In Hiding: A Survivors Journal of the Great Outbreak (2 page)

But
the National Guard was there for another reason as well. Secretly they were
there to protect the people from the infected and prepare for the worst case
scenario. They started responding to emergency calls to back up police and
emergency personnel. They were also there to try and round up and quarantine
any of the infected and do it as quietly as possible.

They
tried to hide it, but they couldn’t keep it quiet for long. We saw the footage
on the news. We saw all of it happening on live television. Once word got out
of what they were doing and what they were trying to hide from the public, well
things took a strange turn. There were actually groups of people who started to
protest against the mistreatment of those who were infected with the virus. We
had heard the stories coming out of other countries about the use of excessive force
when it came to dealing with the infected. But here in America it actually drew
outrage from various groups of people.

Looking
back now it seems absolutely ridiculous. But it’s easy to forget that back then
most people didn’t see the infected as monsters. They saw them simply as people
who were sick. At that time it was difficult to hear stories of our own
soldiers firing on American citizens, or hear stories of them being rounded up
and brought to camps. They were still family members, friends, and neighbors at
that point. So I watched people protest on the news while the world went to
hell.

I
was still going to work in those days. I am not sure why now that I think about
it. Maybe I was trying to maintain some level of normalcy in my life. Maybe I just
never truly believed things would get as bad as they did. I mean I would still
go out for drinks with friends and do things like that. We all tried to go on
like nothing was happening. Of course the outbreak was all we could talk about.
It was the only thing anyone was talking about and that was probably because it
was the only thing on the news anymore. In fact most television shows weren’t
even being broadcast at that point, making room for around the clock coverage
of the outbreak. Funny thing is that despite all of the airtime, there were
still very few actual facts.

I
mean the only real warning I can remember hearing was to avoid anyone who was
showing signs of being ill and to stay alert. Great advice. Yet, despite all
the evidence of what was happening out there most people were still having a
hard time understanding just how serious this whole thing had become. I heard
that some people actually tried driving family members that had been infected
to the hospital. Knowing what I know now, I can’t even imagine what that ride
must have been like. No matter how many times people saw the videos or the
pictures, I don’t think that anyone really understood the true severity of what
we were dealing with at the time.

But
that would all change with the Columbia incident. Columbia, South Carolina was
where the entire country finally had a chance to see and understand what we
were up against. A local newscaster was reporting from in front of one those
medical camps that had been set up by the National Guard. She was in the middle
of her report when all hell broke loose behind her. Doctors, nurses, soldiers
all began running out of the main tent. The cameraman had the perfect angle to
catch everything as it unfolded behind the reporter. What followed them out of
the tent was a few dozen of the infected. They all reminded me of that guy from
the video in Ohio. As slow as they moved and as clumsy as they looked, they
still managed to grab a hold of some of the medical staff. They caught a few of
them and dragged some of those poor people to the ground. Then it looked like
they were biting them. It looked like they were trying to eat them.

That
was when the soldiers opened fire. That was brutal in itself, but the most
horrifying thing was the footage that followed. The bullets didn’t seem to stop
them. Some of the infected fell to the ground as the bullets hit them, but then
they got back to their feet and just kept walking towards the soldiers. It
looked like the shots had no affect on them whatsoever. The news feed ended
abruptly at that point. Apparently the networks felt what followed was too
violent to show on television. I can’t imagine what was worse then what we had
already seen. That footage was broadcast across the country and what followed
could only be described as total chaos.

It
was about that time when I first heard the term Zed used to describe the
infected. The term had originated on the Internet as a way to generalize those
who had succumbed to the virus. I guess it was short for zombie and it was
mainly used by those of us that could see the similarities between the infected
and the zombies of movies and books. Besides, using the word zombie was pretty
much taboo at that point. Anytime anyone used the zombie word in relation to
the virus they were immediately ridiculed for it. It seemed like everyone
wanted to ignore the glaring similarities. Maybe they weren’t zombies, but they
were pretty damn close if you ask me.

Anyway,
after what transpired in Columbia, panic started to rip through society, as
people grew more and more afraid of the virus. There were a lot of accidental
shootings in those days. Not only did people have to fear the Zeds, but the
people who might mistake them for one. Walking around at night became so
dangerous, my city and many others put a strict curfew in place. Everyone had
to be home before dark or face possible jail time or fines. But the shootings
just didn’t happen at night and not all of them were simply a case of
misidentification. Things had started to fall apart.

It
didn’t take me long to realize that the virus wasn’t the only thing to be
worried about. I knew that I had to protect myself from other people and what
they might do. Panic was starting to set in and I needed to be vigilant. People
were capable of strange things when they were scared. So I started barricading
my door each night before I went to bed. I would push my couch in front of my
door and I slept with a baseball bat next to my nightstand. It wasn’t just to
protect myself from Zeds. One of my biggest fears was the increase in break-ins
and that someone would steal my flat screen television, my laptop, my tablet
and all the things I cared so much about. The police were too busy with the
outbreak to handle things like theft and there were plenty of people out there
who knew it.

Then
just when things didn’t seem like they could get any worse, the economy went
into the toilet. I mean obviously there were more important things to worry
about at the time. But that came with serious consequences.

People
around the world were starting to see that the situation wasn’t going to be
resolved anytime soon. Some pulled their money out of the banks, the stock
market started to collapse, and the price of goods started to rise. People were
hoarding supplies and rarely leaving their homes. Most businesses suffered as
employees just stopped showing up for work. Some stores and businesses just
shut their doors and hoped to ride out the storm.

Some
stores did stay open however. They made a killing jacking up prices and gouging
customers on basic supplies. I know it was illegal, but who was really going to
stop them. There were bigger issues to deal with.

With
everything progressively getting worse the governments of North America
mutually closed their borders. Many countries across Europe had already issued
travel bans and closed airports. Limiting travel was one-way most governments
believed they could stop the spread of infection. But travelers weren’t the
only things blocked from crossing borders. Trade had pretty much stopped
altogether. That meant that certain products and resources were no longer being
exported or imported. Prices on things like fuel spiked as the supply slowed
and the demand grew.

I
remember watching plenty of stories on the news about people attacking gas
station attendants and grocery clerks, outraged by prices or not having what
they needed. It was ugly to say the very least. Luckily I never really saw too
much of that kind of stuff in my neighborhood. By the time things like that started
to happen around here it was already too late.

It
was becoming obvious to me that we were on the verge of disaster. But watching
it all unfold on television is one thing. It really hit me when the unthinkable
finally happened. It was the moment the outbreak became all too real for me.

I
was out on the balcony of my third floor condo sometime just around midnight. I
was having a real hard time sleeping with everything that was going on. Every
loud noise, every footstep in the hallway gave me an uneasy feeling that
someone or something was just outside my door. My imagination would run wild
throughout the night with the possible terrors that could be just outside my
walls.

Well
that night I saw a Zed in person for the first time and to be honest they were
even more terrifying then the television made them out to be. I could see him
standing below just across the street. With the curfew in place there was
nobody else out on the roads. He just stood there, perfectly still, looking out
at nothing with a blank look on his face. His clothes were ripped and his face
a mess, he just stood there and it sent a shiver down my spine.

I
didn’t move. I remember trying not to make a sound. Then for no reason that I
could see he started walking down the street. His movements were unnatural and
clumsy as he slowly moved away. He seemed to ignore all the buildings as if
they didn’t even exist.
 
I never
moved. I just watched him as he stumbled down the road and didn’t go back
inside until I was sure he was long gone. I never went to sleep that night and
in the morning the local media reported several incidents had taken place all
across the city.

People
woke up in the middle of the night to find Zeds roaming around their back yard.
There were reports of Zeds pounding on doors and windows of homes trying to get
inside. The police and the Army responded to multiple emergency calls to find
terrified families barricaded inside their homes. If the windows or doors
didn’t hold, well neighbors mostly reported those stories.

In
the days that followed, most people stayed inside, huddled around their
television afraid to leave the safety of their homes. The accidental shootings
had started to happen in my city. Close to my home. Close to my work. People
were scared and didn’t know what to do. Mistrust grew between neighbors and
friends, we watched everyone closely for signs that they had become infected.
That they were going to turn into a mindless cannibal and come after us in the
middle of the night.

You
could feel it in the air. Every time I heard the sirens of emergency vehicles I
froze for a moment and wondered what was happening. Every so often I heard
gunshots in the middle of the afternoon. Sometimes it felt like they had come
from just a few blocks away. Everything just felt different, like at any moment
the levy would give way and the outbreak would spill out and consume us all.

Things
in my region were growing worse by the day. But the news that was coming out of
some of the major cities was down right disturbing. Cities like New York,
Baltimore and Boston seemed to be on the brink. They had seen a steady rise in
attacks and the cities were basically on lockdown. In some instances
evacuations were already underway and one astonishing scene that I remember
watching was the military in a full on fight to protect the residents as they
fled. I watched it all with amazement, shocked by what was happening. But I
found it difficult to worry about the people in those cities because I knew
that it would only be a matter of time before the worst of it all made its way
to where I was.

More
and more I saw the police out on the streets. The National Guard and the Army
were driving around neighborhoods. Buildings and sometimes there were entire
city blocks being quarantined. It had reached the point where I knew I needed
to do something but I just didn’t know what. I had no idea how to plan for
something like this. I thought about buying a gun, I thought about leaving
town. I just didn’t know where I could go.

The
next day a man was attacked by a group of Zeds only three blocks away from my
condo. They never reported if the man survived or not. That was when I knew it
was time to start planning my exit strategy.

That
day turned out to be my last day at work. Well, it was the last day I decided
to show up anyway. I could tell that the worst was coming and it was coming
soon. When I arrived at work that day most of the staff had either called in or
just hadn’t shown up at all. It really made me question why the hell I was still
going to the office with everything that was going on in the world.

I
spent most of that morning in the break room watching the news. It was probably
sometime shortly after lunch when the local news put a crawl along the bottom
of their broadcast listing different safe zones and shelters that had been set
up by authorities. There were dozens of places all across the city and they
suggested that anyone who did not feel safe in their homes should grab what
they could carry and immediately make their way to the nearest one. That was
enough for me. I decided to go home.

That
drive home was when knew that I needed to get out of town and fast. Police cars
and military vehicles were everywhere. People were all over the sidewalks and
there were more cars on the road then I had ever seen before. Every car seemed
to be loaded up with people and luggage. They were all headed to shelters or on
their way out of town to stay with family in other parts of the country. I
guess they had all seen the same thing I had and drawn the same conclusion.