Saturday, September 28, 2013

New Kids on the Block

Hey, it’s Beckley.  So yesterday I updated you on the good things happening, namely that Jeremy is sober and found a purpose working with kids.  Also, we purged ourselves of a parasitic black market drug dealer.  So now let’s talk about the less happy topics.

The New Breed are still congregating.  I haven’t really mentioned them because they’ve not done much.  Occasionally they attack, but only to test the defenses.  As many as they send, there are more just hanging back, watching.  Josh described this kind of behavior in the past.  The New Breed will hang out, just beyond arrow range and cycle their numbers from being in sight to out of sight in forests or what have you.  So the truth is that we don’t know exactly how many are out there.  I don’t know if they’re planning, or if they just don’t know what to do.  It’s like trying to get the last cookie from the bottom of a giant barrel of cookies.  You want it, you’re hungry for it, but you can’t reach it.  So instead of trying to find another barrel of cookies in this world where such wonderful barrels exist, you just keep trying to reach that one.  Over and over again.  So that could be why they’re just standing and watching and making these half-strength attacks.  The New Breed are smart, but we may have reached the limit of their problem-solving abilities.

Though I can’t shake the thought that they’re planning something.  Also, now I’m hungry for cookies.  Oh, by the way, there no longer seem to be any Old School Zombies among the New Breed.  Well, except for one.  Remember the betting pool regarding the last OSZ standing?  That little girl zombie is still out there.  And that means I won the pot and all my winnings are now for sale or trade in the store.  See, I knew she would be the last standing.  The New Breed use the OSZs for food, so it seemed natural that the smallest, most emaciated zombie wouldn’t be eaten.  That’s zombie psychology, right there!  The downside to this is that with no other visible OSZs out there, the New Breed are running low on food.  That could lead to a full-force attack in upcoming days or weeks.

So let’s talk about Kingsley Pappington, the UAS guy who was always starting fights.  He’s gone.  After he walked out on his punishment, those mutilated UAS soldiers were found and Kingsley snapped.  I always assumed his extreme pro-UAS jingoism was just a way for him to pick fights, but it seems like part of him was actually counting on the UAS army rising again and crushing Haven.  When he saw those splinter soldiers, utterly mutilated, but also clearly unshaven, unwashed, and underfed prior to their demise, something inside him just broke.  He said he didn’t want to be here anymore and insisted on leaving Haven immediately.  So he’s gone.

And when I say he’s gone, I mean he’s dead now.  He left Haven and a few days ago our scouts found his body, mutilated just like the others.  This mutilation was different, though.  The last bodies were impaled after whatever sadist it was finished with them.  Kingsley was found hung and disemboweled.  Still clearly the work of a sadist, but a different motif.  I mentioned marauders when the first UAS bodies came in and scouts have confirmed that there do seem to be marauders out there.  It’s clear to me that these bodies are their ways of marking their new territory.  That, and it’s a warning to everyone as to what will happen when they finally come our way.

These marauders started out as bands of sociopaths who finally had free reign when all laws and social consequences to their actions vanished.  The problem with sociopaths is that they’re impulsive and they don’t plan for the future.  So those marauder groups, while dangerous, basically used up all their resources.  Just like those punk Richmond soldiers did, leading to them taking Haven and consuming all over again.  These marauders are locusts.  They consume and destroy, then they move on to the next fertile area.  That’s what they’ve done here.  I don’t think they’ll come for Haven right now because they’re cowards and prey on the weak.  But when they use up all their resources in their new territory?

Well, I have faith in the people that run this place that they won’t let Haven fall.  Still, I don’t like having these guys anywhere in the same state as us.  I really hate marauders.  Maybe one day I’ll explain why, but I’d rather leave my past where nobody can see it.  Anyway, I’ll keep everyone updated as things come up.

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