Thursday, October 25, 2012

Sleeper Cell

We've been in a bit of a lull over the last day. Zombie attacks have tapered off, the injured have been seen to, and the Exiles aren't active against us. Even the Exiles across the river in the fallback point are keeping quiet, barely coming outside apart from their sparsely-manned guard shifts. 

One blip of activity that I should mention, though, is a small resurgence of the new plague. Apparently some people are carriers for it. We don't know if it's just folks who didn't get sick or what the vector for this new outbreak might be. It's not bad--not yet and hopefully it won't get that way--but it's scary. Two dozen people coming down ill over a short period of time reminds us that winter will be here soon. This is the time when people start to get all those shitty seasonal sicknesses that are so much harder to deal with now. 

Fortunately we can deal with the new plague with relative ease. People will have to keep their eyes open for symptoms, but as long as we're careful we can treat cases quickly and effectively. 

One thing I'm curious about is how the council will decide to act in regards to the Louisville crew still hunkered down in the isolation area. The signs of active illness there have passed, and it would be much easier on them to live here...but this flare-up will certainly make people think twice. We've been over all the dangers so many times, I don't think anyone needs a reminder of the risks. 

...

You know, I'm getting pretty tired of the stress, I won't lie to you. I'm sitting here thinking about the best way to calmly share the information that a deadly disease, no matter how controlled, has reappeared and it bothers me. I've spent a ton of time talking about my own problems and dealing with the damage this shitty world has done to me. That's aside from the damage I've done to myself. 

There's a time and place to be diplomatic. I get that to build a better tomorrow we have to learn to work together and to make compromises. New Haven has always been that way. What bothers me is that to have a better future we have to be alive and sane. Those are kind of key elements, you know?

So, in the middle of worrying about the Hunters and the rogue Exiles, people are getting sick. Which itself isn't so bad, but it reminds us that on top of all the external threats we have to worry about--oh, let's not forget the undead while we're at it--we also have to fret over influenza, pneumonia, and about a million other problems that have become nearly impossible to deal with. We're approaching our third winter in a world without over-the-counter remedies and visits to the doctor. We've been lucky as hell so far, but with our population exploding so do the chances that people carrying illness are going to share it with others. 

The stress of living in this world is a huge part of what messed me up so badly. Feeling like I couldn't do anything about it (sort of like how I felt before the end of the world about working a stressful job but still being broke) made that worse. Add to that the guilt over the lives I've taken and you've got a terrible recipe for mental breakdown. 

But I've realized something. Most of the things we're facing right now are problems we can solve. Sounds a little harsh to put in those terms, but honestly bad people have always been a problem just looking for a person with the strength to solve them. The Exiles are picking away at us, ratcheting up the fear and anxiety. 

I'm fucking done with that. I refuse to live with it any more. 

1 comment:

  1. The only thing you forgot was TOILET PAPER! Solve that!

    ReplyDelete