Spring 2009 - Day 2

Partly cloudy with a chance of brain.

My day started as well as I could hope. A cold rain coupled with dramatic wind ruled Kirksville through 1:00pm, and this weather kept many of the zombifications at bay. I enjoyed thoroughly uneventful treks to my chemistry lab, my apartment, my radio show, and Magruder (to which I arrived around 2:30pm). The rain had to end, however, and the zombies soon came.

Taylor Hyndman and Alexis Mathews, two fellow survivors, were going from Violette to McClain and Centennial, respectively, and I had promised to escort them. So by 2:45pm I was waiting in the lobby of Violette, chatting with Zach Silver about life and unlife. He offered to help me with the escort, an invitation I graciously accepted. Taylor and Alexis came down the stairs and we left. Violette to Magruder to the SUB (if necessary) to McClain to Centennial was our path and, other than Zach’s human friend who joined us to get to Baldwin, we saw no one out and about. Zach had heard about zombies on the Quad by the Library and we, being competent intelligent humans, opted to intercept them and eliminate the kills they’d cause. With the help of humans hiding out in Baldwin and a few crossing the Quad, we stunned every zombie. Zach and I were even able to provide an escort for two more people to the Centennial area.

At 3:30 the humans received intel on a mission – meet in the main lounge of Ryle at 4:30. I had just under an hour from reading the email to make it. This was plenty of time, and zombies were on the prowl, so I kept my head low and my eyes open to the activity around Magruder.

Fellow survivors, bunkered in the southeast door of Magruder, stood outside to fight the horde as they charged from Violette and the Bell Tower. As soon as the last zombie ran by the Cyber Café, I kicked the door open and bolted after them, firing darts and keeping a cool head. One human was lost – the very Zach Silver who helped me earlier in the day. There wasn’t time to lament, however, because zombies were swarming the SUB.

I had a complete visual on the 7+ zombies circling the building, although I didn’t know who was inside. The members of the horde were preparing for an ambush at first, but slowly became antsier as their prey never left the building. I finally decided that whoever was inside was ready for a long wait, and that they could probably use my help. After 10 minutes circling the parking lots to find a zombie-free door and another 10 minutes scouring the building, I found Cody Sumter in the basement. He was dressed in quite fancy clothes and was strategizing via phone. The mission time was quickly approaching and thus the zombies were leaving their Magruder-SUB post, meaning that Cody and I could sprint across while Joey Palmer and Ian Noble covered our retreat. With the three others, a Tom Hogan, and 5 humans from Centennial, I passed from Magruder to Ryle in time for the mission to begin.

The humans were packed in throngs, all chatting about their latest close call or the pain of watching their friends get munched or that sweet stun that saved them on Day 1. Many old friends were already gathered as well, and I was grateful to see that their experience and skill would benefit the human cause today. However, going into the mission my mind was set on my end goal – Nothing else matters but my own survival. The mission objectives, rescuing other humans, the men trapped in cryostasis, all coming second to this goal. I have a reputation from never becoming zombified in a non-mission setting, and so this mission setting was the most dangerous place for me to be trying for this goal.

The moderators made a few announcements and, breaking into three groups, the humans spread throughout campus. From my perspective the entire mission felt more like a wild goose chase than a wartime battle, but I had decided to relinquish the reigns of leadership until someone took them over, and if it meant that I was somewhat out of the loop then so be it.

Zombies populated the Quad – 15 to 20 of them, and we had a Baldwin group of humans and my Ophelia Parrish group of humans. Between all of us we stunned every minion without casualties. Our next stop was the Fair Apartments parking lot, which was a strategically terrible place to defend for an invasion. I took over at this point, directing the humans to the edge of the U-shape so that we could be flanked from 2 directions rather than 8 different corridors. Once safe, Michael Hogard took over and led the troops to Red Barn Park where the mission was completed. I talked with a member of The Wildcat Squad, which is coming to Kirksville in a day or two to help our survival.

Another wild scramble – the moderators announced the end of the mission and everybody tried to gather up in geographic squads to return to dorms. I bellowed over the din, organized the humans into 3 different groups (Ryle, Missouri and Centennial) and went with the Centennial group to Franklin Street. The most dangerous part of the mission would thus begin.

Halfway to Centennial from Barnett, we spotted the horde at a distance. They were flowing from Centennial since it was their respawn and rendezvous point, and some of the humans tried to back into the parking lot. I told them that we would, instead, be better off crossing the street and entering Pershing to make it across campus. We crossed between traffic and backed up to the building, but found ourselves in a courtyard with one-way doors. And that one way was not the convenient way. Meanwhile the horde was advancing. At the last possible minute, the two humans who had run around the building opened the doors from the inside and we flowed in, cheering for ourselves and jeering the zombies.

I ordered the humans through Pershing to the far north side, where Grim’s back door existed. However, zombies were already on that position. The space itself was about 7 feet wide (between the two buildings) and 12 feet long (from the fence to the corners). Joe Siegel himself was guarding our easy retreat, and zombies climbing the fence had the harder way. Thus, we could only stun the fence zombies and press on through Grim. At the front door (facing Magruder, our goal where we would find ourselves beyond the most difficult hill of the travel), nearly 15 zombies waited in ambush around corners, behind trees, and against the building. We had 18 humans, enough to lose no one if we fought correctly.

I will take this time to acknowledge my tactical and strategic failure from last semester – the space between Baldwin and McClain. The humans were freaking out, unorganized, and too scared to pull a trigger. Thus, I died. I would not let that happen again.

4 zombies were to the left and the rest were to the right. Thus, the plan was for me to lead a charge with 4 other humans to the left and stun those zombies. Meanwhile, the rest of the humans would pour out and form a wall to stun the right-side zombies who rushed. We all knew that we had to fight our way out and that we might not all make it. Someone asked for a prayer and, 10 seconds later, we all sang a heart-felt rendition of Amazing Grace. When the song finished, we’d make our move.

The zombies saw me push open the door singing “…now I see” while rushing to their right. 4 humans followed behind me and we started popping every zombie we saw. One behind the tree, down. Two against the building, down. One’s charging from across the lawn, down. Meanwhile, the others were stunning zombies behind us. 5 humans were at Violette the whole time watching the battle and opting not to help, but we ended up not needing them.

After a 15-second melee, most of the zombies were stunned. In the chaos I was unable to identify stunned from unstunned from human easily. Thus, I directed the humans to the greenhouse door of Magruder across the street, and it quickly became apparent that a few zombies remained. They pursued us toward the building, but every one of them was stunned by the time we made it to the doors. No time to mourn the two that died in the pursuit, however – we weren’t in Centennial yet. I directed the humans to double-time through Magruder and we went to the Northwest door, which was a straight shot to the SUB. That was in turn a straight shot to Centennial, and all of the remaining humans made it inside safely and alive.

The rest of my evening was uneventful from a zombie standpoint. I had dinner in my apartment and went to my night class. My girlfriend, being one of the more HvZ-considerate ones I’ve known, came to Magruder to me rather than making me go to the Library to her, and we talked on the basement couches for a while. Ben Shannon and Eric Bozarth arrived and we all had a good talk about old antics and dating during HvZ, and the stroll back to my car was zombiless and relaxing. Were I not paranoid, I would have stargazed the whole time.

I’m now relaxing in my apartment, finished with my day’s reflections and ready for sleep. The count stands at H 136 – Z 50. Every zombie fed today (some twice), so I’ll have to wait until at least Saturday afternoon for starvation to begin. This is contingent on humans not dying during passing period, the Friday mission, or the Saturday mission.

…*sigh*. It’s going to be a long weekend.

-John