Adrian's Undead Diary (Book 6): In the Arms of Family (34 page)

Close call. Ever been pinned down by sniper fire? It’s the suck. Breaks morale like no one’s business. Luckily, Abby was the tactical shit for us. When she sped away in her humvee she went all the way around the building and gunned it down the road past where Caleb was shot and where the Outsider wagon was torched. Based on where we heard the shots coming from, she took her truck and the team inside down a small side street where some houses were, and rolled right the fuck up behind the shooter’s position.

Stupid bastard was only three hundred yards from us, and was holed up in a small ranch. Abby saw a small diesel Jetta in the yard, with the trunk open and a backpack on the roof. When Abby, Amanda, and Hector got out, the guy had nowhere to go but straight towards us, or back and out towards them. Abby hollered out for him to give up or get shot, and when he started to shoot out the front door at them, they just dumped a magazine into the place they thought he was standing. As it turns out, 5.56 rounds can penetrate a front door, and a person behind that door from about twenty feet away. We are now +1 diesel Jetta, and -1 asshole Outsider.

Asymmetrical warfare it’s called. When you can’t fight fair, fight dirty. Hit them with snipers, bombs, and all manner of guerilla warfare. Stick and move. If that’s the idea they’re putting in play, then I might be in for a very rough September. I’m legitimately worried that we don’t have the manpower to roll out in force in that area if they decide to get us again. I mean hell, if they had hit one or two of us while all those zombies were still around, we might’ve been down vehicles, then down people, then just plain old down.

If they have a sniper that’s got half a brain, he’d take one or two shots, displace, and disappear. Long engagements just don't work unless you've got a group working with you that can maneuver on your target while you suppress them with the sniper fire. We don’t know he’s gone, and we’ll sit there with our heads down for an hour. We got really lucky this time. Really lucky.

This isn’t like fighting insurgents in Baghdad though. I don’t really have the same fear of IEDs here that I did then. Artillery shells and the expertise to make bombs out of them isn’t something found in America. I mean maybe they can make bombs, and clearly if they’re like, militia assholes or ex-military that’s a worry, but honestly, it seems unlikely.

So what to do?

I don’t know. I haven’t had enough time or input from folks to formulate a real plan to deal with this. Obviously these guys are hostile. Clearly hostile. Every time we see them, we get shot at. Every damn time. They’ve shot at us downtown here, as well as on the fringes of the city miles and miles away. That tells me it isn’t territorial. Well actually, maybe it is. Maybe they’re headed this way the same time we’re headed that way.

Maybe they’re out of shit where they are, and they’re headed this way to try and find more stuff. My stuff. Our stuff. I wonder what the deal is.

As I said before, we’re on a shoot first protocol. I’m not risking shit. As far as being proactive is concerned… I need to get some consensus ideas from my brain trust. Here is where I miss Gilbert. With any luck I’ll have another dream where the old coot drops the wisdom on me. I’m just a Ranger flunk out. He was legit Special Forces. I’ll take his ideas over mine any day.

Funny that I’m seriously sitting here hoping to get real time intelligence and advice from a dead man in a dream. What a world.

We emptied the plumbing shop. Top to bottom took the whole place. Ryan came with us yesterday, and he was elated with everything we took. Pumps, pipes, fittings, tape, tools, soldering shit, etc. Martin came with us as well and he had a bit of a wet dream as we loaded the semi. He said whatever Ryan didn’t use he could work miracles with. Too cool. Martin still wants more, and I want him to get it as well.

Today we focused on two goals. We achieved one, and will be working on the other for some time. What goal was finished?
 

The fucking Wall. It’s done. Hard to believe Mr. Journal. At least, it’s sealed around the entirety of campus, and it’s sturdy and awesome and only needs finishing touches which will require far less labor than the actual construction did. I will sleep fairly well now that we have rotating guards at the gate, and a huge fucking wall around the entire campus. It has made coming and going a bit of a pain in the ass, but we’ve had to sacrifice a little freedom of movement for security. It’s like living in a castle.
 

Or a Bastion.

Abby mentioned to me today that we need to go back to our safe house to renew the date it was last cleared on. April was the date we both thought. In order for folks to use the safe house to contact us, we need to make sure the radio is still charged, which by now I’m sure it isn’t, and there’s still fresh food and water there. Well, that and we need to make sure there are no zombies inside again. She’s kind of excited that we might actually get folks to come here to live with us, and she wants to get the safe house back up to spec in that regard.

Martin is heading back out on the 25
^th
to get the rest of the solar panels as well as get his welding supplies. I’m going to ask him to hit the safe house, and remove all signs of its presence. I no longer want to invite ANYONE up here while we’re still dealing with the Outsider threat. Shit, one of those assholes could easily play stupid, call us up, act awesome and we just let them in.

Fuck that. Bastion’s doors are now closed to anyone we can’t vet personally, or through time and trial. No one gets in unless we all agree it’s safe. We’ve still got a killer inside here with us, and I don’t want to let any others in.

Abby won’t be pleased that I disregarded her request. In fact, I fully anticipate catching holy hell from her. I also need to tell Abby that Gavin loves him. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow. That might buy me a reprieve from the ass chewing she’s going to give me.

Sigh.

-Adrian

August 26
^th

It’s sort of nerve wracking being the messenger for a dead man. Especially when you’re delivering serious news about love and life. I am sitting here remembering how scared shitless I was to talk to Cassie that night in the strip club and I am starting to think there is a pattern emerging. I am a giant pussy when it comes to girls.

A few days ago I took Abby for a long walk around campus to check on the wall, and tell her about the dream I had with Gavin. I sat her down at the top of the berm wall with our feet dangling, looking into the forest to the north of campus, right near maintenance. We talked about all manner of issues, and after being really practical talking about security, and various mundane issues, I flat out asked how she was doing.

She played tough. She said she was fine, couldn’t be better, etc. I let her put up the show, and after she was done explaining just how bulletproof she was, I called her out. I mentioned she had to still be messed up over Gavin, and I knew the whole Mike/her mom issue was messing with her. She got really quiet, and didn’t say anything for a few minutes. I let her have a moment, and then I added that I was worried, and that I knew she missed Gavin, and that I felt Patty had handled the Mike thing wrong, and that she had every right to be pissed off at a large amount of people. Never mind the whole issue of being shot at multiple times, and the constant work level and stress we exist under.

I tried to explain that I cared for her, and that I wanted to make sure she knew she could talk to me. She looked up with those damn wet eyes, and then I got all emotional, and she slid next over next to me, and the two of us had a good old cry. God I can’t stand being a fucking pussy. Why is it that I just melt lately? I’m such a wreck.

It doesn’t help that I love that girl to death now, and anytime she’s hurt, it’s like my own blood is running free. I’ve never been a father, but I suspect the feeling is damn similar.
 

She was pissed at her mom. That was the real issue. She felt her mom had been lying to her for some time, and the evidence points to a certain amount of that being damn well true. I don’t think Patty was being malicious, I just think she was afraid of hurting Abby, and this was the result. Abby wasn’t so much pissed that her mother had found someone other than her father, it was more the idea of being deceived by her lone surviving family member. It also didn’t help that Patty still hadn’t really talked to her about it, despite Abby making some awkward attempts at starting the conversation.

I told her I’d try to talk to Patty about it, and Abby said don’t bother. I agreed that I wouldn’t. Abby wants her mother to come to her on her own, not after I prompt her to do it. Can’t say that I blame her.

After we got that off the plate, I told her all about the dream. I tried to make it easy to take, but as soon as I told her I had a dream the other day, she perked up. She knew about the first dream where I saw Gavin. I told her Gavin said that he loved her, and that sent the both of us back to Pansyland where it’s always raining tears. She knew he’d say that. I also told her that he wanted her to be happy, and to not wait around for him. He didn’t want her to be lonely. She shook her head predictably, saying she’d love him forever.

I told her she could still love him, and be with another person, and love them too. Sometimes the memory of what was keeps us stranded in the past, wishing and hoping for things to go back to the way they were. Unfortunately, the past is the past, and if we aren’t living for the present, informed and taught by the past, then there isn’t a lot of hope. I love Cassie. I will always love Cassie. I made my mistakes with her, and I can’t ever make them quite right again, but I need to move on, and be happy with who I’m with now.
 

I explained all that to Abby, and she seemed to take it all and dismiss it. I just hope she understands that it isn’t betrayal to love again.

After our hour or two chat in the evening we headed back inside. The fucking mosquitoes were horrifying anyway.

Yesterday Martin and I led a team outside the wall to hit the safe house to take it down, scour the area nearby for scrap metal, restock MGR, and hit another house to remove solar panels. Amazingly, we did all of that and got it done in a reasonable amount of time. We did head out early, which gave us a nice head start on the day, but I think we rolled back over the bridge around 7pm.
 

I do need to check in with Blake on our fuel situation. He has unofficially taken over the responsibility of monitoring it as we refuel the vehicles, so he’s the guy to ask. I know with our runs to the warehouse as well as the plumbing shop, but Martin’s constant need for panels and metal and whatnot, we’re eating away at diesel like a mother fucker. It might be a good time to fill that damn water truck up with diesel fuel and stash it away somewhere so we have a nice reservoir on hand should something happen. We might also need a gasoline run from the gas station downtown. Frankly, it might be a good idea to find some kind of mass storage and just drain every drop out while we can.

If the Outsiders are going to steal anything that’ll hurt us, it’ll be the fucking gasoline left in the few service stations in town. It makes a lot of sense right now to hit those places, empty them the fuck out, and save ourselves a lot of hassle later if they’re drained by the Outsiders.

The safe house hadn’t been touched by anything. There were two undead milling about in the back yard that Hector put down with the stock of his M4, and other than that, nothing of note. The water and food was still there, as was our radio. We took the sign, and before you knew it, it was like we were never there.

Mike and Patty were good at MGR after we removed a house’s panels. Oh, that went well too. Nothing of note. MGR had three or four undead out and about nearby, and when we realized we hadn’t really accumulated any scrap metal to bring back, we elected to remove the bodies from the street so there was less of a sign that we were occupying MGR.

Nasty ass work. Once the bodies start to rot they get heinous. Rubber gloves, bleach, and vomit were the order of the day. It makes me not want to remove or deal with all the dead bodies scattered around town. There are a lot of them too. Shit, just near the clinic there has to be a hundred in the fucking road. I’m thinking we evacuate, and nuke them from orbit.

Kill them with fire, I think is the phrase.

At some point we will need to address the issue of the bodies, but it isn’t critical, and it is an unnecessary risk at the moment. I can just see the nightmare scenario of what would happen if three or four people were killed or captured while on body cleanup duty. I’d be strung up for making that call. Now yesterday’s case of us already being at MGR is different. We were out, and it makes tactical sense to clear those bodies away.

When we returned we threw them on the pyre spot, and got the fire going again. More vomit, lots of gross smoke, and a few stiff drinks later and everything was alright.

Today was boring. Not gonna lie.

I didn’t want to clear Martin to travel outside the wall again, despite him being really antsy to go. His wife Julie has been bitching about the constant days he’s outside not with her, and not with little Chester, who isn’t getting any smaller. I told Martin to chill with his family, and give everyone else the day off.

The past few days have seen Ryan building like a goddamn stoner high as a kite. He’s got a handful of hydro setups made already, and at the rate he’s going, with the help he’s getting, he’ll have everything set up and fully operational in a few weeks. What does bother me, is that when Abby and Becca aren’t hanging out, Becca has been hanging with Ryan. Now I am not saying that Ryan is below my sister, but if he touches her, I’ll murder him and find someone else to maintain the hydro gear.

Sorry, but I have to draw the line somewhere. She’s my little sister. Nothing touches her vagina while I am on watch.

Sorry Becca. Rules are rules.

What else? Still no evidence regarding the arsonist. No other murders or suicides either, which doesn’t prove or disprove that the asshole(s) are here or not. I don’t know what else to do about it. Maybe the dickhead is just biding his time until the perfect moment to strike to totally fuck us over. If he’s working for evil, then that makes a lot of sense eh?