year zero: day minus one

Why does no one seem worried? Have they bought the whole Cover-Up that easily? Is it just too beautiful here to believe in the End of the World? Just because they survived the first wave of attacks here doesn’t mean it’s all over… For all we know there are Undead lurking in every dark corner and behind every locked door. All it would take is one to destroy us all.

Me, I came prepared, not least with Knowledge. I brought strong Acetic Acid (stops the risk of a spatter-infection), plenty of safety equipment and my heaviest tripod, which I’ve practiced swinging each morning, aiming straight at head-level – the only way to take a Zombie out. I don’t dare explore the Photo Studio yet – it’s still barricaded and quarantined – but I can prepare until my Team arrives. There is excellent food here, and plenty of it. I am going to be building my strength every day. It’s still hard to tell whom to trust here, but these are good strong people with survival skills and a hell of a lot of tools. I think I’ll have Iron Daniel make me a bayonet for my 4×5 before we start… They can make anything here; here we can rebuild the world.

I have a secret weapon, too: my friend and comrade James J. “The Fixer” Williams III. He was stuck behind in New York training a young squad of Art Fighters when I left, and so he risked the crowds and confinement of air travel to get here and join my crusade. He may not be wise, but he’s smart. Good with a sword too, or so he tells me.

The Fixer got here last night just in time for the All-School Gathering to celebrate the Core – the young artists who have lived here year-round and in many ways have kept the School running while the Chaos fell around them. It was quite a party, until early in the morning, in fact, and I know the extra fury of our drinking came from the widely-held belief that a high BAC can keep you safe from infection. It’s probably not true, but it can’t hurt. We need some dancing and joy in these dark days, tho I can’t seem ever to let go of the Fear…

My nerves were up being around that many people in one place, but I figure it gave me a chance to check everyone out. The current wave of Zombies seem to be from another strain, from what I can tell, one without the speedy death and decay we saw at the Beginning. The slow gestation of this virus adds another level of fear. How do we know who’s been Turned if it takes days…? I’ve been driving down the mountain to get supplies for our class and everywhere I go, especially Wal-Mart, I think I see the First Signs. I swear there are Lost People shuffling all around the regular folk, but no one pays any attention to them, and they don’t seem to notice the Living. Not yet, anyway.

Even here, I swore I saw zombies everywhere this morning, but I suppose they were all just hungover…

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