Is This Just Fantasy?

Gecks
Caravan - Designation Scout
North Florida QZ

This is going to be long and I still can't believe this isn't a fantasy. This is life now.

Holy fuck! I am not dead. I thought I was going to be, but I'm not. A lot has happened. I've been on a drop, a mission, and a detour, that is why I have been radio silent for so long.

New, Orleans is bad!!!!! Do not stop there!!!! The levees are about to go. They haven't been maintained in months. The dead wander the streets. The pumps don't work so the water isn't draining out of the city anymore either. I'm getting ahead of myself, that was part of my mission. I'll come back to that, but yeah, New Orleans is a no go zone guys. If you have to just drive through. The interstate is holding up as of now.

So, as I stated before we do supply runs, pick-ups and drop-offs via ground travel. There are no planes here. Some of you guys have been seeing some, but NFQZ is a bird free zone. We are trying to get some flight ready, but so far too much damage for them to fly. We have two stations up here one at NAS (Naval Air Station) Jax, where the birds are that we are trying to fly. And Mayport, Naval Station so we have the water at our back and only need to defend from one side. I read about Tampa, I've informed them to keep an weather eye out on the water side just in case, but we have the Atlantic at our back. Those undead would need to be made of some stern stuff to get to us. We are doing well with shrimp, that is what I dropped off this week. I make short runs between the two naval bases in town, but I also go further south to St. Augustine and Daytona. (I have only travelled inland to Gainesville and Ocala. I haven't seen Orlando, yet. We had a different mission. Another team took Orlando).

In Auggie, them folks are holed up in the Castillo de San Marco. You know the old fort made out of coquina. The people have been trying to get it from museum to battle ready. It has done well for protection, especially with some of the modern weaponry they have there. But, it isn't necessarily battle ready per se. Since, the incident was kind of sprung it did well in a pinch for about 100 people there.

I also made a run to Daytona. I dropped off some shrimp at the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light House and brought back some knowledge from their Marine Science and Ocean center. Also, got some citrus (yeah we can grow it, but they can also get their own shrimp, it's mostly for news and other human interaction).

Anyway, this drop, we learned something nifty. One of the scientists at one of the centers (they won't give specifics), is doing some experiments on the undead. One of them was to see how far they can get into the ocean and their effect on the inhabitants of the oceans. The fish and all other sea life, they scram from them. So, when you are looking out in the water to see if that is where they are coming from, watch for the sea life. Fish and ALL other sea life get away in a hurry, even jelly fish. I repeat even the jelly fish (which are mostly determined by ocean currents) try and get away. And yes, the scientists fished it back out and burned it to ash. They are going to see what depth does to the body next, but I am going to go with the assumption it does the same as it would to any human body, it crushes it.

Right, so now the mission. Simple enough travel as far east as possible while looking for signs of life. We had cleared a lot of I-10 of car remains, but we hadn't made it out past Lake City yet. This was our chance. Tally has a QZ, they were nice. We didn't stay long, just enough to get some fuel and be on our way. We paid in some medical supplies. The barter system is my favorite thing. I don't know why we ever went to that paper shit. Back on track. Anyway, we continued on and found a QZ in Pensacola at the Air base there. They have birds that work. They gave us a few supplies we need for ours. We gave them some food, and ammo. We stayed there for a night. They told us about a few other places, I didn't tell them about the internet yet. And that I knew about some of the things they told us. I don't fully trust them, but they have planes and I know Tyler has let them land. Something seems off with them though, I'm not sure what.

We passed through Gulfport (it's a wash). Getting out of their alive was hell. The casinos left everyone defenseless. Everyone was so busy gambling they didn't know what was going on. Gulfport, MS is a deadzone. Mobile had gas and oil and we had to take the detour on that one, because the tunnel that is used to stay on I-10 instead of taking 90 was blocked with undead. Like they were guarding it. There were no cars at all or anything. We stocked up on oil and gas and used 90, but holy shit was that bad. I don't know if someone is directing the groaners or if they are gaining mob mentality type shit. But, that blockade at I-10 forced us to take 90 and I kid you not, groaners just lined the streets. I did everything I could as passenger to make sure myself and my driver (my best friend Shana, pronounced Shawna) out of there alive. Us and The Rig had to travel behind Back-up the entire way through. No more groaners on I-90 in Mobile, AL.

Finally, we made it to New Orleans. There are floaters and groaners, screamers, and droolers. I killed 100 zoms in New Orleans alone. They were EVERYWHERE, there. The streetcars are decaying and stopped randomly along the lines. Bourbon St. is gone. The French Quarter in general is gone. It's just water and dead. And floaters are my term for the drowned dead or those that died and ended up in the water. The gasses release and they come to the surface and it keeps it impersonal so I don't have to think of them as people. But yeah, there aren't that many screamers, but we found 2. I don't know how those people survived so long, just to end up one of them or why it took so long. Maybe, it was the water like y'all were saying, but this is a city run by the dead. Maybe, it was just a matter of time before they were turned. We checked the Naval Station on the other side of Algiers, but it was a zombie town. There was nothing there. All of the boats were gone too. We turned tail once we realized the Mighty Mississippi was about to take over and it was just a city for the dead at that point. I mean it may be days, weeks, or months before the levees fully give, but the pumps are caput. So, we figure either the Mississippi will go over the levees or the city will drown itself to meet the Mississippi. We camped out that night on the side of the highway just outside of New Orleans on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain, in Slidell.

We only stopped to refuel on the way back. We'll make another excursion and try and go further next time. We wanted to bring news back home and we need to consult some maps back here, to find a way around New Orleans. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is untravellable. It is partially flooded and too many dead on the small causeway, plus the blockage of cars. Like I said, untravellable. Well, that is all for now. I need to get some sleep while I know I am safe. If you have questions ask me in the comments. I'll answer. If you need more information about something as well, put it in the comments. Lastly, hopefully I'll be able to write more with less time in between. I am not scheduled for another long mission for a few weeks. We need to plan ahead better after the New Orleans and Mobile fiascos.