I just have a few minutes.

Pastor Dan
Eastern Wisconsin
Fox River Valley QZ

I picked up another cistern disposal shift to pick up a few extra minutes of power and computer time today. I don't have long, but I want to start telling my story. Every day the Commandant reminds us of all the things that COULD still kill us, and before that happens, I want to say how I got here, after everything went crazy. You see, I wasn't supposed to be here at all.

My family has had a plan since the Cuban Missile Crisis that, should some major, world ending event come (they, of course, were thinking nuclear apocalypse, not the groaners) then we would get together at the lake house in Kentucky. (More I won't say, in case some did make it and others are reading this.) It was remote, surrounded by good farm land and a good supply of fresh water. We figured it would be a good place to dodge the worst, and if we did end, hey, we'd end together.

After the cameras bled I started making my plans for Rose and I to go, but the trip was already impossible. Directly in our way was Milwaukee and the screamers were pouring out of Brewer town like a flood, and beyond that was Chicago.

Shit, Chicago. Haven't even THOUGHT that name in a month.

Anyway, Rose disagreed. She reasoned that we'd be safe here... all these hunters, all these rifles, all this ammo... it'd be safer than making a dash across half the continent with who knows how many groaners and how little gas. Plus... well... My church was here. My people. The world had ceased to make sense and she reminded me that I couldn't just leave them. It sickens me that I needed to be reminded, but at the time, all I could think of was family.

The QZ project hadn't quite been kicked off yet, but we didn't wait for them. I gathered my church leaders up (looking like some kinda movie hero giving a good speech) and said we'd make ourselves, and anyone else who wanted in, safe. Our one rule was that everyone was welcome. It was what our church had been built on and we were gonna build our little compound similarly. We had a massive stock of supplies thanks to a great hunting and gardening year, and a huge stretch of land with some strong houses and barns. We split up space, set up guarding outposts, had a perimeter fence and an interior one set up from fences pulled from members farms.

It looked Great.

Every evening there was a prayer service available that I led. The community was already far bigger than our little congregation, but most came just for something to do other than watch the news... where the news was even still on. I gotta imagine that's a lot like what it feels to be a cult leader, and I didn't like it. We were Presbyterian, after all. So we held a new election for our Elders, including non church members, and soon had a Session that represented everyone (as well as we could manage) who had taken refuge in the compound.

When the last TV signal (good ol' Public TV) and the internet went down, we settled in for the long haul.

The "long haul" turned out to be about a month.

I'm outta time. More later.