We put out the call for local information on resupply stations, and the Zombie Survival Crew continues to respond. Information is coming in and we’re sifting through and compiling everything for communication to the loyalists. We started with information on South Central Resupply site Midland, TX thanks to Purple Brigade member, Kris O’Dell, and continue now with Wilmington, DE compliments of ZSC Yellow brigader Brian McCabe. Because of the amount of information Brian provided, we’ll post this in multiple parts.
Rendezvous Point Blue Rocks
A key issue with Wilmington, DE is that all major roads ( Rt. 95/ Rt.1/ Rt. 13) in and out can become congested as it can be seen throughout the summer and holiday weekends, which could lead to major issues to get out of town via vehicle.
In the southern part of the city lies the Minor League Ball Park – Frawley Stadium. This Ball Park not only sits off the major routes, but also sits in an area referred to as Riverfront. Riverfront has restaurants, shops, and a Scout shop (a supply point for Boy Scout groups). This position also has dock access to Phase 2 via the River. The ball park, while large, has adequate security opportunities for short and long term stays as a base of operations.
(click on the images to enlarge the maps)
To read more on all resupply stations, please go to our (for members only) Key Links under the Escape Routes/Resupply Stations section
It is no big secret that Orange Brigade commander RC Murphy enjoys creating chaos in the ZSC Command Center. Inevitably, we’re left bracing ourselves any time she’s let loose, wondering what will go wrong this time. Because of that, we’ve created a list of Top Ten Things RC Isn’t Allowed To Say In The Command Center.
10. We can totally turn weapon’s training into karaoke hour!
9. Does this sword match my skirt?
8. Yes, I will trade weapons for a piece of dark chocolate.
7. Is the ammunition closet supposed to be smoking?
6. Trust me, this is a great idea!
5. I found an awful movie; you guys should watch it.
4. ::Loud Crash:: Oopsie…
3. You can clean machine guns in a bubble bath, right?
2. I switched the coffee to decaf.
And the number one thing RC isn’t allowed to say in the Command Center is…
1. Oh no, the zombie bunnies are perfectly safe to pet.
Two weeks in a row it’s been impossible to find a place to start with a review. Days later, I’m still dizzy from the turn of events. Pacing for the second half of season two took a one-eighty degree flip from how we started the season—that painfully long wait to learn what happened to Sophia only to end in heartbreak. We’re still ending on heartbreak, but it seems harsher, more in our faces. If there was any doubt that I correctly labeled TWD’s writers as evil, this week’s episode proved me right. Only twisted minds could create characters like these and make us forget to breathe while they run around a fictional world causing chaos.
This week began with a bittersweet eulogy for Dale, contrasted by the group patrolling the farm for walkers. Something about the combination of scenes left something to be desired for me. They say they’re going to do what Dale would have wanted, make him proud and salvage a broken community. Would he want them to do it that way? They needlessly beat those walkers instead of delivering a humane blow to the head. Taking out pent up anger on the undead is understandable, but doing it in the name of a man that wanted nothing but peace seems wrong.
On a side note, did you all notice that T-Dog used a hammer to dispatch one of the walkers? IronE got to put his weapon of choice to use. Awesome! T-Dog also got to step out of the background more. Hopefully this trend lasts.
There is a glimmer of hope for the survival of the group as a whole in the unlikely form of Daryl. In the weeks prior, we’ve seen him pull further and further from the group. Heck, he set his camp up a good half a mile away from the others to get away from them. But last week he stepped up and did what no one really had the heart to do. After, he told Rick, “You shouldn’t have to do all the heavy lifting.” Daryl sees the stress leadership puts on Rick. He wants to help again. I’m not entirely sure what triggered his change of heart. There are too many variables at work to pinpoint one exact cause.
One variable no one can seem to keep a handle of is Carl. Last week I got a tad nasty and pointed blame where it belongs, on his parents. Shane was right (don’t die of shock) when he told Rick that Carl needed to discuss Dale’s death with his father. That isn’t because a male’s opinion on the matter is any better than a woman’s. Oh no, that is a reflection on how poor Lori’s parenting skills are. I’ve lost count of how many times Carl’s been found far away from the house after she’s been asked to keep him inside. The kid isn’t a magical creature. He has a physical form and can’t dematerialize only to reform in the midst of trouble. How the heck can she consistently fail at keeping him away from danger?
Instead of parenting, Lori is still obsessed with saving her reputation. She confronts Shane yet again about their sort-of relationship. At this point I can’t tell if she is stringing him along on the off chance that Rick dies and she needs a male in her life (and bed) or if she sees the dark path he’s going down and is trying to placate his crazy to keep him in line. No matter her motivation, all she has done is cause trouble between Rick and Shane. It’s hard to tell if this sort of thing would have happened after Rick was shot in the line of duty without the walker uprising putting her in Shane’s protection.
Pro tip for ZSC brigadiers: While it is important to board up possible weak spots in your Safe Haven, spending a day hammering boards in place could have unforeseen problems. The undead in The Walking Dead respond to sound. All of that hammering the group did on the barn and house echoed through the forest, drawing the walkers in closer. The only reason they couldn’t pinpoint the source is because the sounds were too faint to follow after bouncing around the trees. However, something like a gun shot after they are searching for the noises… someone may have well rung the dinner bell.
It wouldn’t be one of my reviews if we didn’t address the Shane Issue. This week I need to put a Spoiler Warning before it. If you have not seen episode 212 of The Walking Dead, turn around and head to safety. After you watch, come back and finish reading.
Shane, Shane, Shane. I’ve spent nearly a year despising you and defending that opinion tooth and nail. You are ruthless, cutthroat, obsessive, and your only redeeming quality is being a good shooter. No one trusts you, not even the people you tried to lure to your side with promises of cookies, or whatever the emotional equivalent is for a psychopath. You could never be a leader of men, not in the way Rick is, and your jealousy over that fact will be your downfall.
Oh wait, it was.
The creepiest scene in this episode possessed no dialog. Heck, there wasn’t even much sound to it at all. Watching Shane sit in the shed contemplating his plans for Randall sent goosebumps up my arms. It takes a great actor and great writing to make me loathe a fictional character so much. Hats off to Jon Bernthal and the TWD writers. This ride watching Shane spiral further and further to madness has been the most entertaining bit of television in years. Shane’s condition created so many discussions about morals in extreme crisis situations. Even when we thought he acted poorly, part of our minds wondered if it actually was the right thing to do. Could we reach that level of practicality he delved into and maintain what it is that makes us human? I’m not entirely sure it is possible.
However, there was nothing right or humane about how he dealt with poor Randall. Was Randall a threat? In my opinion, yes. He acted too much like a weasel to trust him at his word. Rick’s plan to drive him an hour out and drop him off would’ve worked or at least given them time to prepare the farm for possible human attack, which they should have done beforehand. Shane couldn’t leave it be. He had to have his way and in the process illustrated that any dead body, bitten or not, will come back as a walker.
Much respect to Rick for realizing Shane’s plan and confronting him man to man. By that point there were two possible outcomes. Either way, someone would die. Losing Shane is a blow to the group. For all of his insanity, he did a good job protecting them. That is when he wasn’t plotting ways to undermine the authority of the group. If he’d succeeded, the group would have collapsed. None of the others would believe the story he cooked up. Not after the Otis incident came to light.
Will everyone understand why Shane died, though? Can our survivors continue on as they have been? Hell broke loose and is knocking on their front door. The season two finale next week is going to be a doozey.
What do you think about Shane’s demise? Let us hear your opinion in the comments below.
Season two of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” kicked off with a groan, lurch, and the bang that made viewers jump off their couches. For a show that went through more than a few growing pains during filming of the current season, TWD creators are proving that despite the changes, they are still striving to deliver one of the best-made programs on television. And the proof isn’t in backroom antics; the numbers for the season premiere alone are amazing–7.3 million viewers tuned in to catch the flesh-munching goodness, shattering previous records for a basic cable TV show.
The first episode was light on the bloodshed, but heavy on character focus. We got a serious look at the women who provide the backbone of the survivors. You’ve got the widow finally finding her footing in life after the death of her abusive husband. There’s the woman who has lost everything and everyone she loves and wants nothing more than a way out. And, of course, we have the once-thought widow who is reunited with her husband, but not until after sleeping with his best friend.
There’s a saying, “Behind every great man, there’s a great woman.” We were shown in season one that the women handle more than their share of the work in camp. Since leaving the camp, that work has translated to emotional support, and basically the three have become a collective “mommy”–a mommy with a gun and short temper, apparently. The best thing the creators did with that first episode was hit the women where it hurt–their children. One child goes missing in the middle of a zombie attack, and the other…well, remember that bang mentioned before? It wasn’t a happy moment for our survivors.
Episode two carried on with the deep look at the women in camp. Almost instantly, Laurie knew something was wrong. It’s always been a little creepy when a mother does that; how despite distance, she knows her family is in danger. Too many times it has happened in real life to be simply a story mechanism. This story line is really putting the focus on Laurie and when she tells Rick his place is by her side with their son, you knew he’d sit, stay, and do what she wanted.
We’re also introduced to a new group of survivors out on the farm. You don’t take notice of their women until after the men have all taken off to do what men do, risk their necks without a solid plan. But when Maggie decides to make her presence felt, it is a solid blow that snags your attention. As we put it while discussing the episode, Maggie is the face of girl power in The Walking Dead, no doubt.
On this show, the women are a symbol of hope, while the men try to be realists…to a fault. Survivors of any disaster need hope in order to keep putting one foot in front of another. Without it, they’d be like the corpses in the cars on the freeway, laying there waiting for a slow death. Now we just have to wait and see if that hope can survive the horrific situations thrown their way by fate.
The first time your Commander-in-Chief encountered Sam Trammell in person, I really wasn’t sure how much a man known for battling with vampires, witches and werewolves would know about battling the shambling hordes. I found myself immediately and deeply impressed not only by Sam’s kind nature but his razor-sharp strategy instincts.
During subsequent meetings, Sam turned the tables on my attempts to assess his command credentials and instead, I found myself searching for answers to some pretty tough questions about disaster preparedness, response plans and the kind of survival tactics we in ZSC Command advocate.
Sam’s experience with supernatural forces and the vampires of the True Blood universe is already being put to use within ZSC Command to enhance our collective preparations for the onset of the zombieapocalpyse or any other global cataclysmic event.
Zombie Survival Crew – please raise your weapons and welcome our newest commander SAM TRAMMELL!!!!
The event was bound to be crawling with UGA agents and others out to gather information on Zombie Survival Crew command, but when the call came through there was no doubt your Commander-in-Chief would attend.
The gauntlet of bright lights made it hard to keep track of the action, but I managed to catch some shots of Laurie Holden, Steve Yeun, Jeffrey DeMunn and other cast members before settling in for the much anticipated opening episode.
Now you’re not going to get any spoilers from me, so don’t even try…unless you happen to have a million bucks lying around and then maybe we can talk.
But I will say it was not what I was expecting – which is a good thing – and I almost tossed my complimentary popcorn onto the poor souls in front of me a couple of times – which is a great thing. And every time I thought “oh, there’s the ‘gotcha’ moment, thanks, let’s move on,” another one was around the corner, and it just got better and better. That’s not to say there aren’t some extremely telling character development moments that will shake viewers and touch their greatest fears, because…oof, The Walking Dead isn’t pulling any punches.
The opening episode will keep fans guessing and off-balance, confused and screaming (literally) for more. I could have sat there all night watching the entire season.
If you want to hear more than I’m willing to divulge, take a look at some of the production and cast interviews on the red carpet here.
Instead, I stumbled off, still nauseous from the viewing, to the after event where IronE snapped this picture with Steve Yeun that is just too cute for words. Him, not me. What a sweet, articulate, engaging young man he is….kind of reminds of Glen, actually.
ZSC Command not only survived the night, but came away from it having discussed future missions and creating updated strategies. Green brigade Commander IronE Singleton prepped a special mission for the Green Brigade and has the undying gratitude of ZSC Command in its entirety for his commitment to helping us all prepare for the onset of a zombiepocalypse.
We in Zombie Survival Crew Command are always supportive of the projects and causes of those on the crew. Today, we bring your attention to an independent movie that two of our command crew happen to be working on.
Our Li’l Gangsta Anthony Guajardo and Second Lieutenant Viviana Chavez have a new project on the horizon and they’re looking to raise donations to help fund it!
The Story:
It’s October 2001 and Andrew is a high school senior who has been in the care of his step-grandmother Stella for the better part of his life. He has no job, no friends, no girlfriend, no car and no money. Over the course of his life he has developed an anti-social personality largely in part to his Grandmother’s strict household and religious beliefs. Andrew has found an outlet in music and a girl he has a crush on named Rose. Our story takes place over the course of several days when Andrew’s routine life comes to a head.
Yellow Brigade Commander Jinxie G has a special promotion over on her website starting today, and it’s all about raising awareness for breast cancer!
As a Zombie Survival Crew Commander, and the crew’s top Amazon, Jinxie is very dedicated to this cause because it has affected more than a few of the women in her family, as well as friends and their families. For the entire month of October, she will be making her survival bracelets in pink & black and pink & white, with all proceeds going to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.
Just look at these beauties. You know you want one!
If you would like to order one of these special survival bracelets, please head on over to her website Jinxie’s World and place your order. Not only does she have a post up on her blog today, which we urge you to read, but there is also a page dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness.
In addition to the survival bracelets, Jinxie is also donating all proceeds from the October sales of her most recent book NEMESIS to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.
Nemesis, from Running Ink Press, is marked at the special price of $1.99 for all of October. Available in KINDLE, PDF, RTF, HTML, LRF, PALM DOC, AND PLAIN TEXT ON SMASHWORDS, & BARNES & NOBLE and KINDLE format on AMAZON & AMAZON UK & AMAZON DE.
After a semi-hostile takeover bid, and nearly being run down, you would think your Zombie Survival Crew Commander-in-Chief would know better than to ask Yellow Brigade First Lieutenant Sean Patrick Flanery for battle technique sessions.
Well, he is an expert in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so it should hardly be any surprise that this PSA from Sean almost knocked me down.
Priority Status: High
Instead, I stumbled off, still nauseous from the viewing, to the after event where IronE snapped this picture with Steve Yeun that is just too cute for words. Him, not me. What a sweet, articulate, engaging young man he is….kind of reminds of Glen, actually.
I ran into our new 
