Tuesday, November 1, 2011

NaNoWriMo 2011 Begins!

Today started well. I'm over my word count but I'm going to keep going in case I fall behind. I'm liking my first chapter of the first short story. I'm shooting for 5 stories with 10,000 words each. If you want to join me on NaNoWriMo this is my NaNo page. For anyone interested, here is the first chapter of my zombie story/novella thingy.


Zomb-pocalypse
Chapter 1
When zombies started taking over, everyone continued to go to work. You would think that people’s survival instincts would have kicked in, but the government assured everyone it was safe and people believed them. The military took over the safety of the population and for the most part it seemed to be working. People carried guns everywhere they went and stayed in groups. Whenever a zombie was spotted groups would often shoot at them at the same time. The increased uses of ammunition lead to a shortage. When companies started making more to meet the need there was an economic collapse. People were bitten so they couldn’t go to work; production slowed because of the lack of workers; the value of the dollar plummeted and that is when the disaster began. Not with the zombies, but when society was no longer able to function.
Mollie had often considered what would happen if zombies actually came into existence. She had written in her journal many times over the past few years what would happen when a scientist decided to try to see if they could make a zombie. Morality of scientists didn’t seem to exist to Mollie. She had figured that at some point a scientist would go beyond wondering if they could make something rather than thinking if they should. So when the zombie apocalypse started she was prepared. She had spent so many years thinking about how she would go about protecting herself that she had a sort of blueprint in her mind; a kind of checklist. She spent the first few months building up her bunker and buying supplies. She paid for it all on credit of course; because once the zombies completely took over she did not think creditors would be knocking on her door trying to collect. Mollie knew money would only be good for so long. Once the economy collapsed, it would be about what you had and how you could protect it. Because it was not the super flu (she had planned for that inevitability as well) she knew that she would not want to be above ground. She had planned for these instances because she was a constant worrier. She did not worry about important things like her career, bills, or finding a suitable mate, but she instead worried about zombies and the super flu. These worries that seemed so foolish at the time turned out to be the thing that prepared her for the future better than anyone.
So Mollie prepared for the worst, buying up guns and ammunition, gasoline, generators, surveillance equipment, food, and other supplies making it possible for her to live comfortably. She figured out how to make her own ammunition for when she ran out, she gathered a large collection of books to teach her what she didn’t already know. And she did all this while most other people assumed the situation was under control. Her family thought she was going crazy and that she would regret her choices once the zombie population was exterminated. No matter how many times she told them that they should prepare they laughed at her worries.
It took almost a year for the trouble to really begin. Once the ammunition ran out people had to start carrying weapons which required a closer proximity to the zombies, which meant more people were bitten. Families did not want to kill their family member until they turned, which lead to families waiting too long and getting themselves attacked by their former loved ones. The virus or whatever it was (it was never really confirmed), was spread by fluids entering the blood stream. A simple bite wouldn’t condemn one to death, but zombie mouths were typically so full of saliva and blood that once they managed to bite down and take hold, it would be difficult to remove them without losing skin and letting the infection in. Some people would hide the fact that they were bitten until it was too late and they became a zombie as well. Some, nearing the end of their human life, would sit with a gun to their head but unable to pull the trigger out of fear, which lead to zombies walking around with guns still in their hands. It was awful to many because of the gun shortage, but nobody really wanted to wrestle a gun away from a zombie.

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