Two hours. All told to clear that floor that is. At the end of it we all threw up. I tried so damn hard to play tough and not hurl but I just couldn’t manage it. The smell, and the disgusting mess we found inside some of the apartments was just too awful. I need to dunk my head in bleach to try and scour the memories of that place out. There were several piles of dead bodies mostly destroyed in a few of the apartments. I know the zombies bite us, and kill us, but for the most part, they don’t sit around eating us afterward. Once we’re dead, they move on.
These piles of bodies were eaten. Right to the bone in many cases. You know what probably ate them right? The other survivors. Living folks, eating other living folks. Well, they might’ve been eating dead folks, but the fact is it is cannibalism either way. That also might explain why they got so sick. Human bodies are loaded with all kinds of bacteria and shit. We are not safe to consume.
Fucking gross.
Back to the stairwell we went to the fire door Martin had welded shut. I guess it’s fortunate he had the presence of mind to bring his basic welding kit back to the building when shit hit the fan. Remind me to ask him about how that story went down Mr. Journal. After meeting him and his wife Julie today, they seem like good people.
Anyway, we had to pry the fire door open with the halligan as he cut with a torch from the other side. It was a good hour’s worth of sweaty, hot ass work to get the door free, and to think he said this was the door that was only “lightly” welded. What the fuck are the other doors like?
Unfortunately experience has taught us to greet strangers with the business end of our guns, and when I got the door free they got to see Abby and Hector aiming down their throats. I think they were taken aback by it, but oh well kids. Too many villains and not enough heroes in this world for us to go around giving everyone our trust right off the bat.
After we were sure they were up to good stuff, we put the guns away, and did some hand shaking. I already mentioned names and such. Zach and Ryan were the hydroponics and weed experts. Alex and George are the gay couple (who are super nice, incidentally, which may or may not be a total stereotype), and then Martin and Julie with their little guy Chester. Chester is the shit incidentally. Tiny guy full of piss and vinegar as Gilbert would say.
They gave us a full tour of the place and I’m pleased to say, it wasn’t a complete shit show. For a pair of stoners, Zach and Ryan sure do have their shit together. Using the juice from the solar panels on the roof they’ve got a full hydroponics bay set up in the light coming through the balcony windows. The juice runs the pumps, and they’re using their own poop to fertilize the plants. I guess they haven’t gotten sick at all yet, so they must be on to something. They’ve got tomatoes, onions, potatoes, spinach, carrots, and cauliflower.
Good stuff. All they are missing is a protein source. Fortunately, we have eggs, milk, venison, and when we have spare adult chickens, we’ll have chicken meat as well. When we shared the fact that we had all that, to a one I think they all burst into tears.
This is going to sound bad, but watching them break down made me feel great. Legit. Knowing that I was the bearer of news so good that their emotions spilled out made me feel pretty terrific. Alex just looked at me like I was the second coming and smiled and smiled.
Before we left, we had to ask the tough question. The single question. What did they want to do? Hector and Abby agreed that they all seemed like great people, and if they were willing, we’d be more than happy to have them back at campus. Granted, like everyone else there each of them would have to toe the line and put in their fair share of work, but they were welcome if they were willing.
They wanted out bad. All of them. The idea of being out on a large, open safe area away from that building was almost more joy than they could handle. When they agreed that they would all return to campus with us, I radioed down to the ground crew we were leaving with the whole package of seven. Gilbert and Patty replied in the affirmative, and after they packed some of their most critical belongings, we were off.
Climbing down the fire truck ladder is harder than climbing up it. Leering down at how far you’re about to fall is nerve-wracking. When you’re on the way up, all you see is the step in front of you, and the sky above. Looking down is a lot like going over a cliff, or jumping out of a perfectly good airplane at jump school. Gave a bunch of us the heebie jeebies. It didn’t help that we had a nine year old boy to hold onto.
Patty wrapped that kid up like he was made of solid gold when they got near the bottom. She helped him off the ladder and you could see the joy on her face to have another little boy in her midst. It’s moments like these that make me remember and miss Randy. I didn’t even know him that long. I can’t imagine what goes through her and Abby’s head.
Tough day for memories for me now that I sit back and realize it. Thoughts of Gavin and Randy both have hit me hard lately. I hope to god wherever they are, they are resting and happy.
I suspect they are not though, and that doubt will ruin many a night’s sleep for me.
Gilbert shook everyone’s hand as they came off the ladder. He’s such a good politician, as well as a welcoming old man. I love having him as a part of our crew.
Shit that reminds me, before we return to the clear the first two floors tomorrow, we’re going to try Gilbert’s loads he did for us in the armory. He swears up and down we’ll love them, and frankly, I’m excited to shoot them. He said we have enough for a full combat load out for three people, and we loaded up the magazines ourselves tonight as we got everyone settled into living space here on campus. Before we go out, we’ll pop off a few rounds to test them out.
Lindsey agreed to take in Martin, Julie, and Chester at the farm on Jones Road. That’s awesome, because they need to be outside in the fresh air, and it’s a great idea to get Lindsey some company. She’s been very much out of sorts since her daughter died in the attack, and having an extra kid around might do the trick for helping her start to round that corner and regain her positivity.
Alex and George are sort of a problem though. I am fairly certain Ollie does not like gay people, so sticking him in with Ollie and Melissa seems like a bad idea. Soooo… we put them in Hall A on the second floor in the old staff housing apartment upstairs. It’s nice and separate, better than most of the housing available, and gives them a little distance from Ollie in the event I’m right, and he decides to get all righteous and Christian on them. Hopefully I’m wrong about it.
Ryan and Zach are a pair Mr. Journal. They were staring at our weapons like we had walked straight off a bad action movie poster. I think they thought were complete bad asses, especially Abby. A cute chick who can hang with the big boys and drop the hammer as good as any of them? If I were their age, I’d have a boner over her too. I pray to the powers that be that neither of them are stupid enough to try hitting on her. They are not her type, she’s still not over Gavin, and she knows how to use her firearms.
We stuck them in Hall E with us on the third floor. Down the way from where Gavin made his room. I am not sure why, but they gave his spot a wide berth when they chose rooms. I wonder if he has some kind of residual cock-blocking presence up there? I’m hoping once we get them set up they become industrial gardeners. I’m a little concerned they’ll start grow operation for weed and smoke themselves retarded, but we really need the food they can offer us over winter. I guess I’ll play the cards when that hand is dealt.
Now that the top floor is clear, we can get all their hydro gear up and out. It didn’t make a ton of sense for us to just rescue the people today. We know we want the building for strategic purposes, and we knew we’d likely get the stoners to return back with us, so we felt it was best for us to clear the top floor, make a safe evacuation route, and then deal with the other shit later. Time will tell if this was a shit plan or not.
Mallory is dead asleep next to me. When Hector, Abby and I were upstairs playing hero the streets got a little thick with walkers, and they had to earn dinner tonight. She was so wiped when we got back she ate, and pretty much put her face right into a pillow. She had a lot of trouble hearing anything tonight too. I'm sure she suffered some hearing loss from all the gunfire. I know I'm half deaf. I’m sitting up in bed typing on the laptop here, and she’s got her arm draped across my lap. I’m using it plus a small pillow as a computer table. Too funny.
One day I’ll let her read all this, and she’ll give me shit that I used her for that.
So we left everything behind at the building. Tomorrow we go back in through the roof, get down to the second floor, bust that door open, and make sure the remainder of the building is safe. Once that’s done, if there is enough time, we’ll transport all of Zach and Ryan’s plants back here so we can set up a larger hydroponics deal. They say they need gear to do it, and by golly, we’ll get them that gear. Fresh produce all winter will be the balls.
Oh fuck... we need a barn for the cows for winter. Jesus the work never ends.
Sigh. Wish us more luck Mr. Journal. I have the sinking suspicion tomorrow will be much worse than today was.
-Adrian
June 22
nd
We definitely should’ve skipped clearing the bottom two floors of that goddamn apartment building. What a shit show.
Injuries are everywhere here today, and we’re lucky no one got fucking killed. Someone without a doubt had our back yesterday, and I’ve been knocking on wood all day saying thanks.
Tired. Where to start?
Yesterday morning we rolled back into town with the intention of clearing out the bottom two floors of the frigging apartment building. We encountered 14 undead on the fifth floor, and we were operating under the assumption that the bottom two floors would be worse. The residents, especially Martin, said he was sure there were at least 20-30 undead on those two floors, and he was a little short on his guess, but more or less spot on otherwise.
38 was the final tally. All dead. Our injuries were fucking stupid though. Dumb little mistakes in tight spaces, and god bless Hector, but he’s just not used to working with Abby and I, and he was almost more in the way than helpful. Here’s the final injury count, and corresponding stories associated with them.
Abby broke a toe. Maybe two. Her whole foot is swollen and sore. Her injury came about halfway through the purge when we were heading from the second floor down to the first. Inside the stairwell was a roaming zombie, and when we opened the door, I snapped off a round and killed him, and god knows why, but he fell down forward, right past me, and somehow managed to head butt the poor girl’s foot, smashing her pinky toe and the one next to it. She tried to push on, but it hurt so much and she was hobbling all over the place so awkwardly we got her up and out, and Gilbert took her spot in the stack. Actually, he took the rear of the stack, but who’s counting?
No sooner had he joined us when Hector went down. We had just booted in an apartment door and engaged about three undead inside. Gilbert fired in the hallway to our rear at the same time killing something, and Hector was half in the doorway at the time. He spun to put his barrel on the area Gilbert was shooting at, and somehow managed to smash the hell out of his hand on the doorframe. We think it’s just a really bad bruise, but when he gets back to Westfield, he’ll need xrays to see if any bones are broken. Hector was out, then Angela and Amanda was in.
At that point we were dangerously inexperienced, but mostly done. I debated calling the whole thing off, but we slowed everything down, and went over every door’s plan before opening it. I’m happy to report that the two sisters did really well, and held up under pressure. Angela is a beast I should add. Maybe the fact that Danny was her husband gave her some mental fortitude for this? Anyway, she was a ball buster, and if I can spend some more time behind the sights with her, she’ll probably develop into a helluva trigger puller. Gotta love the women I keep finding.
Having said that, Amanda’s strong suit is not shooting in close quarters. She was marginally useful at best, missing at least two thirds of her shots, and after an hour of clearing rooms, she was deaf as hell. Fortunately, she wasn’t involved too much in the fighting. We were done shortly after that.
Oh yeah shit. Gilbert took a fucking ricochet off something in the fucking leg. One of his reloads too ironically, which gave us both a laugh. Gilbert kept going on and on how “appropriate” it was that all his hard work was biting him in the ass. That guy is too funny. It was nice to have him in the fight though. He’s such a calming, steady influence in the shit. He's always on point, focused, listening, and just awesome. I wish he was fifteen years younger so we could really make some fucking progress. He and I Mr. Journal, we could tear shit up.
Also, I’m happy to report that Gilbert’s reloads were the hotness. They worked amazingly and without flaw in the M15’s, but I had a few misfires in the M4. Hector shot clean until he went out of commission, but all in all, for a relative noob doing reloads, Gilbert did us a solid. If he can continue with that kind of quality work ongoing, I’ve got total confidence in his skill.
So. It took us what? Two full hours to clear just the fifth floor the other day? It took us eight full hours to do the bottom two. What a soup sandwich. The injuries really started the toe pushing for us because we had to hit up the fucking minor leagues to fill out the roster. Once again I was missing Gavin like a motherfucker. He, Abby and I were a fucking clearing machine. We would’ve pulled Patty up from the ground to lend a hand, but she was our most experienced and mobile shooter on the outside, and if we were hit by survivors, or a huge pack of undead, we couldn’t risk her not being there to help the gimp squad we’d sent down.
I mean all in all it was a resounding success. Minor injuries that were easily dealt with, and now, officially, we own that fucking place. When we were on the roof exiting yesterday it was Gilbert, Amanda, Angela and I and we stopped to take in the view. The weather has been spectacular. Sunny, high 70s, no humidity, and just fucking awesome. It was a wonderful way to cap it all off, after we all got done emptying our fucking guts out. At least this time I was smart enough to not eat anything right before heading in. Mostly dry heaves for me.