Fallen

[an austin entry]

 

Adam spoke to me again. Right before he passed out in the middle of Speedway, the street that bisects campus. This was two days ago, when we attempted a food run. The heat had just been too much for him to handle. He hadn't been eating or sleeping much for days. I was in the lead with Adam behind me when I heard "Dagan" between panting breaths. I turned to see that he had already dropped to his knees five feet behind me. Adam's bag of canned food pulled him backward and his head bounced of the pavement with the sound of someone thumping a ripe cantaloupe. It's hard to explain what happened next, time didn't really slow down like I've heard it described in books. For me time began to flicker. Spastic, wrenching visions I could hardly understand.

I saw blood on the pavement below Adam's head, then Sandra kneeling at his side. I was there, I grabbed Adam by the shoulder and something grabbed me by the shoulder. I wasn't thinking. Yellowed teeth dripping. I didn't turn. I saw a flap of hair hanging from the back of Adams head when Sandra lifted it to cradle in her lap. The sour taste of vomit in my mouth. I think I saw a small pool of blood actually begin to boil on the man hole cover that had stopped Adam's head in its fall to earth. Homer's knee hit me in the chest knocking me to the ground as he rushed forward putting all of his 200 pound weight behind the bat that had just zipped past the top of my head and into the outstretched mouth of the zed that had grabbed my shoulder. I saw none of it. I saw a cloudless blue sky with a hint of purple.

Then I was jerked to my feet. Time clicked back into place.

That's when I realized I had dropped my oar when I saw Adam fall, as had Sandra. Both of our weapons were now out of reach and Adams bat had rolled into a sewer drain. Of the five of us only Homer and Chants had held onto their weapons, and blood was in the air.

Hundreds of un-dead co-eds surrounded us. Mine and Sandra's sharpened boat oars were only out of reach due to the sheer number of zed's that had filled the street. They flowed in around us like a wailing stream of stinking death.

Then with the sound of a Detroit V8 pushing notes of fury out dual borla exhaust, there he was. Rolling in on twenty-four inch chrome wheels, a hero in a Cadillac of salvation.

Our hero plowed the shiny Escalade into the thickest group of zeds before yanking the wheel and pulling as tight and fast a loop around our position as possible. The turning radius was so poor that he actually had to put it in reverse to get close enough to our tattered group to throw open the locks and let us board. Homer and Chants kept their backs to the Escalade dispatching the few remaining zeds the cadi. hadn't flattened while Sandra and I loaded Adam in.

We're safe for now, but moving is still a necessity. The Cadillac had to be abandoned for the time, but I feel it will facilitate our ultimate survival once all plans are in order. Jackson Henry, was our hero that day and many since, but I'll save his story for another day. The moans grow louder.

Godspeed.

---

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Is there hope?

I envy you. I would give anything to have a place with defendable walls a supply of food and cache of weapons. Did you know that the University of Texas at Austin has over 50,000 students? After nearly four weeks trying to stay alive with the effects of this disease raging all around me I have estimated that the rate of infection is around 97%. But that's just those who caught the initial disease. Then of course you have to add in the number of people that contracted the disease through direct contact. I'm guessing the current survival rate is at .07% and falling.

 

40 acres of limestone, glass, and red tiled roofs, dorms, labs, cafeterias, with so many people in such a small space the disease bloomed here like a match dropped into a bucket of kerosene. Now there are Zeds or "once livings" everywhere, it's impossible to stay in one location for long.

 

We only have one gun, a 9mm pistol I took from the scant remains of an Austin police officer, it seems the Zeds can eat enough of a human that the disease cant bring them back. And to tell the truth, none of us are exactly good shots so we keep the gun and its remaining seven shots for ourselves if it comes to it, if we get cornered. That's the one good part about not having a defensible location, no pitched battles. We move throughout campus as a small band searching for food and information. In close quarters bludgeons work best, something with a little length. Baseball and Cricket bats are good to crush the skull and destroy the disease ridden brain, but a good broom handle or an oar can save your life by keeping them at a distance. As Alexis recently learned even a small scratch across the back as you're running between groups of the undead, to make it to the next door with a lock, can mean death. I guess there is only six shots in the gun after all. I don't know how long it takes for a person to change, and I'm not about to sit back and find out.

 

There was a moments revolt after that. Adam of all people thought I had lost my mind and lunged for the gun. Luckily, for him, Sandra's calm logical mind won him over. Adam wont speak to me any more though, and he hardly eats. I'm not sure how long he'll last. Tomorrow we'll have to make another trip to the Jester cafeteria for food. We make the trip in three layers of denim and canvas, jeans, jackets and coveralls we pilfered from the custodian locker room. It's hotter than hell but it limit's the chance of a glancing blow causing any damage. I don't know if Adam will have the strength.

 

I don't know if anyone has had the opportunity to actually study these things, but they're not dumb. They're not brainless heat-seeking flesh-craving automatons. I'm not sure if it's a hive mind or some form of communication but they are finding us much faster than before. We can't risk more than an hour in the open. And even the thick doors can't hold them back when they stack up against each other, they'll mash the ones in front to nothing but the door will eventually buckle. I'm losing hope.

 

I hope you are holding up better then our sorry group.

---

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Hell on earth

We've been under siege for the last week and a half. There have been thousands upon thousands of Zeds streaming from every corner of the city. It has been a constant battle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If we were lucky, there have been a couple of hours to allow us to clear some of the bodies from the walls. We had to abandon all attempts at keeping quiet and not drawing attention to our position in our effort to hold back the hordes of creatures attacking us.

During the past week we have sustained heavy casualties, not only from Zed, but from inside our defenses as well. Accidents from falling over the walls took the lives of fourteen men and women trying to fight back Zed. These accidents could have been prevented if our defenses had been under the direction of one individual coordinating our forces. But the real tragedies came from inside, when one of our own suffered a mental breakdown and actually tried to open the doors. No one can really fault her for suffering mentally, but we can't deny that she caused a major breach in our security.

In her attempts to escape, she suffered injuries caused by a Zed pushing his way in the door. She hid her wounds from those who pulled her back inside. In our attempts to restore the defenses, no one checked on her. Four hours later the inevitable happened and she turned. She was able to wound six more people before we could subdue her. She was, terminated, and her body was destroyed along with the other Zed bodies outside. The six wounded took it upon themselves to end their lives in order to keep everyone else safe from what was going to happen to them. These brave souls made a sacrifice to protect us, and we will always remember them and their courage.

We have since elected a leader to coordinate our efforts in defense and survival. I was elected into this position...regretfully. I'm not sure that I am the best person for this job, but I will do everything in my power to get us out of here safely. We are planning scavenger missions in the surrounding area to shore up our food and supplies. We are also making plans to expand our defensive perimeter to keep Zed farther away from our central defensive and living area. We can't keep reacting and expect to live through this; we have to start fighting back.

While Austin Sleeps

While Austin Sleeps
*****************************************

I don't understand how a disease can do this to a person. How can it spread so fast? I just. . . . I'm sorry this is one of the first chances I've had to get to a working computer since this all began. I'm really not sure how to begin. Just...

My name is Dagan Moore, and up until a few weeks ago I was a junior at the University of Texas at Austin in the Mechanical Engineering program. I was taking summer classes in the hopes of graduating in 4 years instead of the usual 5. Now I'm bashing in the skulls of my professors and classmates or worse, watching as they devour the living.

Three weeks ago I was in the library, the PCL 11th floor. I have been putting off my science courses as long as I could and this summer it was time to pay the price. It looked like it was going to take an act of God for me to pass Bio. Chem. I guess in a way that's what happened. I had a corner that no one else knew about, it was my exam spot, no one to bother you and no guard to kick you out. I guess I had fallen asleep around 2:00 am. The sun was still tucked behind the horizon when my roommate Adam, Adam Berskin, and his girlfriend Sandra Nguyen woke me up.

Sandra is in my program but happens to be one of those lucky SOB's that hardly has to lift a finger, in other words she's about twice as fucking smart as I ever think I could be. Adam's a Lit. major and I'm not sure how the two of them got together, but barring classes they never leave each others' side. It was Sandra that showed me the tunnel system under the school. That's how they got to me that night. They had heard the alarms going off and turned on the TV in time to catch one of the last reports coming out of the east coast about the plague.

The "Quarantine," or as I like to call it marshal law was being put into effect while everyone slept. It seemed like a thousand flood lights kicked on and lit the sky while Adam, who was very out of breath, tried to explain what the report had said. My arms were raised above my head in a stretch when the night sky lit up. If it hadn't I wouldn't be writing this now. Roughly fifteen feet behind Sandra was Amir, an amazing mathematician I had met a couple times in different classes, but something was very wrong with him. His eyes were all white and he was moving like he didn't have total control of his body. I would have thought he was drunk if I hadn't known him to be a very devout Lebanese Muslim, then I noticed his lips. What looked to be a crazy smile was in fact the look a face gets when a person chews off their own lips.

Amir's skin was so pale it almost seemed grey and open wounds had begun to fester all over his once olive skin. I gasped and let out a pathetic scream while yanking both Sandra and Adam behind me and away from Amir's outstretched hands. The skin and meat had peeled back from the tips of his fingers leaving little more than red tinged bone dripping with gore. Out of sheer terror I grabbed the chair closest to meet and hurled it at Amir with everything I had. I must have gotten lucky with the way the chair hit or maybe the way Amir's head hit the study table behind him when he fell either way he was the first. Some since then hardly even rate a blur in my memory but the second death of Amir at my hands is crystal in my mind, and I fear it always will be.

I've gone on too long as is. There were 17 of us when this started now there are 5. I try not to think about those we have lost and only hope those that remain can find a safe place. For those that may be reading this and curious, the survivors are Adam Berskin, Sandra Nguyen, Chants Bennividas, Alexis Johns, Homer Gaige, and myself.

We have to keep moving, but I'll try and write again soon now that I know others are out there to read it.



--
Brent Acuff
"I drank what?!" -- Socrates

Success

Our bow and crossbow training has been a success. We've been using these weapon systems almost exclusively for the past couple of days and the results have been dramatic. There has been a drastic reduction in the number of Zeds that have been attracted to our compound. I takes a couple of shots for some, especially if our aim is off just a touch. These aren't the most accurate of systems, but they do have their advantages.

Not everything is good news concerning this new tactic. Because we had to wait for Zed to come in to the walls itself, it forced us to have to stand at the very edge of the roof line to line up a shot. We didn't think about a safety harness and we paid for it -- well, Benton paid for it. A gust of wind knocked him off balance and over the roof. We heard him go over, but weren't able to get a shot at Zed before he tore into Benton. God he screamed! No one knew what to do for him, but in reality, there was nothing we could do. Well, almost nothing.

I asked for the rifle of the bow teams backup. He never saw it coming. At least he didn't have to worry about becoming one of them. His wife is pretty angry with me. Murderous is more appropriate. We've taken her off of any duties for the time being and some of the other wives are trying to help her. I'm sorry for what I had to do, but we had to do it. Letting an infected person inside would be signing our own death warrant.

More contamination removal details are being sent out in just a few minutes. We've got to clear the walls and collect our spent bolts and arrows. We can be lax in our defense or else we'll doom ourselves.

To anyone else out there, keep strong and safe.

Under siege

We have been under siege for three days now. Our cleanup procedures have done nothing but send up signal fires to these unholy creatures...literally. And everytime we deal with one, the gunfire signals more. There are hundreds of corpses surrounding the walls. They are stacked so deep in one area that we are concerned about the creatures gaining access to the roof, compromising our position. As soon as we get a moment free of them, we'll have to send out a clearing party to remove the stacks of bodies.

I don't know how we will decide who goes without causing in internal riot.

The training with bows and crossbows is going well. We are planning to implement these weapons on the rooftops within the next couple of days. This should drastically reduce the number of zombies we are drawing to us with the gunfire...I hope.

Weapons, ammunition, and food supplies are holding out. I am already making plans for what to do when the food stores start running low. We should have a couple of more weeks without the need to severely ration, but plans need to be made now for that time.

The good news (if there is any), Brad was able to successfully adapt one of the generators for use with a stationary bike. This will greatly increase our ability to have electricity available when we need it. Now that we know how to convert these, we have plans to convert almost all of the generators over to bike power. We lost power yesterday for a short time and can't rely too much on power from the grid anymore. At least we can still use hard line phones, though it doesn't seem like anyone is out there.

Nightmare senario

The man died last night. Well, kind of. What I feared was true. He died shortly after everyone came down from the roof. I had to keep a couple of them out of the room; they thought they could save him. They watched and saw what I know was about to happen.

Shortly after he stopped breathing, he sat up. He was dead, but he sat up! Then the moaning started. It was terrifying and the most horrific thing that I've ever seen. I don't know how many fainted or screamed, but I do know that they understood what had just happened outside. And we were all scarred.

I vaguely heard someone ask what we do now. No one offered up an answer, so I spoke up. We had to kill it, and we had to kill it immediately. We moved everyone back from the gun room and two loaded rifles. When everyone was in place, Brad and I opened the doors to let it out. The two shooters had been instructed to aim at its head, and the thing went down as soon as the doors were open.

We've now organized a security detail for constant surveillance. Ten people were on constant watch from the room, rotated out every four hours. There was concern that the electricity would not last, so Brad got started modifying some of the the portable generators so that they could be run by using a stationary bike system. I had read in "The Zombie Survival Guide" that gunfire brings more creatures around, so I instituted training sessions to improve peoples skills with hunting bows and crossbows. Since the creatures would be in close proximity to the building, we should be able to quietly take them out from the rooftop with hunting bows.

The most despised job was policing up the bodies. Everyone was instructed to wear water-proof rain gear, gloves, and masks to prevent any possible contamination. The bodies were moved to the middle of the parking lot and set on fire to help prevent any biohazard contamination of our building. People will only be asked to do this task no more than once a week. It is horrible and stressful work, dealing with possible contamination and the threat of more creatures showing up. Each rooftop guard is given an emergency whistle in order to warn of an approaching creature.

I hope that these measures will prevent any further contamination of this complex and keep us safe. Everyone has been issued hearing protection and instructed to use them when they are not on duty. I read that the sound of these creatures can drive a person mad. We have too many other problems to deal with from the outside. We don't need a problem inside.

If anyone is out there, please send help. Information is vital. Good luck and stay safe wherever you are.