Are there suddenly more sick people? Or, the Superflu on SDMB

Cafe Society
101

BiblioCat, I don’t know why I feel that motels could be a bad idea - maybe it’s just the thought that there could be people who died in those rooms and I don’t want to deal with any more death in my face.

I picked up some companions. A gun named Pete with a little girl, Rebecca (Bex) that he calls his daughter. I know it’s not likely that they’re really related - after all, the immunity obviously wasn’t genetic or I’d expect some of us to have family members remaining. He knows how to shoot, and we took some time tonight for him to show me some basics. He also says that the next town we come to, he’s picking out a better gun for me.

Pete’s 35 and Bex is 8. He used to be a lecturer at a university in Carbondale, history, I think, but I was kind of freaked about talking to someone else - the little girl with him made me feel a bit more comfortable though. I shook the whole time. What was so scary about approaching someone new? I don’t know, but I do feel better with someone to talk to.

Is it bad that I already slept with him? I think I just needed a human touch so much, after days without speaking to anyone. I feel even worse that it took the end of the world as we knew it to break my 9 year dry spell.

The CB is a good idea. Like so many other things, I know absolutely nothing about them, but we’ll try to figure it out. Pete’s claiming 4 days to Boulder, but I think he’s underestimating the potential problems on the road.

How many survivors do you think there are? I’m pretty sure the flu (debating whether it was bioterrorism or a rogue bug or germ warfare that we developed seems useless now) killed at least 95% of people, and we know it wasn’t limited to North America.

My mind is leaping from thing to thing. You know, as soon as Chicago loses power, the Dope’s going down. If it happens before tomorrow…I’ll see you in Boulder.

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When meet in Boulder, bring Pie!

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According to Toby, who is not only Internet-savvy but also knows something about radio equipment, Europe is in much the same state as the US. I’m not surprised, but God, whatever loosed this horror on the world did a thorough job. I imagine the entire planet is decimated. The mind reels.

Going has been slow. We are planning to take the smaller roads, hoping to avoid the wrecks. The cats are really getting sick of being in the 'Bago, but there’s nothing much we can do about it. Is there anyone in the Midwest who wants to meet up with us and travel together?

What is going on in Vegas? Toby showed me some sites where folks in Vegas are actually advertising their community. Apparently they claim they have the lights on, doctors, all the comforts of home. Hell, they have their own ISP and website, when what’s left of the planet is eating out of cans. They make it sound really nice. However, there is just no way I’m going to Vegas. Toby seemed tempted; he’s feeling quite depressed, understandably, about losing his family, and a clean, well-lighted place seems so comforting. However, I just feel really strongly that I need to see the old woman in Boulder. Toby acquiesced, since Boulder is on the way. I’m sure once he gets there and sees her, he’ll want to stay. I hope he does. I’ve gotten kind of attached to him.

104

Well, I guess since we haven’t heard from Jeff Byers, we should assume he found a way out of that underground military building. We’re about to head out. We’ve run to the Super WalMart and stocked up on food, water and cat food. Not a soul around. Grabbed a couple of rifles and shotguns, too. We were debating whether to use our truck or take a car with better gas mileage, but we decided that it was better to fill gas cans and put them in the truck bed. The utilities are still on at the moment, so we’ve been able to shower and eat hot food.

Guess we’ll see everyone in Boulder. Oh, and we’ll bring our Magic cards. With 30,000+ cards between the two of us and then MaxtheVool’s cards, we should be able to make decks for everyone in Boulder. I wonder if there are any comic book stores with some classic cards. Mox cards, here I come!

105

I found a dog!!!

I was biking along, headed toward the Florida/Georgia border, when I heard this whimpering. It’s so quiet now, with no cars and airplanes, that I had no problem hearing it.

I thought it might me a child, so I got off the bike and wandered through the grass on the side of the road. There was a German shepherd pup, its leg stuck in a hole in a log. I got it out and it immediately licked my face like crazy.

I gave it some bottled water and some Vienna sausages, and now I have to go find a carrier or something to carry it in.

Wow. A dog. I don’t know why I’m crying now, but after seeing so much death, it’s nice to see a dog again.

I named her Hope.

106

<Time Out>This thread is giving me a major case of the heebie-jeebies. Good work, guys! :smiley: </Time Out>

I’m posting from Atlanta. I’m on a laptop that I borrowed from a guy I ran into in a coffee shop. By the time I found it, the guy’d been dead for at least 3 days. I had to, Oh God, I had to find a knife…his hand wouldn’t come loose…

Anyway, he’s obviously not going to be needing it anymore and I didn’t think he’d mind if I used it. Power’s still up here in Atlanta in places, but it’s sporadic at best. I haven’t seen another living person since I got here. Everyone I love is gone. I am so numb I can’t even think about that right now. Only thing on my mind is surviving and getting to Colorado.

I-85 is completely clogged with cars, most of them filled with dead people. I can have my pick of any vehicle my heart desires-but what’s the point? I’d most likely have to pry the dead driver out of the seat and even after that, there’s really no way to navigate between all the wrecked cars on the roads, so I guess I’m better off walking.

This entire city is a ghost town. Ghost town filled with dead bodies. And what’s really freaky is how life just goes on without them. At the mall, the escalators are still running up and down and in the grocery store i just left, the Muzak is still playing softly despite the fact there’s a dead body pile-up in the frozen foods section. As far as I can tell, one guy went beserk with a gun and shot everyone else in the store along with himself. I have to wonder if he didn’t do them all a big favor.
Maybe if I’d stopped in for a loaf of bread a week ago, I wouldn’t be here in this hell.

I have his gun. Cleaned all the blood and bits of bone off it and it looks brand-new. I have bullets too. He had armed himself well–I guess he was planning on doing a lot of people a favor that day.

Well, I’m signing off for now. My cell phone died on me and all the other ones I’ve found are dead too. My only link to the outside world is the SDMB. Who knew that the last survivor of a world-wide disaster would not be the coachroach but the hamsters of the SDMB?

(Oh, and btw–have any of you posted yet to the “How many Captain Tripps threads do we need?” thread in the Pit? It’s shaping up to be a real trainwreck. Already 12 pages long.

107

You guys ('merkins, I mean) wouldn’t have seen, but there was a BBC report on he New Plague, screened everywhere about a month ago, and everything went to hell after that. People marched and protested, which turned into riots that lasted for days. This was happening everywhere. I saw footage from all the European cities and it was just crazy. Martial law everywhere, civilians getting shot. It looked like a warzone or something.

Then reports started filtering in that it had hit Europe and everything just shut down. Stock market dosn’t exist anymore. Everything non-essential has been closed down. Everyone’s terrified, basically. I don’t think anyone really belives it’s not going to hit us. People are packing up out of the cities, and heading inland, or down South. Most of these people are getting turned back by well armed farmers who aren’t ceeding any gound. The government’s talking about forced land allocation, so very family can be self sufficent, but I dunno. It’s just a waiting game really.

A boatload of refugees from Australia entered New Zealand waters yesterday. They were told to turn back. When they refused, they were shot. Shot. Christ. I mean, there aren’t any reports that it’s hit there yet. I guess it’s just too lose to the rest of the world. I don’t even like to think about the rumors that are flying: that it wasn’t the first boat this had happened to, that they’re not giving them the opportunity of returning. That they’re not letting the navy boys who are out on patrol back on shore…

Everyone is paraniod and everything is crazy. This is a whole new world now, and I’m terrified. I can’t even imagine what the rest of you are going through. Stay as safe as is possible guys, stick together if you can. You’re in my thoughts constatntly. Please keep updating.

108

I’m still in L.A. I just haven’t been able to figure out what I’m going to do. I’ve been obsessed with what to do with the cats. On the one hand, it might be more humane to just leave them here with plenty of food and water. I’m sure that they’ll be just fine, and what if I try to bring them with me across the desert and somethng happens to me? They’ll be stuck out there in the hot desert without food and water. But then, they’re the last thing I have of Jaime and I can’t stand to lose them too.

Yeah, this is what I’ve been obsessing about.

There’s a Wal-mart next. I’m going to go loot it.

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Not that one (tho’ I did read it), but I’ve posted quite a bit in a bunch of the looting threads in GD and IMHO.
At this point, I think it’s okay. Who are we supposed to pay, if we take food and batteries and water? We need that stuff to survive! I haven’t taken anything I didn’t really need, like fancy electronics or a fur coat.

I also took a bunch of my Rx migraine meds from several pharmacies; Walgreens and CVS and a couple of grocery stores before I left town. I just can’t be without them. They’re not narcotics, and no one else had taken them. I did notice stuff like Oxycontin and other narcotics were all gone, but not my specific migraine meds. I also plan on taking more as I go along. I don’t know how long it might be before the pharmaceutical companies will be back up, and I really depend on this stuff to keep from getting crippling migraines.
Like I said in one of those threads, what if a diabetic needed insulin? Would it be wrong for him to steal it? Who’s he supposed to pay?

110

On that note, it won’t be long before the medications in existence right now will expire. Sure, they’ll be good for a few years, but I think at this point time moves more slowly than it did last month, so how long before we get back to pharmaceutical manufacturing? Right, a long time. And some stuff goes bad even more quickly, so any remaining diabetics might be in trouble relatively soon.

Of course, this will affect a lot of things. Hope everybody knows a lot about gardening!

111

I just had an insight…

That old black woman we’ve all been dreaming about?

She’s CECIL ADAMS!!!

Think about it…

112

pepperlandgirl: Bring your cats. I have mine, thanks to Toby and the 'Bago, and I am so glad. They are the only remnant of my former life that’s left to me, and I can’t live with the idea of them being eaten by coyotes or starving to death. It’ll make travel more difficult, but you don’t have as far to go.

It’s going to take Toby and me a while to get to Boulder. We’re only in Ohio now, since we have been clearing roads along the way and taking convoluted alternate routes to avoid congestion. He’s been so patient with me and the fact that I need the Winnebago because I need the cats. He’s really quite amazing. He’s my only (human) friend in the world now; to think I’d never have met him in the normal course of life, even though we lived in the same town for years. Strange, isn’t it?

Whoever arrives in Boulder first, please let me know how it is there, and what the old woman is like. I’m really looking forward to meeting her. Any info you could pass along would really help me convince Toby not to push on to Vegas. Thanks.

113

Quoth the Corvus, “Nevermore.”

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To: The Straight Dope Message Board
From: Lloyd Henreid, President, Las Vegas Free Zone

Dear Dopers:

It has come to my attention that this message board has remained active. I commend you for staying in touch with each other in this difficult time. This message board is becoming the exception these days; most of the Internet has gone black.

Having read this thread, I see some grave misconceptions have been spread about our settlement in Las Vegas. Please let me assure you that Las Vegas is an oasis of civilization in a time when the whole world has gone up in flames. Work crews have cleared out any hazardous remnants of the Plague, so the city is clean and ready for resettling. We have electric lights, running water, a medical facility, and an active police force. Law and order is in full effect in Las Vegas, and all the amenities of home that we all miss so much.

I urge each and every one of you to come and visit our fair city. I understand that many of you wish to visit Boulder, but I feel that I can say, with perfect confidence, that Boulder is a far cry from what we can offer you in Vegas. Please do come and see the future of America.

Thank you for your time.

Lloyd

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[omniscient narrator mode]

*Jeff Byers has found his way out of the underground lab/hospital, thanks to whoever suggested that he check the ID badges for magnetic strips. His answering post was eaten by whatever gremlins live in the Internet.

Currently, he has his hands full trying to drive an army Humvee back to Dalhart, to see if some of his family or friends might still be there. There were no maps to be found, so he’s still lost.

Having seen “Lethal Weapon”, he finally got sufficiently pissed-off at the pain of his dislocated shoulder to slam it against the fender, mostly putting it back in place. Prognosis is reasonably good, considering the circumstances.

Interestingly enough, Jeff had been out in the Humvee parking area for about ten minutes when the lab generators failed, rendering the door un-openable by anything short of a shaped demolition charge.

More later… if he survives.*

116

dont go to vegas

117

Damn, I can’t believe that this board is still up and running. I checked a few weeks ago - we had lost power, and after a week I finally figured no one was coming out to fix it this far out in the country - and just before I was about to post my generator ran out of gas.

Had to bury my mom and my husband. I haven’t heard from my brother in almost two months. Almost everyone I knew is gone, with the exception of my friend B., who is ironically in a wheelchair with CP. He knows one or two other people - an older friend of his family, and a teenager - and between all of us we’ve found about 4 young kids who have been orphaned in town.

We stayed up at my house up on the mountain for quite a while. Long after the phone and electricity had gone out, the newspapers and mail stopped coming, and the owners of the little store down at the bottom of the road quit showing up. It was almost nice, in a way, if we hadn’t been still grieving and completely in shock. We grilled outside, trying to use up all the meat at the store before it went bad. We made jerky out of the rest.

Northern New York winters are nothing to sneeze at (bad joke, considering) and while I have a woodstove and lots of wood, there comes the issue of food. That, and we had to plan. To do something. We might last one winter, but certainly not two.

So here I am outside of Atlantic City. I left with as much food and water as I could carry, putting along on a damn scooter, for the love of God. We met one or two other survivors in my town before I left, and D. decided to come with me. Everyone else is stocked up to the gills back at the house on the mountain. It broke my heart to leave B. behind - he wanted to come with me so much - but his electric chair died a long time ago and I can’t possibly take him with me on the scooter. I hope they’re all right.

I’m in a Holiday Inn that suprisingly still has WiFi. Found a notebook computer. Finally found a generator and some gas. D. is checking the local TV reception, nothing so far. Fark.com is down but thank goodness the SDMB is still up. Holy shit.

There are signs, as they say. I’m glad its not all in my head. B. said every night he would dream of the desert. Me, I see wolves everywhere, just out of the corner of my eyes.

I haven’t found a lot while surfing - I haven’t seen this many 404 errors since I started coding, ha ha ha - but it seems people are headed either to Boulder or Vegas. B. and I decided a long time ago that we’ve been given a chance, and we’re not going to screw it up by following the herd.

If anyone is interested: after D. and I get back to the house, we’re all headed out. We’re going to find some way to get a boat - a nice big boat - and sail down the East Coast. We’re going to find a nice little island off the coast of Florida, or North Carolina maybe, close to the mainland so we can go back for supplies when we need to, and set up shop. Grow some herb, paint some paintings, make some music. Y’all are welcome to come along. Follow Highway 17 east and look for the signs. We’re leaving in September, hopefully before the snow.

Sorry this was so long. So much for my internet addiction, I guess this might be the last time I ever post on a board again. Have a good life, everyone.

  • WMD
118

Hi everybody.

I’m in Canada, and although we were about a week behind you, the flu has managed to pretty much wipe out everything here too. I’ve been sitting in my dorm room in Vancouver wondering what I should do. It’s so quiet here.

I had a kidney transplant 6 years ago, and I need a bunch of drugs in order to survive. I need regular bloodwork too, so I don’t know what I will do now that all the doctors are gone. I think I’m going to have to break into the hospital to get pills. I only hope the pharmacies still have supplies of what I need.

I’ve been lurking this forum for about 3 weeks now. I hope that you guys on foot are alright. I thought that the ones talking about dreams were insane, but last night I had a dream about black eyes and crows.

I know I need to leave, but I don’t know what to do.

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I am at Vegas baby, since I am from Los Angeles it was a logical choice. We are having fun. There is this guy here who is in charge and he really knows what he is doing. I believe those of you going to Boulder really need to rethink what you are doing. Boulder is too close to some of those nuclear weapons so it is probably contaminated. The air in Vegas is clean. I just got in from the pool and the water was fine.

Hope to see you soon. We can have that dopefest in Vegas, do some gambling, kill the evil people in Colorado, take in some sun. It will be fun.

120

I went to Wal-Mart this afternoon. It was hot and it reeked. There were dead bodies in the aisles. Who goes to Wal-Mart to die?! I could not believe it. You’re sick with Captain Trips and end up spending the last minutes of your miserable life in Wal-mart?

Good god.

So yeah, I picked up supplies. Cat food, water, sleeping bag, batteries, flashlights, laterns, gas cans, all the dry goods I could get my hands on, some CDs I always wanted (I mean, while I was there and all…) I don’t know if I got everything I’d need. I don’t know if I was thinking clearly. I’m sure I’ll be half way through the Nevada desert and realize I forgot something.

Tonight I’m going to plan my route to get out of California. The 10 is a parking lot, and I know I won’t be able to get through to the 15. But there are other ways. I’ll post before I leave.