Innocence Lost - A Vlog

by **swggeekgirl** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:31 am

December 1st, 2011 - Time 8:47pm - Challis, Idaho

"Ok so zombie movies pretty much got it all fucking wrong"

"Well, where to start? I know everybody always wants to do some sort of vlog, and I can't imagine a better time" she says shifting so she's sitting upright.

"Well turns out, fucking Walmart wasn't such a great idea" she takes a long pull off her cigarette and lets the smoke roll from her lips, seemingly covered in a blackened crust-like red.

Behind her seems to be an old rustic looking cabin, wood logs panel the wall, with a few cheesy paintings making their presence known. The area is dark, but the light from phone offers a creepy amount of light, enough for the shadows to play tricks on your eyes. The bright red flare of the cigarette illuminates her face again for a moment.

"Ok so zombie movies pretty much got it all fucking wrong, if you're wondering how I am still alive and stuff. No cars blown up all over the place, they don't fucking die when you shoot them in the head, and they're dead, no upper brain functions, only basic survival instincts." Pausing, she takes yet another drag from her cigarette, this time talking as the smoke rolls out from her mouth.

"I'm alive cause I parked outside of Walmart, and was able to run to my car, because the two gun happy rednecks that thought they'd be able to clear the entrance of Walmart learned real quick that zombie movies were way off." she let's out a soft chuckle "Fuck, they weren't anything like we thought, seriously, watched one of them fucks take four or five rounds to the head, nothing the thing still stood upright."

Sighing she flips off the camera "Thanks Romero for fucking that one up.." she then shrugs and continues "Yeah so pretty much our attempt to secure Walmart led to a bunch of bullshit. Mom's wanting to rush out there to get home to their kids, old people thinking the zombies were all just a bunch of hoodlums that needed taught a lesson, and other wonderful people, mostly members of our military that thought getting to their cars was more important than securing the building."

A spark followed by a flame fills the camera, causing a blinding lighting change from what her norm was, the familiar red cherry brightens near her mouth. "Yeah the whole place went to shit in no time, Walmart staff thinking they could take charge, hell I even saw a manager threaten a guy for snagging a bottle of water and stuffing it in his jeans. That was an interesting moment. Basically the two rednecks I mentioned, grabbed shotguns from the gun department as if they knew what was up, and of course, people saw two guys with guns, they panic, try to get out of the store, and guess what?" she pauses "It was fucking Zombmart. The two guys ran up started blasting into the crowd, not only dropping our zombie friends, but people trying to run past. Once the zeds overtook the two rednecks, I made a break for it."

Her eyes look directly into the camera and she smiles "Yeah, Walmart, great fucking idea if you have hours to prepare and have the right group of people. So anyway, I fought through the parking lot, you know what great zombie smacking weapon I had? I small cheap ass purse I got from a vintage store with keys, and don't laugh, it packs more of a punch than you think." She smiles during the pause, the cigarette again brightens.

"You know those dumb bitches you always see in horror movies that fumble with their keys? Yeah well, I was one of them, yep, I went with the non-powered locks feature as it saved me 300 bucks, good call huh?" She lets out a soft laugh "Between shaky ass fingers and being scared shitless, with oh, says five or six zombies coming at me, I managed to finally get that damn key in the hole, and yeah, when you get that success, I don't care who you are, you have catlike reflexes and speed, I was in that driver seat, with the key in the ignition and backing out of there quick as possible." Her eyes drift for a moment looking to something outside, her voice gets a bit softer.

"Probably just some animals, I'm seriously deep in Chalis National Forest, yeah, for those of you who don't know where that it is, it's like a ways outside of Boise, in Idaho. Can't imagine I'd have to deal with a population problem in a forest. Plus, cabins aren't mean to be ran electrically so it's setup for if we do lose power, which we haven't, don't know why we would, zombies aren't out there humping power plants."

"Yeah, so word of advice, it looks cool when you see those people in the movies hit a zombie and splatter it, but don't do it, seriously, I drive an old 2004 Camry, the fucking bumper exploded when I hit one of them, as well as totally denting the passenger side of my bumper. Those crash point things were meant to fuck you up, I had to listen to the wonderful sound of metal rubbing against my tire." Taking another drag off her cigarette she flicks the ash carelessly to a dark part of the room.

"Ok, now to kind of explain the zombie, or at least my understanding of what I've seen of them. They are fucking scary, and not like movie scary, but like seriously fucked up, since their digestive system don't work right, they are constantly spitting up blood and obviously organs don't work right so the blood just pools up all over the place on their bodies. Muscles and such seem to work perfectly though, as they are really strong, and move like normal people. Which is the fucked part, they walk just like you or I, and in the darkness you could easily think it was someone you were hanging out with. Again, they have zero intelligence, and chase people down tearing into them with whatever they can. I'm not a scientist, so don't quote me on this, but I think the way the transfer the virus is from the blood that's on them, like it seems to leak from them, it's nasty. Open wound, zombies tearing at you and bleeding on you, yeah, you're coming back to snack."

"Also the other thing is, the most important thing you should know" A loud beep on the phone chimes in on the conversation. "Fuck, my battery is dying on my phone, good thing my charger is in my car. I need some sleep anyway, plus I should probably start thinking about whether I'm sleeping in the closet or my car. Seriously thinking about the car, if one of those zedders is creeping about, at least I'll have a fighting chance to get away. I'm not some bad ass chick slinging guns and swords around, nope, if one of those guys got me, I'm done, so yeah, signing off for now, oh and don't forget to subscribe"

The screen fades to black, no clever texts or video editing appears, the footage is completely raw and untouched, Though it would appear that the video is set to upload to YouTube from her phone. There's no new uploads from her yet, perhaps tomorrow..

by **swggeekgirl** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:37 am

December 2nd, 2011 - 5:43am

A camera flickers on, a young woman's face briefly appears, the sound of the microphone makes shuffling sounds as she attempts to get the camera pointing at her. The early morning light adds a surreal backdrop as she is clearly sitting in a car. The windshield behind her has smearing of blood and other such gruesome additions that are hardly recognizable due to the low quality of the film she is shot on. The young woman stretches letting out a yawn, and then wraps herself in a checkered red and blue blanket and her eyes then make eye contact with yours on camera.

"Yeah you guessed it, I slept in the car, seemed like the safer option to me. You have to understand that I didn't live by conventional zombie survival means. I guess I should explain, basically, I just watched horror movies with my boyfriend, wasn't really all into that whole thing. I mean I got the gist, get to a mall and all that nonsense, but yeah, I'm just trusting my own instincts at this point. It's like I said, these zombies are freaking nothing like you experienced in film. I mean these were all fiction writers who came up with their own idea's on how the whole zombie thing was going to go down. Well big news guys, it's nothing like you wrote."

There is a pause, as a cigarette is placed in her lips, she makes a few more gestures and procures a lighter from hidden places out of the camera's sight. Then lighting the cigarette, she takes a deep breath blowing out the smoke while looking away from the camera.

"Yeah these zombies are pretty bad, but to all you survival experts out there, there are similarities, such as you can become infected by them, only it's ten times easier for them to infect you than simply biting, think of it as a much more dangerous H.I.V disease. Their blood gets anywhere near an open wound, mouth, and eyes, you're fucked. Not proper fucked, but pretty close. So incubation period is extremely short too, in the matter of about 10 minutes, I watched a guy go from just fine to a raving psycho in that time."

"Also, there's fire, it seems to work pretty good, they seem to lose senses when they're on fire, now don't get me wrong, they still don't fucking die, but they'll let up on you, that's for sure. SO yeah, logged on to my Youtube and saw a ton of your messages, which is awesome, I'm glad to know there's people out there surviving. I guess I'll answer a few questions"

"Andrew" she stumbles with the rest, as if sounding it out to make sense of it "gitnukielots21, or whatever, to answer your question, yes, I'm in Idaho, I am just outside of Chalis, at a cabin my stepdad owns, we used to come here when I was younger for vacation. Ok, angiereads2much to answer your question, I have shit for supplies, there's a bit of canned food in the cabin, I got about a 1/4 tank of gas, and just this outfit" she moves her blanket to show a torn up tank top, fishnet armbands, an abundance of necklaces, gaudy earrings featuring an ankh, and finally a libret under her lip.

"Which I guess showing my outfit off is a way to answer peesonfence's question, no I'm not some emo kitten, I was dressed to go to a goth club in Boise, and stopped by Walyworld to grab some make up. Yeah, of all the people under-dressed for a zombie Apocalypse, it's me. I live in a small town, it's not like we were the first to be warned, hell I had my ipod hooked up, so I didn't even realize the emergency broadcast signal was going. Then add when I got to Walmart, it looked like the typical Christmas rush idiots, I was completely clueless."

The young woman reads through more on the screen she's looking at, she reads inaudibly, then finally speaks up clearing her throat as she does.

"ghostinatacoshell asks me, you were saying something about the most important thing to know, before your phone died, care to elaborate?" pausing she takes a breath, and then a drag off her cigarette. "The most important thing to know about these zombies, is what I was getting to before I lost battery, the thing you should know, that scared me to death, they seem to know how to open doors, twist knobs, interact with basic things that we all learn growing up. It's very important to keep your doors on your cars locked while driving, and of course the most obvious, your house and other shelters secured. While I mentioned they are working off very basic instincts, some things are often tied to muscle memory. Remember how I was saying that they are still pretty strong and move like we do normally? Well there you go."

A loud thud suddenly shakes the car she's sitting in, she let's out a scream looking towards what appears to be the drivers side window the camera then falls to the floor and all that's left is a view of something black in the car, like a center console. You hear the sound of her yelling out "Fuck off, fuck fuck fuck" then the sound of the car starting and the tires spinning in dirt launching pebbles dinking off metal on the car. Finally after 5 minutes of heavy breathing and random vulgarities she picks up the phone and looks at it.

"Guess they found their way into the woods, guess it's time to get deeper, I'll update more when I find somewhere else to hide out, but for now, I'm off this thing, oh, and as always" she pauses and her voice suddenly goes from the soft frightened tone to an upbeat one "don't forget to subscribe" and with that, the video ends, showing her previous video in the black screen of the video you just watched, along with other options, such as "Innocent man faces charges" and "innocence is a lie" video with some random band.

by **Sheriff McClelland** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:26 am

"don't forget to subscribe"

Just did . Original and great stuff , thanks 8-)

by **Fletch** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:57 am

MOAR!

by **wee drop o' bush** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:20 am

I am hooked already 8-)

by **swggeekgirl** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:23 pm

Why thank you guys, the kind words are appreciated,really they are. I am working on more, and actually am thinking about doing a live version of this, so I'll update you on that. I'll keep writing though and hopefully give you an entertaining story. Thanks for reading!

by **scorpionsak47** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:54 pm

lol subscribed nice look forward to more

by **3Fingas** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 6:15 pm

I like it...moar pleeze!

by **swggeekgirl** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:32 pm

December 2nd, 2011 - 3:47pm - Salmon, Idaho - Google Map GPS: 44.499934,-114.902687

The camera pans around, catching a dizzying view of mountainous terrain then finally rests on her, clearly the dark makeup around her eyes has began to smear, lines of it draw down her face showing clearly she has shed tears at some point. By now, you've come to expect it, and it's no surprise, but she has a lit cigarette in her mouth. The environment has changed a bit, it appears she's now at a new location, behind her is lines of cabins which appear more for travelers than a permanent living situation. The young woman is sitting on a set of stairs in front of one of the cabins.

"Hello YouTube, it's me, your shining zombie survivor starlet, now dodging bullets shot by rednecks who share an IQ about on par with zombies." She flicks the ash of her cigarette and takes a big drag, letting out a large sigh entwined with smoke.

"Here's the story, so far since you last saw me, you really didn't get much to go on, but basically a zedder hit my window at full sprint thinking I was just sitting out in the open or something. Yeah, scary as hell, but funny afterwards. Believe it or not, car windows are actually pretty solid, who knew huh? I sure as hell didn't, come on girls you know what I mean, there's always been that ONE guy you dated whom was hormonally imbalanced enough to punch walls, windows, excetera. You called it too,they usually broke their hands to our delight." she laughs running her right hand through her hair trying to get it to cooperate, at this point it just looks like a mess of cobwebs.

"So yeah, I decided to live up to what I said earlier, I've driven to Salmon, Idaho. The very center of Challis National Forest. I clearly look like shit, and obviously bad enough one of those old rednecks took a shot at me. Lucky for me I was entering a building at the same time. Once I shouted I wasn't a fucking zombie, the dumbass and his team of townies came to check up on me. They're obviously scared to death, and I guess looking at myself I'd probably of taken a shot too."

"These are smart players though, they seem to really grasp the situation at hand, but I guess years of living in the woods with possible wild animal dangers, forest fires, and other such things like the Blair Witch" she tosses a cheesy grin and continues "they clearly are ready for a lot. They thought of something so freaking simple but so effective I couldn't believe it." She moves the camera around a bit, and she starts walking, giving a quick view of the town, it's small, but very resort looking. The camera then points to a back hoe parked by a very deep hole.

"Remember how I told you that the non-fiction zombies don't die like our fictitious ones? Well that remains a fact, but the local doctor here has tested a theory with one them already" The camera then pans down to the hole, showing the hole full of zombies, one of them though laying face down, unmoving. "Apparently you can immobilize them, if you just so happen to hit them in the cerebellum, but to do that, he says that you should aim your shot at the nose, but it requires a pretty precise shots, so all you amateur gun nuts out there, practice up."

"OH yeah, the big one, you see this big hole full of freaks? I know, you guys are thinking this is some awesome mosh pit, but it's not, it's basically a big ass grave, the thing is though, they don't do nothing to avoid falling into holes. So, they just go running right in. See that big Hispanic fella over there?" The camera pans till a visual of a man standing by a cement mixer truck is in view. "You know I could go on to explain this to you, but this is how they're dealing with this problem. Is it practical? Fuck no, but for this towns situation I thought it was pretty brilliant. I don't know the rest of your situations but I thought I'd get it out there so you'd know."

The camera then turns back around, facing the cabins she was originally at, walking towards them she climbs up the steps, and pushes the door open. The light change makes it very hard to see inside.

"Yeah this is my new place, it's not much, but it's cool looking, and there's people here, tough guys with guns, and old guys with holes. I am hoping that I can stay here for a while. The community isn't a big fan of my look, ironic huh? Zombie apocalypse and my outfit makes them nervous. I think it's just ingrained in people to be judgmental assholes. Anyway, I badly need a shower, who knows how many chances I'm gonna get for this? I filled up my gas tank as well, ALSO, got myself" her voice changes to a southern accent "some wranglers and a button up shirt, and some fancy schmancy boots from the local store here."

"So I guess next vlog will be from this cabin, and I'll then look like a cowgirl goth chick gone wild. Good thing I got a camera huh?" the camera shakes about as if she's about to shut it off, but then it quickly jumps back up to her looking at it again. "Oh keep surviving people, and don't forget to subscribe!" she says, and the image fades to black, the video ends on YouTube, your next item in the playlist shuffles back to Day 1.

by **Sheriff McClelland** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:52 pm

I'm a man but am enjoying the viewpoint from her perspecive . Nicely done .

by **by-the-throat** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:57 am

Not a bad start. I am intrigued by the vlog format and replying to comments on the youtube section; I'm even willing to suspend disbelief that youtube will still be an option with a dying grid

Perhaps you can prevail on your dear readers for some stylized youtube comments in this thread and work them into the story. Audience participation worked for Rocky and I'm picturing our Heroine dressed in a similar fashion. Remember to nail down a concrete description of your POV character early so the rest of the story doesn't feel disjointed.

I enjoyed the imagery in the first couple of paragraphs of the first post; you paint a decent picture from the limited perspective of a smart phone camera.

I also LOL'ed at the idea of a goth dressed girl being persecuted by rednecks in a zombie apocalypse. "What? Now we got VAMPIRES too?"

Hope she doesn't give out so many details that raiders come looking for her. OPSEC damnit OPSEC.

by **Rebel Pariah** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:48 am

love it

by **KentsOkay** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:51 am

Awesome! Should make it an actual vlog project

by **Rebel Pariah** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:05 am

^this

by **swggeekgirl** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:35 am

What a great way to come back from a night of karaoke to find such insightful and fun comments. Thanks all for your genuine and helpful feedback. I promise to take and use suggestions given and make the story an improvement. By The Throat, thank you especially

by **Fletch** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 5:56 am

Since you like feedback, I admit to getting hooked by the textural yet terse quality of the writing, second post got me into the story. I reiterate - MOAR!

by **wee drop o' bush** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:15 am

Love it!

by **swggeekgirl** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:22 am

Wee and Fletch, thank you, nothing more exciting than high praise from decorated members of a pretty established group of zombie ninjas

Plus Fletch has the sexiest man of all time on his sig, Nathan Fillion, pitter patter!

by **maldon007** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 12:10 pm

Yay! my kids are asleep, have time to fold laundry... What's this? NO! must not... get sucked into new... zombie... fiction... *reading... reading... reading* Crap, nice, keep going please!!!

by **FlashDaddy** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:49 pm

I'm subscribed!

Great story and an actual vlog entry would be cool.

by **Lex1785** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:17 pm

Digging it! MOAR!!

by **swggeekgirl** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 5:22 am

December 3rd, 12:45 AM - Salmon, Idaho Google Map GPS: 44.499934,-114.902687

The darkness is suddenly filled with the familiar young woman, there's a rhythmic tapping on the lens, she's cleaned up, the dark makeup is reapplied, the clothing has changed, and her soft eyes pierce the camera, they are a deep blue with a gentle sparkle to them. There's a comfort to her eyes, something unsaid, but a peace in them, as if all the terrible things that are happening, are simply okay because her eyes lead you to these thoughts. She chews her lip nervously, as if unsure what to say on camera, as if she's fighting with something that is given away by her body language.

A cracked voice, with a soft tone speaks finally "It's real, this isn't just some situation where I am going to wake up, and this is all going to be okay. I'm starting to notice those who were frequenting YouTube with uploads, and information, have stopped doing so. The CDC reported that the world is faced with a phase 6 pandemic. The shittiest part of hearing that? I have no idea what the hell phase 6 even is. They declared The United States is now under martial law. Let's be real though, this epidemic broke out but two days ago and they've been unable to secure it. I am starting to wonder how it's being so widely spread so fast."

Her arms raise in the the air, she grabs her right arm just under the bicep and stretches her body to the left and then to the right and then tilts her neck in all directions trying to clearly fight off the sleep that she badly needs. Finally she rubs under her eyes with her fingers and pulls her fingers down her face, stretching out her face and the letting out a bit of a relieved sigh. Finally in her known style, a cigarette finds it's way to her lips, and is quickly followed by it being lit, her lighter then casually tossed to the side.

"The CDC report said to call 1-800-CDC-INFO to find out how to deal with this, so I called, guess what they said? Stay in your homes, keep them secured, wear a mask, wash your hands, and make no attempt to engage those who are infected. I think they forgot the part to say your fucking prayers, cause with that kind of information, you're going to have to. Of course, here I sit, in a non-fortified cabin half a block from a hole full of zedders. Better go get my mask on huh?" She lets out a noise that would convey a mix of laughter and irritation.

"I've had about 6 hours of sleep over the past three days, and I feel like I'm about to fall over. I'm not one of those gym nuts, that have ridiculous stamina for this kind of crap. Yes, I know, I'm skin and bones, and trust me, calories go right through me, but being skinny does not mean being healthy, obviously huh?" she says holding up the cigarette and waving it about. "I think YouTube is going to come crashing down soon enough with no one to maintain the servers and all that computer stuff, but I'm trying here. So let's read some of your stuff today guys, and see what I can answer for you"

(Out of story for a moment, if you guys would like to submit questions as YouTubers reading this in character that would add a bit of fun. Try to keep the questions related to the story, and I'll see if I can include them in her next Vlog)

"Ok marinevet56 to answer your question, I'm still in Salmon, Idaho. The city is pretty small, and no I haven't really interacted with the town people too much, they aren't turning me away, but I know they'd have no problems tossing me to them if it meant saving their hides. Hell I'd bet they'd even of charged me to stay in this cabin if credit card machines were still working. Thank god the banks put a hold on all spending during this crisis huh? Yeah, that should keep people from looting" Her eyes clearly roll, and she takes a big drag off her cigarette.

"onthegomoe to answer your question, I haven't headed to the Air Force base in Mountain Home because these zedders seem to be attracted to large groups of people, it's like instinct and stuff with them, as you've probably witnessed yourself. Not to mention the drive is nearly 2 hours and I'd have to go through Boise, which no doubt is filled with those freaks. I guess I just keeping heading further away from people as it seems like the smart move."

"Opheliac28 to answer your question, pretty much all we've gotten on the radio is that CDC thing on all the channels. I guess unlike the movies there's not people in newsrooms passing out news and updates on zombie day. Hell even Directv is off the air, which is a bummer, cause it'd be nice to see something official you know? But I have no doubt Obama is in some steel plated super tunnel of eternal survival while the rest of us are left to fend for ourselves."

She then rolls over on the her back, taking a drag, and letting the cloud of smoke float up to the ceiling, she continues to speak

"Ok guys, that's my update for now, I'm going to try really hard to sleep, again I'm tempted to sleep in my car, cause in my opinion rednecks are as scary as zombies, but hey I can't rag them too much, at least they are masters with this whole survival thing. Don't worry though, I'm learning as much as I can, and hopefully you all keep safe and alive. So long as zombies don't go tearing down cell towers, we should all still be able to remain in touch. I know it was ordered that all cell signals be opened up for unlimited communication. Guess that means I'll keep under my minutes for a change huh?" The attempt to be funny is left with a sort of empty emotion to it, no real reaction able to stir from inside her, but there's still that funny side of her trying to come out.

"Please keep subscribing people, I need to know who's out there, surviving. To my latest survivors out there that were recent to my subscriptions, Lex1785, Flashdaddy, Maldoon007, WeeDropOBush, Fletch, Eriequiet, KentsOkay, by-the-throat, SheriffMcClelland, 3Fingas, scorpionsak47, please keep surviving, do everything that you can to stay alive. This is our only means to talk right now, and I'd hate to think of losing any of you. I guess just fucking make sure you don't let your guard down, don't investigate strange noises, don't especially say hello to those strange noises, and if you can, upload what's going on in your situation right now, I'd love to see it."

With that, the video stops, related videos are displayed...

by **3Fingas** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:47 am

swggeekgirl,

I like your original take on the zombie genre. The established rules don't completely apply -- excellent. As others pointed out, your writing style is direct at times and nicely expressive at others. The Vlog approach reminds me of Romero's "Diary of the Dead", but your story is much better than his. I would recommend that you have your main character start to/attempt to form some bonds with a sympathetic local. This would increase her own chances of survival and give the local townspeople a little more complexity -- not just all backward rednecks. No matter how insular these people are, they did take her in. They obviously do have some compassion. Anyhow, I do the like the fish out water aspect of your goth girl in Mayberry approach.

in character Vlog response from 3Fingas:
swggeekgirl,

I am running out of time here. I just wanted to say. I wish the best for you and hope that you survive this nightmare that we are all now living. My house is surrounded and all of my neighbors are now completely dead or somewhat "deadish" trying to make me join them. Included in this post is my account of the apocalypse. I have never been an overly religious man, but if there is a God, I hope he has mercy on my loved ones and sees fits to help you survive. God bless you and keep you swggeekgirl.
<<Rest of VLOG response sent via PM>>

by **Sheriff McClelland** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 6:12 pm

It's very bad here . You hang in there swggeekgirl ! Try and catch a few hrs sleep soon .

Are you armed ? If firearms are not obtainable maybe hit the local sporting or hardware store and pick up a bat or axe handle or similar weapon , a good flashlight , a little more clothing , a little extra food and water in case you need to travel fast ... Do whatever you gotta do . We're praying for you .