Radio Line Part 2 - The stakeout

The speaker talks about growing up in a strict and restricted community. They mention how the community has rules and roles that everyone must follow, as well as a giant wall that surrounds their territory. The speaker explains that while they were taught about safety and the existence of zombies, they were never properly educated about the dangers of the outside world. They recall a rumor about a carrier sighting and how they and their friend, Sam, decided to investigate by climbing a tree. However, they were unable to see anything due to the walls blocking their view. The speaker hints at differences between themselves and Sam, which they will explain in the next recording. As Sam and I got older, we dedicated more and more hours to just wandering and exploring everything our area had to offer. Of course, you can only do so much when you're a little restricted. See, my old community was a little, how do I say this, strict? I mean, a little into authoritarianism. Everybody has rules that you have to follow, and a lot of things required approval from our council. And in order to access stuff, you'd have to dedicate yourself to a certain career role, which made it a little hard to explore everything, since all the buildings in our area had designated purposes, not to mention the giant wall that surrounded our entire territory. We had a vague rule where nobody should ever leave and go beyond the wall, or else crazy procedure follows if they try to return. I mean, it's understandable why it was so restrictive and freakish about the rules and roles and everything. I mean, have you seen the shit out there? Nightmares. It's only natural for you to be so paranoid and scared of things outside. But that's the thing, though. My community was so paranoid and terrified that the kids were never properly educated about the world we live in. I mean, sure, the adults taught us always to travel in pairs or groups to be safe, they educated us on the variants of zombies to be wary of, and always scolded us for ever questioning what the wall's for, but they never really hammered in how genuinely dangerous life is. They never told us stories of deaths and murders or the horrific details of an infection, nothing like that. It's like you're trading with someone on the road and they go, oh, this? Uh, yeah. Be careful with that. Why? It's dangerous. No, I won't tell you more. Trust me on this. I mean, maybe it was the community's way of, like, saying how some ignorance is bliss or a way for kids to grow up fearless, honestly, I'll never know. Either way, plenty of kids understood what makes a zombie a zombie. But we didn't completely register danger. I mean, I remember I was 12 and rumors of a carrier sighting were spreading, and unease also spreads throughout the area, and I remember when my mom came home from an exhausting day at work, and I asked her why that was scary. She simply told me not to worry about it, since carriers aren't a threat, and one then afterwards passed out. Later, I went over to play a messed-up board game, and we came across Sam. And I asked him about the carrier, too. Obviously, he wouldn't know too, too much about a carrier, given that he was about the same age as me, but he told me what his mom knew about them. And he said my mom witnessed them carry bodies, and that it haunted her dreams for months on end. A glaring spooky warning sign, right? Obviously, something that, while harmless, still should be unsteady about. Were we, though? No. Instead, Sam came up with the idea to climb a tree and see if we could spot anything. A little investigation of our own, you know, a tree-side stakeout. And so, like the fellow genius I am, I also tagged along to climb. Our land was relatively flat, and there were hardly any trees, but we did have this one section that was dedicated to growing fruits and nuts. Making sure that no one saw us climbing on these precious suppliers of food, Sam and I climbed on the tallest tree there, and unfortunately, we saw absolutely nothing, because the walls blocked the view of anything, and it wasn't like I was going to be able to see very far outwards, anyways. But, as me and Sam were coming of age, there were notable differences between us. And to that, I'll clarify in the next recording.