Aug. 26, 2009 - 9:56pm

The more I read, the more cautious I get around the windows. The wife had a good idea to cover all of them with heavy drapes to cancel any light pollution from leaving our house at night. The last thing I need to deal with is attracting one or many of the dead.

Read this.

- Transmission from mjporreca

Containment in the city broke and news spread like a wildfire in all directions. We all thought the smart ones went east into New Jersey because not as many of the creatures were crossing the bridges. But when word got out that New York and Baltimore quarantines had collapsed too all those people had the ocean on one side, and literally a sea of bodies, alive and dead, on the other. I’m glad we are out West of Philly. The “experts” are saying major cities will have the biggest concentrations, so people should avoid them. The internet is now full of reports and information about the dead coming to life and feeding on the living.

For right now a bunch of us have banded together with weapons and are gathering supplies. Our neighborhood has a nice view all the way down to the Schuylkill River. We stood around for hours asking each other if this was really happening, or was this some new War of the Worlds hoax. One neighbor said she got a text message from her brother who had locked himself in his house. She heard constant pounding and wailing in the background. He was terrified. She was convinced it’s all real, but we were all still having trouble accepting it.

That’s when we saw the first one. A man came shuffling up the street. He was 50 or 60 yards away. We thought he was just tired and struggling up the hill. None of us recognized him. My neighbor’s daughter was the first to notice anything wrong. She asked, “Mommy, why doesn’t that man have a chin?” She was right. As the thing’s head bobbed up and down, she had the best view. Its jaw was completely missing, tongue, chin and a hunk of the throat all gone. The black shirt we thought he was wearing was really white with dried blood. Some of us were frozen; staring in disbelief. The rest screamed and ran, grabbing any children that happened to be there. The moaning started. That blood curdling moan that you feel in your spine. It snapped me out of the trance I was in. Reached back and pulled out the .45 I had on my belt. The 1911 boomed loudly as I fired 3 rounds. The first hit square in the dead man’s chest stopping his step. The next a little higher, in what was left of his gaping mouth. The shot sprayed out behind his head. The third shot, the bull’s-eye, square in the forehead. The zombie’s head snapped back, and the rest of him followed like a falling tree. For a minute no one moved. Then slowly, pistol pointed at the creature, a few of us moved towards it. The rest went to get weapons of their own.

We haven’t seen any contacts recently, but I’m sure they’ll be here soon. I’m worried about how much light we’ll have tonight. The plan is to run tripwires with cans, bells, and whatever we have as an early warning system. Then use our car headlights to see what to shoot. I wish we had more time. Hopefully we will be ready to move in the morning and have a plan on where to go.

Between us we have over 10,000 rounds in various calibers. Run, stay, neither option seems good at the moment. I’m amazed how focused everyone is. No one is tiring, no one is stopping. Windows are being boarded, food is being stacked. Water, gasoline, tools, first aid kits are getting set aside for whatever it is we are going to do. About the half the neighbors fled. Traffic was a mess. I’m praying for a quiet night, and some answers in the morning.

- End of Transmission

Aug. 26, 2009 - 7:46pm

- Transmission from mjporreca

I've been trying to find out what's going on since the order for people to stay in their homes started. From what I've been able to find online, a lot of people are without power, I guess in that regard we're lucky. The T.V is showing nothing and the 24 news channels are off air.

Around noon I noticed the police starting to knock on people's doors. They were moving house to house, so I had a while before they got to mine. Stories of the Katrina aftermath came back to me. I’ll sacrifice a few for the good of the many. After about an hour, A National Guard Humvee pulled up and handful of guardsmen started assisting the police.

Finally, the knock came. I cracked the door. The first thing I noticed were the black circles under the officers eyes, which were even more pronounced because most of the color was drained out of his face. He coughed, trying to clear his throat, but seemed to relax when took a good look at me.

Finally he got his questions. He asked if everyone who lived here was home. I told him yes, myself my wife and my son. He asked if any of us were sick, or overly tired, or seemed out of sorts. I told him no, but could tell he really didn't care about the answers.

I asked him what was going on, and why we were being told to stay inside. He said, there is a state of emergency declared and information will be given as soon as it's available. I pressed him for what the emergency was and waited for the rehearsed lines in response, but they didn't come. He leaned in close and whispered to me. The officer told me he didn't know exactly what it was, but something happened in the city, and it had to be bad. A lot of people must be dead. He said he wasn't supposed to say this, but to pack up and get the hell out when we got the chance, and if I had any guns, keep them loaded.

That all happened 5 hours ago, now the sun is going down. Since then I've seen every theory imaginable posted somewhere. Terrorist attack, biological weapons, aliens have landed, but I fear the worst. I think this might be the one thing every hard working, God fearing, country loving American fears.

Let's hope I'm wrong.

- End of trasmission

Aug. 25, 2009 - 11:35pm

News from the outside world, but it is not good.

TV station that had been showing the color bars test pattern has
gone off the air along with all the others. Even though it was
useless for information, there was something oddly comforting
about being able to turnon the TV and at least see something on
the screen. Now it's all just useless static.



All the AM news stations are also off the air, but there's one
FM station that's still broadcasting. Unfortunately, it's
playing an endless loop of obnoxious '80s music and
advertisements for sales that ended days ago. If I hear
"Walking on Sunshine" one more frickin' time. Ill use the
radio for target practice to sight and tune in my RPK.
I opened the 720rnd.spam can of Brown Bear 7.62x39, which I
never thought I would open.

I just wish I could figure out what's going on out there
and how widespread this aberration is.

Wait a minute. What an idiot I've been. What about my
Fathers old HAM radio?

Read this article that made me remember I had one all along.

- Transmission from an anonymous writer
Back when I was a kid, my Dad did everything he could
to get me interested in HAM radio. He was hardcore.
Only Morse Code ('CW', he called it) for him. Anyone
that used a mic and actually talked to other people
was a second class citizen, as far as he was
concerned. I studied for the tests and actually
passed them, but I could never get the hang of Morse
Code so I never got my license.

Dad tried to keep me interested by using his radio to
tune into all sorts of shortwave broadcasts from
around the world. I used to listen to the BBC World
Service, Radio Free Europe and Radio Afrika
International. I'd think of the exotic places these
radio stations were reaching and the folks that were
listening in. It distracted me from my mundane
suburban existence, at least for awhile.

Just before my Dad passed away, he was gearing up to
work another "Field Day" with a bunch of his HAM
buddies. He did this every year and told Mom that
it was all about "being prepared". I suspect it was
as much that as it was an excuse to go camping
with some buddies, play with his radio toys and maybe
drink a beer or two.

Right. Enough nostalgia. Back to the situation at hand.

Let's go see if I can bring it back to life.

Aug. 25, 2009 - 7:42pm

- Transmission from fargo007

“TARGET”

I'm momentarily reminded of how much I enjoyed watching her tiny but precise fingers form guitar chords when I taught her to play. Now, even in these dire circumstances I still feel that same pride as I see her tiny fingers rotating the large elevation knob on the NightForce 3.5-15x50, as she counts off 3.25 Minutes of elevation.

“Got it Dad.” She exclaims, as we watch the edges of the lonely glow on the ground, cast there by the only remaining street light. I Milled the stop sign right next to it. It is exactly 350 yards away.

“Keep that bolt up until we have a target kiddo. Got that?”

I'm looking through my own Nightforce down the same alleyway of houses that leads to a more populated street. Both rifles are condition 1, with a round in the chamber, and each sporting a fat AICS mag of nine 175 Sierra Matchkings underneath. This distance is a joke for these rigs, but the cases of water and canned food downstairs remind me we're paid to be here, people are depending on us, and we need to follow through on what we promised we would do.

“Ughhhh!!!.... Dad... you don't have to keep telling me every single .....”

“TARGET. “

350 yards, 11 o' clock, left edge of the intersection, no wind, slow mover, center hold is fine!”

I had tuned out her pre-teen diatribe, as Dad's are apt to do.

I hear hear “prepare” breath escape gently as the bolt knob of the FN SPR slowly and precisely drops into place. I recognize the faint sound of shuffling as she finds her natural point of aim.

“Shooter Ready”

“Send”

“Sending”

The rifle barks loudly, and the recoil causes her 11 year old frame to slide to the rear about a half inch on top of the series of dressers that we have set up as a shooting platform next to the window. This is foreign on so many levels... Ordinarily I'd be in the back of the room, shooting through a hole I'd gouge into one of the dressers or other furniture. It's not like that this time. We don't have to worry about light discipline, a barrel being spotted, or any other target indicator. I've not grown lazy. These issues don't matter, and that's good, because I haven't had a chance to work with her on them yet.

“HIT!” I exclaim, the cheerful excitement of a father in my voice as I watch the shock from 175 grains of hurt smash hard into the high torso of the humanoid figure, almost bending it 90 degrees back from the legs in an grotesque contortion before its head slammed into the ground with significant force.

I turn to congratulate her on the shot only to be pelted in the cheek by hot brass, as she smartly resourced the rifle with her eye still on the glass, and the target still in the crosshairs.

“C'mon Dad....... You're goofing off again.”

I can see it still writing, but only from about the shoulders upward.

“Should we hit it again?” She wondered aloud, her eye still rock steady on the Nightforce. "I've got a clear outline of the head against the curb now.”

“Holy Mackrel!!!” I roll my eyes, as I drop back onto my own glass. The McMillan A5 feels like home to my shoulder as I tuck tight into the rifle glass the area for other threats. Finding no other, and knowing she's ready to show me something, I catch her cheek straining a wry smile as I give her exactly what she's been waiting for.....

“TARGET.”

- End of Transmission

Aug. 25, 2009 - 3:12pm

- Transmission from lblair57

All hell is breaking loose and people are freaking OUT!. There are now mobs of refugees filling the roads. SUV’s, pick-ups, RV’s and cars with bundles of crap tried on top and on the sides and the trunks dragging low from the weight of whatever they could take with them. It looks like a mass exodus from Bombay. Some of them are on foot. They are dazed and dirty with smoke blotched faces and torn clothes. They just wander around aimlessly trying to keep moving in the same direction as the mob. The more coherent ones say that the army was keeping the populace from moving west, but the army has been overrun. They say a virus started in NYC. They think is was the jihadist. The virus kills living flesh and then energizes the central nervous system basically creating walking dead. The sole purpose of these decomposing corpese’s is to feed on and infect other carbon based life forms.

- End of Transmission

Aug. 25, 2009 - 2:45pm

Absolute desolation.

Right outside my door.

Everything is foreign. Nothing looks the same. I thought I was prepared for what I would see, but I was not. This is already the next day after I went out, and I am still at a loss for words on how to describe this. I have been working non-stop.

When I went out, it was through the backyard kitchen window. I did not want to risk breaking the seal on the barricaded doors located in the front and back of the house. It would cause to much noise, so I quietly removed the 5 redwood planks from the window, took a deep breath, kissed my wife hard, and then climbed through the window as quietly as i could. She sealed it up after me with the deck screws, the batteries on those ryobi cordless tools are really starting to get low. They suck up so much juice.

I could still hear her cursing silently about leaving her alone as I silently stalked away in the early dawn. But I needed to know what the situation was outside, I had no choice. She knows how to defend heyself and plus she has my Stag Arms AR-15 w/eotech holographic sight and 25 stacked mags to back her up. Shell be fine for 2 hours. Dressing in my khaki eotac operator pants, desert tan USMC Boots and OD T-shirt, the gear I wore was only what I absolutely needed, or what I would consider ruggedly essential. Considering what I could see from the view of my house, the panic on the net, and the fact that the word on the street is the DEAD are RISING, I took protection very seriously.

• Ak-107 dark plum Grips and triangle folding stock
• 8 - 30 round 7.62x39 steel magazines
• Multicam Esstac Bush Boar Rig holds 8 30 round magazines.
• xd 45
• 4 - 13 round .45 acp magazines
• K-BAR D2 Knife Cutting tests prove that D2 is one of the toughest steels used in knife making.
• Oakley "Gascan Frame" prescription glasses for eye protection, ear protection is foam plugs but i left those in my pocket.
• 100 feet of paracord
• Camel Back Hydration bladder 50 oz.
• Bynoculars
• Digital camera
• Backpack with various small items such as first aid kit, ect. I really should consider with more time, everything I should have in this to keep my wife and I alive. If we ever needed to get out fast.
• Chewy Granola bar hey its still food
  

But those 2 hours turned into 6. As to why, that will be for anouther journal entry. I am exausted. Just to survive, takes imeasurable energy. Then to recount everything I have witnessed.....

As soon as I returned, nervous and full of panic. Remaining as low and tight to the fence as possible, I tapped the window 5 times in a specific order. (i cannot describe to you how much hell i got from my wife being 4 hours late) When I was inside, I then determined our house is not nearly fortified enough for what is out there.

Just go on the net and read for yourself.

The quarantine zones are gone.

They are real.

Aug. 24, 2009 - 5:36am

Ok.

Within the past 30 minutes while I wait for the sun to rise, I have just read 20 personal accounts from different people all within various areas of quarantine zone closer to the city. The next thing I am about to say may sound crazy, even I could not believe it at first, but if you read what I have read and viewed within the last 30 minutes. You would believe me.

The general panic is that the DEAD are RISING. This cannot be the cause of all this chaos? can it?

It gets worse though, this panic is spreading along with the dead. Reportedly 4 quarantine checkpoints have already been breached. North, South, East, and West.

The most convincing account, is from Dan P. himself.

I gotta get outta here! I cant believe what it is...I left my room and started down the hall and the door looked as if it was pounded for years with a sledge hammer. I approached slowly and cautiously and thudded the door with my boot. Almost instantaneously the door slammed against me like a bus and knocked me on my side hard as shit. Without hesitation that 'thing' scratched at me furiously around the felled door and grinding its miserably fucked up teeth. The godamn door on top of me pinned my serpa holster to the floor underneath my side where i could not unlock it and I frantically tried to rip my Glock outta the holster to no avail. In a blind rage I thrust upward with all my might slamming the door into that motherfucker. The force ripped his left arm off as i hammered it between the door jamb. I tumbled down the hallway and knocked the hall fire extinguisher right off the wall, mount and all! I grabbed the extinguisher with both hands and belted the ghastly monstrosity in the head until it didnt move anymore.....I spit on the corpse and dashed back into my room and barricaded that bitch good! It was close but I'm glad I was on the winning end. I knew what was out there, but I just wouldn't allow myself to believe it.....well its sure as shit for real now! From now on im wearing the drop leg holster, that belt serpa had a real limitation at REAL BAD TIME. Hats off to blackhawk though, I went down hard on it and there isnt a scratch on it or my glock. Well i need to drink now and unwind...maybe load some more AK mags. I think its gonna be an interesting afternoon.

Aug. 24, 2009 - 4:33am.

Just woke up, sun is not up yet.

Batteries are starting to run low. TV has only one single broadcasting, channel 2, and its a static colored bar image.



I'm going to start getting geared up to go outside and do recon around the house at sunrise. Seems the quietest around then. I need to know whats out there, but I do not know what to expect. Nor do I know the true cause as to the lock down sunset curfew.

Aug. 22, 2009 - 5:56pm

- Transmission from lblair57

WTF is going on!? There are columns of black smoke off to the east. The TV is showing re-runs or the test pattern…..Electric power comes and goes…My neighbors have heard rumors of civil unrest, but other than the billowing smoke there’s no confirmation. I took a drive earlier and everything is closed. The only traffic I saw were first responders and they looked like they knew what they were about. Serious and focused. Four or more to a vehicle. No time stop to talk but they eye-balled me pretty closely. You could see that their vehicles were bristling with weapons including M-79 grenade launchers and LAWs. These guys are ready for some shit!

I’m locked and loaded and keeping watch on the street from the second story corner windows. My wife is scanning the back yard through the sliding glass patio doors with her AR-10. Both kids have their AK’s ready to rock and roll. We’re all wearing web gear with extra mags. It’ll be dark soon. Nobody has any night vision gear. The sun is setting in the west and we can see a red glow reflected off the smoke to the east. Tonight we’ll hunker down in the basement with a couple of neighbors. We’ll keep 2 armed guards on 2 hour shifts till the sun comes up. We have plenty of water but food will be an issue in a couple of days. We’re re-packing our go-bags but for now we’ll wait and see what our next move will be.

- End of transmission

Aug. 22, 2009 - 5:03pm

Seems like I have been making more decisions lately I would have found absolutely crazy a week ago. Spent the better part of the morning ripping up the floor boards from my backyard deck. Such as shame too, they where stained a beautiful redwood color.

As I worked as silently, the neighborhood was sporadic with different sounds. Sounds that, quite honestly, I have never experienced before in real life. Closest thing I could describe it to is some some war torn movie taking place in Serbia, and that's what it sounds like outside my door.

There where a few planks where stubborn and would not budge. When they did, they groaned as the nail was pryed out of the wood they have been set in the last 10 years. Wincing along the way, last thing I want is to draw attention to us.

Now the be planks cover all the windows of my house, except for a few places that have a tactical angle to view the surrounding area. First and second floor. I used screws instead of nails to remain as silent as possible. Now that our house is secure i can focus on other things. I need to find time to sleep.

• 3 gallons of gas reamining
• 30 days of food
• 20 days of water

Aug. 22, 2009 - 6:33am

Finally, some contact with one of my closest friends, through an RRC chat. Tough as nails this kid.

But it is what he wrote that is the most disturbing. Read for yourself.

- Communications from an RRC Chat with Dan P.

Nothing is the same now, since the 24hr curfew, this apartment complex is like a prison. Its hot as hell in here and I'm beginning to lose hope on the electric. The cops all disappeared this morning and even stranger those damn helicopters vanished. I wish they had stayed, the chilling sounds from F bldg are deafening. It really smells like a giant dumpster in here and its hard to breath. I drilled a few more vent holes threw the timbers blocking the windows.... well before the batteries went dead for good. Im glad they lasted this long. Looks like the fire in C bldg finally burned itself out too. Christ!!!! WTF!!!!! Im LOSING MY MIND!!!!!!Who the fuck is banging on the hall door!!!......I cant take it anymore! The moaning sound is strange but I think I know what it is and if im right its only gonna get worse. I have to know.......and its now.

- End of communications

Aug. 22, 2009 - 12:01am

Im feeling very vulnerable with my windows exposed, the doors are strong though. But its the windows that are the week point to this house. The wife is on supply detail, tallying up all the food and water we currently have in the house. When was the last time we went food shopping at BJ's Wholesale Club? Last week?

I can tell she is worried about our external situation outside of our front door, but she doesn't show it. I try to not reveal my sense of panic it either. Nothing new to report on the TV, however two channels that where broadcasting last night are currently white static. There is something screaming inside me saying this situation outside is going to get worse before it gets better.

As I write this now, my Yugoslavian m-72 RPK with a 75 round drum mag in the well, is sitting beside me. Giving off its comforting look of wood and parkerized steel. Im hoping its presence alone will drive away any looters. About an our ago, a guy came sprinting full tilt down my street, hopped my neighbors clean white picket fence and dissapered behind the row of homes. Was that blood on his shirt? It must have just been my imagination.

Something was definately chasing that man, but it did not follow him down my street.

I really need to get in touch with my family and friends.

Aug. 21, 2009 - 4:55pm

Cell phone lines are jammed. Text messaging still works.

The power grid went down at 7:20am this morning. Running power off the small generator that I keep in the garage for now. I only have 5 gallons of gas to feed it. damn. More importantly, I needed to test the web connection as it is my only source of information. The TV just plays 90's re-runs.

Fires in the neighborhood. The black smoke rising in billows all around our area. Mainly to the east. Not sure whats burning, but its big. Our street is still untouched. I can hear sirens in the distance all day, and what sounds like thunder. But there are no clouds in the sky except for the burning billows of black charred smoke.

I need to figure out what is going to be my next move.

Aug. 20, 2009 - 11:54pm

Finally my first piece of real information. I found the entry through one of the forums I check regularly. From what I can tell it seems local too.

- Thread intercept from fargo007,

"Bro , Things aren't looking so good....”

Ron Minatori, A good friend of mine works at a funeral home on Street Rd. He bet me a thousand dollars that he had something come in that would absolutely freak me out. I got calls like this perhaps once a year, and some were worth the trip. Others were not. He knew I spent the last 20 years in law enforcement, so this had better be good, I sez, as I braved the forty fucking traffic lights it takes to go the ¼ mile up that atrocious road. Worse than usual? Oh yeah. I saw a crowd of people gathered around the cemetery, and block after block of their parked cars along the road. What, did a celebrity die? People were in shorts & tee shirts though. This county has always been a bizarre mix of people ever since I moved here.

Pulling up the emergency brake on my truck in the back lot of the funeral home, I was greeted by the unusual sight of Minatori trying to light a cigarette that was literally bouncing up and down in his quivering, but tightly clenched lips. I had never seen the man smoke. After prying the lighter from his sweaty hands, and lighting the cigarette on his behalf, he looked at me, while the unfamiliar acrid smoke caused him to reflexively cough directly in my face.

“I ain't goin' back in there.”

“Ron – what the hell is going on?”

He threw the cigarette down, and as he continued to speak, repeatedly ground and stomped it to oblivion.

“Pickup from the hospital. 30 year old male. Car accident.” His short, choppy answers told me the real Minatori was in there.

“Tore up pretty bad. They finished the autopsy this morning. Massive internal injuries.”

Sure that this wasn't the issue, I pressed further. “So? Something you can't handle?”

I went to push the unlocked door open and look inside. I knew this was the “operational area” of the funeral home. I felt his hand dig into my shoulder with force I had no idea he could muster.

“Watch it. Just watch it, Understand???”

I entered the receiving area, where a body lay on a transport gurney. It had lost its legs above or around both knees, and the condition of the rest of it was not so good. A Y-shaped autopsy scar with coarse stiches the length of the torso. The organs are usually placed in a plastic bag, and sewn back into the torso, and I could spot pieces of the orange bag through rough gaps in the stitches.

A terrible sight, but nevertheless, I approached it. I could feel Minatori approach behind and to my left as I looked at the side of the young man's head, which appeared undamaged, and at least that much of him appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

“Stay back, you dumb-ass!”

I turned back to Minatori to reply with a clever insult of my own, the particulars of which I choose not to share. Looking back at the body, the head was now facing me, and both eyes were open, and directly fixed upon my own.

- End of thread.

I might call off a few more days, and that wood burning smell has gotten stronger into the night. I peaked outside to check if I could see any smoke on the horizon, but it is way to dark to see anything with clarity.

God I wish I had a pair of night vision goggles right now. Currently it seems worth the couple thousand dollars to be honest.

Aug. 20, 2009 - 6:04pm

Surfing the web on my net book while watching the 6 o'clock news, why do I even bother, TV sucks. Warm day out, the windows are open to let the breeze in.

I spent the day at home with my wife, I made a judgment call and decided that we should just take off for the next day or two. Something about yesterdays broadcast has just got my senses on the spike, and they are telling me to stay alert. Besides, we have the vacation days.

Wait whats this,

There is a Sunset curfew in place tonight.....is this serious?

Cant type now, I'm transfixed to this HDTV screen.

Why do I smell a wood fire burning in the middle of August?