August 8, 2078
Well, shits gotten interesting since other people have moved in. It's a big cave but its already getting a bit crowded. Personality conflict is a bit inevitable, and off ball little romances even worse. Roberta and the Doc are definitely showing signs of Unresolved Sexual Tension, though that might be less actual affection and more shared grieving and the need for physical human affection, I don't know.
Roberta let slip she did have a husband and son who are probably dead by now, and while she hasn't given up hope she's not holding her breath. Explains why she's gotten so close to Timmy and him her. While Kelly's like the older sister and I'm the cool uncle, she's quickly becoming his pseudo-mom. I think its good for them. It's helping to re socialize her after almost a year alone in the woods.
More distressing is the little spark between Liz and Jake. They're both teenagers, true, but its still a situation that we want to avoid. So far he's been acting surprisingly gentlemanly towards her and they've had no chance to be alone, thank god. Sadly, as as you can expect the more we discourage her the more doe eyed she gets. Jesus fucking christ. Kids. I really hope we don't have to start looking for more birth control.
At least we've been able to distract her. I managed to convince Bear to teach her self-defense. He was reluctant at first, but once I mentioned the things people would do to a pretty young girl these days he simply nodded with a deep frown on his face and took her off to the side to have little a talk. She walked back with a new knife looking a bit traumatized by the discussion, but very committed to learning his gory lessons.
Lucas took me telling him that he he can scav in places and consume food that we can't rather well. Especially the food which he shrugged off with a smile, a grin, and a "more for me". It's about the only thing he's good for though, and even he'll admit it. It's a bit hard to play diplomat when you look like a zombie and he doesn't think we'll need any ambulance chasers about for a good long while. Still is a bit shy around guns though, he claims they were never really his speed, but you gotta do what you gotta.
The children are playing and learning, as kids do. Frankly I think they're good for one another, Jake has been spending a goodly amount of time with them too. He claims that he had a large family and they make him feel at home. It's good that he's bonding with some members of the group. It's not so good that he's teaching the rug rats to pick pockets.
Bear and I had a talk about his experience. He was reluctant but was willing to open up in private after I pulled the rank card. If I'm going to lead this group I need to know what everyone can do, which means I need to know his past. He simply nodded and gave me what can only be called a debriefing.
He was an Army Ranger stationed in Alaska. He was on leave in '66 when the chinese invaded and quickly found himself behind enemy lines. Trapped there, he linked up with the local woodsman and with their help he basically helped found and train the resistance, at least until he was captured. After that he was in a Chinese POW camp until it was liberated. Between the two, we're looking at about 7 years. I told him I can't imagine what it was like, but we're a team now, and I'll happily bare as many burdens of his as I can.
He nodded, thanked me, and said that for him at least, maybe this new world would be for the best. He couldn't go back to society after what he'd seen. He spent his days in the woods because they'd become home to him more than any city built by man. Even being in the cave with us was a bit claustrophobic at times. He needed the woods and the silence to him him feel at ease. I gave him my assault rifle and a radio, and told him that if it would help, I wanted him to do a patrol of the local area to find out if there was anything dangerous out there, like any more feral biker ghouls. His orders were to scout the area, stay in contact, and be back for dinner tomorrow.
When he came back the next day he was visibly more relaxed. After that we enjoyed a meal, and that bastard Lucas taunted us by eating fresh, abet radioactive, meat. After almost a year of canned meat, the smell of the good stuff almost drove me mad.
We rigged up a larger tower for reception and transmission, and have been listening to the police bands. From what we can tell they don't entirely believe that the dumbass's accident was actually an accident and not don't work without a partner. They also have at least five vehicles left, three police cruisers and two or more trucks. The way they seem to operate is they bushwhack someone, then call in the trucks and men to bring their targets and goods into town.
We're considering staging a reverse bushwhack to thin their numbers. Lure them in, catch the deputies, then use a recording to call in the truck which we can then blow up with an IED or something. We're going to wait to see what the salvaged cameras we set up come up with before committing though.
And we still have radios, its the beacons we took down. At least for now. Nothing's been dismantled.
On a more personal note, Kelly's showing now. She complains that she's looking fat but I don't think she's ever looked more beautiful.