December 27th, 2018

0017

Atlanta, GA

Complex Survivors

Mark, 23 (E)

Kay, 25 (E)

Missy, 6 (E)

Hannah, 23 (D)

Allison, 22 (D)

Male Neighbor (F)

Elderly Female Neighbor (F)

Ashley, 20 (C)

Marcus, 8 (C)

I guess it had to happen eventually. The entire world was obsessed with the notion of zombies. There were graphic novels, television shows, movies, and more video games than you could shake a severed head at. All revolving around the idea that a plague would someday sweep the world, taking all but the smallest percentage of humanity with it. We were enthralled by it. Who hasn't fantasized about being the leader of a ragtag group of survivors? Organizing supply runs, assigning jobs, sitting up on a tower with a rifle, ensuring your friends and family were safe from any surprise attacks by the undead.

And, I hate to admit it, it actually is kinda fun. I didn't ask to be the leader of this building. I just kinda started giving directions and everyone else started listening. I guess it's because I act a lot older than I actually am. At the time of this post, I am 23 years old. My dad was a cop and a bit of a hardass. SUPER paranoid too. I inherited a lot of personality traits from him, not the least of which was his paranoia. To this day, I can't sit without my back to the wall at a restaurant or let someone walk behind me through a doorway. But even those quirks are useful when everyone around you could be plotting against you (not to be dramatic or anything).

I'm rambling now. Sorry. I've never kept a journal before. But I figured a record of our survival (or lack thereof) might be a fun read someday. Plus, I'm writing this from my couch after my first day of "leadership" so my mind is kind of reeling. Bear with me.

According to the news, it's one of those virus type of zombie plagues, but who knows for sure? All we know is that we woke up one day and there were a bunch of things that looked and acted like zombies that were trying to eat us. And succeeding. They caught us by such surprise, most people fell within the first day. Others were too trigger happy and got swarmed when the zombies followed the noise of their gunshots.

My complex seems to be relatively safe. There's enough brick buildings and winding streets for everyone to hide safely or outrun the zombies if need be. The only shitty places to hide would be the bottom floors, as they have patios with glass doors that open out straight onto the ground.

I haven't ventured too far from my building, which (thankfully) is at the far back of the complex, bordered by woods and accessible only via a stupidly steep hill. The first time I was certain that my neighbors would not try to shoot me or eat me, I walked to the edge of the complex to see what I could see.

What I saw was a few staggering zombies wandering around the lake in the center of the complex and a completely empty highway. The zombies at the lake were the Romero type (slow, stupid, drawn to noise) so they were easy to outwalk. Although I did keep glancing over my shoulder the whole way up the hill.

Disclaimer: I have no idea if there are any other type of zombies around me other than Romeros but I seriously hope there's no 28 Days Later types because I would be FUCKED.

I wasn't stupid enough to leave my apartment without some protection, fyi. Along with being incredibly paranoid, my dad also collected a lot of weaponry from various cultures around the world. I've got swords, machetes, Arabian daggers, hidden daggers, throwing daggers, and a few daggers I'm not even sure where they're from or how to use them. And, since he was a cop, I have an undercover .38 revolver. I only have 17 bullets for it and I've never fired it a day in my life.

I brought the revolver, a machete, and a decorative tanto (basically a short katana). I probably looked like a wannabe cowboy going through a weeaboo stage, but it was how I felt the safest.

My girlfriend stayed behind in our apartment, along with our dog Missy. Kay, my girlfriend, is horrible in stressful situations. I figured the safest place for her to be was in our third floor apartment with the door locked and chained, and with our 80 lb German Shepherd on guard.

Don't tell the zombies, but Missy is the most gentle dog in the world when it comes to people. Unless the zombies broke in wearing ski masks, she would probably drop her toy in front of them and want to play. I'm not planning on putting her fighting skills to the test any time soon.

Kay knows how to use a gun. She grew up like I did in Wisconsin. Her family is big into hunting so she knows how to use a rifle, a pistol, and a bow. But I haven't actually seen her fire a gun, so I don't know how good she actually is.

Me? My sister's ex-boyfriend is a state-champion trap shooter. He taught me to use a shotgun and a rifle when I was 17 and I got pretty damn good at it. It's been a minute since I had to shoot anything though. And I've never had to shoot something in the head as it was stumbling toward me trying to get at my brains. I'll guess we'll have to wait and see.

When I got back home, my downstairs neighbor was rushing out of her apartment, searching frantically for something. She asked me if I had seen her mother anywhere. I told her I haven't. Even if I had seen her mother, I probably wouldn't have recognized her. I knew this girl lived with her mom and her little brother. But if I had to pick them out of a lineup? Forget it. All I know about this girl is she smokes enough weed that it comes up through the floorboards and practically knocks me out.

She said she hadn't heard from her mom all day. No answer from any text messages or phone calls. She wanted to go out and search for her, but she had to stay in and care for her brother. The poor girl was a mess. And who could blame her. I told her Kay and I would watch her brother if she wanted to go out and look. She very earnestly agreed and lead me into her apartment. She called her brother (apparently his name is Marcus as well) and told him I'd be watching him for a little bit. The kid was reluctant, understandably, but his sister convinced him that it would be alright.

She thanked me and introduced herself as Ashley. I lead Marcus up the stairs to my apartment as Ashley got in her car and went to find her mom.

Kay was still shaken up about the fact that zombies were wandering the streets (also understandable), but having Marcus around was a good distraction for her. If there's one thing Kay is good at, it's caring for children.

Having played enough zombie games to know a bit of what to do, I started taking stock of our food. It was a pretty pathetic stock, to be honest. A few cold pancakes, several boxes of cereal, some frozen pizzas, three steaks, and scattered snack foods. Other than that, just the ingredients for larger meals. Kay is a great cook and cooking is a great distraction. I told her she should make some of the meals and freeze them, just in case our gas stove doesn't work later. She said she was too stressed to cook. I think she missed the point of the suggestion.

After writing down our measly food rations, I decided to see if anyone else in our building was still here.

The first check was apartment F. Our next door neighbor is a man in his thirties and his mother. Other than occasional nods of acknowledgement, I've never spoken to either of them. I knocked on their door and announced myself. Despite announcing myself, the man refused to open the door. I told him I just wanted to make sure everyone in the building was alright. He assured me he was fine. I asked about his mother, and he said she was fine too. We had the entire conversation through the thick wooden door.

After F, I went down the stairs to C and D. C was Ashley, Marcus, and their mother's home. D belonged to two women, about the same age as Kay and I. We had met them a few times and exchanged a few friendly words, but we had never spent any time with them. I knocked on their door and announced myself, but received no answer. I assured them that I meant them no harm and only wanted to make sure they were alright. Allison opened the door tentatively. I introduced myself again and asked if she was okay. She said yes. She was just scared. I asked her if her and her roommate Hannah would like to stay in our apartment. She was very enthusiastic and agreed immediately. I told her to grab whatever she needs to feel safe and go upstairs. Announce herself as our downstairs neighbor and tell Kay that "Mark said it was okay". I texted Kay to tell her the same thing, then moved on to the bottom floor of the building. Apartments A and B.

The tenant of apartment A had moved out a few weeks prior to the world going to shit, but I knocked on the door anyways. No answer. I knocked on B and was greeted with the same silence.

I decided my own building was enough for now. I would check out the other buildings another day.

I went back up to our apartment and knocked before opening the door. Kay was on the couch with Marcus. On our second couch was Allison and Hannah. Each had cups of hot chocolate, except Kay, who had tea. There was a cup of coffee waiting for me beside her.

She asked me what I found, and I told her the truth. Our next door neighbors refused to leave their home. The other apartments were empty.

I drank my coffee and discussed the situation with Allison and Hannah. Kay took Marcus into the next room so that he wouldn't have to hear about the brutal topic. I think she did it more for her own sanity than his, to be honest.

Allison and Hannah didn't have any more information than I did about the zombies. Other than the news, neither of them had seen any in person. The only zombies I had seen with my own eyes were the few shambling around the lake. And that was at a great distance. I shudder to think what they'd look (and smell) like when you're face to face.

Hannah's boyfriend lived across the city. She was still in touch with him, but he was unable to get to her due to the highway's being closed down. He was holed up safely in his own house with a few of his friends. She seemed pretty upset about being away from him.

I decided to change the subject when Hannah looked like she might cry. I asked them how much food they had in their apartment. After their quizzical looks, I explained that maybe sticking together would be our best chance of survival. Allison seemed to agree and listed off everything she could think of. It was not much more than what Kay and I have.

I asked about any weapons after that. Allison held up a sharp kitchen knife. Hannah held up a hammer. They said they didn't have much more than that in their apartment. Hannah's boyfriend has a few guns, but that didn't help us at the moment.

By this point, it was around dinner time. I asked if they were both okay with steaks, but apparently they're both vegetarian and we don't have much in that area. Allison wanted to get the food from her apartment, but she didn't want to go alone so I agreed to go with her. I told Kay what we were doing and to lock the door behind us.

Allison's apartment was fairly neat, but I wouldn't have blamed her if it was a total mess. She grabbed as much from her fridge as she could carry and brought it all back to my apartment. Hannah opened the door for us immediately, without asking who it was. I made a mental note that we should probably have some sort of password, just in case there were hostile survivors around, but I didn't want to be that guy and say we need a secret password for our hidden fort.

Allison and I made our own dinners. I made steak for Kay and I. She made stir fry for herself and Hannah. Marcus picked at each of our meals.

Around 8pm, Ashley knocked at the door and we let her. I introduced her to the others and asked about her mother. She said her mom was not at her work and her aunt was not answer her phone either. She was pretty visibly distraught. I tried to comfort her, but I don't think that was a possibility at the moment.

We all stayed in the living room for the rest of the evening, talking about whatever came to our minds. Mainly zombies, of course. I hid my "severed zombie arm incense holder" when no one was looking.

Once we all agreed that sticking together was a good plan, I showed everyone around the apartment and explained that we had one bed and three couches. Kay and I agreed to let Ashley and Marcus take the bed. I offered the two living room couches to Hannah and Allison, but neither wanted to be anywhere near the front door. Instead, they slept in our reading room. Hannah took the couch in the reading room and Allison took the floor. Kay and I took the living room couches.

That's where I am now. Writing this on my computer for posterity's sake alone. If I make it through this long enough to have kids, maybe they'll enjoy reading about their dad taking charge during the first days of the apocalypse. Who knows. Maybe they'll take charge of the journal after I'm gone.

Only time will tell.

-Marcus Bradford