Interview 12 - Michael Choi

In my final interview, I met Michael Choi aboard the USS Tracy Bowden.. He seemed like a normal man with problems just like the rest of us. But his problems were very different. unlike others, he was not concerned with his family or other humans. he bean to talk to me about the real losses of World War Z. His beliefs were very different from what I expected. 

To Mr. Choi, the loss of the war was neither human innocence or humanity itself. To him, the true loss was the Earth and its inhabitants of all kinds, including animals of the ocean. He gave the California Gay Whale as an example. This whale was once numerous throught the California shores and was a majestic creature whose presence was spectacular. Now, it is gone. Extinct. Nowhere to be found. And it is not the only one! Along with the Gray Whale, blue whales, finbacks and humpback whales have all disappeared as well. 

This is just an example. The ones left, belugas, narwhals, and orcas, along with the few fish left, are probabl not large enough to build a good gene pool and population. And they will probably be killed off by the horrible population in the air and water. And now, there is no way to repair it. 

So that is a final conclusion to the war. It not only caused a downfall of humans but of the Earth itself. The world as we know it will probably never be the same! But I guess we have to make do with what we've got...I guess. At least we now know for sure that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, however dim and fading it is.

Interview 11 - Sergei Ryzhkov

Today, I traveled to Serbia in Russia to interview Father Sergei Ryzhkov. He is a extremely religious man but the town he is living in is very quaint. There is no running waer and no electricity. As I first see the Father, I can see the injusries he has sustained from throughout his lifetime and I cannot help but imagine the things he must have gone through. He has broken fingers, no teeth, and many other peculiarities that show his age.

He explains to me that, unike in other places in the world, winter was an advantage for the Russian army. This country was very different, you see. They had a large army that was very inexperienced. But an advantage they had was a stockpile of weapons that amounted to them having a nearly endless supply. But their war started off very similar to ours. In the beginning, people were naive and young soldiers were often bitten while being uncareful. Their commanding officers were then often placed in the unfortunate positions of having to kill them. This is where the father came into the picture.

He proposed that since suicide and death were things thought of by God, shouldn't a person associated with him only be able to kill the infected? This  eventually caught on and priests were nominated to kill the infected in place of the commanders, to allow a more peaceful death for the doomed.

But after this, Father had to leave with a Bible and a gun... You can guess what he was going to do. 

One thing that concerned me was that the Father refused to answer certain questions of mine. It seems this country may still be filled with controversy and deceipt.

Interview 10 - General D'Ambrosia

Today, I travelled to Vaalajarvi, Finland where I met General D'Ambrosia. He is the leader of the Combat Information Center, a large military base 3,000 feet off the ground that houses state of the art equipment and enough personnel to fight the ongoing zombie infection. As I see him, i notice his workers speaking in many languages to give acknowledgment to different people. It seems as if this place is like god, watching over the entire world and its inhabitants.

The General explains to me how he can see the entire land from his post and can therefore see zombies before land troops could. In the beginning, this was a major advantage because, unlike before, the armies could know what they were up against instead of just fighting an unknown enemy. This proved very helpful in the long run. But this was an advantage among many disadvantages, as I would soon find out. 

General D'Ambrosia explained to me that although we knew that, there were certain advantages the zombies had over the human armies. For one, they did not have to be bred, fed, or led by a leader. This meant that the zombies were already large enough while a human army had to be formed. Also, zombies did not need food or a proper leader, while human soldiers did. 

In addition, the zombies were, essentially, endless. If one of them died, they could bite a human to get an additional soldier. But a human loss could not be replaced as quickly or efficiently. Finally, humans were not waging a "total war", or a war in which every man, woman, and child was contributing to the war effort. There were often cases of distrust and even eating and sleeping prevented total war. But the zombies had no prblem for this. They were waging a total war and therefore, every single one of their troops had to be killed for a victory to occur. This was an enemy humans had never faced before and i put them at a huge disadvantage.

This is where the general stopped. I assume this was for dramatic effect but this interview has affected me in several ways. First, it shows me the amount of planning that leaders had to do to make this war even slightly winnable. Also, it shows me the strength of soldiers fighting in the front lines, knowing they might be giving up their lives to the enemy just to save the last bleak possibility of human dominance over the Earth.

Interview 9 -Xu Zhicai

Today I traveled to the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. Specifically, I visited the Patriot's Memorial to meet with Xu Zhicai. He was a veteran of the war and made sure to meet with me at a public location to ensure that the public viewed his actions and saw that he was definitely patriotic. At first, I was unsure why he was doing this but after I heard his story, I understood.

He was a soldier in China at the time of the Zombie Infections. China at the time was losing an unwinnable battle against a strong force. The whole country was in shambles and the military was split on what to do. Some believed in continuing the fight. Another believed in a plan to retreat and gain strength. but the mass was largely mixed on what to do and the army made its own decisions. This situation cause the beginning of this story.

Xu was led by a man named Commander Chen who was an important man in the Chinese armed forces. He made the decision to send a small group of people on a nuclear submarine with their familiesto live, which he believed would preserve the human race forever. They set off, initially as a routine ship, but eventually sailed off course and became self relying after going through the ocean by themselves. They stopped at many places to find a new location to settle in but reached no luck.

Eventually, they came upon Manihi, a group of ships that had formed a community throuigh trading of goods. By using their generator, they quickly became a power source. They grew rich and gained a large amount of fame. But eventually, the Chinese caught up with them and sent a ship after them. They soon fled to the north until another ship met up with them. This turned out to be the Commander's son, who explained to them that China was in a revolution and was close to anarchy. Soon, the soldiers returned and overthrew the rulers to start the Redeker plan in China and fight the zombies.

Although Mr. Xu gave me a thorough explanation, he left many questions unanswered. this makes me wonder whether he was hiding anything I should have known about that could have been important.

Interview 8 - Tomonaga Ijiro and Kondo Tatsumi

Today, I traveled to Kyoto, Japan to meet a unique Japanese hero in the Zombie War. He was an elderly man who survived the aomic bombings but paid with his sight. This loss eventually proved to be a gain for him as this enhanced his other senses. These enhancements allowed him to survive, mainly by himself, during the Zombie War. As I interviewed him, I also got to know his second in command, who he apparently was very close to.

Tomonaga Ijiro was a soldier in the Second World War and only 

experienced the atomic bombings from a distance. But the power of the sight and the light it created blinded him permanently. This immediately made him an outcast in his society and he was disgraced for the rest of his life. Eventually, he could no longer bare this and ran away, thinking he could find peace elsewhere. He settled in Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. Here, he was accepted as the only other people there were other outcasts who had been living there for many generatons. This was where Tomonaga first heard about the zombie war. 

He had been a farmer with these people for many years now and was doi ng his daily duties when he first heard the commotion, something about a man killing his wife and then engulfing her like a wild animal. At first, he turned this down as he had done many other times. But when more of these rumors flew to his ears, he decided he did not want to be a burden to the people there and he fled yet again. This time, he went to the Hiddaka Mountains, a place he studied and learned in depth. One day, he unwittingly cam across a bear. Althugh he could not see it, he felt its presence and heard it quite well. But just as it was about to attack him, it fled. Immediately, he heard a zombie behind him and reduced it to waste with one strike.

This attack made him realize that he did have some purpose in this world. Although he did not know exactly what was going on in the world outside the mountains, he tried to believe that everyone was safe and that peace had been restored. S he waited his time out till he met another human being, always listening to the sounds of wild animals as clues to incoming zombies. One winter, he came upon Kondo tatsumi, who was walking through the woods. Once realizing the actual threat of the zombies from this man, he vowed to keep Japan safe and has lived there ever since.

Interview 7 - Christina Eliopolis

Today, I travelled to Tennessee to the Parnell Air National Guard Base. I met and interviewed Christina Eliopolis, a pilot in the Air Force. While interviewing her, I noticed that she was very aggressive and seemed to snap at me at every instance she got. Although she looked like an average girl at first glance, you could tell that this was not the case and that she was actually a war-hardened veteran. She explained to me about how she managed to escape a zombie infested lagoon with the aide of a mysterious woman.

She was thrown out her plane during a flight when the back end was blown off. Using her parachute, Christina was able to land safely and gain her senses. She soon found a group of zombies who were feeding on her officer. She killed the whole group as well as the officer, to put them out of their misery.By this time, Christina had received a response from a mysterious woman named Mets Fan, who claimed to be a Skywatcher. Mets guided her through the day. At every turn, Christina would see a zombie and had to kill it to stay alive. She was often at the hight of her senses and was very aware of her surroundings. 

Soon, Christina came upon an abandoned SUV, with camping gear and food inside. She soon realized, though, that it was not abandoned but rather remained after the driver committed suicide to get away from the zombies. While talking to Mets Fan, she was suddenly surrounded by zombies on all sides and had to kill them all to get away. As night began to creep in, Christina took shelter in a tree, where the zombies cold not reach her and she slept. Whn she woke up, she found herself surrounded again by zombies. By jumping in a nearby river, and subsequently cracking her ankle, she was able to get a head start on the zombies and was able to reach the highway with enough time to spare to be rescued by a helicopter before being attacked by the zombies.

I cannot tell if this story is 100% true as they never found anyone named Mets Fan in that are, or in any area as a matter of fact. If that was not what helped her, what other explanation could there be? I mean she could have lived on her own but that would have been difficult and very unnerving. I guess we will never know the true story unless somebody confesses. This is a beauty of war. Even in the middle of hardships, anonymous people can spring up from nowhere and become heroes.

Interview 6 - Jesika Hendricks

Today, I visited the Sand Lakes Provincial Wilderness Park in Montreal, Canada to interview Jesika Hendricks on her experiences during the zombie war. What I learned from her completely changed my view of how the common American had viewed this war. Before this interview, I had always wanted to believe that during this time, the United States were the most calm and most, well, united of humans at this time. But I soon realized this was not the case.

The story of Jesika and her family begans in August of the first year, approximately 20 weeks after the horrific defeat at Yonkers. Her father had received reports of "walkers" in the area and immediately decided that his family was to move north. The family immediately stocked up on what they believed were enough supplies and immediately left, thinking this would lead them to safety. On the way, they encountered many hitchhikers, some of whom were probably infected. They stopped for no one except one girl, whom they later abandoned because she spit up black, an indication for a possible in fection. When they finally reached their new home for the winter, it seemed perfectly good.

But this serenity lasted for maybe a month. As more and more people began to travel north to escape the hordes, their camp began to be overrun and was very rowdy. As supplies dwindled and  fuel ran low, people fought over what was left and many were beaten, got sick, or were killed. That winter was one of the largest tragedies in history. An example of the horrors Jesika faced happened when her family was staying in her car, not having anything to eat in several days. They all had lost much of their supposedly large supply of food and were starving. The mother and father began to bicker a lot, which was unusual, and eventually sold things to the neighbors for some of their food. This provided them with a small source of nutrition at the time but things were not always so peaceful. Often, random men would get into fistfights in the middle of the night and anyone caught stealing was often killed by the righftul owner. Eventually, Jesika's parents became very sick and she had to feed them.

When on the brink, Jesika and her family found a new source of food. They used the bodies of those who had died as food until the spring arrived and the sun would shine longer. Unfortunately, this spring also brought new zombies. Her tale ends there.

I cannot help but wonder how the zombies were ble to thaw out and continue to survive despite everything. Another question I have is what feelings were going through the mind jesika as she knowingly at the flesh of her fellow human beings. Also, this story shows the desperation of humans, pushed to the brink of death and survival in a race to escape from a largely unstoppable force.

Interview 5 - Bohdan Taras Kondratiuk

Today, I travelled to Odessa, Ukraine to meet up with Bohdan Taras Kondratiuk. He was a soldier and a war veteran who had lost much duting the war. I found him alone in an undermanned "hospital" if that is even an appropriate term for the horrid place. It was heavily undermanned, with only enough nurses to take care of some who lived there. Furthermore, there were no doctor's at all! This gives you an idea of what this man had to live in after coming home from one of the most brutal conflicts the world had ever seen.

His troops were positioned in Kiev, as this was the supposed safe zone and was where most of the military was located. But, out of the blue, the government suddenly changed this safe zone to Crimea. The effects of this were enormous. Chaos ruled as the governmental system broke down and people who had no hope began to take over. Those who wanted to escape left through the many bridges around the city and were then directed by the military. Bohdan and his men were placed at the Patona Bridge, a historically important bridge for Ukraine. His men tried their best to hold the refugees at bay but could do so for only so long.

Now Bohdan's men were faced with a unique problem that caused them to make a difficult choice. With this large of a group, it was nearly impossible to weed out those who were infected and hiding it. This made transportation of these refugees very difficult. But as he tried to figure out a way, the government did so for him. They sent planes armed with RVX  to kill off everbody, so that those with the infection could reanimate and therefore be destroyed. This plan was very cruel but, unfortunate, very effective as well as everyone there who was a zombie was killed off much easier. Those who survived immediately ran off in many directions to escape the place, and Mr. Kondratiuk followed suit.

This event shows how desperate the government was to kill off the zombies, willing even to risk the lives of their own people for this sole purpose. This cruel fact affects me greatly and saddens me as well because of the lives that were lost and hopes that were crushed by this horrific time in human history.

Interview 4 - Ahmed Farahnakian

Today, I visited the Ice City in Greenland to interview Ahmed Farahnakian. His interview was unique because he seemed to be the only person I have interviewed till now that actually knew at least one of the consequences of his/her actions. He was a Major in the Iranian Revolution Guards Corps Air Force, a hefty title for a man who has fallen so far. The Ice City itself is like a final stand for civilization and mankind. Its inhabitants mainly live underground as protection from the cold above. But this harsh weather is also what provided them with a barrier against the undead during the Crisis.

Ahmed, while still under office, was often faced with huge choices to make. As a political and military leader in Iran, he often made decisions that affected his entire people or the entire country itself. It was one of these decisions that started the world's first nuclear war. After the infection had shocked countries around Iran, such as India, the refugees of these countries, many of which were infected themselves, began to flee across country borders to escape. The inflow of refugees from India was the largest due to the high population, often resulting in the movement of millions into Iran. 

To protect their own people, Ahmed and his leaders ordered Pakistan to secure its borders to prevent these immigrants from  continuing their movement. Although Pakistan had agreed to this, the refugees continued to pour in in large numbers. As a final hope of blockage, the Iranian military bombed a bridge that was an integral part of a route between Pakistan and Iran. the Pakistani government, viewing this as a threat, immediately fired back, shooting down border stations. This caused a serious of events to occur, eventually resulting in a sort of nuclear holocaust that killed tens of thousands of people in many unrelated cities and areas, such as Lahore, Bandar Abbas, and Ormara. These blasts eventually caused a nuclear cloud to form over all of the major continents, resulting in an even larger kill radius and many other unforeseeable consequences.

What the actions of Ahmed and his staff show us is that at the beginning of the war, many people only cared for their own group's safety and not for any other ethnic or cultural group. The actions of the Pakistani government's actions in response to the bombing of the bridge were without a proper reason and were therefore just an act of quick thinking and instincts by the Pakistani government. This instance shows us the panic and fear the people of all cultures, races, and areas of the world faced that greatly turned the war against us. I mean, doesn't the phrase go "United we stand, divided we fall"?

Interview 3 - Ajay Shah

From the United States, I travelled to Alang, India. This city has been financially and economically ruined by the war and is therefore basically abandoned at this time. Evidence is shown by the barren docks on the shore of the city. At one time in the past, this area was full of boats and merchant ships, with fishermen and traders aplenty. But now, due to the wars, all that are left are some empty scraps of metal on a barren beach. This is the setting at which I talk to a man whoescaped the disease by fleeing from this very beach. His name is Ajay Singh and after today's interview, I receivedsome great insight into the common man's view of the war that was to come.

When Ajay had been here before, it was filled with boats of all sizes with one purpose. This was to evacuate any survivors to prevent them from being infected. Although this may seem great at first glance, these men were infact cunning thieves because they would, in return, ask for all of their passengers' money. Often, they would just be leading these men, women, and children into their own death because as so many went on a ship, eventually, one or two infected humans would board without knowing. These would then reanimate on the boats and proceed to kill many of those on board and infecting many others. So, in effect, the innocent men and women were giving their money to be killed in the middle of the sea.

But despite this, people still continued to get on the boats. One of these was Ajay himself. He managed to swim, like many others, to these incoming boats to try and get himself rescued.  ut instead of being on boards a ship with a bad captain, he was pulled onto a boat that was from the Canadian Coast Guard. This boat was safer than the others and, therefore, Ajay managed to survive. But you cannot help but wonder what happened to all of those people who were not as fortunate.

This interview shows the extent of the disease and how it seemed to grow as time went on. If all of those men and women had proper protection, could this disaster have been averted? I guess we will never know...

Interview 2 - Bob Archer

After meeting with Kwang Jingshu in China, I have now returned to the United States. Specifically, I am right now in Langley, Virginia. Today, I met with the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Bob Archer. Unlike in China, the communications and infrastructure of the United Statea are not completely down due to a stronger economy and government just before the outbreak. This seemed to make the director much calmer than Kwang. 

While interviewing  Mr. Archer, I learnt many things about the US government. For one, the US government is not as powerful as it seems and makes other countries believe. The CIA itself was never as complicated and intricate as its history and work would have indicated. Although it seemed to be at numerous places at one time, Mr. Archer explained that even this organization's resources were limited.

But back to the Zombie Wars. The CIA, just like many other government organizations, had realized the threat of the plague but actually had a plan to prevent an outbreak in the United States. They had first received their report from Mr. Paul Knight, whom I had previously interviwed, and I was surprised to know that the CIA, at first, did very little even though they knew about the threat. But after some thought, this might be understandable because they would want to prevent panic from spreading in the United States at the time. 

One thing that surprised me was that initially, when the plague first broke out in China, the CIA was largely unaware and refused to do anything. This may have been because of their naivety, as Mr. Archer had said. But I believe it was becuase the CIA did not want to do anything about it as they did not think it was a threat. Sure, certain employees had their theories. But the truth of the matter is that no action was taken and this has made all of the difference...

So did the CIA knowingly take no action or were they fooled by China? And did they take the Warbrunn-Knight Report seriously? I think not as if they did, they might have been able to prevent World War Z from ever happening.

Interview 1 - Kwang Jingshu

Today, I travelled to the United Federation of China to meet a chinese chairman named Kwang Jingshu. The effects of the war were evident by the reduced population, loss of power, and loss of running water.

This interview was the first I did that gave specific references to the actual disease and its effects on people. I loved how he seemed to know exactly what he wased  going to say but it did feel a bit rehearsed. I can't help but wonder if I was the first to get to him or if the government told him to cover anything up before. 

An interesting side story was that of the city of Fengdu. This story, to me, represents the petty needs of governments before the War and how quickly the world has changed since then. I can't help but wonder what happened to that old Chinese lady. 

I feel grat sympathy for the Chinese peasants and farmers as at first, they were largely left out of the true story and were unaware of the struggles to come. I can only wonder what would have happened if people had been properly informed. 

As this summary comes to a conclusion, I can truly say Kwang Jingshu has been a huge help in starting my post-war research.

Just 1 and 1/2 weeks till I start!

My first interviews start in ONLY 1 and a half weeks! What am I going to figure out? I guess only time will tell...

Introduction

From time to time, I will reflect on my days. This, obviously will only happen as long as I am alive. For our sake, lets hope we can ride this time out.