Living With the Dead: This New Disease (Book 5) Read Free Page B

system of air-powered defenses is
mobility. We can't take our most powerful weapons out into the field
for the most part, which makes us weaker against potential hordes of
undead.

As for longer-range stuff like portable mortars (this
is getting into an area I don't know a lot about, so I'm taking Will
and Dodger's word for it) we don't have any use for them. Yeah, we
could probably use them against the fallback point, but I'm certain
that the Exiles, who I'll remind are currently under tentative truce
with us, have such weapons and know how to use them. The fact that
they haven't is a perfect example of why they are valueless to us.

I
don't have to tell anyone out there how important all our resources
are, including the homes we've made for ourselves. I can't think of
many circumstances in which we'd be willing to destroy the fallback
point just to eliminate an enemy that isn't attacking us. I'm equally
sure the Exiles don't pummel the walls of New Haven to dust because
they do plan at some point to attack and try to take what we have.
Maybe that will be a true takeover much as the Richmond soldiers did
last year, or maybe just taking our supplies and some of our people
before running. I don't know.

I  do  know
that no even partially sane person is willing to destroy perfectly
good supplies and shelter for the sake of vengeance. Do we hate each
other? Sure. But we're not stupid and for damn sure not wasteful.

I
don't doubt that there are some of you out there in situations with
different factors. I'm not disparaging anyone that uses those kinds
of weapons, but we don't need them. It's too much risk. Explosives
are a danger, and easily used artillery means one person with access
to them having a bad day could lead us into another war. One idiot
messing around with them could blow half of New Haven to dust.

So,
no. Despite the positive impact (no pun intended) those kinds of arms
would have in our fight against the undead, they just aren't worth
that to us. I wish more than anything that we could avoid all
conflict and focus one hundred percent of our energy on building a
better future. We can't, of course, and we won't whine or complain
(too much) about it. But we certainly won't complicate our efforts by
bringing such massively dangerous weapons here.

And remember,
we  are  a
community beset by enemies on a regular basis. If we were to be
conquered again as the Richmond soldiers managed, would you want a
stockpile of mortars that could destroy your entire home in minutes
in the hands of such people? I wouldn't.

We thank you for your
offers, but we politely decline. Now I'm off to study our captive
zombies. Something interesting is happening, and I want to spend time
watching it.

Thursday,
March 8, 2012
Altered
States
    Posted
by  Josh
Guess I'm
writing this early in the morning, or from my perspective late at
night, because I've been unable to sleep. I feel...off balance right
now, given the last day's events. I don't know where to begin,
really.

At the beginning, I suppose. It's old wisdom, but it
works for a person in freefall.

Yesterday our woodsmen went
out to bring in loads of firewood again. The lumber yard is one of
the few places we have to go every day, and is apparently a favorite
target of the New Breed. They know we'll go there, that we have to.
When our teams arrived, though, there was not a stick of wood to be
found.

The New Breed had been busy throughout the night. Our
people moved in cautiously, stepping to the edge of the forest to
make certain that our supplies hadn't been dragged just a small
distance away. It smelled of a trap, a lure to pull my people into
the dangerous woods where they could be separated and more easily
brought down. The guards didn't allow anyone to make that
mistake.

Not that it mattered. As soon as the bulk of our
people had spread about the lumbering site, zombies popped out from
behind trees and bushes. A hail of thrown weapons came down on our
team, chunks of cut