200 feet from our northeast corner is
an automated tornado siren. We have to assume that this thing is computer
controlled because on Thursday, every other week, at precisely 12:00 p.m., the
siren would sound for thirty seconds. And like clockwork, it sounded on
Thursday, May 9th, 2013. And what did this do? It was like ringing
the damn dinner bell for every zom within ear shot. In every rural area, every
apartment building, every hidey-hole, every zom heard that sound and unless
there was something a lot more interesting on their radar, they came
a’shufflin’ in our direction.
Now, granted, they didn’t attack the
pole where the sound came from but we certainly saw a lot of activity after
that siren went off. It also let us know how much of the town’s population was
already dead and walking.
The last thing we wanted was for the
23rd to roll around and go through this all over again. Like I told
you yesterday, we want to be a hole in the world. We want zoms to just go
shuffling by when they come around.
So the play was simple. The sortie
team consisted of Fred (operational experience), Kasondra (operational
experience) and Lance (electrical knowledge). Fred and Kasondra were both given
weapons while Lance was outfitted with the various tools he would need to crack
into the control box and clip the wiring that powered the siren. The theory is
that Fred and Kasondra would cover Lance while he worked from any close proximity
threats with a gun in one hand and a weapon for melee combat in the other. In
this case, Fred chose the axe from the store’s main fire station and Kasondra
was hefting a fairly large wrench from our tools.
Cover was provided by Hunter and Joe
on the roof. But there were not the only shooters. We had a hand on every gun
that we had in our collection. Anyone who wanted to could shoot. Now, the only
catch is that gunfire does draw more and more in, so we wanted to use our shots
as cover fire ONLY. Every shooter had a spotter to keep them focused and point
out targets that presented the biggest threat.
Using the store walkie-talkies, we
waited for a time where there were the least amount of zoms wandering along the
north drive of the store (where the semi-trucks make deliveries) and the back
of the store (the east side) where vendors make their drops.
When the pathway was clear, the trio
made their move. I will not even try to tell you what Lance did. He had all his
ground and junction box talk straight in his head before he ever stepped out
the door. Needless to say, he didn’t just go out there with an axe and start
hacking away. The theory is that if things start to really get quiet later on
and we want to draw zoms that might be in hiding out, we may want the siren for
later.
There were a few zoms that spotted
them and started shuffling about. But our crew remained calm. We did the whole
“don’t shoot ‘till you see the whites of their eyes” thing. In total, we took
down five zoms. That was all it took for the crew to book it out there, disable
the siren and hoof it back. Neither Fred or Kasondra had to fire a shot.
I was still uneasy as crap about the
whole thing but it literally went off without a hitch.
