Day 94 – Long Grass, Cancer & Various Forms of Death

I was up on the roof today doing a survey of the surrounding area. I wanted to get a little sunshine and take in a breath of fresh air. It is amazing to me how much Langley has changed in the space of three months.

Without people maintaining the lawns and such, grass is already getting out of control. I know that this may seem like a bit of cosmetic complaint but tall weeds and grasses can be pretty dangerous if there is a zom crawling around out there with blown off feet. Have your boots laced up if you go trudging into the high grass. It could make looting houses a little more difficult if we have to take more time to sweep for threats. 

So while I love my time on the roof, it is also home to something that I don’t really care for. I am not a smoker. Never have been. So needless to say, I didn't really care when Reason's passed their nonsmoking breathe easy policy. It didn't inconvenience me in the slightest. Granted, one could argue that it got my boss Holly killed. After all, she was out on a smoke break when the first shambling horde came through. Still, the few smokers that we have amongst us continued to go outside to smoke. Only now, they hit the roof instead of going out on the docks and out to the property line.

However, I have a unique theory that stands up to scientific evidence. The zoms seem to hunt using the same faculties that we do. However, there sense of smell seems to be overly heightened, especially when it comes to blood.

Now, if the zombie takeover had happened in the era of the Jon Hamm show Mad Men -- where they smoke EVERYWHERE -- maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal. But when you get to the point where no one seems to smoke anymore, when someone does light up, the stench can be overpowering. That acrid smell carries... For miles it seems. And I swear the zoms smell it too...

In the evenings when the world gets quiet (or I should say quieter) and the air is still, if someone like Hobbit Judy goes up for a smoke, it always seems like there is a keening in the distance. Then, after enough time has passed given the distance of the screech, it'd always seems as if there is one loan zom shuffling along the highway in our direction. I mean that has to stand to reason, right? You have that unnatural smell wafting on the breeze. That is going to bring those things out of the woodwork, especially if they are hungry.

Now, I am not talking about imposing a ban on smoking. Hell, I think half the guys use chewing tobacco on a regular basis and I could care less about them. I never found smoking attractive. It is not because of the health risks. It is because it makes you STINK. You hair, your clothes… and when it comes to kissing, no one likes licking an ashtray. But I guess that is not really here or there. I am not doing a PSA here regarding the dangers of smoking. 

My point is that if you are hiding somewhere and you decide to light up to try to unwind, don’t be surprised if you start hearing clammy, decaying hands slapping against the doors or windows of wherever you are barricaded.

You should quit smoking. I know. It killed my mom. It stinks and by smoking, you are now literally drawing death towards you on shambling and shuffling legs. Speaking of horrible smells, we really to figure out what we are going to do with all these bodies in our parking lot… 

Day 93 – FoS: Department Report – Frozen Foods

 

Frozen Food: Located in the Dark Blue.

I have highlighted on the map where the Frozen Food section is located. It is along these areas that there were doors full of frozen product. Because of the close dated product in the dairy like milk and yogurt, it was fairly easy to condense product back into the cooler where the back stock was kept and to optimize the temperature. Unfortunately, there is too much product in the frozen food section to store it back in the two freezers that we have. So the goal was to start condensing down the doors as we used up the product and the target was to use up most of the frozen food first because we didn’t know how long we would have electricity. (Thankfully, we are ninety-three days in and we still have power.)

I know that this seems somewhat hard to do but it is easier than you think. Making enough orange juice for 32 survivors for morning breakfast chews through the frozen concentrate pretty quickly.

In the first three weeks, people were actually getting sick of ice cream, so we just said screw it. We got to a point where no one wanted another pint of Ben and Jerry’s. The general consensus was, “Look if the power goes out and we lose all the ice cream, we will just lose it.” But here we are in the third month of the siege and we are still slowly chewing through things.

Now, I have mentioned that we are afraid of Freon leaks compromising our entire system. So much like the other departments in the store (Meat, Dairy, Produce), as the stock levels continue to diminish we continue to move product into single doors.

We will use orange juice concentrate in the morning. We will use frozen corn for the evening meals. A lot of lunches consisted of Hungry Man TV dinners and such. So the levels of multiple doors were all diminishing. So we just started condensing down the doors, combining product from multiple doors into a single door. Then, once the doors get empty, we go through and shut down the power and the Freon to prevent leaks.

It is still amazing to me at just how much food we actually have on hand. I still think we could double the number of survivors we have and we would still have more than enough food to cover all of us. I still wonder about other people. I feel bad because there are probably people out there that are scrounging for food and we have more than enough to get by. There might be people out there right now that have to make the conscious decision to brave the army of zoms out there to find more food because they are close to running out of food (and energy). While we have a committee that decides what is on the menu for the evening… I have mentioned before that I consider myself very lucky to be where we were when this whole thing collapsed.

I am going to go hug my kid…

 

Day 92 – Pumping Iron and Staying in Shape

Back when I was in high school and in early college, I was one of those workout guys. I don’t think I could qualify as a gym rat but I actually enjoyed working out. With a large handful of years passing, that inevitable idleness that comes with marriage and things pulling you in multiple directions, working out just dropped out of the schedule.

Now, some of the guys that are with us, they still have that gumption and energy that comes with youth. So without an official weight room to work out in, they boys cooked up a variety of things to help keep them in shape. They cordoned off the northeast corner of the store where the semis used to make their deliveries. A gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds and the one thing we have plenty of is gallon jugs. Be it from the milk, orange juice, tea, distilled water, drinking water… We got a lot of gallon containers floating around.

Curling a 8 pound weight may not seem like a lot but as Lance tells me all the time, for strength, you want low weight with high reps. If you want size, you do heavy weight with low reps. None of us are planning to be in a bodybuilding competition. Lean and strong is a good way to be in the zombie apocalypse. So I see a number of the ladies working out with water jugs, using the handles to make the curls easier.

Like any grocery store, we also have a large number of milk crates. Milk crates hold four gallons of liquid so you are easily looking at 34 pounds of weight for you to curl and the milk crates have multiple handholds so you can curl them one handed or two handed. We do have the 5 gallon water cooler jugs for those that do want more weight.

So we have more than enough things that can help us work out. They boys took some of the industrial mop handles and taped two together using a whole roll of duct tape to make a bench press bar. They took two 5-lb bags of sugar and wrapped them up in a giant ball of shrink wrap to form a medicine ball. There is that four foot section of toys on the cereal aisle. Who would have thought kids jump ropes would end up being used to help us stay in shape during the zombie apocalypse. But, well, there you go.

It is a lot of workouts where you use your own body weight so it is things like push-ups, sit ups, weighted dips… and lots and lots of cardio. I don’t want to equate us with mall walkers but if you do a circuit around the store, you have a pretty good lap pattern going. Then if you dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge down different aisles, especially making last second decisions, it does take on the form of an obstacle course.

I think has far as improvisations go, we have done alright. I guess you could say that about a lot of the things we have done in here, be it the air mattresses for sleeping, the vinyl table cloths as shower curtains to the extension cords and dust mop handles to make zombie man-catchers, we have improvised fairly well.

Just writing about this, I am inspired. Gonna go curl some water jugs.

Day 90 – Offering a GREAT Night’s Sleep

I didn’t really ask any questions but for the last two days, the foursome of Shala, Nolan, Kelsey and Kelly had been working in the old Break Room on some top secret project. Yesterday, they revealed what it was.

I know there was some point where I told you about the consignment shop next door. Well, if you remember, this place sold clothes and whatever stuff people could sell that was one level above garage sale. There were things like DVDs, old VHS tapes (if that tells you anything), some video games… but in one half of the shop, they kept furniture. It wasn’t like they had a constant stock. They had whatever people brought in to sell and other customers had not purchased yet. Furniture was not exactly high up on the priority list.

If you will also remember, the back door to the consignment shop is about 40 feet from the Produce Dock. With snipers on the roof, plenty of cover, and acting quietly, Shala and her crew went about moving a variety of items from the consignment shop to the break room. Now, I know all this was silly but they had cover and the zom contingent was pretty small.

(Again, I cannot convey the importance of using silencers/suppressors to take out zoms. You snuff them out quick without signaling to all the rest of them within a mile radius that you are there.)

Well, today, they revealed this plan that they had been working on. They moved all the old items out of the Break Room and into the Produce Prep Room (the pop vending machine, lockers, the microwave, the big table, etc.) and replaced it with a full sized bed complete with headboard, footboard, a nightstands, table side lamps, alarm clock, and all the other trappings one comes to expect in a bedroom. They hung up curtains, framed artwork, plugged in some nightlights, and they even have a college mini-fridge in there. (Again, Reason’s stocked a lot of stuff for the lake crowd that never really got bought like wicker patio furniture, quesadilla makers, Panini presses, box fans, and mini-fridges. It was things that they could have to claim variety but it was always cheaper to buy it at Walmart so the stuff sat around collecting dust.) They also set up a lot of scented candle warmers to the place smells terrific. It is like cinnamon and apples.

If you were doing the whole before and after experience, you would not believe this place was our old Break Room. With the door closed, you can actually be convinced that the zombie apocalypse is not going on outside.

This is where the genius sets in. Kelsey and Kelly then went through and held a draft round where everyone got to pick their number. Kelly was nice enough to combine her and Brian into a single number and Kasondra and Brad agree to combine into a single entry. By doing this, everyone gets one night a month in the bedroom. Using some poster board and Sharpies, they drew up a big calendar so there is no confusion about when your date is. You are required to wash the sheets after your stay so everyone gets fresh linen to sleep in. (We may pick up some extra sheet sets to make things easier when the group decides to make another sortie run.)

Come on 10^th of the month. That is my day. I wonder if I can convince Kimber to spoon with me that night. Knowing my luck I’ll just end up spooning with Luke…

Day 89 – Are We Too Trusting?

I feel like we have gotten to know “Group 3” pretty well at this point. Honestly, with all of them, I feel like we could have all easily been friends in the real world before everything degenerated down. So I did not take offense when I had a very frank and open conversation with Justin and Eric. I am a big proponent of laying things out there. If you are uncomfortable with something, just say something. It may be awkward at first but then you can work towards compromises and making everyone happy.

Now, when Eric and his crew rolled in, I think their mentality was “their house, their rules.” But I feel like they have assimilated into the group quite well. Enough for Eric to pull Fred, Luke and myself aside to call us complete dumbasses.

Okay, it is not as harsh as I am making it sound. Keep in mind that Eric was a K-9 cop back in the world and there is no doubt in my mind that he dealt with the dregs of humanity on a nightly basis. Add in the whole zombie infestation and you can see how a person could be cynical.

Eric called us out, saying that taking them in was a mistake. Justin made it very clear that they were all thankful that we helped them out. He didn’t want to try to outrun the zoms that were chasing them. But in the long run, they believe that letting any strangers in here compromises our security and lessens our resources. Eric very coldly said, “We could have killed you all.”

I agree with what he was saying and I even think I commented on how it was either the most elaborate hoax of all time or they were victims of dumb luck. And we didn’t just let them in willy-nilly. They did all the right things.

Even when all this broke down, I posted on here. If you are out there, come to us. We have weapons, food, medicine, shelter, security… I don’t feel like the world is Thunderdome. I still feel like there is a clear “us vs. them” distinction. We are not fighting humanity and zombies at the same time. Any human is another person that can stand on the wall and be a defender.

Does that mean I would let some child molester or hardcore prison inmate in here? God, it is a really tough decision. What if that one extra hand is the turning point between someone living and someone being zombie chow? On the other hand, there are more than a few attractive females in here that were attractive before everything was compromised. How is a “piece of tail” going to look to someone who escaped from the prison in Vinita and hasn’t been with a woman in five years?

Could you close the door on a person and condemn them to the outside world? I guess it is one of those situations that can drive you mad. It is best not to think about it until we are actually put in that position. Didn’t Regan have a quote about “Trust but verify?” Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it.   

Day 89 – Survivor Profile: Joseph & Shala

Joseph Charles: During Zero Hour, Joseph was on his way to work. He was doing a job installing central heat and air ducts at a lake home out near Ketchum. He stopped in at Reason’s to get some donuts and drinks for the crew he was going to be working with. If he would have been in the check stand five minutes earlier, he might have been in his work van and cruising on to Ketchum when he first encountered a shamble of zoms.

Aside from Luke, I don’t think there is another guy in the store that I relate to more on a dork/nerd level than Joseph. It seems like whenever we are having discussions about movies, Joseph and I are the ones that have the most lively and animated discussions. He is a pretty smart guy and he is no stranger to firearms which makes him pretty valuable. I know during Zero Hour, he was pretty instrumental in getting Diane inside the store after she suffered her wound. So, thankfully, bravery doesn’t seem to be lacking either.

I know I probably haven’t mentioned Joseph a lot in the blog so far and the problem is that he has this innate gift. He is like Matt Damon’s character Linus in the Ocean’s 11 movies. He has this innate knack to blend in and disappear. He is not standing out but he also doesn’t fall behind. His ideas regarding how we outfit and modify the store border on genius.

I need to discuss things with the Sortie Teams but we need to work on getting him an instrument. He plays the guitar. He contributes heavily with Kim when it comes to song selections on the music that we play. I can hear him humming quite a bit when he works and like a lot of musicians, I see him “air guitaring” like he is practicing despite the fact that he doesn’t have a guitar. We need to work on that.

Shala Martin: I know I mentioned when talking about Audrey (we miss you, Audrey) that she felt she was very lucky and being in the right place at the right time when Zero Hour hit. Shala Martin is another one of those people that may have been born under a lucky star.

Shala Martin is a teacher over at Ketchum Middle School who had come in to get food during her planning period for a class assignment. We don’t really know (and I think no one wants to) but Zero Hour hit on a Monday. Classes were in session. If a pack of zoms hit any of the local schools those area could have become a horrible hot spot for generating a horde… And I mean horrible in that seeing a pack of zom third graders would be pretty horrible to see and even worst to have to put down.

There are times where I feel very, very sorry for Shala and I intentionally try not to interact with Alex too much when she is around. Being outgunned financially, Shala took a very big hit during her divorce because she could not hire the legal team that her husband could. So, despite being a wonderful human being and a school teacher, she got boned in her custody case. Losing almost everything in the divorce, Shala became one of those horror stories that you hear about where a person is financially crushed and they have to move back in with their parents. In this case, Shala had to move back in with her mom. She was getting everything back in order. She had her down payment saved up on a double wide trailer and was working with financing through the bank when everything hit. She was in the same boat as Tommy when Zero Hour hit.

Shala was trapped in Reason’s while her kids were somewhere down in Jenks. (It is a suburb of Tulsa.) Survivor guilt hit Shala hard and I was generally concerned that she would do something stupid. We made it a point to hide her car keys from her and I will not lie, I was concerned with giving her a weapon for fear that she would turn it on herself. Because of this, in those first couple of weeks, I made it a point to talk with her as much as I could without being encroaching. Having conversations with Luke and Tommy and Hunter came easy.

I had seen Shala in the store shopping before. I would call her a “regular” but I didn’t really know her and I was really concerned that she would hurt herself. That was back in May. Now, I realize how wrong I was. I have yet to meet a woman that enjoyed challenging me so much mentally. We have regular debates about all kinds of subjects where each one of us will purposefully take stands so we can talk out a subject.

We have had extensive conversations about security of our home and a lot of the zom theories that we postulate on Thursdays are due in large part to conversations with her. I find myself talking with her shortly before lights out and then she retires to the top of her cooler and I go to the top of mine to sleep close to Alex.

It is not all sunshine and roses. She is really nice but she is has body issues and problems with her self-confidence. When I compliment her, I get the impression that she thinks I am bullshitting her. Still, I feel like lately we are starting to exchange longer looks with one another. But I have to focus on the task at hand. I refuse to get distracted.  

Day 88 – Zombiology 101: “Playing Dead” Pun Intended

Apparently, there is rest for the wicked. You see all these zombie movies where all these shambling horrors are milling about and moaning. And there are times where I wish it was like that. I truly do. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The farther out we venture, especially into the more remote areas, we have discovered a disturbing trend.

If you go back to my article about zombie power expenditures, we noted how the zoms’ number one instinct is to feed and how they power down in the absence of food. And this fact makes them even more dangerous. Zoms respond to external stimuli. I imagine this works the same as with any hunter. Sights, sounds, smells, etc. We’ve covered in previous entries how we think these beasties hunt. However, if a zom experiences no external stimuli over an extended period of time, they begin to shut down. Not die, mind you, but shut down. Let me explain.

Let me give you an example.

Farmer Frank lives out in the middle of a wide swath of pastureland with no neighbors around for miles. He gets bit by one of our initial shamblers that came staggering out of that nursing home. So all the hubbub of the zombie news stories have not broken out. He gets back to his truck and drives back to his farm, not realizing that he is now infected. He gets back to the farm and barricades himself inside his home with all sorts of locks and chairs propped up underneath doorknobs and such. His standard 48 hours pass. Farmer Frank dies from the virus and the body reanimates.

When his body reanimates, he will get up and walk around to look for flesh to feast on. Stumbling through his home, he will consume any scraps of meat from the trash, the family dog (if he can catch it), or that leftover turkey if he is somehow fortunate enough to get the refrigerator open. Remember, zoms are about 50/50 on figuring out how to work an open doorknob. A locked door with a deadbolt and security chain latched tight? Farmer Frank is in for a long wait.

Now one can argue that he might be able to smash through a window and escape the house but that would mean Zombie Farmer Frank was capable of cognitive thought and he is not. If there was a fat little butterball nine-year-old on the other side of the window, a hungry Zombie Farmer Frank might punch through a window to get at him. But if there is no meat – no prey – on the other side of that window, he is not going to be smart enough to realize, “Hey if I punch out of here, I might find food.”

So, once all meat sources are consumed and he has sufficiently explored the space, eventually, that zom somehow manages to get it through that decaying brain that there is no food and no escape. They probably don’t think of “escape” the way we do but their brain tells them, “No food.”

Zombie Frank “powers down.” Zoms are basically dumb animals but eventually they figure out some things… So Zombie Farmer Frank basically goes into a state where it collapses. We have seen some zombies do some sort of instinctual thing where they may sit down on a couch or even lay down in a bed. Others may just collapse on the floor. 

Now, if something comes along and triggers that zom, it will get up and start shuffling about, looking for that stimulant. Noise still seems to be the biggest trigger. Gunshots that echo for miles seem to be a pretty big trigger.

Say someone walks up on Zombie Farmer Frank’s front porch and the wooden steps creak when heavy weight is put on them. Zombie Frank hears that noise and he will get up from his catatonic state and start shuffling towards the direction of that noise. Now, if that stimulant goes away, eventually Zombie Frank powers back down. But if someone approaches silently, it will take some other stimulant to “reactivate” Zombie Frank and get him chomping away.  

A fair warning though. What stimulates one zom may not necessarily stimulate another. It has been my experience that zoms are not too much different from people in that some people need glasses and hearing aids. Others do not. Some zoms are incredibly perceptive. Others, be it natural abilities or the degeneration brought on by decay, are not. If one or both of a zom’s eyes rot out, obviously visual stimulation is no longer present.

Okay, so now, let’s get to the meat of this. Zoms are dead. This means they do not breathe. This means a powered down zom and a corpse lying on the street are impossible to distinguish. This means if you want to be safe than sorry, you have to put a bullet in every corpse’s head you come across.

So, here is a good general rule of thumb. Avoid all corpses that still look to have their brain intact. If you have the capacity (i.e. ammo and silencers), put a bullet in any corpse’s head lying around. It will make sure and give you a little extra target practice with those head shots. Otherwise, any corpse could suddenly rise up and try to take a bite out of your leg as you walk past. And by now, there are a lot of corpses out there… 

Day 87 – Movie Night

Last Saturday’s entry made me realize that I have forgotten to tell you all about our Wednesday tradition. Well, if you haven’t figured it out already, I am a bit of a pop culture addict. I can tell you how many focusing crystals are in Darth Vader’s lightsaber, the molecular composition of Captain America’s shield, or what the resonance frequency of the U.S.S. Enterprise is. I have always said that if I ever put my abilities towards the forces of good, I could probably cure cancer. However, I have to admit, seeing all those zombie movies in the past has given me a lot of good ideas when it came to dealing with these maggot bags. So I guess really it was only a matter of time before I initiated movie night for the crew.

While the video department and its thousand-plus titles are open to pretty much anyone at any time, Wednesdays are actually reserved for a time when we make popcorn, eat the movie theater style boxes of candy and watch a movie as a group. Attendance is not mandatory but everyone is encouraged to attend. Then if a movie is really good or if it is really bad, then we often have a round table discussion where we can talk about the film. The implementation of beds folded up into futon style has made it much more comfortable to watch movies now and I would say darn near almost everyone is in attendance depending on which movie is showing.

(Kasondra and Brad are often suspiciously absent from movie time. Everyone else clustered all together in one section of the store while their sleeping quarters are way over on the other side of the store. I wonder what they do during those two hours?)

We do have some rules. Zero horror movies. We are living in a horror movie. The last thing we want is to further subject ourselves to more nightmares. Sci-fi and fantasy are more popular than I expected. I think it has something to do with the escapism; to be transported to a completely different world where we don't have to think about all the shambling horrors staggering around outside. Sappy love stories and movies like Marley & Me are pretty much banned as well. One is for the vomit factor and the other is to prevent a rash of mass suicides.

Comedies are always big hits. Everyone seems to love them. Plus, there is an unexpected bonus to watching something like Dumb & Dumber in a group of people. Sports movies have also been a real hit. Gridiron Gang, Coach Carter, Remember the Titans, all those have gotten good praise. The longest post game wrap up still resides with A Few Good Men. Despite the movie being over twenty years old, the moral implications of the movie can be almost endlessly debated. But I will say this. We made the girls sit through Rocky III. They countered with Magic Mike. Ugg…

But everyone has been really good sports. We vote on the rotation and there have been a few nights where we have even done some double features. It is a wonderful break from reality to have movie night. It’s been going for several weeks now and I will try to keep you updated on some flicks that we choose. Maybe you need a pick me up or a recommendation.      

I better hustle. I am helping make the popcorn and we are going to try cooking real kernel corn instead of microwaving. Tonight’s feature: Ocean’s 11. Man, I loves me some George Clooney stealing from Vegas…

Day 86 – FoS: Department Report – Bakery

Fortress of Solitude: Bakery is located in pink, the coolers are a lighter shade

The Bakery Department is yet another one of our saving graces. There are not a lot of places that would be fully equipped with industrial-sized ovens, fryers, mixers, and a prep area. It is all made of stainless steel and Formica counter tops. It is from this department that we can make food in large enough quantities to feed all of our thirty-two survivors. If there are three servings in a regular 16 oz. can of green beans, we have to cook 10 cans to feed us for one meal. Stop and think about trying to cook 10 cans of green beans. You cannot microwave that if you want the food to all be hot at the same time. You need a heck of a sized pot to cook all of that food. 

The mixers that we have are huge. There is a bread oven that is so big, you can literally walk inside it. We have fryers that would cook pounds worth of chicken in a shot for the hot bar. There is a rotisserie cooker. We are really living large when it comes to our cooking area. The only thing we are lacking is a true stovetop to cook things on but we have worked our way around that too.

We knew that the bread on the shelves was going to go bad because there was no way we could eat all of it before it molded. We literally had hundreds of loaves of bread. There was no way we were eating it all in time. But 5A has a large amount of flour and yeast. Combining that with the mixers, ovens, and professional baker in Sharon, we are able to make our own bread. It doesn't seem like a big deal now but in March, it is going to be a great luxury...

And I also like how the kitchen is big enough to incorporate a lot of people. If you haven’t figured this out yet, I think one of the reasons that we have survived as long as we have is because we work together as a team. Many hands make light work. So it is not just two people making dinner for everyone else. If they did that, by the time they got done cleaning up the dishes from breakfast, it would be time to start preparing lunch. They wouldn’t get anything else done. So we work together as a large group to make everything flow as easy as possible.

Now, I don’t want you to think that I am rubbing it in your face here. “Hey, look at how good we are eating!” We are surviving because of things like the Bakery and the Meat Department. I guess it is not surprising. Going all the way back to the beginning of time, the easier it was for people to eat, the more advanced their culture becomes. If they don’t have to spend all their time looking for food, they have more time to do things like art and music.

I think that with our food situation well in hand it will allow us to do things like outside sorties, sniper shooting zoms and writing online blogs that could educate people to a point that we might save their lives.

Day 85 – A Troublesome Sign of Faith

We are having an issue and I am not certain if I should be worried or proud. First, the catalyst. Yesterday, after her bible study, Janet took it upon herself to start bundling up what I can only describe as “care packages.” She said if people came along in need of supplies, it was our obligation to help them.

There was a very polite conversation and Janet understood where Tommy was coming from when he explained that she was making an individual decision based on something that technically belongs to all of us. She understood and apologized. Everyone agreed that no one really needs to ask for permission to do something here in the store but people do need to show just some common courtesy. If someone yells out, “Hey, I’m eating this beef jerky, anyone care?” Twenty voices call back, “No.”

And to be really honest, no one cared that Janet was putting together care packages for survivors that may or may not come by. It is a good Christian thing to do, helping out brothers or sisters in need. Kanen just made a really good comment: “Use the generics first.”

He makes a valid point. We do have plenty. So Janet used that yellow label Always Save brand, putting together packages that include canned goods, toilet paper, some Band-Aids, antiseptic, some cheapo razors, some candy, toothbrushes and toothpaste, vitamins and other handfuls of basic necessities that you take for granted to be able to just go the cupboards and get. But here is my issue.

It is not the generosity. I applaud Janet. It speaks to her character that she would want to help anyone in need. I see that shared attitude in Kim and Brad. Here is my question. Is Janet still living in the old world?

Is that world of compassion and caring gone? We have been fairly isolated here in Langley. Things fell apart for us quickly and we didn’t really have time to turn on each other when it came to supplies. From Round One, it was us versus the dead and that was it. What if there was a supermarket in a major metropolis and the people knew that the zombie horde was two towns over and shambling towards them? If there are still elements of law and order in place, if it has not just degenerated down into a free-for-all, are people whipping out pistols to get that last loaf of bread or that last gallon of milk?

Not everyone that comes knocking on our door is going to be hospitable like Eric and Kimber. If they see how well that we have it with food and security, they will beg us for a port in the storm. Could I turn someone away? Well, for me it depends on how big her boobs are and how good looking she is… Okay seriously, I doubt I could turn away a mother with a newborn given how much formula (powder and liquid) and diapers we have just sitting on shelves. But what if the refuge is some brute topping 6’5” and weighing in at 250-lbs? And if we tell him no, what might stop him from just coming in and taking it? Would we have to defend ourselves? Violently if necessary?

As much as I love Janet’s faith, I don’t believe that everyone out there is a child of the light. Prisons have been around as long as we have had civilization. Do I want to let some child molester in here with Alex? Do the laws of the old world even apply anymore?

Day 83 – A Positive Impact…

Back on Wednesday of last week, our group grew six people stronger and I am amazed at how much of a positive impact this has done for our group. I genuinely like each and every member of our crew. I am not taking anything away from anyone. Lance is still has that goofy immaturity that is incredibly entertaining. We have mother and father figures in Sharon and Fred. We have the older aunt-like figures in Janet. Our crew was not really lacking for anything that I could see.

But yet this infusion of new blood has seemed to revitalize everyone. The conversations around the dinner table are a little livelier. Spirits are higher. Seeing the interactions of a true married couple in Brian and Kelly are a wonderful reminder of that nuclear family unit. Nicki has seamlessly integrated with Lance and sweatpants group. They bond by discussing workout routines. I think if given enough time, Kimber might have solved the Israel/Palestine thing. I’ve never seen a person get along so well with anyone and everyone.

And Kilo has been a wonderful distraction for Alex. He has spoiled him with every toy and trinket from off of the dog food aisle. Alex and Kilo must have spent hours playing fetch with the bouncy balls from the pet section and they take turns chasing each other around the store. To hear Alex’s laughter as he interacts with this incredible animal is something I thought that I might not hear again.

Don’t get me wrong. We watch a lot of comedies. Dumb & Dumber was one of the first movies pulled off the shelf for movie night as a group. And we all laughed like fools even though a lot of us could have recited the movie line for line. “Big Gulps, huh? Well, see you later.” But I feared that it was induced laughter.

Is that even a medical term? I mean, no matter how depressed you are, how can you not set aside the world for two hours while you watch a comedy? You just forget about the world and laugh at the antics on the screen. That is the joy of movies.

But then you think about the world outside. Is there even room for laughter in that world anymore? I guess the philosophical answer would be, if there isn’t room for laughter then what the hell are we all fighting for? Is there room for spontaneous laughter?

I believe there is. I hope there is. Much the same as we all have embraced this new group of survivors, I think that laughter and humanity are still there. We may just have to dig a little deeper to uncover it… 

And so the ultimate question is: Are there other survivors out there?

 

Day 82 – Survivor Profile: Ashlynn & Becca

For this round of the Survivor Profile entries, I present to you one of the most lethal distance duos in our group. Yep, these are our snipers. I’ll put ours up against yours any day of the week and twice on Sunday…

 

 

Ashlynn Bishop: I think everyone knows a girl like Ashlynn. She is the girl that posts the crazy pictures of her nights out in the club that inevitably involve duck face at one point or another. I know for a fact that she has met at least two cast members from the Jersey Shore when they were on their club tours. But that his her weekend persona. I know I mentioned this before but she worked as an accountant for a small insurance agency in Vinita.

I have to admit, when things were just starting out and the walls were crashing down all around us, I really thought Ashlynn might have been the first to consider checking out. Despite her 9-to-5 in that Vinita office, she talked regularly about camping and being outdoors. She offset her office time during the week with time spent outdoors. Hunting, fishing, softball, getting muddy… I think being stuck inside is one of the biggest problems she has right now. Just being on the roof doesn’t cut it. But with Ashlynn spending time on the roof, she was quick to display a pretty impressive talent. She’s a really good shot. When sniper detail is needed on the roof, I trust her to cover other members if they are in the parking lot.

I have seen Ashlynn work. And I do mean work. When it came time to barricade the doors and lock this place down, she was hustling or even outhustling the rest of us. She will toss around a forty-pound bag a dog food with not a second thought. And she counterbalances that work with music and dancing. Her and Kim seem to always be talking about music and I think for her that is one of her escapes. She was so happy when Janet suggested Dance Party Thursdays. 

The only thing about Ashlynn that none of us mention is her son. He was in Ketchum elementary during Zero Hour. I don’t think I need to say any more… Way back when, we did a Survivor Guilt Circle where we all got to talk about all the people that were left behind. She only whispered about being a single mom. Some people can handle things. Others handle things by not saying anything, just out of sight, out of mind. It is one of those things where you can see the emotional knife wound that she has… So we just don’t say anything. 

 

Becca Cason: You know that expression “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I don’t think that has ever applied more to anyone than Becca Cason. Becca works as a cashier at a local winery up in Vinita. She had stopped in at Reason’s to get lunch for her crew when Zero Hour broke out. I have to admit, she doesn’t stand out much in a crowd. She is average height, average build, and not too flashy with the hair or the makeup. But when you speak to her, Becca has this razor sharp wit. Smart as a tack.

You can imagine our shock when she field stripped one of pistols to clean it in record time. As it turns out, her dad was a police officer for two decades. She claims she has been handling pistols and rifles since she was 8-years-old and to see her at work, cleaning and firing the weapons, you believe it. She even took two semesters of archery during her first year of college.

When it comes to the rooftop duties, Becca is probably one of our best shots so I am very glad to have her on protective duties. She is also pretty adamant about not going outside. She has some nice ideas for the sortie teams (“Can you pick up this?” “Be on the lookout for that.”) But she has very politely stated that there is no way she is going out into the dead zone.

She is not a coward but she seems to follow my same theory about Great White Sharks. You cannot get bit if you don’t go in the water. Out of everyone in the group, Becca is the only one that has not shared anything about her life before all this happened. I think she has an ex-husband. I don’t think she has any kids. It is like out of everyone in the group, Becca has learned to disconnect the best from the old world and the way things were. I wish I could get to that level myself. Like I mentioned above, I know Ashlynn needs it. We would probably all do better in the long run if we could get to that place but it is tremendously hard to let go sometimes. 

In the meantime, I am very glad to have her sniping skills made available to the sortie teams when it comes to the returning to base. On a good day, she drops as many zoms as Fred, Kasondra, Lance and Hunter. I am curious to see what she can do with a bow but we have more bullets than arrows than arrows right now so we are waiting to unleash that weapon until later…

 

Day 81 – Zombiology 101: Blood Frenzy

So I have warned you that zombies do not possess super strength and they seem to hunt with pretty much the same techniques that we do as far as sight and hearing. However, new evidence seems to suggest that their sense of smell does seem to be somewhat elevated… at least when it comes to one certain smell.

If you are out in the field, I am telling you now, check your cuts. We had an incident where one of our sortie team members suffered an injury from a jagged piece of corrugated steel when they were searching a barn for supplies. It was not a bad deal. We got him patched up and pumped him full of antibiotics. I could not imagine getting a bad case of tetanus in this situation.

Still, they said that there was a zom that came out of the farmhouse. Our crew has quickly developed a spreading out technique when they encounter a single zom so one person can make the clean kill without expending ammo. Well, Hunter was the one that experienced the cut. Zom could have easily gone to any member of the sortie team but this thing made a bee line for Hunter. It was a T-800 style of determination. The situation worked out well for the crew because Luke put the thing down quickly and quietly from behind. No gunshot was necessary that would draw in others. No fuss. No muss. But it had to be the blood dripping off Hunter’s hand. So, please, check your cuts.

Even now, as I am writing this, I cannot help but think back to those opening days, when everything was being FedExed to Hell on a handcart. I remember the thing that is so damn unnerving about these things is the abject lifelessness in their eyes. I mean, if you have ever had to deal with dead animals, you can look at their eyes and see that there is no light in them. Taxidermy animals never look right. Or, oh, (to make a second Terminator reference) remember when they would cut to that animatronic Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2 when he was taking down the SWAT team? There was something about that that just never looked quite right. And I think it was because of the eyes. There was just no life in them. Zoms are the exact same way. They don’t blink. They are just glassy eyed monsters.

But there is a time when they get really savage and animalistic. It is when they bring down a kill. Man, during Zero Hour, this one woman was just running for her life. (This was before we could fight back.) I watched a pack of four of them drag her down. The savage destruction of the feeding frenzy was pretty intense. And now that we are 81 days into this walking nightmare, the food source is starting to dry up.

I cannot imagine the savagery if a pack of these zoms could grab you and tear into you. I know this is going to be hard to swallow but you all need to get comfortable with this scenario. If you are part of a group and one of your members finds themselves compromised, if they are grabbed… You should seriously consider marking a special bullet for them because, honestly, being torn to pieces by a pack of these ghouls is one of the most horrible ways I can imagine to go out… 

Day 80 – Debating Attending Bible Study

Back in the first month, Janet was quick to set aside time on Sunday for her bible study. Thankfully, like most grocery stores, we have a collection of paperback books, a few hardcover books, and an assortment of magazines. Well, there was also a small collection of bibles and religious books for sale. I do think that the collection of magazines and books will be important to help keep everyone’s mind occupied. There are enough titles to keep even the most ardent readers occupied for quite a while. I cannot guarantee that any of those harlequin romance novels will be worth your time but I digress…

So pretty quick, Janet – being so strong in her faith – was one of the first to seek out the bibles amongst the rack. She has started out a bible study group that meets after breakfast on Sundays.

Don’t get me wrong. It is not like I am a nonbeliever or anything. I believe in God. I cannot remember the last time I was in a church. I don’t like to get lost in the whole ecumenical arguments. I will just say that I believe in a higher power and just leave it at that. Now, Janet’s faith is pretty darn strong.

And after the conversations that I have had with Janet, you cannot help but stop and wonder. I mean what the hell are these things? Is this God’s punishment? Is this some grand scheme, Armageddon, end of the world scenario or is it all just happenstance and chance that has left us alive at the end of the world?

Isn’t there something about the rapture where God calls home the souls of the believers? Could it be that these zoms are just soulless creations that are the result of a rapturing?

It is probably best not to even consider something like this as I have no way of confirming my suspicions. Maybe I need to sit in on some of the study sessions with Janet. I guess it could be a miracle and a blessing that we have survived this long.

But when you look around at the world at the state of affairs in the world right now, it is pretty easy to convince yourself that the Almighty has forsaken us. Again, probably best not to think about it. All it will do is drag me down…  

Day 79 – FoS: Department Report – Pharmacy

Reason’s did a big upgrade a few years ago. You can see it on the map. The almost the whole right side of the store was an expansion. This is where they moved things like the magazines, greeting cards, all the HBC products like medicine, soap, shampoos, razors, makeup, feminine hygiene, and tissue paper. Trust me, I am so, so happy that we have access to all of these things because it goes give us a semblance of normalcy. However, also in this section, is where they put in the pharmacy.

When Zero Hour erupted, only two pharmacy techs were in the store. The other pharmacy employees (the actual pharmacists) had not arrived yet. So, Kim and Jennifer were the only employees in the place. They know their way around all the pills fairly well. I think they know what something does if it ends in “illin.” They can help us find our way around antibiotics and all the various types of medicine.

I know that there is probably 50% of the stock in the pharmacy that we will never use. Certain geriatric medicines won’t be used. And I am willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy that there is not going to be a cure for whatever is causing this whole epidemic outside.

However, long before the world was FedExed to Hell on a handcart, the pharmacy stocked a large degree of narcotics and inventory that would go for a massive amount of coin out on the street. For this reason, the doors are very thick, made of metal and all the opening to the outside of the store (like where customers can approach) feature these security gates that come down to seal the place up on Sundays and after hours security.

Because of this, the Pharmacy makes for a pretty good area to serve as a Fall Back Zone, should our security be breached. The only hiccup is that there are windows to the outside world. I am concerned that a roving band of people that have not been infected to roll up and breach our security with something as simple as a thrown cinder block. As of right now, we have the windows covered with tin foil but we do need to reinforce the windows, maybe with the metal shelving that we have been breaking down as the inventory is running shallow.

It is kind of a double edged sword. While having the pharmacy is a huge benefit for us, it also makes us a target if people are so desperate that they are out running around (more than likely driving around) looking for medicine. Langley Drug is across the highway and that may be a more easily commandeered target. As far as we can tell, no one is over there and we have guns. So, booyah.     

Day 78 – Losing the Outside World

There is a pretty extensive amount of psychological damage that can happen to a person when they are out stealthing and skulking through the zombie apocalypse for over seventy days. So, for our new crew of six, we took things very easy. Ashlynn was one of the ones leading this charge because of the sheer “emotion dump” that you go through. (That is my term, not hers.) Ashlynn commented on how she was shocked at how well we have it here in the store and it was very emotional for her. I cannot imagine what these guys are going through, being out there and on the run for seventy days.

We really wanted to treat them with kids’ gloves and let them unwind. Sharon and the girls made up some really special food for our new arrivals. We let them sleep for as long as they wanted to. I swear, that first night, I think Eric slept for eighteen hours. We didn’t even attempt to wake them for the morning reveille.

But the more adjusted that they became, the more they opened up. I would like to think that it is us but they have adjusted and opened up to us tremendously. And I knew that this was a possible tension thing, I wanted to press them for information the same way I did with Shannon when she came over. 

And this is what we learned. April 29^th seems to be the Zero Hour outbreak day. So while things were erupting here in Langley, apparently is was hitting in Tulsa too. Eric talked about his shift. He was working overnight and was close to winding down when all this broke. It centered around three of the major hospitals (big surprise) and there was just no stopping it. The anarchy he described was unbelievable.

The chaos, the traffic jams that erupted… He said the complete snarl of mobilization just basically trapped people along the highways and main streets which turned people into a smorgasbord. But, being a cop, Eric knew the side streets and alleyways to get around Tulsa like only a cop could do.

Then, it was like the reverse of a horror movie. You know those movies where you have the paranormal serial killer starts taking out the cast of teenagers one at a time? It was like that in reverse. Eric saved Kimber. Kimber and Eric meet up with Justin. Eric, Kimber, and Justin meet Nicki. They make it to the outskirts of Tulsa and they hole up in Justin’s house in Catoosa.

Barricaded inside Justin’s house and armed with Eric’s weapons, they stay hunkered down, waiting for the chaos to subside. They stay there until the food runs out. They then start moving from house to house, staying silent and secure, hoping for some sort of help (military, CDC, police) to show up.

Unfortunately, that help never arrived. And keep in mind, Tulsa has a population of almost a million people. Add in Catoosa, Sand Springs, Jenks, etc. Whew. I am amazed that they made it out.

Their goal was to get up to Miami where Justin’s parents live on a cattle ranch. Making it out of Catoosa, they then made it on to Claremore where they encountered Brian and Kelly. They then boosted the SUV from a dealership in Claremore. Navigating down the turnpike, they made it to Adair and then into Langley. It was on Highway 28 that they encountered the two flat tires. With zoms staggering after them, they had to stop. I know I joked earlier about the Langley hotspot being the result of a Tulsa lake vacationer but now that actually seems like it could have been a real possibility.

So, Tulsa is gone. Claremore is overrun. But Adair is a ghost town. Did the zoms of Adair shuffle off to join others in more populated areas? You kind of think that it would be the other way around that zoms in heavy populated areas like Tulsa would eventually start bleeding out into the surrounding areas looking for food. And yet, now, it seems like more and more zoms seem to be clustering together according to what Eric has told us.

So now, that makes me curious about towns like Pryor and Vinita that are larger than Adair but smaller than Tulsa, Claremore and the other surrounding suburbs. Maybe we will be lucky enough to go explore there soon…