Following the swift upheaval of the Nomadic Family Unit from Kenya, we settled into an entirely different world in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. We have sought to look for adventure in every aspect of life and while we explore our new surroundings, it turns out that not all was at it seems.
The world has been turned upside down for well over a year now and so much has happened. Death and disease became triumphant and everybody had a story of despair, and not forgetting the evacuation that some of us had to endure. After numerous lock downs in every country across the globe, Great Britain began to open its doors slowly but surely, to recover and rehabilitate, to revive a faltering economy, to rescue its people. A great nation crippled by a global pandemic was re-awakening, emerging into a new dawn which was never going to be Covid free, but lessons had been learned and life had to get back to a new normal. The vaccination program has gathered such momentum that there is a fresh scent of hope.
But danger is never far away. The nightmare of Covid not yet erased, still very much apparent and hanging in the air like a spectre of doom and not likely to disappear any time soon has paved the way for paranoia, hyper-awareness and anxiety like no other, seeping in amongst us like silent creeping wisps of smoke. We have all lived through this hell, and we have all seen the movies #Contagion #Outbreak which mirror reality, but should these movies have acted as a warning? A premonition? And what next?
Unnervingly, such illness and disease is proving to have long term effects. Sticking with the movie theme, or surreal televised dramas #WalkingDead #EvilDead a chilling development reared its head and elements of the Nomadic Family Unit were called upon to enter into a somewhat unexpected but fearsome battle.
It was decided that Cpl ‘attack beast’ Zuri and Sgt ‘sniffer dog’ Solo were to sit this one out, having been exhausted from their own recent exploits and their guarding abilities were required to hold the fort back at base. We therefore recruited two friends who we knew could ably assist us in carrying out numerous missions in what had become known as the Zombie Uprising. We were recruited into the ‘Zombie Enforcement Uprising Section.’
The world was gripped by a madness that led us into battle in a town called Billingham in the North East of England now other wise known as Nuke Town which had apparently, become overrun with the undead. Clearly, the recovery in this area of the country had not commenced and seemingly, vaccinations were proving to be ineffective. We were to navigate the outbreak zone to complete mission objectives, and use our weapons to neutralise the zombies without becoming infected.
We sneaked into the war zone to acclimatise to our surroundings, to gather intelligence and whilst the zombies appeared to be sleeping, we gathered ammunition which had been lost during previous uprisings. The long since abandoned properties revealed their bounty and we retreated back to base to load our weapons and gather ourselves, to prepare for our ensuing missions.
Mr Nomad and I, along with our two compatriots were armed to the teeth with assault (airsoft) rifles so we geared up ensuring our back packs were in place to collect further items which had been scattered around. We were to enter the area to retrieve biohazard bags, mobile phones and a lap top, amongst other treasures lost by those that failed in the tasks before us. This recovery mission was not without danger because we were briefed that loitering in our path would be numerous zombies all hunting us down, protecting the booty that had been dropped by our predecessors. We were informed that these zombies would not die. They mutate, re-generate and become stronger, faster and hungrier but shooting them would delay any onslaught, giving us opportunity to escape from their grip.
There was one particular zombie known as Titan who could not be destroyed and if we came across him, our instructions were simply to run for our lives. He was not particularly fast moving apparently, but he was baying for our blood. A mental note was made to avoid him at all costs, and try not to get jumped on by any other zombie.
After the briefing, we steeled ourselves, took a deep breath and were sent out into the war zone. Mr Nomad stealthily led the way, compatriot#1 (a.k.a Peter) and compatriot#2 (a.k.a Lucy) crept behind keeping a close eye on all movements, and collecting the items we had to collect, and I came up the rear to cover our backs. We crept through the deserted location, searching through piles of tyres, checking the mountains of rubbish, interrogating and investigating the environment as we went, gathering booty and all the while developing eyes in the backs of our heads for the dangers surrounding us.
And then those zombies came at us. We were hunted like prey animals. Gun fire ringing out (pellets hitting walls!!), zombies were downed and we ran on… zig zagging so we could not be caught, distracting those chasing us, trying not to get cornered or trapped. The zombies kept rising and kept coming so we fled, all the while searching for treasures.
We went up a level and searched the upstairs floors in the derelict buildings, moving rapidly, darting around, trying not to thud with heavy feet on the floor or the stairs so as not to give away our location to the threats around us. Descending once more to clear the lower level, we skirted around and then Titan appeared. From nowhere. And he had a chain saw.
And he saw us. And he pursued us, starting up the chain saw he gripped in his gloved hands which sent panic waves down my spine and kicked us into action. We scattered! Despite the fact that we had been urged to stay in our team, we all sprinted in off in different directions. I like to think that this was so Titan did not know who to follow, and this was part of our dastardly plan to confuse the enemy but for me, it was more unadulterated terror. Blind panic.
Adrenalin surged through my veins and all four of us galloped off, shooting each and every other zombie that dared to cross our paths, running for our lives away from the master of death. My heart was thumping so hard as if it was going to burst through my chest cavity but what a rush was felt.
We all made it back to base to re-group. We unloaded the goodies we had found and gathered more ammunition in preparation for more zombie annihilation. It was terrifying but exhilarating all the same so we crept back out into battle and did it all again – searched around an abandoned location for booty all the while fighting off zombies and running from the invincible and terrifying Titan.
On more than one occasion, in my urgency to flee, I came a cropper and slipped over causing some minor injury, as did Mr Nomad, and our two fellow compatriots also suffered in the line of duty but we eventually became victorious having gathered plenty of treasure and we survived the terror of a zombie uprising.
An afternoon of craziness and adrenalin fueled fun had taken us away from the grim reality of a global pandemic and whilst we all emerged a little battle weary, we had all thoroughly enjoyed an epic albeit very different adventure.
The sound of that chain saw cranking up will no doubt haunt me for days to come, but the surreal surroundings spirited us all away, even if just for the afternoon.
#ultimatezombiesurvivalexperience
#don’tlookback
#alwayslookforward
Nomadic Family Unit 
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