Day 1

I honestly am not very good at expressing myself in any way. Please don't expect these pages to be well-structured and perfect. I will try the best I can to be as clear and professional as possible, but at the end of the day, I am just some regular Joe writing about his everyday occurrences to leave a remembrance just in case there is a "rebirth of civilization." I am hoping someone finds this journal and learns about how the world has changed, maybe my words will be part of history or maybe one of its forgotten pages.

I have never followed the news, most of what I've learned about this pandemic is by having glimpses of news reports, and newspapers, but mostly via internet forums. Because of that, some of the things that I will write today may be hearsay and rumors. Some things I have filled up with my own assumptions and opinion as a way to make this readable and for it to have some kind of flow.

So, as the story goes:

A wild animal attacked a child while he was playing in his grandparents' backyard and the child was taken to the emergency room by the family. The treating doctor cleaned the wounds, applied some bandaging, and sent the kid back home with a bottle of antibiotics, just in case. After some weeks the boy is back in the ER with a lot of worrisome symptoms that point to the worst-case scenario: Rabies. Why did the doctors not check the child for rabies before? Who knows; who can really tell why people do or don't do things, right? I remember reading an article online explaining how this rabies illness works and I was terrified of ever having the misfortune of ever catching it. From what I can remember the disease starts silently while the symptoms develop, meaning that once you get any symptoms it's already too late.

While the kid was being treated at the hospital the doctors offered an experimental drug that was supposed to help with the later stages of the disease. This drug had only been tested on animals so far, and the boy would be the first recorded case of this medicine (if it worked) and it would be a revolutionary and historical discovery. The situation was dire and, as many dire situations go, the parents accepted the experimental treatment. In the upcoming weeks after the shot was administered, there was a lot of testing done to ensure that everything was ok with the kid. In the end, everything checked out and the doctors and parents took a big breath of relief. The experimental treatment was a success and life would be back to normal for a very happy family. The news covered the big discovery extensively and the family was on TV, internet, radio, etc. I remember watching a report while waiting for some coffee and thinking that it was pretty cool. A new vaccine for rabies, I thought, What a relief! No longer did I need to fear taking a nap in my backyard and being bitten by a bat!

It wasn't until the famous cured child was in the news again that things started to go downhill. The dad was the first one to completely lose it and butchers the whole family with his bare hands and teeth; cops are called in and the man who once was "the father of the year for risking his son's life for a cure" is laying on the ground bleeding out. Officials called it "one of the bloodiest and most gruesome crime scenes they ever witnessed" Everyone was left wondering what had happened, was it the fame that got to him? Was it drugs?

It was small things first, people would yell at each other, getting angry easily and losing their patience at minimal things like someone cutting them off in traffic or getting their order wrong at a burger joint, which are things that we are grown used to as being a part of everyday life. We just saw those initial red flags as assholes being assholes. The media labeled it as "mass stress," and experts are recommending meditation, therapy, and drinking certain kinds of tea. Preachers are on the sidewalks with signs telling people to remember how Jesus was patient and all that bull. Big companies are capitalizing on this "mass stress" to sell calming oil snake potions, Are you feeling stressed about daily life? Try coming to our spa! The signs of danger were all there but, how could we know that the end of humanity was coming?

It wasn't until weeks later that all hell broke loose. An official of the law who is on break spots a robbery happening and stops it; forces the robber to the ground and proceeds to empty his pistol on the perpetrator's head. There are news reports about a mother beating her daughter to a bloody pulp for drawing on the walls. I remember reading about a kid that was drowned in a toilet by some bullies in the local high school and thinking: Fuck dude, these damned kids are really losing it.

Things just went to shit soon after that, every single living soul started biting, scratching, ripping flesh. Everyone was out there attacking everyone and looking for blood. Cops are called but there is no response, media is now advising everyone to stay in, and news anchors tell us: "Everything is under control, the government is working hard on resolving this issue" before going bonkers themselves and tearing people apart on live air.

Rabies is a very nasty disease, it makes animals feral and violent so it can spread itself through contact with saliva, now, I am not good at understanding medical stuff and don't really comprehend much about how cells inside the body work, but this bug mutated somehow. The parents were the first to become infected and circulated the new nasty little bug around their co-workers, friends, family, people on the street, etc. Viruses love to spread around after all. You sneeze, cough, and clean your runny nose then touch a door handle and every single bug in your system spreads around to others. Everyone went about with their normal lives happily spreading disease to each other unknowingly, and when the caca hit the fan it was already too late.

When I got news of what was happening I panicked and went to the grocery store to stock up on water and canned food, as many others did. I remember walking down the cereal aisle and spotting an obese guy arguing with some other guy over some food products. Suddenly, the big boy just throws a blood-gurgling shriek that is answered by many more shrieks. In a matter of seconds, everyone started attacking everyone in sight, I just filled up my reusable bags with whatever I could get my hands on and took off running amongst the ensuing carnage, It's a miracle I survived.

After barely escaping the grocery store I got in my car while witnessing people gnawing at other's necks and bodies laying in the parking lot surrounded by packs of other humans acting like rabid dogs feeding and I raced down the city's main street. Because of my distress and my mind trying to make sense of the situation as it unfolded, I accidentally hit someone. As any decent human being would, I got out of my vehicle and saw a man laying on the pavement with a twisted leg and a mangled arm. "Hey buddy calm down, I'll call for help," I said, then the victim then proceeded to shriek and starts trying to get up. More shrieks echoed around me and I just got inside my vehicle and sped off.

I somehow made it home and shut both my doors, closed all my window shades, and grabbed the rifle in my closet. I never really have been into shooting or guns but the rifle was a gift from a dear friend "just in case" so I kept it and now I'm glad I did. I did visit the shooting range a couple times with him just to learn how to use the damned thing and not have a fatal accident. He always commented about how good of a shot I was and I always answered: Well yeah, I grew up playing DOOM and Duke Nukem dude!

Anyways, I am in my home, rifle in hand just waiting for these infected humans to break through my metal storm door which is a second door that I got installed in front of my main door to be able to converse with people with no need of letting my front door wide open (I'm a little paranoid) but nothing happens, I guess I got very lucky. I board up my windows with whatever I can find and just lay in silence as I hear screams mixed with animalistic shrieks.

Some days have passed since all this crazy situation started. I don't know how many, I have been surviving on the food In my fridge before it spoils, I don't really know what I got from the grocery store since the bags are still sitting in the back of my vehicle. I moved in such a rush that I left them there and I am definitely not going outside to go and get them back until I run short on what I have in my pantries.

I seem to still have running water, however, I am not very sure about drinking water out of the faucet anymore because I really fear infection. How am I not infected? Well, who knows... maybe the universe does like me after all or maybe the infection rate with me is slower than other people. But as long as I am sane I will keep surviving as best as I can.

I have started working out a little to build up strength and stamina for when I need to go out and scavenge for food. I will also need a good weapon to defend myself that does not use ammo, maybe I'll fashion some kind of spear with a machete and a broom handle or something, maybe I'll need more than one handle so it doesn't break...

Well, this has been a very long journal and my hand is getting really tired but this is it. This is what happened with the world. If you do find my journal and read it know this:

My name is Ro and I am a survivor.