Friday, 31 May 2013

Stay or leave?

I wish Craig would talk more. Not that I want non-stop conversation, but he barely responds to anything. Is this grief, mourning, shock or just how teenagers behave? I found him watching the Infected family this afternoon. He had managed to lure and trap them all in one room upstairs. Craig just lays there in the roof space spying on them through a hole.

He misses his family. I understand that. But what does he get from this? They do not even act human anymore. Maybe that's it. Perhaps he is trying to find some remnant of humanity, or its return. I wish I knew better how to reach out to him, if even that's what he wants or needs. But the truth is that we are both broken inside. For me, putting every lucid moment into planning is all that keeps me sane.

Which brings me to the big decision; what next? I do not feel it is safe to simply stay put, but travelling around with the Infected is nothing less than a death sentence. With Manchester destroyed, but Leeds and the towns we passed spared, can we assume that Manchester was a desperate attempt to stop or slow down infection? That Leeds is still here suggests to me that plan failed or resources have been directed elsewhere. Perhaps the authorities have taken their fight elsewhere or are no longer even in control.

I have to assume there are other survivors. Where? Refugee camps? Possible. Stuck in their houses, they would be starving by now. Stuck in cities, and they would face starvation or large numbers of Infected. Cities and large towns are going to be death traps, and alas anybody stuck in them will be better off dead. In this area, farmhouses and the smaller villages and hamlets are the safest destinations.

Back to the real question; do we stay or leave?

Pros to staying -
  • relatively safe shelter
  • passive wait for help to arrive
  • roof-space is impossible for Infected to get into

Cons to staying -
  • limited food supply
  • hard to defend individual houses if Infected do notice us
  • going insane waiting

Pros to leaving -
  • better able to find food and supplies
  • chance of finding other survivors (is this always a good thing?)
  • chance to gather more information

Cons to leaving -
  • being killed

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