Pastor Dan
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
It's been a little while since I posted. I am being watched, and as I type this, several very serious looking men with some SERIOUS equipment are monitoring the wifi signal. I think they are going to try to triangulate it, to find the source. It's the only reason they allowed me to log on.
It has been... interesting... the past couple of days. There were a couple of log on attempts under my name over that time and none worked. The first time when they used my old Google password it wasn't accepted. That got me into some trouble, and when I tried, I found it had been changed, with a clue I was able to decipher in order to find the new password.
Then they tried to log on with THAT password... and it had changed again.
Then I tried. And here I am. Writing what I want because the moment I step away from the screen, everything stops, and the commandant isn't desperate enough to go straight to threatening my life yet... especially as the QZ needs ME to log on at all. The reason they're letting me write any of this is, I think, to see if others are having similar difficulties.
It's funny. I haven't spared a thought for the groaners for days. Government guys with guns, though...
I am so worried about you all. We could handle the undead, no problem. But this... it has made targets of us, and a bunch of you didn't need that. None of us needed this... except maybe, maybe we did. Maybe being able to talk, to share,
Hell, I'll say it. I needed it.
Their machines are beeping and I think that means they're gonna pull the plug. I'll keep typing, though, and maybe the blog will save what I ty
Showing posts with label Pastor Dan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pastor Dan. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Something has Changed
Pastor Dan
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
I'm not entirely sure what is going on out there, but one thing is for sure... our writers are going quiet. I hope, hope, HOPE you all are still okay but aside from the waves of the dead beating at our various safe houses and quarantine zones, something or someone out there has become aware of this archive and isn't entirely sure that they like it, and I am not precisely sure why.
I came back from another run about a week ago and was met by soldiers who ordered me into confinement with no word as to why. At the time I assumed it had something to do with the Commandant's fear of religion, but Rose let me know that the other preachers, though still watched, are still out and about doing their thing. No one told her why I was being imprisoned, and we strongly suspected the only reason they even let her visit was so she could reassure those who still listened to me that I wasn't dead to avoid unrest.
Then, just yesterday, the Commandant came down and talked to me. About the archive.
He asked who you all were. WHERE you all were. How I had managed to reactivate this particular bit of the internet, and how I made it impervious to government interference. Apparently they've been trying to shut us down for months, to commandeer the archive as a form of inter-QZ communication, and it doesn't let them even log on.
So finally he asked, how was I doing it, and would I stop doing it in return for a better position within the command structure. I told him I wasn't doing it, that I didn't know how it was working.
So a word out there to ALL of you, to anyone who is left reading and writing. Something has, apparently, chosen us, and whatever that something is, it is making our governments nervous. I am writing this with oversight. In the future I might not be. I don't know what they'll do, or who it is who lets us write these words.
Who else is there?
Is anyone else still listening, or have your own oversight groups decided to shut you down?
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
I'm not entirely sure what is going on out there, but one thing is for sure... our writers are going quiet. I hope, hope, HOPE you all are still okay but aside from the waves of the dead beating at our various safe houses and quarantine zones, something or someone out there has become aware of this archive and isn't entirely sure that they like it, and I am not precisely sure why.
I came back from another run about a week ago and was met by soldiers who ordered me into confinement with no word as to why. At the time I assumed it had something to do with the Commandant's fear of religion, but Rose let me know that the other preachers, though still watched, are still out and about doing their thing. No one told her why I was being imprisoned, and we strongly suspected the only reason they even let her visit was so she could reassure those who still listened to me that I wasn't dead to avoid unrest.
Then, just yesterday, the Commandant came down and talked to me. About the archive.
He asked who you all were. WHERE you all were. How I had managed to reactivate this particular bit of the internet, and how I made it impervious to government interference. Apparently they've been trying to shut us down for months, to commandeer the archive as a form of inter-QZ communication, and it doesn't let them even log on.
So finally he asked, how was I doing it, and would I stop doing it in return for a better position within the command structure. I told him I wasn't doing it, that I didn't know how it was working.
So a word out there to ALL of you, to anyone who is left reading and writing. Something has, apparently, chosen us, and whatever that something is, it is making our governments nervous. I am writing this with oversight. In the future I might not be. I don't know what they'll do, or who it is who lets us write these words.
Who else is there?
Is anyone else still listening, or have your own oversight groups decided to shut you down?
Friday, May 29, 2015
Getting Warmer
Pastor Dan
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
I know that everyone down south probably doesn't want to hear this... but I am already getting tired of this heat. We've really needed the rain we've had for the last couple of weeks, but combined with the heat the humidity is just getting ridiculous, and the mud is making Runs more dangerous. Just yesterday I had a bad stumble when I hit a patch of mud. I was just jogging for the sake of moving faster, but if there'd been groaners on me...
Well, then, this blog would have one poster less.
I get more and more reports these days about the different Doomsday cults that are out there, a lot of them Post-Christian. I think the Commandant likes sharing those stories with me... like he's telling me to give up the whole faith thing and just be another runner.
Sometimes, I'm tempted.
It's not a uniquely religious thing... suicide rates have been flat out ugly since the Cameras bled, but darned if we religious folks aren't amazing at making it even scarier. One guy, or one family, deciding they've had enough is one thing. But a whole faith community that was basically safe? Intentional infections? Contaminating public water supplies? This stuff is nuts.
My worst service since we started was Easter. Easter season just ended last week, and it was relief. The dead rising isn't good news anymore. It's a terrifying fact of life.
I've been dodging around the issue but sooner or later I am going to need a theological reason to keep on as I have been. It needs to WORK, because if it doesn't, then I'm just a guy with a good imagination and great blinders.
Still working on that.
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
I know that everyone down south probably doesn't want to hear this... but I am already getting tired of this heat. We've really needed the rain we've had for the last couple of weeks, but combined with the heat the humidity is just getting ridiculous, and the mud is making Runs more dangerous. Just yesterday I had a bad stumble when I hit a patch of mud. I was just jogging for the sake of moving faster, but if there'd been groaners on me...
Well, then, this blog would have one poster less.
I get more and more reports these days about the different Doomsday cults that are out there, a lot of them Post-Christian. I think the Commandant likes sharing those stories with me... like he's telling me to give up the whole faith thing and just be another runner.
Sometimes, I'm tempted.
It's not a uniquely religious thing... suicide rates have been flat out ugly since the Cameras bled, but darned if we religious folks aren't amazing at making it even scarier. One guy, or one family, deciding they've had enough is one thing. But a whole faith community that was basically safe? Intentional infections? Contaminating public water supplies? This stuff is nuts.
My worst service since we started was Easter. Easter season just ended last week, and it was relief. The dead rising isn't good news anymore. It's a terrifying fact of life.
I've been dodging around the issue but sooner or later I am going to need a theological reason to keep on as I have been. It needs to WORK, because if it doesn't, then I'm just a guy with a good imagination and great blinders.
Still working on that.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
"Vacation" is over
Pastor Dan
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
If exercise really is the cure for what ails you, I might never die at this rate.
After a few days out of commission with the kidney stone, I have had my runner missions outside of town DOUBLED to "make up" for time lost while I was FOB. I don't mind the extra work, at least it gives me stuff to do, but it would be a lot easier to handle if it didn't feel like the Commandant still had it out for me.
My services are continuing, but morale is about as low as it's been since we arrived. Folks mainly stop by and listen as something to do, and then head on with... whatever else is next, often to see if someone else is speaking. I have a handful of consistent attenders... my wife, a kid I sometimes run with named Dave, and three blue hairs from my congregation before this all started. Rose is there out of loyalty to me, Dave comes along because I make him laugh... but those three...
Their names are Joanne, Jane, and Judy. The three J's. They had already buried most of their families before the world ended, and seem just as content to weather this world as they were the last one. Their faith... it's real, it's strong, and sometimes it's all that keeps me going.
Well, that and you guys, thanks for all the comments.
I think the government, or whoever it is organizing the QZ's, knows about Tampa. They've been muttering about it for days and then I saw your update, Jason. I am so sorry to hear about Emily, keep moving, keep going. There's got to be a place you can hole up, safe. Find people you can trust.
Though that can be hard, when some people have a huge problem trusting you. I have another run with Dave in an hour or so, gonna go spend it with my wife before we hit the road. It's so hard on her when I go out... She knows I can easily outpace Droolers and Groaners, but I've been lucky so far not to run into any screamers up close.
Hell of a way to spend your anniversary.
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
If exercise really is the cure for what ails you, I might never die at this rate.
After a few days out of commission with the kidney stone, I have had my runner missions outside of town DOUBLED to "make up" for time lost while I was FOB. I don't mind the extra work, at least it gives me stuff to do, but it would be a lot easier to handle if it didn't feel like the Commandant still had it out for me.
My services are continuing, but morale is about as low as it's been since we arrived. Folks mainly stop by and listen as something to do, and then head on with... whatever else is next, often to see if someone else is speaking. I have a handful of consistent attenders... my wife, a kid I sometimes run with named Dave, and three blue hairs from my congregation before this all started. Rose is there out of loyalty to me, Dave comes along because I make him laugh... but those three...
Their names are Joanne, Jane, and Judy. The three J's. They had already buried most of their families before the world ended, and seem just as content to weather this world as they were the last one. Their faith... it's real, it's strong, and sometimes it's all that keeps me going.
Well, that and you guys, thanks for all the comments.
I think the government, or whoever it is organizing the QZ's, knows about Tampa. They've been muttering about it for days and then I saw your update, Jason. I am so sorry to hear about Emily, keep moving, keep going. There's got to be a place you can hole up, safe. Find people you can trust.
Though that can be hard, when some people have a huge problem trusting you. I have another run with Dave in an hour or so, gonna go spend it with my wife before we hit the road. It's so hard on her when I go out... She knows I can easily outpace Droolers and Groaners, but I've been lucky so far not to run into any screamers up close.
Hell of a way to spend your anniversary.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Bad Enough to Wish I'd been Bitten
Pastor Dan
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
Over the last few months I have watched society collapse under the weight of the dead and dying. I have watched friends die, lost contact with loved ones. I have watched as the faithful who look to me for leadership lost their faith under the crushing weight of their losses. I have watched others look at my faith as a cause of heavy suspicion, and I have watched as other clergy, supposedly my colleagues in ministry, do the things that earn such suspicion.
This seems horrible to say... but the worst of it came this past week. I had a kidney stone.
It seems so damned stupid. Our QZ is well stocked with food and clean water and is adequately defended from the dead. I have food to eat and work to occupy my time, and even this thing to share my thoughts. But as the stone passed through my system, the pain made me think that I wished I had been one of those lost over the last few months.
Drugs were in short supply, too. The medics we have on staff muttered about the treatments they'd be prescribing had this happened just six months earlier, but now we had so little to work with. Our pain meds are so heavily rationed. I should have received a major narcotic with vicodin as needed. Instead? One vicodin dose every 24 hours. Three to four hours of minor relief followed by twenty hours of agony. They put me in a hot water bath in hopes of relaxing my muscles to help the stone pass more easily... if it helped, I couldn't tell. I think they just did it so that they could say they had done something.
The stone is passed, now, and I am slowly regaining my strength. The Commandant even said I didn't need to rejoin the runners for a few more days.
So I'm still here. The QZ is fine. I'll just... be a little while recovering.
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
Over the last few months I have watched society collapse under the weight of the dead and dying. I have watched friends die, lost contact with loved ones. I have watched as the faithful who look to me for leadership lost their faith under the crushing weight of their losses. I have watched others look at my faith as a cause of heavy suspicion, and I have watched as other clergy, supposedly my colleagues in ministry, do the things that earn such suspicion.
This seems horrible to say... but the worst of it came this past week. I had a kidney stone.
It seems so damned stupid. Our QZ is well stocked with food and clean water and is adequately defended from the dead. I have food to eat and work to occupy my time, and even this thing to share my thoughts. But as the stone passed through my system, the pain made me think that I wished I had been one of those lost over the last few months.
Drugs were in short supply, too. The medics we have on staff muttered about the treatments they'd be prescribing had this happened just six months earlier, but now we had so little to work with. Our pain meds are so heavily rationed. I should have received a major narcotic with vicodin as needed. Instead? One vicodin dose every 24 hours. Three to four hours of minor relief followed by twenty hours of agony. They put me in a hot water bath in hopes of relaxing my muscles to help the stone pass more easily... if it helped, I couldn't tell. I think they just did it so that they could say they had done something.
The stone is passed, now, and I am slowly regaining my strength. The Commandant even said I didn't need to rejoin the runners for a few more days.
So I'm still here. The QZ is fine. I'll just... be a little while recovering.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Where are all the Screamers coming from?
Pastor Dan
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
Last night might have been the roughest I've had since the Compound.
The alarm was sounded at about 1 am... the low thrumming that doesn't seem to call groaners but let's us know that all able-bodied citizens are needed to repel an attack. At first I thought it was a mistake... the walls and gates are pretty strong, nothing a team of groaners could ever get through, but the moment I stepped outside I knew.
I knew because I could hear the screaming.
The guns were already going, but the screaming...
We're not sure how many Screamers there were, all in all. We didn't wait around to see if any would become groaners. But they're different.
Most of you will know this already but for those who don't... the Screamers aren't dead yet, technically. They still have full use of their bodies and, according to a government medic who checked the injured, a whole triple heaping dose of adrenaline. Five Screamers could tear through a barricade that would hold back a horde of groaners indefinitely in hours.
And last night we had more than five.
The Gate was new, put in a few weeks ago as a way to get big vehicles in and out by ways other than airlift. It was our weak point, and they... they just hurled themselves at it. Eventually our gunners handled them, but the damage was scary. They COULD have broken through, and then we'd be in a melee, with who knows how many groaners pouring through after them.
The weird thing is... where did they come from? There isn't another QZ for hours of travel by road, and they're all still standing. Screamers are freshly infected... none of these are first wave, or even second wave. It's like a whole small community got infected and rushed us overnight, out of almost freaking nowhere.
So keep your eyes open, people.
And if you hear screaming... run.
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
Last night might have been the roughest I've had since the Compound.
The alarm was sounded at about 1 am... the low thrumming that doesn't seem to call groaners but let's us know that all able-bodied citizens are needed to repel an attack. At first I thought it was a mistake... the walls and gates are pretty strong, nothing a team of groaners could ever get through, but the moment I stepped outside I knew.
I knew because I could hear the screaming.
The guns were already going, but the screaming...
We're not sure how many Screamers there were, all in all. We didn't wait around to see if any would become groaners. But they're different.
Most of you will know this already but for those who don't... the Screamers aren't dead yet, technically. They still have full use of their bodies and, according to a government medic who checked the injured, a whole triple heaping dose of adrenaline. Five Screamers could tear through a barricade that would hold back a horde of groaners indefinitely in hours.
And last night we had more than five.
The Gate was new, put in a few weeks ago as a way to get big vehicles in and out by ways other than airlift. It was our weak point, and they... they just hurled themselves at it. Eventually our gunners handled them, but the damage was scary. They COULD have broken through, and then we'd be in a melee, with who knows how many groaners pouring through after them.
The weird thing is... where did they come from? There isn't another QZ for hours of travel by road, and they're all still standing. Screamers are freshly infected... none of these are first wave, or even second wave. It's like a whole small community got infected and rushed us overnight, out of almost freaking nowhere.
So keep your eyes open, people.
And if you hear screaming... run.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
So much for Spring.
Pastor Dan
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
You know, for a week or so there, I thought things were finally really warming up again. But I've seen snow off and on all week. The locals tell me that's actually pretty standard for April in Wisconsin, and this guy who used to be a meteorologist said that with all the burning happening... well, everywhere, that it was to be expected to get worse before it got better.
It's odd that I actually welcomed the cold snap, though. It slows the groaners down. And I've been on a few runs lately.
I'm not gonna lie to you guys, sometimes I don't know why I keep on. Not why I haven't swallowed a bullet, or anything like that, but why I keep trying to be... well, Pastor Dan. Instead of just Dan.
When we got here (and they let me out of solitary) they did that thing they do where they rank your usefulness based on skills. Our "fitness for duty." Our hunters did pretty well... they were all put on wall guard. Our farmers were treated like royalty, and any mechanics or electricians got high marks as well.
I didn't really have any of that. There wasn't a lot of call for theological training, or creative writing. At least I still had a fit body, but as far as the Commandant was concerned that made me a grunt, around for heavy lifting and runner duty. Hence all my running. He decided not to make me stop preaching, but refused to allocate space or make allowance for time. I would do it in my spare time, in any spot I could stand, and people could sit and listened if they liked.
From basically running the Compound to being a useless irritation in the QZ.
I didn't really mind it too bad, though. I can't say that I particularly LIKED having life and death decisions on my plate. And my people still respected me as a preacher, even if the others in the QZ were almost as wary as the Commandant.
Another change was, as a pastor, I was no longer the only show in town. We also have two Lutherans, a group of Catholic priests, a Rabbi, a Methodist and even an Imam who had been lecturing in Milwaukee when everything fell apart. We all just kind of find some space and do what we do. My people mostly stayed with me, though, and so I had the biggest crowd.
Up until Easter.
I was pretty stupid. Easter was always so joyous, so magical. You could get a congregation to do anything at Easter time, you always got your biggest crowds and best energy. Not this time. Christ was risen from the dead, and that put him in a company of, by best estimates, several billion. It wasn't good news anymore... and so the spell was broken.
The people listen now, for the most part, because there isn't much else to do. There are a few true believers yet, and I think they're the ones I keep doing it for. The ones who use it to keep their heads up. I can't let them down. But sometimes I want to.
It's not that I don't believe any more, really I do, but it would be easier to just be the brute force labor, to hold back and not always have the Commandant looking at me, waiting for me to start preaching poisoned kool-aid.
I really should try to be more up-beat in these things.
Fox River Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
You know, for a week or so there, I thought things were finally really warming up again. But I've seen snow off and on all week. The locals tell me that's actually pretty standard for April in Wisconsin, and this guy who used to be a meteorologist said that with all the burning happening... well, everywhere, that it was to be expected to get worse before it got better.
It's odd that I actually welcomed the cold snap, though. It slows the groaners down. And I've been on a few runs lately.
I'm not gonna lie to you guys, sometimes I don't know why I keep on. Not why I haven't swallowed a bullet, or anything like that, but why I keep trying to be... well, Pastor Dan. Instead of just Dan.
When we got here (and they let me out of solitary) they did that thing they do where they rank your usefulness based on skills. Our "fitness for duty." Our hunters did pretty well... they were all put on wall guard. Our farmers were treated like royalty, and any mechanics or electricians got high marks as well.
I didn't really have any of that. There wasn't a lot of call for theological training, or creative writing. At least I still had a fit body, but as far as the Commandant was concerned that made me a grunt, around for heavy lifting and runner duty. Hence all my running. He decided not to make me stop preaching, but refused to allocate space or make allowance for time. I would do it in my spare time, in any spot I could stand, and people could sit and listened if they liked.
From basically running the Compound to being a useless irritation in the QZ.
I didn't really mind it too bad, though. I can't say that I particularly LIKED having life and death decisions on my plate. And my people still respected me as a preacher, even if the others in the QZ were almost as wary as the Commandant.
Another change was, as a pastor, I was no longer the only show in town. We also have two Lutherans, a group of Catholic priests, a Rabbi, a Methodist and even an Imam who had been lecturing in Milwaukee when everything fell apart. We all just kind of find some space and do what we do. My people mostly stayed with me, though, and so I had the biggest crowd.
Up until Easter.
I was pretty stupid. Easter was always so joyous, so magical. You could get a congregation to do anything at Easter time, you always got your biggest crowds and best energy. Not this time. Christ was risen from the dead, and that put him in a company of, by best estimates, several billion. It wasn't good news anymore... and so the spell was broken.
The people listen now, for the most part, because there isn't much else to do. There are a few true believers yet, and I think they're the ones I keep doing it for. The ones who use it to keep their heads up. I can't let them down. But sometimes I want to.
It's not that I don't believe any more, really I do, but it would be easier to just be the brute force labor, to hold back and not always have the Commandant looking at me, waiting for me to start preaching poisoned kool-aid.
I really should try to be more up-beat in these things.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Feeling Kinda Tired
Pastor Dan
Fox Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
Man, I'm tired. A smallish horde (I can't believe I wrote that phrase unironically) caught our scent and the Commandant sent me and a couple of runners to see if we couldn't pull them due west of us. It worked, and we're all home, but I feel like I get picked for these missions more often than others.
As you might have guessed, my relationship with the Commandant has been... strained... to say the least. At least he hasn't tried to cut off computer time.
So, back to the story. Those of us at the compound, faced with massive groaner migrations from the Milwaukee area, agreed to relocate to the Fox Valley QZ. It wasn't just that easy, though. They'd sent a chopper to inform us of our "choice" but couldn't airlift us back. If we were going, we were going on foot, every blessed one of us.
It was going to be about a thirty mile hike, and between us and the QZ lay a few towns that had gone unprotected when everything had fallen apart. There were sure to be a few holdouts, but that also meant groaners... and possibly even a few screamers and droolers.
I sat down with the Elders and we made a plan. We had a day, maybe two, before the first of the new Horde arrived, so there wasn't much time for deliberation. Our hunters, who had been so effective holding our weak spots, were going to be spread around the group, while those of us who weren't shooters but were in decent shape would scout ahead and around, drawing off as many zombies as possible away from the main group.
The biggest key was that we absolutely had to keep moving. The big group behind us, and several smaller ones that were not in our path at the moment but could get there at a moments notice. Luckily the terrain wasn't bad, just a few hills and a lot of farmland.
It ended up being one of the longest days of my life.
It was only March and we still didn't have the daylight we would have liked to have had. The hunters dropped the stragglers while the runners pulled off the larger groups. That got... pretty hairy, sometimes, especially when someone (like me) didn't know the lay of the land as well as others. There were a couple of times I thought I was screwed, trapped between several zoms and a fenced in area that wasn't supposed to be there.
I got through it, though. Most of us did. We lost two runners, and another died of a heart attack on the trip. I'm glad I wasn't the one who was there to order the people to leave him be... I would have. But I'm glad I didn't have to.
When we arrived we were all coded according to our usefulness. They said all the QZ's were doing it... is that true? I got "red flagged," though, and went straight into a cell until my people made enough of a fuss that the Commandant let me out. It was at least a few days.
I should have guessed why a lot sooner than I did. There were, apparently, a lot of other compounds like ours, led by clergy. Some were fighting the government, some were "sacrificing" non-believers to the zombies... I heard of one where the QZ folks arrived and found everyone already dead... poison in the kool-aid.
Not everyone who did that sort of thing was religious, of course. But enough of them werethat our Commandant was taking no risks with me. But the people pointed out that I had never tried to demand faith, that I tried to help everyone. He didn't trust me, though. Still doesn't.
So now I'm nothing. One of a few thousand people, only a few hundred of which think anything more. I do my time as a runner, or as a heavy laboror, and if I want to preach on my time off I'm allowed so long as I "watch it," according to the QZ's enforcers.
Speaking of which, I've been at this too long. I hope to read more from you all later.
Fox Valley QZ
Eastern Wisconsin
Man, I'm tired. A smallish horde (I can't believe I wrote that phrase unironically) caught our scent and the Commandant sent me and a couple of runners to see if we couldn't pull them due west of us. It worked, and we're all home, but I feel like I get picked for these missions more often than others.
As you might have guessed, my relationship with the Commandant has been... strained... to say the least. At least he hasn't tried to cut off computer time.
So, back to the story. Those of us at the compound, faced with massive groaner migrations from the Milwaukee area, agreed to relocate to the Fox Valley QZ. It wasn't just that easy, though. They'd sent a chopper to inform us of our "choice" but couldn't airlift us back. If we were going, we were going on foot, every blessed one of us.
It was going to be about a thirty mile hike, and between us and the QZ lay a few towns that had gone unprotected when everything had fallen apart. There were sure to be a few holdouts, but that also meant groaners... and possibly even a few screamers and droolers.
I sat down with the Elders and we made a plan. We had a day, maybe two, before the first of the new Horde arrived, so there wasn't much time for deliberation. Our hunters, who had been so effective holding our weak spots, were going to be spread around the group, while those of us who weren't shooters but were in decent shape would scout ahead and around, drawing off as many zombies as possible away from the main group.
The biggest key was that we absolutely had to keep moving. The big group behind us, and several smaller ones that were not in our path at the moment but could get there at a moments notice. Luckily the terrain wasn't bad, just a few hills and a lot of farmland.
It ended up being one of the longest days of my life.
It was only March and we still didn't have the daylight we would have liked to have had. The hunters dropped the stragglers while the runners pulled off the larger groups. That got... pretty hairy, sometimes, especially when someone (like me) didn't know the lay of the land as well as others. There were a couple of times I thought I was screwed, trapped between several zoms and a fenced in area that wasn't supposed to be there.
I got through it, though. Most of us did. We lost two runners, and another died of a heart attack on the trip. I'm glad I wasn't the one who was there to order the people to leave him be... I would have. But I'm glad I didn't have to.
When we arrived we were all coded according to our usefulness. They said all the QZ's were doing it... is that true? I got "red flagged," though, and went straight into a cell until my people made enough of a fuss that the Commandant let me out. It was at least a few days.
I should have guessed why a lot sooner than I did. There were, apparently, a lot of other compounds like ours, led by clergy. Some were fighting the government, some were "sacrificing" non-believers to the zombies... I heard of one where the QZ folks arrived and found everyone already dead... poison in the kool-aid.
Not everyone who did that sort of thing was religious, of course. But enough of them werethat our Commandant was taking no risks with me. But the people pointed out that I had never tried to demand faith, that I tried to help everyone. He didn't trust me, though. Still doesn't.
So now I'm nothing. One of a few thousand people, only a few hundred of which think anything more. I do my time as a runner, or as a heavy laboror, and if I want to preach on my time off I'm allowed so long as I "watch it," according to the QZ's enforcers.
Speaking of which, I've been at this too long. I hope to read more from you all later.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Life Before the QZ
Pastor Dan
Eastern Wisconsin
Fox River Valley QZ
Wow. I am starting to become tentatively convinced that you all are actually seeing this which is... well... it's just great. Even though I am sad to hear about the QZ's falling in Florida (I had some friends who might have made it to the Saint Petersburg QZ) Just knowing that anyone at all is still going strong out there makes me feel better.
The Commandant of the QZ has been giving me some odd looks, lately, and has been seen watching the Computer Schedule. I told him the Internet was back up, and he didn't believe me. He says that it CAN'T be, that we shouldn't be able to get a signal. And yet, it's being tested, and any device with WIFI has a signal. It wasn't there before. It's strange and that has him nervous, but I made him nervous anyway.
Hopefully he doesn't try to cut off my access. And I do mean try... because I am NOT going to just give this up.
Anyway, back to the story I was telling.
Myself, my wife, my church, and a few hundred others had set up a compound not far from Weyauwega, the little town I lived in when everything collapsed. It wasn't a perfect physical protection but it was close... with only a few weak points that my people knew and guarded. We had night watchpeople, an embarrassment of ammunition and it seemed like we were ok.
Our problems were mental. We didn't dare shoot all the groaners... that much gunfire only attracted more. If we saw a screamer or a drooler we dropped them fast, or if a groaner got near a weak point, but otherwise we knew we couldn't handle them all, and our best info said that most of Milwaukee was still shambling south, and we wanted to keep it that way.
Also, from time to time, there would be newcomers. That was a bit tricky, but we would often try to lure the groaners away from a segment of wall to let newcomers in, if we could. Sometimes we couldn't. Sometimes, we saw them get pulled down as they tried to reach us. That still keeps me up, some nights.
My sermons and services kept going. They were not, at all, mandatory, but people tended to show up just for something to do. I give a good sermon, and I was the only show going, so even though they weren't technically a captive audience, they might as well have been. I tried to honor that, recognize that we had diverse beliefs, and I focused on supporting each other and the like. That might have saved my life, later.
Then we got the word over the radio from a guy who'd fortified his hunting lodge a ways south of us. Government spooks were operating around Milwaukee to try to pull the hordes north. And it was working. His groaner count had gone from the teens to near ninety a day nearly overnight, and they were heading our way.
We couldn't hold off those kind of numbers forever. And that was when the Helicopter arrived. It carried a man in a black suit. No insignia. He explained the QZ project. He explained that if we could make the thirty mile journey we'd be safe, and to bring all the supplies we had.
More than a few of our people were nervous about it. Anti-government types, you know? But he also had images of the horde that was heading our way, and we knew our little compound couldn't take it, and that nothing we could do in the time we had would change that. When we reported our decision, one of the Elders called me "reverend," and the agent gave me a LOOK.
We had a journey to make, though, and I set about organizing folks to make sure we made it. As he took off, he was still watching me, though.
Of course, I had no way of knowing what was happening elsewhere in the country.
(Hey, you're in the Twin Cities QZ? Keep your eye out for James and Jess. They have a little girl named Lily.)
Eastern Wisconsin
Fox River Valley QZ
Wow. I am starting to become tentatively convinced that you all are actually seeing this which is... well... it's just great. Even though I am sad to hear about the QZ's falling in Florida (I had some friends who might have made it to the Saint Petersburg QZ) Just knowing that anyone at all is still going strong out there makes me feel better.
The Commandant of the QZ has been giving me some odd looks, lately, and has been seen watching the Computer Schedule. I told him the Internet was back up, and he didn't believe me. He says that it CAN'T be, that we shouldn't be able to get a signal. And yet, it's being tested, and any device with WIFI has a signal. It wasn't there before. It's strange and that has him nervous, but I made him nervous anyway.
Hopefully he doesn't try to cut off my access. And I do mean try... because I am NOT going to just give this up.
Anyway, back to the story I was telling.
Myself, my wife, my church, and a few hundred others had set up a compound not far from Weyauwega, the little town I lived in when everything collapsed. It wasn't a perfect physical protection but it was close... with only a few weak points that my people knew and guarded. We had night watchpeople, an embarrassment of ammunition and it seemed like we were ok.
Our problems were mental. We didn't dare shoot all the groaners... that much gunfire only attracted more. If we saw a screamer or a drooler we dropped them fast, or if a groaner got near a weak point, but otherwise we knew we couldn't handle them all, and our best info said that most of Milwaukee was still shambling south, and we wanted to keep it that way.
Also, from time to time, there would be newcomers. That was a bit tricky, but we would often try to lure the groaners away from a segment of wall to let newcomers in, if we could. Sometimes we couldn't. Sometimes, we saw them get pulled down as they tried to reach us. That still keeps me up, some nights.
My sermons and services kept going. They were not, at all, mandatory, but people tended to show up just for something to do. I give a good sermon, and I was the only show going, so even though they weren't technically a captive audience, they might as well have been. I tried to honor that, recognize that we had diverse beliefs, and I focused on supporting each other and the like. That might have saved my life, later.
Then we got the word over the radio from a guy who'd fortified his hunting lodge a ways south of us. Government spooks were operating around Milwaukee to try to pull the hordes north. And it was working. His groaner count had gone from the teens to near ninety a day nearly overnight, and they were heading our way.
We couldn't hold off those kind of numbers forever. And that was when the Helicopter arrived. It carried a man in a black suit. No insignia. He explained the QZ project. He explained that if we could make the thirty mile journey we'd be safe, and to bring all the supplies we had.
More than a few of our people were nervous about it. Anti-government types, you know? But he also had images of the horde that was heading our way, and we knew our little compound couldn't take it, and that nothing we could do in the time we had would change that. When we reported our decision, one of the Elders called me "reverend," and the agent gave me a LOOK.
We had a journey to make, though, and I set about organizing folks to make sure we made it. As he took off, he was still watching me, though.
Of course, I had no way of knowing what was happening elsewhere in the country.
(Hey, you're in the Twin Cities QZ? Keep your eye out for James and Jess. They have a little girl named Lily.)
Saturday, April 11, 2015
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.
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.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Hello?
Is... is this actually on?
I was just messing around when I hit the Chrome icon. There hasn't been any internet since... gosh. February, I think? Is this really here? Is this a joke? If this is a joke by IT, then it isn't very fucking funny, guys.
Well, I guess I'll see, won't I?
My name is Dan. I'm 34 years old and I live in the Fox Valley Quarantine Zone, in Eastern Wisconsin.
Christ, I don't even know if anyone is going to see this.
I come down here during my rec time because it's quiet. I used to just write in Word, or use Microsoft Paint. I write or I draw, and if I get really focused on a project, then for a heartbeat I can't hear the groaners outside of the containment wall. It was a way to escape, at least for my time allotment. That alone makes it worth spending half of my energy ration.
But if the Internet is really back...
My full name is Rev. Dan McCurdy. Yeah, I'm a Pastor. Presbyterian, if that even means anything anymore. I'm here with my wife, Rose. I don't know if anyone else in my family made it to safety. Chris, Jess, and Lillian would have headed for the Twin Cities QZ in Minnesota, Mom and Dad might have tried to get to Kentucky.
Katya was in New York when the cameras bled. I hope she made it out... but we never did hear.
I'm still a Pastor, I guess. I give a talk on Sundays, some people even come and listen. I do some counseling, too... when I'm not on a work detail. The Commandant keeps a close eye on me, but says I do more good than harm. Like I'm a guard dog who is marginally more likely to bite an intruder than the kids.
I... shit, I don't know. God, PLEASE let this be real. PLEASE let there be someone else out there who can see this. They say the other QZ's are still holding but never more than that, and the groaners are everywhere.
My time is up. Signing off, for now.
I was just messing around when I hit the Chrome icon. There hasn't been any internet since... gosh. February, I think? Is this really here? Is this a joke? If this is a joke by IT, then it isn't very fucking funny, guys.
Well, I guess I'll see, won't I?
My name is Dan. I'm 34 years old and I live in the Fox Valley Quarantine Zone, in Eastern Wisconsin.
Christ, I don't even know if anyone is going to see this.
I come down here during my rec time because it's quiet. I used to just write in Word, or use Microsoft Paint. I write or I draw, and if I get really focused on a project, then for a heartbeat I can't hear the groaners outside of the containment wall. It was a way to escape, at least for my time allotment. That alone makes it worth spending half of my energy ration.
But if the Internet is really back...
My full name is Rev. Dan McCurdy. Yeah, I'm a Pastor. Presbyterian, if that even means anything anymore. I'm here with my wife, Rose. I don't know if anyone else in my family made it to safety. Chris, Jess, and Lillian would have headed for the Twin Cities QZ in Minnesota, Mom and Dad might have tried to get to Kentucky.
Katya was in New York when the cameras bled. I hope she made it out... but we never did hear.
I'm still a Pastor, I guess. I give a talk on Sundays, some people even come and listen. I do some counseling, too... when I'm not on a work detail. The Commandant keeps a close eye on me, but says I do more good than harm. Like I'm a guard dog who is marginally more likely to bite an intruder than the kids.
I... shit, I don't know. God, PLEASE let this be real. PLEASE let there be someone else out there who can see this. They say the other QZ's are still holding but never more than that, and the groaners are everywhere.
My time is up. Signing off, for now.
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