There is a pretty extensive amount of
psychological damage that can happen to a person when they are out stealthing
and skulking through the zombie apocalypse for over seventy days. So, for our
new crew of six, we took things very easy. Ashlynn was one of the ones leading
this charge because of the sheer “emotion dump” that you go through. (That is
my term, not hers.) Ashlynn commented on how she was shocked at how well we
have it here in the store and it was very emotional for her. I cannot imagine
what these guys are going through, being out there and on the run for seventy
days.
We really wanted to treat them with
kids’ gloves and let them unwind. Sharon and the girls made up some really
special food for our new arrivals. We let them sleep for as long as they wanted
to. I swear, that first night, I think Eric slept for eighteen hours. We didn’t
even attempt to wake them for the morning reveille.
But the more adjusted that they
became, the more they opened up. I would like to think that it is us but they
have adjusted and opened up to us tremendously. And I knew that this was a
possible tension thing, I wanted to press them for information the same way I
did with Shannon when she came over.
And this is what we learned. April 29th
seems to be the Zero Hour outbreak day. So while things were erupting here in
Langley, apparently is was hitting in Tulsa too. Eric talked about his shift.
He was working overnight and was close to winding down when all this broke. It
centered around three of the major hospitals (big surprise) and there was just
no stopping it. The anarchy he described was unbelievable.
The chaos, the traffic jams that
erupted… He said the complete snarl of mobilization just basically trapped
people along the highways and main streets which turned people into a
smorgasbord. But, being a cop, Eric knew the side streets and alleyways to get
around Tulsa like only a cop could do.
Then, it was like the reverse of a
horror movie. You know those movies where you have the paranormal serial killer
starts taking out the cast of teenagers one at a time? It was like that in
reverse. Eric saved Kimber. Kimber and Eric meet up with Justin. Eric, Kimber,
and Justin meet Nicki. They make it to the outskirts of Tulsa and they hole up
in Justin’s house in Catoosa.
Barricaded inside Justin’s house and
armed with Eric’s weapons, they stay hunkered down, waiting for the chaos to
subside. They stay there until the food runs out. They then start moving from
house to house, staying silent and secure, hoping for some sort of help
(military, CDC, police) to show up.
Unfortunately, that help never
arrived. And keep in mind, Tulsa has a population of almost a million people.
Add in Catoosa, Sand Springs, Jenks, etc. Whew. I am amazed that they made it
out.
Their goal was to get up to Miami
where Justin’s parents live on a cattle ranch. Making it out of Catoosa, they
then made it on to Claremore where they encountered Brian and Kelly. They then
boosted the SUV from a dealership in Claremore. Navigating down the turnpike,
they made it to Adair and then into Langley. It was on Highway 28 that they
encountered the two flat tires. With zoms staggering after them, they had to
stop. I know I joked earlier about the Langley hotspot being the result of a
Tulsa lake vacationer but now that actually seems like it could have been a
real possibility.
So, Tulsa is gone. Claremore is
overrun. But Adair is a ghost town. Did the zoms of Adair shuffle off to join
others in more populated areas? You kind of think that it would be the other
way around that zoms in heavy populated areas like Tulsa would eventually start
bleeding out into the surrounding areas looking for food. And yet, now, it
seems like more and more zoms seem to be clustering together according to what
Eric has told us.
So now, that makes me curious about towns
like Pryor and Vinita that are larger than Adair but smaller than Tulsa,
Claremore and the other surrounding suburbs. Maybe we will be lucky enough to
go explore there soon…
