Apr 30, 2009 18:46
Who is sick of hearing about Swine Flu? I am sick of hearing about Swine Flu.
It's not that I think people are over or under reacting. In fact, I think the range of wearing masks and not caring all, is an appropriate level of panic.
No, dear reader, I am sick of it because it makes me think of zombies. And zombies are terrifying.
Let me clarify. I am not afraid that I will wake up and suddenly be in the middle of Night of the Living Dead. No, I know better.
Zombie plague is a slow process, filled with misinformation from the media, misdirection from the government and finally, chaos.
I am quite confident that I could handle the initial part of the outbreak, and perhaps even the general panic (Avoid highways, travel by boat, motor bike or bike, in that order of importance. Keep Moving. When you must rest, go for an inaccessible height,).
You see, though, it is the panic which causes the problem real problems. Surviving the aftermath is what I'm uncertain about, and thus, scare of.
People tend to panic in groups, after all, and then a group runs into the infected, and then the group eventually becomes a group of zombies.
There doesn't even need to be giant roving zombie hoards. The panic itself is enough. You have to worry about food shortages, (and thus cannibalism from the non-infected), power outages (perhaps to the point that there is no power at all), lack-of-infrastructure things like Nuclear reactor explosions or fires, and of course, clean water (assuming the plague is not passed through water, otherwise there is little hope).
Yes, this is what keeps me awake at night. Surviving all that *plus* the giant roving zombie hoards. I am out of shape, do not move very fast, and have never used a gun (and except for the increased survival odds, don't really want to). I don't have as many survival skills as I would like, though I am confident I would have the supplies to start a fire.
Still, a shovel does not need to be reloaded. And, I can use a bow-and-arrow. I gather I could even make arrows, after some trial and error, having studied the process in stories, though I'd need a bow. That will be useful for hunting. I can recognize some edible plants. But is that enough? Probably not.
If I can get a boat, I would head not to Grosse Isle. That is Scooter's plan, but I believe it is far, far too close to land, not to mention a metropolitan area full of people who do not have appropriate access to medical care, let alone an already failing infrastructure. I speculate that Bear Island or Mackinac might be better, but what if they are infected? Could be an island full of zombies, upon which I land.
On my journeys, I would perhaps try to pick up others, but not too many. Checking them for infection, and allowing them to check me. Modesty has no place in post-apocalypse.
Otherwise, I head Up North. There is too much civilization to the South.
Other than that, I am not certain. This is what makes me scared.
Haha, just kidding. Mostly.
I am not really terrified of zombies to this extent. That would be almost as crazy as not being afraid of the zombie plague at all.
This was just a long way of saying that everyone should World War Z. Because it rocks.
It teaches you valuable zombie lessons, and the PANDEMIC MANIA has made me realize I have not done as good a job getting people to read it as I would like. You must be prepared if you are to be included in my Zombie Plague Survival Plan.
Still, I am sick of hearing about Swine Flu. It was bound to happen sometime. People will get sick. Some will die.
For the record, I am sorry for those who have died and I am preemptively sorry for those that will. But still. Sickness. Death. This is how the world works.