Wasteland (Open to all apocalyptic thread)

Nobody thought the Myans would be right. It was a big joke for years, media made it all out to be a game. Then in early 2012 the comet appeared in the sky and the joke stopped. At first it was just a spectical in the sky. Early in June of that year NASA confirmed impending impact. Some could say the world ended right then and there. Panic in the streets, looting, riots, it was choas. National guard stations tried to maintain order but the general public way out numbered military and police forces. Order never returned.

In December NASA reported happily that the comet would not impact Earth as originally predicted, instead it would past a safe distance away, however it would be closer than any astral body has ever come to Earth. So close in fact, that the Earth's orbit would pass right through the comet's tail. Which meant that there was still a danger of debris entering the atmosphere from the comet's backlash. People were encouraged to stay home, stay off the roads and for the most part people relaxed, but damage was done. Trillions of damage was done all over the world, and it was going to take decades to rebuild the world.

All that panic and damage in a matter of a few months.

But at least the world wasn't ending.

Or so we thought.

On December 21st 2012, the Earth passed through the comet's tail. My guess based on a few extra semesters of science class, was that the comet's tail bombarded the Earth with a massive amount of cosmic radiation. That would be what caused almost everyone to fall over and die.

Everyone died, instantly, where ever they happened to be at the time. Everyone it would seem, except me.

Now it is five years later and I am surviving on my own. Living alone in my house was hard at first. I had to bury the bodies of my family, then I did the same for the neighbors out of respect and I didn't think the rotting bodies would be good for the smell of my house. My name was Jake Sherman and I used to work at a crummy fast food place, playing video games in my spare time. Now all I had was spare time. Well after I scavenged for my food and water.

You know how you see all those zombie movies where they are fighting to find the tiniest scraps of left over food. Now picture all the grocery stores in your neighborhood, let alone the world. You think that food just vanishes? It doesn't especially when people just fall over dead. Nobody left to take the food. It made it easy to simply go out and get whatever I wanted from the store. Since I was broke and nobody needed my money well things were all the more easier.

Of course it wasn't all roses. The power turned off about eight months after the event I suppose, no people to man the power stations it simply shut down out of safety. If I still had the internet I would look up some information on how to run a power station or something, then at least I could keep my X-box working. Sadly I've had to come up with other uses of my time. As a kid I was a big engineering nerd. Not something most kids are usually into, but call me a big weirdo.

After a few years of being alone I got it in my mind to take a road trip. I was lonely, and I couldn't have been the only person to have survived right? Maybe there were more people out there, resistant to the radiation or whatever caused human extinction. So I stole a big SUV from a house down the road. A large black Catalliac Escalade, big heavy car. Capable of holding up a ton of supplies and big enough for me to sleep in the back comfortably.

Before I could make the trip I needed to reenforce the sides and front of the truck with steel plates. It would make the truck heavier but it would allow me protection and the ability to push dead cars out of the road if I needed too. After a couple of months of work it was all set up and I was ready to venture out into the world and see what else was out there.

(Who will I find out in the world? How have your characters been surviving since the end of the world. This is open to all players. Be a good guy, a bad guy whatever and anything goes. But beware the zombies will rise later. )

Dave Collins

It was strange how military trained people had not thought of a way to survive the catastrophy if it happened. I mean enough scientists warned us what would happen if the earth did move through the comet's tail. Of course the problem with scientists are that they make a prediction based on what they thought might happen. This meant that in every group of five scientist, two will agree.

Well I had taken notes, the most common remark was radiation, since the house I lived in was quite old and my grand parents had been the very cautious type (some would say eccentric) they had built an underground bunker, deep enough to serve as a fallout shelter should the Soviets fire those missiles from their satelites. Of course the attack never came and the bunker had fallen into disrepair. All I had to do was get it working again, restock it and after things had calmed down and people were desperate for cash, I bought myself banks of deep cycle gel batteries, solar panels and two wind chargers. Of course a pair of regulators and an invertor was a must and I made sure I got those as well. I started experimenting, after setting up the system, I made a deal with the local municipality, to connect my system to the grid and feed the extra voltage back into the electrical system while I'm at the base. The system worked perfectly. Through the amount of power sent back into the system from my little "power plant" against the amount of power I used, it ended up that the municipality owed me money at the end of each month. This lasted for two months.

I was one of the lucky few on leave from the 16th of December, I had smuggled out a M-4 carbine with four magazines. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't stealing it, just procuring some protection if things would go pear shaped, if it didn't then I could return the weapon easily. Of course a cheap geiger counter inside the house with the sensor on the outside was my way of knowing if the scientists was right. On the 21st, when the earth entered the comet's tail and the geiger meter started squealing like a stuck pig, I wasted no time to enter the bunker.

Now I have come out of hiding, I have cut the connection of the municipal power as it was useless and just stealing power from me. I lived in luxury, tinned food and dry food was nothing new to me, filtered water tasted good and there was of course a supermarket just down the street. I had procured extra deep freezers and was stocked for a long time. It was of course obvious that thanks to my grand parents, I was still alive. The community that had made fun of them, wasn't. I had taken more weapons from the local gunshop, had enough amunition to survive anything but Judgement Day.

The geiger counter had assured me that the ground out in the back was clean, so I even planted a few vegetables to keep myself busy and to make certain I almost never ran out of food. Was there any survivors out there? I did not know, I of course wasn't going to leave the comfort of my home to go look for people, I lived just fine on my own thank you. Of course movies like Mad Max, Book of Eli and Doomsday had tickled my interest and I went nowhere without a weapon. If some assholes did survive and would come out here to try and take what's mine? They would end up with a fight on their hands.

Nina Oscold

I had been doing the weekly shop at the local supermarket when i bumped into an old school friend Jenny I remembered looking down into her shopping cart and noticing the water, torches and tin food, I looked at her in confusion.
As always Jenny had smiled and spoke to me like I was a child, "End of the world is near little Nina, got to be prepared." and without explaining anymore she wondered off into another aisle.
I continued walking along, picking up some steak and vegetables for dinner when i noticed that everyone i was passing had much of the same supplies as Jenny if not more.
Looking around even more confused I shook my head, did this not happen last time, with that crazy church goer i thought. Yes it had, end of the world, everyone panicking but no, we survived as always.
Waiting at the till for the every slow clerk to hurry up I gazed at one of the over counter TV's showing the news but muted, as predicted there in bold white letters END OF THE WORLD 21.12.12 sighing i placed my shopping on the conveyor belt.
Beeping each item through i was drawn back to the TV screen a list of advice appearing up, I had been following the news unconsciously ever since it was announced about the comet flying past earth, because of personal interest or everyone i past seemed to be talking about it I didn't know but it was week till then and i doubted the end would arrive.

It was the 16th Dec, everyone was still in a panic but me. Honestly looking back i did not know why i didn't panic if i was a normal person then maybe i would of joined everyone in the neighbor hood boarding up their windows and doors, but no I decided to do everyday things like normal. The news was the same thing over and over but now they had added the threat of Radiation into it, looking at the experts they had on, they seemed to look more terrified by the hour. Switching it off I decided to get some work done.

I was wrong! terribly wrong! the end of the world had happened, well sort of, the comets tail had seeped radiation into the air and everyone within minutes had dropped down where they were. Was i lucky i don't know? All i had been doing was trying to fix the damn fuse box once more in the basement, looking back it was an old house I had inherited it off my Auntie when she died, and it was old! Maybe it sheltered me somehow? maybe not? i might die eventually.
Getting back to the point, I had been down a good few hours getting it fixed that when i went upstairs i didn't notice everything was quiet till the next day.
As usual i had to go pick up some shopping and walking outside i noticed some of the neighbors doors open, rubbish lying around, walking to the store it was when that usual normal beep of the doors opening that reality hit me! there on the floor were bodies, their faces screwed up with pain. Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and slowly made my way around them, shouting out for anyone but hearing only my own voice echo back.

That had been 8 months ago, and it seemed i was the only one left. Everything was quiet, no body else around. I had kept myself entertained with books and the odd movie but the electricity went out after just a couple of months. I had found the over stock of the supermarket and had taken most of it back to the house.
Investing in some deadbolts for the doors and shutters for the windows, I knew nobody was out there but for some reason every time i went out adventuring the hairs at the back of my neck would stand up. Hence why i had invested in some weapons and protection, mostly now i stayed in doors, only going out early before dawn.

I hope i wasn't the only one. I was used to the alone life but even this wasn't entertaining. What i wouldn't give to hear someone else's voice.

Closing the journal, Nina sighed as she pushed it back ... 9 months and counting the small crosses on the wall counting down the days. Running a hand through her hair, she looked out of the window, soon she should probably move, maybe look for someone... but she didn't know who.

Kain Kanith

I was born in a well to do family, actually filthy rich. Living every gamer’s fantasy of having a room dedicated to his systems and the games he loves. Amongst those games were the Fallout Series and lots of Zombie apocalypse games: Dead Island, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, and similar titles. You might say that these games started the whole prepping for the worst in him as they where his favorite games.

After high school I bought bit of land and started making this shelter. Complete with a restroom. I would have bought one of the "Zombie proof homes" that people had been advertizing but my family refused to allow that kind of a "crazy" concept as it could mean social ruin. Father refused to give into the idea that the world was really ending, so my father, the stock broker, continued to buy up low stocks and then sell high. It is amazing what people can do when they refuse to believe the truth.

I wasn't about to go without a fight. On my little bit of land I had a small bunker made with a generator house on the far outside wall were vents for the exhaust. A water recycling unit for the toilet as well as a small water tank with filter system at the inside tap. It was a place of luxury for a single person trying to survive. Food storage was even high.

December 20th came around my family still refused to believe what was going to happen. Father, "devout Christian" when it is Sunday anyways, said “if it is going to happen then it is God's will why fight it”, and of course Mother never went against him. My younger sisters though scared were not allowed to even stay with me for a night just in case. I woke that next morning everyone was dead. I lost it and cursed god and my father for being stubborn.

That day was hell as I buried my family and then sunk into a depression inside of my little fort as my family called it. Father had called it moronic and crazy, mother was not interested but my little sisters thought it had been cool. Maybe that is what hurt the most.

Several months went by the power died and I could no longer get gas to pump easily at the stations and bring it back. Nor was I myself naturally mechanically incline so I was more or less beating on it with a rock and wasting time for a while after that happened. Other things around my little fort started having issues, Leaky pipes and no new filters for the water. Though I thought I was prepped for 10 years. I quickly realized how unprepared I truly was forced to leave the custom built shelter so that traveling farther and scavenging food became easier after the things close by started to spoil and can goods became harder to find. I have realized that no matter how disgusting you thought something was before when food was abundant when it becomes scarce it will look and taste like heaven.

I started to pack my camping pack and supplies that were left. The metal framed backpack helped to balance the load better. Things I packed: a single change of clothes, 4 pairs of socks, a box of 9mm ammo, a box of .22LR ammo, a survival knife, 2 bas of ivory soap, my prized possession though was a kindle full of my favorite books and the box of spare batteries for it. Strapped under the pack was a sleeping bag. I carried no tent as I usually stuck to town or main roads that would have a place to stop every once in a while.

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Kain Kanith
Age 20
Hair
Eye
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Build: Slender
Blood type: A-

The first thing I learned being out on the road was getting a strong stomach. It was a sad sight almost everywhere you looked, people dead, rotting, stinking. When the world died right where they stood it amazed me to find so many cars on the road, people slummed inside like they just gave up. It was heartbreaking and I hoped and prayed that I would see another living person soon. The only reason to keep traveling was the hope that I wasn't alone in the world, that I wasn't the only one left to wallow in a sea of death.

The second thing I learned was how to use a crowbar and a vaccum pump to suck gasoline from the underground tanks at any gas station in the country. I loaded the trunk bed with extra gas just in case I didn't pay attention in the middle of nowhere and got stuck. The computer in the truck that told me how many miles I had left on a tank was a lie as the extra weight from the steel outter shell I fitted to the cab made the truck weigh a lot more and thus ate more gas than the computer could predict.

Otherwise the trip wasn't too bad. The roads where not cluttered with as many cars as one would think, though in the famous areas of the city where there was a lot of traffic, like the 405 freeway, those areas still had an impassable amount of cars on them. However I avoided that whenever possible and decided to head out toward of the city toward Las Vegas. I figured that with people visiting from all over the world in Vegas, maybe someone else there lived through the comet's tail. That and I really liked Vegas.

Dave Collins

Manual labor brings out the best in any man. Or at least that is what my father believed, he exercised that believe on me quite a numerous set of times and now as I was toiling away at the garden in the back of my property, I was actually thankful for it. It would have been much easier to sit inside the house in luxury, but instead here I was in the sun, working on getting another bed ready for cabbages.

By now the worst things I have had to contend with was boredom, the whole isolation deal never got to me. Perhaps because I had been a solitary person most of my life, the only reason I had taken part in any social gathering was to appease superiors, that means not only officers, but parents as well. By now the worst smells have passed, the bodies that was still around had by now shriveled away to skeletons with skin, clothing and a rather unpleasant smell, but it was better than when the decomposition had stepped up a gear in the heat.

I leaned on my spade and looked at the little farm I had going, not too bad for a suburban kid. Perhaps there was some hope for me after all, I chuckled at the thought and set to work again.

Nina Oscold

Pulling on my hoodie i looked into the hallway mirror, normally i would of been hounded by my family members to spruce up a bit, put on some make up, go get your hair done, I chuckled it all really didn't matter now did it.
Sighing i grabbed the rucksack at my feet and opened the door, time for another adventure i thought, as i locked it behind me, the breeze making my skin goose bump from its touch.
Pulling the hood over my head i started the steady walk to the grocery store, I realized i shouldn't always go to the big mall, what if others were watching? I realized that no matter how happy i am in my own company I had grown paranoid, watching over my shoulder, checking houses, stores etc knowing that all i would be met with is rotting corpses but the hairs on the back of my neck still stood.
Walking about two blocks away from the little grocery store which i was heading i noticed the high school, i remember that place being the living hell of my life, never fitted in with anyone and look here i am staring at bodies of students scattered about, like they just gave up on life.
Closing my eyes i forced myself to walk at a speeder pace, i had noticed that the sky was becoming darker a good sign of rain, and i wanted to be home and safe before the down pour.

The drive to Vegas had been a long one, but also relaxing and enjoyable as well. I listened to my i-pod since it ran off the car battery, the music allowed me to escaped from this world. Though it saddened me that I'd never get another new album from my favorite bands ever again. I felt regret at not bringing at least an acoustic guitar with me, and made a mental note to loot one from a guitar center or something later.

I reached stateline shortly after noon and noticed that several bulbs fromt eh normally lit neon signs were busted. They probably went out after being on constantly, but since no one was left alive to change them it left the sign looking like a mess. By two o'clock I pulled off the freeway onto Tropicana blvd, and made a right heading into the Las Vegas strip. The steel plating on the truck became useful as I had to shove cars out of my way to make it down the street.

Finally I parked the truck on the strip and climbed out, grabbing an empty backpack and my pistol. I had an old 9mm baretta handgun that I found in my neighbors house before I left. He had been a police officer and I figured that some kind of protection would be good to have just in case. I didn't fear people as much as wild animals or something of the sort.

Vega itself was a silent erie shell of what it once had been. Nothing was on, there was no sound, no digital ads running on the screens around the walkways, no lights on the casinos. I went into the MGM grand first, checking out the place. All the slot machines were off, and amazingly there were bodies sitting at some of the machines, like the end of the world had meant that people were feeling lucky.

God I wish they had been.

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Nina Oscold

I had just made it into the grocery store via the back door as the automatic ones at the front would not budge ever since the electric went off. Pulling my hood off i looked outside as the rain started, "Great." i muttered closing the door behind me, guess i wasn't fast enough.
Running a hand through my hair i readjusted the rucksack on my back and began walking through the stock room, what was i in the mood for?
I ran my finger over some labels which were slowly gathering layers of dust, I grabbed some tin stuff of course i had plenty at home but it was nice to have some variety. I was about to walk out when the old magazine stand out front caught my eye, walking through i stopped myself from vomiting when i noticed the cashier lying dead over the counter, sneaking past even though he was dead i went to the stand.
Looking over the old magazines a few caught my attention, opening my rucksack i noticed i had some space spare for a few, so grabbing a fishing guide, camping guide and music magazine i placed them in and tied it shut, pulling it over my shoulder i sighed which i was doing a lot these days as i saw the rain now pouring outside banging against the windows.

Turning i pulled my hood up and began the journey back home, walking along a different route back i thought about the times when i used to wonder alone, my ipod playing music, people watching as they went about their everyday lives...how i missed it.
Reaching my door i was soaked to the bone, pulling my hood off i put the rucksack on the floor and locked the door. Lying my head against it, i listened to the silence...soon i knew i would have to leave before i went insane, if i wasn't already.