Z4. Nov 1, 2013. Day 32.

This evening an alert went across all channels.  There was an outbreak this afternoon at the Miami-Dade Quarantine Facility. A second outbreak at a nightclub in downtown Miami at 8pm EST. Miami was placed under quarantine by the CDC and Homeland Security 10 minutes later.  Traffic has been streaming out of Florida toward Alabama and Georgia. A third outbreak occurred at 9pm EST in one of the traffic lines going into Alabama; the quarantine is currently throughout Florida and Alabama, and a state of emergency was declared. Martial law has been implemented. Louisiana and Georgia are under high alert, and also under martial law.   The most terrifying reports are that Homeland Security has started shooting infected Americans to hold the quarantine line.  Holy…

The news makes you feel like something is pressing on your chest. The anxiety crawls up your throat. You have to leave and protect your family and friends.  Several of your buddies have started a ‘fort’ out in the wilderness a couple weeks ago. At that time news reporters were making fun of them, and the EPA tried to arrest them using their SWOT team, until Congress told them to back off. The Forest Service made public statements to request the group, who called themselves “the Renegades” (sigh), leave. But the rumor has spread that the local forest service rangers started a second camp about two miles away, over the ridgeline.  You quietly pack up the survival gear that you have been pulling out of the garage and dusting off over the last few weeks.  You tell your family, your friends, your dog and your cat to pack up. Ok, you pack up the dog and cat. And you head up to spend the zombie apocalypse with the rest of the crazies.

In your head you are totally prepared to be camping until this whole thing is over. God bless engineers and construction guys. There is a running toilet and shower set up.  There’s even a television.    The camp is quite a lot larger than the number of people present; you are guessing it can hold 50, and there are about 30 people there. An eclectic mix of engineers, educators, medical professionals and artists.

As part of the camp, you are allotted certain activities to assist with building the camp up properly. You assist the group by doing at least one of the following (no injuries!):

·         Carry 10 gallons of water 100 feet.

·         Practice zombie defense/killing: You will need a medium weight rock about the size of a baseball. Get out to a hilly area and practice throwing the rock at an object about the height of a zombie head, attempting to hit the head. Do this until your arm is tired.  Try to increase your distance so that you wouldn’t be too close to the zombie.

·         Practice zombie responsiveness: be quick on your feet. Do 30 burpees as fast as you can, at least under 5 minutes.

·         Injured/sick: purify 10 gallons of water.

·         It is ok to do a selection from the October list.