Oct. 06, 2009 - 11:44pm

- Transmission from Raptor

Drak-

Good news and bad news.

The good news is we've managed to double our group size. I came across two of my buddies from school while out scavenging this past weekend. We've decided to movie into my house, since it's the best fortified position. We've also managed to (temporarily) solve our ammunition crisis. Our arsenal now consists of:

-AR-15 carbine w/ 1000 rounds .223
-Belgium-made AK-74 w/ 1200 rounds 5.45mm
-Mosin-Nagant 91/30 w/ 500 rounds 7.62x54mm R
-Mossberg 590 w/120 rounds 00-buckshot
-SIG P220 w/350 rounds .45 ACP hollowpoints
-Glock 19 w/200 rounds 9mm hollowpoints
-S&W Model 64 w/ 120 rounds .38 Spl semi-wadcutter hollowpoints
-Walther PPK w/ 80 rounds .380 hollowpoints

Bad news is we've managed to double our group size. The 3+ weeks worth of food we had stored up was just effectively halved. We're down to just over a week's provisions. We've been out scavenging pretty much every day. One pair goes out while the other pair stays back and guards the house. Unfortunately, food has become incredibly scarce around here. We've discussed heading west, since there's farms about forty minutes by car in that direction, but we figure it'd be futile; they were all probably picked clean weeks ago. On the other hand, this area has also been picked clean, and we're encountering more and more Zeds too.

Depending on how things pan out, this might be my last transmission for a while. If you haven't heard from me in two weeks, assume the worst.

Keep pulling, everyone. As Morris Mandel once said, "The Darkest Hour has only sixty minutes."We [i]will[/i] survive this. The human race [i]will[/i] continue. This horror [i]will[/i] end. Until that day comes, and it [i]is[/i] coming, be careful, shoot straight, and don't ever give up hope.

-Raptor

- End of transmission

Oct. 04, 2009 - 12:20am

Oct. 04, 2009 - 12:10am

- Transmission from Jeff Murdock

Good to see that others in the southern states are surviving this epidemic. The situation in Oklahoma is not that great, though I have managed to get to and secure land that my family owned before this "Outbreak" occurred. Fortunately for me due to my uncle's hording of old cars and shittery, I'm in fairly good supply of mechanical items and in supply of a goodly amount of fresh water and wood. This is due to the fact that we back up onto some flood plains that the government used to own (I doubt the government is even in control anymore at this point)that has a nice plot of woods and it also backs up to a river system, I have managed to piece together a rainwater collection system from clean pipes and some 55 gallon drums to provide myself with fresh,clean and safe water as well as using a charcoal filter system built from a couple of Tupperware tubs and some pipe fittings I found in the garage.

I've also made a make shift fence around a garden area inside of which I have planted some winter wheat, carrots, peas and some beans. Tomorrow I hope to test out my gasification system if successful I will attempt to convert a vehicle to run on a smaller version. Spirits are still high here as my ammo and canned foods are still in good supply.

Rommel (The dog) and myself await further communications from the outside world via the failing internet services, I wonder if the amateur radio bands will light up once the internet goes down for good.

- End of transmission

Oct. 03, 2009 - 11:49pm

Fitted a rain catch to a huge Rubbermaid tub today. An idea given to me from Jeff Murdock posted above, very clever. Spotted the tub on our way back from our salvage run to the supermarket. Kept a keen eye out for anything that could be useful, always with our heads on a swivel. It took the day alone just to bring it back.

I noticed any trip taken outside pays with the cost of ammunition. Im going through more ammunition than I would ever have expected, but I am still good for now.

Damn, I still have to write down our about journey. In all this it was surreal, It was longer than we expected. My mind is still trying to grasp the images seen out there and that was just in my neighborhood. Let alone this county, state, region, continent, world.......

In my own time, our own time, I will explain it all.

Our story of experiences must be told, so that our children, our children children will know how we fought back and survived starting with this country.

I would just like to say I am proud to be an American. God bless the USA.

Sept. 28, 2009 - 10:10pm

- Transmission from Lilmoose0

Darkness, it’s amazing how bright pitch black can be. The only other time I’ve seen the stars like this was after hurricanes Katrina and Gustav. The night would go smoother if I could see even a little. When the full moon is out I feel a little better, but that brings the living out. Sometimes I think they are worse than the dead. They shoot back and they can think, they’ll try to trick you if they can. If it were a full moon tonight I’d worry about loosing my natural night vision staring at this screen, but it’s so damn dark out, the blurry spot in my eyes gives me something to look at.
My little girl is finally starting to sleep throughout the night again. I know she has nightmares. Poor thing, she’s too young to even talk yet. I wonder what the future holds for her. I wish I could hold her and sleep with her too but I can’t. I have to keep watch. Keep watch of what? I can’t even see my damn hand in front of my face. I hope there are no shots tonight; I want her and my wife to sleep well. It’s been some time since we had comfort like this.
I ended up having to put my two dogs down earlier this week. They were only trying to warn us, but their barking attracted more attention than anything. The dead would have just walked by if the dogs wouldn’t have barked. Now I have no home. Brutus knocked over the lamp when he charged to the door to get at them. I might have had a fighting chance to put the fire out and fend off the attack but I had to get my wife and daughter out. The flames kept the dead busy while we escaped out the back. Now I’m low on ammo, food, and water except for what I can find here and there. I’ve learned to carry what I need on or near me at all times. From what I saw from the tree line, I may have only lost half of my home in the fire. I don’t know. Maybe the MRE’s in the closet are ok. I know the ammo’s gone. I could hear the rounds cooking off as we ran. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go back to see what’s left. Any way there are two wooden crosses in the cane field marking Brutus and Caesar’s resting place. I wish I didn’t have to but I just can’t have something like that happen again. I just can’t take that chance.
I was able to find a small farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere. The house was built 12 feet off the ground because of the flooding there used to be in the 1800’s before the levees were built around the Mississippi river. There is a 500 gallon tank of diesel about 600 feet from the back door. There’s a small garden, a couple of goats and about a dozen or so chickens. There’s enough feed for the animals to last through the winter. When that’s gone, I guess chicken & goat will be on the menu. There was enough dried blood on the front porch and wall for me to guess what happened to the previous owner. I’ve been gathering water and hunting up what animals I could with a pellet gun (I’ve got to keep it quiet). The eggs from the chickens are nice. I had forgotten how eggs tasted. I wish I had a little bacon to go with them. I found three boxes of 12ga. buck shot, but no shotgun to put them in. It doesn’t look like the house was raided. Probably some old guy lived here. There are newspapers from the 20’s and 30’s in the attic. They give me something to read. I found a couple of aluminum ladders and have since torn down the front and back steps so no one or “no thing” can come in too easily. I put the ladders on the front and back porch, that way my wife can lower them down when I need to get back up. I think this would work for the dead, but it’s the living I’m more worried about. I’m using the wood from the steps to burn in the fire place at night and to cook with. We hung thick drapes in the windows to keep the candle light in. At night I stay perched up in the attic or up here on the roof. During the day when I’m in the yard or garden, my wife is up here on over watch.
What’s my next step? I’ve got to find somewhere better, but I don’t want to go near town again. I wonder how the rest of my family is doing. Ever since the masses of the dead migrated here from New Orleans, I haven’t been able to check on anyone else.

……agh!!! I’m getting sleepy. I need to walk around or something. I need to conserve the batteries anyway. I wish Brutus & Caesar were here. Come to think of it, Brutus was a present for my daughter. What have I done? What kind of father am I?

…..I gotta go, I’ll check in later. Man it’s dark out here.

- End of Transmission

Sept. 28, 2009 - 9:08pm

Epex, do not lose hope brother. We are all in this together. Your message brings important news for all of us. This is the first contact we have received from outside our country, let alone Sweden.

- Transmission from Epex

Date: Sept. 23, 2009
Time: 1030 hours
Grid: 59.247015,18.230093

Good to see that humanity is still alive and kicking, I was beginning to lose hope.
I have some news on the situation the US is not the only one that's been infected, I'm located in Sweden and from what I have read so far is worse here than in the US and in all likely hood it´s because of the lack of guns among civilians, I really wish I had some kind of rifle or something right now.

Anyway I should start at the beginning.
On the 20th of September I woke up like any other day, my mom had all ready gone to work and I was alone in the apartment. So I tried to turn on the TV, nothing happened, I tried with a lamp, no power, I thought to myself “That's strange?”.

That's when I looked outside and saw the smoke and the fires, so I tried the phone, dead. I then realized that this was more serious then I first thought.

I ran into my room and started gearing up, I´m glad that before all this I read a lot of survival books and prepper books. First my belt-line kit and then my AWOL bag then some real combat boots.

My place is a death trap to try to defend against anyone so I had to leave, I didn't know about the zombies at this time, just that the power was out and there where fires burning and I knew that there is a civilian emergency shelter not far from me and by the looks of things not a lot of people where out in the street.

So I went out, everything was so quiet.
I got about half the way when I saw a man standing in the road, correction he was wobbling more then standing. I cautiously tried to approach him but I didn't get very far before he started running and he was hauling ass, I have never seen a man run that fast it was inhuman. He flew on to me and we fell to the ground and then he tried to bite me. We rolled around a bit and after what felt like an eternity I got on top of him and started bashing his head against the asphalt, I didn't stop until he became still. By that time I had blood all over me and I knew that I had to get out of here, so I ran the rest of the way.
When I got to the shelter I was shaking from my encounter, I got in and closed the door. The inside was empty, no one was there.

I sat on the floor and cried, I´m not a soldier, I have never killed anyone before, I got some duds blood all over my hands and I´m all alone, I don´t know where my family is or if they even are alive.

That was three days ago I have been eating the MREs from my AWOL bag and drinking my bottled water but I'm running low, I need to find some more food and water.

I´ll try to fill you in.
Epex

- End of transmission

THE BLOOD OF THE DEAD IS LETHAL.
TAKE EVERY PRECAUTION NOT COME INTO CONTACT.

Valuable news, it took the infection a little over a month to break the international quarantines (if there were any left?).

My God.

Sept. 28, 2009 - 7:30pm

As I power back up, the last of them have been put down. for now.

More late mail has come in from the failing servers.

- Transmission from Dan P.

Sept. 22, 2009

Damn! I feel like I slept for days....even though its been a couple of hours. I dont hear the motorcycle idling anymore probably ran out of gas. It was only a matter of time. Oh Well I aquired a few useful items from my shopping endeavor.

• 2 collapsible potable water containers
• 1 case of surplus MRE's
• 8 3-volt lithium batteries
• high powered range finding binoculars
• 2 motion activated wildlife camera units
• ATN 1st generation nightvision monocular
• Lansky multi-stone knife sharpening kit

Too bad I never met my neighbor, by the looks of his apartment and the supplies I took we probably would have got along well. The big score was the NV monocular, although rudimentary by today's standards it is perfect for what I need. I did spot what appears to be a Stack-On gun locker in a closet, but didnt want to make any unnecessary noise jimmying it open. I'm definitely going back there with proper tools to quietly breech the safe. Its time for a nice U.S Military ham slice MRE.

- End of Transmission

Sept. 21, 2009 - 8:54pm

We have no choice, we are going outside for supplies tomorrow. Together.

Weighing our options, the GIANT Supermarket is down the street about a mile, outside our development. It is the closest location and our best bet to find the supplies we need. Going on fargo007' advice, we will be visiting the pharmacy section for critical antibiotics as well. Please post comments on any other things to keep an eye out for.

I spent the day making a makeshift cart from an old beach cruiser bycylcle and miscellaneous parts found in the garage. Got to say, I am proud of how it turned out. must find time later to post pics. It is amazing what you can build if you only apply yourself.

I know I could easily take the Highlander SUV parked in the driveway, but I may need to gas for when I REALLY need it. The attention a vehicle will cause would be far to great as well, as I would surely be the only one driving on the road . I will only use it for a last resort who knows what the road condition is 1 mile down. The cart will be silent and steady.

We are now prepping for our journy tommorow. Going over our kit. Among other things, I have to plan for us being out longer than expected. Food/water/medicine/ect. Thank god I took the time to make a BOB a few years back on the suggestion from my friend Diego. For the Daylight journy my wife will be sporting lighter STAG m4 with 120 rounds. I will be taking my Bulgarian SLR-107 with 500 rounds(plus an additional 250 of 5.56 for my wife) .

Protection to our entire body from bites is absolutely critical. If i can find anything on our journy that will help us in this regards, Ill take it.

Right now I am double and triple checking everything. All the rifles are cleaned. Ammunition loaded. The cart is solid. The kit is set. Depending on how long I will be out. Expect to hear from my within 24 to 48 hours.

I left a hit counter running.

Sept. 21, 2009 - 11:48pm

The modified generator is holding up fine. Although it is slightly louder then the previous engine.

As I type this a "full-on" dead runner is raging around our street. It is not natural for any human to make a noise like that. I could hear it approach as I was reading through the last email.

They enter and exit the vacant open hopes around us as they please. The windows and doors have long since been beaten in or just simply left open. Who knows how many can be infested around us. I havent dared to go into them yet. Although it could come to that, our supplies are become "Danger Close" to being depleted.

I am overwhelmed from your responses. It is contact from the outside world, that keeps us sane and to feel human.

Thank you all. The Light within each of you cannot be measured.

It is finally time to power down for the night,

DrakinClaw out.

Sept. 21, 2009 - 9:30pm

- Transmission from Ryan

Sept. 11, 2009

Looks like Drakinclaw might be in trouble. No updates in over a week. Hopefully he will pick things up soon. We are holding up fairly well out here. Living on elevated terrain and outside the city limits has proven invaluable. I am down to just under 1000 rounds for my M4, but the stream of infected and would-be looters has lessened considerably. What's left of the neighborhood has banded together. Working to fortify what's left and compile supplies. Wish more had followed church council to store a year's worth of food. Still, living in Utah has had its advantages. As the neighborhood gun-nut I have been elected a kind of defacto sheriff. A few guys are pretty squared away, so I am finally getting some sleep. Generators are low on gas, and I don't want to siphon everything just yet. Looks like we need a hunting party to drop down into the valley and see what we can scavenge. I'll let you know how it looks. Good luck drakenclaw, wherever you are.

- End of transmission

Sept. 21, 2009 - 8:48pm

- Transmission from mjporreca

Sept. 15, 2009

Last night we heard gun fire off in the distance. At first it was sporadic, rifle, .308 maybe 30-06. As for us, we had two guests arrive just after before dark. The first tripped the alarm strings running across the street. We had been teaching Jason, the son of the family who’s dog got killed, how to shoot. We let him fire off some .38 rounds from a revolver to get a feel. We have very few .38’s between us and I have plenty of supplies for reloads. He’s a natural. Maybe because he’s got young eyes and good hand eye coordination, or maybe video games really to help, either way he’s a decent shot. We decided, if he was up for it, this was a good chance to give him some live fire practice. The shot was only about 30 yards. He braced on the hood of an F-150, pulled his father’s Remington 700 up against his shoulder and sighted. I stood next to him, “Breath in, let it out slow, hold it, sight picture, squeeze.” BANG. The corpses head looked like it popped open and the body fell to the ground.

“That was for Buster,” he mumbled while still watching through the scope.

The second of the zombies showed up about 10 minutes later. We had all calmed down from the first one, and Jason had gone back to the barricaded house we were all now calling home. Five of us were discussing options. At this rate it seemed like we could hold out for weeks. If it really came down to it, there were supplies in other houses that we would be glad to replace after this whole situation was over. But at the moment we didn’t need to worry that. The zombie then stumbled out from behind one of the houses next to our main house. We hadn’t heard any alarms and the thing hadn’t moaned. If it had been darker, it may have gotten the jump on us. I’m very glad we got to learn this lesson without paying for it. All four of us with firearms pumped two shots at the thing. We had been working on fire discipline and although we all shot, we didn’t go crazy. Two people pulled on the long heavy work gloves we have, put on the asbestos filter masks and moved the bodies down to the embankment we threw the others over.

In the morning we dumped a few more wheel barrows of dirt and Clorox down to cover them. It’s not a good long term solution, but it’s been working so far. The rest of the day we spent on the defenses again. We’ve been moving cars to block the paths between houses and taking apart our fences to help shore up those blockades. If we decide to stay I want to try to create a funnel for anything coming up into one field of fire. I won’t completely leave my guard down in other directions, but it will add some comfort. 4 more zombies came during the day. No one living has been by. Some of us think we need to start looking around.

I wonder about the bodies piling up at the firing we’ve been hearing. Tom setup his backyard telescope on his roof and we spotted the source. It’s actually the police station just on the other side of the river. We have a nice view of it, about 2 miles away. There’s a steady stream of corpses coming from all the directions. On the roof, it looks like a few officers and some national guard. They seem to be holding out pretty well. The dead, or redead, are piling up. We watched them all day, we’ll see how much light have now that the sun is going down again.

- End of transmission

Sept. 21, 2009 - 8:36pm

I hope this is not a sign of the servers starting to go down. The email from Raptor was sent on the 30th. But in my entry box it was marked as received on the 10th.

You are not alone.

-Transmission from Raptor

Aug. 30

Thank God. Someone else is still out there.

This last week has been hell. Dad went to work and never came back, Mom and my Grandmother went out for a walk even though my brother and I said not to. We heard screams. I'm pretty sure they're both gone.

Thank God I went out and bought guns, ammo, food, and a generator when I heard the first reports. We've got about a month's worth of canned foodstuffs left, but we're running lower than I'd like on ammo. Looter's have actually been more common than undead, which is surprising; I'm still shocked how brutal suburban soccer moms cam be when the stuff hits the fan.

Drak, do you think we should stay put or bug out? I'm thinking stay put, seeing as how we still have plenty of supplies and neither of us know anything about wilderness survival. On the other hand, we're using up ammunition faster than I'd like, and few people in my area own (owned?) guns, since it's a very liberal, anti-2A area. Barring that, should we search for other survivors, bring them into our house/fort or move into theirs? Also, any idea on how to recognize someone who's been infected but hasn't died and reanimated yet?

Whatever happens, Drak, I thank God that I found your blog; radio and TV stations went dead around here two days ago and I'd begun to lose hope. I wish you and your wife the best of luck, and I hope and pray that you both make it through this.

Godspeed,

Raptor.

- End of transmission

Sept. 21, 2009 - 8:11pm

So much to think about.

But for right now, its contact with the world we desire.

Back to reading.

Sept. 21, 2009 - 7:56pm

- Transmission from lordiego

Sept. 10, 2009

Words cannot describe the joy that little green blinking light brought to me as my eyes caught its constant flickering among the rubble of this one time popular coffee-shop..
It could only mean that the wireless router was indeed working off an active internet connection. Instantly I knew that meant news and communication with the rest of the world,
as well as an active outlet from which to charge my now defunct laptop. My mission is accomplished, I set out 4 hours ago to find exactly this. Its been one week since I've heard from another living soul that's not my wife nor my dogs. The infected seemed to have consumed everything in my immediate area, there are a random few here and there, but the bulk of them seemed to have headed north. Hopefully in pursuit of the groups of looters that have chosen to make a terrible situation worse.
Going back to the beginning, I could have sworn I was more prepared than the average Joe to deal with these types of situation... having lived through two South American economic collapses and having dealt first hand with rioters and looters. But nothing that I've seen in my life could possibly prepare me for what has gone down this past two weeks...
I remember it was nice sunny day, and I stopped by my usual gas station to fill up the tank and pick up a pack of cigarettes on my way to work, when out of the blue, two dirty homeless guys came out of nowhere and attacked the lady on the gas pump next to me. I went around to help her, hoping I could stop what looked like a violent mugging, when one of the "homeless" guys lifted his head to look at me, hanging from his mouth were pieces of flesh from the woman they had just attacked, who now laid on the ground, bleeding and unconscious, half her face having just been consumed by these animals. After a few seconds of shock, I kicked into high gear, jumped into my car and headed to work. I dialed 911 but the lines were busy. I turned on the radio, and there were reports of rioting, random violence, and cannibalism on the streets. I knew then and there things would turn real bad, real quick, I made a 180 and headed home.
We spent the rest of the day securing our residence, boarding up windows and reinforcing doors. With plenty of food and water, I knew we could hole up in our house for a couple of months at least. But when the power went out a week ago, I knew I had to go outside to assess the situation, lest we turn out like those Japanese soldiers who lived for over a decade hiding in the jungle because news that the war was over never reached them.
We are now alone on our street, (except for one house that I believe to still be occupied) everybody else either packed up and left (probably had to abandon their car on the mess that became of the highway), succumbed to these creatures, or was overcome by looters.
I will now leave my laptop in this coffee shop, charging its battery. I will attempt to make contact with this blog every 48 hours.
2 People, 2 dogs. Well stocked. For now.

LorDiego over and out.

- End of transmission

Sept. 21, 2009 - 7:48pm

- Transmission from Master Shake

Sept. 9, 2009

I wasn't in the city, but my aunt lives just on the Jersey side. We holed up in her house, just watching the waves of refugees pass by. The smoke was heavy and sporadic gunfire could be heard at all hours. Fighters screamed overhead almost hourly, then slowed. Now we only hear a large plane a few times a day. No traffic from the commercial airports.

For three days there was a non-stop exodus of people fleeing on foot. Some on bycicle, but cars were not going anywhere. A few people broke off from the main artery and "scoped out" our neighborhood looking for food or water or whatever. Most were firmly herded back to the freeway by the old timers weilding shotguns.

On the fourth day there were nothing but stragglers, a few dozen at most. The gunfire increased and we could see more and more of the stumblers on the overpass. We assumed the infected (or whatever we should call them) were following the people fleeing the city. A trickle turned into a mob, and they were so thick on the overpass we could see some of them knocked off the side. One landed near the top of our street. It began crawling back towards the freeway, trying to crawl back up the wall. A few of us went out to see it. When it saw us it began crawling for us, but with two smashed legs and a shattered pelvis it could barely move.

It looked like it had been doused with bleach, or acid almost. Hair clung in tufts, and most of its exposed skin was pure white, though the blackness lurking beneath the white skin was the worst part. Part of the exposed skin was blistered, and the thick chemicle smell coming off its clothes told us that it had been doused in something. Under the chemicle smell was death, rotting meat. We didn't want to get too close. Its eyes were milky and scarred, like it had sand poured into the eyes but no tears to whipe them away. It couldn't see us, but it could hear us as it crowled around swiping with its one good hand. Trying to grab at us.

The rumors were true; they dead really were walking (crawling?). Rather than risk the noise of a shot, we smashed it with a sign post and made out way back to our houses.

We have a lot of food compared to most folks, and a fair amount of water. The pipes are still working so we have been filling up anything we can. We've cleared out the food from the neighbors who have left, so that helps. There are six of us with my Aunt. She's old and in a wheel chair, we can't leave her.

I'm picking up a wireless signal from somewhere, and the generator is still going strong. I'll post more as I can.

- End of Transmission