Taking It Back now available!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the second book of the White Flag of the Dead Series is now available on Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0987104403/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk

Duncan's Diary

Just for kicks, we worked our way along the canal, trying to clear out a path for anyone to use.  It wasn't easy, since the canal was fenced most of the way, but it worked in our favor keeping the zombies out. 
We could see the debris of flight all over the place, things people took with them only to realize they had no value or were too cumbersome. 
The weird stuff we encountered quite a bit were tied-up zombies.  They must have been loved ones left behind once their famlies realized they weren't going to get any better.  They couldn't kill them, so they just left them.  Easier on the conscience, I guess.
We moved cautiously to the northeast, passing by a number of subdivisions that had been hit hard.  The vegetation had been very helpful concealing our movements, but once in a while we really had to take it slow.  All it took was for one Z to spot us, and the rest would come running.  We knew the fence could hold a few of them, but if a hundred hit it at once, the whole thing was going to come down and we were going to do some swimming. 
Actually, we weren't.  One of the guys had a bright idea to bring along a small bass boat and it trailed in the water.  If things got bad, that was our escape.
We came up to a loading platform for a small quarry, and there were a couple of channel boats sitting quietly by the docks.  The water of the canal lapped quietly against their hulls as we looked over the small operation.  There wasn't anything we needed from this place, but we wanted to make sure it was clear so we didn't have to worry about surprises.
In this world, surprises killed you.

I stepped up to the small foreman's building and looked inside.  It seemed quiet so I shouldered my weapon and pushed the door open.

Right away I wished I hadn't.

A Note from John

You can't save them all.

If there was ever a hard lesson to learn from the Upheaval, that one was the worst.  So many times we had to stand by and watch helplessly as some group of survivors let their defenses lapse and the dead came in.  We did not want to just let it happen, and on more than one occasion cooler heads than mine had to prevail upon me to not go charging to the rescue.
Believe me, there is nothing worse than letting a massacre happen, but if you realize that the only thing you will contribute to the slaughter is another corpse, you will find that you can live with the decision much easier.
I remember once coming up to a house that had at least twenty ghouls in it.  They had trapped a person in the bathroom, and were relentlessly pounding on the door, trying to get in.  I could have charged the mob, taken out a few.  But I would have been quickly overwhelmed and killed.  In the end, I just had to move on.
Those are the ghosts that visit in the quiet times.  They stay just out of sight, but you know they are there.  I tend to ask forgiveness and let it go.

You can't save them all.

But if you save one, and learn your lessons well, then you can save another, and another.  Pretty soon, you're saving enough.


JT

Tommy's Tips

When the world went upside down, one of the things we noticed very quickly was how much we began to rely on our senses again.  Before the Upheaval, we could pretty much get through our days without too much trouble, focusing solely on what was in front of us, and not paying too much attention to the peripherals.  But when survival meant paying attention to the details, it became interesting to see how much we realized we could use our senses to save our lives.

One of the things I noticed right away when the world ended was how quiet it was.  It seemed like the whole world was holding its breath, waiting to scream.  You could hear things a long way away, and it was to the zombies advantage, sadly.  I remember walking down a path and I thought my footsteps were too loud, even though chances were no one could hear them further than three feet away!

Once we got used to them, we realized how valuable they are and how much we can use them to save ourselves.  

The one advantage we have over the zombies is eyesight.  They can't see really well, mostly because the fluid in their eyeballs is clouding up with decaying matter, but they can find you by smell and sound, no worries there.  But if a zombie is far enough away and you don't move suddenly or make noise, they might not know you're there.  I've snuck up on a lot of zombies.

Use your hearing.  Don't listen for the sounds of things that are supposed to be there, listen for what shouldn't.  Dragging sounds have no place in a forest, nor do they belong in a store.

Use your nose.  I've noticed once the crap filtered itself out of the air, my sense of smell has been getting better over time.  Zombies smell, but not as bad as you might think.  Sort out the smells that belong where you are and identify the ones that don't fit.

Trust your instincts.  What people call their intuition is the subconscious mind sorting out the signals coming in through the senses and telling you exactly what is on the other side of that creepy door.  Pay attention.

Later, TC.

Book Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that White Flag of the Dead: Book II is getting ready to print and should be available within the next few weeks.
Also, the first book in the series is now available on Kindle for a one month promotional price of $0.99!

Best thing can buy for under a buck!

Joe

Charlie's Guide

According to the old nursery rhyme, sticks and stones will break your bones.  While I can't make any serious claims about rocks, I can say with some authority that one of the most overlooked items in a zombie  kit is a stick.
Now don't get stupid on me and start telling that I'm crazy thinking a little branch will be effective against zombies. I'm not talking about that kind of stick.
When I say stick, I'm talking more along the lines of a staff or walking stick.  Something about four to five feet in length and made out of some kind of hardwood.  It doesn't have to be fancy, just functional.  Before the fecal matter hit the rotating air mover, there was a company that made serious walking sticks.  These things were made out of aircraft aluminum, had a compass on the top, and the end unscrewed to reveal a nasty six inch blade.  One of those bad boys would be handy in the new world, let me tell you.
Anyhow, if have a functional, serviceable stick, you'll find it is a very  useful item when dealing with the undead.
For example, you can use the stick to safely push the Z down, to be terminated in a more permanent fashion.  Or you can use the stick to lever the ghoul out of the way or over a guard rail.  You can throw the stick at their legs to trip them up, or you can shove the end in their mouths, rendering them impotent while you figure out what to do with them.
Duncan travels with an oak staff, and he likes to trip them up with it before he kills them.  If he's with Tommy, Duncan will trip up a zombie, then hold it down while Tommy kills it.  It's a pretty effective method.
Bottom line, a stick like what I'm talking about will have a lot of uses, so don't count them out until you try them.

Charlie out.

Tommy's Tips

Let's talk about gear for a minute. Specifically, your pack of supplies. It doesn't matter if you use a backpack, a duffle bag, or a garbage bag. Whatever works for you and you can carry comfortably without compromising your ability to engage an enemy.
First, let's talk about consumables. You'll need a source of protein, and jerked beef is a good source. Another good source, believe it or not, is canned cat food. Sure, it tastes like crap, but is high in nutritional value. Granola is good to have; it lasts a while, and homemade stuff is hit or miss as far as taste. Dried vegetables are useful and don't weigh much. Whatever you choose, calculate how much you would eat in a day, then supply yourself for three days.
Water is vital, and you'll need to try to keep at least three liters with you. Keep in mind that water is heavy, and more will be hard on your overall pack weight.
If you can find them, the little packets of powdered nutrition drinks are very useful and beneficial.
Non-consumables should include some form of knife, a blade of at least four inches, but no longer then eight inches. Some kind of cord is necessary, preferably twenty feet or more.. Matches are vital, and candles are very helpful as well. Road flares are useful, but they are one hit wonder. A compass is vital, as is a flashlight. Batteries are essential unless you can find one flashlights that work without the batteries.
Other items will be up to you, but if you use this as a base, you'll be in a good place to survive should you need to.

Later, TC

Charlie's Guide

One of the things I've noticed with a few zombie hunters is the over-reliance on their upper body moves to take out the threat.  Granted, being strong up top has its advantages, but you can't forget that your strongest muscles are your legs.  Rebecca and Sarah have a great move that manages to knock down the Z's without serious threat to themselves.
Sarah will wait for a zombie to come close enough, and she will typically kick the silly thing in the chest, knocking it back and off it's feet, making it a much easier kill.  Rebecca will generally do the same thing, and I have to admit it has its merits.  If you kick it in the chest, it's head might snap down, but it won't have the reach to get your foot.  You have to be careful, though, because if you kick it in the stomach, it can fold over on your foot, and then you are royally screwed.
If the zombie is particularly tall, and there will be a few of them, a jump kick works just as well.  Just watch your landing because it royally sucks to land on your ass after you have just executed a perfect zombie take-down kick.
Round house kicks work pretty good, but they work best against the shoulder.  You goal is to knock them down, and avoid the teeth and hands.
When push comes to shove, sweep the knees.  They will fall back and you can jump on them to finish them off.

Charlie out.

Note from John

Charlie told me he and the crew were doing this and asked if I wanted to toss in a word or three.  I couldn't think of anything else to do at the moment, since Jake decided to take a nap.
When I look back on everything that has happened in the last few years, parts of me are still in disbelief.  I have had people come up to me and remind me of things I've done, things I actually have no recollection of.  I guess after a while, things became kind of a blur.  But I managed to get through it, save Jake, marry Sarah, find a new home, and start the country back on the right track.  I guess it could be worse.
Why did I do it?  Technically, I didn't.  I had help from a lot of people, people I trust with my life.  They kept me moving, kept me from losing it.
I fight for the simple reason I can.  I'm good enough to survive, and that's what keeps me going.

It's what I do.

JT

Tommy's Tips

Here's a scenario.  You're moving well down a road when you begin to see the beginnings of a small town or community.  Before you get bent out of shape, there are more of these than cities, thank God.  You can see several people moving around, some are by cars, others are stepping into buildings.  What do you do?
Your first response may be somewhat canine in nature.  "People!  Oh, boy!  People!"  If you had a tail it would be wagging.
However, a more rational part of your brain might be saying, "Hang on.  Let's take a look before we get all crazy for conversation."
Why should you care or worry?  Well, what if this group just killed everyone in the town and is now looting their stuff? 
Unfortunately, there are people out there who have discovered the lack of enforced laws means survival of the strongest or most ruthless.  What this means for you is you have to make sure of the intentions of your possible friends before you run out with your hand in the air.  Check to see what they are doing, is it something normal people would be doing?  Are quite a few of them carrying a bit too much from one place to another?  Does there seem to be people who are standing watch for some reason?  If they lived there, what are they afraid of?
The point being is running into situations without knowing what you might be getting into is a sure way to come to some grief.  Once upon a time we used to teach children to cross railroad tracks by "Stop, Look, and Listen."  The same rules apply for any situation you are unfamiliar with. 

Later.

T.C.

Charlie's Guide

Edged weapons made a big comeback in the Upheaval.  No joke about it.  I saw a number of people who were sporting machetes, billhooks, tree trimmers, and pruners.  

Trouble is, edged weapons are most effective against an adversary that feels pain, someone who can be put out of commission with a large, devastating cut.  

Zombies don't work that way.  You cut the bastard's arm off, and he's reaching for you with the other one.  Cut his leg in half, and he's still crawling to get you.  Sure, you could get both arms and legs off if you're really good, but the odds of that happening aren't realistic enough to try.

I like a good hand axe or tomahawk.  They're small, fast, and you can throw the things reasonably well if you practice.  Mine don't have a curved edge like normal ones.  Mine come to a wide point in the center, giving me a good point for penetration.  

Machetes are good for last ditch work, but you have to get really close to be effective.  Anything mounted to a pole os good for the outdoors, but inside you have a really big toothpick.

I've seen swords used, but the battle ready ones are few and far in between.  Anything stainless is useless.  John and Duncan have experimented with a couple from a store they found up north.  Duncan actually knew a lot about the things and kept John away from the junk.  Right now he's been practicing with what was called a hand and a half sword.

I'll let you know how that turns out.

Charlie out.

Tommy's Tips

One of the things we learned quickly when the Upheaval hit was value.  True, actual, value.  One the surface, you might think it would be a simple thing to define, but in the middle of the fight, it became something that took on real, fundemental meaning.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about values, those things we teach our kids about being right and wrong.  No, what I'm talking about is what something is worth.
In the first days of the Upheaval, people were grabbing as much money and valuables as they could, thinking they would be worth something in the future.  Trouble was, all that paper money was just that, paper.  I can't tell you how much of the stuff we used to use to start fires.  Coins were just about as useless, they had no real value beyond their metal content, and the real silver coins had been long gone even before the zombies came.
No, value came from usefullness.  A man with a hammer had something more valuable than a man with a gold brick.  I remember meeting a guy who showed me he was carrying a bunch of gold coins.  I asked him what he planned to do with it.  He said he would trade it for food and supplies.  I asked him why it was worth anything.  He thought I was crazy, but I had just simply moved on from old notions of value.  I did give him a pocketknife for a small disk of gold, though.  That shiny button did lure in a good number of fish, I have to say, so it did earn its keep.
Value changed in the Upheaval.  Old treasures like diamonds and emeralds were only worth what someone was willing to trade for them, and even then, it was just for fun. 
Side note:  John had a moment of brilliance once.  I mention it as once, we've been recovering from his other ideas since.  But he figured the best place to find tools for the new world was to look where they stored the tools from the old, old world.  We scoured antique shops for old hand tools and implements, things they had used before they had electricity and power motors.  These things, once we figured out how they worked and what they were for, were extremely valuable because they were useful.
Bottom line, don't waste your time trying to stuff the diamonds in your pocket.  You can't eat them and they don't really serve a purpose.  If you want to have them for later when things may get straightened out, that's okay, but there are long odds against you seeing it in your lifetime.

Later.

Duncan's Diary

I was really getting tired of this nonsense.  Every time I tried to get the zombies to do something, they messed up my plans and did something else.  I couldn't get them to line up nicely and die already, so I had to move to plan C.  I called over my friends and they came running, since their areas were being overrun.  We held a quick conference as we retreated, and I decided the best plan was to use the forest next to us, since the messy monsters were going to have a devil of a time gettiing to us. 
The forest edge by the road was actually a sheer wall that rose fifteen feet in the air.  The road had been cut into a hill and the erosion break had been there for a while.  The wall extended about a hundred feet in either direction from the highest point, and we could move relatively safely up there.  With the heavy forest at our backs, we didn't have to worry about any ghouls sneaking up on us while we killed their kin.  The hill was still very steep outside of the barrier, so it was almost as effective as a wall, and would slow down the Z's considerably.
I took the low point and the other two took the high and low points.  We waited for the zombies to catch up, and since they moved at various rates and had difficulty with the ditch, we managed to zip out and kill quite a few before the main horde came at us.  I stood on the wayy, holding a tree with my left hand while my right smashed down again and again.  The z's couldn't reach me, and the hill was too steep to flank me.  They just kept coming and coming.  After about ten minutes, I had to swtich hands, since my right was getting tired.
I looked over and saw the same thing happening on the other side.
After an hour, we smashed the last one and were able to free ourselves.  At last count we had killed over seventy zombies.  I'll call that a good start.

Charlie's Guide

Multiple attackers.  Sounds pretty scary, and most of the time it is.  Just when you think you've got the situation under control, another little zombie comes along and bites you in the ass.  Let's look at some options.
Suppose you're in the middle of a parking lot and six of them are coming at you from all sides.  What do you do?
Best course of action in this situation is to look for the biggest hole in their line and make a break for it.  What?  No fighting?  Exactly.  First rule in a zombie fight is to survive.  Don't be stupid and think you're invincible. 
What about two attackers and you have no room to run?  Better question.  In that case, use their clumsiness against them.  Move yourself so the zombies are lined up single file, then push them back.  They'll likely fall and you can kill as they get up.  Don't get grabbed and fall with them.  Then you're screwed.
What do you do against several zombies and there's no place to run?  If you're dumb enough to get into a situation like that, the best thing you can do is run to the nearest one and kill it as quickly as possible.  Use the body to knock down a couple of others and kill the next nearest.  Throw that one to knock down some more  and you've created some breathing room. 
Always keep moving, don't let them get fixed on you.  Get them to the ground and keep your feet.  You'll live longer.

Charlie out.

Tommy's Tips

     Exits.  Kind of a simple term, when you think about it.  Sounds neat when you roll it around on your tongue for a bit.  Conjures up a few images, probably the first being those old signs that used to light the way to egress.  But in a more practical sense, exits are fundamental to hunting zombies.
     The first thing you should think of when you arrive anywhere is "How will I get out if things head south?"  If you're entering a house, check and make sure the downstairs windows and doors are closed, but unlocked.  You don't want anyone coming in after you, but you certainly don't want to be delayed if you have to bug out in a hurry.
     For example.  Duncan and I were charged with house clearing near the old school where we first set up a community.  I headed in the first house and cleared the first floor, moved up to the second with Duncan behind me.  At the top of the stairs we found a family of six waiting for us, four of them teenagers and faster than normal.  As we bolted down the stairs to gain some room, we found a trio of zombies from the outside had come in the front door to see where we had vanished to.  We didn't have the  time to kill the ones on the ground before the ones on the second floor were attacking from the rear.
     Duncan actually used his head for a change and dove under the ktchen table, standing up with it on his head, and charging the group by the door.  The table knocked over the zombies and the two of us used the platform as a bridge to get the hell out of there just as the family came tumbling down the stairs.
     From that episode, we learned to have an exit always, whether it be a rope out a window, a busted door, anything.  When the Upheaval was still new, it was interesting to see how well trained we had all been.  Most people were reluctant to break a window, simple because they never would in their former lives.  it was a taboo we had to get over in a hurry.  John always said the big patio doors were the most fun, but it let the zombies out, too.
     Always know how to go back the way you came, and chalk the damn walls if you have to.  Office buildings are a pain to clear, we typically just set them on fire.  But they have nice central stairs which work really well as exits or funnels.  Get a group to follw you up the stairs, then set up a killing zone on the roof.  One at a time and your targets come to you.
     Always know where the exits are.  If you aren't sure, don't go in there.  You'd be amazed at how much trouble you can avoid by simply walking around the building.

Stay safe.