicate to wiping out the group.

So here I am again, filling in and without much to say. Guess I could mention that the treatments for the plumbers went well. They're resting up now. It's looking like the large convoy of workers will be here tomorrow at the latest. That means we can get a start on the new infrastructure. I'm excited about that since I've been sponging myself clean for the last month. Even minimal running water will make that job a lot less work.

I've been assigned to the plumbers, by the way. Me and a small team of men are providing most of the protection until the support convoy gets here. Since the people I'm watching out for are safely inside while they get their strength back, I don't have much to do.

But I guess I can share some of what I've picked up while on guard duty. The coolest thing so far is the reservoir they want to build here. At first the idea was to daisy-chain a dozen or so large tanks from fuel or milk trucks together and wall them up. Then put a lot of tarp and canvas out to act as a huge funnel for rain. It's still something worth doing, I think. The plumbers have another idea that goes along with it. They want to dig a huge underground reservoir, a big open pit. Line it with sand on the bottom and fuse it into glass. Maybe do the same with the walls if they can figure out out. Then just top it with some custom-made materials and use it as a cistern.

It's a good idea, I guess. But I'd be worried about the glass parts breaking under the weight of all that water. There are some other problems that seem likely, but I don't want to piss in anyone's cereal. Some of these people are experienced civil engineers. They know what they're doing better than me.

I should probably mention to them that not far from here is an abandoned train with about twenty tanker cars on it. That might make a difference. Doesn't mean getting them here would be easy or even possible, but they need to know. I think tankers of whatever type would be a better idea. We know they work for sure. I'd rather not risk my own drinking water on any wild ideas.

One thing I learned out on the road was to keep things as modular as possible. Made sense then, we were always moving around to stay safe...and for other reasons. We had to be able to pick up and go at a moment's notice. Having to haul our own gear gave us a damn good reason to make sure it was all tough and reliable. Use a lot of small gas cans instead of one big tank and you don't risk the entire supply on one wild bullet. Put small bundles of food in varying locations in each vehicle and you don't starve if you and the group get separated. Just make sure the vehicles run well and can each last on their own without help. Armor them individually and don't solely rely on the camp to keep you safe.

Guess I'm babbling. Sorry about that. I haven't had much sleep. See, when my active job is on hold, everyone thinks what I wrote up there, that I don't have much to do. So a lot of folk ask me for help with this and that. I don't like to say no if I can help it. Writing here today has been a nice break from the busyness. But maybe some sleep is in order.

Unless my plumbers feel up to going out this morning. In that case I'm pretty much screwed all over.