Peace. That’s all that can be said of the surrounding area.
It was a cool autumn day in the city of Montreal, situated in Quebec, one of the few cities that was ‘back in working order’
It had been five years since the world was plunged into complete hell. The skies where filled with the smoke and ashes, made of what used to be the known world.
The way the world was plunged into complete chaos was not by the nuclear holocaust that was expected by the human populace of earth, it was neither by the also growing fear of global warming.
What nearly annihilated all of mankind was not thought about any sane human of the twenty first century, although, it would be a lie to say that nobody was prepared for it. People had fantasized about these creatures. Yes, creatures. Though, it would also be a lie not to state that these monsters in which are being mentioned, where indeed, once human.
Know, that although we where in an age where great leaps in technology where being made to be used to protect us, but, we where still almost destroyed indefinitely due to the lost connection of with our ancestral genes. With our way of life, we had lost our sense of survival. Though some had found it, others took time before they recaptured it, or others just couldn’t do it, and sadly, those where the many that became our enemy. But, of course, there are hundreds of stories that other people, if you ask, could tell you how their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, friends and other members of their family ‘joined’ the enemy.
You must be asking yourself, what is this enemy of which keeps on being mentioned. Well, if it where another time in our world, you would probably dismiss it as a insane person’s view of an Armageddon, but it has something we where forced to adapt too, or die from it.
Zombies. Yes, that’s what we fought against, thrived to survive from, promised ourselves to rid these walking plagues from our earth so that our grandchildren could grow up without fearing the dark, or having a cold sweat envelope their bodies at the sound of the howling wind.
Zombies are what ruined all of our lives, but did more than Abraham Lincoln, or Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. or any other person who fought for equal rights, respect for every man.
That was mankind’s great advantage over their undead aggressor. To work together, as one effective killing machine against the hordes of living corpses that riddled our lands. We dismissed each others ethnic background, our skin color, and our social backgrounds.
All of us worked together for one dead set cause, and that was to retake what was so abruptly taken from use, and be able to make a road that would lead us to a day where we would never have to fear anything.
And, that’s where we are now. Cities are being rebuilt, people are being housed and taken care of, governments are being reestablished, and new maps of the world are being redrawn. Heck, even the stock market was starting to make a comeback.
But, I’m not here to talk about the present, but the certain individuals from the past that helped bring withering countries out of the darkness, giving them a torch to light up their way for the future of fighting these horrible beings.
Though, these individuals where not a government branch, nor where they even any sort of militia. They where average people, leading, back then, normal jobs, but, when the sirens rang, and the blood curdling screams, and the moans of the undead broke the serenity of ever day living, these people did what they where preparing for, and we owe them everything.
As Churchill once said about the pilots that fought over Britain during the battle of Britain “never was so much owed by so many, to so few”
My name is Cody Grail; I’m twenty-eight, and a government historian, based on recording and storing information that could be used in case any such thing should happen again.
I was proposed to take first hand accounts of how these few people prepared, survived, and fought the zombie threat, whilst helping and training others.
It was a report that others in my position would kill for, but I was given it, and godamn it, I’m going to do one hell of a job.
My first interview takes me across the border into the United States.
The once hectic streets of New York are not what they used to be, now with the lack of stable power grids, and the rationing of what was left of gas reserves keeping most cars off the streets.
I step out of a taxi, looking at the redone central park. The grass was a deep shade of green, whilst the trees where starting to take effect to the autumn weather setting in.
A cool wind passes by, causing my interviewee to shiver, lifting his collar.
“No matter how many times winter hits this city, it always gives me the chills”
We shake hands and begin to walk down a gravel path leading around what’s called turtle pond.
I decide to set things in motion.
“So, may I call you mike? Or zombie furnace?”
He chuckles, “it’s been a while since I’ve been referred to that name when discussing zombies”
I pull out my note pad.
“Yeah, just call me mike, that will do.” I observe this man, who appears to be in his mid twenties, as he screws up his face, in response to the cold wind.
“Well, first question. Where were you when you heard of the zombie apocalypse, and how did you take action?
His face darkens, his five o’clock shadow adding to it. He passes his hand through his hair, thinking how best to reply.
He stops walking, and lets out a sigh.
“Well, the first I learned of the zombies was the North Troy riots that started not three blocks from where I was, at my grandmother’s house.”
“She owned a double apartment at the time, where a few of my aunts and uncles lived as well. We could hear the shots going off, and the blood curdling screams from where we were. There was a police station only a few houses away from her house, but it seemed even the dispatcher had left his post to attempt to wrestle the rioting to a halt. Sirens eventually deafened the noises of the crowds, but that didn’t last long.”
“The crowds of people were traveling towards the house, and reached Nuedecker’s Guns and Ammo only a block and a half away from us. We were able to tell because the gunfire increased exponentially at that point. Luckily, we were able to get our family into my uncle’s pick-up truck soon after. It being a large model we were fortunate to fit everybody inside.”
“My grandparents each took with them a small suitcase of clothing, and my uncle carried a small stack of rifles and ammunition into the vehicle. We were all in shock as to what was happening, but were sure that we would be able to sort some things out at my house, and made the 25 minute journey in the traffic. My house was only five minutes away. We stayed at my house for two hours, watching the news and gathering what we could.”
“The news reports were strange to say the least, as cannibalism was a common crime during the riots. Also, reports of new riots were springing up in Albany, Schenectady, Clifton Park, and Latham. Our shock had completely left us and was replaced by a heavy feeling of fear that was so thick you could feel it in the air. As we learned of the reports of cannibalism and new rioting, we stopped packing food and started packing tools and the meager weapons laying around the house: hammers, nails, the hatchet, the woodsman’s’ pal, some heavy duty woods saws, a longbow, a Billy club, and multifarious other things we felt the need to pack as we were getting ready to leave. My uncle was out procuring gas from a local Hess station. I think he brought an M14 with him. We left after two hours, hearing the riot’s ensuing noise, and its progression from 107th street to the bottom of Hoosick.”
We continue with our walk, leaving the pond and finding a bench to sit at. I finish scribbling what he said onto my pad.
Once done, I looked at him, as he gazed into nothingness.
I asked another question.
“What where your feelings during all of that time?”
“During our escape?”
I nod
“To be quite honest, I was horrified nearly to the point of paralysis. If it weren’t for my father and the presence of my family, I would probably be on one of the many casualty lists right now.”
“ If I had had more time to think, I would have most likely spent it reflecting upon my own morality and how quickly the feeling of vulnerability crept up upon me. However, the genius my father was, kept him, my brothers and me on a tight shift, so tight we barely had the luxury to think while we were working so hard. We had a lot of work to do where we were staying, and keeping our minds on it kept them off of the subject of death, and a mortifying rebirth.”
He chuckles, “he was the main reason we survived the first couple of months”
“Where did you flee/ barricade yourself? How did you do it?”
“Well, after we were situated and ready to leave my house, we took back roads adjacent to the long route 7 until it appeared clear. The main road was cluttered with hundreds of vehicles, but we cleared the side roads of drivers with the threatening firearms we were wielding in the back of the pick-up.”
He laughs again. “I remember thinking we looked like regular hillbillies packed into the large vehicle with all that stuff, waving our guns as menacingly as we could.”
“After about an hour, we made it to Brunswick, normally 15 minutes away. Route 7 was finally decongested, due to an enormous pile-up at the last intersection. The highway usually sported an average of thirty thousand cars in a day, but with the congestion two blocks back, it seemed as if all four lanes was just a heap of steel traps just waiting for the riot to prey upon.”
“As we made it to Brunswick, we continued on Route 7 for a good hour and 45 minutes to Vermont, and brought the car to a halt amidst the trees and shrubs of the dense forest that lay between us and New York. My father and me made an hour’s hike on the trail we used to take camping, until we reached a familiar campsite. We returned to the vehicle to retrieve our relatives and equipment.”
“ This trip took a lot longer because one of my aunts collapsed from exhaustion, and we had to fashion a stretcher and carry her onto the site. We resided here for weeks; with the food we brought with us the eleven of us were sustained as long as we could. My father brothers and I would have to venture into Bennington eventually to scavenge for food and other necessities.”
“What weapons did you have/improvised to fight against the zombie's?”
“Apart from what I had mentioned before?”
“Yes”
“Well, there was a pistol taken from a man that fired upon us from his van in Bennington, and many melee weapons that we stashed in a dugout hole used for hiding all of the stuff we felt we may have needed. Other than that our most used weapon was the snowplow mounted onto my uncle’s pick-up that he never cared to remove.”
“Ah the snowplow, that’s classic” I said as we both laughed.
“What where your thoughts of what was going on around the rest of the world and how other ZPI members where handling things?”
“If I was confident in anybody’s abilities to survive the plague through information being taught on the radio, I was sure it was going to be alright with the members of our good old forum.”
“ I was able to bring many ideas to the drawing table when it came to problems we had simply based on the discussions that were held on the site leading up to the initial breakout. As far as the rest of the world goes, hope seemed dim for them. The zombies proved to be a dangerous foe, as brother turned against brother, fueled by the fear and danger brought about by the new monstrosities desecrating our world, feeding upon us.”
Familiar faces turned into horrifying specters of human beings, transformed from emotionally filled countenances to disfigured and mutilated forms showing only the most primordial of feelings. It seemed that the monsters attacking mankind attacked us at the very foundation of unity, making people insecure as to who they can trust, and how secure they are every waking moment.”
We finish off the interview with a heart handshake and both leave, taking separate paths as we depart. I call up a taxi and take a seat inside. I cross off my interviewee’s name from a list that I had made.
Mike ‘the_zombie_furnace’ member of ZPI, and head of New York restoration and management.
One down, a lot more to interview.
I step off a bus at an old gas station, situated in the middle of nowhere in the California dessert. There is a bar next to the gas station, where my next interviewee is waiting for me.
I step inside, and it’s like a scene from an old western movie, where most people have guns attached to their hips, and belts of handgun ammo wrapped around their chest.
There is a man sitting at the end of the bar, clad in a black leather jacket, even though it’s a blistering 95 degrees outside.
He sees me and calls me over, by shouting: “hey reporter, over here”
I take a seat on a stool next to him. I look him over. He was covering his crew cut hair with a beige bandanna, and had eyes that, like many now a days, had the thousand-yard stare.
“The Box?” I ask as I pull out my pen and pad.
“That’s what the old forum says I am” he replies, taking a sip from his glass.
“That’s for giving your time for this interview”
“Oh, thanks, its my pleasure to help out” he turns and looks at me. “So what's this all about anyway?”
“I’m making a sort of ‘survival guide,’” I told him “ can I ask you some questions?”
He nods his head
“I'd just like to know what started you into fighting against zombies?”
“Oh ha ha wow,” he laughs. “ The seed was first planted when I saw Resident Evil in theaters, I couldn't help but imagine what it would be like in a zombie apocalypse, but it really sprouted when I was bored and did a Sean of the Dead marathon, non stop all day, I felt so insecure that night imagining what it would be like that. So, I started preparing”
“Why did you join ZPI?”
Once I finish asking this question, his face lightens up a bit.
“I was looking for gear for my zombie pack and came across this site, and had been a member from that point on”
What was your job before Z-day? And could you tell me how it either helped you out with the Z-outbreak, or not?
“Oh ha ha well I was still a senior then and was just making money to pay off my truck, a simple job at the local golf course, doing stuff like organizing carts, cleaning balls, running a schedule everyday”
He takes another sip from his beverage, looking like he was reminiscing about the better times.
“It helped out a lot, I think, because on tournament days things would get really hectic with me running around and getting nagged on by either my boss or the members, and I drove the range cart, which is a favorite target of the members. The loud pangs of the balls hitting in a way got me used to gunshots, although they were still a completely new experience”
I look a little bit at ‘The box’. He looks at me, and has a questioning look on his face.
“What?”
“Oh nothing” I say. “Its just, you where a caddy? It’s hard to believe that’s what you did, I mean, who you are, what you’ve done, it’s hard to believe you had a job like that”
He looks at me quizzingly. “Hey, we all had to start somewhere.”
I nod my head and continue with the next question.
“Once everything hit the fan, did you gather a bunch of people and try to make the best of their skills?”
“I never had a group predetermined since the beginning. No one would believe me and even if they did they never took it seriously enough to plan. I took my family and the next-door neighbor and took all of our food and headed out to Manzanar. The facility served our needs quite well, and we were pretty far away from the chaos. There was still a local town, and a water purifying plant nearby. We got an employee from there that knew how to run it so we took water from the mountain and purified it to keep us going. The guy next door is an avid motorcyclist and made an ideal scout, he was damn good on 2 wheels” he grins “heh, he was also pretty good with cars in general, his kids were a bit of a problem though, so we had to create things to keep them occupied”
“What where your feelings? Did you have hope of mankind beating the Z's? Did you try to help the government in fighting the new threat by teaching military squads on proper Zombie survival skills?”
“Actually we didn't have a great amount of contact with the zombies...initially. At first things seemed fine, no contacts outside of the city out in the desert where we headed, things seemed fine, we even picked up a few families from the local town which had a few teenagers both male and female which gave us some hope. I think it was the end of the first week that we first saw any military pass through, they were heading toward our house which sunk our hopes a bit but they seemed well prepared, they didn't stop though, they just looked as they went by. I remember one of them waving to us, couldn't get a good look at his face though, and about 2 days later one humvee came back, only one, with 3 survivors in it, 2 military persons and one civilian. They had a lot to offer us and we did the same for them.
His face darkens.
“I’m pretty sure that you know that at the beginning, people didn’t know how the virus was transmitted”
I nod my head in comprehension. Like most people, that’s how they met their fate, saving people who were bitten, then having the victims killing their saviors after turning.
But, what we didn’t know was that one of them had been bitten, and we didn't know of this until a day after they came. He had turned, and when I came back from my shift, one of the small children had been partially eaten.”
He closes his eyes, setting the drink down as his hands shook a little.
“It was so horrific, that I couldn't help but puke a little. We killed the zombified soldier but didn't bury either one of them. We burned their corpses to try to keep the infection down.
He lets out a faint smile as he picks up the glass and drains it, setting it down back onto the coaster.
“Sorry. I guess I got a little side tracked. I never really thought about our chances as a race. Staying alive day to day was all that really crossed my mind. I did think about it one day though, on a particularly boring day, and I couldn't help but think that we had small chances of survival. But I tried to keep those thoughts out to avoid any more morale loss”
“And, last question, did you try to warn other ZPI members of the threat? Did you think that other ZPI members would have troubles with the Z's?”
A gleam can be seen in his eyes as he lets out a smile whilst looking at me.
“Oh haha, those crazy fools heh. Yes I did post about the appearance of one in our front lawn, which I had to remove. That was such a reality shattering experience. And yes, I did have thoughts that certain members would have troubles. The newer members mainly. Actually only the newer members, the senior members, no, sometimes I would daydream about them being these great leaders” he chuckles “leading a ragtag army against the zombies, it would lighten the intensity and give me some happiness and just give me more hope overall”
“Oh, and what are your final thoughts on the Zombie apocalypse?”
He looks down, then turning to look outside at a pair of kids playing outside of the bar.
“Ah... of course... for me it was an endless nightmare, almost like a camp in ways but with very definite and obvious differences. heh, I still think it was good for the planet, a wildfire must sweep through an overgrown forest, it is inevitable, and I think that those zombies were our wildfire, I just wish that there was an easier way to do such a thing”
I thank my interviewee, and leave the gas station, back to the bus stop. I remove my list again, and cross out ‘The Box’s’ name.
I was feeling a little nervous about meeting my next interviewee. Excitement really, because he was the founder of this group.
I make my way to New Hampshire, where I enter a very clean, and well-kept hospital. I make my way to the reception desk, where a nurse escorts me to a quiet area in
the hospital. She shows me into the room, where the only noise that could be heard, is coming from the heart monitor.
Sitting upright in the hospital bed is the ‘creator’ of ZPI, Eliot. I thank the nurse and approach the grinning man, as I extend my hand. We shake hands, and I pull a seat next to the bed.
“Hi there, my name is Cody Grail, I’m the reporter” I introduce myself. His grin still remains on his face.
“I was expecting you today,” he says, looking out the window at his bedside “it gets really boring over here. As you can see, nothing really happens, since, well…” he pauses, looking at his ‘war’ wound, which ran across his left leg. What I’ve been told is that he received it while clearing an old school, doing some repairs, but got caught in some rubble when the roof collapsed.
“Oh well, that’s the past no, isn’t it? Anyway, lets get on with it” he instructs. I clear my throat.
" First question, what made you want to make ZPI?"
His eyes gleam, remember the beginning "Well, it started off as I think so many people start off -- we just watched a zombie movie, I believe it was the movie, ‘Shaun of the Dead, and we began to analyze it for a number of qualities, and began to ask ourselves what we might do in their situation. Within about 5 minutes we quickly began to obsess -- we were all on a college campus in the middle of the Twin Cities, sometimes we were at our parent's places and sometimes we were elsewhere. Move forward a week and lo' and behold, we are still discussing the idea and it quickly became a downright obsession with our group. From there it was a few lighthearted comments about some sort of organization and ZPI came out of that.”
His grin widens, recalling the memories.
“Ultimately, I suppose most ironically, we started this all as a joke -- we enjoyed Max Brooks' tongue-in-cheek writing style and copied him. It was only after we got the website up that we realized there was so much interest in the whole thing.”
“There were a couple other z-day sites out there,” he states
“Like Zombie Squad?” I ask, dotting down notes. He nods
“But they didn't really have the same feel as I was going for. I wanted to keep it relevant and interesting, a debate and information site. Sometimes I felt like a prick.
“Sorry, is that okay for me to say here?”
“Yeah, I’ll probably edit it out later” I tell him, he shrugs
“For trying to keep extraneous things off the site or for picking on people when they didn't debate or discuss things that I felt were up to par, but the site began to take on a culture of its own and the members really made me proud."
"Did you think that it would lead to so many members? How did you feel about it?"
He looks at me, his eyes gleaming "Ya' know, it confuses me. This is the first project that I really put together and then loosed on the world. I didn't expect it to get members. For a while I would get very passionate about how I perceived the site to be doing and got worried if I thought it was failing. Ultimately, all the members made it what it is, and I really have to thank them for it."
"How do you feel knowing that most of these members are in high ranking positions in a post Z-day apocalypse government because of the information they utilized from this site?"
"Is that why they're there?” he chuckles “I don't know. I don't think ZPI had anything to do with them getting to where they are beyond the fact that it got them thinking and helped them survive the initial outbreak. When we all worked on problems together, it really became quite an impressive thing. Each person knew something -- sometimes it was as little as knowing about one area of the world, other times it was guns, another time food and so on.”
He looks back out the window, sighing “Okay, I know I sound hokey, but really.... I’m a big fan of education. I like people to know stuff, and I like people to recognize the difference between knowing and understanding. I think that the people on ZPI really took the time not only to learn something and gain the knowledge, but they also gained the understanding necessary to do things.”
He lets out a laugh, turning back to me. “Then again, there were some people who came to the site ready to break out and ... well ... I mean, there was Sanchez...” he laughs again.
“Do we know where’s he at”
“Yeah, he’s on my list to be interviewed”
“Tell him I say hi”
I nod.
“Anyway. My point, after all my verbosity, is this: the site members helped themselves. If ZPI had anything to do with their success, I'd like to think it helped them all to start looking in the same direction, so to speak, to recognize the target and aim for it.
Does that make sense?"
I nod again.
"What were your actions prior to hearing about the outbreaks?"
"Me? Well, first I wet myself...” he starts to laugh, slapping my shoulder “...then I stared at the tel--...oh wait, before the outbreak?”
“I think I continued going to work. I don't remember that period well. I mean, we were all watching the news and seeing things unfold, I'm sure that everyone on the site had come to the conclusion long before I did. I find some things very hard to believe, so I just went on living life. Had my wife and I not made all the contingency planning before-hand that we did, not just for zombies we probably would have suffered the fate that so many others suffered."
"Did the color codes, or warning system set into place for warning members work as hoped?"
"The ZEN/TITAN tool...? Uhmm...ya' know, I know it failed for me. Since I had been working on it for so long, when I finally saw the thing trigger my first thought was 'oh hell, I screwed it up again.' I was probably the last on ZPI to actually get up to speed with the fact that it was for real.”
“That said, I think that the tool helped ZPI to be paying attention and, as I said before, all kinda' be looking in the same direction. I may have been out of the loop, but from the sound of it, mostly everyone else was watching that thing like an old lady watching her soaps. While there were so many things I wish I could have done to improve that thing so that maybe we could have all been even more ready.”
“God, I'm talking too much, sorry. The point, dear reporter, is that I do wish I could have done more, but did it work, I think so."
"Is there anything you wish you should have done differently with your actions during Z-day?"
"Yeah, stock up on more toilet paper.” He laughs again, a real hearty laugh.
“No, I can't think of anything. I'm sure it will come back to haunt me at some point. When it all hit the fan, so to speak, I cleared out of the cities and didn't even try to help. At this point I know that was a good idea to save my own hide, but there are some people that aren't around today because of that decision.”
“Ultimately, I think we'll all come to regret something from that time. We'll all be haunted by the 'What if" monster” he chuckles “this one ... hopefully, will be easier to deal with than our current ghouls."
And with that, we finished the interview. I thank the ZPI ‘leader’ and promise him that I’ll contact him as soon as I get to interview Sanchez, but first, I had to make a stop and talk to the youngest member of ZPI.