Update for the week: I actually did get some work done on my nonfiction. I think I got a couple of pages written. It felt good, but now I need to do more!

Don't forget, I am postponing my recordings until after the New Year, but I will post my email zombie story for you. My friend, Martin, who was also supposed to be in the anthology, has posted his story on his blog. Check it out if you get the chance. It's good! Now, without further delay...

The Last Hope
Part 1


From: computergenius01@email.net
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 4:44 PM
To: Undisclosed recipients
Subject: Is anyone out there?

This is it. My final, last-ditch effort to find other survivors. I don’t even know if it will work. I created a program, a spam program, to send this message to random recipients. I can’t send it to those in my address book. They’re dead. I know they’re all dead. They are the type of people who live on their computers. The only time they move from in front of their screens is to go to the bathroom. If they don’t reply to an email or IM in 5 minutes, something is seriously wrong. I hope this reaches someone. Anyone.

My name is Dillon, and I live in Denver. It has been 3 days since the attacks began. I have been in my basement the whole time. I was actually down here when the attacks started. I work from home and have an office here. I’m not worried about them getting into my house, they can’t. I live just a few blocks away from downtown, so I have bars over my doors and windows. I’m safe. I have food and water, but it won’t last forever.

When the attacks first started, to be honest, I just thought it was a typical day. I heard screams from the neighborhood and police sirens. I didn’t think anything of it until I took a break and clicked on the local news. There was a report about how the recently dead were returning to life and attacking humans. At first, I thought it was a joke, but the more I poked around on the internet, the more information I found. It was happening worldwide. No one knew how it started. Does anyone reading this have a clue?

After a while, I mustered up some bravery and headed upstairs. I kept my back to the wall, my gun in my hand. I could still hear the screams and sirens outside. When I made it to the front window, I took a breath before parting the curtains. I couldn’t believe the destruction. Black smoke was curling from Republic Plaza. Bodies were laying in the middle of the street, covered in their own congealing blood. In the neighbor’s lawn across the street, the 86 year old woman I said good afternoon to when I checked the mail was being devoured by two people with yellowed skin and deep sunken eyes. There were people running down the streets, some carrying weapons and others with suitcases and kids.

I ducked back inside my house. My stomach had cramped and dots were dancing in front of my eyes. I sunk to the ground, taking deep breaths and swallowing thickly. It all seemed like a dream, like I was watching a movie. Someone or something clomped onto my porch and rattled the storm door. I jumped to my feet and headed back to the basement, locking the door behind me. I didn’t know if it was a zombie or a looter, but I knew I didn’t want to run into either.

I only ventured up one other time to get food and water. I remember being shocked by the silence. There were no more screams. No more sirens. There wasn’t even a cricket chirping. Just my own breath and the squeak of my shoes on the linoleum floor. It was unnerving. I saw the destruction, the death, and I can only hope that I am not the only one left. Although, I wouldn’t really be surprised. If there is someone else out there, I hope and pray that you will get this message.

Dillon


From: computergenius01@email.net
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 9:37 PM
To: Undisclosed recipients
Subject: Is anyone out there?

It has been 5 hours, and I have not received a reply to my first email. I generated another spam list, as well as resending it to the people on the first list, in the hopes that this reaches someone. The zombies have been pounding at my door for nearly 2 hours now. From the basement, it sounds like a soft thumping. I was able to ignore it for the first hour, but like a leaky sink in the middle of the night, it’s starting to grate on my nerves. I hope someone answers this soon, but I’m beginning to think no one will. Maybe this was a stupid idea. Who checks their email during the apocalypse?


From: sasha@cdc.email
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 10:15 PM
To: computergenius01@email.net
Subject: RE: Is anyone out there?

Dillon,

My name is Sasha, and I want to reassure you that you are not alone. There aren’t many of us, but there are survivors. It must be fate that I even got these. Normally, as you mentioned at the end of your email, checking my email would be the last thing on my mind. I only did so because my husband recently sent me a photo of our daughter, and I needed to look at it. Imagine my surprise when I found new messages in my inbox.

I read both of your emails, and I completely sympathize with your situation. We are in Windsor, so we are close, but Denver is a hot zone, which means attempting a rescue mission is suicide.
Here is what’s happening:

For lack of a better term, zombies have taken started attacking. The plague, if you will, started somewhere in the Middle East. The insurgents were experimenting with biological weapons and discovered a virus that would reanimate the brain and turn the corpse into a killing machine. It took 24 hours for the virus to reanimate the body. At first, the effects would only last a few hours and would only work on the recently killed/dead (recently being within the past 12 hours), then the virus would die. The terrorists would inject the bodies of freshly killed soldiers, knowing they would be stored on base until they could be shipped home. They were hoping to thin our ranks. For all intents and purposes, it worked.

The military tried to keep it quiet, they didn’t want to start a panic, but the tactic got out of hand. The insurgents figured that if it worked this well on the soldiers, it was bound to be devastating to the U.S. population. They coordinated attacks of the major cities. I don’t know how they smuggled the virus onto the planes, but they did. From what we understand, they then targeted the homeless. They murdered them, injected them, then set them back out on the streets. They planned it perfectly. The only thing they didn’t plan on was the virus mutating. Instead of the virus dying within a few hours, it learned how to sustain and could be passed to a living host. Now, the only way to destroy the virus is to destroy the brain of the host.

I’m sure you’re reading this and wondering how I know all of this. I was there, Dillon, in Iraq when this first started. I’m not a soldier, I work for the CDC. I know it sounds crazy, but from what we understand, they have been working on this virus for months now. It has only been recently that they found a strain that works. I don’t know why they weren’t stopped or why we weren’t warned, but it’s too late to worry about that now. I was called over about a week ago to figure out what was going on. While the terrorists were trying to perfect the virus, they would inject anyone they could find. The bodies littered the streets. The military knew it was some kind of weapon, but they didn’t know how to stop it. It was only a few days after I arrived that the first zombie attacked. The virus works fast and efficiently.

The original plan was to take out the U.S., but the virus has spread worldwide. We are working on understanding it better and developing a way to cure it, but it evolves too fast for us to get a handle on it.

We have a safe haven, a place where survivors can group together, and we will come get you and anyone else who has survived, but it might take a while. I need you to remain patient and strong, Dillon. We are doing the best we can.

Sasha
The conclusion will be posted next week!
Pembroke Sinclair's books on Goodreads
Life After the Undead Life After the Undead
reviews: 55
ratings: 100 (avg rating 3.64)

The Appeal of Evil The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation, #1)
reviews: 38
ratings: 63 (avg rating 3.54)

Wucaii Wucaii
reviews: 32
ratings: 35 (avg rating 4.11)

Death to the Undead Death to the Undead (Sequel to Life After the Undead)
reviews: 20
ratings: 39 (avg rating 4.23)

Dealing with Devils Dealing with Devils (The Road to Salvation, #2)
reviews: 22
ratings: 32 (avg rating 4.00)