A journal of a wimpy man who learns from the hard knocks of life and changes his ways to be better.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Wendy Haloran, Special Investigative Reporter Report on Rogue Firemen
One has to admire Wendy Halloran, an investigative reporter, with brass who took the controversial unpopular field assignment of untruthful arson investigations in Phoenix under her review and reported the disturbing fact on television that has disrupted the comforts of community public servants who all engage in criminally motivated malpractices of gaining convictions of crimes even if they have to be fabricated or set up to make them stick and then prosecuted and put in jail or prison.
One has to take the time and assess this situation in the eyes of the public and those who depend on public servants to help them, protect them and to serve them. The fact that have to be responsible goes without saying.Certainly a high position of responsivity aka first responders in many cases, that should not be taken for granted nor allowed to drift beyond the rule of law and the morality of what is right and wrong. However, not all first responders, need to be armed.
Wendy Halloran, in her professional and responsible attempts to put the actions of two former Phoenix Fire Department rogue arson investigators into content and context has been attacked by the very same people who are supposed to protect us. Unable to dispute the facts gathered, they resorted to rude, slanderous and mean bully tactics to discredit her work.
As a matter of record, these two ‘peace officers’ have no lawful badge authority to warrant carrying city owned weapons. One has to wonder, how many others are given the privilege of carrying city-owned guns. Is this a form of giving them special powers not deserved or allowed under law?
Being a fireman does not enable you to receive city owned firearms or the ammunition to serve the purpose using that firearm. So what purpose does this give these two rogue investigators who have been exposed as being unethical in practice and character? What prompts the city to remain obligated to protect and shield (no pun intended) such misconduct by issuing them city owned weapons while performing in a non- active law enforcement capacity? What motive drives this decision making process.
What fulfilment manages this ideology to do so and why do these two individual manage to dodge their responsibilities for creating false and bogus investigations that initiated criminal charges against innocent people. Is that the purpose of giving them guns?
Are these guns given to them so they can protect themselves from the number of innocents who were jailed, stripped of dignity and robbed of their financial wealth or securities fighting these false charged and these two now fear retaliation for their bogus attempts to set them up on false charges? What created this paranoia?
Well, city manager, mayor and police chief of Phoenix, now I understand why you gave them city owned guns to protect themselves from those who were false accused by these two rogue investigator. Now it makes sense why you protect them with you guns. Maybe city councilor and public servant Sal DiCiccio should ask some questions because it’s obvious the mayor or chief of police won’t ask or act accordingly.
In reality, I highly doubt that Barbara Sloan, Carl Caples and the many others indicted, charged or treated dishonestly don’t plan to assail these firemen – it’s highly likely these two suffer from paranoia that accompanies willful knowledge of wrongdoings and guilt that is managed by denial and offensive actions that resemble intimidation and fear mongering – something these city owned guns make it easier for them to become stronger bullies and bad characters on our city street as representatives of our city government.
Article link to AZCentral
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Working on Volume II - preview
Amazing Grace –
The El
NiƱo Legend
(Surviving
the Zombie Invasion)
Part
VIII
By
Carl
R. ToersBijns, author
Chapter
Six
Carl
entered the kitchen and with tiled floors and solid walls, there were no window
in this solid granite fortification, therefore it was impossible to tell
whether it was raining outside or not. He was certain there would be no
sunshine this morning as that had been the case for the past three weeks since
the El Nino arrived.
When
he entered the kitchen, he saw Heather and Grace at the preparation island, making
something to eat for breakfast, and what looked like they grabbed some cold
cereal. Smiling their way, he reached in for his iron skillet and took out
three eggs, some virgin olive oil and a package of bacon. Taking his time, he
grabbed two slices of wheat bread and poured himself a hot cup of coffee.
Carl
had been concerned about Heather’s wellness, as these thunderstorms, day after
day, appeared to have caused her some discomfort or mental anguish. Grace had
told him that thunderstorms had always given Heather the scares and that it was
normal. On the other hand, Carl noticed a sign of depression and wanted to talk
about it soon.
Even
now, being secured and safe inside the bunker, Heather, a girl of the age of
six, it was hard for her to deal with the reality that existed around her, as
she was absolutely frightened at the loud claps of thunder and the sudden
bright flashes from the lightning.
Sitting
here in the dark bunker whether it was day or night, seemed to take on a more
frightening quality that was something they needed to worry about. She had a tough time dealing with all that for
the moment.
Perhaps
it was time the two adults took her out a little more, instead of leaving her
inside here inside her concrete box of a room. The mood was light and Carl
wanted to talk to Grace about this sometime soon.
In the
meantime, Grace greeted him with a passionate hug as the sight of her splendor
brought an extra-long smile that was saying, “Good morning babe.” She crept up
behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist and tightly hugged him.
Talking
low with a low sardonic tone, Grace smiled and said, I don’t know about you,
but that cold cereal didn’t hit the spot; do you feel like making me some of
your specialty of bacon and eggs? I am so hungry after all that exercise last
night.”
Smiling
genuinely this time around, Carl said, “sure, give me a moment and I will fix
it right up so if you want, go ahead and sit there at the island and I’ll hurry
to get your breakfast ready.”
She
squeezed his hand and kissed him on the back of his neck with some deliberate
slow and sensually and seductive lingering up close and personal, letting Carl
smell the fragrance of sweet honey that was so natural and so strong whenever
she was standing close to him. She knew it drove him crazy.
By
then, Heather had left the kitchen after eating her cold cereal and headed for
the bathroom to brush her teeth. For the time being, the two were alone in the kitchen.
Grace slid her hands under Carl’s tee shirt and pinched his nipples extra hard.
A loud scream resonated through the cavern as Carl yelled out with pain.
Carl grabbed Grace and boosted her up in the
air, showing how strong he was by merely lifting her up without any effort. Swirling
her around a little while up in the air, he gently put her down with a little
bit of a sign that he was a little out of breath.
Suddenly,
he lifted her up soft and tenderly laid his eyes on her eyes, and then slowly
put her back down on the tile floor. Catching his breath, Carl hugged her from
behind, placing his hands up her front and slithering his hands towards the
curves of her stunningly sculptured breasts that were very revealing through
the sheer white tee shirt she was wearing.
Good-humoredly,
Grace covered his hands that were softly squeezing her while cupping her
breasts and then Carl, forcefully, pressed his hard body against her.
Her
sexiness was beginning to create a stirring and passionate moment for the two
of them standing there in the kitchen.
He could
feel her nipples protruding through the thin cloth and once again, just about
the time he thrusted his body against her buttocks, his cock was rock hard and
erect under his shorts that were pressed firmly against her ass. He wanted her
to feel his manhood as it was pressed against her firm and tight buns.
Her
nicely proportioned body was attractively shaped and revealed her athletic form
well. She had well rounded breasts that were not extra-large but not small as they
were perfectly sized, nicely shaped and fitted well in his groping hands.
Anything more would have been a wasted pleasure.
He
retaliated her earlier torture by pinching her erected nipples hard, as she let
out a slightly aggravated yelp and winched with the sting. This kind of
roughhousing was their way of foreplay and usually led to a wild moment of
sexual pleasure.
After
a few seconds, she released his hands and slapped them lightly, teasingly
saying, “You’re burning my bacon.”
Laughing,
they both sat down at the table and tucked their plates directly in front of
them. Sitting on the opposite sides, Carl sipped on his coffee while Grace
gulped down another tall glass of orange juice.
Looking
up to Grace, he said, “I don’t really feel hungry this morning, I think I made
my meal just out of habit and didn’t even think about whether I was hungry or
not.” Surprised, Grace responded, “you are always hungry in the morning, what’s
wrong.”
“I am
not quite sure how I feel about what we did last night, I mean, don’t take this
wrong cause the sex is great but I am wondering where this is all going and how
do we deal with this so we don’t hurt each other.”
Grace said softly, “I promise you this, I won’t hold
anything against you; you are under no obligation to take care of us after we are
all free from this madness and back in the routines we had before the El Nino
hit us so hard.”
Carl tried to reassure her he was not feeling guilty
but that he was concerned about the emotions in this relationship. He was just
thinking out loud and sighed loudly. Then he spit it out “I enjoyed it too much
to risk doing anything that might stop it happening again.”
Grace, always level headed and calm, paused for a
second. “Perhaps we should cool the jets
a bit and not take any more risks like that again” she replied seemingly
irritated and somewhat hurt as she said in a caustic voice, “what are you
planning to do today?”
Carl had learned a long time ago that when a woman
changes the subject, the conversation had ended. Quietly he stood up and placed
his cup and plate in the sink.
Then, moving his eyes on a hurting Grace, he spoke
very slowly and with a serious expression, he walked over to her and gently
rubbed her shoulders.
After standing behind her a couple of seconds, he
noticed her shoulders heaving up and down and realized she was crying – she was
dismayed and uncertain what just went down and what the problem really was.
He knew her tears were real and didn’t know how to
handle this and not make it worse than it already had gotten. Carl reached out
and placed his hands on her shoulders and reassured her that all is good and
that he just wanted to make sure nobody got hurt.
They had been lovers for about three weeks now. They
both loved the demanding passion and fire. There was definitely a clear lust,
passion and neediness for each other’s desires.
Ever since that night outside the bunker, they have
enjoyed every moment of being together. They usually make love at night and
sometimes during the day but are always worried that Heather may walk through
the door at any moment. It seems that ever since Grace has been sneaking over
to Carl’s room at night, they have been screwing longer and longer and
sometimes, before they even make it to the bedroom. Sometimes they drift in the
relaxation room and find the couch and chairs useful for their obsessive sexual
moments.
A hard confession would lead to an admission of having
sex in every room except Heather’s, leaving the kitchen island stand, the
laundry room and the shower. When their asses were in need of sex they landed
wherever or whatever was the closest.
Carl likes to fuck hard and had great stamina – Grace
likes it at anytime, anywhere and was very accommodating how they wanted to
fuck. She had never once has said ‘no’ to his sexually unambiguous advances.
Sometimes they go at it for more than an hour as he
pounds her hard as she never complains no matter how bad her pussy hurts. Grace
had let it be known to Carl she loves to suck his dick. In fairness to Carl, he
never complained about her doing him that way.
They have their favorite or preferred positions but no
matter how they do it, they always end it laying silently wrapped in each
other’s arms, usually perking up after a short rest and start it all over
again.
Mixing it up with a wide variety of pleasure and sex games,
this changing the rules and styles of making love kept their passion on fire.
They experienced euphoria almost every time they were intimate together.
Afterwards, they would stare into each other’s eyes
and talk small talk before falling asleep together. Carl saw a reasonable gap
in their conversation to bring up his concerns about Heather.
He had talked about it briefly with Grace and told her
he was not comfortable leaving her here alone for a couple hours when they went
to scavenge or find supplies. She confessed she felt the same.
Today, he wanted to talk about her fear of the thunder
and lightning.
It seems she was having real trauma whenever she heard
or saw the thunder storms roll up and unleash its fury. At least, this was what
Carl had observed whenever she was with them.
Deciding that maybe it was time they asked Heather
what was bothering her, Grace called her to the relaxation room. Sitting there
and waiting for her to come, Carl whispered to Grace, “don’t be hard on her,
she is just a kid. I remember when I was a kid and afraid of the thunder.”
Grace laughed and said, “Hard to imagine you were
afraid of anything when you were a kid, stud.” Carl took the joke and patiently
sat there quietly as Grace began to talk to Heather about her fear of the
thunderstorms.
The conversation started politely and to the point.
Grace was being kind and asking for Heather to explain her feelings. Somewhere
between the fears of the thunder she started talking about the fear of being
alone. It seemed Heather had her own story to tell her mother and the man
sitting quietly in this room.
Heather began to speak slowly. For a six year old she
was very good at expressing how she felt or what she needed. Suddenly, without
a warning, she opened up on something both of the adults were unaware of until
Heather explained it in full particulars of her inner fears.
Heather spoke and said, “There were times I woke up in
the middle of the night hearing the thunder and reaching for my mommy but I couldn’t
find her until the next morning. Knowing my mommy was just right down the hall,
I tried not to scream or cry or even get more scared so I waited until it was
time to get up.”
Grace and Carl were mummified and shocked. Heather
kept talking and revealed more of her story. Heather didn’t stop there. She
revealed more by saying, “There were times I walked down the hallway and tried
looking for mommy and heard her and Carl inside the bedroom making noises.
I didn’t want to tell, so I often slept in to give her
time to get back to the room before I pretended to wake up and say good morning
to mommy.”
Spending not too much time outside, didn’t eliminate
Heather’s fear of the storms. In fact, she claimed she could tell it was
raining and thundering outside even when the bunker was soundproof but when she
looked out the square window she saw the flashes.
The thunder was silent but she knew, where there was
lightning there was rolling thunder. Although slightly noticed, the ground did
shake on some of those wacks especially those close ones.
She said that every time she heard the thunder, the
window shook or rumbled. The lightning filled the sky in a flash bulb effect,
freezing her to the window and being really scared; so scared she would start
running away to hide in her room, where she would cover herself under the
blankets.
Carl was stunned. Grace was amazingly calm but
disturbed none the less that her daughter had revealed secrets that showed she
had more trauma to deal with at the shelter as well as what was happening out
side with the killings of zombies and the rolling thunderstorms.
This wasn’t just about the El Nino storms, this wasn’t
just about the killings that she witnessed but ad to be done in order to
survive. This had to do more with taking a small child out of her own house and
moving into a strange house that wasn’t the same for her.
She had no ideas how to act or play inside this new
house. She was definitely confused and miserable.
She was sad to leave all the good experiences in her
old house behind. She missed her own bedroom and missed her friends. This had
completely been lost in the midst of all the zombie generated chaos.
She missed not having an upstairs and her own
bathroom. She loved playing on the stairs and missed that so much, it made her unhappy.
Her room had a big closet that had a door that creaked
when you opened it and she was used to the noises it made.
She missed her favorite lamp that she knew how to turn
on when she had to go the bathroom at night. Heather said it was sad being
inside this room she was staying in as it was not her real room and that it
made her feel alone and she was scared to be alone.
Heather added, “Not because of the storms mommy, but
because I was not in my own house. It wasn’t the same. I miss my room.” It was
then that they realized she had not adjusted to the shelter.
Although they coped and functioned normally with a
natural adaptation, Heather didn’t adapt and held on to the old days and old
ways. They had to find a way to resolve
this so Heather could sleep with peace and mind and not be afraid any longer.
Working on Volume II - Part VII - preview
Amazing Grace –
The El
NiƱo Legend
(Surviving
the Zombie Invasion)
Part
VII
By
Carl
R. ToersBijns, author
Chapter
Five
Carl
was doing some serious research on these water logged and bloated zombies that
he realized must have some kind of resistance to decomposing as they appeared
to be somewhat half-alive.
He had
noticed the disintegrating, decayed corpses but he also noticed that the amount
of decay was limited and not as progressive or advanced as science explained it
to be under these environmental circumstances. Something was interfering with
the natural decomposing process and Carl wanted to know what that was.
This
prompted him to look into the mystery as he explained his theory to Grace that
the flooded El Nino waters appeared to be aiding the retardation of these
walkers and their method of rottenness to a degree that kept them more intact
than others he had seen.
His
theory was that under ideal conditions, their rotted flesh was a magnet for various
species of decomposers he knew existed under certain conditions. Off hand, he
knew of three decomposers that were organism made of bacteria, fungi and worms
or insects. He was certain there were others but having no extensive background
in biology, he was guessing they were the major sources in this part of the
world.
Under
normal conditions, specifically without the interference or dynamics of the El
Nino, he speculated the flooding and pools of water was somehow impeding the
decomposition or decaying process making them remain stronger and possess more
vigor or vitality even when they are half-life or half-undead.
Scientifically,
they should have decayed faster but since they were water logged, bloated and
underwater at times, they didn’t attract the usual decomposers such as certain
bacteria, fungi, and insect species such as flies, beetles, ants, and other kinds
of bugs unable to live under the water.
With a
puzzled face he cringed and bit his lip, glancing over to where Grace was
sitting and asking her, “Why do these un-dead zombies stop decomposing?”
This
prompted him to believe he might be able to find a cure for this retardation of
rotted flesh that kept the walkers more upright and rigid longer or so it
seemed. His curiosity was peeked and he wouldn’t let go of the matter.
Showing
her light humor in this conversation, Grace looked at Carl and said to him, “I
got the cure right here baby, a sawed off twelve gauge shotgun with Double
Ought [00] buck loaded in it.”
Carl
laughed and reached out to give her a kiss. Playfully horsing around and having
a good time, they were dealing and coping with the situation at hand
light-heartedly and with a good sense of humor. This was healthy under the
adverse conditions of confinement and being cooped up all the time.
Later that night, Grace said to Carl, “do you
think that these colder nights and lack of sunlight has impacted the zombie’s
body temperature too? Since the landscape is constantly flooded killing most of
the insects and keeping the flies and other winged creatures away, does all
this water along with colder temperatures and lower levels of oxygen alter the
rotting of the flesh process?”
Scratching
his head, Carl said, “Using your theory, it would mean that zombies couldn’t’
live in severe cold climates like up North in the Dakotas or Minnesota or even
places like Alaska.”
He was
beginning to see a correlation between hot and cold temperatures and throwing
the retardation process of the water interfering with the natural decomposers
in the mix.
Searching
on the laptop, he began to dive into the matter and started reading tons of
documents related to decomposing properties of the human body and how the environment
impacted this process.
Additionally,
the El Nino did not impact the northern states as much as it did the southern
or central states giving them the drier parts of the weather fronts or systems
most of the time. This could explain why the zombie experience was rare up
there.
This
was important to document for this wild and freelanced hypothesis as this hint was
significant information that Carl could use to his advantage somewhere down the
line.
Assuming
that colder temps makes it more difficult to decompose, he also read in his
research how the zombie virus prevents a total undead condition and only
creates a half-alive, half-undead creature under the current weather related
circumstances. He began to wonder how the El Nino had changed this somehow.
This
prompted Carl to believe or speculate that controlling the climate would
control zombie outbreaks to a large degree and needed to be communicated with
other sources.
Whether
or not zombie flesh was toxic was hard to determine unless you are a scientist
who was fortunate enough to collect real samples and DNA of these creatures. He
was certain the military had the answers to this as they have been sampling
zombies for many years now.
Perhaps
the infection carried with it an immunity to attacks by bacteria or other fungi
substances and insects that would normally create maggots and infest the flesh
eating worms to eat the skin.
It
would be logical that since a zombie cannot reanimate even after being
infected, this same process halts the decomposition of the decaying flesh
enough to retard the process to a large degree. One has to wonder if this
applied to vampires as well and how scientist have dealt with that phenomena
over time.
So was
the El Nino stopping the zombies from decomposing? Does it slow down the
deterioration of their flesh until it no longer falls off and just dangles
there on their half exposed skeletal frame?
Does
this process create an armored layer of hardened decayed flesh and in the
absence of flesh, a skeletal layer of protection like that of a dinosaur
skeleton of a T Rex from the past?
Carl
knew that walkers moved even when their limbs had been severely impaired or
disconnected. These corpses were resilient creatures that never stopped
advancing to find their victims. In some cases, a zombie was found too far and
wasted away enough to not be able to stand walk or attack a human being who was
not infected.
Curiously,
Carl wanted to find the answers to this notion that could reveal how to defeat
the zombie’s growth and strength to keep on attacking.
Using
the reverse concept, these zombies would not thrive well in warmer climates or
high humidity places as these undead would decay at a faster pace than those in
the colder climates but the only common denominator was the rain from the El
Nino.
This brought
the humidity up around 90 to 100 per cent and with the heat, limit the lifespan
of the zombies for less than six weeks. Using this theory, a zombie would last
longer than six weeks under cold climates and high humidity but with the rains
drowning insects, fungi and other bacteria, this retardation could keep a
zombie alive much longer.
This
is contrary to the theory that at first freeze, the zombie plague is over
because it couldn’t continue to scavenging as predators and lack the
opportunity to reanimate and multiply in numbers.
Using
his research material, Carl found out that according to forensic anthropologists,
they will tell you that the human body decomposes in roughly one week when
exposed to air or water. Temperature and humidity affect this timeframe:
hot/wet will accelerate decomposition, whereas cold/dry will delay the process.
He
began to assume that the zombie virus when exposed to the weather conditions of
the harsh El Nino storms somehow prevents decomposition of flesh and reduces the
speed of the decaying process because the lack of availability of bacteria,
fungi or worms and insects have been greatly impaired by the standing water
covering the landscape resulting in an absence of these microorganism critter
to do their jobs.
He
wasn’t sure about his conclusions or theories but it got him thinking. If this
was something he could manipulate inside his own world of surviving this
ordeal, he could alter the conditions to suit his needs to weaken the hordes of
walkers and reduce their numbers over time with manipulating the environment
conditions around chosen locations.
Ironically,
the idea the flood waters helped retard the zombie decaying process was also a
curious subgenre of some typical zombie movies that had been shown on TV and
caused Carl to think a bit deeper than entertainment purposes.
He was
trying to find a cure (other than the twelve gauge shotgun method) for reducing
the zombie population and feared the water of the El Nino was interfering with
the natural decaying process.
People
eating people was not a natural act. It was surreal and cannibalism at its
best. Getting a little angry and thinking about these undead monsters living
and thriving around him was created a god-awful obsession inside him.
Swearing
he wanted to find out how the El Nino had disrupted the rotting of flesh
process was his next plan to tackle during his quiet time inside the bunker. After
all this time, he was certain the connection between the El Nino and its
weather making dynamics impacted the way the zombies in one peculiar way or another.
Besides
the fact these walkers were unable to think, walk in a half-baked manner and
execute with bizarre rigid movements was something he had accepted but what was
unacceptable to him was the chance they were being preserved by the constant
deluge of flood waters perhaps giving them a safe place either underwater or
partially submerged water to deliberately delay the decomposition of flesh.
It was
hard to picture a zombie as a swimmer and Carl was certain that wasn’t the
case. He was particularly concerned with the fact that water delayed the
rotting part of decomposition.
He needed
to formulate a plan to save the day sort of speak and experiment how the water
impacted these water logged slow plodding creatures who moved at an interminable
or perpetual pace but yet seemed to cope with the environment. Assuming that
zombies are half-alive, then the cure to stopping their growth was to stop the
half-alive part from living.
Looking
at this from a rational and practical viewpoint, Carl knew zombies had natural
predators of heat, humidity, insects, cold and a lack of an immunity system.
By all
practical thinking, zombies should have no chance of lasting or surviving for a
very long time. They lifespan is theoretically too short to multiple in hordes
even if one infected person bites thirty people, the math doesn’t make it real.
What was driving the exponential growth of these mindless creatures?
Under realistic
conditions, the military, cops and public service agencies evacuate and remain
intact unlike the movies showing them all wiped out and only a few survivors
remain.
Comparing
his current status in society, Carl knew and witnessed the presence of military
troops and cops in helicopters but none on land where the zombies lived or
existed making traveling the roads, streets and highways unsafe.
However,
because the El Nino had dumped several feet of floodwater on these same places,
they were unsafe also because of poor traverse conditions, not because of
hordes of walkers. This would explain the lack of survivors inside the troubled
and partially demolished city streets.
Therefore,
he believed the El Nino caused the food chain to be depleted for the zombies
and denying them of victims to bite and infect creating a stockpile of infected
zombies lasting longer but suffering to find flesh to eat or consume.
Another
factor has been the absence of animals, any kind of animal, domestic or wild
that have fled the flooded landscape following the humans out of town.
If these
animals could survive the high waters and function as nature developed them,
they would indeed be looking to eat zombies and consume them as meals since
they are all meat and bones even if an animal isn’t hungry, it sees a meal.
Zombies
are at a distinct disadvantage compared to humans. Humans are smarter, well-armed
and able to hunt with instincts for survival needs. On the other hand, zombies
wander out in the open having no weapons and can’t think or plan like the
humans can.
Unlike
the humans who know they possess a fight or flight instinct mechanism commonly
called “self-preservation”, zombies don’t hide or seek shelter when it’s in
danger.
Henceforth,
the El Nino has decimated the insect population that could have attacked and
destroyed the remaining tissue of zombies. The rain has kept away the flies,
the smaller insects and other bacteria causing or possessing flesh predators.
With the
flies missing, maggots are not swarming these undead carcasses of the unloving.
They are not eating away the soft tissue of their eyes and other parts that
couldn’t survive such an assault meaning that most of their soft tissues will
be infested, and their eyes will be very quickly useless.
Thus Southern
California, even in the metro areas have been known to have bears, wolves,
coyotes, cougars and mountain lions plus a wide range of meat eating domestic
animals.
In most
conditions, these animals would be strong but the floodwaters have chased them
away or killed them as some can’t endure a sustained swim with the waters being
so plentiful and creating large pools of water in the low laying areas of the valley.
Hell,
just think of the millions of stray dogs out there who'll quickly learn that
zombies are an easy meal but drowned or evacuated due to the high waters.
Carl had
already calculated the impact of heat, cold and humidity and found reasonable
doubt that this process was being interfered by the El Nino created
environmental conditions to a large extent.
So why
did the zombies survive under water and how come their bodies didn’t bloat with
gasses created by the bacteria unless the bacteria growth was stifled. Then the
decomposition was slowed down a lot.
Finally,
the spectrums involving the El Nino had upset the eco system of the major
environment – the desert, the mountains and the sun. In the sun, a zombie would
be quickly mummified. However, sunlight has been sparse due to the constant
cloud cover and has dropped earthly temperatures drastically.
While
the normal symptoms of dehydration are not a concern for a zombie, there is the
problem of desiccation. With no reasonable means of replenishing the water in
their cells, zombies walking around in the California, Arizona, New Mexico and
Texas heat all day are going to suffer cell damage due to direct sun exposure
to their skin unless the sun disappeared.
Since the
El Nino tradewinds are usually heavily filled with moist wind and not dry like
in the desert, their existence can be more preserved realistically and at some
point, more and more effectively until, at some point, they simply drop and
wait for the scavengers to come pick them up for an easy meal.
Thus it
was the time that the El Nino altered, the time to exist in such climate and
weather conditions was extended by contributing factors that favored zombies. So
these undead consumed by a virus turned into Cujos like rabid dogs do and
infect others and as they cope within the better environment, they reproduce
effectively.
They
reproduce like a disease, one that spreads via a bite from the infected like
they have a virus carried by the infected zombie saliva or whatever strange
zombie created bacteria (if that is possible) produces such a venom.
But
this also means their spread should be subject to the same rules of a normal
epidemic, and biting is not the most effective way to spread a disease but it
does work over time creating the possibility that the El Nino shortens the
infection time as well as the other dynamics created, altered or impacted by
this longer lasting El Nino storm disaster.
In the
meantime, Grace wanted to work on an assessment process to find someone who
could help take care of Heather when they were gone looking or scavenging for
supplies.
She needed
to create a “zombie safe temperament test” that would give her a better clue
about the character traits of the person(s) they found out there and chose to
join their survival mission. The freshly molded temperament tests includes:
The
"assess-a-hand", which involves offering a large, fake hand to the
person to see their reaction was to shake it or eat it. This is threatening and
can cause even very calm non-infected persons to react in a manner that may
show intent.
Touching
each other hands – something that many well-adjusted persons don't like but necessary
to determine if the person has self-control to avoid an obsession to bite,
claw, or grab the hand.
Testing
persons for so-called "food aggression", which is a behavior that may
be caused by the environment itself showing whether the person has a normal appetite
for real human made food that is consumable as behave like zombies who don’t
eat or have the desire to eat.
Face
to face staring at each other within a cage or barrier between them to determine
if a persons is negatively reactive or easily provoked to other people which is
not the natural way a normal person would encounter another normal person.
Conduct
a fear test to sense fear or insecurities in the person making sure they are
suitable for companionship. The test here focuses on stress test, sweating,
speech, decision making and verbalization of the fear stimuli used.
The
very small amount of caution these tests may provide is largely outweighed by
their negative impact on non-infected people and detect those who have been
infected or under the influence of the virus making these tests a virtual death
sentence for those suspected of being infected or under the suspicion of being
infected.
There is
no certain order these tests can be or should be conducted. A loaded shotgun
should be available for immediate disposal of all unqualified applicants.
Working on Volume II - preview of Part VI
Amazing Grace –
The El
NiƱo Legend
(Surviving
the Zombie Invasion)
Part
VI
By
Carl
R. ToersBijns, author
Chapter
Four
The news
of these series of perfectly aligned oceanic storms generated by the perpetual
and still powerful El NiƱo in the Pacific Ocean, were creating surging mini-like
tsunami waves comparable white foamy ripples of savagely powerful swells.
Lashing
out at the now battered and damaged shoreline with absolute brutal force, the destruction
was intolerable for Mother Nature to heal.
High
waves of stubborn massive ocean water made frothy twenty foot high white
breaker waves creating a violent backlash of foam-covered water splashing and
trashing its hurricane force waves against freshly eroding beach front
consuming everything in sight on the beach or further inland.
What was
once a dormant dry and a long spanned drought season has turned into an
agonizing nightmare, that could best be described as a gross contamination of
the soil and pollution of the landscape, causing deteriorating eco conditions
and making it hard to travel freely and unrestricted without being stopped by
the cops.
Even
four wheel drive vehicles had difficulties, especially going up the inclines of
any accessible mountain roads sloped with steep grades and covered with a massive
layer of red clay mud that stuck to the tires, and if traction was lost, it
would leave the driver and occupants helpless and stranded on foot somewhere in
the dense and water-logged woods.
Having
wondered how Grace and Heather ended up near the bunker a few weeks ago, Carl
had asked her how she managed to escape death and find a way out of her dilemma
of being trapped in the swirling flashflood waters when her SUV was carried by
the swift currents to a spot near his road just off the freeway about a mile
from his shelter.
She mentioned
to him how a strange man, had spotted her trapped and stuck in the deep mud and
helped her get out of her partially entombed and almost submerged SUV
surrounded by in the thick sludge.
Trying
to open the door unsuccessfully, he decided to rescue her by breaking her passenger
window and helping her and Heather crawl out of the car, pulling them out by
their arms and setting them free.
He told
her he too was caught in the swift waters but managed to get up on a high spot
that gave him a chance to escape his truck he was driving before it was caught
by another wave of surging flood waters and carried further downstream leaving
him on foot. It seemed the water came from the top of the mountain in a swell
that was like an avalanche roaring downhill at high speed.
Grace
told her horror story of this man, who called himself Neil, and how he was telling
her to follow him up to the higher ground and that he knew of a cabin that was
located up there where they could stay to wait out the storm but they got separated
and then, while looking for him, Heather and her got further lost in the deeper
parts of the woods when Carl found them.
She didn’t
know him well enough to trust him but said she was so desperate to get Heather
out of the drenching rain and to a safe place, she followed him before they got
separated in the darkness.
Yelling
and shouting out his name, she was almost ready to give up on staying alive
before Carl came out to rescue Heather and her stranded there under that tree
trying to keep the rain from pelting them with what she thought was hail.
It’s
been over two weeks now since the storms began and in the meantime the sun has not come out to dry out any of the flooded
landscapes that had turned into marshlands and lakes large enough to go boating
on with full sized yachts.
The
falling seasonal temperatures were even colder than before because of the lack
of sunlight in the air. Between the disappearing now underwater beaches and the
major inland deluge of localized heavy rains and unyielding torrential showers,
this storm covered hundreds of square miles; the landscape was saturated and
consumed with dead bodies waiting to be collected by the military that has
declared a national state of emergency and placed Southern California under
martial law.
California
was deeply exposed to severe flood tolerances that impacted nature as well as
its densely populated cities and metro areas in many diverse ways that were
hard to understand by anyone seeing the destruction and now the El Nino has
captured the entire season of fall and likely leak into winter, the growing
seasons will be harmful to the environment and people trying to survive in many
ways.
Instead
of the long awaited rainwater producing growth, these high waters have cut off
the oxygen to many trees, plants and animals now underwater and killing many
species. Everything from the city to the valleys was submerged in water or water-logged
so badly, it suffocated and died.
More
than anything else, it was the depth of the water, the temperatures and lack of
oxygen that created the unnatural crisis of tolerating the rain waters and
finding shallow waters to travel through. Basically speaking, it was an unreal disaster
that would take generations to undo or turn around.
Drinking
water was critical as the ground water was now contaminated with chemicals
soaked into the soil by the constant flooding and the mixture of human waste
coming out of the city and the concentrated amount of salty sea water was
killing all that could not resist their corrosive elements.
In the
meantime, the personal relationship between Carl and Grace has become a little
more complicated than it had been before they became intimately involved and
now looking after each other with Heather watching, seeing her mom grow closer
and closer to this man she hardly knew.
Just
because they kept their sexual relationships hidden from Heather, it was clear
to see they still had an exceptional desirability towards each other.
Only a
blind man could see the sensuality and caring emotions displayed between each
other, as Grace would lay down with Heather at night and remain there with her,
cover her up to keep her warm, and waited until she had fallen asleep before
joining Carl for their almost predestined nocturnal carnal pleasures.
Making
sure Heather was out, she would soundlessly sneak over to Carl’s bedroom and
spent the rest of the night in his arms after they had ardently entwined
themselves in a moment of lust and fleshly desires, wrapping themselves up in a
passionate interlude of love making that was off the grid as far as they were
concerned.
Waiting
for Grace, Carl had turned the television on to watch the current events around
the world. The United States government was still at war in the Middle East
where Carl served four years in a ranger outfit helping train the Iraqi army
after they were overrun by ISIS and other terrorists groups sponsored by other
country’s domination plans.
He
remembered those days well and drew much of his subsistence experience for the
necessary survival instincts needed to handle this unorthodox catastrophe. Carl
was teaching Grace how to survive had turned her into a confident survivor and
a battle ready warrior when they faced the zombies down below in the valley.
Zombies
were seen roaming all parts of the world that included Australia, Europe and
main parts of China and Hong Kong. Every region occupied by zombies had
military troops deployed to fight them and contain their destruction.
All in
all, this fight was not going too well as the undead were millions in numbers
and the troops were spread so thin by wars, there were hardly enough to go
around and protect the larger cities leaving the rural areas or the countryside
exposed without protection and vulnerable if zombies figured it out that the
people they were looking for had escaped and headed for the farms and other
open spaces.
The
news channels out of San Diego, Los Angeles and even as far inland as Riverside
and Palm Springs were reporting heavy flooding as the storm remained stationary
and dumping the wet deluging burdens loaded in the skies onto the already
saturated ground.
Calling
it a super low pressure area, it was tearing up the countryside and killing
people, animals and starving those who had no supplies to keep them alive.
Bottled water was now a commodity that brought a good price or kept for ransom.
Lagoons
were overflowing their man made dams and retaining walls. Rivers were swollen
and raging from north to south and east to west. There was no obstacle the
powerful waters couldn’t reach with time on its side.
Bridges
were collapsing after and during the heavy rains. Interstates 5, 10, 15 and 40
were experiencing serious stress cracks in their overhead bridges and some
sections of the highways, some over 40 feet in length of solid concrete, had
been washed away by the floodwaters.
The
storm was causing severe soil erosion and washing away the land, the concrete walls
as sides of hills and mountains came tumbling down onto the valley covering
houses and major streets with mud and debris. Most of these main highways were
being closed to general traffic giving allowances to law enforcement and
military traffic only.
According
to the California Highway Patrol. At least fifteen persons were transported to
a Palm Springs hospital after being trapped in a mass pile up of vehicle during
a serious traffic accident.
Officials
were concerned that the eastbound and westbound lanes may have been structurally
undermined by the flooding, and the freeway will remain closed until further
notice. The headline read like this, “Interstate 10 is closed completely,"
spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation, told the
Associated Press.
They also planned to inspect dozen
of large spanned bridges across the large swath of Southern California where
the “remnants of a tropical storm dumped unusual El Nino related deluges,”
the AP reported.
"This is a fascinating
situation on so many levels. Against a backdrop of climate change, with the
global atmosphere setting heat records month after month, we have an
El NiƱo warming the waters of the tropical eastern Pacific.
What was misleading in these reports
were key words like “remnants of the El Nino” as there was no relief in sight
and there were no remnants but only a series of solidly lined up storms ready
to pounce on Southern California for an undetermined amount of time and atmospheric
energy.
On top of what Carl had heard on the
NOAA weather channel, he had heard “the waters off the U.S. West Coast are also
far warmer than average, and we have a mass of tropical storms moving farther
north and closer to the Mexican coast than most others in the historical record
this early in the season," said weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen.
Carl knew that as soon as the flood
waters receded or withdrew to lower levels, the walkers would extend their
territories and seek more victims left behind and trapped by the high waters.
There was an inevitable showdown coming, a sort of high noon scenario between
the zombies and the mortals who were hiding to stay alive.
Whether this was going to be a
showdown or a meltdown of the human race depended on preparation and planning
on how to beat the zombies at their own game. These walkers were merely
wandering without a destination seeking whoever they may encounter. However, up
to this point, they had not chosen to dwell outside the city making the bunker
a very safe place to be.
Finding his secure sanctuary
well-built and soundly constructed, the fear was not the penetration of zombies
or undead but rather carelessness and not being aware of the presence of these
blood sucking, blood curling creeps.
Since he learned in survival
techniques the importance of water, he had an osmosis reversed water system
installed that filtered the water, any kind of water and purified it to be safe
to drink. Having his own filtering system had given them the gift of life as no
man can live without water.
Carl knew there were hundreds, if
not thousands of these decaying stiff and smelly corpses roaming, strutting
rigidly down the streets whether they were under water or not.
They have been down the valley roads
now for at least six trips and every trip they took they saw no survivors but
plenty of rotted and decomposed walkers caught in the water or mud and slowly
moving without showing any life in them.
Even the water-bloated undead seemed
to have adapted to the high waters and tread through the lower levels without
much difficulties as their slow deliberate clawing manner to seek and find
victims was never ending as they seemed to never quit trying to find a victim.
Dropping them with head shots was
easier said than done. The proximity and timing was critical to get that clean
shot. Heather was having nightmares of the day they all three encountered the
first horde of walkers and their clawing method of clinging onto the truck
trying to trap them and eat their preferred prey alive.
Surely, those events of that first
time encounter damaged her to some degree and put a severe shock into her that
had to be dealt with at a later time. Time will tell.
Using the bunker gave Carl, Grace
and the kid a safe place to stay. They knew it was a kill or be killed chaotic
situation. There was no morality issue here; either they live or the die. It
was that simple and there was no need to agonize about how it got done.
Getting used to the corpses and
their grotesque manner of existence
included mutated monstrosities that demonstrated an unusual amount of
resilience even with their flesh torn into open wounds and what used to be
vital organs hanging or exposed as these walker carry on until they find
something to eat or bite or their brain is destroyed.
Dealing with this horror was unique
and difficult both mentally and physically. Sleep deprivation caused poor
judgments and fatigue while the mind goes into overtime during the night when
they are sleeping creating vivid nightmares that causes both of them wake up
during the middle of the night in a cold cold sweat.
Needless to say, there were some
moments where both were jittery and nervous dealing with the adversity and each
other.
Making odd hour runs during the
early daylight hours to the abandoned food stores, to bank and scavenge
supplies, they needed to survive became harder and more pessimistic in success
and gatherings.
Most of the stores have been looted
and plundered by other survivors trying to keep themselves alive. Strangely,
these survivors, whoever they were, kept out of sight and remained unseen by
Carl and Grace giving them an idea there were other sheltered bunkers out there
somewhere that kept other non-infected beings safe from the zombies.
The danger of water bloated walkers
had increased with the floods as they could pop up unexpectedly from anywhere
there was at least three feet of murky or darkened black colored water.
Flooded basements of the stores Carl
and Grace scavenged for vital supplies were often infiltrated or hidden just
before they exposed their disintegrating and decomposing bodies to the two.
They had discovered that the basements were often used as storage areas for
items to be restocked when the shelves were empty.
Fearing being bit at the legs or
ankles by such creatures was real and Carl had wrapped leggings on him and
Grace when they walked through flooded stores or basements where they located
the necessities they needed to stay alive.
These wrapped leggings was a trick
Carl learned in the Army ranger unit when they were conducting real jungle
warfare training in Panama and exposed to venomous snakes day and night. He
knew that protecting their legs would give them a chance to avoid getting bit
by these half-drowned walkers. It was a good idea and strategy cause it seemed to
be working.
Taking a tour of any area filled or
occupied by surreal almost invincible walkers was dangerous. Their decomposing
bodies were everywhere and some were positioned in a motionless state but not
quite out of commission as they still had the ability to attack and bite their
victim.
Grace was telling Carl this zombie
apocalypse was lasting longer than she expected. Having seen zombies walk in
the mud without having legs was both spooky and dreadful. How they kept moving
through the mud with their legs disconnected to their bodies was unthinkable
and unimaginable for a rational person to understand.
Staying away from the banks of the
rushing rivers, the swollen creeks and the mud filled roads that were almost
impassable even with the four wheel drive super duty F250 dually, the two hand
managed to work out a system that kept Heather safe when they went to town and
because the little girl was not with them anymore they were safer.
Grace had agreed that she was safer
inside the bunker and kept her occupied and playing in her bedroom until they
got back, giving them the ability to search more places and find more supplies
than others who had their kids tag along and also subject to attacks by child
zombies looking for their own sized victims.
Aggressive and more determined than
some adult zombies, they were relentless in finding someone their own size to
eat or bite and infect them with the virus. Staying away from the bunker had
its own perils thus they did agree to set a time limit of their absence, as
they worried that being left alone would also be traumatic for her and cause
her to get restless and wander out of the room to other areas of the cavern.
Agreeing it wasn’t the ideal
situation or set-up, they had hoped that somewhere along the way they would
find some survivors who could help them with watching Heather during such
excursions.
It wasn’t one of Carl’s best case
scenarios but in the long run, an extra hand who wasn’t infected could make a
big difference in the end. Perhaps fate would deliver such a blessings in the near
future as the rains kept falling down and it looked like the rains weren’t
going to stop anytime soon.
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