The Long Winter: Part 1
[I'm not really a writer, I've never tried to be, but I love post-apocalyptic/zombie...
[I'm not really a writer, I've never tried to be, but I love post-apocalyptic/zombie based stories and I thought I'd give it a try to come up with my own story. It's certainly not original, since I utilized ideas like making it a solo tale like I Am Legend and utilized zombie/monster ideas from things from Left 4 Dead. This is nothing more than me having fun and trying to come up with a fun setting. There's bound to be spelling/grammar errors, so no need to point anything like that out unless there are serious problems. I hope you enjoy.] The Long Winter Part 1 There are many ways people have viewed the apocalypse. The Religious thought Jesus would come back and take them heaven, where the rest of the world would die or suffer through the tribulations, and then there would be peace in the world once it was over. The more globally minded folks saw that due to rising temperatures, the polar ice caps could melt away, raising water levels across the world and killing millions, or maybe even the more extreme of a Water World scenario. The more Scifi oriented thought of earthquakes, asteroids, zombies, and nuclear fallout. Who knew the geeks would be right on two out of four situations? No one for sure knows where the outbreak originally started, but everyone knows it was caused from media manipulation, using yet another flu outbreak as an excuse to put out a vaccination. Just like H1N1 and the Avian Flu before that, thousands were scared into getting themselves and their children this new vaccine that would keep them safe from the "Burning Flu" as it was loosely called. Certainly it was no little cold, as it caused the most extreme flu's, hot flashes, and stomach disturbances anyone had seen in a flu. It killed hundreds across the world, but was more than enough to start a pandemic scare. And of course the pharmeceutical companies jumped on this right away, trying to be the first to come up with a vaccine that would keep folks safe, or at least think they were. Unluckily for the world, Hartech Inc. was the winner of this competition, gaining government contracts to pump out this vaccine to save mankind from the Burning Flu. Through shady business practices and keeping things secret, this vaccine was not the savior of the world. It was never tested on people and no one knew that it would have this effect on those who took it. Initially 4 million people were injected with this serum, giving them an unexpected boost of energy and vitality that lasted a good week. People were hailing it as a miracle of science. Weeks after the serum had been injected into the populous, the attacks began. Large cities were the first to experience problems. Riots, brutal attacks, chaos in the streets. Police forces were stretched thin, news media was saying this was just voters upset over the recent election of President Joseph L. Grant. He was the unexpected winner of the election and there was public outrage of voter fraud and scandals that were being looked into, even with the official innaugaration of the President having happened. The internet said another story as pictures of brutal murders, cannabalized police officers, and gore that wars would usually show, popped up on messageboards everywhere. Many knew right away this was the start to many zombie stories and thousands were calling for people to start working on the zombie outbreak plan, alot of that having to move to Alaska and get to where it's cold and
safe. It didn't help things at all when cities were starting to clog with people trying to get out and away from the horror quickly growing. After days of small attacks, things quickly escalated to thousands of deaths a day, and then even faster. Within two weeks, military was called in to fight back the crazed citizens and were overwhelmed when they met with resistance that was two to three times their platoons. This went for weeks of the government saying things were under control, till stations started to go down except for one. It was the one station who warned people of the missiles. They hit 4 cities in the U.S., the stupid fool of a president freaked out and called for the nuclear destruction of the most heavily damaged cities of the outbreak. Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Phillidelphia. Millions of zombies and people died instantly. The World followed. Countries that were already at each others teeth called for the others annihilation detonated more bombs that decimated parts of the Middle East and Asia. The extreme release of so many destructive weapons caused ash, radiation, and debris to be thrust into the atmosphere, causing a near global blackout, making temperatures plummet. That was the start of the never-ending winter. Some places managed to stay warmer around the equator and below, but quickly became locations of great battles over resources and somewhat fertile land. Faced with death, disease, poisoning, and the still real danger of zombies, the world was condemned to live out the rest of its days in torment. That was 3 years ago. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Present Day, June 12th, 2016 Trudging through the snow, the bundled up horse was breathing heavily, hefting a large back pack filled with an assortment of supplies, a M4 in one hand, held by the handle, a GPS device in the other. He wore a gasmask with hood to cover his head, trying his best not to over exert himelf in the cumbersome outfit. Not only was he protected from radiation, he was protected from the cold. He could've forgone the mask and radiation cover this time of year, but he hated giving himself those radiation shots. Two days of throwing up were not pleasant. He had been walking for 5 miles on an unused highway, covered in piles of snow that had cars underneath, a few showing off their metal frames when the wind would pick up and blow the snow off. He never tried to look into the cars. They usually contained corpses or worse...corpses that would fight back. The cold helped to slow them down, but a good number of them still managed to maintain mobility and that was more than enough to make them a deadly hazard. "God damn piece of shit truck. I gave that thing a look over two months ago. Guess it's just not handling this nasty snow too well anymore. Doubt I can get it fixed after sitting out here for a few days. Tough way to force me to get those snow tires put onto that car after all this time." The horse stopped and looked at his GPS, sighing when he saw it was only another two miles to home. A low moan sounded off next to him, quickly bringing up the rifle in one hand, scanning the area through falling snow, looking for any movement. Luckily for him, it was coming from a nearby car a few feet away, a nearly frozen zombie was clawing at him on the other side of the exposed window, it's vacant eyes begging for release. Leveling the rifle, silencer pressed to the window, he pulled the trigger, giving the creature it's release, double checking the car for any more moving bodies. He didn't need to draw any attention to himself, but a world with one less zombie was one less thing that would try to eat him. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two Hours Later... The stallion had managed to make his way home, though nothing of signifigance could be seen across the vast snow covered meadow, trees dotting the area. A mound of snow was seen in front of him, showing the makings of a cement enclosure with an incline driveway. Grabbing a metal rod from his pocket, he pressed a sequence of buttons on a keypad off to the side that he could do blindfolded by now. A loud whirring noise grew, the 10 foot tall door slowly opening for it's owner, only open for a few seconds as the horse hurried in, shutting the door with a press of the keypad on the inside, sighing again as he knew he was safe. Making his way down 4 flights of stairs to the decontamination room, dousing himself in the cleaning waters, disrobing down to his underwear and leaving the items he brought with him to be cleansed in a small area off from there, waiting for the light to say green so he could step out with not a drop of radiation on him. The door shut and sealed behind him, a towel next to him for drying off, hooves clamping against the metal floors as he walked to what slowly became a fancy living room, sporting television screens, monitors, books, and an assortment of other civilized items. None of this was originally his, nor did he ever expect to spend three years of his life here. He sat down in a large leather recliner, groaning as his wet furred body made the recliner groan and squeak, closing his eyes, and drifting off to sleep. Maxon was home