Tiffany Crystal's Forecast for the day:

What happens when a person with some common sense wakes up to a “zombie apocalypse”? Shit gets done, that’s what.

Spoiler: the dog doesn’t die.

April 19th

Day 2
12:58pm

I got a bit of a late start, and I haven’t actually got around to checking out my neighbors yet, but I have a good reason.

So, last night. Found out something interesting. Just after I finished up yesterday’s journal entry, I thought I would take a quick look outside. So yeah. I look out there, and guess what?

The whatthefuckever doesn’t care about your living status. I saw it myself. Man and woman were out walking (WHY would you be out walking after dark when  there are flesh eating ZOMBIES out there? Seriously?!). I thought the woman tripped over something, then I saw a puddle of…well, it looked black, but it was also nighttime and far away. But anyway, it was spreading around her. Predictably, the guy took off running. A couple minutes later, the woman got back to her feet and started stumbling along down the road.

I haven’t looked out there yet today, but I’m guessing there’s going to be a large brown spot on the concrete where she was. Unless she really did throw up something black…I don’t know. I don’t care either. Not really. I mean, it’d be good to know the warning signs, but from what I saw, by the time it gets to the point where you know the person is gonna turn, it’s too late to do shit about it.

So yeah. Fun times. I have two eggs left in my fridge and some butter. Gonna make me some scrambled eggs and then start checking out the neighbors.

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7:15pm

Okay, so today has been pretty productive. I was banking on the hall lights still working since the power is still on, but I used my peephole to make sure. I was right, by the way. And I noticed something interesting: the door across the hall from me was wide open.

The peephole only showed so much of the hallway, but I didn’t see any movement from what I could see (she sells sea shells…). I kept my hammer in hand and opened the door, easing out into the hallway.

Nothing. And no one. I made sure to close my door behind me, but I didn’t lock it. I darted across the hall into the apartment across from me and closed – and locked – the door behind me.

The apartment was silent, so far so good. The layout was the same as mine; I checked it out quick. As expected, it was deserted. A quick check through the bedroom told me a man had lived here before, but I don’t remember ever seeing him.

I checked his fridge, but typical bachelor, most of the food was either spoiled, or too close for me to risk it. He had plenty of ramen though. I grabbed a trash bag out of the cabinet, tossed the packages of noodles in and made my way through the rest of the apartment, filling the bag with all the batteries I could find. He had a stash of candles, I added them to the bag, along with a battery operated radio and a flashlight.

Man, I hit the jackpot with his medicine cabinet. Razors, pain meds – I’m talking the prescription strength stuff here. Even a bottle of amoxicillin. Half empty, but it’s better than nothing. Whole shitload of bandaids, a couple ace bandages, vitamins out the wazoo. I’m not sure why he had a pair of tweezers, but I tossed them in with the rest of the “loot”. There is literally no telling what I’ll find once I have to leave this place, and I know my luck. I won’t even make it out of the door before I manage to get glass or wood stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be. So yeah. Tweezers. Tweezers are good. Tweezers are wonderful. Tweezers are staying with me at all times.

He had a couple bars of soap, and a can of spray deodorant. I took them, and made my way back to the bedroom.

This guy had a lot of those cotton undershirts. Not much use to me, as they were, but I can cut them into strips and make more bandages if I have to. Or tie them together and make rope. I’m sure there’s like, a million things I can make out of them. The internet is still running, I’ll have to do some research.

I almost left the box of condoms I found, but then I figured: bartering items. I just wished the guy smoked. Cigarettes would probably be a better trade item, but oh well.

Salt! I forgot about that. Sure enough, he had a jug of salt and a little thing of pepper. He had a jug of hot sauce in his fridge – I think I remember something about some animals and bugs not liking the smell of that crap. It might be something good to spray around a campsite to keep the creepy crawlies away.

I ganked all the knives I could find in the silverware drawer and – after checking through the peephole to make sure the way was clear – I hightailed it back to my place. I had plenty to add to my stash, but none of it would be good for dinner tonight, so I pretty much just dumped the bag and ventured out again.

The apartment on the other side of Mr. Bachelor wasn’t much better when it came to food in the fridge, but I did score an extra jug of milk. And I had a moment of genius: I took all of the jugs of crap out of the fridge, dumped them out, washed them real quick and tossed them in a bag. I can fill them up with water later.

I’m not sure who lived here, but they had a computer open and a printer, so I started doing some research while I was there, printing off guides for making traps and weapons (hey, better than using up all of my printer fluid). From what I’ve seen so far, I’m more worried about the humans than the zombies.

I found another rolling suitcase, this one is way bigger than mine, so I’m actually moving stuff from the other suitcase into the new one right now. I’m not sure how I’m going to haul all of this, but I’m figuring…

If I can make it down the street, I can probably gank a cart from the corner shop, or one of the homeless people I always see hanging around. If I get my hands on one of those, I’m pretty sure I can jerry rig it so I can pull it along behind me on a bike. If the path is clear, anyway. otherwise, I might ditch the bike and hightail it with the cart. It depends on who, or what, I’m running from. I’m gonna try and fit as much as I can on the bike, so I won’t lose too much if I do have to ditch anything, but it would be nice to keep it all together.

Make a long story short, I found a lot today. lots of batteries, lots of flashlights, and lots of knives. Oh, and duct tape! Motherfucking DUCT TAPE. I’m feeling damn near invincible right now, not even gonna lie.

Oh, and I decided against the hiking backpack. I want to take it, but it’s terrible for running in, and I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of running. I’m still taking the tent though, and I’m trying to figure out I’m going to work in my sleeping bag. It’s early April, so the night is still a bit too cold to be sleeping without some kind of blanket.

I’m a little worried about my parents. I talked to them a couple times since all this started up, and they told me they were fine, but I haven’t heard from them at all today.

Just got off the phone with them. They live in bumfuck North Carolina, without a neighbor for miles, so they’re doing okay. Dad took the truck and went into town to pick up some dog food and canned food for him and mom. He said there were more zombies than he expected, but he had his shotgun with him, so they weren’t much trouble. I was a little worried about the sound drawing more of them, but he brushed it off.

Oh, and get this…man, I love my dad. He stopped by the police station before he headed back home. There was no one there, so he decided to help himself to all the guns and ammunition he could get his paws on. Then he swung by the liquor store to see if he could score some whiskey while he was at it.

The cops were there. ALL OF THEM. Dad decided he wasn’t going to risk it, not with all the guns and stuff sitting in the back of his truck. Mom is so pissed at him. I could hear her in the background bitching about him robbing the cops, and “what the hell is wrong with you! what are they supposed to do if they get a call about a bunch of zombies attacking a little family?”

Dad’s response: fat lotta good they’d do. They couldn’t even protect their guns!

So yeah. That’s my dad for you. He’s planning on making a run to the lumberyard next. He wants to build a wall around his land. My brother and his wife are headed out there to help him out. My sister-in-law is pregnant, or she’d be helping him build the wall, too. Her and my brother used to go to the shooting gallery all the time though, so she’s going to go as a lookout.

Dad wants me to head down there as soon as possible. I’m gonna try, but let’s face it: making it from NYC to BFE North Carolina on foot is not going to be easy. Hell, I’m not even sure how I’m going to make it out of the city at this point.

I figure I’ve probably got about two weeks left before the power goes out. I want to be moving before then, but I also want to give people time to calm the fuck down. So yeah, I don’t even know.

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1:38am

I finished cleaning out all of the jugs I got from the neighbors. They’re all filled up with water and packed away. Suitcase switch is also done.

Thanks to the research online, I’ve found some pretty good uses for the makeup I’ve found. I used the lipstick to mark x’s on the doors of the apartments I’ve already looted, and I sprinkled the powder foundation in front of the doors of each apartment and the doors to the stairs and elevator. I sprinkled baby powder over the floor I would be able to see through my peephole too.

It’s not much of a warning system, but I don’t want to use up what little rope’ve scraped together to make a string of silverware. Besides, it wouldn’t make enough noise for me to hear through the door anyway.

Final notes for the day:

I’m still a little nervous about the apartments on my side of the building. I haven’t heard any thumping on the side where the kids lived, but there’s been a steady dragging sound now on the other side. I’ll check them both out tomorrow when I wake up. For now, I’m sleeping in the bathroom with the door firmly shut and locked. I don’t know yet if the zombies can open doors/climb stairs/bust through walls, and I’m not about to take any chances.

See you tomorrow?