This project was so fantastic to watch growāand your creativity astounded us! We began with a handful of writers, but the Rising Wall quickly reached new online friends! And, of course, none of this wouldāve been possible without the brilliant work of Mira Grant, author of the Newsflesh series. THANK YOU ALL!
Iāll wrap-up with a handy recap guide, to showcase the amazing stories collected here.
(The links are to tagged posts, so theyāll show in reverse chronological orderāspoilers, beware!)
People of the Rising Wall:
Blair: cosplayer and student studying abroad in Japan, by Casey Blair
Mitchell Ogden: teen living in the Chicago area, by avatar-of-montagar
Emily: grad student studying abroad in Argentina, by Sarah Goldberg
Halforth: man living in a remote mountain town in South Dakota, by Terry Hoffman
Caracorder: tumblr user and erotica writer struggling in an evacuation center
Jenna: teen girl taking care of her baby brother Scott, by paint-riarchy/we-are-all-the-truth
Actuallyclintbarton: tumblr user concerned for friends, outside of Tampa, FL
Amy: young woman moving through Illinois, by handwritten-rebel
Paxfelis: tumblr user writing as a hospital nurse; an older sibling trapped on a roof
Tanya: from āScientific Writing for Ambitiousā course class, by secondaryideas
Jennifer: a twitter user dealing with zombies in the suburbs, by Jennifer Ambrose
Murderousginger: tumblr user and vacationer in Savannah, GA
Brooke: a hardcore Buffy fan, by idothnoteven
Alyssa: a student in Argentina; member of a threshold singing group; grad student in affair with a professor; andĀ other posts, by a-lyssa-dee
Other players: abhayakara, andthefairycourtshallride, kaninchenzero, starshiptiamat, pressagentsofshield,Ā yhhaabor, Ian McNally, Gavin Verhey, and Alex HoffĀ
Multimedia posts:
Radio broadcasts
George Romero video clips
Excerpts from the novellasĀ
Major points:
Amanda Amberlee dies
Mayday Army attacks
Kellis-Amberlee is born
San Diego Comic Con is hit
Professor Mason rallies UC-Berkeley
Dr. Matras speaksĀ
Bringing together the original books, companion novellas, brand-new blog posts by more than twenty fans and readers, two twitter platforms, soundcloud recordings, and youtube clips, the Rising Wall truly felt like a transmedia fan project. It was so exciting to watch everyone join in this fateful summer of 2014āI was blown away by your enthusiasm and inventiveness!Ā
My name is Lee, I am a friend of Halforthās. When he didnāt answer his phone last night, a friend and I drove up to Silver City to check on things. We scoped out the town from a ridge a half mile away. It looks like the place got wiped out. There were zombies of many kinds wandering around the place, deer, people, cows, coyotes, etc etc etc, and we could see several places where the fence had been torn down. There were to many zombies to risk going into town to look for any survivors. I knew about Halforthās blog so i decided to make this post on it to record why he has fallen silent like so many others. I hope you are resting in peace and not a walking disease vector, buddy. If I ever get a chance Iāll make it so if it isnāt.
You know, in the press of events I had forgotten about the bull cow and the deer I saw up Nugget. Zombie deer that attack people? Holy Mother of God, we live in a National Forest!!! There are thousands of deer out there, not to mention mountain lions, some elk, bobcats, coyotes, ā¦. How widespread is this virus? What can be infected and what canāt? Can a animal attack trigger the virus in a human? If so, we are in serious trouble here, very serious trouble.
From what people are posting on here, there seems to be some sort of minimum size that this thing needs to zombify.
Things That Have Become Zombies: Cows (presumably), deer, adult humans, dogs (circumstantial evidence), medium children, large children.
Things That Have Not: Small children, cats, birds, squirrels, reptiles.
Apparently, if it weighs more than a duck, itās a witch, and can turn into a zombie. National parks such as you describe are full of large animals. This also explains something one of the other internet sites posted ā that one of the outbreaks in Chicago seemed to be centered around the Lincoln Park area. Zombie elephants scare me.
You remember. Girl locked in a closet with her baby brother?
Right, so. Weāre out of food.
We were, anyways.
Scott was crying almost constantly because weād long since run out of baby food, and I - I can run on fumes pretty well, but, I mean, Iām only eleven. Thereās only so much I can do.
So, of course, that meant going out. We hadnāt heard anything outside of the closet (I locked and barricaded all the doors and windows before we locked ourselves in the closet), but I knew next to nothing about the state of the outside world.
But we needed food, and - more importantly - water. So out I had to go.
Dr. Alexander Kellis, inventor of the cure for the common cold and one half of the Kellis-Amberlee virus, committed suicide late last night.
ā Kellis Amberlee (@whenwillyourise)
July 30, 2014
The guy behind the Kellis cure. Half the reason behind this whole disaster. No wonder. I should be pissed, but frankly, Iām just sick of death. RIP Kellis.
Hey come on, be fair, thereās a lot of shit going down but he couldnāt have known it would happen. Ā HEāS not the reason behind any of this; the reasons this became such a fucking disaster are: the Mayday army being brainless hacks who didnāt take into account how much testing there was left to do to make sure the Kellis cure was actually safe, and the government covering up how much they knew about shit when it started going downhill.
I donāt know why he killed himself (guilt or fear or whatever) and I know weāre all upset and scared and so many people have died (i still canāt get ahold of my baby sister i am really really scared for her) but letās put what blame there is to be had where it belongs.
Iāve spent the day on the CB radio, haunting various internet sites, and generally gathering information anywhere I can get it. Hereās what I have. These are all rumors; I do not guarantee their accuracy. That said:
* Streatorās āradio silenceā was caused when a truckload of cattle on their way to the stockyards in Peoria t-boned a bus full of senior citizens heading for the floating casinos in Michigan City, Indiana. There was a viral outbreak that then affected the first responders. Two days later, Streator, Pontiac, Wenona, and Dwight appear to be partially to completely infected, as well as other small towns nearby.
Iām in northeast IL and I can confirm that Chicago is getting worse, the suburbs have outbreaks but the ālock the front door from everyoneā mentality is slowing it down. Also stay away from the corn fields as best as you can near towns, itās high enough to hide a grown man and god knows what else. Thatās all I know at the moment. I have never hated corn more than I do right now. Ā
Our apartment is supposedly clear, so weāre getting to go home. I keep thinking how lucky weāve been. There are boards up over our downstairs windows now. Everything else is about the same.Ā
Iām too tired to write any story tonight. Iām just glad to be home. Things are going to be hellishly different, but weāre going to get through. You hear that? Weāre going to get through.
Tomorrow, Iāll be back to posting erotica, but for now, Iām just going to absorb whatās happened and whatās still to happen.Ā
i know i just did an update on my reblog of theā¦ well, over here, but i also wanted to make sure you guys are okay.
iām in touch with kim over email, birdieās obviously with me. storyinmypocket i havenāt been able to get in touch with you if you see this please respond or email me or something? Ā we still have power and internet and everything over here and weāre pretty much doing nothing but trying to barricade the first floor and watch the news come in on tumblr and twitter, so you SHOULD be able to get ahold of us, if you have internet.
I havenāt heard from pura or raile or andy or kira or a lot of other people yet, either. Ā basically, if weāre mutuals and we havenāt spoken since the video dr matras made went viral, LET ME KNOW IF YOUāRE OKAY. Ā hell, even if weāre not mutuals, let me know if youāre okay.
and let me know if anyone we know is NOT okay. Ā I need to keep track. Ā I justā¦ I just need to.
Iāve spent the day on the CB radio, haunting various internet sites, and generally gathering information anywhere I can get it. Hereās what I have. These are all rumors; I do not guarantee their accuracy. That said:
* Streatorās āradio silenceā was caused when a truckload of cattle on their way to the stockyards in Peoria t-boned a bus full of senior citizens heading for the floating casinos in Michigan City, Indiana. There was a viral outbreak that then affected the first responders. Two days later, Streator, Pontiac, Wenona, and Dwight appear to be partially to completely infected, as well as other small towns nearby.
You know, in the press of events I had forgotten about the bull cow and the deer I saw up Nugget. Zombie deer that attack people? Holy Mother of God, we live in a National Forest!!! There are thousands of deer out there, not to mention mountain lions, some elk, bobcats, coyotes, ā¦. How widespread is this virus? What can be infected and what canāt? Can a animal attack trigger the virus in a human? If so, we are in serious trouble here, very serious trouble.
āMy name is Dr. William Matras. I amāI was; I suppose Iām not anymoreāan epidemic researcher for the Centers for Disease Control. I have been working on the issue of the Kellis cure since it was first allowed into the atmosphere. I have been tracking the development of the epidemic, along with my colleague, Dr. Christopher Sinclairā¦. Chris wouldnāt sanction what Iām about to say next. Good thing he isnāt around to tell me not to say it, right?
The news has been lying to you. This is not a virulent summer cold; this is not a new strain of the swine flu. This is, and has always been, a man-made pandemic whose effects were previously unknown in higher mammals. Put bluntly, the Kellis cure has mutated, becoming conjoined with an experimental Marburg-based cure for cancer. It is airborne. It is highly contagious. And it raises the dead.
ā¦. Let me repeat: We have been lying to you. The government is not allowing us to spread any knowledge about the walking plague, saying that we would trigger a mass panic. Well, the masses are panicking, and I donāt think keeping secrets is doing anybody any favors. Not at this stageā¦. Ā
What follows is everything we know about this disease, and the simple fact of it is, we know there isnāt any cure. We know we canāt stop it.ā
After reading so many zombie novels and watching enough movies one would be more prepared for when a zombie mailman comes to your door with the daily post, but I guess that is not the case.
So after a long runaround with the dogs going nuts Iāve managed to get the hell out of here and to the rest of my block; your mail may be a little late. I locked the mailman in the shed and its a bobby trap to even try to get behind my house so dont bother.Ā
To my friends: Iāll get you if you need help, also Iāll help you if you have a zombified city worker in the general area. Also just shoot me a text or drop a line, please?
To my family: Mom, stay with Dad. Dad, do not play hero because I do not want to be an orphan yet. I also have the dogs with meĀ
I recommend not touching anything theyāve touched or letting them touch you, theyāre probably infectious and theyāre disgusting in general. Keep up with the news as best as you can, but be careful where you get your info.
My name is Amy, I have 3 dogs, a half a tank of gas, and request caffeine. Now Iām going to make a playlist commemorating the end of the world. Ā
I didnāt go. I stayed with my baby brother, Scott. My parents, and older sister went. They - Weāve never gotten along well, and they were just going to leave him.
Dr. Alexander Kellis, inventor of the cure for the common cold and one half of the Kellis-Amberlee virus, committed suicide late last night.
ā Kellis Amberlee (@whenwillyourise)
July 30, 2014
The guy behind the Kellis cure. Half the reason behind this whole disaster. No wonder. I should be pissed, but frankly, Iām just sick of death. RIP Kellis.
Hey come on, be fair, thereās a lot of shit going down but he couldnāt have known it would happen. Ā HEāS not the reason behind any of this; the reasons this became such a fucking disaster are: the Mayday army being brainless hacks who didnāt take into account how much testing there was left to do to make sure the Kellis cure was actually safe, and the government covering up how much they knew about shit when it started going downhill.
I donāt know why he killed himself (guilt or fear or whatever) and I know weāre all upset and scared and so many people have died (i still canāt get ahold of my baby sister i am really really scared for her) but letās put what blame there is to be had where it belongs.
Iām gonna kill him. Ā If I ever get out of this, Iām gonna fucking kick his ass. Ā Little twelve-year-old dickweed. Ā
If anybodyās reading my Facebook page right now, I am up on the roof of my garage. Ā No joke, been up here since about four this afternoon. Ā Itās about six now. Ā My jackass little step brother let the dog out, and it got into a fight with one of those raccoons the news people keep saying have āsome new strain of rabiesā or some shit. Ā
Good news, the dog killed the raccoon. Ā Bad news, the dog had blood on him before he got to the yard. Ā Good news, dogs canāt climb ladders, and infected ones are clumsier than non-infected ones.
Greg, Danny, Mike, somebody come over and kill my dog so I can get down from here. Ā Then Iām gonna kill Jimmy. Ā Wanna help?
Wait, never mind about killing Jimmy. Ā The bratās down there with the dog. Ā Looks like he canāt climb the ladder either.
Heās got blood on him. Ā A lot of blood. Ā And gold fur on his mouth. Ā I think I know who bit my dog before the raccoon got to him.
GOD DAMMIT THEY KNOCKED THE LADDER OVER.
Listen, in case I canāt get out of this, this is important. Ā The zombies or whatever they hell they are, theyāre clumsy. Ā They canāt climb ladders. Ā The only way Iām getting down from here is jumping and hoping I can run faster than they can. Ā Maybe if I can get inside they wonāt be able to figure out doorknobs either.
Here goes nothing. Ā Peace out.
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