The big news today is that in about two weeks, the Rock’s getting three new residents – from space!

As I’ve reported, there’s a six-person crew still onboard the International Space Station. When their orbit brings them close to Falcon Rock, we have a few minutes of line-of-sight communications with them every couple of days.

Right now, they’re three months past their return date, but their supplies are good – they’ve got lots of “margin” as they call it. The station commander says that she can stretch the consumables even more if three of her crew return now, in one of the two, three-person Soyuz capsules docked at the station.

Still not sure which three of the six are going to come down, but we should know soon. Apparently, the Soyuz can be programmed to touch down with a fair degree of accuracy, so getting within five to ten miles of the Rock is doable. Everyone here’s going over the topo maps to select appropriate landing areas. Good to be working on something that doesn’t have to do with fighting the dead for a change.

More on the astronauts later. For now, here’s today’s round-up of survivor reports.


TUCSON

Mark from Tucson sends this account. Sounds like he and his group have a secure and defensible position. He also gives details on a new type of behavior we’ve heard rumors of, but so far haven’t seen firsthand. He adds an interesting new twist on what Dr. Cole calls the “Powerless Line Mystery.”

Hey,

We just got the G.R.I.D. working down here. Plenty of solar power in the desert. We are glad to see that there are some other survivors out there. It makes the night seem a little less dark.

A group of 43 of us made it out of Tucson and up to the top of Mount Lemon, which is just north of the city. We are currently living in an old, abandoned Girl Scout camp. Living in the pine trees is pretty nice and a heck of a lot cooler, but water is spotty at best and I am sick of "pine needle tea."

So far basic supplies, firearms, and clothing haven’t been too much of a problem. There are a lot of houses and stores in the foothills. We are using mountain bikes and a hybrid car for our runs up and down the mountain.

Speaking of hybrid cars, one of the things we have noticed down here was the number of infected that gather near the hybrid and electric car dealerships. We couldn't figure out why until we read that whole standing by power lines thing you guys are seeing. I guess the batteries are still good in those cars.

2 other developments that we have seen are a lot more troubling, although one is a blessing in disguise. First is the blessing: our infected seem to be 'drying out.' It makes it much harder to chop off their heads but now we can usually hear the dang things move. That’s right, they creak. It makes clearing buildings a heck of a lot easier.

The final development we have down here is the helmeted ones. We are seeing 2 or 3 of them in the middle of packs of 10-40 “normal” ones. Most of us thought that was just sheer random chance (soldiers, riot police, bikers, etc...), until we noticed a very disturbing pattern. At first it seemed like they were randomly moving around, but now it looks like these packs are systematically doing house-to-house searches. A group will surround a house, beat their way in, and kill anything inside.

The pack will then move on to another house within sight and repeat. Sometimes it’s the next house, sometimes the house across the street, and sometimes it’s a previous house that they or another pack have already attacked. It looks like pure random noise until you plot their progress on a map and see that they have cleared almost a third of the city so far. After reading your posts on the helmeted ones and the possible telepathy element, paranoia has kicked in and we are starting to think that the helmeted ones are directing the normal ones. Has anyone else seen this behavior?

Until next time,
Mark!

Cody here with some questions: The electric/hybrid car behavior seems related to the Power Line Flocking we’ve seen, but no one here can come up with a solid theory to explain what’s happening. We’ve seen them lining up by power lines that have no power going through them. So how does that relate to them standing around batteries that are still able to produce current? Maybe electricity is a false lead? Maybe they’re attracted to particular types of metal? We just don’t know. However, Captain Gil is only a week or two away from setting up Dr. Cole’s experiment to run current through a stretch of power line near the Rock’s staging area. We’ll let you know how that works out. In the meantime, everyone out there send whatever details you’ve observed about their flocking behavior.

That apparent “pack hunting” behavior is a new one on us. The helmeted ones we’ve encountered tend to move around in small groups – three to five tops. Based on some of the other accounts I’ve seen, I have to ask – are you sure they’re going into those houses to actually kill everything inside? Any chance they’re going into houses where everything’s already dead? The helmeted ones up here are definitely doing some kind of scavenging of the ones that are totally dead. More details, please!

As for the creaking – hmmm. Wonder if that has anything to do with the climate around Tucson. Up here in Oregon, they’re staying pretty moist. Anyone out there from any other desert areas notice this characteristic?


LONDON STILL CALLING

Very happy to report that James in London is still going strong. Has a great idea for surveying the city, too. Sorry about the dog. Dr. Cole’s mutt is a real bright spot for the kids at the Rock.

Again, thanks for the mention. The dog was a false lead by the looks of it. It just keeled over and died for no apparent reason. On to business – picked up a couple of survivors in our primary London sweep – it's not looking good. The whole city has gone. We are gonna move out as soon as possible. We saw some planes recently (ties in with the other stories on the blog) and some thumping noises in the distance. We intend to power up the London Eye and get to the top to gain a vantage point over the general area. Once we've seen what those planes are up to, we intend to head to Downing Street, check if there's any info on the Prime Minister or a safe house. Talk later.

James R, London
Survivor count: 25

Cody here. Got to say the plane reports are driving some of the technicians here nuts. Falcon Rock has an extensive communications setup – twenty-year-old technology for the most part – but there’s no reason why we can’t be picking up radio chatter from whoever’s flying those things within a few hundred miles of us. But so far, nothing. Even stranger, our friends on the ISS haven’t seen a single contrail since Day 10. (They also point out that overall cloud cover for North America and most of Europe has noticeably decreased these past eight months.) Bottom line: we’ve had enough reliable reports of planes to feel confident that some aircraft are still flying in the U.S. southwest, London, and Queensland, Australia. But no one’s been able to get a photo, or discover where they’re operating from. Let us know what you find at Downing Street. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep a plane flight worthy, so any sighting of even a single aircraft implies that there’s a secure and well-stocked base servicing it, most likely a military operation. Keep watching the skies! And share what you see!


PHILIPPINES

Another report from Bryan in Fort Bonifacio, Philippines. Sounds like the infection (if that’s what it is, as the colonel always says) got there a few days later than most other places, and the government was able to implement quarantine plans and carry them out. Here in the States, by the time anyone realized what was happening, it was too late to take action.

CJ,

Unusual activities, I'm not sure if it’s anything at all, but word of mouth is that the first infected appeared in St. Luke's Medical Center. I doubt the military has something to do with this. Through cable news we are all aware of the outbreak days before it got here. A number of camps have been set up all over the country, and we have been instructed to evacuate and go to the nearest camp. Our camp here is a condominium near a mall and we have been getting our supplies there though it’s really risky because it’s dark and there’s a handful of strays running around. We are really now careful because what one infected sees, the nearby infected sees also, arg! Imagine if one of us that is not infected is able to harness their telepathic-like abilities and tap into their senses – it’s really an advantage! Anyway, the military pretty much runs the whole place, with us, the civilians pitching in. We are currently building a much stronger barricade around our camp and after that there are plans of checking out the hospital. It looks like they haven't got to upper parts of the building yet and there’s a good chance of finding survivors in those areas. The more the merrier right?

Waiting for more instructions,

Bryan

Cody here. Thanks for the update, Bryan. Dr. Cole sends her thanks for answering her question about St. Luke’s, too. Let us know how the hospital search goes. Keep fighting!


KANSAS

A new report from Josh in Kansas. Seems like there’s something going on there that might not be related to the infected.

Cody and Falcon Rock,

It's Josh in Pittsburgh, Kansas again. Hopefully things are ok at the Rock. It's been several weeks since we had G.R.I.D access. About eight hours after I sent my first message to you we were under heavy assault from pretty much all sides. A fresh swarm of those things had arrived coming from the east. A lot of them were badly burned and (as it turns out) from Kansas City. Obviously we survived but they wrecked our generator and most of our barricades. Our numbers were down to about twelve when a group of other survivors, guided to our position by one of your updates, arrived and we joined up. Most of the kids made it through the siege ok and with the new arrivals we're up to about thirty-strong. We've got some questions though, Cody. The ones that attacked us were, like I said, mostly from the Kansas City area and most had been burned in the fire I told you about. It's almost like they followed us. Like they held us responsible.

Is that even possible?

The other thing is, after the fight, there weren't nearly enough bodies to account for the numbers attacking us. It was dark when they first hit us but we're conservatively estimating their numbers at about 50. When we did a clean-up sweep we only decapitated and burned about 15. I know we accounted for more kills than that. The weird thing is that the bodies that weren't right in front of the house had disappeared. We were fighting from the roof and some firing slits in our boarded-up windows up and down the length of the house. Front and back. I KNOW we killed some in the back but the only bodies we found were piled up right in front of the door.

Have they ever lost interest and just wandered away before? I know you're interested in them moving the bodies so I guess I can report that they’re doing that here too.

It's been pretty quiet except for a few weird instances I'm going to report here just in case they mean anything to you. Since they stopped surrounding the house we finally made a run into town and hit all the relevant places: groceries, hardware, pawnshops, and the police station. When we got to the police station the armory had been broken into. At first we thought it was looters and were worried about someone running around with that much firepower, but once we got inside it was really weird. The place had been ransacked top to bottom, bullets, guns, and body-armor everywhere. But when we did an inventory from their paperwork the only thing missing were twenty SWAT helmets. We've been seeing the viral symbol you asked survivors to watch out for spray-painted up around town, mostly on churches as it turns out. We've also lost about five people who wandered off during scouting or supply runs. No bodies, no blood, no sign of a group or even one of those things. Just vanished.

The last thing is pretty weird and we argued about whether to include it. We've been trying to dig some wells to get at the ground water around here. We're so sick of boiling our drinking water. A day ago we finally hit some water and when we knocked off for the night we had a well about half-finished. When we came out the next morning we did our usually security check and somebody blew one of their whistles from around the well. When the rest of us got there the well was full all right – it was full of dead animals. Nothing over dog size. Rats, squirrels, raccoons. Stuff like that. They weren't just lying around either. That was the first thing we thought. That some animals had tried to drink and the water was poisonous somehow. But there weren't just a few corpses. When we emptied the hole out there were almost eighty dead animals STUFFED into the well.

We don't know what to make of it. There are a lot of them in the area though. They seem to be avoiding the town but we find footprints, drag-marks, blood-stains, things like that. It's almost like they're trying to freak us out. Like psychological warfare.

We need to know Cody. We need help.

– J

Cody back again. The missing helmets and the gathering of their dead are the new normal. But that poisoned well business, no one here can equate that with anything we’ve seen them do before. But we do have a theory – or should I say, Colonel Manwary has a warning. In his estimation, you’re facing another group of survivors. I know it sucks, but we’ve heard of this in other places, even experienced it ourselves. That whole mess months ago, when the survivors fired on Manwary’s squad, it was the same thing. Hate to say this at a time when we should all be pulling together, but those things aren’t the only enemy out there. Stay watchful, and good luck.


SACRAMENTO

Johnny in Sacramento checks in. Sounds like the boat makes a good stronghold, even if you can’t sail it.

Going to make this brief so please bear with me, Cody.

We’re around 60 strong after we fought to take over a port in West Sacramento. The port seemed to be a logical choice as it was fenced in and there weren't a lot of infected inside the complex. Taking it over we lost around 20 people. These bastards seem to come out of nowhere.

Anyway, there's a giant freighter here but no one knows how to sail that beast or if it has fuel. We've made that boat our base of operations and as for food and supplies, this place was a port and was not even touched so we lucked out. But chances of getting out of here and over to the Rock is... well... slim at best, unless we can find people that can sail. The only boat I've been on in my life is the Staten Island Ferry and that's when I was in NY many many years ago… before all this.

One last thing before I sign off here. You said they congregate under power lines? We've seen that, but then we've seen them gather in a line at random spots. Maybe they're gathering along the same power lines underground? We haven't seen it much but we see a line of them across the street from the port everyday. There're no power lines above and they just stand there. It's creepy.

I'll try to keep you posted on further events.

Johnny

Cody here – have to say that for all the times we’ve seen them line up under power lines, or stand over buried cables, there are always a few other times when they’ve apparently just lined up at a random spot, with no cables or metal anywhere near. Is it all random? Or is there something else in the environment they’re responding to? All theories gratefully received!


QUICK NOTES

William in Welland – Welcome aboard! Can you send any information on how they survived (or didn’t survive) the winter up north?

Lee – Dr. Cole has your paper. More to come…

Sarita in Montreal – An underground stronghold in the heart of the city? More details please! Where are you getting your power? Are there no other adults to help you with the children?

Robert – Glad to hear from you. Sounds like you’re a navigator. Were you ever a pilot? Could sure use one here. Five helicopters, lots of fuel and parts, and no one to fly them.

Martin in Leeds – At any other time, I’d say it was cool to be living in a castle. But these days, I’m just going to say it’s smart!

Amparo – It sounds like you’re in South America, but where? Major Leonova and her crew have reported extensive fires in every major city in Brazil. Was that a government response to the infection? Please send us more info.

And James in Norwich – Don’t give up the fight! As you can see from today’s reports, you’re not the only survivor in England! Any chance you can head south to join up with James in London?

That’s the report for this session. This week’s been fairly peaceful around the Rock. Lots of them still standing around the roads in what the colonel calls standard surveillance mode – he’s convinced they’re gathering intelligence on us, planning something. But then again, even he doesn’t think they’re capable of reasoning like that. So maybe some of you are right, and there’s someone else in charge, directing them. Not the Pastor, though. Watchful waiting is not his style.

Till next time, hang tough. Keep the reports coming – can’t tell you how inspiring they are to all of us at the Rock.

We’ll talk again.

CJ