I meant to get this up earlier, but it has been that kind of week. Since I initially started this post I signed up for my first 5k since this summer. I started the first morning of 2013 participating in the New Year's Day 5K put on by Potomac River Running. It felt like a very positive way to start off the new year so I have decided to do it again. Given that I haven't been running as much as I did at this point last year, I'm not really going into it thinking that I will be breaking my personal record. I just really want to start 2014 in a positive matter. It also means I get to make a "Best of 2013" playlist to listen to while running.
Mission Log: 12/05/13
You know what the worst sound in the world is? No, it's not nails on a chalkboard. It's the sound of gears grinding to a halt when said gears operate the only gate door that separates you from the zombie hordes. I was standing outside talking Doctor Myers when it happened, and all I can say is that my blood ran cold when we heard it. I guess it's really the feeling of vulnerability that comes with the sound is what makes it so bad.
The good news is that Abel has some crack mechanics to work on problems like that; but in order for them to do that safely, the runners have to go out and try to distract all the zombies that are attracted by the sound of the alarm bells. In a typical distraction mission you are sent out in pairs, with one member wearing this back pack that has this annoying noise maker and rotating light that makes it look like one of those packs the Ghostbusters carried. Since the back pack makes so much noise, the person without the pack gets the only two-way communicator - mostly because that person can actually hear things since they don't have a noise maker attached to their back. The noise maker also prevents runner carrying it from hearing zombies coming up from behind, so the other partner, being the only means of defense, gets to carry their weapon of choice.
For today's run I was paired up with Runner 8. It turns out that Runner 8 (I'll call her Eight for short) is the woman who I overheard talking about Project Green Shoot. Sam seemed a little surprised that she had been cleared by Doc Myers seeing that she had a slight chest cough. Actually, Sam seemed concerned - you see, a persistant cough is one of the first signs that you caught the zombie virus - but Eight insisted that she was recovering from a small cold and was perfectly fit to go out with me. I also noticed that she was really quick in "offering" me the opportunity to wear the noise maker (more like insisted).
As we got out of visual range of Abel and it's cameras, Eight's cough began to flare up. After a couple of pointed comments from Sam, Eight did the one thing that we are told not to do - she turned off our communicator. It wasn't hard to tell that this was her plan all along (most telling was the sudden disappearance of the offending cough). There was something she didn't want the base to hear, I just prayed that it wasn't her dispatching me to the great beyond.
It turns out I was right in sensing that she didn't trust me. I probably wouldn't trust me either if I were her. She wanted to interrogate me as to who I really was and why I had come to Abel. She seemed to think that I had been at Mullins for awhile and that I was on some kind of mission from there. While I know that isn't really the truth, I didn't deny it. I figure that it's better that she thinks I'm know what I'm doing instead of some foreign tourist picked to be bait while the real person picked for the mission was off prancing with the zombies.
Honestly, she didn't let me do a lot of talking. I think she just wanted to see my face as she threw these acccusations at me. I really hope I was able to keep my face straight. While I don't really need her to like me, I want her to at least trust me. She seems like a dangerous person otherwise.
After she was done with her private inquisition, she turned the communicator (and her cough) back on. Sam was pissed. Apparently we were quite effective in our task and we were surrounded by zombies from the east, south, and west. Eight was able to pick off some of the zombies with the pistol she chose as her weapon (another reason to stay on her good side) , but there were too many to get all of them that way.
We ended up turning off the pack (so we didn't attract any additional zombies) and headed for the north. Sam didn't like this either because it would put us within shooting range of New Canton (which was the same reason Eight loved this plan). It turns out that a few weeks before I arrived that a New Canton practiced a new zombie culling method which basically amounted to a few of their runners luring a group of zombies to right outside Abel's gate. Abel's only option was to shoot these zombies, which meant using up bullets that are already in short supply. Eight was only too eager to return the favor.
While I totally get why Sam prefers not to escalate things further with New Canton, I had no option but to follow Eight. We managed to get within 100 yards of the New Canton boundary - close enough for the New Canton boundary control to threaten to shoot us. Thankfully the zombies did take their attention off from us and we were able to head back to Abel. I just wonder how much damage to the Abel and New Canton relationship this little stunt will cause. If the human race is going to survive this zombie apocalypse, we need to remember who our real enemies are.
I need to go to sleep now. Rumor has it that one of the runner teams heard a child crying when they were out there. I need to be well-rested in case a search party is sent out.
The good news is that Abel has some crack mechanics to work on problems like that; but in order for them to do that safely, the runners have to go out and try to distract all the zombies that are attracted by the sound of the alarm bells. In a typical distraction mission you are sent out in pairs, with one member wearing this back pack that has this annoying noise maker and rotating light that makes it look like one of those packs the Ghostbusters carried. Since the back pack makes so much noise, the person without the pack gets the only two-way communicator - mostly because that person can actually hear things since they don't have a noise maker attached to their back. The noise maker also prevents runner carrying it from hearing zombies coming up from behind, so the other partner, being the only means of defense, gets to carry their weapon of choice.
For today's run I was paired up with Runner 8. It turns out that Runner 8 (I'll call her Eight for short) is the woman who I overheard talking about Project Green Shoot. Sam seemed a little surprised that she had been cleared by Doc Myers seeing that she had a slight chest cough. Actually, Sam seemed concerned - you see, a persistant cough is one of the first signs that you caught the zombie virus - but Eight insisted that she was recovering from a small cold and was perfectly fit to go out with me. I also noticed that she was really quick in "offering" me the opportunity to wear the noise maker (more like insisted).
As we got out of visual range of Abel and it's cameras, Eight's cough began to flare up. After a couple of pointed comments from Sam, Eight did the one thing that we are told not to do - she turned off our communicator. It wasn't hard to tell that this was her plan all along (most telling was the sudden disappearance of the offending cough). There was something she didn't want the base to hear, I just prayed that it wasn't her dispatching me to the great beyond.
It turns out I was right in sensing that she didn't trust me. I probably wouldn't trust me either if I were her. She wanted to interrogate me as to who I really was and why I had come to Abel. She seemed to think that I had been at Mullins for awhile and that I was on some kind of mission from there. While I know that isn't really the truth, I didn't deny it. I figure that it's better that she thinks I'm know what I'm doing instead of some foreign tourist picked to be bait while the real person picked for the mission was off prancing with the zombies.
Honestly, she didn't let me do a lot of talking. I think she just wanted to see my face as she threw these acccusations at me. I really hope I was able to keep my face straight. While I don't really need her to like me, I want her to at least trust me. She seems like a dangerous person otherwise.
After she was done with her private inquisition, she turned the communicator (and her cough) back on. Sam was pissed. Apparently we were quite effective in our task and we were surrounded by zombies from the east, south, and west. Eight was able to pick off some of the zombies with the pistol she chose as her weapon (another reason to stay on her good side) , but there were too many to get all of them that way.
We ended up turning off the pack (so we didn't attract any additional zombies) and headed for the north. Sam didn't like this either because it would put us within shooting range of New Canton (which was the same reason Eight loved this plan). It turns out that a few weeks before I arrived that a New Canton practiced a new zombie culling method which basically amounted to a few of their runners luring a group of zombies to right outside Abel's gate. Abel's only option was to shoot these zombies, which meant using up bullets that are already in short supply. Eight was only too eager to return the favor.
While I totally get why Sam prefers not to escalate things further with New Canton, I had no option but to follow Eight. We managed to get within 100 yards of the New Canton boundary - close enough for the New Canton boundary control to threaten to shoot us. Thankfully the zombies did take their attention off from us and we were able to head back to Abel. I just wonder how much damage to the Abel and New Canton relationship this little stunt will cause. If the human race is going to survive this zombie apocalypse, we need to remember who our real enemies are.
I need to go to sleep now. Rumor has it that one of the runner teams heard a child crying when they were out there. I need to be well-rested in case a search party is sent out.