To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Ryan Mathews. If you are reading this… and I don’t know if anyone even is… but if you are reading this then that means you are a survivor. What I have witnessed over the last three days defies belief. I don’t know if I have the writing skills to even put a proper face on this whole tragedy. Tragedy is not even a strong enough word. This is… Well, there is no other way to say this… This is the end of the world.
Most people follow up a statement like that with some tired cliché like “and we have a ring side seat.” But to say that means you’re not involved. You’re on the outside looking in. Unfortunately, we’re smack dab in the middle of the ring. For some reason, we have been picked up and dropped in the meat grinder. What you are about to read… Well, I can scarcely believe I am even writing this…
This is being written on Wednesday, May 4rd of 2011. Near as we can tell, at least for our region of the country – maybe even the world – this is Day 3 of the viral outbreak that is literally causing the end of the world. I have seen this atrocity first hand and this is my eye witness account of what I have experienced coupled with the accounts of the people that I am currently surviving with.
We are in the town of Langley, Oklahoma at the intersection of Highways 28 & 82. Langley is what they call the “Gateway to Grand Lake.” Population is around 700. Or at least… it was.
As of right now, we have barricaded ourselves within the Reason’s Foods grocery store. This is almost too impossible to even write out. We’ve all seen movies or heard the horror stories and now we’re in one. We are in the middle of what I can only describe as the apocalypse. The dead have risen. We are besieged by ZOMBIES. This is the Zombie Apocalypse and this is the story of our survival.
I don’t even know if “zombie” is the right term. I don’t really even know the origin of that word. But these creatures that were once human beings – my coworkers and friends – they are the walking dead whose sole purpose seems to be feasting on flesh. We don’t really know what else to call them but zombie seems pretty darn accurate.
Thankfully our internet has remained connected and I am broadcasting this blog via my laptop computer. Twitter has crashed. Facebook is gone. Google only works about 25% of the time. And I don’t know how long this domain host will remain active. But as long as it does and as long as I can transmit, I will do my best to chronicle our story.
Which brings me to you.
If you are reading this, then you have survived as well. Hopefully you can learn what has worked for us and maybe by reading this, we can extend your life expectancy. I wish you the best of luck. I truly do. And if no one is reading this, consider this a record of what happened to be discovered some time years from now. Maybe future generations, if there are any, will use this as a history lesson. But I can hardly tell how a produce clerk from Adair, Oklahoma is qualified to record the end of the world…
If you are reading this, God be with you. God be with all of us.
More to follow…
