Z5. Nov 17, 2013. Day 48.

You wake up on the couch of the 'resort' (your little joke to yourself) after a nice nap. Other than chores, you have really caught up on sleep here. Your neck is twisted in an awkward position,  and unfortunate trail of drool has dried across the corner of your chin.  You feel thick and foggy and crinkled in the brain, and your neck is aching. The tv is playing some infomercial, too loudly. Your clothes are wrinkled into the shape of your body and have the greasy feeling of human oils. You want a shower.

It is then that a vile scent hits you.  You realize that you were awaken by a waft of this scent to begin with. Your body goes rigid. The scent is like… rotten broccoli… mixed with rotten eggs… mixed with a leather factory.  You brain reels trying to define the odor.

You focus on barely breathing, moving your head slowly, and just slightly, tense to run. In the dim light of the infomercial flashing you see it standing there. One of the infected. It rocks slightly. Bad eyesight. You remind yourself that the news claims they have bad eyesight at this phase of the infection.

You (either):

You jump up, screaming “ZOMBIE!!!” to alert the rest of the camp.  You sprint 0.25 mile at your fastest pace, to get away.

The zombie turns slightly. You have to get to the alarm bell 200 feet away. Sneak as quietly as you can, crawling if you have to, to get to the alarm bell.

You have 24 hours from when you read this email to complete this challenge.

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.

Z3. Oct 23, 2013. Day 23

Outbreak at New Ellis Island Quarantine Contained

By Anther Banghart - October 23, 2013 9:10 AM EDT. Online Edition

An outbreak at the New Ellis Island Quarantine Facility was contained Tuesday at 7:00 pm EST. The New Ellis Island facility is sectioned off by entry dates; the Day 14 section was affected. Officials have not released any official numbers, but approximately 20 individuals are believed to have survived; 200 are believed dead. Survivors have been placed in isolated quarantine.

The list of individuals affected will not be released until families have been notified.

This is the first outbreak in an American quarantine facility and the fifth in-quarantine outbreak internationally. Outbreaks in facilities in London, Madrid, Bombay and Tokyo have caused the deaths of 16,178 in last 5 days. This does not include the devastation along the equatorial region of Africa.  Early estimates of several million dead are considered low. 

An international state of emergency was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on October 19th during the first outbreak in quarantine (Madrid). All international travel to the continent of Africa has been halted except aide, medical advisers and peacekeeping forces.

Please note that this is another fake news story for the purpose of Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program, and any connection to any real people is imagined. Hey- you! Yes, you. Only 8 more days until the end of October. Several people have the zombie challenge done! Do you?

Montana Logger- Zombie Challenge Complete!

City people are going to be amazed we had more than one "chop a cord of wood" as the selected zombie challenge. Go team!

Legacy, Zombie Killer! Zombie Challenge Complete!

This photo is fantastic! Good preparedness to start killing zombies straight away!

Oct Fitness!!

Got my challenge done this am, I hope everyone else is getting it done as well!

z2. Oct 11, 2013. Day 11.

This morning you opened the news on the web and were not surprised to see budget discussions dominating. As you were about to close the news in disgust, this report crossed the wire and caught your attention:

 

Travel Quarantine and Delays for Parts of Western Africa

CDC Responds to Illness, Deaths in Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Anther Banghart - October 11, 2013 11:30 AM PT

At 10 am EDT Friday the U.S. State Department, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), initiated a full quarantine for the nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).   All international travel to the area has been halted. Neighboring countries, including Zambia and Tanzania, will have highly restricted travel.

Individuals planning to travel to West Africa should check the state department web page before attempting to enter or exit the region.  Extreme delays are anticipated and travelers should be prepared to provide detailed itineraries.  Individuals who cannot prove travel routes will be subject to quarantine prior to reentry to the United States.

Quarantine areas are being expanded at all international ports. Several thousand federal employees have been called back from furlough in order to assist with the efforts.

The illness may be related to the Ebola hemorrhagic virus, including a high mortality rate and bleeding from the eyes and mouth.  Unlike Ebola, the hemorrhaging is reported to occur while the infected person is still mobile.  Ebola first presents as flu-like symptoms, before affecting the nervous and respiratory systems. 

 

Aide efforts to the area have been severely limited by the ongoing civil unrest.  Air drops of food and other supplies have occurred in a few targeted areas.

The Ebola hemorrhagic fever was first discovered in the DRC in 1976, with an outbreak of what was later called the Zaire strain.  The Zaire strain has the highest fatality rate, 83% in small outbreaks, and 90% during epidemics.  The last outbreak was in 2008; however experts in the field believe that small unrecorded events occur frequently. 

Please note that this is a fake news story for the purpose of Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program, and any connection to any real people is imagined. However research was done to add an air of authenticity to this report, so some of the facts presented here may be accurate.