Read Online Rise by Gareth Wood - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Gareth Wood
Tags: Canada, Zombies, apocalypse, Armageddon, Journal, Living Dead, End of the world, postapocalyptic, permuted press, diary, romero, day by day armageddon
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listened. Three more songs played, and then a DJ came on. He sounded tired, but cheerful as he reported the weather (smoky, hot, with a chance of rain), the sports (none to speak of), and the news (the world has been overrun with the walking dead). Throughout his broadcast he exhibited a sarcastic humour as he related tales of the world as it was now. He paused to play some more music, and we listened again to see if he would come back on. He did, and talked for a while this time. I think he might have thought that nobody was left to hear him, and he rambled and talked about whatever entered his mind. He never mentioned who he was or where he was transmitting from, but we talked about it and decided he must be near a tower. There was a radio tower in Prince George; I remembered seeing it in the distance.
We listened for a few hours, and he finally mentioned his name. He was DJ Dave, broadcasting live from the downtown offices of 94X FM. He said he was the only one left in the building, except for the several dozen undead in the street outside. He then shut off the signal, saying he was going to bed, and would be back in the morning.
We all thought about it, and decided to listen for another day, then see if we could get to a point where we might be able to signal him somehow. Flashing lights? We didn't have a transmitter, or a working phone. We discussed where he was getting power from, since an FM radio transmitter draws a lot. There's a river through here, so maybe hydro power? We hadn't looked at the city at night, so we didn't know if there were street lights on or not.
So we stayed and listened, and heard him come on again at about 9:15. He described his breakfast, his lack of company, and his dreams, then played some music. He went on this rambling way for some time. Finally he reported more weather (hot, overcast, rain looming in the west) and signed off for lunch. When he came back it was with something called "The Dead Report", in which he pretended to interview formerly alive residents of the city, calling them "Mister Reanimated Corpse" or "Miss Walking Dead Girl". All the imaginary zombie replies to questions were groans or gargling. It was actually quite funny until we thought about it too much, and then it was pretty depressing. He stopped it after a while, played some more music, and when he came back on he sounded pretty down.
We had all decided we were going to try to contact him by then, and rescue him if we could. DJ Dave didn't deserve to be left alone to die, and we were determined to try to get him out.
So we moved the vehicles towards Prince George, and stopped where we had been before. We got out after checking the area carefully, and Jess and I went to the edge of the precipice to see what we could see. She set up the scope on her rifle and I scanned the downtown area with the binoculars, hoping to see an intact building with a crowd of undead nearby. In about 10 minutes I found it. It was near the river, about 200 meters from the water, and across the rail tracks. I could see a crowd of about 60 or so zombies milling around, some walking back and forth, some beating fists on the walls of the building. I pointed it out to Jess and she trained the rifle scope on the spot. Her magnification was very much more than mine was, so she could see clearly what I could only guess at. She thought it was more likely about 50 undead, and thought we could probably get to the building easily if we approached from the water.
July 17
After several hours of looking and talking we formulated a plan. We moved the vehicles to a place farther towards the city center, still up the highway from the urban areas, but close enough that we could get a good look at the terrain and the streets. We saw only a few walking dead initially, and they were easy to avoid. We ended up parking both vehicles in empty bays of a service garage on the outskirts, and no undead were within sight. We closed the doors to the bays
We listened for a few hours, and he finally mentioned his name. He was DJ Dave, broadcasting live from the downtown offices of 94X FM. He said he was the only one left in the building, except for the several dozen undead in the street outside. He then shut off the signal, saying he was going to bed, and would be back in the morning.
We all thought about it, and decided to listen for another day, then see if we could get to a point where we might be able to signal him somehow. Flashing lights? We didn't have a transmitter, or a working phone. We discussed where he was getting power from, since an FM radio transmitter draws a lot. There's a river through here, so maybe hydro power? We hadn't looked at the city at night, so we didn't know if there were street lights on or not.
So we stayed and listened, and heard him come on again at about 9:15. He described his breakfast, his lack of company, and his dreams, then played some music. He went on this rambling way for some time. Finally he reported more weather (hot, overcast, rain looming in the west) and signed off for lunch. When he came back it was with something called "The Dead Report", in which he pretended to interview formerly alive residents of the city, calling them "Mister Reanimated Corpse" or "Miss Walking Dead Girl". All the imaginary zombie replies to questions were groans or gargling. It was actually quite funny until we thought about it too much, and then it was pretty depressing. He stopped it after a while, played some more music, and when he came back on he sounded pretty down.
We had all decided we were going to try to contact him by then, and rescue him if we could. DJ Dave didn't deserve to be left alone to die, and we were determined to try to get him out.
So we moved the vehicles towards Prince George, and stopped where we had been before. We got out after checking the area carefully, and Jess and I went to the edge of the precipice to see what we could see. She set up the scope on her rifle and I scanned the downtown area with the binoculars, hoping to see an intact building with a crowd of undead nearby. In about 10 minutes I found it. It was near the river, about 200 meters from the water, and across the rail tracks. I could see a crowd of about 60 or so zombies milling around, some walking back and forth, some beating fists on the walls of the building. I pointed it out to Jess and she trained the rifle scope on the spot. Her magnification was very much more than mine was, so she could see clearly what I could only guess at. She thought it was more likely about 50 undead, and thought we could probably get to the building easily if we approached from the water.
July 17
After several hours of looking and talking we formulated a plan. We moved the vehicles to a place farther towards the city center, still up the highway from the urban areas, but close enough that we could get a good look at the terrain and the streets. We saw only a few walking dead initially, and they were easy to avoid. We ended up parking both vehicles in empty bays of a service garage on the outskirts, and no undead were within sight. We closed the doors to the bays
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