After getting some sleep, we have all spent the entire rest of the day gearing up for tonight. The zombies are likely to attack with renewed vigor. The hotel is on a generator, and they don’t want us wasting power on things like laptops, but I had to update lest you think I’m dead or a zombie. I’m not, and I don’t intend to be.

Barricades are in place. All the broken doors and windows are boarded up. We had to scavenge some lumber from other structures, but we got it done. I have blisters on my hands, and those blisters have blisters. Ow.

We eventually let the wounded people out to help, but someone keeps a constant eye on them. If one of them turns on us, we’ll have no choice. Putting them down would be kind.

Got my axe. Bring it, zombies.

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Yes! As soon as it was bright enough, the zombies retreated. We don’t know where they went–probably under buildings in basements and anywhere it’s dark. Again, you’ve probably already noticed this or heard it on the news.

We’re still going to have shifts on watch, but time for some needed sleep. We’ll need to be good and rested for tonight. The two people who were wounded last night still seem OK, but not OK enough for us to trust them completely. Whatever is causing it must not be airborne or blood-borne, but I don’t know what that leaves. I hope the CDC figures something out.

Finally got a text from Arkansas! My mother is fine. Her friend is well-armed and the area is extremely rural, so all is well. Texts seem to be doing better than calls, still. Hell, Twitter is still up. #zombieapoc2012 is a trending topic, even.

Jeez. I have never been so happy to see the sun. But I’ve seen enough for right now. Sleep.

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I finally got a few minutes to update. First of all, we’re all still OK, although a couple of people have minor wounds. We have them . . . segregated. Just in case. The Inn is pretty defensible once we boarded up the doors and windows.

There was an attack last night while I was asleep. The screaming and gunshots woke me up, and I grabbed the axe and ran down the stairs to the first floor to find a scene out of pretty much every zombie movie you’ve ever seen. They were trying to get in the doors and windows. Luckily, we had them barricaded.

Some of the zombies had on military uniforms. So much for ‘airborne,’ I guess. The gas masks didn’t do them any good unless they had it before–Focus.

The military ones had weapons, but they weren’t using them. I guess whatever is causing this is affecting their ability to reason. They just . . . blindly attack anything that moves.

The zombies seem to prefer group attacks and darkness. Over the radio, we heard something about strong light seeming to hurt them. We’ve rigged up a few bright floodlights outside some of the upper-floor rooms. It seemed to help at least some.

They whip each other into a frenzy. One of our guys got scratched pretty bad when a zombie broke through one of the windows and managed to claw him, but a couple of us managed to hack the arm off the zombie with our axes.

These zombies aren’t movie zombies, though. They have blood. A lot of blood. A startling amount of blood. I didn’t faint. I didn’t throw up. But it was a close thing. I had to sit down with my head between my knees, and I don’t think I will EVER feel clean again. I can still feel it on me. All thick and hot and . . . GAH. The arm we hacked had a tattoo on it. “Mom.” Jesus. And the zombies just keep going. You can hack off limbs and they just keep coming until they lose enough blood that their hearts stop. But all the way to the end, they’re reaching . . . If it weren’t so horrifying, it would be hysterical, like that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. “It’s only a flesh wound!”

We’ve made it through the night, at least. Only a couple of waves of zombies managed to get through. I’m going to go help them re-board up the places they broke through, now. I’ll probably end up helping get rid of bodies and body parts, too.

We don’t know how long this will last, but if we have to, we’ll scavenge for lumber and better weaponry. It’s everyone for himself, now. Although there is safety—at least MORE safety—in numbers.

Don’t know how much I’ll be able to keep updating. You’re watching the TV if you have power, and listening the radio if you have batteries, just like we are, and so you’ll know at the same time we do.

Crap! Power just died. Need to submit this now before the backups all die. I’ll be back. I have to believe that.

This post is part of Zombie Apocalypse 2012, a multi-blog fictional account of a zombie uprising. Stay tuned for more posts!

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Finally made it to the hotel. I’m on my laptop again. The Inn has power, but who knows how long it will last? Someone said the Inn might have a generator, but we can’t count on it. I’m charging everything chargeable while I can. At least I can tell my previous posts made it . . . if not always at the time I thought they would.

Miraculously, all the Viable Paradise participants made it here. Most before things got so bad. Someone quipped, “I’m not letting something trivial like the end of civilization stop me from attending.” We all needed the laugh.

The whole island is now quarantined. No traffic in or out until further notice. So for good or ill, I’m stuck here. Might as well make the best of it.

Things are not as bad here as on the mainland. Not sure why. The media seems to think that the infection—whatever it is—can only travel so far. Maybe salt water kills it? Day of the Triffids, anyone?

According to the Inn staff, there haven’t been many incidents, here. Everyone pretty much holed up at home as soon as the reports started coming in. The nasty weather doesn’t hurt. Cold and rainy isn’t encouraging for outdoor activities or congregating. The only thing moving are military vehicles that came over on the ferry, which is now grounded. Every once in a while, we hear gunshots. We all just look at one another. What can we do? Not a damned thing, that’s what. Some of the Inn staff is armed.

I only hope none of us have been exposed. No one knows the gestation of this thing or how it passes. Newest reports—as you’ve no doubt heard—put the infection rate at upwards of 30%. So far it’s 100% fatal, but mostly because the zombies have a tendency to take stupid risks that end up getting them killed, or getting shot by either the military or police or heavily armed citizenry. Our group here defies those odds. So far, at least.

I wasn’t able to get through to my mother, yet, because she doesn’t have a decent phone, but I did get a SMS message from my housemate. She’s still alive, and she has joined some of our other friends at their better-defendable house. The cats . . . I don’t know. She had to leave them at the house. Poor Lucy and Zena. I hope they’ll be OK. She put plenty of food out for them both.

We plan to sleep in shifts and take four-hour watches, with teams of at least two looking in every direction. One armed person per team. I last fired a gun when I was eight, so…I’ll be the “other one.” They gave the “other ones” axes, hatchets, baseball bats, 2 x 4s, metal pipes…whatever was on hand. I have a nice hefty axe. I intend to sleep with it.

I’m exhausted. We all are. Gonna get what sleep I can now. More later, if everything comes out OK.

This post is part of Zombie Apocalypse 2012, a multi-blog fictional account of a zombie uprising. Stay tuned for more posts!

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Jesus. I’m shaking. Something weird is going on.

There are a bunch of us sitting, huddled in little groups, typing on laptops or iPads or phones, or talking in hushed tones to each other in the waiting area of gate C-10. You know that annoying Airport TV channel they normally have going (at least in the Atlanta airport)? It’s not going. The place is so quiet it’s like the inside of a tomb. It’s just plain eerie. I can hear a baby crying several gates farther up the concourse. Every time they make an announcement over the PA, I jump. Everyone stops what they’re doing and holds their breath. They’re not even aware they’re doing it, if they’re anything like me. The tension is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. (Overused cliché; bad writer.) And there are a lot fewer people here than there would normally be. For Hartsfield-Jackson, this is practically deserted.

The wi-fi is spotty, so I don’t even know if this is going to post, but I’ll try anyway. Seems kind of silly, but writing calms my nerves.

I said last night that the drive in should be uneventful what with no one being on the roads this early. What I didn’t count on was that it would take me nearly twice as long to drive in.

There were a bunch of roadblocks. Looked like several exits were blocked off by emergency vehicles. Maybe even the army or national guard. Hard to tell in the dark, and there’s thick fog in patches to boot. So even what little traffic there was was backed up pretty bad at each of those exits. I kept having to lane shift and weave in and out, which I hate when other people do it. Of course on the one day I have to be somewhere by a certain time this would happen. I just want to get to my writers workshop!

My mother would tell me the entire world doesn’t exist for my convenience right about now, and to have patience. But she’s already on her vacation up in rural Arkansas. I’d call, but it’s too early, there.

Tried to call home to let my housemate know what’s up, but I can’t raise her on her cell. Keep getting that ‘circuits are busy’ message. Fuck.

Anyway, what has me shaking:

There was this wreck on I-85 south. Looked like an 18-wheeler hit several sedans. Thing was, there was no one around. The truck and smashed-up cars were there, hazards and lights on, and there were several ambulances with lights flashing, the back doors all hanging open. Well, more like ripped open. Just sitting there off the side of the road. Two police cars, their lights strobing, as well. Also empty. Sitting with doors ripped open. Broken glass was everywhere.

Passing cars were giving them a wide berth, but at about 10 mph, as usual in Atlanta. If you see a flashing light, you have to slow down no matter how fast you’re going — and I’m going off on a tangent. Focus, Gary, focus. I finally creeped past and saw a white sheet on the ground, stuck under one of the wheels of the ambulance and flapping in the breeze. It was hard to tell in the flashing lights while I was trying to pay attention to the road, but . . . it looked like it had a big blood stain on it.

Creepy. Just fucking creepy. I normally listen to podcasts while driving to keep me sane, but I turned them off and tried to find something on the radio. Bunch of confusion, is what it sounded like. The normal music, but some strange news reports. Seems like there’s stuff going on all around Atlanta, but no one would just fucking come out and say what it was. Lots of speculation about terrorists, insurrection, invasion, FEMA . . . I had to quit listening when some of the more outlandish crap started to sound reasonable. This is why I hate talk radio.

And speaking of road blocks, wow. I thought I was going to have to give blood and urine samples just to get into the airport. They kept shining lights in my eyes and asking dumb questions like I’m some sort of criminal.

I tried asking what was going on once I got into the airport, but they weren’t talking either, although all the security people and gate employees were clustered in little groups, talking quietly, and looking worried. I’m guessing they don’t know any more than any of us do.

And there were helicopters darting everywhere. I can’t help but wonder if this is related to what went on in my neighborhood this morning.

I just hope there’s not some awful disease. Maybe those armored vehicles were the CDC.

[Edit: I had to pause because I got interrupted.]

I was talking with some other people in the waiting area. They saw some similar stuff on their way in, and they came in from other directions: both up and down 75, south on 85, and both east and west on 20.

Whatever the hell this is it’s

Boarding! Putting up laptop.

The CDC would shut it all down if it were a disease, right?

I’m glad I’ll be away from all this, but I would kind of like to know what’s going on.

Later!

This post is part of Zombie Apocalypse 2012, a multi-blog fictional account of a zombie uprising. Stay tuned for more posts!

You may also follow the button link to read other equally fictional Zombie Apocalypse 2012 blog entries by other writers, or join in and tell your own zombie apocalypse stories!