The Lake Diary

Chapter 4

I know, I know, I'm not very good at this journaling thing. I should have just started writing in the beginning and kept it up throughout the apocalypse but that just wasn't practical. Too much running for my life. I could write now about the first months of the outbreak, the history and all that, but then I'd be playing catch-up forever. So, I'm just going to write what I feel like. Besides those early memories are all fuzzy anyway, I'm was more concerned with surviving than taking mental notes about events to record later.

Alright, the first time I remember anything weird was when the news started talking about the new strain of Asian bird flu. This was a few months before the actual outbreak. They said something about how it was crossing the species barrier but the symptoms and severity were very different depending on the species. The birds were getting sick, coughing and lethargic, but nothing that serious. People though, they started dying.

Like I said, this is all fuzzy though, it was just a side note mentioned on the news at the time. I was working 70 hour weeks in Seattle, what happened to some Chinese farmers didn't seem very important. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20.

Anyway, from what little I understand each time the flu jumped between species it would change, then it would jump back and change again, on and on. It went between people, birds, pigs, cattle, and back, but people were the only ones dying. All the other species got over it like it was just a regular, seasonal flu.

Then, suddenly the virus mutated again and it wasn't just killing people, it was controlling them after they died. There were some theories that it wasn't actually a virus, it was a fungus that acted like a virus but, like I said, I'm not an expert. I'm sure there are some hard drives intact somewhere that have a far more detailed account of the fall of humanity but that's all I've got off the top of my head.

Next thing we knew, zombies were popping up all over the place. At first, no one believed it. It's like everything else on the news, it's always happening to someone else, not us. So most people just kept on with their daily lives until forced to face reality for themselves.

I was never much of a news junkie but I was a Twitter addict. As soon as the #RealZombies trend started, I thought it was awesome. It was like the coolest between-season advertising campaign for The Walking Dead. Who cares if people say they're real, it's just a badass joke, right?

Wrong.

The CEO of TechSol gave us a week off in the middle of that summer. There were all sorts of rumors going on about the undead and cannibalism but it was the bird flu that actually scared my employers. They figured a week of paid vacation would keep everyone happy at home and reduce the risk of them getting and spreading the virus.

I spent the first two days of my vacation drinking and playing Halo. The network started getting sloppy on the third day, I was losing bouts I should have won, so I put on the third season of The Walking Dead. If you're reading this and get that reference then you'll understand how ironic that is.

The fourth day I ran out of alcohol. The cable and internet were completely down so I was unaware of the craziness outside my door, ravaging Seattle.

The birds only got moderately sick from that flu but then became carriers. As they followed their various migrations around the world, they'd infect other animals and people along the way. Most species barely reacted to the virus but they continued spreading it. So, when the virus mutated and started creating zombies it had already reached most corners of the globe. The world was already on the precipice and just waiting for the last bump before falling. So when the world collapsed, it happened fast. One day I was drinking and watching TV, the next I was getting chased down the streets by packs of wild eyed undead. As hungover and out of shape as I was, I'm amazed I survived my first day outside.

The streets were deserted of the living. By the time I stepped away from my building to do an alcohol run and realized my predicament, it was too late. Moaning, shuffling creatures had seen me and several got between me and the door back inside the apartment building. It's probably a good thing that I was a so slow on the uptake, if I'd been faster I probably would have run back inside and slowly starved to death in my apartment. As it was, they cut off my retreat, I had to run and keep running.

I don't know how far I went, I wasn't paying much attention to land marks. Miles, probably. Further than I'd run in a long, long time. Eventually, a passing car slowed enough for me to jump in the back. Another five minutes and I think I'd have died of a heart attack, saving the zombies the trouble of running me down. There were thousands of them in the streets. Had we waited another day there would have been tens of thousands and we never would have made it out.

The cities were hell, almost inescapable zombie factories. People crammed in like sardines, they were doomed before they realized what was happening. I was one of the very few lucky enough to escape a metropolitan area.

Well, I suppose that depends on your definition of luck. Anyone still alive has survived two years of near constant fighting, fear, starvation, and running. Everyday is lived in a war zone, terrified, with little hope for a brighter future. So, it's not uncommon for survivors to view the dead as the luckier ones.

Yeah, this comes across as cynical, very true, but two years ago I'd have bet against myself surviving this long. So, as unlikely as it seems now, maybe I'll still be around in another two. And if I can survive another two, who knows what the future holds?

This is the second entry I've written today, my hand is cramping up. Not much else to do though with the rains coming down. I needed a distraction, otherwise I'd have just sat in my shelter, staring at the gray skies and feeling sorry for myself.

Hopefully tomorrow brings better weather, we're all getting cranky because of the lack of food. Two fist fights broke out over lunch portions today. If this weather continues, I'm not sure how long we can survive on this island before we start killing each other.