Z-Day 1

My friend and I decide to storm the Electronics Workshop on campus, gathering as many supplies as needed. I've got an empty duffel bag. My backpack will hold two pairs of heavier-duty clothing, bar of soap, two radios, and whatever liquids that were in my fridge. I want the duffel bag to hold stuff from the Workshop.

We need to brave the campus grounds and make it into the Workshop. I don't think FM or AM radios will still operate, at least, not as long as ham radios. Ham radio will be easier to send and receive information from other potential survivors. I need to cannibalize (any other time I'd find that funny) my windup clockradio and the ham radio. The ham radio works on batteries and now that zombies are everywhere, batteries won't be easy to get. Also, to use my solder off the grid, I need to jack someone's car battery and set it up to draw power from that. We can steal a car battery on campus.

After packing up, the regular stairs might have crazed survivors and zombies battling out, need another way. Screw elevators, those are deathtraps. We'll take the fire escape stairs. No one wants to set off any alarms, so it won't be used. If a zombie uses those doors, the alarm will sound. At least we'll know if there's anyone else in there. Bypassing the alarm will be easy, just have to move the latch and keep it pressed down by jamming it with a penny, dime, or nickel.

In the stairwell, I notice a fireman's axe in one of those “In Case of Emergency” cases. It's an emergency and I need this. This axe will come in handy. But I need some guns. I hope the gunshops and the indoor gun ranges weren't ransacked. The case is broken into and I take the axe.

The sun's down, there's no moon (no space station either) and Venus is shining through the city's light pollution. We make it across the campus, but it's eerily quiet. No one's in the shop. Now I can change the ham radio to operate on the windup motor. It takes about 20 minutes. I'm done and now I can fill the duffel bag with soldering supplies and components. Ren finds an empty backpack and follows suit, "Let's go on the roof, see how bad it really is."

The city's lights are being shut off in massive quadrants. Eventually the entire city goes dark. For a moment, it's really nice and calm. But then the sounds of far-off screaming begin to fill the night. We need to escape the city, first place to hit, a quiet hole-in-the-wall gunshop.

Pasadena, the City of Roses, is beginning to wilt.

My English teacher would've thought that was a nice use of allegory. Is it allegory? I never really paid that much attention.