Date: 2008-10-07 16:44 Subject: Ziggidy-Zombie Security: Public Mood: content Music: Eva Cassidy - Songbird Tags: zombies

I had to share this:


Created by Mingle2.com (Dating for non-zombies)

That's all.

Date: 2007-06-13 23:26 Subject: Bye. Security: Public Mood: scared Music: None. Tags: ftw, zombies

It very well may be.


Well, this certainly escalated quickly.

Yesterday evening I bowled the best game of my life (257 if you're curious) and now I'm cowering in one of the most recognizable landmarks in the South waiting for the food and water to run out. It's funny how things change.

I'm not sure what possessed us to actually listen to the radio. My iPod pretty much killed radio for me. Most of the stations were either looping music (as usual) or were weirdly silent. Not static or anything, just dead air. One station, though, was news and we scrolled past it twice before the word "pandemic" caught my ear.

Reports from PRI sounded more like desperate calls for aid than unbiased reporting. People trapped in the Eiffel Tower, infected individuals boiling up out of the Underground in London, some kind of "quick kill" virus in NY and a quick report about over-crowded hospitals here in Knoxville since yesterday afternoon. The last story we heard before pulling into our parking space was about a quarantine in Nashville. Funny, I've always thought Country music to be a disease.

Late Wednesday evenings downtown are pretty quiet, so it wasn't very unusual not running into people. The lack of traffic was odd, but at the time was nice. We were on our way to the Tennessee Theatre to see a screening of My Fair Lady. Not a favorite of mine, but not a bad way to spend a Wednesday night. Late dinner and a show. When we got to the door of the theatre, though, it was closed, locked and very much deserted. The film was supposed to start in a a half an hour and no one was around. We stood around for awhile, banged on the doors for a bit and finally left with me grumbling about getting my money back. Looking back on that it seems pretty silly.

We decided to head over to the square to get supper. I figured we could still get a nice meal. On our way into the square we started hearing weird sounds. We both dismissed them. I mean, who would think about zombies? For real. I've always been deathly afraid of them, but to think they would actually exist? Please. We just kept walking. What we saw as we rounded the last corner was unbelievable. Completely, abhorrently mind-blowing. A whole, writhing mass of people (I use the term loosely) were crowded around the Subway moaning and reaching up at the windows of the apartments over the store. I was rooted to the spot. I heard Lisa's pre-scream gasp and tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late. Dozens, maybe a hundred dead-white eyes turned our way and the mob, as one, began shambling our way.

I felt like I'd been willing my lower extremities to move for ever and finally my legs started running. After a few minutes I looked back and was relieved to see Lisa following. To my horror I realized that I'd forgotten to check earlier. Great. Fear and shame. Terrific.

There really wasn't anywhere to go. Every building we passed was locked and some of the condos had boarded up doors and windows. Every step we took was haunted by that cry that I knew would just call more and more zombies to us. I've read Max Brooks' books. Fiction. Right. Spine-chilling, Flesh-puckering, knee-weakening; Whatever you want to say about it, until you hear it coming from those hunting you, you have no idea.

We eventually made our way back to Broadway and started to run across. As we were crossing we saw someone else ahead of us raising a weapon. I drug Lisa down with me as the shot blasted through the air over our heads and I heard a voice yelling "Stay low, but keep coming! Hurry! Move! Move!" That was all the invitation I needed. I looked down and saw that Lisa was bleeding from hitting the pavement. I told her we had to keep going and she nodded and we ran on. Slugs cutting around us and above us as we crossed what usually is the busiest street in K'town.

We got to the figure and he kept firing into the crowd that had swelled behind us. They just kept coming. Finally he turned with us and we ran toward the Sun Sphere, gun man in the lead. When we got to the elevator he told us we have to wait for it. When someone comes down they send the elevator back up and it stays there until they get back. We'd been lucky, the guy had just come down one last time before holing up here for good. Lisa asked whey they picked the Sphere and I said, "they can't even climb stairs, much less girders and ladders."

"Oh."

Tourists never visit the Sun Sphere anymore and so no one realized just how old and slow the elevator is. It seemed to take forever and the horde of undead just kept shambling, stumbling, falling down the stairs, but they kept coming.

"They've never gotten this close before. They might never go away this time. This elevator needs to be here right now." As if on cue the elevator arrived and at that exact moment a crawling ghoul managed to grab my foot. In a smooth motion our zombie-killing Sherpa pulled a machete from it's sheath on his back and chopped the hand off. Next I remember clearly was being halfway up the sphere in the elevator with a hand still attached to my ankle. I kicked it away and spent the rest of the ride trying to not throw up on the soldier's(?) boots.

Once we got to the top we met a couple dozen other's that had managed to find their way here to the park closer to the beginning of the infestation. Turns out the Army had gotten there first and secured it as a base of operations simply because "Zack" can't climb up anything. They let these refugees in and once the recon had come back that downtown was pretty much lost they decided to hole up and wait for rescue. Trouble is, it seems, is that most of the other units in Knoxville that have survived are pretty much in the same boat and haven't had contact in the high end of the chain of command in awhile. We're stuck.

On the bright side, we're still leaching internet from the Hilton next door. I guess they must have a hell of a generator over there. On the not-so-bright side, I only have about 20 minutes of battery left in my laptop and no charger. Last I saw on Max Brooks' website was a big "I told you so." He's probably gone to Siberia or somewhere already. Last I saw on Whitehouse.gov was a general announcement telling people to stay calm and to stay off the streets. Right-o. Most of the websites I used to visit are gone. 404: file not found.

And that's where we are right now. Lisa sleeping with her head on my shoulder. None of us eating or drinking, really. Got to save the supplies we've got. Not really anyone wants to go to the bathroom in front of everyone else either, but I bet that'll change. They're all over the place down there now. I don't know that they know we're here, but they don't have to. As long as they're hanging out, we can't leave. It looks like Neyland Stadium broke open and hemorrhaged zombies into the park below us. It looks like that many. I'm trying to keep Lisa's spirits up, but I really don't see much hope. Either we starve, we try to run and get eaten (oh, the irony), we get nuked to try to solve the problem or we go crazy and kill oursleves (although that's sounding better and better). I just want this out there on a server somewhere so that if anyone does survive maybe they'll hear this story and hopefully some others. I don't want my last huzzah to be nearly forgetting my wife back on the square.

That's all there is to tell. The Army guys are talking about trying to mount an assault, but no one is listening to me. They've only recently realized that head-shots are the only thing that kills. If they go out there, they're probably going to die. Yet, I understand why they want to go. I do too. Sitting here is robbing us of our humanity. It's making us another kind of "Zack".

Lisa is waking up and I don't want her to read this. I keep telling her that all we have to do is wait and we'll be rescued, but I don't think she really believes me anymore.

It's about 11:30pm on Wednesday the 13th.