The rains today made fighting the endless swarms of undead a little easier. Parched ground turned to mud fast, too fast for the zombies to easily adapt to it. Helped that the blaring sun was covered and our tired, sweating bodies got a little relief.
The UAS remain where they are. Their scouts have learned not to get very close as our own scouts have the advantage on them. We've taken enough of them down that it's apparently becoming hard to get new ones to approach Haven.
Kincaid is doing a masterful job of keeping the majority of the undead busy. He has been leading strike teams to disrupt the horde, sending some packing back toward the UAS forces by dropping ammonia bombs, bottling others up and starving them even more than they are now, giving the New Breed in the groups no option but to eat the lesser zombies among them.
Others have been put off kilter by traps, some redirected with false trails in directions leading them far from Haven. Kincaid is a one-man army when it comes to creatively stalling or stopping zombies from massing at our front door. I kind of think the UAS is awed by this since it takes legions of their people to accomplish half of what Kincaid can do with a mere two dozen.
If the coming fight were simply a man-to-man conflict I have no doubt that we as defenders could easily handle five-to-one odds at the least. Too bad for us that the universe doesn't play favorites that way. The good guys in stories always find a way to even the odds or just overcome them with sheer brilliance and endurance. It's not impossible that might happen here, but at the best we're running even odds against the enemy. They have more people, if not nearly as experienced at surviving, and they have much better armor and weapons. Big, scary weapons that have to ride on the back of a truck to get here. Some that need many trucks. Destructive implements so powerful that a shot from one of them could spell disaster for Haven.
I mean, knock down a wall during a bad push by the undead and it could be curtains for us. I'm not giving anyone any ideas they haven't already had, believe me. None of us are frightened virgins with no idea what to do, here.
The irony here is that the UAS appear ready to come at us pretty much right now. They are hesitant because their clever idea to hit us with zombies is backfiring by making the space between us too thick with undead to safely traverse. Seems while some of the UAS have evolved into decent killing machines when it comes to the walking dead, many still bear the vestigial fear response tied into panic. They aren't just scared to enter crowds of zombies, they're actively unwilling to do so, choosing instead to bunker up and wait it out.
Those of us who've had to live out in the world haven't had that luxury, but I won't complain. It's buying us time, so I'll take it.
There's been a debate in our neck of the woods whether we should let others know or not, but here it is.
ReplyDeleteA week or so ago, one of our women disappeared. We know that the UAS isn't (directly) responsible because she took supplies; mostly the sort of thing we don't have in abundance, the kind of supplies that enable a one (wo)man war to be waged.
While none of you know this woman, she is one of the best of our small enclave. Despite being only 17, she is unbelivably resilient, and extremely practiced at surviving on her own.
When she came to us about a year after the Fall, she'd been living on her own for 6 months, in a city that had been decimated. We still don't know exactly what she went through, but from what we've pieced together, her large family was a bit "urban-preper"; and had survived the initial outbreak well. But then the ususal "something" happened, and not only was she the only survivor, but her family was "purified" - her word for it.
Newt (that's the name she gave herself after her family was, gone - any guesses on what kind of movies her father enjoyed?) is a scary girl. Happy, friendly, and outgoing on the outside - the classic "girl next door"; but she's not the kind of cheerleader to need saving. I dare say she'd be committed and under heavy medication under any other circumstances.
We vaguely know where she's gone. She recognised a UAS soldier in a patrol she'd been keeping an eye on. Someone she used to know back before all this started. We don't know if it was personally or online, but she knows them. And that has us all worried - not that she'll join them, but that she'll use it in a very detrimental and final way.