Gatecrashers

Damn New Breed have been playing us like a cheap guitar. We've killed so many of them, lined them up and driven them into the ground like nails, that it's easy to forget how smart they can be. We've been so careful the last week, watching out for them to prevent attacks as they've slipped over the walls in weak spots. Our victories over them have been so resounding that at some point or another we forgot they're capable of long-term planning.

Last night a small group of them got over the walls in East and somehow managed to evade detection long enough to get to the main gate there. The gate is metal and not exactly a weak point, but the undead managed to damage one side of it anyway by yanking out the pins that held one side of it to the wall and pulling at the whole thing in unison, using the weight of the gate to bend itself once it was hanging mostly on one hinge.

People heard them, of course. And the fight, once the zombies inside were discovered, was short. But the damage was done and seven guards are dead in East, patrol units from around the gate area overwhelmed by the New Breed one by one. We're incredibly lucky that so many people responded to the disturbance, because the massing group of New Breed outside that gate was large enough to do some serious damage if given a free pass inside New Haven.

I've spent most of my morning arguing with anyone who will listen that we've got to open our eyes to the reality that the New Breed might have been playing a longer game with us than we imagined possible. That, or they're getting smarter. Which itself is an idea so frightening that my mind rails against even considering it.

Will doesn't disagree with me, not really, but he's also somewhat dismissive of how urgent the situation really is. I understand where he's coming from, I guess; we've managed to beat back every assault by the New Breed both major and minor, and he thinks we will keep that streak going. I don't doubt our collective strength, but last night we came within a hair's breadth of a full-on assault inside our walls thanks to less than a dozen zombies.

I think that merits some serious consideration. Mainly that we should reorganize--right now and without wasting a minute--how everyone sleeps at night. I've advocated setting up secure shelters for all the kids that they have to enter at dusk and lock themselves into. Shipping containers would be easiest, but I don't care what we use as long as the most vulnerable among us, the ones most likely to be targeted should the next attack succeed, can't be reached by any zombie no matter how strong they are.

Will thinks that's pretty extreme and sends a message that we're living in fear. I don't want to sound like a dick, because I know he's thinking of the Strangers when he says that and wants to project an image of strength, but these aren't terrorists we're talking about. The undead don't know or care what the politics of our reaction appear to be. The Strangers might give some kind of crap about that and choose to attack while they see us as being weak, but they've refused to engage at all so far. Don't know why they'd start now.

Point blank fact is that we need to change things up. Our efforts to prevent incursions like this aren't working out as well as we hoped. We have to be realistic and plan for failure and come up with ways to mitigate that. Otherwise I really believe we're just a stone't throw away from tragedy.