Since we're all fans of World War Z.... I think we should make our own chapters.
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Miami, Florida USA

[We sit in a small Cuban Style Restaurant and wait for our orders. Miami JBT sit sipping his "Materva" Soda Pop, stilling looking like the man he was before the war. A Officer of the Law, the classic Norman Rockwell cop.]

When I first got word of what was happening I thought I was going insane.... I mean zombies? For real? What the hell is going on in this world, the economy was already going to shit, crime was up, my department was cutting jobs and laying off cops left and right and here I am sitting in the Roll Call Room listening to some FEMA Rep talk about the dead rising from their graves and eating people. I thought this was the Swine Flu incident all over again. Except it was real. The running joke in the department was that it was Mexican Zombie Flu, that's what we called the H1N1 virus.

So you didn't think any of it?

Oh no, you're highly mistaken. I thought that the world was possibly ending. I mean for a Federal Agent to tell us that zombies are possibly going around and biting people thus turning them into zombies was a real and serious issue.... the only thing that came to my mind was actually a lot of fear and a little bit of excitement. I mean I'm a cop, I work long hours, get paid shit, get shot at, and I still came into work everyday because I loved it. In the end, the briefing ended just like one of those "Resident Evil" movies. We were told to work with K9 units and if the dogs got a hit, shot to kill and aim for the head.

Miami isn't a small city mind you.... we're the so called international capital of the Caribbean and South America. Flights, Shipping, everything came through Miami. Cargo and People. Not just legals also.... a large illegal migrant population came through and lived in Miami. Mexican, Cuban, Haitian, etc... they were here. And sadly so was the virus. It spread like wild fire but we some how had it contained... or so we thought at first.

Our houses were Hurricane proof.... Shatter proof windows, concrete construction, metal according shutters, everything. If we can survive Hurricane Andrew, Katrina, Wilma and everything else mother nature throws at us we can survive this. We were cocky and arrogant. Not just that, we were armed. Florida was called the Gun Shine State for nothing. Conceal Carry permits, large collection of Class III firearms, hell, even a couple of military manufacturers were located in our State. Knight's Armaments was only three hours north of me. They made all the top grade gear for the Special Forces Community. This one store right across one of the neighboring police departments down south.... Homestead Guns & Ammo. They sold a metric ton of AR-15s, AK Series Rifles, GLOCKs, Berettas, Remington 870s, you name it. The Florida Senate allowed open carry of firearms for God's Sake. It was just like you see after a major hurricane. Everyone was armed and showing it. Crime dropped like a rock. That was the only good thing. Plus we had Homestead Air Force Base, Southern Command, Special Operations Command-South all within a twenty minute drive from my house. That's not counting all the national guard armories and all of the other bases scattered around the state.

So you felt confident that you would survive this and pull through?

Yea, of course we did.... Even after I dealt with my first couple of Z's on the street I felt pretty good. It was about 3 a.m. when it happened. I was dispatched to a possible Z sighting.... under the dispatch code 38, a suspicious person. When I arrived on scene I saw it walking across a field trying to get to a farm. Yeah, Miami still had a large agro business. It couldn't cross the fence. I shined my spot light on it and gave it verbal commands. That's what FEMA thought us. ID before engaging... for all we know it could have been some drunk migrant worker hence why we tried to ID them first. When I did that it turned and gave out this ghastly howl. Like a wolf mixed with a cow. Just God aweful. It started to come my way. I reached into my patrol car and grabbed my rifle. A Colt AR-15, I sighted in on it's head and fired one round. Hit in just below the left eye and it dropped dead in it's tracks. Roped off the scene and informed dispatch. FEMA came out and took over. They had a helicopter unit waiting at Homestead AFB, Miami International Airport, Opa-Locka Airport, and a couple of other places. The Cruise Ship Terminal I think.

Was that it?

Of course not [he sips on his soda] they started becoming more and more common. It finally started getting bad when the airports and cruise ship ports were shut down. The National Guard started going on patrol with us. But they kept coming. Cigar boats were a major issue. They'd slip past the US Coast Guard patrols and dropped on infected people in places like Miami Beach. They smuggle them to the US for a large amount of money under the false hope that the vaccine Phalanx would cure them. Such a screw up that was.

I called it quits soon after the whole event at Yonkers took place. I mean, I loved being a cop and I took my oath seriously but when I saw that the Army got it's ass handed to it on National TV by a bunch of zombies in New York. I told my family it's time to get out of here. We got all of our supplies and head out west. As deep into the Everglades as we could. But that in of itself was a nightmare.

[Just as he was going to explain what happened int he Everglades, his radio goes off. He's off to another call. A possible sighting of a Zombie. It's more then likely a prank he says, since according to him kids call 911 all the time and make false claims. ]

bravo.  It reads alot like the book.

Good read man  we need more

Very good job man keep it up I enjoyed it!

Very nice, keep it up.

Come on guys.... I can't be the only one thinking this shit up in my heads....

I am thinking of more stuff by the minute and will add to this post but I think you guys should do the same. Make it interesting.

Excellent work!

Miami, Florida USA

I once again meet with Miami JBT. This time at his house. He informs me that the call he responded to was just as he said earlier; a prank by small children. Children that weren’t born before the idea of the living dead and those that didn’t grow up during the war. They are innocent of fear as he puts it.

Sorry about that, where were we when we were discussing what happened?

You were going to talk about going off into the Everglades.

Oh yeah, that’s right. Anyways. During the “Great Panic” [He uses quotation “fingers”] when the Battles of Yonkers occurred. The threat of infection and the spread of Z’s was getting bad down here. Miami-Dade County had a population of 3 million people alone. And that’s not counting the migrants and transients. The boat people from South America and the Keys. My department was being absorbed by the National Guard. We were being told to either stay and fight or go to our families. I tried both.

What do you mean both?

The majority of my family was prior service and government employees. When they came to American in the 1960s from Communist Cuba they all served in one way or another. Police, Fire, and Military. My father was a cop for 33 years, my brother was a fire fighter, my uncles were ex military. So we all provided a valuable service to the National Guard. In fact at the time my father was still a Reserve Major with a local PD. So towards the end of it all he was commanding his PD. The Chief and Assistant Chief split town long before and my old man not backing down from a fight stepped up to the challenge. But by then what few officers he had was little good. So my father, mother, brother, and niece joined up with the National Guard during the pullout. I had them go with the great push towards the western coast line of the country. My father had contacts in LA and he was informed that it was the best place to be. So he made sure they got there. Last I heard from him was that he was at Patrick AFB with the family on a C-130 to LAX Airport.

I stayed behind to finish the fight. I had enough equipment, ammunition, food, gear, etc... So did my two good friends. We all served together in the Army before the Z-War in the Middle East. We were what you'd call gun nuts.

Gun Nuts? I don't understand.

We collected firearms. We all were former infantry and after our time in service we all attended training course at places called Gunsite, we were well trained and well armed. FN PS90s, SBR M4 Carbines, H&K UMPs, Suppressed Weapons, we had it all. We were major Class III players. We had more tax stamps then some local PDs.

Tax Stamps?

National Firearms Act of 1934; any machine gun, short barreled rifle or short, or surpressor was a NFA Class III item. You had to pay a $200 tax to the federal government along with a background check for that stuff. Also Florida was a very pro firearm state so he blew our money on that along with Gear and survival preps.

Remember, we also lived in the heart of hurricane country. Rioting, food shortages, loss of power and water. We were all used to it. We were even members of a website called AR15.com. It was a pretty good source of information and also the General Discussion section there was far worse then what a horde of Z could ever do. [He laughs]

So myself and my two friends joined up at Homestead AFB. Along with us was what was left of the National Guard and the other armed departments. US Coast Guard, Police, FBI, US Border Patrol. We were all in BDUs* of one sort or another and were heavily armed. Our plan was to be a rear guard action for the civilians trying to flee the horde.

We patrolled the towns and communities in rolling convoys trying to lure out Z. Blowing our horns, making as much noise as we could. It worked but it also didn't. It would draw out suriviors into Z ambushes. They'd think we were the cavalry coming to save them when we weren't. They'd then leave angry and pissed and sadly since all that noise drew Z towards us they met them before we could. Fire fights were also common place. Some jackass would try to ambush us and take our supplies. Ammo, weapons, food, anything they could get their hands on. It was a waste of human life. Instead of them trying to hide or better yet move north to Tallahassee, which we heard became a safe stop because of our actions they instead tried to fuck us out. Lets just say that some idiot with a S&W Revolver against a heavily armed squad armed with belt fed machine guns isn't going to last long.

But things went worse. We went from hunting to being the hunted. Z was gaining in number while we were getting lower. Ammo was running low. Same with food, medical supplies, and good troops. We went from having air support and air transport to foot patrols and horse. It's like we were the fucking hadjis back in the War on Terror in Southern Afghanistan. In the end our final orders were disband and try to make it north to Tallahassee and if you're stupid enough to the Rockies. Some tried... many failed.

My two friends and I we figured our best chance was to stay in Florida. We went West into the Everglades. Everyone always asks why? Because nature is one cruel bitch and she’ll eat both man and Z. She doesn’t care. Quicksand, gators, swamp, etc… it kills all. Hell, the Everglades was able to hide an entire airplane. Remember the Value Jet crash back in the 1990s? Whole Boeing airliner simply crashed and disappeared. Took the NTSB* forever simply to find the wreck let alone start pulling out pieces of it along with bodies. The 'Glades is a bitch to anyone and everyone. Hard to get around in. And since Z didn't have the same muscle coordination as we did we had the advantage.

Our first steps before we went into the swamp was cached everything we could. Weapons, ammo, food, water, medical gear, everything. We couldn't carry it so why even try. We went off into the woods with nothing but a rucksack, a extra pair of BDUs and boots, M4 AR-15s with the new designed USMC bayonets, machetes, ASP batons, and pocket fishing gear with extra line and lures. Our rifles were suppressed. That made them long and unwieldy but we were fighting Z not the hadjis. So our tactics were a little different. Silence and range were our friends. Our rifles carried thirty rounds of 5.56x45mm in the magazines and one in the chamber giving us a total of thirty one. The can* made sure that if we fired we'd try to keep it as quite as possible. Yeah, the round was still super sonic but hey, it's quieter then a regular rifle.

We survived by animals snares and fishing. Also we raided our caches and cleared buildings that had possible supplies we might need. We didn't fight Z in a open battlefield. We became the VC* to him. We'd slip in, kill Z, and leave ASAP. We tried to pick them off one by one and if not we tried to get them in traps. We'd make punji pits and place a small rabbit or hog on a line above the pit. Have Z walk over trying to eat it and BAM! There goes Z into the hole with sharpened stick through his head.

Did it always work? Didn't other animals go for it?

Of course, but then again we didn't have many options. One of the darker things that we're not proud of though is we stayed away from other people. We came to the understanding that large groups of people attract Z. I don't know what it was. Smell, sound, sight. Who knows. All I know is that the larger the group the more Z would show up. A three man squad was about as big as we could get. It just sucks because we'd see a group of survivors with small kids. And of course we knew that if we offered them our supplies or tried to house of feed them that we'd simply make it easier for Z to get us. We tried to rationalize it by saying that by not taking them in we'd do better for them. We could continue the fight. We did what we could. We'd go ahead of those stragglers and leave supplies for them on the trails. Leave weapons that we'd pick up and food that we hunted. It was all we could do.

That is how the rumor of the "Ghosts of the Everglades" started isn't it?

Yeah. We became kinda like this spirit of some short. From our ease dropping of the stragglers that we'd seen. They'd discuss us at length about how we leave shit behind for them. We just did what we did. Once Tallahassee became a secure area of operations for the Air Force we made contact with a Alpha Team operating in the north end of the 'Galdes. They had an air drop of that new 5.56x45mm Cherry PIE round. Great stuff on Z. Made the work a lot easier. One round into Z's head and you just see the eyes start to glow and he goes down.

What we didn't know is that our little personal guerilla war on Z was such a increase in moral for troops in Tallahassee. We keep Z busy in his backyard, attracting more and more of them since we were constantly on the move. Never stopping, never setting up camp. Always caching and raiding those caches, never trying to go urban. Urban meant death and we wanted no part of that.

What did you do when the Army came south?

We continued the fight. It was funny really. You see this old line of regimental troops in Navy Blue with a rifle that's a cross between a M1 Garand and a FN-49. While we're in German Flectar, webgear, and rocking M4 Carbines. We looked like modern day special forces troops while the "Yankees" were a throw back from the War of Northern Aggression. Army Group South [He sighs] those son of bitches didn't have it easy. Humping it from the Rockies all the way to the 'Glades. They get my respect. They also learned a nickname. " Wehrmacht ". [He Chuckles]. It was kinda funny that we named them after the WWII German Army. but hey, they're the ones calling themselves Army Group South. The same name that the German Wehrmacht had when they tried to take Stalingrad in WWII. Except this time They actually took their objective.

We joined up and continued the march south bound. We were used as forward scouts since we knew the area. Attached to some K9 units. When we got into Kendall, it was just a sea of Z and suburbia. That when Army Group South went conventional, hard cover, ballistic vests, armor. It was good seeing the Army work like the Army again. Hand to hand was kinda a thing of the past but still useful and it happened a lot. The troops all changed their rifles to those Tanker Garand looking carbines. Armor was a key assets for Urban ops. Just get Z out and crush ‘em under your tracks. Have Z climbing your hull, have the neighboring tank hose them off with their coaxial. Worked really well just took a long time.

Once we made the end of the mainland, they held the line and went northbound to link up with Army Group North. The Keys weren't touched for another year. By then our gear was pretty much on the shit end of a stick. Our BDUs were torn to shit, and our boots were falling apart. Army Group South gave us these new kevlar Navy Blue BDUs and gear. We kept our M4s. Sure, the SIR worked well but we were old school, also a little proud. We survived the war in one spot on the move. Yeah, we weren't the cavalry but we sure as hell were the fort either. We were the partisans, just staying one step ahead of Z. And guess what? I'd do it all over again if I had to. I don't flee, I stay and fight. [He pats his M4 Carbine.]

Army Group South went south bound into the Keys, I stayed on the mainland to police the area. Make sure Z doesn't get back on the mainland from the ocean. Worked Shore Patrol and crap like that. When folks started moving back into the area[He takes a deep breath] that was a bitch. Folks with nothing excepting everything. Rioting, theft, rape, you name it. Yeah, I heard the President install the new laws. Public lashing, stockades in city centers, and all that. But folks need to remember that a lot of the population down here in Miami isn't American by birth. They came form countries in which the police were something to fear. So they fought back and public humiliation didn't work on them. Chain gangs did and forced work did. Once that started, folks started to calm down. Society somewhat returned to normal. And Cuba became friendly. Fuck 'em.... damn communists. Castro a hero my fucking ass. He killed half of my family Cuba during the revolution. For all of the Cuban Americans that went back.... let them stay there.

As for me, I went back to being a cop and my two friends went back to doing what they do. Chris became a gun smith and Jorge went back into construction. Only thing we all miss is our AR15.com. What a shame the internet isn't working yet. But I hear that'll change soon.... [He chuckles] Change... I remember change along with hope. He's the fucking reason why this shit happened. Slashed our military to nothing, made us an open border whore on a nation. If we had a Reaganite in power. This shit would have been crushed on the start. But that for the "what if" historians to talk about. Me, I'm just glad it's over.

[With that he gets up, grabs a small cup of cuban coffee and goes into his house leaving me on his porch.




National Transport Safety Bureau
Battle Dress Uniforms
Viet Cong - US Enemy Forces in Vietnam
Suppressor

Thanks ! I've been really jonesing for some quality Z reading. Keep up the good work.

once again you did it.. good read man

Okay...something I just threw together....


Northwestern Portion of St Louis County Missouri

[The Construction foreman calls a break and Woodman in MO puts down his tools and walks over to join me sitting on some supplies that are staged to help construct a new bridge over the Missouri River.  A bridge that will serve as a portion of the major east-west route of the central United States. ]

"I had followed news for weeks before the panic.  I was always somewhat paranoid about this sort of thing and my wife was always worried about our kids catching something.  Anyway, when news finally broke about what was happening, I told my job that I was either going to work from home or would be leaving.  Luckily I could do 99% of my job from home."

[Woodman grabs his pre-war thermous pours himself a cup of coffee.  From the smell of it, not the real stuff]

"It's funny when I look back.  I always did office work, sat on my fat ass typing in code at a computer.  Man, a dozen guys could have done my job, but not for what that University was paying me.  I wasn't bad at my job, I was actually pretty good.  Shit lot of good that does me now though."

[He motions to the rest of the men who, like him, were obviously products of wartime worker re-education.]

"The last few weeks or months before the panic, I keep trying to convince my wife that she should split with the kids for her parents place down in Southwest Missouri.  I still couldn't convinced her even after the Kids' school closed.  You would watch the news and see the Z's being dealt with.  We just hadn't seen it happen in our little part of suburbia.  Although all that started to change about the time of Yonkers.  Man I still remember sitting down on the sofa getting ready to watch our boys deal out a beating.  It wasn't but a few hours later that we were packing up and at dawn the next day we were on our way.

[Where did you plan to go?]

I didn't exactly have a plan.  The government was telling everyone to head north, but when we tried, we just weren't making any progress and burning up what little supplies we had.  We got about as far north as Hannabal MO.  There we got held up by the National Guard.  They were actually pretty decent to us, once it was determined that were weren't infected.  I did see them pull some folks out of their cars and take them to a frieght train they had nearby.  It was pretty unnerving seeing this sort of thing happen in the heartland.  In hindsight I get that it had to be done, but it took some time to put those scenes behind me.  We ended up getting stuck in Hannibal for a about a week.  I think that the National Guard, and probably Regular Army kept patrol and had cleaned out the town.  There were several thousand of us there waiting.  It wasn't all that bad, they had food and shelter if you needed it.  We actually set ourselves up a little camp right outside of town.  There were a couple of other families with us.  We figured we were just as safe and would wait out what ever would happen.

[But that turned out to not be the case?]

Unfortunately no. I learned later that some Z's had staggered through the lines that the Army had set up and that they caught some guys asleep at their post and of course it snowballed from there.  All I knew at the time is that I work up one morning to the sound of helicoptors and gunfire.  Not a fun thing to wake up to.  I figured the Army would soon have it under control so we didn't panic too much.  We were standing around on a hill overlooking the town watching the helicoptors buzz over the town and we could see occasionaly glimpses of firing going on in town.  I hadn't had any real need to actively carry my AR-15, but I got it out them.  That when I actually saw my first Z.  It was some dude wearing overalls, but he just couldn't manage to make it up the hill we were on.  I ended up taking a shot at him.  I missed the first time, and hit his body, but it wasn't until my fourth or fifth shot that got him in the head.  And he dropped like a rock.

At the time I thought that the Army would get things back under control and things would settle back down.  That was until I saw, well mostly heard, the F-18's come in and blow all the bridges across the Mississippi.  That's the only way North that I knew of.  And I just watched it get blown to shit.  I thought we had more time.  Turns out we didn't...

[The foreman blows his whistle and Woodman grabs his tool belt and returns to work]

We're sitting by a campfire under the autumn foliage of southeastern Ohio. Backwoods is sitting by the fire with his beloved German Shepherd mix Thor next to him. Leaning on a chair within reach is an AR15 rifle and a long handled war hammer. There are numerous notches on the haft of the war hammer attesting to its heavy use. He's a large man; about six and a half feet tall with long hair who looks more like a biker than a stereotypical redneck. His canine companion is also large, very wolf-like, but with a friendly disposition. His wife and a smaller black dog are sitting on the other side of the fire. Backwoods is cooking a bratwurst over the fire as Thor stares at it, licking his chops.

We had a storm the previous night and as usual our power was out. Nobody thought nothin' of it because that happens all the time out here. By the next evening nobody saw any trucks from the power company and some of us were concerned.

I was concerned already because of what we were hearing on the radio. We have one of those solar and crank powered radios. The night of the storm we lost electricity so we cranked up that emergency radio to listen to some tunes. Well, about twenty minutes or so into listening to the oldies channel, this emergency broadcast came on talkin' about all the hubbub goin' on in the cities.

Hubbub?

You know... riots and fires and and that sorta thing. Some massive civil disturbances. There was mention of the National Guard goin' into Columbus and Cincinnati.

Not long after that the channel we were listenin' to went to static. We found another channel but it went out only a few minutes later. We couldn't find nothin' but static for the rest of the night after that.

Was was going through your head that evening?

Well we didn't worry about it too much. Country folks don't go crazy like that over a power outage. There was also this notion in the back of my mind that it might be like that old War Of The Worlds radio broadcast way back when.

So you thought it might have been a hoax...

Yeah maybe. But I got ol' Irene out (he nods towards his AR15) and loaded up some mags just in case.

I'm glad I did.

When did you first see the Zeds?

We went to bed early that evening. When I woke up I called in to work too see if they had power. The phones were dead. That was when I knew for sure this wasn't a prank. I had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. The walking dead was the furthest thing from my mind. I reckoned the government had declared martial law.

So, I put on a set of BDU's and my tactical vest. I already had my loaded AR mags in it. I additionally loaded up my CZ and some spare mags for it and strapped on one of my favorite khukris. I reckoned it was go time.

But no military units came here. That was one of the weirdest things. I remember all the day we didn't see a single aircraft of any kind in the sky. Remember 9/11 and how for a couple days there was this beautiful blue sky without any jet trails? It was like that.

Later on the afternoon, about an hour or so before sunset, we cranked up that radio again and started fishin' for channels. We didn't find any at first but eventually found this one channel, with a lot of static, and there was this woman and a younger guy screaming hysterically about something. We couldn't understand what they were trying to say. There was a crashing sound and the screaming got worse. Then there was this nasty gurgling moan and the radio went to static again.

I tell you what man... I will never forget that sound. Ever.

It was right after sundown that ol' Thor began barking and growling like crazy at something outside. Our other dog Trix starting barking too. She's not the keen watchdog Thor is but she is good to follow his lead. I got my flashlight and drew my CZ75. I opened the door a crack and didn't see anything outside. I opened the door a little more, 9mm at the ready and scanned the front yard with the flashlight. I didn't see anything out there. It was at this time the dogs began having a fit at our back door. I slammed the front door, locked the dead bolt, and ran to the back door.

He takes the bratwurst off the stick and places it on a cracked dinner plate

Reckon this better cool for a spell.

What did you see at the back door?

I shined the flashlight at the window and there was a man's face lookin' at me. At least most of his face. Looked like part of it was gnawed off by coyotes or somethin'. He was poundin' real hard on the door and growlin' like an animal.

I kept the beam in his face but it didn't seem to faze him. I got to about four feet from the door and yelled "you got about five seconds to back the hell up and get off our property" and he just kept poundin' and snarlin' at us. There was something wrong with his eyes. They didn't look right...

So I went by a gut instinct, pointed my CZ at him, and gave him a Gold Dot hollow point right in the face.

That stopped him. I reckon I was lucky. I didn't know it took a head shot to kill 'em.

Didn't get any sleep that night. Ever so often Thor would sound off and Trixie would join in on the noise because another one or two would be pounding on the door. We had a lull in the action for a couple hours and I used that time to tear apart furniture and barricade all the doors and windows as best we could.

We holed up in there for a few days like that until Dad and my brother came down. My folks are only up the hill about 200 yards. We killed Zeds as a team out here for about four months until we hooked up with this large paramilitary group formed by a few militia groups from Ohio and West Virginia. We went along with them to this safe location they called The Fortress down in the Hocking Hills. Me and my brother stayed on there as sentries. Thor was always with me, ready to sound the alarm. He became the mascot of The Fortress. Sometimes me and my brother would take turns going out on patrol into the surrounding areas. I got to be real good with that war hammer. There's over two hundred notches on that handle. Count 'em.

He pulls out his large khukri knife and slices the cooled bratwurst in half. The other dog trots over eagerly. He gives each of the dogs a half of the bratwurst.

These dogs are my heroes. They saved our lives.

Awesome! I just finished WWZ and had to hop on ARF... I knew this is EXACTLY what I'd find!



Now how would a 40 year old, Gulf Coast deputy with a proud Investigator's gut and a family make out...



Shit, my story would be a short one!          
           

I tried to run but discovered my legs didn't work. When I attempted to put on my gun belt it wouldn't fit. I tought I was dead. Turned out it was a quisling that bit me.

[We're sitting on the front porch, drinking contraband moonshine.]

Where were you when it started?

Me? I was actually at ork when the boss came and told me that they were shutting down and that I should go home to my family until further notice.  So I went home, more than a little confused. I really didn't think anything of it until I pulled into the driveway and saw my wife walking aroung packing. That was my first clue. Then she told me that a friend has called and we were to bug-out to a predetermined location and roll heavy. I had the TV on and caught the tail end of a newscast and started packing. Then we got the hell out of dodge.

Where did you go?

Well, I was a member of Z.E.A.D.S. before the war. We thought it was all fun and games playing make believe soldiers on the internet and taking out imaginary zombies. Most of us were former military and we were having a ball. We had all these plans laid out in case something like this would happen. We just never really thought it would. So anyhow, we had a remote area deep in the Rockies picked out as a muster location. It was extremely defensible and had a running stream through it and lots of game around.

Z.E.A.D.S.? Weren't you the guys who cleared the Rockies and turned it into a safe haven?

Yea, we cleared the Rockies. Well at least most of it. Killed alot of Zeds. Lost alot of good men too. We had alot of problems in the Southern End. Lots of Zeds coming up from Mexico. Seemed almost endless. I remember the biggest battle we had fought down there. I think it may have been the biggest of the war.  

We had about 75% strength then. We were running rear guard for a group of refugees being moved up into a secured area we cleared called Mountain Town.  Our trailing guard reported contact with a small group of Zeds and said they would deal with it. Well a few minutes later, they called for reinforcements. Said there was a extremely large group of Zeds. We radioed the OIC and dropped back to help out. Nothing in life could have prepared anyone for what we seen. Each of us carried a double combat load of 600 rounds for our AR's and 100 rounds for our sidearms. All together there was 1107 of us. We had rotary cannons, artillery, air power, tanks, you name it we had it. Well everything short of nukes. There is no way we could have carried enough of ammo for this. Less than 400 hundred of us survived. With all the firepower we had, that is all that survived. I think the history books call it The Battle of Tucson.

The fight seemed to last for days. We actually got to the point of fighting hand to hand with melee weapons. And the Zeds just kept coming. Let me tell you, if you want scared, try fighting hand to hand with alot of somethings that want to eat you.

You were at the Battle of Tucson? Was it like the history books say?

Yea I was there. What was it like? (Drifts off for a minute) Hell on earth would have been easier. The history books can't repeat the screams of the dying or the smell of all the decaying Zeds.

Melee weapons?Rotary Cannons?

Yea. Like axes, machetes, swords, sledge hammers, ball bats, you get the idea? Rotary cannons are basically Gatling guns (reporters nod head in recgonition) with an electric motor on them. They can fire anywhere fron 3000 to 6000 rounds a minute. We had .50 cals, cluster bombs, napalm, and alot of other stuff. We kept killing them and they kept coming. I think the noise drew them in from everywhere.  Man, they just kept coming and we just kept killing them.

You guys actually used hand weapons against Zeds?

Yea we used what we had. (Wife brings out another pint jar of moonshine.)

why didn't you guys just run away?

Well like i said, we were the rear guard for a convoy of about 250,000 refugees, And besides, we were the Zombie Elimination And Disposal Service. We were the "experts' (fingers go into qoutes as I say it). So we stayed and fought.  We lost lot of good men there. Like i said, there were 1107 of us and 389 of us survived. (Head bows and comes back up with tears in his eyes) I lost some of my best friends there. I lost my brother there. He took a hell of alot of Zeds with him though. He got bitten and detonated the 25 pounds of C-4 in his ruck. Most of those who got bitten after that did the same.

What happened to Z.E.A.D.S. after the Battle of Tucson? And after the war?

After Tucson, we changed tactics and moved in smaller, more mechanized units. We had a hard time recruiting new members after Tucson. Guess most people didn't have what it takes or want to readily stare down a group of Zeds. We actually became the single most effective unit of the war. I heard someone estimate on the radio that we eliminated over 35 million Zeds during the war. I really don't know anymore. It all seems like one giant nightmare now.

After the war, we kinda went our seperate ways. There aren't many of us left now. Less than a hundred I think. Alot cracked after the war. Guess it takes a hell of a toll on you, dealing with all that. I think at one point we actually ceased to be human and became Zed killing machines.  Most that are gone took there own lives or drank thenselves to death.

What about you? (points to jar of moonshine).

This? This is for medicinal purposes. Helps me keep my sanity. Well what little I have left.

Is that why you still live up here deep in the Rockies?

I stay here because I can no longer deal with society. Guesss that much killing changes a man, wheter it's killing men or Zeds. Many now don't think alot of it really happened. Fools the lot of them.

Do you still talk to the remaining members of Z.E.A.D.S.?

Yea we keep in close contact. We exchange stories and rumors we hear of a Zed popping up here and there. We keep watching and waiting. When they come again, we'll be ready. Well supper's ready, you hungry?
(They get up and go inside to eat)




All right I tried, Flame away.

Miami_JBT, awesome idea!  Your chapter was damn good.  I like the way you incorporated Ass-Bama there at the end!  Nice.  Very cool.

I'll read the others in a bit, and at some point endeavour to add my own chapter.  This is a very cool idea.

I highly recommend this one be tacked inside the Archive of the Dead thread above.  Excellent.

San Diego, CA
Squigglez was in the military when the great panic made its way to San Diego.  Having been in the Navy for over a decade and part of a new program on the cutting edge of war fighting technology, he was someone considered well trained.

How would you explain those first days?

When the outbreak started it was almost scoffed at and ignored, considering it had come on the heels of the H1N1 virus or commonly referred to as the “Swine Flu” and the SARS scares coming out of East Asia, everyone considered this to be another bullshit epidemic.  Unidentified disease coming out of china, rioting, chaos and fratricide, whoop de fucking doo.  It was nothing we haven’t heard before.  I mean the swine flu’s origin was known well before Americans started showing up with it and our leadership didn’t do shit as usual and the world kept on spinning…as usual.

How long did it take for the infection to reach San Diego itself?

Not long, like I said, our government does little to nothing about our borders.  Thousands of illegal immigrants every year used to pour into the U.S. via the Mexi-Cali border, and it only took one of those immigrants to be infected.

Where you prepared when the infection hit?

Not at first, in the infinite wisdom of our public relations officials they decided to keep the seriousness of what was happening at the border as quiet as possible.  When there was no chance of keeping the outbreak out of the public eye, it was too late to keep the problem contained.

When did government intervene?

[He chuckles]
It was their fault they were late to their own damn party.  

Explain.

The living dead eventually shuffled their rotting asses to the San Diego/Tijuana border and after a few firefights the border patrol and local PD realized they were undermanned.  They were soon overwhelmed and had to retreat.  If they had not tried to underplay how serious this problem was, they would have had enough resources to keep it contained at the border.
When the threat was apparent how did the military respond?
What military organizations do first in any emergency is recall personnel, get a head count so to speak.  This includes the serviceman’s family.  Depending on severity of the emergency all personnel are brought to a centralized location respective of the command, for instance many Sailors and Marines reported to their ships or shore stations. The service members families stayed at the closest area that had BEQ’s and BOQ’s, these are more commonly known simply as barracks. I was recalled to my command at 32nd street Naval Station and my family was put up in one of the BEQ’s there.  This procedure was not unknown to many in the San Diego area due to the seasonal wild fires that sometimes forces us out of our homes and into the BEQ’s on base.

You didn’t stay there long?

Hell no
[He chuckled again]

I was a frequent reader of an internet forum called AR15.com.  I would read about what many other Arfcommers (as we called ourselves) were dealing with in our respective states.  It was here that I received the grim news of how fast the infection was spreading and also how a large Air Force base in Arizona fell using the same emergency procedures we were.

So what did you do?

The very next morning my command had a security meeting where I was able to brief my Captain about my findings and give my recommendations, but my Captain, though high ranking still had his own marching orders.

What did they decide?

They decided to up the watch rotation.
[He shakes his head and frowns]

They figured that the Air Force base had too much land to cover and not enough personnel and that is why they were breached. They were right, but they completely underestimated the speed with which the numbers of the living dead was growing.  They made the same mistake.

What happened next?

I’ll tell you after dinner.

I search the mountains for the last hold out of the zombie wars..type56. I find him hiding in a cave just off of the Appalachian trail.

So tell me type, How do you feel about the ending of the zombie wars?



BRAAAAAAIIIIIIINNNNNNSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!














(Footnote)...This interview was found on a casette tape in the cruso area of the blue ridge parkway, and the reporter was never seen again.

bookmark

Marked for later

MIAMI_JBT- that story was great and its inspired me to do my own story. Max Brooks is weak on firearms where your story corrects that failing. perhaps the next wwz book should be written by ARFcommers.

Tag for later....

border story incoming.

i suck at writing but i read the book and its pretty ez

Thinking up of another one..... instead of using my name I'll use some random guy's name. Andrew works fine....

Place holder for the coming chapter.

Oh... and C&R and bayonet will be in this one. Damn that Arisaka I just bought for giving me ideas.

                                    “The Jarheads of Rock Island”

I sit on the wide wrap around porch of the palatial estate house looking out at the Charleston Harbor watching the sun drift lazily down a magenta sky.  My host, Payback99, Colonel, USMC (Ret.) pulls an ice cold beer from an ice chest and hands it to me, then opens one for himself, lights a fine Cuban cigarette, and settles comfortably into a chair.  Following the Victory at Hero City, Payback99 unexpectedly left the military and returned to Charleston where he constructed this beautiful, yet impregnable mansion amid the ruins of what had been James Island.  I look at the battle scarred warrior, recipient of our nations highest and second highest awards for heroism in combat, he is the Last Commander of Rock Island Arsenal.

Colonel, thank you so much for inviting me to your home, it is an honor to finally meet you.  
“It's Payback, son.  I ain't a Colonel no more.  Just ignore all the military courtesy bullshit and talk to me straight.”

Very well, Payback.  Can you please give me an idea of what the original mission to Rock Island was?  
Well, after the Battle of Yonkers when the order was given to pull back behind the Rocky Line, there were several key areas identified that the Government decided were so “high value” we could not lose them.  I was a brand new LtCol with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and had just taken over as the Operations Officer of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (22 MEU).  We got the call while we were embarked and heading to the Med that we had to return to the East Coast and await orders.  We had BLT 3/8, VMM-263, and CLB-22 embarked aboard the Bataan, the Ashland, and the Nashville.  Itching to get into the fight, like all Marines.  We were ordered to transit the St. Lawrence Canal, into the Great Lakes, then head to Lake Michigan.  Once off Chicago we were to Helo assault,  secure, and defend the Rock Island Arsenal and await further orders.  The heavy stuff was to come ashore and convoy overland from Lake County, avoiding Chicago and all major urban centers in order to link up with the Helo Task Force already at the Arsenal.

So when did the operation start to go bad?  
Almost immediately.  The MEU Commanders Helo crash landed at the Rock Island LZ and he was killed.  The BLT Commander was killed by a ricochet during the ground convoy battle across Northern Illinois.  The MEU XO got killed when the Jump Command Post got overrun by Zeds the second week we were there.

And that is when you took command?  
That's correct.  3 weeks after we secured the Arsenal, I took command.  That was a significant emotional event, I don't mind telling you.  Sitting in the middle of Rock Island Arsenal, surrounded by 2 million Zeds, watching the surrounding neighborhoods burn out of control from the Air Strikes, and Artillery we shot into them.  It was a helluva situation.

How long were you the Commanding Officer of Rock Island Arsenal?

7 and a half years.  Longest Command Tour in the History of the United States Marine Corps.  I got the message that I was promoted to Bird Colonel in an email from the Commandant himself when I sent him my daily situation report.  He told me to go ahead and “Put the Chickens on my collar.”  What a character!  He's sitting in Honolulu in the Joint Command Center and I'm on starvation rations, freezing my ass off in the middle of an Illinois winter, surrounded by millions of flesh eating Zacks.  It didn't exactly brighten my day.

Tell me what some of the worst parts of the Siege were for you and your Marines?  What was the toughest part?  

(He lights another cigarette and opens another beer)  Well, keeping those bridges up made the mission pretty damn difficult, but the Arsenal was no good to anybody if we couldn't transport the munitions out on those Armor Trains that showed up later.  There were a couple of times when the re-supply was late and we were almost down to E-tools and Engineering equipment as weapons.  There was also that month when we were down to 1 canteen of water and a package of MRE crackers a day for chow.  In the wintertime, that is a very depressing meal.

What do you remember most about those years?  What did you bring away from the experience?  

Well, I gained enough insight into fighting Zack that they made me the Chief of Staff for Army Group Center.  I orchestrated the Battle of the Cut in the Hill when we cleared Louisville, KY.  They gave me the Navy Cross for that one!  After the Blue Max for what I did at Rock Island, I didn't want anymore medals, I just wanted this fucking war to be over, y'know?  (He pauses)  Most of all though,... most of all, I remember my Marines.  How hard they fought.  How brave they were.  How many were lost.
The Jarheads of Rock Island.  Just like the Chosin Few. (He sighs and stares off at the sinking sun)  We lost a lot of them.  Oh, yes.  Oh, yes.  My boys.

Thank you for your thoughts, Colonel.

ill try my hand at this. here ya go. hopefully this stays in the spirit of the book. ill add more later if i get a chance. sorry if it long.

Kings Mtn National Battlefield, the border of North and South Carolina, USA

I’m sitting on a bench near the park office of what was once Kings Mtn National Park on the Border of North and South Carolina.  The peaceful tranquility of this once beautiful park and the surrounding areas hides what was one of the bloodiest and longest sieges during the Z war on the North American continent. Across From me sits Sean (he asked that I not use his last name). He is tall and stocky his red hair now streaked with gray. He seems laid back but just a little edgy about being interviewed. The scars, both physical and mental, are there.

   For the longest time I don’t think the government even knew we were holding out.

What do you mean?  

     look at us we were right in between Charlotte to the east and Greenville and Atlanta to the south with a major interstate running right through the middle of us, both heavily populated with a major corridor channeling all the Zs going both north and south looking for food. Luckily we had kind of a small town mentality for this whole area.

Small town mentality?

  People knew each other and just took care of each other even if we didn’t personally know them.

Is that the main reason you decided to stay?

   Well that and the fact that we knew this was all over, where were we going to go?  That and we had farms and people that had been here all their lives and knew the land as well as several mountains acting as small buffer zones. A lot of people still ran. Either going north or south. To what I don’t know but those of us who stayed knew that was possibly a death sentence, I mean if I’m going to die I’d rather die defending my own home then get caught god knows where on the side of the road and eaten. So individually we are started stocking up, boarding up and hunkering down. We were just hoping to go unnoticed in the first tidal wave of undead that was bound to come rolling toward us. We could only hope they would keep moving after they had their fill of the unlucky SOBs that got caught unprepared and out in the open.

Did you see a lot of Zombies?

 He looks at the ground for a moment, lost in thought, Then lets out a small laugh.

God yes mostly near the interstate but we had enough wander off down into our area. I guess this was around the time of the Great panic when most of the major cities on the eastern seaboard were falling. We all saw the battle of Yonkers on T.V. and knew that it was going to be up to us and no one else to keep ourselves alive at that point. Several friends who were prior military or gun enthusiast I had met over the years met up and since my house was the most out of the way we made it the meet up point. We didn’t use bolt action hunting rifles like people think, we had ARs, AKs, FNs, M1As, military grade rifles. God you should have seen the weapons and stuff they brought with them in their BOBs.

BOBs?  

    Sorry “Bug out Bags” ,basically bags that are pre packed with stuff they would need in case of a shit hit the fan situation where they would need to leave town quick. Of course like myself several had families including children and we weren’t about to leave them. Especially after some of the stories I heard coming out of the city later on when we started picking up survivors and screening. I cant say what I feel about those people here in this interview. And of course not everybody passed the screen and not always because of infection.

He shakes his head and just looks off for a minute

I finally speak up. So how long were you cut off before you started securing the area?

  I guess it was about 3 months of us playing hide and seek with the Zs before we started meeting up with others who had holed up and made it. we started communicating and bartering . It was amazing to see how people had managed to not only secure their homes but sometimes their whole farm from Zack. We decided to set up small way stations around the area to help survivors as well as start securing the area as a whole. It was a year before we came across a working ham radio with someone with the knowledge to use it. we didn’t know if there was any semblance of government left or if the country was just a damn wasteland crawling with Zeds.

Tell me how you finally came to figure out about the rocky line and the efforts of the Government to re secure the continent.

 Like I said it was about a year or so before we stumbled across a working HAM radio and another 3 months or so to find a live operator to work it who hadn’t been eaten or turned. It was funny how we had all these skills in firearms and farming and construction and basic survival but not a damn soul with a long range high powered radio or the knowledge to work it. I think Murphy had the biggest hard on of all time during those years.

He laughs audibly this time.

 Sorry for that didn’t mean to ramble. We finally got the thing working and actually came into contact with the Air Force. We actually wound picking up a C-17 that happened to be on a return resupply flight from the blue zone down in North Florida. Needless to say the pilot was very surprised to hear from us.

Why was that?

When we got patched into the official communication channel that the Dept of Strategic resources had set up for all remote HAM operators we started to get the big picture of what had happened. Up to this point our only information came from the occasional poor SOB that wandered into our security zone who had been playing hide and go seek with Zack and they were half out of their mind at this point anyway. It was a god send to have some solid info and news to finally chew on. As It was the DeStRes had setup blue zones around the country where people had made a stand and fortified. But apparently in our little corner of paradise there were only 2 official blue zones that had made it to this point. The small one in north Florida just outside of Tallahassee  and one up in West Virginia. But what made it so surprising to the guys on the other side of the Rockies was where and how we had pulled it off.

Tell me about that.

 Well for one as it turned out we were sandwiched right in between the Atlanta and Charlotte white zones. Both with massive hordes numbering in the hundreds of thousands, so how we had managed to pull it off for this long was nothing short of a miracle in their book. And the other was unlike the other blue zones that were nothing more than fortified compounds we had managed to setup a mini version of what they had done in the Rockies. We used the mountains as natural barriers and  blocking off the easier routes for Zack and cleaning up the infestations within that border. Don’t get me wrong there was no patriotic motivation or duty to create a safe zone for the boys in the west, it was just pure survival for the several hundreds of people that made up our group. And it wasn’t a cake walk either we had our own share of disease, outbreaks, security breaches, in fighting, Even food shortages, Anybody that thinks it doesn’t get cold in the winter down south is dead wrong. The worst were the marauders, you wouldn’t think that with zack everywhere and people trying to survive there would be that ilk but if it is one thing that is constant it is human nature. We actually took more casualties from those bastards than from zack after the first winter.

What were they like?

 Goddamn road warrior wannabes, they thought because it was the end of the world with no law or some shit that they were basically free to do what they wanted anytime they wanted. We finally got them quelled after the 2nd year but it took a few “examples” of several we had caught from failed raids.

He refuses to elaborate on what happened to the captured marauders.

I'm going to have to read this book so I can add a story that makes sense now!

BTW, do the Zs swim?

Yes and no....

The book mentions that they can survive underwater. They either walk on the ocean floor and there is also mention that since they're lighter in water that they can pull themselves up anchor chains.

Tallahassee, FL USA

I meet with Andrew Williams, survivor of the "March from Jacksonville". He sets up chairs in his garage. So Mr. Willaims please tell me your experiences.

First off, only the politicians and media calls me Mr. Williams. Please, call me Andy.

Okay Andy.  

Well, where do I start? What made me and King's Company march with 100 stragglers from Jacksonville, FL to Tallahassee, FL. Stupidity, luck, some desperate hope of salvation. I don't know.... all I know was that it was a long march. Four months it took us. King's Company. We were a originally a group of Loyalist Militia Reenactors for the American War of Independence. We later became general British War reenactor group. We covered everything from the French and Indian War to World War Two depending on the events. It was a fun hobby. Collecting period equipment, rifles, etc.... it also simply allowed us history fans to amass more toys. Well, as a club we were pretty loyal to each other. We all lived within three miles of each other and we'd always help out each other if it were needed. We were like a smaller version of the Elk's Lodge. It wasn't just a hobby that connected us. We became a extended family.

There wasn't many outbreaks in Jacksonville when it all started. Even during the Great Panic it was pretty calm. Sure, the Snow Birds left and so did the folks from the Southern End of the State but we didn't see many infected yet. Even after the Battle's of Yonkers. About six months after Yonkers though it started to get pretty bad.

How?  

I-95 went right through Jacksonville. It was a beeline for the infected. Those coming from the North and also from the south. We only had the Atlantic to the east of us so heading west was our only option. It just got worse and worse. The Navy pulled out of the area and we were only left with a token police force. When they left and went west we knew he had to leave. So we decided to go to Tallahassee. We had no clue it was a Blue Zone. Nothing was being said anymore over the TV or Radio. Remember, the Federal Government came up with it's own Redeker Plan. We didn't know that "they" decided we were to be used as bait. Fucking government... fucking Obama. That lying bastard said we'd be safe, said we'd be okay. He and his ilk fucked us over. They just used and abused us, just like the crown would to it's colonial subjects in days past. Sorry.... it's just that he left a bad taste in my mouth.

It's okay, please continue.

We, King's Company I mean, we were 55 active members. Between use we had about two hundred rifles. Older military surplus types and black powder guns. One of the requirements to join King's Company was that you had to own a period rifle and have a C&R license.

I'm sorry, I don't know what a C&R license is.

It was a officially called a Class III Curio & Relics Federal Firearms License. It was a permit from the Federal Government that allowed us to purchase through the mail firearms over fifty years old with a historical or collector status. Mostly surplussed World War Two guns. But it also covered older firearms.

I see. Thank you for the explanation.  

No problem, anyways. We all had older but functioning weapons. The majority of which were the following five. Brown Bess .75 Caliber Musket, Pattern 1853 Enfield .557 Caliber Rifle, Snider-Enfield .557 Snider, Henry Martini in both .557 Snider and .303 British, and one variation or another of the Lee-Enfield in .303 British.

These were battle proven rifles and muskets that have served the test of time and they would serve again. We gathered with our families at Jessie Ball DuPont Park and loaded the wagons. Which sadly were pulled by man. They were caissons made to carry ammunition and cannons for our Crimean War period events, there was thirty of them. We loaded ammunition, food, water, and the young children. We had about thirty of them. We loaded all of our arms. Black powder and cartridge alike. The black powder arms were kept in reserve. We armed the women and older children with them. We moved in a modified Phalanx. Women and children in the center, men on the outer lines. When we came across an infected we'd form into lines and fire and advance much like those in Rooke's Drift back in the day. Even if I had a bolt action I'd treat it as a single shot. Because the man next to you might have a Henry-Martini. Bayonets were key also.

Bayonets?

Yes, bayonets. If we'd only come across a couple of infected it's form into a line and allow it to come near us. Why waste ammunition when a good sixteen blade can dispatch the undead just as well. It was quite odd.... using colonial tactics during the 21st Century but it worked very well for us. During more pitched battles we'd fire our rifles and simply hand them to the man or woman behind us to load. They would then hand us a fresh rifle. Very effective and very fast when you have to rely on muzzle loading muskets for defense.

Was there any major events on your way to Tallahassee?

Oh yes of course! The I-10 bridge over the Swanee River. The military blew it up during the pullout. We were stuck on the east side. We formed a camp and help the area for three weeks while our wives and children built a bride out of the trees in the surrounding area. Bloody long. He laughs for saying the word "bloody". We were starting to run low on ammunition for some of our firearms. .557 Snider isn't something you find in every sporting good store, neither is .303 British, but at least that was a cartridge that was still easy to get before the infection. You can order a metric ton of it through the mail. Mostly Indian Surplus. But it worked. the .557 Snider on the other hand wasn't something like that. Before the infection it was something you loaded at home or paid a high amount of money for factory loaded ammunition. At the bridgehead we had our rear lines load ammunition in both calibers. We kept our spent brass, took our reloading kits, and powder and primers. So we had a small arms factory going on in the back. Percussion caps were also a issue. We couldn't produce them and neither could we produce primers or the smokeless powder. That's why bayonets and the Brown Bess Muskets came in and where they were an important factor. Blades didn't need ammunition, it just needed a man behind it. The Brown Bess simply need powder, a flint, and ammo of some sort. Pebbles, lead shot, buttons. It all worked in a smooth bore musket. The older Buck 'n Ball load was wonderfully effective against the infected.

We lost a good number of people at the Swanee. People that you'd know for years. Good honest hard working people. Fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, children. But we held our own. We fired over ten thousand rounds in those three weeks. Depleted most of our ammunition and reloading supplies. It was very hard to turn your rifle on the man or woman next to you. Having him tell you to kill him, knowing that soon he'll turn. That was hard. Some left during the night and committed suicide because of that. They couldn't cope seeing their husband, wives, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, or mothers die. They would rather be with them in the afterlife then try to survive and continue.

We made it over the river and continued our march westward. The further west we went the less infected we encountered. By the time we reached Monticello, Florida we saw no infected. It wasn't a secure area but we didn't run into any infected. It was a blessing. We reached Tallahassee and was amazed to see the semi-walled city. National Guard, check points, kill zones, an active airport. We were just shocked. Out of the 132 people that set off from Jacksonville. 93 made it. It was a long hard four months. But King's Company made it, our families made it, and from our experience the Army learned how to fight them.

The army learned from you?

Well, not directly of course. But they did take our four month ordeal into account and wanted to know why we made while thousands of others didn't. I'm not surprised that some Brass Hat General behind the Rockies didn't come up with the same idea. But I think they looked at us as more as a small field experiment. Maybe if a bunch of historians can make it with those tactics then maybe a professional trained army can do it and do it better. Many of us joined the defensive works around Tallahassee and trained the National Guard on drill during the rest of the war. When we were liberated by Army Group South; let's just say that we could have sworn that we saw a Union Jack flying somewhere in that mass of soldiers.

 

(sitting on the porch again after supper)

What happened after Tucson?

Well after we got chewed up at Tucson, we kinda changed tactics. We started fighting fom Vehicles more and rarely dismounted. Make hit and run alot easier. Heavy weapons were alot easier to use to.  We were able to design an extremely effective body armor for ourselves too. That saved more than a few of us.

The Battle of Tucson was the turning point for Z.E.A.D.S. We designed and fielded alot of new weapons. Some of them were a throwback to the Civil War, But damn were they effective.

Civil War Weapons against Zeds?

Yea. Made a bunch of breech loading cannons that fired grapeshot and chainshot. (reporter looks confused) Let me explain. For the grapeshot, think a 12 guage shotgun on some serious steroids. It was something like 12 inches in diameer and fired something like a thousand .50 cal pellets at once.  The chain shot was just a piece of chain welded between two cannonballs. When fired it would spread out and and spin like a bolo. Both of those would cut major holes in the Zeds lines.

Sounds midevil. What else happen after Tucson?

Well we received word that a bunch of people had managed to hold out around Phoenix. The Army got their asses handed to them everytime they tried to get them out, so they called us. We came to find out later that there was some major military brass holed up there too. They got caught there trying to get up to Colorado. I guess a convoy got tore up pretty bad there.  Well anyway, we went to have a look.  Needless to say that one became the Battle of Coyote Pass. The battle went alot different this time though. We cut through the Zeds like a laser beam.

So the battle was over pretty quickly then?

Oh hell no. It actually lasted about three months. But in the end, we had actually cleared all but a few sections of the city. Most of the city was actually easy to clear as the Zeds actually came to us because of the noise of our vehicles. Our patrols usually made hard contact everyday and wiped out pretty much whatever moved.

One thing that never ceased to amaze me was almost everytime our patrols went out, they manged to find and bring back survivors who were holding out somewhere. This one spot my team and I hit, we actually found foty-five people holed up in the local Wal-mart.  That got a little hairy getting them all out alive. We actually fought dismounted one that one to give some extra firepower. At that time we all carried a M203 grenade launcher mounted under our '16's. Some carried 40mm grenades for them and others carried a type of canister round we made up for it. That canister round played havoc with the Zeds.

Gettting of track here. Anyhow, We ended up pulling over 50,000 people out of Phoenix. That still makes me shake my head.  After awhile though, we actually had to patrol on foot as the Zeds would get caught in buildings and couldn't get out. That was like shooting fish in a barrel.

We turned the city over to the military almost three months to the day after we entered.

Did you guys know what was going on in the rest of the country?

We heard rumors and stories. We got some information from the military and some from the HAMS. We knew that there were others holding out across the country and that gave us alot of hope since we knew we weren't the only ones left. We tried to help the areas that we could but we couldn't get to everybody.

Well After Tucson and Coyote Pass, you had Arizona pretty much cleared.

Yea were started there since that was were most of us lived. And since we rescued some major military brass, we had access to some more serious air power.

After those two battles, what did Z.E.A.D.S. do?

We started taking a more pro-active approach. Meaning we started actively hunting the Zeds. We actually started calling him Zack for some reason. I don't remember why. We would use airborne recon to find them and roll out and take care of business. If it was a small number, the 'Hogs took care of them.  If there were more or civvies close by, we got into it. We would drop in with Blachawks, Cobras, Apaches, and Chinooks.

I know about Blackhawks and Chinooks, but Hogs?

A-10 Warthogs. Tankbusters.  We modified a few of them by removing the 30mm chaingun and installing a .30 cal chaingun. Let them carry more ammo and it was absolutely devastating on Zack.

How did you rescue the civvies?

Well the 'Hogs would range out on search and destroy missions. If they saw a compound or an area that looked like it might have survivors, they would radio back and we would roll in with ground vehicles if there wasn't an immediate danger or with the choppers if there was. We had a loudspeaker on one of the choppers, so we would identify ourselves and tell them to stay put. We would come to them when it was safe. Most listened, some didn't. The ones that didn't listen didn't last too long. they ended up as Zack chow.

In the later part of the war, the military became more effective. Why did that happen?

Well, the brass we saved actually started listening to us instead of the bureacrats. They adopted out tactics and weapons, including our body armor. Makes a hell of a difference knowing you stand a better then average chance of surviving a close encounter with Zack. After getting the military up to speed, Z.E.A.D.S. took on less of a roll in the war. But by that time, most of us had nothing left. We were burned out. We were still used occasionally in an extremely hot spot, but that happened less and less. Mostly we brought new military units up to speed.

Z.E.A.D.S. fought alot of battles in the early days. Can you think of anymore?

Yea. But that'll have to wait for another day. Remembering too much at once makes me get really edgy and brings back alot of nightmares. Don'y worry, I'll tell you about them later.

After dinner

You said that your superiors ordered you to stay on base?

They did but it was impossible for them to enforce, I mean peoples families were always trickling in, not to mention how many sailors went UA.

UA?

Unauthorized Absence, more commonly known as AWOL.  Anyway there were about 100 Sailors and Marines who knew that holding the base was impossible.  We concluded that the safest place to be would be on the water, the problem was many of the ships stationed at 32nd street were recalled and manned.  No way were we going to board and forcefully sieze a friendly American vessel, we were running out of time and I could literally feel the noose tightening around my neck.

You obviously commandeered a ship, the stories about the San Diego Ship cities are well known.

Remember how I said most of the ships were recalled and manned? Well it turns out that they were recalled, but hardly manned, almost all of the ships could barely scrape together a duty section to keep it operating at mininmal levels.  Most sailors decided to stay with their families.  Of the hundred or so Sailors and Marines who decided to disobey the order to defend base many were officers and senior enlisted, so we had no problems with chain of command.  The most senior was a Navy Commander (O-5) named Wilkerson, the second most senior was a Marine Captain (O-3) named Jones. They both went to the USS Antietam to talk to the Ship's skipper, turns out their was only 28 people on board,  Needless to say the Lieutenant had no qualms with us joining them.  The ship had a full loadout on stores (food), but had just returned from deployment and offloaded most of the heavy ordnance.  Captain Jones took some Marines 2 two ton trucks and 2 pickups to Camp Pendleton to "procure" whatever ordnance they could.  I had access to weapons lockers at the 32nd street Armory, so Commander Wilkerson drew me up some fake orders and I went to get what I could.

Were you worried about being caught?

yes and no,   yes because we were disobeying orders and I was prepared to face the consequences of my actions if the outbreak turned out to be a bit exaggerated.  No, because many of the people who would have disapproved of our actions had already gone UA or was focused on securing the base.  We still stood watch and contributed to base security, but we moved our families on the ship and when things got bad; and they did, we would fall back to the ship.

Lt Col Steve Tyler
Tucson, AZ
Steve Tyler was a software engineer when the crisis started. When I met with him at a steakhouse in Benson Arizona, he was in charge of civil reclamation for Southern Arizona.

So tell me about what you were doing when the stories started to break?
I was working for a software company, designing applications for maintenance of the F-35 fighter for the Air Force.  Normal 8-5 stuff, occasional trips to Washington or other DoD sites.

Were you in the military?
Not then - this was a private company.  I had done a term in the Army back in the late 80s.  I was a target shooter and I did some tactical shooting competitions from time to time.  But mostly I was just an overweight engineer, like everyone else in my office.

How did the crisis impact you before things collapsed?
Intially, not a lot.  We had all seen things pop up on the internet, but it was all pretty far-fetched, and the government was going out of its way to minimize things.  Which was ironic with all the health care debate going on at the time.  At the time, the trouble in Mexico was being seen as political unrest; the new Mexican Revolution.  They had been primed for that for a while down there.

But in the end, it was my contacts at the base that started to get me worried.

Contacts?  Nothing official?
No, nothing like that.  I worked with some folks at 12th Air Force on base (Writer Note:  Davis-Monthan was one of the larger USAF bases before the Z War), and I had several friends on base, both civilian and military.  They sort of let me know things were not all we thought.

What were they doing there?
At the time, they were bringing in a lot of supplies.  I found out later that they were staging a major border security effort through Fort Huachuca down on the border, but a lot of their supplies and troops were flying into Davis-Monthan and driving down from there.

What about the rest of the city?
Blindly oblivious, as usual.  The city government was pretty much incompetent to handle normal administration - they handled the zombie crisis by ignoring it, and going out of the way to deny it existed.  Any efforts to deal with the border incursions were seen as racist.  That would really come back to bite us on the ass, no pun intended.

We are getting a little ahead of the story I think - at this time you didnt really know about the zombies I assume?
Exactly - there were some crackpots on the 'net that were claiming "Zombie Apocalyse!  Woo-Hoo!".  Me, I assumed the military was gearing up to move into northern Mexico to create a security zone agains the fighting down there.  I even got a very peculiar call from the Army asking about my status - I had been out of the Army since '92 but had neglected to formally resign my commission.  I told the guy I was 50 pounds past recall; he just laughed and said he would note that in my record.

And when did you realize what was really happening?
I drove down to Huachuca about a week into the buildup to submit a formal resignation, and ran into an old friend who was still active.  He showed me some computer imagery the Army got off a Predator drone flying over somewhere in Sonora Mexico.  He also told me there was a lot more of this going on further south.  At that point, we knew there was unrest in Asia, but even then we hand't connected it to Zack.  But those dots got connected pretty quick after I saw that powerpoint briefing.

I never did submit that resignation - I got back in the car and headed home.

What did you do then
Well, apparently this was about the same time as that CNN broadcast out of India, so by the time I got home there was already a steady stream of cars headed out of town.  I was actually pretty well stocked with supplies - not for a zombie invasion, but just general preparedness.  My only weakness was probably water, and drugs.

Drugs?
Yeah, Type 2 Diabetes.  I had it pretty well controlled with drugs, but I had at most a 90-day supply of those.  And getting more was not all that easy.  The initial panic had people flooding the local grocery stores and pharmacies.  I was fortunate in that my friend's wife worked at a pharmacy a few miles away, so I was able to get more, but I still ended up running out.

And the troubles in Mexico started to boil over?
Well, the Mexican troubles turned out to be an army of Zacks that started in Panama and moved north.  And they moved FAST.  I guess lots of infected were among the refugees driving up into Mexico, and they in turn infected more, etc.  How many million people lived in Mexico City?  From what I have heard since, the roads there were blocked early on and more than 90% became infected.  And they were all headed north.

By this time, Tucson had pretty much shut down - people were forting up at home, or were fleeing for parts unknown.  A lot of reservists got called up and sent to the border; I know from personal experience that there were a lot of desertions.  Two weeks into it, the Army called and congratulated me on my reactivated commission.  I ended up reporting in, and got assigned to the DoD's grand contingency plan - make Davis-Monthan some sort of fortified bastion to protect Tucson.

This was before the Redekker Plan?
Yeah - this was not the same sort of thing.  The plan in this case was to become a shield for the zacks to bounce against on the way to Tucson.  By this time, we had learned the defenses along the border had pretty much been overwhelmed, and the occasional zombie was popping up in Tucson.  That's when the protestors kicked in.

Protestors?
The zombies were almost always Mexican nationals who had come in with the flood of refugees.  The local activists thought rounding up refugees was racist, so they actually attacked a Border Patrol compound on the north side of the base and released the detainees there.  Including several hundred infected.  The worst part - the city government actively aided this by providing busses for the protestors.

And how did the military react?
We didnt - security at that compound was in the hands of the Border Patrol and the local police.  They were WAY outnumbered and at that point, had not made the mental shift that would let them fire on the protestors.  I was in command of one one three reaction forces on post, and we rolled as soon as we got word; by the time we got there the damage was done.

So no arrests?
Nope.  We ended up ronding up some of the refugees that had not managed to get onto the busses, and helped out with the border patrolmen who had been injured in the raid.  Most of the police got so pissed off at wha ttheir own city had done that they tossed their badges right then and went home.  But there was some justice at the end.

Justice?  How so?
The busses were driven to this huge rally downtown - a lot of the council and other morons were there to show their support.  The busses opened, and disgorged a new wave of infected; the zacks had been loaded on busses with the healthy, and had quietly infected other passengers.  I saw some video of the whole thing - it was a slaughterhouse.  Of course, it also lost us Tucson.

The defenses failed?
Spectacularly.  We were actually doing a good job of zapping all the zacks on the southern perimeter of the base, and the defenses extended westward along the airport.  Some zacks were going around, but honestly they were too stupid to flank.  Problem was, we had no defenses on the city side of the base, and after the Immigrant Rally massacre, the infected swept down on the base from the north.  It was a disaster.  I would say 48 hours after the Rally and Raid, we probably were down to 25% of our starting strength.  

What was left ended up scattering.  Most became the defenses for a HUGE column of refugees that headed north to Phoenix.  My group had been about 50 troops (a mix from all services, all recalled from civilian life); we were down to 12 once the defenses collapsed.  Twelve guys, two HMMWVs with .50s, an M577 with an M-60 MG and a flatbed HEMMT.  We were on the east side of the base, where the boneyard was.

The Boneyard?  With all the planes?
Exactly - the AMARG yard supposedly had the world's third-largest airforce if you got all of them working.  The funny part is, a lot of my job now is getting some of those aircraft operational - a bunch of smaller tactical transports like C-123s and older C-130s have been very much in demand since Reconstruction began.  We gathered our vehicles over in an area with some older non-servicable aircraft, loaded up supplies from a stockpile there, abandoned the HEMMT and moved out.

Where did you go then?
We headed into town - I actually stopped at my place and grabbed up my supplies there, and we liberated the contents of an already-looted Albertsons nearby.  By this time, even the east side of town was getting zack-heavy, so we definitely made use of our firepower.  Our goal was Reddington Pass - Tucson is in a valley, and that pass is a quick way out to the northeast.  Bad road, but our convoy could handle it.  We headed out, hit the pass, and suddenly it was like everything was normal again - no zacks, no refugees, and we even found a convenience store open for business.  We cleaned them out, and the mom and pop running the place joined our convoy.  So now we were up to 14 people in 4 vehicles.  The M577 was amazing - 40-year-old pile of junk just would not quit on us.  I kept expecting to lose a track or something which would have sucked - we had no track tools in the vehicle for some reason.

By the time we got to Thatcher, three days later, the convoy had grown from 14 people in 4 vehicles to 90 people in 15 vehicles.  We even had a flatbed truck with the Tucson Police SWAT APC - we found it and four policemen guarding about 20 refugees near Cascabel.  We skirted to the north of Benson, which looked like it was in the middle of a battle.  We found out later some of the survivors of Fort Huachuca had retreated there and were holding out rather nicely, but at the time it just looked like more of the same so we opted to pass them by.  We opted for Thatcher because my 1st Sergeant had a ranch there.

What was happening in Thatcher?
Not too much.  Its in rough terrain there, kind of a river valley, along with some other small towns.  There's a state highway running through there.  The locals had set up checkpoints at the main entries and were vigorously screening for infected, and the local ranchers were all pretty well equipped with rifles to take out the occasional roamer.  The real horde attacks didnt come for a few weeks, and by that time the locals had organized things pretty nicely.  Some of the troops from Huachuca we had seen in Benson ended up coming in as well, so the local defenses were in pretty good shape.  Our main concern would have been ammo, but the troops from Huachuca had been guarding the ASP at Huachuca and had brought quite a lot of ammo with them.

We managed to hold out rather nicely, compared to many other parts of the country.  Fortunately (at least for us), most of the zack activity was in a line from Nogales to Tucson to Phoenix and then on towards Flagstaff/Las Vegas.  We had some roamers occasionally, and two very large horde attacks out of the Phoenix area.  Actually, the main threat we faced was a damned biker army out of Las Cruces - they had ridden in along Interstate 10 and raped Wilcox, then turned north when they found out about us.  We took them down only because we had early warning from a HAM operator out of Wilcox, but it was a near-run thing.

Were you in charge?
No.  I did end up commanding the mobile force for the Safford-Thatcher Defense Zone until the Army sent in some advisors.  After that, I wound up being seconded over to state service the Arizona State Defense Force.  My specialty in the Army had been signals intelligence, and zack wasnt using too many comms - there were plenty of other folks better trained and skilled at infantry and cavalry work.  In the end, I was running something called a Signals Regiment for the ASDF - a regiment of 18 guys using the two HMMWVs and the M577 I had pulled out of Tucson with.  We basically ran wire and wireless communications from Globe all the way down to Benson, along highway 70 and 191, and Interstate 10.  Probably 50% of the post-war population of Arizona lived in that area.

And how did you end up with the Department of Reclamation
Actually, it was tied in to the whole last stand at Davis-Monthan.  The military wanted to run an expedition into the base to obtain some aircraft spares, and I was volunteered to guide them in.  When we got there, we found there was actually a sizable group of survivors east of Tucson in Vail, and I promised to try to get some supplies diverted to them.  That effort sort of blossomed into me organizing supply runs to several isolated survivor communities, which also required some recon work.  Eventually it became semi-formalized, and when the feds stood up the Department of Reclamation, I found myself transferred back into federal service once again.  The DoR is not a military organization, but probably 60% of our staff are military, and many of our efforts are geared to the recovery of military assets, so its a natural fit.

One last thing - you mentioned Diabetes.  What happened?
Well, the meds I stocked up on in Tucson lasted me a bit over a year, but between all the work I was doing, and the enforced low-carb diet I was on, I bascially got my diabetes under control without drugs.  The funny part about it was I had really obsessed about it initially, and then completely ignored it once the drugs ran out.  It was six years before I had a complete blood test, and I was amazed at the results.  Normally Diabetes is a surefire exit from the service, but withthings as they are, the Army is a lot less picky about things.  Sadly, as we get grain farms back into business, and as my admin job keeps me at the desk more and more, I find the sugar level is starting to rise up again.  But its nothing like it used to be, and there's plenty of folks out there a hell of a lot worse off than me.

Gentlemen I do believe we are pretty much on par with the book.

edit

Oh what the heck.

Oakland County, MI

I am picked up at the train station by a tall, bearded fortysomething man in a beat up gray pickup truck. It’s a victim of hasty modifications like many of the vehicles were during the heydays of the zombie infestation – long edged weapons racks and holders everywhere, bags of gear and weapon magazines stuffed in any nook or cranny that would hold them. The windows appear to have been replaced with Lexan or some kind of hard plastic. They, and the paint of the truck, bear the scratches and marks of zombies attempting to get to whatever – whoever – is inside.

The man is reluctant to speak so I attempt to break the ice with a question.

When was your first contact with the Zeds?

Hm. Out where we live it was, gosh, probably six weeks or two months after we heard the reports of the infected coming to the US.

How badly was this area infested with zombies?

It wasn’t bad at first. We had already prepared ourselves and our house as well as we could, and we always had a several-month stock of food that we rotated, so we felt we were in great shape for this to blow over… That was how little we knew at first, we thought it would blow over in a couple months.

A lot of people thought that, maybe most people…

Yeah. We were no different. We’d boarded up the first floor of our house and figured it would be a non-event, like Y2K. My wife and I used to laugh about Y2K before it happened. But we prepared anyway.

You were very fortunate, then.

If you could call it that. I tell you what… Being alive but surrounded by the dead has it’s moments of being really, really crappy.

But you had your stash of food, and clearly (referring to the ammunition just in the truck alone) defensive capability…

Well… In that regard we were fine. We had water, since we’re on our own well. And we had … a pretty decent defensive capability as well. But as time wears on, and the people around you keep making noise, it just brings more and more of the walking dead in…

At first nobody realized that by making noise you bring more in – how was your story different?

Well… It was hard, no harder than it was for anybody else, but it was hard. Lots of people with hunting rifles around us would just start blasting at the zombies… Well, that just brings more of them in. And their groans… The groans were the worst. Eventually, with the house surrounded, we would just collapse of exhaustion from being awake so long from those damned groans. One Z had clearly just been buried, but came back, and had been shot in the throat. His groan was really more of this deep, wet gurgling sound we will never forget. Ever.

Who was there with you?

At first, my wife and our dog. We have no kids.

Then?

Some of my family came to stay with us. Sometimes it worked out well, other times… [voice gets quiet] it ended up in tragedy.

How much of that are you comfortable discussing?

We were holding our own, doing OK and listening to the radio nightly, until my sister arrived...

...She was the best little sister a brother could have. She had gotten married to a very good guy 8 years before the outbreak, and they had two beautiful little children, a boy and a girl. She showed up by herself, dirty and nearly completely freaked out. We figured out a way to get her inside (the Zeds were out and we’d fortified the entrances and windows) and after we got her calmed down, she told us what happened… She and her husband and kids lived in a small house ten miles Northwest of Detroit, and boom, overnight the entire area had been overwhelmed by zombies. She eventually made her way out to us by the skin of her teeth, but my niece and nephew, and her husband were… lost. [he chokes back a sob and stops for a second, regaining his composure]

We can stop this line of questioning if you’d like…

No. This part of the story needs to be told. Zombies sound like a ridiculous thing to be afraid of but they instilled in us much, much more than a fear of the dead.

Anyway, what we hadn’t known is that she had been infected somehow. We were so wigged out about losing Thom and the kids, we missed the wound. When we found it we treated her as best we could, but she got sicker and sicker. The hospitals laughed at us when we called them, and the first time I ever had a gun fired at me was when we took her to a clinic for treatment. They fired shots over the hood of the truck, then told us to turn around and go straight home.

Eventually we were forced to restrain her in the garage by herself – you should have heard the cries about that. We felt awful about it but there was nothing we could do. Not a thing.

Then … overnight … her cries… turned to groans. [his eyes well up]

I had to … get this threat out of my house and away from my wife and I. I became frantic. My wife said “I will do it.” But I didn’t want her to have to, it was my place to take care of this, not hers.

By “Taking care of this” you mean…

Yes, I went out there and ... and... It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

[nearly whispering, almost inaudible on the microphone] I couldn’t even do it cleanly, with a gunshot, lest I attract even more zombies than were already around...

Were there any other threats?

Oh yes. [he sniffles and noticeably perks up] Zombies until the winter of course. Thank the good Lord for winter! We were able to kind of enjoy ourselves in the Winter, so long as the temperature was below freezing for a few days. Oh my, the freedom we felt… Getting outside, clearing the dead away…

Though that’s when we first dealt with the evil living.

They were the worst if you ask me. They stole, raped and killed indiscriminately. That’s when I used the most of my ammo up. I had to defend my wife and everything I’ve worked for from these dirtbags.

Out of more than 30 people left on my road, there were only about 10 left alive by this time. The zeds had swarmed the rest. I do know during some of my winter walkabouts I had to… take care of… some neighbors who had become infected.

How did you do this?

Cold Steel Kukri Machete applied forcibly to the forehead. They were frozen up solid, but they knew I was there if I walked in front of them. I would say a little prayer, apologize to them, and then let them have it. I know the apology was stupid but I knew and was neighborly with everyone on my road. It sucked.

More on these Marauders – were they organized?

Seemed like it, but for the most part the biggest they ever got was a group of fourteen.

That’s an accurate number, how do you know this for sure?

There were fourteen bodies at the end of my road. I propped them up with a sign that said “This is what happens to looters…”

They were mostly refugees that had gone kind of feral. They probably lived their lives close to the line of illegality and once the stuff hit the fan, and food started getting scarce, they went out and took it from others.

We would hear their engines coming up the road and get ready. They would stop at every house on the way up – that’s how we knew. Although one day we got a surprise, the National Guard was driving up in an APC! Glad I didn’t ring a .308 round off the side of that!

Were they there to help?

More to ensure things were alright with those of us who hunkered down through this. They had some medical supplies as well as some other essentials, wood to use for cooking, rice and MREs. I could have used a pallet of ammo, but I thanked them for coming out anyway and bid them good luck. Then they gave us some tests, marked our location into a computer, and left. I hope those guys all made it, they were good men.

How was that Spring?

Hell. Bad enough I was worried we’d get swarmed in our own home. Oh, hey- we’re here.

[we pull up to my hotel and I thank him for the ride and the unexpected interview. I offer him some money for gas, but he just smiles and drives off]

Bump for more awesomeness.

So we were talking about Z.E.A.D.S. roll in the War. Does anyone know when and how it all started?

Well, all we know is it started sometime in 2009. No one really knows exactly when it started. But we have been able to find out how it started.

So how did it start?


We were able to obtain some documents that referenced a mutation of a strain of swine flu. THere was a big to do about a strain of the swine flu at the time and something about it being a genetic match to a strain that killed a hell of alot of people in the early 20th century. A vaccine was rushed into production and used before it was comepletely tested. The vaccine contained an oil that caused the body to attack itself in some individuals. According to the documents we found, the virus then mutated to survive. When it came into contact with the vaccine after that, well all sorts of bad happened. As near as we can figure, the virus was forced to mutate again in order to survive. In finally mutated to the point of controlling the body in order to survive.

If it mutated because of the vaccine, why isn't everyone dead?

Well, alot of us refused to take the vaccine and refused to let our families take it. Most were herded into small areas to be quarrantined. It didn't work out to well in some areas. Like the area I was in. Most refused the vaccine and there simply wasn't enough manpower to control everyone. That and the fact that I worked in the largest copper mine in North America, I was kinda left alone for the moment.

What did the gov't do when they found out it was the vaccine causing the problem?

They did their typical thing. They hid their heads in the sand and pretended it wasn't happening. By the time they started to admit there was a problem, it was way to late.

So if some didn't get sick, why did the zombies try to kill the living?

Zack's body was continually breaking down. It didn't decay as fast as normal but it still rotted away. The virus was driven to survive, so they continually tried to find new hosts to survive. As for the eating part, we figured it was just a left over survival instinct from the host. Who knows.

Alot of people I've talked to say the living where worse that the dead. Did you have any run ins with the living?

Yea we had a run in with an outlaw biker army. Or what was left of them. We were asked to resupply an outpost over by Thatcher, AZ.  I lived near there before the war so I knew the area pretty well, like old raods throught the desert and such, so I volunteered to lead the convoy. We rolled through Wilcox, AZ not long after they went through. We picked up some survivors who told us about them. We thought they moved on along the I-10 corridor, but we weren't taking any chances. We left Wilcox rolling hot and ready. We ran into them about 15 miles south of Thatcher. There wasn't much left when we rolled on.  I guess some just went bad after awhile.

WHAT is that?

What? (I look over to the cornerwhere he is pointing) Oh ,that! ( I walk over on remove the sheet covering it)  Meet S.C.A.R.A.B.

Scarab?

Self  Contained Armor, Recon, Assault, Battle. This is what effectively ended WWz for the most part. You see after Tucson, I took it upon myself to design an effective body armor. I had a rough design when we cleaned out Phoenix. It worked really well if a little cumbersome. The Military brass we saved gave me access to the resources they had in Colorado and New Mexico and this is the result.  It is self powered by a small nuclear reactor about the size of your hand and completly shielded to protect the user. It has a heads up display that has both infrared and night vision. Any movements are augmented by microhydraulics that give the user the strength of 100 men and has a top speed of 25 kilometers per hour.  It is totally impervious to any and all zack attacks and will stop up to a 20 millimeter round and the pilot feels almost nothing thanks to an inertial dampening system. All air in the armor is filtered and the suit is capable of operating underwater.

Sounds like Zack didn't stand a chance against that.

That was the idea. The only problem is that if you would spend too long in the siuit, it took a very heavy toll on the body. More than 24 hours and you would need 2 or 3 days to recover. Some of the pilots where genetically enhanced to pilot the armor and they could go for about 48 hours continuously but they would need almost a week of rest afterwards.

So the armor played a big role then?

Yea, especially in rescuing survivors and in cleaning out some of the urban areas. They would drop a half of a dozen of us in and we would go to town. We pretty much killled anything that moved. The armor gave alot of confidence in one's survival.

How many sets were built?

Only a hundred were built during the war, the military has built more now though.

I'll bet people were glad to see you when you came to rescue them?

At first, they were just as scared of us as Zack. I can't blame them. Hell, if I was couped up as long as some of them, fighting Zack for survival for that long, Well, I just shoot first and ask questions later. ( I chuckle) I remember thios one guy, he and his family had been holed up since the beginning. He held out there for about a year and a half by his estimate before the first Zacks showed up. After six months of fighting the Zacks for survival, he was about out of food, and his family was going nuts. Well, we got a report of survivors there and went to check it out. We dropped in right in his front yard and annihilated the Zacks and he turns his AR on us. well he there just blasting away and the rounds are just bouncing of off us. He was scared shitless and muttering something about aliens and demons when he ran outta ammo. He actually charged us with a sword. It took us awhile to get him calmed down and make him understand who we were. Once he realized we were there to take him someplace safe he actually sat down and cried.

That wasn't the first time or the last time we were fired at when trying to rescue someone. One time I took an extended burst from a M-60 and the guy just knelt down and started praying when I started walking toward him. Eventually word got around on the radio and by word on mouth and then people wopuld run out and hug us and all sorts of other things.

So what do you do now?

Now I just watch and wait. Supposedly two/thirds of the population was turned or killed. By the law of averages, there is no way we got them all. So I keep waiting until we are needed again. There may only be about a hundred of us left know, but with the armor and the upgrades I've done, that's all we'll need.

How did the base finally fall?

From the inside out, we had been stocking up the ship for about 48 hours when all hell broke loose.  I was standing watch near the back gate when my partner told me several of the families staying in the base gymnasium were acting a little strange.  By this time the threat posed by zack was taken seriously, but it was still before the Redecker plan was adopted, so servicemembers families were not being inspected as thoroughly as they should have been.  

I have been to the 32nd street Naval base, the back gate is right next to the gymnasium isnt it?

Yes it is..... Zack poured out of the gym like a swarm of angry bee's and I was sandwiched between a sealed rear gate with hundreds of zed's wandering outside and dozens of them coming out of the gym.  I knew the time had come for us to fall back to the ship.  I sent out the call that the base was compromised and I got the fuck outta dodge.

What happened when you were back on the ship?

There was only one way onto the ship and it was heavily guarded. once all personnel was present or accounted we cut our mooring lines and anchored about  a mile from shore.  Fucking Zack, they would dropp into the water and try to swim, float, walk whatever to get to us.

Squigglez stares off into the distance

I watched Zack turn the beautiful city of San Diego into a fucking nightmare.

I am on leave til the end of the month. I have been obsessed with writing a Z.E.A.D.S. Motorcycle POV story. Coming soon...

Silly person - Motorcycles are inanimate objects, they can't have a POV...  

Northwestern Portion of St Louis County Missouri USA

[The steam horn sounds the end of another work day and Woodman in MO wonders over to me with his tool belt on his shoulder looking very tired]

You'd think with what I'd been though that I wouldn't be so worn out at the end of a shift, but you know it's not the years [laughing] it's the milage.

[We hope on the shuttle bus that will take us back to Woodman's place]

[So you were telling me you witnessed the destruction of the Hannibal bridges?]

Yeah, I figured they were a fairly major east-west gateway for the Army because there weren’t a lot of major cities along that route.  And I guess that St. Louis to the south and then Davenport up north were starting to fill up with refugees and Zeds.  We weren't really sure what to do next.  After the bridges went up we weren't sure if that meant that they didn't want people going over to Illinois or keep whatever from coming to Missouri.  We learned much later that Chicago was close to being overrun with Zeds.  And there were a lot headed through Illinois.

The Army and National Guard managed to get control of the town again, but you could tell it was more or less time to go.  There weren't many civilians left, maybe a couple hundred of us.  Most started taking off right away heading north.  That's where the government was telling people to go.  But I couldn't help but notice that most of the aircraft and a few Army vehicles where heading west.  We stuck around for another couple of days and managed to get a hold of some nasty army food, MREs.  I gotta tell you they were better then nothing though.

Anyway, we managed to hook up with an Army caravan that was headed west.  They told me as long as we stayed out of their way, there wasn't any reason we couldn't follow them.  It didn't hurt that I had my wife and kids with me.  I'm pretty sure if I was alone they would have told me to pound sand.  

We managed to stay out of trouble and the only time we really encountered anyone was at the major highways headed north.  My wife was unsure and always saying that maybe we should turn and head north as well.  I told that we were going where the Army was going, as long as they were not going back east.  The Army guys were actually a pretty good group.  Most of them were from the reserves and had been called up a month or so before Yonkers.  After a few days our car ran out of gas and I guess we must have grown on them cause they ended up just letting us ride in one of their trucks.

One of the officers who tolerated us, but most likely wasn't happy we were there pulled me aside one morning in Iowa just east of Omaha.  He told me that things were going to hell pretty fast and that most likely they would have to cut me and my family loose.  They had orders to head south and that those orders specifically stated that no civilians were to be brought along.  Besides he said, the next stop for them was Kansas City and things were getting bad there and no way would I want my family there.  I learned later that the Captain's family was in Kansas City.  I told him I could help, that I could shoot and that I could at least be another warm body in a firing line.

I guess I won him over because he let me know that there several passenger planes at the Eppley Airfield in Omaha that were evacuating people out west and even Hawaii.  He told me to grab my family and whatever we could carry and he would have a couple of his guys take us to the airport in one of their humvees.

We grabbed what we could and jumped in the Humvee.  The two guys who were with us, Corporal Ackerman and Sergeant Ward were pretty competent.  Ackerman was behind the wheel and Ward was up on the 50 Cal.  My family was huddled in the back and I was in the front.  I did manage to swap out my DPMS semi-AR with a tricked out one that had burst on it.  I figured what the hell, there were plenty lying around and probably more to come.  I did hang on to my Sig Sauer, but figured I'd better find a 9 milly pretty soon cause I didn't have that much 40 Smith and Wesson ammo.

[9 milly?]

Yeah, 9 Millimeter Pistol.  It was the standard round that the Army used and could be found at pretty much anyplace that sold ammo.  The 40 was a bigger round, and while not uncommon, wasn’t nearly as common as good old 9mm.  The Army guys had shitloads of it in their trucks.  The Army guys sure as hell didn’t have any 40, and most stores were pretty well looted.  So I figured I’d be running out PDQ.

[PDQ?]

Pretty Damn Quick.  Anyway, the ride in to the airport started out pretty uneventful.  Ackerman was telling me that normally they would have to go through Omeha and some pretty urban areas, well urban for Omaha, but that the Army had set up a temporary bridge across the river that would let us go directly to the airport.

It took us a few hours and when we crossed the bridge into the airport we could see that there were a lot of fires in the city, it looked pretty bad.  I figured at the time that if this is what Omaha looked like St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago must be pretty much gone.  The Army, at these looked like regulars with some real equipment, Tanks, Bradleys lots of armored fighting vehicles.  Most of it was stationed between the runways and the city.  I could tell they were guarding the airplanes.  There were more airplanes then I had seen in a long time even in St. Louis.  People were lined up and solders were going up and down the line with German Sheppard dogs and as soon at the dogs lit up on someone they were yanked out of line.  A couple I saw tried to put up a fight and they were put down pretty quick

[Put down?]  

Yeah, a 9mm right to the head.  It was real end of the world stuff but necessary.  Shit was going downhill real fast.

Anyway, as soon as a plane was loaded it took off and headed west.  There must have been a couple of planes taking off every minute.  Every time one took off you could hear a moan from the crowd

[A moan?!?]

[chuckling]  No.  Not that one, not the Zed moan, more like the sound we all make when we realize that is one less chance to get away.  So Sergeant Ward takes me and my family over to this military transport that is further down the runway then the passenger jets.  He goes up the load master and I can't hear what they are saying.  But I see him pointing to me and my family and I see the load master shaking his head.  I can tell that Sarge is yelling and then the load master finally shrugs his shoulders and waves us over.

[So you ended up getting away?]

Not exactly, that was when I got the news.  The plane was going straight to Hawaii, they have some high tech comm gear or something that was needed to keep the president in touch with the military left on the continent and they had room for my wife and kids, but not me.

[So what did you do?]

I did what anyone would have done.  I man’ed up and put the wife and kids on the plane[chokes back a tear].  It wasn't easy you see, but at least I knew that they might have a chance.  It wasn't pretty, the kids were screaming for their daddy and the wife was balling her eyes out, but at least she got it.  I'll never forget how happy and at the same time sad I was as I watch the door close on the plane.  I was crying like a girl myself.  Sergeant Ward came up and put his arm around me letting me know they would be safe now and that I'd see them again someday.

[So where did you go from there?]

Well to be honest, I watched their plane take off and head west.  Ackerman, Ward and I all just watched it until it was a dot on the horizon.  But then all hell broke loose.

[You’re referring to the airport collapse?  How did you see it happen?]

All I can tell you is that one second I’m watching my family fly away and the next thing I hear an explosion and look over and see a huge fireball consume two planes that collided while trying to take off.  Well I figure that some over eager pilot didn't want to wait his turn or hell for all I know someone got on the plane and then turned Zed.   That pretty much blocked the main run runways and there wasn't exactly fire crews standing by.  The worse part was the screams from the crowd on the far side.  At the same time there was a crescendo of small arms fire and the whomps of cannon fire.  I could see the crowd storm the gates.  That chain link didn’t last long and crowds, we're talking thousands of people went running to the planes, many of which tried to take off.  I saw planes flying down the runways with doors open; I didn't even think they could do that.  I saw people holding on to landing gears when plans took off, or at least trying to without much luck.  Some planes managed to take off, but most didn't.  Some planes crashed right after takeoff, it was pretty much hell on earth.

[So what did you do?]

Well, I pretty much stood there like a dumbass watching civilization break down in front of me.  That's then Ackermann smacked me in the back of the head and told me to hoof it back to the humvee.  Ward was already on the 50 turret watching the crowd.  Ackerman jumped in the driver's seat and I jumped in next to him.  He took off literally like a bat out of hell [Woodman laughs at his own metaphor]

[What was happening?]

Well, Ward noticed it first and then I guess Ackerman saw it.  It took my unaware ass a few more minutes of freaking out to figure out what was going on especially when Ward opened up with the 50.

[What was it?]

Not everyone in the crowd was running.  Some were walking really slow, a lot of them.  It wasn't something you could see individuals doing, just kind of a slow wave coming towards us.  Zed had finally arrived.  Lots of them.  

[The bus comes to a stop and Woodman hops out of his seat]

Well this is my stop.  You hungry?

Wow, just got done reading WWZ for the 2nd time and this is as good as the book.

I met with a man who only called himself "Swindle" and insisted that his location within Texas not be disclosed. He said this was in case his "psycho ex-girlfriend ain't a zombie and comes looking for me; I don't need the drama." We meet on the top of a fortified lookout tower with a commanding view of the area. He invites me to sit on a case of ammunition as he sips on his Dr Pepper. He looks very tacticool in his Multicam fatigues and sunglasses, sitting with his legs propped up in the shade of an umbrella, rifle across his lap.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-

So you were in an ideal location when you heard about the zombies?

Yeah, I had just entered the park service and was stationed out in the middle of nowhere. I was a backcountry ranger, spent most of my time camping in the wilderness and looking for poachers or pot farmers, so I didn't get much news. Nobody mentioned much over the radio, and that was my only contact with civilization for days at a time. Whenever I came in for a couple days off or to get more supplies, I still didn't hear much about it because I never watched the news. Media's full of commies and all that.

But when you did hear about the problems...

I still didn't think much of it. Media hyping things to get their ratings up, just like H1N1, SARS, bird flu, West Nile, and on and on. Never bought any of that Phalanx stuff either. Once I became convinced that it was real, I moved a bunch of food, bottled water, first aid supplies, and ammunition to an old cabin out on the park. It'd been there for decades, built by some moonshiner, and the park maintained it so backcounty rangers like me had a place to stay if the weather turned to shit. I'd never used it, but I knew where it was. I already had pretty much everything I needed, I just had to move it out to the cabin.

Why there?

(He shrugs) Isolated. Only a dozen people knew where it was, and the park didn't get many visitors that time of year, certainly never any adventerous enough to stumble across the cabin. I figured it'd be pretty safe. How the heck is a zombie going to get into the middle of a national park if there's no people there, right? Boy, was I wrong.

Zombies came?

Yeah, but not many. (He pauses to sip his soda) There was a big exodus of people down the highway when the big cities started getting zeds, and a few hundred folks broke off and went into the park. Figured they could wait it out and camp in the meantime. Some of them were infected and, well, that's all she wrote. The visitor's center and park headquarters were barricaded and the park was closed, but we had squatters keep showing up to "hide in the hills", and they'd turn into zeds. Most of the other rangers went home. A few of them decided to live in fire towers like this one (he raps the metal floor with his fist). Good idea. I should've thought of it.

Why is that?

Zeds have trouble climbing. The fresh ones can do it ok, but their coordination sucks. They fall off the ladder a lot. The ones who have been all corpsified and gross longer generally can't do it at all. They can't smell or hear you up here, unless you cause a real racket. You've got a great view in all directions, can literally see them coming for miles. There's three wandering through that field about eight hundred years off right now.

Really? I can't see them.

I been watching them since you showed up. Hang on. (He tells an unseen assistant to "flip the switch" and what sounds like a schoolbell begins ringing in the distance.) That's our zombie attractant. Ring the bell and they all head straight for it. It's in that clearing over there. Perfect spot; open, good range, and the sun isn't in your eyes no matter what time of day it is. Wind is a problem, but hey, what's a few extra rounds? They'll start shambling that way in a bit.

You were telling me about the other rangers?

Oh yeah. Uh, well, after a while the only ones still around were me and a couple others who had moved into fire towers in the park. We started out trying to chase out squatters, then gave up because there were so many of them. Once they started turning into zeds and killing each other, we said "fuck it" and kept to ourselves. Then I started getting zeds wandering through my neck of the woods. I'd shoot one and three more would show up, attracted to the noise. I started sneaking up on them and cracking them over the head with my khukri, but too many times one of them would notice I was there and let out that moan, more would show up, and I'd end up having to shoot some of them. And that just brought more. I got sick of it, so I rousted up one of the other rangers on the radio, loaded all my stuff into the jeep, and I moved into the tower with him.

This tower?

Nah, it was an old one, made of wood. The kind Ranger Smith would yell at Yogi Bear from. (He laughs.) It was a lot roomier than this one. We let a couple civilians move in with us, college girls, once we'd quarantined 'em to make sure they weren't infected. They kept the place clean, cooked, washed our BDU's, that sort of thing, while we killed zeds and did the occasional heroic charge to the rescue whenever another ranger called in needing help. (He takes another drink from his soda before staring into the distance with an odd look on his face.) Kept us pretty warm at night too.

How so?

(He stares at me for several seconds as if I were an idiot.) Anyway, we had the idea to start baiting zeds to a killing field and then burning 'em en masse, but we never put it to use until we got a call saying we had to rescue a bunch of civvies from a pack of zeds. The civvies had climbed up on a big boulder and about a hundred zeds were all around it, climbing over each other to get at 'em, but they couldn't get up there; other zeds always pulled 'em down trying to get up themselves. Didn't help that the civvies had walking sticks and a mop and were using them to shove the ones who managed to get close to them back into the crowd. We figured they'd keep for a while and set up the trap.

Trap?

Yeah. Rigged a field with some home-made claymores we'd been building; ball bearings, black powder, anfo, that sort of shit. Made a big semi-circle of bombs. Then we hung a dinner bell in the middle, tied a rope to the clapper, climbed a tree, and tugged on the rope to ring the bell. That drew away most of the zombies, once the civvies caught on to what we were doing and stayed still and quiet. One we had most of the mob around the bell, we set off the charges. BOOM! (He pantomimes a huge explosion, complete with flying body parts and half a zombie dragging itself by its arms and moaning.) Then we climbed down, finished off the ones that were still moving, shot all the ones still trying to get after the civvies, dumped all the bodies in a ravine, and burned them. We started making more claymores and building noisemakers to attract 'em from miles around. If we only got a handful, we just shot 'em from a distance. If we got a bunch, we blew them up and then finished off the crawlers. Easy as cake.

It was that easy?

It was that easy.

So you dealt with a lot of zombies that way?

Eh. (He shrugs) Probably less than a thousand. Most of them were squatters who came here to get away from the hordes but were already infected. A few wandered into the park on their own. Plug your ears.

What?

(He fires before I have a chance to cover my ears. His shot is a miss, and he calmly adjusts his scope and fires again. I see a zombie standing over the ringing schoolbell drop. A third shot makes a second zombies head explode in a red and brown mist. The third is slower and he waits for it to get closer.)

Once we got rid of most of them that way, we turned part of the park into a refugee camp. Kept it limited to two hundred people at a time, and they all had to go through quarantine before we let them in. Not many people stuck around since we didn't have any way of feeding 'em all.

Did you get any sort of news from outside?

Oh yeah. Mostly word of mouth from refugees, but we had radios and a tv that we kept powered from a solar cell we repurporsed. Got to see Yonkers live. What a clusterfuck.

Were you worried?

Not really. My family was already holed up in a safe place, we had plenty of food and water for the dozen or so of us who stayed, plenty of ammo, and not a lot of zeds once we cleared 'em out. We were safe; we set up fences around the base of our towers, we screened in the towers so if one managed to climb all the way up it couldn't get on the deck, and we had shutters over the windows and deadbolted doors. The only way they could get us was either by pulling the tower down or laying siege and starving us out, and they never had the numbers to do that, not all in one place. I did get to see Diane Feinstein go down in a crowd of zombies live on tv when that horde broke into the capital. (He smiles) That had me cheerful for days. Ears.

(I clap my hands over my ears just in time for him to shoot the third zombie through the head.)

Are zombies still a problem in the parks?

Not really. We don't allow visitors because we have a few zeds wandering through the woods; probably will for a while too. It doesn't get cold enough to freeze them in winter like it does up north, so we have to keep an eye out for the smelly bastards year-round. Whenever we get around to allowing visitors in again, we're going to require everyone to carry a gun on them at all times in case they run into a zed in the park. Won't happen for a while though; we're not taking any chances on a visitor getting eaten by a zombie while he's asleep in his tent. We keep the attractants going whenever we know one is in the area, and we make regular patrols with dogs; they don't want to get near the zeds, but they can scent 'em real easy.

I guess you have things under control here.

Pretty much. That's the biggest group we've had in about a month. Makes a total of seven so far for the reason. Figure it won't be took long before we get the last of them cleared out of the woods. You gonna stay for supper? Rachel's making chili. No beans.

(I politely decline and begin my nervous and perilous descent down the tower toward my car, already eager for my next interview. A shot rings out and a zombie, missing the upper half of its head, collapses a dozen feet from where I was standing. I'd never seen or heard it approach.)

You're welcome! Hey, be sure to put that in your book too!

Having met some of the bubbas in the Hocking Hills, I firmly believe they will be safe when the zombie apocalypse comes.

great additions guys!

Nice

Cool stuff guys.

Nice stories.