Before the NEW LAND

Today I'm feeling a little better but I'm still recovering from my bad luck.

Still thirsty, though. I found some rags, a chicken to cook and an empty bottle of water.

Like to think that, maybe, my luck is finally turning around so I'll not push it. Not today.

So, instead of telling my boring and not at all adventures day, I'll write about before the Big Storm.

In Brazil we say "to remember is to live"!

When the world turned into hell and people started turning into zombies, life like we knew was gone!

Daniel (Dan) and I were married for a couple years before the apocalypse, and having him is what kept me alive. 

We were always very aware of the possibility of the end of society. We were what people used to call survivalist.

We used to camp, hunt, fish, do some tricks with rope and knife. We had like, books and more books about natural healing, alternative building, how to make leather, wool and cotton. 

I loved to watch videos about how to make natural food, like sour dough, kombucha, natural soda, dried food, etc.

We had chickend, catle, sheep and a dunkie! 

Oh! I really miss Maribel!

Obviously, we were not prepared for everything but we liked to believe that our strength was to think out of the box when needed. 

Unlike most people, we had food and water stored to last 2 years. So when the disease broke out, we were able to stay home for a long time. Even before all that, we were only going to the city every 2 months. 

You Know, we never liked TV, and we lived in a ranch. We always had a lot of to do, while working from home (home office). So we only knew what was going on through our parents and internet.

My mother called one day, when all started, telling some gibberish that I couldn't understand. She was so scared! Her voice was shaking. Nothing made sense and I didn't considered because she was a scaredy person. 

We thought we were safe for linving in the country. Big city craziness never affected us, so we were not concerned.

I looked for some information in the internet. Everything sounded so fake...! Movie stuff! 

Then, a lock down was issued and isolated us even more. The great change in our lives came with the fall of Internet and, short after, the electrical power.  

We never went full blown off grid. So, we felt the absence of energy. Light, washing machine, dish washer, dryer.....how spoiled I was. 

Oh! Suddenly I realize that, maybe, my mother was not exaggerating. But, Zombies? Seriously?! No way! 

I was still skeptical!

Well, no more job, we had our land to work on and we thought that was all temporary. 

since it was all closed, our family couldn't visit us anymore and we couldn't go to the city, either. We felt like life was on hold.

For that reason, we decided to plant more small crops in our property. We were always busy. At the end of the day, really tired. 

Our lives became simple, peaceful and fulfilled. Even though we had a emergency radio, we had no time or interest in knowing more about what was going on. We simply forgot! 

The last time I spoke with my mom, I told her that all was going to get back to normal soon. Little I knew. 

Oh! I miss my mom and my sisters! 

Today, with all that I witnessed, it's safe to assume that they are dead. My mom was not a strong willed person, or even a strong person and my sister was like all teenagers at the time. She didn't know much about life, only thought about dating, clothes, music and celebrities. I never understood how we could be so different being raised by the same parents...

 I still cry for the loss of my loved ones.

My mother, my 2 sister, my aunt...Daniel? I hope not.

Because we had it all at home, we didn't actually see the fall of society.

One day, I was taking care of my herb garden, when suddenly my neighbor came running towards me, in a really bad shape, covered in blood, screaming "they are all dead!". He didn't came closer, he didn't stop...he kept running and screaming. 

Dan was at his working garage trying a metal mixtures for his new hobby of knifemaker. I ran to the barn and told him what I had seen. At first, he was not paying attention but when repeated about our neighbor full of blood, he stoped abruptly! I'd never saw him so serius. I could see the fear in his eye. In a whisper he told me to hide in the basement and not get out of there in any circumstances. 

I waited. I was so scared! I was shaking! I never felt something like that before. My hands and feet were cold and my heart was racing. It felt like forever. I heard steps, I held my breath, the door opened, they closed the door behind them and locked it. It was Dan! Finally, I could breathe again! 

When the sun sat, I heard more steps in the house and undistinguished talking. They were so angry! We stayed hidden for a long time, we barely slept or ate, we didn't want them to hear us. It was the first time I felt tense. 

I don't know how many they were but I bet on 5. One of the them had a really loud laugh, the other had a deep voice that made my chest vibrate, I could hear a voice that sounded like whistle and a female voice. There was one that walked back and forth all the time.

After they were gone, we stayed hidden a little longer to make sure they were really gone.

Although  we had shotguns and rifles, we couldn't protect our property and, that day, I was glad for not having kids.

We got out and the they took all the food they could find, all the jewelry and broke every single glass in the house and destroyed our crops and gardens. 

While in shock, I saw my neighbor walking slowly outside. I called him. At first, he didn't answer. I called him again. He looked at me, screamed and ran twards me. I closed the outside door and looked through the window. He's eye were white, his month was full of old blood. He was knocking the door...trying to break it open, then one of our sheep made noise and he ran to it. 

I ran upstairs to tell Dan what I just saw, again....oh boy! What should we do? 

He decided to grab the crossbow, we didn't want to call attention with a gun shot. 

To be honest, I was waiting for the apocalypse.

I was ready to see beasts and dragons, like in the Bible, giants, demons, aliens, big wars, bombs, pole shift, etc. But I was not ready for zombies!

How do we kill a zombie?

We didn't know what to do with our neighbors that day. After some try with the crossbow we learned that the best way to finish a Zombie is to hit the head or the chest.

I was hoping to never see a zombie again. It was painful enough to kill a person that we knew so well. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning.

We gave him a proper burial and decided to get out of there before we got raided again. It was not safe anymore 

We had a center console boat that we used to go fishing, an off-road 4x4. We took some of the canned food, dryed food, water and 4 isel galonthat we had stored and drove all around looking for a safer place. 

You Know, Brazil is a big country, so we drove for a long time, avoiding the big cities and not seeing what was truly happening.

We drove from Três Barras - SC, to the port in Itapoá - SC . We saw some destruction in the way but only when we got to Itapoá that we saw the actual apocalyptic scenario. That's when we knew that it was all gone in Brazil.

For that reason, we decided to sale the small boat in the small boat, hoping that the rest of the world was still safe! 

Sadly, our craft was to small for the ocean, between bad weather and strong currents, our boat sank and Daniel and I got separated. 

Luckily, both of us had safety vest on. That's what saved me and I was expecting it did the same for Dan. 

Well, the next thing I remember was to wake up in the shore of this new land called Chernarus.