Zombie apocalypse fiction – Ruth’s story #118 Raid on a cannibal infested church and more life on the farm #SHTF #TEOTWAWKI

The last few days have been a flurry of activity. Rick has the snowplow up-armored for the Kayak Point trip. It is amazing what Mal and the other mechanical types were able to cannibalize in parts from several of the abandoned vehicles. It is a good thing that there is no shortage of abandoned vehicles to cannibalize.

The only problem is that as time passes we have cannibalized all the nearby abandoned vehicles. The Scouts and the mechanics must travel farther each time searching for new vehicles which to cannibalize.

With the cannibalized parts, Rick and the others upgraded and enhanced the cooling systems of the snowplow. Covered in steel plating, the cab and now even the tires are protected, but the engine and hydraulics have to work that much harder. Upgrading the cooling systems for both the engine and the hydraulics should help to keep the heat to within tolerable limits.

Small transmission cooling radiators and small electric cooling fans ripped out of a variety of cars were plumbed into the snow plow’s engine oil cooling system and the hydraulic system. With the added capacity and increased cooling ability, Rick hopes the snow plow will survive underneath both the strain of the new armor plating and the abuse it must suffer when we travel.

Rick and a few of the Scouts made a few runs around the surrounding area testing the up-armored and improved snowplow. With the added weight of the armor the snowplow eats more fuel, and Rick says that visibility from the cab is so much worse. We have to trade visibility for armor protection.

Still Rick was able to maneuver the snowplow well enough for a brief raid on a cannibal enclave within in the nearby city of Arlington. Housed in an ancient, former Methodist Episcopalian church originally built-in 1898, the small group of cannibals did not offer too much resistance.

The church occupying cannibals only possessed a couple of guns, and a little ammunition. Unfortunately for them, most of the ammo that they possessed did not chamber in any of their guns. From what I understand from some of the lads who were part of the assault, the cannibals were surprised that ammo was not universal.

The church occupying cannibals must have been firearm ignorant in their former lives. One of the cannibals killed in the church, did much damage to his face when he chambered a modern .380 ACP cartridge into an old British Mk 1 .380/200 revolver. Firing the improperly loaded revolver caused the pistol to shatter, imbedding parts of it in to the shooter’s face.

The blinded, ignorant British pistol shooting cannibal was rolling around on the floor in agony when one of the Russian lads shot him once in the forehead, putting him out of his misery. In a perverse sense of serendipity, the Russian lad used an almost as ancient Russian Nagant revolver wearing an APS 9mm suppressor.

Very little worthwhile loot was recovered from the Methodist church building. A blue looted charity bin surrendered some women’s and children’s clothing. After boiling and a good wash, the clothes were distributed to those who needed them. Most of the recovered clothes were cheap imported wares that will not survive very long.

A very small amount of ammo was recovered, most of it odd calibers such as .32 H&R Magnum, 9mm Largo, and 28 gauge shotgun. A black Piece of Shit (POS) Hi-Point 9mm pistol, a rusty disreputable-looking 16 gauge single shot, break action Sears shotgun and a flaking, nickel-plated Lorcin .25 ACP pistol with cracked white plastic grips were also recovered from the old church.

The Hi-Point pistol is missing its magazine, but at least the Lorcin pistol came with two magazines. From Shack, I understand that some of the older gents have nicknamed the little Lorcin pistol “Bob Marley” because it always be jamming. I thought the joke particularly funny, but Shack did not get it so I had to explain it to him.

I am not even sure if the company possesses weapons to shoot the odd recovered calibers. We are getting quite the collection of odd and unique weapons and ammo. Any ammo is recovered as is any weapon increasing the odds that we will be able to use any ammo or weapon recovered.

The Scouts and soldiers that took part in the raid said that the inside of the old church was so disgusting that it was decided to torch the building. The basement had been turned into a human abattoir, which caused the hardened soldiers to shudder when remembering it. I hated to hear that such an old once beautiful building burnt. Perhaps the flaming building attracted some zombies to their death – I hope so.

As Sam suspected, Honey is able to hear the collective hive minds of the cannibals. Unfortunately, she cannot understand the cannibal hive mind but gets impressions of desires, mostly food and sex from what she says. Honey is also not able to tell how many cannibals are in the hive but can at least offer a guess.

Honey appears to be more attuned to cannibals rather than the zombies as she is able to hear the cannibal’s minds more than the zombies. I wonder if this is because the zombie’s minds are now completely inhuman, while the cannibals still keep a slight amount of their humanity.

Honey and Thing 1, now tottering around on his feet at five months old, are inseparable. Sarah does not appear to mind that her oldest child does not care that he is separated from his mother (or she hides it well). Sarah is having an easier time caring for one child who does not attempt to tear her tit off every time she feeds the little monster.

Thing 2 is still a chubby happy little boy who is not yet even rolling over. Thing 1 is now starting to eat solid food. His first teeth have come in black just like Honey’s. The baby’s teeth are still human in shape despite their disquieting color.

Thing 1 has just started walking. Honey carries him everywhere she goes. Since she has been added to the medical tent personnel, Sarah sees her child every day. It must tear at her heart though, to see her child prefer another woman over his mother. Honey is able to control Thing 1 better than even his own mother.

With a stern look Honey is able to calm or discipline Thing 1. I wonder transpires between them during those looks. What mental struggles and commands do they hear from each other? Honey says that she can sense when Thing 1 is hungry or needs changing but is not able to hear his thoughts exactly.

Honey describes what she feels from Thing 1 as just that – feelings, an image or a projection of what he desires. Honey describes the hive minds of the cannibals as feeling the same way. She gets an impression of what the colony feels and what they desire – such as food mostly, clothing or (blushing) sex.

From the zombie colonies, Honey explains that they feel like the buzzing that used to be heard from the old, high power and high tension power transmission lines. While she cannot hear the thoughts and needs of a zombie colony, Honey can at least serve as a zombie divining rod pointing us in the general direction of a colony.

We have found that smell alone once directed by Honey into a general area is enough to locate a zombie nest. For the most part, zombie nests are left alone, unless they inhabit a place with suitable materials for recovery.

A fully loaded bottled water delivery truck and a snack food deliver panel van were rescued from a nearby zombie nest without too much fuss and more importantly without loss of human life. The bottled water from the truck added to our supplies increases our potable water holdings by a few hundred gallons.

After all the plastic bottles of water were removed from the truck, it was quickly drained of fuel and oil which were added to the company’s stock. Cannibalized for spare parts, the stripped hulk of the water delivery truck was then towed out and added to the barricade surrounding the property.

As vehicles die, and are cannibalized for parts, they are added to a growing barricade around the perimeter of the property. The ugly rusty piles of vehicles and other trash might not stop an invasion by other survivors, but it is enough to slow most of the wandering zombies. As time slips past us, the barricade gets taller and more of the gaps are getting filled in.

Any sort of fencing and nearly anything that can be chained, wired or welded to the barricade is added daily. The surrounding farms all have been stripped of bailing wire, and any other kind of wire that could be located. Wire that is not used in constructing the barricade is used for snares.

Several of the lads have grown quite adept at making snares both for trapping edible critters (Shack’s word – not mine) and for ensnaring zombies. The tangle foot traps and other zombie snares around the perimeter help deter and slow the zombies enough that they can be safely dispatched with a Scorpion, or a long handled spear from a safe distance.

As long as the zombies are wandering in small groups our porous perimeter works well enough. However, if our perimeter should undergo an onslaught of a zombie horde like we saw in the first few days of the KCAP outbreak – none of us believe that the barricade would even slow the zombies down.

The sheer weight of a zombie horde, numbering in the thousands would be enough to tear apart the hastily erected barricade. Our barricade is neither not nearly as resilient nor as sturdy as the Seattle Barricade on Lake City Way we met so many months ago. Our barricade is also much larger encompassing a piece of property covering several acres not one small city block.

It is almost time for Nikola and Carol to relieve us. I will close my journal for now. I see that Shack has dozed off again. I know just how to wake the young man putting a smile on his face. It is also a great way to start the day.