It's the Z-end: Welcome to the Zombie Apocalypse CHAPTER 6

February 23, 2012 23:28 PM

The situation on the street is tense, people are constantly talking about what is happening and many fear the worst with the return of the soldiers and medical personnel sent to Eskisehir, according to reports, several of those medical personnel were injured.

The truth is I don't know what's going on in the rest of the world, the last thing that's leaked on the internet is a piece of information from the Atlanta CDC that is already talking about a global pandemic. In the U.S. there are already people locked up in bunkers, or something like that... finally the U.S. government raised the level of terrorist alert to the maximum and created an emergency cabinet.

According to an expert from the Ministry of Health, we have reached what is called the "Rupture Point" in an epidemic and now a pandemic is unseen, which should land in Venezuela in a matter of days, if it hasn't already... The worst part is that since this has been so fast, no one knows anything about this disease, it is still not clear how it is transmitted, nor what is the period of incubation, not even the symptoms...

That's why the people on the street are very tense, they're afraid, today I've seen two ladies wearing masks on the street and yesterday over coffee with Wilma and Rodrigo a guy started coughing noisily and the security guy asked him to leave the place. The government has not yet enacted any restrictive measures, but people are starting to stay home for fear of getting infected.

My sister called me from Miami this morning. He told me that for the moment there the rhythm of the city is the same, but that it also feels like a heavy atmosphere in the streets. People avoid enclosed spaces after rumors are heard that hot air could be the ideal means of spreading the disease.

February 24, 2012 13:49 PM

People are definitely starting to get nervous. It's raining too hard this morning. As I was crossing town on my way to work I noticed that the number of people wearing masks had increased. I should get one.

On the radio, the information is as confusing as ever. No news from Eskisehir for more than 1 day. I don't know what's more disturbing, the bad news or the total disinformation....

Fires like the one that occurred yesterday are now being repeated in more cities in Turkey, apparently without anyone being able to fight them. The official Turkish version is that these are mass cremations of corpses infected by the epidemic, but nobody believes that. The fires are too big, and they are ravaging everything. There are not many, only about 6, but it is striking that they all started in the same days or so...

The images of Italy are of total chaos. The highways are collapsed by traffic, many try to get out of the cities and head for the countryside, far away from human concentrations. However, only a small percentage have a place to go, most of them still remain in their homes. Apparently there's not a total panic, but if you notice the concerned people. Martial law is in force and all those who are circulating after 8 p.m. or outside the rest areas on the roads will be shot, according to the Italian Prime Minister... These guys don't mess around.

However, I have saved the most interesting for last. Official information flows very slowly and is very limited. Today the Presidents of all the countries of Europe, together with the Ministers of Defence, Health and Home Affairs, met urgently.

they held a joint press conference, and then they dropped the bomb. From this moment on all official information will be channelled through a single crisis cabinet for the entire European Union.

this cabinet will give an official report every hour. The armed forces of all the countries of the European Union have been put on alert. According to him, it is a question of avoiding creating an unnecessary state of panic among the population. The Cabinet claims that the information is so contradictory and confusing that an unrealistic state of alarm is being generated, resulting in massive displacement of the population ("Italy," I suppose).

I went blank listening to the news. This whole Cabinet thing sounds like censorship, doesn't it? The worst thing is not that, the worst thing is that, the most serious thing was to see the faces of the ministers and presidents, it seemed that they came from a funeral.... a media affirms that the thing is quite serious, because as soon as the meeting ended, the presidents have left quickly to their respective countries. Many say that the disease is already spreading throughout Italy and that it is only a matter of days before it will spread throughout Europe.