You are Not Alone

Whoa. Uh, hello everyone.

First things first: I gotta say this is a surprise.

Not the whole suddenly-a-google-site-works business, because I knew they were prepping for data storage and post-apocalyptic networking long before all this went down. Instead, it surprises me that this seems to be the only bit that works. Seriously, pre-chaos Google owned a massive chunk of internet resources and this is the only one left? A blogging site outlives some of the government’s most secure networks in an apocalypse. Hell, we can’t send launch codes to the silos in North Dakota except by smoke signal, but hey, I can blog about how the Joneses bought a bigger TV and they use it to watch their annoying sports shows and their kid hurt my feelings yesterday oh, by the way, they’re all rotting gibbering mindless cannibal machines now so the joke’s on them. 

I don't actually know what you write in a blog. I've never really done this before.

Even more surprising? I had to make a Google+ account, not that anyone can actually use it. It’s the downfall of everything we know and they’re still fighting the social media war? Checkmate, Facebook.

Anyways, hi? I’m Tyler from Atlanta…kind of. I was a grad student here until everything went down. I’m not quite sure how this is working, but we’re transmitting information from the Air Route Traffic Control Center south of Atlanta. We communicate a lot of stuff to the safe zones to the west, I guess this connection is a part of that?

I always knew there were other people out there, but I guess not all of you do. Let me assure you of this:

You are not alone.

Transmit time is ending soon, I wasted too much time figuring this stuff out I guess. I’ll see if this still works the next time we’re broadcasting.

I just have a few minutes.

Pastor Dan
Eastern Wisconsin
Fox River Valley QZ

I picked up another cistern disposal shift to pick up a few extra minutes of power and computer time today. I don't have long, but I want to start telling my story. Every day the Commandant reminds us of all the things that COULD still kill us, and before that happens, I want to say how I got here, after everything went crazy. You see, I wasn't supposed to be here at all.

My family has had a plan since the Cuban Missile Crisis that, should some major, world ending event come (they, of course, were thinking nuclear apocalypse, not the groaners) then we would get together at the lake house in Kentucky. (More I won't say, in case some did make it and others are reading this.) It was remote, surrounded by good farm land and a good supply of fresh water. We figured it would be a good place to dodge the worst, and if we did end, hey, we'd end together.

After the cameras bled I started making my plans for Rose and I to go, but the trip was already impossible. Directly in our way was Milwaukee and the screamers were pouring out of Brewer town like a flood, and beyond that was Chicago.

Shit, Chicago. Haven't even THOUGHT that name in a month.

Anyway, Rose disagreed. She reasoned that we'd be safe here... all these hunters, all these rifles, all this ammo... it'd be safer than making a dash across half the continent with who knows how many groaners and how little gas. Plus... well... My church was here. My people. The world had ceased to make sense and she reminded me that I couldn't just leave them. It sickens me that I needed to be reminded, but at the time, all I could think of was family.

The QZ project hadn't quite been kicked off yet, but we didn't wait for them. I gathered my church leaders up (looking like some kinda movie hero giving a good speech) and said we'd make ourselves, and anyone else who wanted in, safe. Our one rule was that everyone was welcome. It was what our church had been built on and we were gonna build our little compound similarly. We had a massive stock of supplies thanks to a great hunting and gardening year, and a huge stretch of land with some strong houses and barns. We split up space, set up guarding outposts, had a perimeter fence and an interior one set up from fences pulled from members farms.

It looked Great.

Every evening there was a prayer service available that I led. The community was already far bigger than our little congregation, but most came just for something to do other than watch the news... where the news was even still on. I gotta imagine that's a lot like what it feels to be a cult leader, and I didn't like it. We were Presbyterian, after all. So we held a new election for our Elders, including non church members, and soon had a Session that represented everyone (as well as we could manage) who had taken refuge in the compound.

When the last TV signal (good ol' Public TV) and the internet went down, we settled in for the long haul.

The "long haul" turned out to be about a month.

I'm outta time. More later.

Before I forget.

Something big exploded south of Tampa Bay. The cloud looked nuclear but I'm no expert. I'd recommend avoiding that area and anything East of it. Fallout. Bye.

I'm here too.

I used to be pretty good with technology. It's only been months and already I feel like an infant working a cell phone. But, I did manage to get this satellite modem to connect. I found it in a wrecked military transport truck. I found some other stuff too.

Sorry, I'm rambling. My name is Jason Duncan. Everyone just calls me Duncan. Well, they did before they all died. I was at the refuge center in St. Pete Florida before it got overrun. The wise asses in charge decided the peninsula could be secured and fortified. They didn't fortify it from the bay side. Tampa Bay is pretty shallow and the dead were able to basically shamble across the bottom about as easily as walking down the street. A few got in, then a few more, then the biting, and the screaming, and I guess you know where it goes from there. I got across the bridge to Tampa and I've been moving around pretty constantly since. I tried to go for MacDill Air Force Base but it was in flames before St. Pete fell apparently. That's where I found this modem and laptop. The battery is about dead so I can't type much more. The case is scratched but says "DARPANET Redoubt" No idea what that means but whoever you are. Hi. If you're near me, I have food and weapons stashed. I can help.

Are you there, world? It's me, Sarah.

Sarah Evans
QZ Zone, Central California

Well, well, well. This is a very odd turn of events. Hello there, friends. I mean, I suppose you're all friends by default now, right? If your Zone is anything like mine, there's not really enough of us left to be enemies.

The place has been buzzing with rumors that the Internet had suddenly appeared again, but everyone was too afraid to look. I'd brought my laptop with me, when I fled to California...I've mostly been using it to play games, when I'm allowed to use energy. Though I guess we're in a pretty good spot as far as that goes - the people in charge of the Zone here set up solar panels and windmills, and I guess our water, when it gets recycled, also adds power to the generators?

I don't know a whole lot about that. It just means most days we have power. And that's good.

Anyways, I finally decided I'd look. Because if it was true, that meant there were other people still out there who were alive, like us. And if it wasn't...well, if it wasn't, it just meant we went back to not-knowing, right?

I'm really glad you're all here. I hope you're all real.

I guess others have shared a little bit about what happened to them when this whole thing started, so I will too. I was living in Iowa when the news reports came in. I didn't have a TV, so the first I heard about it was people posting videos on Facebook of that news reporter whose face got torn off, going "have you fucking seen this?!?"

Well, yeah. I mean, only in every zombie movie ever. "Mass Hysteria," my ass. I grabbed my cat, my clothes, and my laptop, sent a mass text to my friends in Iowa that I was leaving for California, and got out. My family was out here, after all.

Except they weren't, when I got here. I forgot the cardinal rule, I was too worried about getting to them. Get somewhere remote. Get out of the population centers - that was always the plan. I wonder if they went to my uncle's house...?

Anyway, they weren't here. But a few of my friends are here with me, so that's nice. And they let me keep my cat, so that's doubly nice. Mostly I cook, or look after the few kids that managed to make it into quarantine. I try to be positive. It's really hard not to fall into depression...but I've got those sorority skills that have helped me try to be more optimistic.

I hope my sorority siblings are okay. There were a few sporadic posts on Facebook before the internet went away, and a few texts before cell towers stopped working. Now I've got nothing at all.

Thanks for letting me be honest with you guys. I'd better go - it sounds like the hunters are back, and I'll probably need to help plan the next few days' worth of meals.

Until next time,
Sarah

Questions

So I see there's some kind of internet back up?
Since when has it been working? We just got electricity working today, and I managed to sneak into my brother's old house to check if there was internet.
I have so many questions, I hope someone can help me with them.
My name is Daniel, I live in Colombia (with an "o", the south american country). I am a doctor. The outbreak here was on the first days of January, at least in Medellín, where I used to live. The diseased started multiplying their numbers like bunnies and soon the city fell. I haven't had any information about other cities. I want to hope people have managed to control the situation, but silence speaks too loud.
If you people know something about this please tell me. Or at least help me understand it. When did it start where you are? Have your countries totally collapsed or do you still stand? I haven't heard any new from outside for almost 3 months. Do you know where did it come from? Why didn't anyone notice? Has anybody found a cure?
Si alguien ve este mensaje por favor cuenten lo que sepan. Donde empezó? Cuando empezó en donde ustedes están? Sus países colapsaron o aún se mantienen en pie? Por qué nadie se dió cuenta? Se sabe algo de alguna cura?
Y a-t-il quequ'un qui sait où et quand est-ce que ce a commencé? Les pays où vous êtes, sont ils bien? Avez vous trouvé une solution?
Weissen Sie wann und wo ist es angefangen? Sind Ihre Länder noch ok oder sind sie gefallen? Haben Sie eine Heilung gefunden?
何かを知っていれば助けてください
Bir şey biliyorsanız, bize yardım. Lütfen

Seriously?

Wow.

I was not expecting that to actually work.

My name is Kit. I know it says Katie, uh, over there, but that was my name before. Before everything hit the fan and the world basically imploded.

Oh, sorry, I used to write for a living so I get kind of... Flowery.

Anyway, I'm Kit, originally from a little town on the Gulf Coast of Texas, now living just outside of Austin trying to survive.

There's a bunch of us here, most of us older because the littles didn't make it long after the outbreak started around here. It was every person for themselves and none of them could really take care of themselves.

I do some acting nowadays, mostly to keep spirits up and morale high, because lately if you can't find something to smile about that tends to be the end of you and I'm kind of tired of losing people.

Anyway... I hope someone responds. It's nice being able to talk to people.