Saturday, May 25, 2013

Skin of Our Teeth

I bet a lot of you out there thought the UAS got us. Since I'm writing this and you're reading it, you can safely assume that wasn't the case. Not for a lack of effort, of course. Once I put my post up the other day they knew we knew they would make a stab at catching us. Must have been genuinely worried about our explosives near the armory, though, because they were quiet and careful about it. We were already on the move before they came looking.

Kincaid was on duty near the armory when I warned him what was likely to go down. He didn't detonate the explosives, but he did change over to a dead man's switch. We planned for something like this.

So now we're camping out in the open, totally visible. We've sent new communications to the UAS. The next tiny mistake on their part and the bombs go off. Beyond that, there are a few hundred roving survivors--not marauders, just sort of modern Gypsies--who have offered to wreak havoc within UAS borders if anything happens to us. They just contacted me out of the blue.

The deal has changed. Either we see Patrick by the end of today, alive, or at dusk the switch goes off and people die. I have no doubt that an explosion the size of the one we have planned will also draw the attention of every zombie within five miles. It's not the kind of thing the ignore.

I feel...weird. Excited, sure. I've been cooped up at home for the most part, or at least within the walls of Haven, for almost a year. Maybe more than a year? It's hard to even track at this point. Far from the anxiety I felt at violence seven or eight months ago, I'm finding myself enjoying defending our wee slice of the world. It's not a joy to kill the undead, exactly, but the gorgeous weather and rolling land is wonderful. The work might be awful but I'll be damned if I don't look forward to going out to clear away the enemy.

I'm nervous about getting Patrick back. I don't want to kill these people. They're the enemy, but I don't hate them. We can't screw this up or break faith. It's selfish of me and Jess, but if there's a chance we can't walk away. I won't apologize for that.

I just want my brother back.

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