Long Walks and Zombies
As many of you know, or precious few of you anyhow, I like to go for walks. Like really, REALLY long walks and I tend to just wander where ever my feet want to carry me. So this evening I came home from like a 2 to 3 hour walk, (a really good one I'd say!), and something dawned on me halfway through my walk before disappearing in the back of my mind as I tuned back to the music on my cd player.
It resurfaced itself not too long after the first round I had with it after passing the emergency care center hidden in my neighborhood, with its one lonely security guard, and if you are into zombies and Resident Evil and all the sort just like those you'll want to hear this through.
I live maybe 5 or so blocks, (that would be around a 5 to 10 minute walk at most), from my city's own homely version of the Umbrella Cooperation. I kid you not! This place, (for the sake of having a reference name why don't we refer to it as, oh I don't know Battelle maybe?), is EXACTLY what you would imagine Umbrella to be, right down to it's employees. But before going on about that let me re-track to my first encounter with this lovely company.
Shortly after moving to my neighborhood I had been out for a walk, (surprised? me too!), and it became a habit of passing the facility as it was on the way to both work and school. One minor detail always caught my eye around this building, that detail being the company's security truck that always seemed to come out of nowhere while making its usual trip around the building and grounds. This really grabbed my curiosity as most companies around here that feel the need for security only use security guards, save for my school's campus as the crime rate there was in need of campus police.
So after I moved into a new apartment closer to campus, I made it a point of back tracking to pass Battelle on my evening walks, you know, to keep my eye on it and look for some new detail to it, (as I still do, and I must say you'd think their security would have stopped me by now because I've been by there so many times that I could easily sneak onto the premises just because I know the security truck's route now), and one glorious afternoon I happened to notice the well placed security cameras all around the building. So why the need for cameras?
Eventually my sister and I came to be roommates yet again and when I found out that she had to pass Battelle I immediately informed her of my findings and my suspicions as to its likeness to Umbrella. (She had brought up the zombie genre in video games and movies and I left her with my tangent and a new found fear/suspicion/obsession with the company. So many thanks to my sister for this next bit of info.
I had already know that the company is indeed a science/technology company that works with chemicals, (ringing a bell?), but what she had found out next I never would have guessed. Only to add to it's similarity to the Umbrella Cooperation wonderful little Battelle has made all of it's employees swear to secrecy. That's right, every person that walks through it's front doors to put in their day's work is sworn to keep quiet about the happenings within the building. And how did she come about this bit of information you may wonder? Easy. She worked at a grocery store where some of the employees would stop by after work and bluntly asked one of them what they have to do there. Not a method I would use, but hey someone had to do it and it did get the job done didn't it?
So yeah I need to move. I don't want to live that close to the company that's going to having a meltdown and start the zombie apocalypse. Even if I had a good arsenal supply, or rather broke into the nearby army navy store and stole what I needed, as well as rounded up those whinny little pipsqueaks that nobody really likes so as to have something to distract/throw at the zombies while I either load my guns or book it out of there so as to conserve ammo, I really would only have that 75% chance of survival, and that's bullshit. I don't deserve that default percent because of my location.
But none the less, and despite the above, I will admit that every time I walk by Battelle and see someone walk out of the front doors my heart jumps with high hopes that they will go and grab the person standing nearest to them and take a bite. Guess I know what the security truck is always looking for now.
Okay so you can go back to the real world now that I ensured that your brain is completely fried and/or I just guaranteed that you'll never visit me again.
Xavier, Keekers, Amanda, Rachel, TJ, Joe, and Jeanemon. I'm going to miss your visits.
It resurfaced itself not too long after the first round I had with it after passing the emergency care center hidden in my neighborhood, with its one lonely security guard, and if you are into zombies and Resident Evil and all the sort just like those you'll want to hear this through.
I live maybe 5 or so blocks, (that would be around a 5 to 10 minute walk at most), from my city's own homely version of the Umbrella Cooperation. I kid you not! This place, (for the sake of having a reference name why don't we refer to it as, oh I don't know Battelle maybe?), is EXACTLY what you would imagine Umbrella to be, right down to it's employees. But before going on about that let me re-track to my first encounter with this lovely company.
Shortly after moving to my neighborhood I had been out for a walk, (surprised? me too!), and it became a habit of passing the facility as it was on the way to both work and school. One minor detail always caught my eye around this building, that detail being the company's security truck that always seemed to come out of nowhere while making its usual trip around the building and grounds. This really grabbed my curiosity as most companies around here that feel the need for security only use security guards, save for my school's campus as the crime rate there was in need of campus police.
So after I moved into a new apartment closer to campus, I made it a point of back tracking to pass Battelle on my evening walks, you know, to keep my eye on it and look for some new detail to it, (as I still do, and I must say you'd think their security would have stopped me by now because I've been by there so many times that I could easily sneak onto the premises just because I know the security truck's route now), and one glorious afternoon I happened to notice the well placed security cameras all around the building. So why the need for cameras?
Eventually my sister and I came to be roommates yet again and when I found out that she had to pass Battelle I immediately informed her of my findings and my suspicions as to its likeness to Umbrella. (She had brought up the zombie genre in video games and movies and I left her with my tangent and a new found fear/suspicion/obsession with the company. So many thanks to my sister for this next bit of info.
I had already know that the company is indeed a science/technology company that works with chemicals, (ringing a bell?), but what she had found out next I never would have guessed. Only to add to it's similarity to the Umbrella Cooperation wonderful little Battelle has made all of it's employees swear to secrecy. That's right, every person that walks through it's front doors to put in their day's work is sworn to keep quiet about the happenings within the building. And how did she come about this bit of information you may wonder? Easy. She worked at a grocery store where some of the employees would stop by after work and bluntly asked one of them what they have to do there. Not a method I would use, but hey someone had to do it and it did get the job done didn't it?
So yeah I need to move. I don't want to live that close to the company that's going to having a meltdown and start the zombie apocalypse. Even if I had a good arsenal supply, or rather broke into the nearby army navy store and stole what I needed, as well as rounded up those whinny little pipsqueaks that nobody really likes so as to have something to distract/throw at the zombies while I either load my guns or book it out of there so as to conserve ammo, I really would only have that 75% chance of survival, and that's bullshit. I don't deserve that default percent because of my location.
But none the less, and despite the above, I will admit that every time I walk by Battelle and see someone walk out of the front doors my heart jumps with high hopes that they will go and grab the person standing nearest to them and take a bite. Guess I know what the security truck is always looking for now.
Okay so you can go back to the real world now that I ensured that your brain is completely fried and/or I just guaranteed that you'll never visit me again.
Xavier, Keekers, Amanda, Rachel, TJ, Joe, and Jeanemon. I'm going to miss your visits.