Friday 9-27-13 General Grant Has Arrived

Zombies Damage Fence Near Marina During Storm at Night

I've been working on maps all day for the Commander and his friend Grant - or as I like to call him in my head - The General.  General Grant? Okay not funny, but to me he's the Commander's general. 

Together the men are an unstoppable Juggernaut of knowledge and charisma.  For hours they have coaxed me on and on in this map project despite the fact that in real life I get lost often and have zero cartography experience.  Three years of figure drawing does not make me good at maps.  They went through a lot of trouble to haul in a computer with Photoshop on it for me to use. 

After hour two Grant pulled out a yummy chocolate and nut protein bar.  "Do you want this?" He asked casually, "I don't care for peanuts that much." I had tried to make myself immune to Grant but he was an expert people person.  Between his smile and the Commanders nods I kept working.  We made some progress.

Runner 5

Zombie Storm - The Typhoon Weather 

The tail end of a typhoon has hit making the zombies crazy.  It has been so bad that bicyclist from South Jetty Inn have not arrived per schedule and there have been no search and rescue missions for the lost Tourists.  Some Tourists remained behind of course and they complained loudly but Grant has this mesmerizing way about him, his quick smile, blue eyes, and calm demeanor never reacts to whatever is being thrown his way.  If someone was yelling in his face he calmly agreed with them on several facets of their argument and either found a way to slide along to someone else and a new topic or converted the person to his way of thinking. 

The Commander was always good at hearing all sides and not getting angry or reacting but Grant took the skill of people engineering to a whole other level.  He made people love him.  

I almost felt optimistic about our chances.  Grant was wickedly smart too - guess you have to be to actively wrangle humans, the most dangerous creatures on earth.  For some reason not everyone in the camp saw it.  They saw what Grant meant for them to see, a laid back bohemian - maybe a drug user? No threat at all - look the other way. 

He was setting up webs of manipulation.  He was a master at work, but so was the Commander - turns out they were childhood friends who were geniuses in school, graduated early, turned down Harvard.  I kept asking them questions as I worked on the maps.  I was dying to know their stories and who these guys really were.  I don't think they would ever let me know for sure, and I was surprised they divulged anything at all, but then again I feel like the black sheep of the camp.  The person who doesn't huddle for comfort with everyone else.  The person who chooses a danger so horrific that the others don't go near the fences - I go out the fence - I go into the wilderness risking my life and I do it day after day.  Zombies don't frighten me like they should. 

In a weird way working there with them in the bunker I started thinking of us as a ruling trifecta of force.  I was the main runner, and their go-to person, a bunkie even - were we cooperating as equals?  Then I banished the thought - anything I assumed or thought probably was planted there by Grant and the Commander

I have an important mission tomorrow but will write about it then - the typhoon threatens a great many plans.  Hopefully I get to see Hero 13 again and find out about Rilea.  

Ecology of the Fort

The sky was indigo and threatened to burst at any moment into the fall storms Tess predicted but I had a run to do for the commander.  The zip line run to the USPS drop box.  The commander slid his letter rolled up into a metal tube and handed it to me.  I would take it to the drop, about a mile and a half away.  Another runner from either Rilea or Astoria would pick it up on the way to the next relay station until it reached Portland 1 - our headquarters of sorts although I have never been there.

Vending machine found! Scored a Coke on my run - amazing! :D

I always assumed the commander came from Portland 1 but he's the kind of person you just feel uncomfortable asking silly questions to.  His stern eyes and no-nonsense approach didn't invite small talk.  He's trying to get us runners head sets so we can actually communicate back to base.  The commander is good with all types of technology and can hook us up a system out of about anything I would guess - but we have nothing to start with.

Dark low clouds threaten to rain for months.

Runner 8 was attacked yesterday evening.  Like I wrote yesterday the zombs were unusually aggressive.  He beat them off with his baseball bat but his dog was badly injured.  It's in quarantine now because no one knows what will happen to it - will it turn?  Will it just die?  I feel bad for Runner 8 he's deeply upset and not eating.  No one has tried to mention walking the parameter to him.  A couple of Coast Guardies are doing it this morning but we hate to take them away from the fence.  That terribly fragile fence. 

Word has it that Rilea has a concrete fence around it now with barbed wire at the top and some say we should all go there and merge our forces.  The commander just wants to get our numbers to a "sustainable level" before winter but I'm afraid with the storms it's too late.  Being boxed in with the retirement community this winter will drive me crazy.

 

Caption: This was a zombie disposal station shortly after the local apocalypse. Sadly the zombies overwhelmed us and the sign now sits derelict. Some idiots thought it was for fish since it was in the Marina. *Sigh* Same idjits that bring bottles to the recycling center thinking that's what it's for!!

All photos and text are written the day of my run.

Wednesday Forest Runner 5

I was on light duty today after yesterday putting in a pretty fast nearly 8 mile run.  I was running inside the fort I wouldn’t have to worry about Zombies today but I did have to train.  I was at the Mine Loading Building (#32 on the map) at a gentle pace when I noticed a path cut behind it.  I had never ran it before and I wondered if it went to the old Marina and if it did - if it circumvented our fencing somehow.  If the zombies could cut back behind the fence at low tide we could have an unexpected swarm on our hands and the eastern flank isn’t well guarded.  

The path behind the Mine Loading Building lead far back to a white ‘house’ structure, which had electrical from the 40's obvious by an old light socket on the front, so had to be part of the old camp.  In a clearing was some equipment, "Coast Guard Search and Rescue Use Only"  Did the commander know about the equipment?  I wondered.  

The little house looked uncomfortably lived in sans a door and even including a pillow on the floor.   The whole 'house' was about twenty square foot and had - of all things an attic with an exposed square crawl hole.  The roof appeared not to leak despite a foot thick of moss and ferns growing on top of it.    The house is not on the map for tourists.  The floor was a thick heavy concrete with a raised section, obviously military use of some sort but of what I can’t guess. 

So the front entrance lined up with the back out which was a path which I took a few feet down into a ravine.  It struck me as the most obvious location of a toilet and headed back up having made that stinky mistake before and valuing my shoes decided I would just make a note about it.

The front door had a path leading off into the scrub and I hate that because the grass and ferns are knee high and wet but worse: Spiders.   I hate them.
Spiders are useful however in that they let you know if a path gets used much if zombie, human or elk is using a path actively there won't be an established orb weaver residing there.  There were two humungous spiders on the path.  Nothing had traveled down it in awhile.   I was too chicken to fight off spiders so doubled back and ran out to our high fence that protects us from the Marina.  

I saw a few zombies in the park area shuffling around looking lost.  Had they been tourists?  Boaters?  

It was time to run back and give the commander my report.  On the way back  on the parameter was runner 8.  He walks anytime day or night along the main fort areas and sometimes outside its fences.  He’s an older fellow, often has his dog and a baseball bat with him.  He always wears an Oregon Ducks t-shirt.  I never have caught his real name, but I see him more than anyone else on my outings.  

Tomorrow the commander says there will be cross training in the Training Yard.  He wants my arm strength to improve and my sprint speed.  Until tomorrow – Runner 5 Signing Out

1A Quarantine Area Pharma Drop

15 kinds of wild berries grow here.  The deer and coyotes eat them.

1A is the Pacific Ocean and at low tide a chopper can land and we can pick up supplies.  It's difficult to coordinate and setup a drop, this one was all pharmaceuticals.

For the most part we're comprised of over indulged vacationers from places like southern California and Arizona.  The median age of our residents makes me a young runner at 38.  On any given evening you can get ambushed into a conversation about arthritis.  Our population almost are all medicated to some degree.  We've tried to ship as many out as we can to proper refugee facilities but still too many remain.

"He sold his soul to get that drop here today." - Hero 13, heart throb darling of the camp.

"Everyone needs meds" I replied.  He smirked.  I blushed.  Okay maybe the commander likes me - but I'm sure my brain injury and kidney problems weren't the reason for the drop - or were they?   Time to change the subject.

"What song are we doing today?"  I asked.

"What do you want to do? Something thugish of course."  I nodded.

"So you want to be a rock super star and live large"  I sang

"Big house and 5 cars" he replied and we started out our run with very old school Cyprus Hill and not being very serious.

I was serious this run however - I had strapped on my quiver of arrows and bow to my back and ran a little self-conscious. 

Banana Slug - They Get Large Here

You see once you get to the beach there is nothing but sand - no cover at all.  The chopper would be there for only five minutes before taking back off so we had a short window and we HAD to get those supplies.  The commander knew how sick I was but Hero 13 and Runner 8 did not.

I saw a lot of berries unpicked but ripe on the trail that I would report back in.  There are a ton of various berries that grow wild in Oregon.

"No zombs today" I commented.

"It's too bright out, they're in the undergrowth" Hero 13 replied.  I nodded.  "So are you going to tell me what is with the bow and arrows?" He grinned - so he had been laughing at me the entire time.

"Can you keep a secret?"  I asked him.  He shrugged looking bored.  I stopped to walk a bit since we were far ahead of schedule. 

"There have been wild dog packs in the neighborhood.  When people left their pets behind they reverted back to pack behavior and now large packs drift killing whatever poor creatures they can run down even young elk - and people."  I shivered.

"The commander and a couple of deputies have been setting traps and going out at night shooting them..."

The Pacific Ocean from 1A

"Wait" Hero 13 said, "the fresh meat for the last week has that been...."

I sheepishly grinned, "I don't know - could be dog though."

"If we get down on the sand we're perfect targets.  To get to high ground we have to climb the dunes - we're too slow."  He nodded somberly.

"We should have brought a couple of deputies with us with weapons."  Hero 13 said.  I nodded.

"Commander said it wasn't necessary particularly during the day."  I said uneasily.

Soon we were at the dune leading up to the ocean and all was quiet, not even a bird in the sky.

"I don't like it" I muttered.

Small Jellyfish

"Could be zombs"  Hero said, "Stay sharp."

We were quiet as we descended to the beach it was twenty minutes before the chopper was due - and then we heard the blades.  There it was.  Early.

"Crap it's early!"  I shouted.

"Not only that but it's landing at 2A not 1A" Hero said starting to run.  Hero can manage a mile in five minutes, probably 7 on the sand so I let him fly along and soon I was far behind him looking over my shoulder for zombs or dogs.  True to the Commanders word though, no dogs approached. 

Large Jellyfish, South Jetty Fort Stevens

The chopper landed about a mile and a quarter from our position, saw us, dropped the cargo and left.  We saddled up pharmaceuticals and prepared to leave.

Zombies between us and home.  No more easy three mile jaunt, we would have to go around.  So around we went, the fall afternoon sunshine drenching us in sweat as we carried the pharma back.

"Wasn't the commander going to put a park bench out here?"

"A water fountain?  God I would kill for some water right now."

Through spider webs and past copses of ferns we made it back to camp.  First requests: the morphine of course.  Sciatica complaints and more moans about aches and pains then an entire pack of zombies.

The Commander took me aside and told me good job - about the most he'll ever say and handed me my meds first.  It was a good day, and check out the enormous jellyfish we ran past.  

Start of the Rain

 

Hi, I'm runner 5.  I'm one of many Runners across the world and many other Runner 5's - I wanted to be Runner 7 - 7 is my lucky number.  7Hunters.  But I'm not, I'm Runner 5.  I run for Fort Stevens the world war II fortress that, being fenced in and already fortified came to house the nearby residents of Warrenton and Hammond and a few from Astoria Oregon - USA.

I ran today to Astoria for supplies.  It's the first true day of the rainy season in my opinion - see I live in the rain forest beside the ocean.  Not too many zombs out here but they keep filtering in from Portland and RV resorts - the RV resorts are the worst.

I had breakfast under the Megler bridge this morning.  I had a biscuit and a hot Coke.  I took a walk a little ways down the river front.  It gets slick though - the wood - so it's not safe if you get chased by zombs or they come from both direction pinning you in - nothing to do but jump into the Columbia then and hope the tide is high but odds are you'll just plummet onto some rocks.

This time last year I ran a 5K from Mariners park under the bridge to a point and back in my barefoot shoes and thought that was pretty good fun, and now I have to run from the Fort to Astoria -- sure I walk some.  You want to conserve your strength for when you really have to run.

I'm still sick and raiding med supplies from Walgreens in Warrenton was fruitless - they are out of almost everything, but I did find a few things that should help me limp along.  I have told no one at the fort I'm ill or they wouldn't want me to run or trust missions to me.

I found an iPhone on this run - couldn't believe my luck.  Now to charge it up and see if it works - the apps and other features on it of course, the cell towers are dead. 

Until tomorrow - keep the faith.  Keep kicking ass.