Outlook Bleak

Damn! Really? Will they never let up? These undead creatures have been pounding at our tree trunks incessantly for days. They are worse than telemarketers! Just won't leave us alone. Something needs to be done about this, and fast because we need to be able to make a run into the city.

I assemble the ruling counsel. What do we do? No one is immune to the icy grasp of undeath. Not you, not me, not Captain freaking America. They don't give up, don't get tired, sore, or disappointed  They just moan at us while menacingly thumping our supports for this city in the sky. Almost sky anyways. The tree tops here are pretty high up. I only hope the zombies don't learn to climb.

I have had my scientists observing them for quite some time now, and thankfully the beasts seem to be completely mindless. They say there is no cognitive ability to problem solve and figure out how to get their prey down from the canopy above, but I am skeptical. We can't take anything for granted, can't become complacent. Thats how Kim and Will....turned.

With this in mind, my fellow rulers make a few suggestions about how to go about this threat. One idea is to distract them on one side of our fortress while a small team escapes into town on the opposite side. My problem with this is that it does not eliminate the throng down below. It is only a temporary solution to our detriment of certain supplies. Another member says we need to blow 'em all to bits. Only problem with this is that we don't have much ammunition, and a lot of gunshots and/or explosions will create a lot of noise and unwanted attention.

"How about a compromise?" I speak up. "We have to work together on this or it will never work. First off, we send the Shock Team, after a distraction, to town to pick up essential supplies, both for our stores but also for part two of the plan. Part two will require us to get a little more creative. We will need our best minds on this. Extermination Team is going to devise several cheap, but effective traps and low key weapons that will allow us to take out as many of these monsters as we can. Kind of like the biggest bang for our buck, but a bang is too loud. The biggest 'woosh' for our buck."

The team looks at each other, contemplating my proposal. They all come to the conclusion that it is our best bet as of yet, and eagerly get to work assembling both teams to plan out everything for this strategy to work. The Extermination Team creates a grocery list for Shock team to pick up on top of everything else we need. Now everyone is ready, time for phase one.

I watch on as one poor volunteer from our security force is lowered down from a makeshift harness on one side of our community. She starts shouting to attract the attention of the zombies, and they quickly flock to her. The team up top is suspending her upside down from just above their reach, and the six member Shock Team slips out the other side unnoticed.

Once they are out of sight, they haul up the woman and rest while we wait for the teams return, when they will have to start the distraction all over. The look on their faces is pure exhaustion. "Why must we do this?" is the expression I read on all of them. They are tired of being mere survivors (or as the running joke of the community, Muir Survivors). Everyone is sick of having to put up with this new way of life. Is this all we have to look forward to for the rest of time, or is there going to be some grand rescue? A repopulation of Earth? My Magic 8 Ball says outlook bleak.

Sometimes I even think to myself why bother? What's the point if we are just going to Muirly Survive day in and day out. What happens when we reach our breaking point? Is there a reason for surviving aside from self preservation? That we are too afraid to die? Some are worried that since the zombies are reanimated, that it is not a true death. Their blessed souls will never make it to heaven. I say to hell with that (pun intended) and get a grip on reality. Those shambling corpses have no trace of humanity in them. Do I want to join them? not necessarily, but the alternatives are hardly much better.

A flare in the distance signals the return of Shock Team, and snaps me out of my brooding state of mind. Time to get back into action. Almost like clock work, the team lowers down another recruit as the scavengers haul everything back up to the base. Despite all the exhaustion, I see something else on the faces of these survivors: Determination. Strength. Hope. They truly believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If its the last thing I do I'm going to give them that light. But first things first.

Now that Shock Team's job was finished, I looked to see what Extermination Team would be building. it seemed that they had two categories of death bringing devices. One group was working on building crossbows. But instead of regular bolts, they were fashioning large, sharp stakes that would be launched to impale their mushy skulls and rain death from above. The other device being made was a net, but not your ordinary net. This was made out of barbed wire. I wonder to myself where they found this much and how they got it back, but I don't question it. Like I said, these were our brightest bunch of survivors, and I put my trust in them to execute this plan, just as they put their trust in me to help rule.

In a matter of hours, construction is complete and there is just enough light out to finish off this herd. The dumb beasts were still congregated around the distraction spot for the most part. The sharp nets (that also appeared to be weighted now) were shot down through a make shift rocket made of PVC pipe (and who knows what else. Theres a reason I'm not a scientist). The nets pinned down the majority of them, making them easy pickings for our crossbow shooters. In less than fifteen minutes we annihilated them all. Fuck yeah! Feels good to accomplish something, even if its a small victory like this.

We congratulate each other, and one person from the Shock Team reveals one more item they retrieved from town - beer. Good golly Miss Molly none of us have had an ice cold one since this whole damn apocalypse started. There was enough for everyone, and a few to spare. This brought us closer as a community and brought lots of warm fuzzies...for the night.

After a round of drinks, I knew I had to inform the rest of the community about our success. This was the hope that keeps them living, trying their damned hardest to make it through the day. I just keep my dark thoughts in the back of my head, knowing that ultimately, when it really comes down to it, there is only so much we can do, and I don't believe life will return to normal.