August 24, 2019

More like the day after tomorrow.

WHO had upgraded the warning for this virus. Scientists don't have any definitive answers, but they're saying that a single infected person can give 20 to 30 people the virus, up from the 3 to 4 people guideline they had before. That's just crazy. It's even more contagious than measles, and people get measles literally from standing in the same elevator as someone who was infected.

Martial law has been declared over New York City, but I don't think anyone is listening. From helicopter reports above New York City, there has been massive rioting and there were stores on fire everywhere since no one was even attempting to stop the riots or the fires. Many of the police and firefighters are worried about catching the disease and bringing it to their families and are asking for more safety protections while city council doesn't want to do anything to anger these two groups of people but can't afford the medical equipment, so everyone's at a standstill.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, the peas have begun germinating. They've got little stubs on the ends that are poking out. Same thing with the mustard plants. Maybe I did inherit my grandparents' green thumb. I think I'll leave them a little longer in the paper towel to let the root grow out a little more before putting them in the egg carton. It's an exciting day today. Maybe I'll finally be able to become a farmer in, like, Iowa or Nebraska or somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Mom and Dad still haven't called back. It's scary that they've just disappeared like that. I don't know about the situation in Portland because New York is just taking up all the time, but I imagine that it might be pretty bad if they aren't responding. I just hope that they at least text or just do something to let me know that they're still alive.

August 26, 2019

New York City has partially fallen. No one knows how many cases there are in New York City, but there are estimates that over 200,000 people have been infected with at least 10,000 people who have succumbed to the disease (aka became zombies) and are roaming the streets. No one knows what's happening anymore, and it's just chaos, chaos, chaos.

There have been reports about a fenced wall being built around New York. It apparently zig-zags through the city, carving through some neighborhoods, swinging around the wealthy enclaves and connecting the lower income places, essentially forcing them into the quarantine zone. Lawmakers condemned this, and I would too. I don't think it'll help the contagion at all, and all it will do is just get more people sick and infected, especially poor people.

I've made some progress in my journey to become a nice, Midwestern farmer (a.k.a. I planted the peas into the little egg cartons and dumped the mustard into the cover of the egg carton). Hopefully the plants don't shrivel up and die (and crush my dreams), but who knows how plants actually work anyways?

I got a call from Mom and Dad, but as soon as I picked up, the call ended. At least I know that they're alive (unless someone has abducted their phone) and probably not infected, but who knows at this point? I hope everything is alright in Portland.

August 28, 2019

Looks like they built the wall anyways. I'm not surprised because even though it's unfair and will do a lot more bad than good, people will do whatever in order to make themselves feel safe.

I read the news this morning and everything is just so sad. One news site, I forgot which, sent up a drone to take pictures about what has happened down below, and it just makes you feel sorry for everyone stuck in New York City.

There were bodies that were being burnt in the middle of the street because all the doctors in the city had become infected, were in hiding, or had run away. Some people made chalk and stone signs begging for food. The government still hadn't figured out a good policy for delivering food. Airplane deliveries were the safest for the deliverers, but it would just lead to more infected people below and complete anarchy. In person delivery would be the safest for the people in New York City, but there was just too much of a risk to the emergency service personnel, and there would be no chance that they will be able to deliver enough food for everyone.

It's even more sad when you look at the drone shots over the harbor. The US brought ships from nearby bases along the Atlantic shore to prevent people from taking off in their boats and getting people outside of the quarantine zone infected, and you can see the desperation of the people sitting on the boats (and for some people, mere rafts). Some of them broughts signs asking for food and water and shelter, but there was nothing fair that the city or army could do. The best thing that everyone could do is to leave the people in the boats along instead of towing them back to land because at least in a boat, the infection would spread less easily and they were nicely distanced from each other.

Estimates state that there are at least 500,000 people in New York that are infected. The rest of the US combined has less than half of that, though the numbers just keep increasing, even with most states (except for the Great Plains and the South) being under strict lockdown.

I also realized something mid-afternoon. There was this funky smell that was just lingering around my house for the past week or so, but I just ignored it because I thought it was my imagination running wild. Well, it turns out that the smell was coming from the trash can. I completely forgot about emptying it because that's what Dad does, and I am not planning to empty it because that would mean that I'd have to head outdoors, where I'll probably catch the infection from some random person that is walking and die.

I wish Mom and Dad could call. It's been two days since their not-call, and I'm getting scared that they aren't picking up. I'm sending my brain-wave signals to Mom and Dad. Please pick up or answer my texts or send me some sign that you guys are alright (and no, hanging up or getting immediately cut off does not count).

August 31, 2019

There's a storm brewing on the horizon.

An early season hurricane has formed in the Caribbean and has been quickly gathering speed and intensity very rapidly. It's poised to hit Florida directly and linger over it, and now no one knows what to do.

The governor has to evacuate the state, especially Miami, which is expected to be hit directly by the hurricane. But with the infections running wild in Miami-Dade County, he can't let lots of people just drive away to places like Georgia and Alabama and Tennessee and bring the ANCR virus with them. All I can say to the governor is to wish him good luck. He's going to need it because whatever is going to happen will be a disaster.

Utter and complete chaos in New York City today, and what the hell is the army doing? There were big protests around the great wall of NYC. People were furious that they were being trapped with other infected people. I would be too (though I would be doing less protesting and more social distancing).

All of a sudden, there was a horde of the infected that just came and started biting people. Rather than helping the people that were getting infected, you know, by shooting the infected, some person decided that the best thing to do was to blow everyone up. Yep, they blew the whole crowd up on live television.

That was just wrong. Even if everyone that gets the disease dies, you shouldn't just unload a bomb on them and kill everyone. It was sickening and practically everyone condemned this and demanded an internal investigation. It was utter and complete chaos and this could not be handled any worse. In fact, I can't see how this would get any worse.

Cases are shooting up in New York, with estimates ranging from 500,000 infected to over 3 million people that could've been exposed to the virus. No one knows what's going to happen. The national guards have been deployed in New York, but the city is still too big and even with military support, no one is going to be able to help a city that has millions of people in it with who knows how many are infected.

But what's at least more worrisome for me is that cases are going up, a lot, in California. We've got 50,000 infected already even with the strict stay-at-home and social distancing order that have been placed upon us, but there's at least 100,000 or more people that are infected because it takes time for people to show symptoms Considering the infectiousness of the ANCR, I'm worried that we might reach 1 million cases by the end of the week.

But away from the bad news since there has been just too much bad news today, one of the egg carton containers has a pale green leaf sticking out from the soil. If this happens to all of my pea plants, in a couple of weeks, maybe by the end of October, I'll have lots of pea plants growing and not starve if conditions get worse. To celebrate this historic milestone, I soaked fifty more pea seeds because the sprouting peas will need company. It's nice to have something to do other than worrying about Mom and Dad.

I was so stupid today. My phone died in the middle of the morning, and when I plugged it in to charge it, I didn't check if the wire was actually plugged in, so it spent all day not charging. I've got my phone face down on the chair next to me, charging. I'm too scared to check the phone. What if Mom and Dad called me, and I wasn't there to pick up?

September 2, 2019

They've named the storm that's heading towards Florida: Hurricane Bertha.

It's a Category 3 storm right now and is about 18 hours out from hitting the coast of Florida and scientists are saying that it's likely to strengthen to a Category 5 storm. A Category 5 hurricane in the middle of all of this. I feel sorry for the people in Miami. They're trapped and have got nowhere to go.

The governor sent out mandatory evacuation orders for the entire Eastern seaboard of Florida. The plan is that emergency workers are going to be taking the temperature of anyone that goes past the checkpoints set up at crucial roads to exit the counties. Those that had high temperatures were directed towards a quarantine section that was setup in the Panhandle of Florida. Those without temperatures had to go to the quarantines that were set up along the border of Georgia, where they will be free to leave if they don't develop a fever in a week.

This is a pretty ambitious plan, but I'm hoping that it works for the sake of all the Floridian residents. The big problem is that many people are refusing to leave. Even with mandatory evacuation orders, no one will be able to actually enforce them. They're just hoping that people do the right thing and hope that everything will be alright in the end.

I decided to turn over the phone late last night. I just couldn't sleep not knowing. Mom and Dad and Nat didn't call. They didn't respond to any of my text messages today. I haven't talked with them since forever. It's terrifying. What if they all never return? I'll be stuck all by myself here, all alone with no one else to help me.

And who knows how long I, a very average, very boring, very un-angsty sixteen year old guy, will survive in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?

Let's hope that I don't have to answer that question.