Review: Caterpillar by Travis J. Corcoran

When the Killdozer becomes the Livedozer

The most popular zombie stories are full of idiot characters who would actually be dead inside of twelve hours under those circumstances (yet somehow The Walking Dead is on course to have more seasons than a soap opera.) The best zombie stories show competent characters working their way through the problem and, preferably, meeting it with a superlative level of firepower (we do love Monster Hunter International in these parts.)

In CATERPILLAR, we get an honest version of the former, with just a touch of the latter. Homesteader and writer Travis Corcoran takes us down to Boston which, IRL, is about 90% of the way to a zombie apocalypse, but I digress…

The Story

Right out of the gate, the reader is dropped into a dark office that we can both smell and feel. There’s a fat coder plugged into a desktop with a rising pile of empty chip bags and buzzy drink cans around him. Every app and program he owns is set to “do not disturb” while he goes on a coding bender for work. He’s been in The Box for a couple of days, and in that time the entire world has gone to hell.

Oh no! Zombies! And we’re in a high-rise multipurpose corporate concrete box in Baawwston! Quick! What do we do?

Well reader, this story is only 108 pages, so whatever we’re gonna do, it better be fast. Operation: GTFOH is underway. We’ve got a scant pile of practical resources throughout the entire building, and a ticking clock working against us, because the city next door is on fire and it’s only going to spread to The Town.

Fortunately the maintenance guy survived, and there’s an old bulldozer in the basement that he uses for snow removal. Whether we can slap enough armor on that SOB to get us to safety is a matter of grit, blue-collar working skills, and hard math.

That, and the big X-factor:

The Characters

As cool as the premise is, it’s the description of the four characters that told me this was going to get interesting. None of them are the stereotypical Survival Crew you see in a Hollywood movie. You’re not getting Mark Wahlberg in a cheap suit with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in the next two cubicles, and Current Hot Actress Under 30 at the front desk.

Each of these characters has a strength to contribute, plus a flaw that can hold them back. And chances are you’ve worked with each of these guys in your life.

TODD: Mechanical skills? High. People skills? Very low. Alcoholism? 94%. Yes boys and girls, the janitor is coming to save the day, provided he doesn’t have crippling withdrawal symptoms during the bulldozer refit.

CHRIS: Computer skills? High. BMI? Also high. Hope for survival? Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad…

STACEY: Follower count on Insta? High. Physical fitness is a must, and she’s got it. Emotional constitution? Yikes. She’s a secretary, everything is usually surface-level for her. If she can’t get her head in the game, she’s going to get bit before she even knows what’s going on.

DAVID: We DID say physical fitness is a must, and he’s got it, but this guy is an accountant. He calls someone like Todd when there’s a spider in the bathroom. Gonna need you to sack up, David, or you’re ngmi. Pull it together.

I found it refreshing to see characters go through intense internal challenges even as they worked together to overcome the external threat. In a simpler version of this story, Todd would save everyone while throwing out slurs and being proven right from beginning to end. He’d be a member of a minority political party, and everyone else would apologize for not voting that way ten years earlier.

But Corcoran really put the effort into these people, to humanize them and give all of them an admirable quality to embrace, even while their faults held them back. In the short time it took me to read this, I was cheering for all of them to make it. Feels good man.

The World

Utterly indistinguishable from the actual Boston when the Patriots lost to Eli Manning’s Giants or Nick Foles’ Eagles.

The Politics

If anything CATERPILLAR is philosophical, not political. The only time politics comes into play is when Todd laments Massachusetts gun laws and how he can’t have a pistol at work.

But that’s not for the reasons you might think.

Content

Won’t lie to you kids, you’re gonna hear some words you don’t like. And there’s blood. Rated R.

Who’s it for?

People who wanted The Walking Dead to be good, and people who know Marvin Heemeyer did nothing wrong. Also welders. Welders are gonna like this book.

Why read it?

It’s short, which is great for a new story in a saturated genre. As Corcoran writes a lot of articles on homesteading and engineering, this book will motivate the reader to maybe spend less time in a coding program and more time in a shop. When the excrement hits the fan, we might not be facing down zombies, but you’re still going to want practical skills to survive, and it’ll give you some ideas.

Plus it’s just awesome. Dozer up!

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