Dawn of the Dead (2004) 15 years after the outbreak...

[Gillan1220]

Yeah, I went back and saw it.


Not... necessarily. It depends on what you mean by "re-establishment." If you mean a remnant authority or designated survivor manages to get a state set-up and working, then that's actually possible depending on how long the outbreak lasts. If you mean controlling all territory it did before Patient Zero, then probably. Though it would vary on which former state we're talking about for a number of reasons.

If the federal government still has the M1A2 Abrams tanks, Brandleys, Strykers, and military vehicles to do so plus the parts, ammo, and fuel to spare. Most of these would have rotted if they were not secured on time. Spare parts for planes and helicopters would be hard to come by, since Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, and Rockwell Industries are most likely defunct. There would also be distrust among scattered U.S. military units, angry civilians who will think they were abandoned by the feds, and political secessionist such as the KKK or black supremacist groups in the South. It would be like the Road to New York Campaign seen in World War Z. It could take time, definitely decades.

Not to mention the issue of isolated communities developing distinct identities over the decades/centuries. For example by 2104 the society that developed in Wisconsin could be very distinct from the groups in California. They might see each other at best as foreigners that share a cultural heritage.

Unless travel or communications is restored to basic levels such as ham radios, old telephone lines, and fax machines. Travel via railroad or Wild West-style convoys would be seen in the post-outbreak world since cars or aircraft will be sparingly used to conserve what fuel is left.

 

[CJD]

I suppose if the new USA is based out of an oil rich spot like Texas then mechanized forces might be possible. There’s also probably going to be a lot of travel by sailboat.

 

[eltf177]

If the federal government still has the M1A2 Abrams tanks, Brandleys, Strykers, and military vehicles to do so plus the parts, ammo, and fuel to spare. Most of these would have rotted if they were not secured on time. Spare parts for planes and helicopters would be hard to come by, since Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, and Rockwell Industries are most likely defunct. There would also be distrust among scattered U.S. military units, angry civilians who will think they were abandoned by the feds, and political secessionist such as the KKK or black supremacist groups in the South. It would be like the Road to New York Campaign seen in World War Z. It could take time, definitely decades.

I must agree. Most military equipment won't be running, and building more is going to take decades. Then my favorite, the civilians who felt the government ran off and left them to die. The last thing they'll want is someone breathing down their necks telling them what to do and taxing them.

Unless travel or communications is restored to basic levels such as ham radios, old telephone lines, and fax machines. Travel via railroad or Wild West-style convoys would be seen in the post-outbreak world since cars or aircraft will be sparingly used to conserve what fuel is left.

Phone lines are not going to be working, the same for fiber networks. The ham radio will be the main way most communities keep in touch, and being open channels sensitive information won't be given. Rail lines will be in poor shape, not to mention the engines and cars themselves. I see steam engines coming back before diesels. Those cars and aircraft that do work won't have much fuel, lubricants or spare parts. And roads and runways will be in poor shape so they will be used sparingly if at all.

 

[Gillan1220]

I must agree. Most military equipment won't be running, and building more is going to take decades. Then my favorite, the civilians who felt the government ran off and left them to die. The last thing they'll want is someone breathing down their necks telling them what to do and taxing them.



Phone lines are not going to be working, the same for fiber networks. The ham radio will be the main way most communities keep in touch, and being open channels sensitive information won't be given. Rail lines will be in poor shape, not to mention the engines and cars themselves. I see steam engines coming back before diesels. Those cars and aircraft that do work won't have much fuel, lubricants or spare parts. And roads and runways will be in poor shape so they will be used sparingly if at all.

1. Yes and for this part, judging by how the final address of the U.S. President to the American people and how the politicians headed to their bunkers, there will be justification for the survivors not to trust the feds anymore.
2. A bit of spoiler for the final issue of The Walking Dead comics (released July 3, 2019): An older Eugene is stated to be in charge for the reconstruction of old railway lines that ran through the CONUS, starting from the West Coast. It does show that even years after the apocalypse, it would be difficult for automobiles to be manufactured again that steam or coal powered trains would be the use of traveling between survivor states. It is basically the Wild West all over again.

 

[eltf177]

It's mind-boggling just how much has been lost. First many people have died so there aren't even enough people left to do the work needed to rebuild infrastructure. And much farming knowledge is gone and must be relearned.

Then a tremendous amount of knowledge is gone forever. Universities won't be open again for decades if at all. Those few doctors left can't perform miracles, anything much beyond an appendectomy can't be done. There are no more antibiotics or advanced drugs except what little might have been saved. No X-Ray machines or advanced life support. Many hurt will die due to what's no longer available which could have saved them earlier. Once those doctors are gone we're back to midwives and medical practitioners - those with some medical knowledge but NOT full-fledged doctors.

Kids will be needed to work, schooling will more than likely be limited to reading (to help salvage food and other items) and basic math. Communities might have one or two gas-powered generators but these must be saved for absolute emergencies. No running water or sanitary facilities so things like dysentery and cholera will be making a comeback.

No computers, and libraries are decaying so the loss of knowledge is going to be almost catastrophic.


I used to joke about Y2K. A yuppie stockbroker, his trophy wife and two kids (son addicted to video games, daughter glued to her phone) end up on a farm after the Y2K crash. Watch and laugh as these city folks try and plow a field with a mule, raise chickens, slaughter pigs and all the other farm chores without power and only a well and outhouse.

 

[Gillan1220]

It's mind-boggling just how much has been lost. First many people have died so there aren't even enough people left to do the work needed to rebuild infrastructure. And much farming knowledge is gone and must be relearned.

Then a tremendous amount of knowledge is gone forever. Universities won't be open again for decades if at all. Those few doctors left can't perform miracles, anything much beyond an appendectomy can't be done. There are no more antibiotics or advanced drugs except what little might have been saved. No X-Ray machines or advanced life support. Many hurt will die due to what's no longer available which could have saved them earlier. Once those doctors are gone we're back to midwives and medical practitioners - those with some medical knowledge but NOT full-fledged doctors.

Kids will be needed to work, schooling will more than likely be limited to reading (to help salvage food and other items) and basic math. Communities might have one or two gas-powered generators but these must be saved for absolute emergencies. No running water or sanitary facilities so things like dysentery and cholera will be making a comeback.

No computers, and libraries are decaying so the loss of knowledge is going to be almost catastrophic.


I used to joke about Y2K. A yuppie stockbroker, his trophy wife and two kids (son addicted to video games, daughter glued to her phone) end up on a farm after the Y2K crash. Watch and laugh as these city folks try and plow a field with a mule, raise chickens, slaughter pigs and all the other farm chores without power and only a well and outhouse.

The future for the Dawn of the Dead remake is indeed grim, but at least slightly better than a nuclear war since there is no radiation. Agreed that many books, knowledge, works of arts, and other things that propelled humanity to technological advancement would have been lost in fires or years of neglect.

One of the reasons Max Brooks feared the zombie is the psychological impact and something to do a world collapse. You are right about city folks being irritated so quickly to minor inconveniences. These minor inconveniences would be the normal thing. The shipment of food and goods stops, no electricity, no advanced health care, etc.

The History Channel did a docudrama back then in 2010 called After Armageddon which deals with a flu virus from Southeast Asia that spreads around the world and killing millions of people. Even though it does not involve zombies, it does show that after some time since the Pandemic Wave ended, human society has changed to the point we are back to pre-1900 levels.

You can watch it here:

 

[eltf177]

They would be in better shape since infrastructure hasn't crumbled as the pandemic won't take decades to end. But the loss of so many people and so much knowledge means that once the infrastructure starts to crumble it won't be fixed and things will slide downhill quickly...

 

[CJD]

The future for the Dawn of the Dead remake is indeed grim, but at least slightly better than a nuclear war since there is no radiation.

Maybe not from nuclear weapons but there are a lot of reactors that could melt down:

 

[Gillan1220]

Maybe not from nuclear weapons but there are a lot of reactors that could melt down:

Totally forgot about that. Judging by how fast the outbreak engulfed the United States and the world, it's unlikely those reactors would have been shut down on time.

 

[eltf177]

Totally forgot about that. Judging by how fast the outbreak engulfed the United States and the world, it's unlikely those reactors would have been shut down on time.

Don't forget that any natural gas plants will blow up if left unattended, and you have to figure at least some were overrun before that happened.

Also any fires that start won't be put out. Some cities will be in ashes and large tracts of wooded areas/brushland will be scorched to the soil.

 

[Gillan1220]

Don't forget that any natural gas plants will blow up if left unattended, and you have to figure at least some were overrun before that happened.

Also any fires that start won't be put out. Some cities will be in ashes and large tracts of wooded areas/brushland will be scorched to the soil.

Instead, we will see small survivor communities based on townships living a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Similar to Alexandria Safe Zone, Hilltop Colony, and the Kingdom in The Walking Dead. They wil look like these:

 

[eltf177]

Any community will have to scavenge to survive until crops start coming in, and still after that for specialty items and luxuries. And they won't tolerate competition. Strangers will have to earn trust, and must be careful as the community won't hesitate to kill anyone they feel is a threat (or even a possible threat) to them.

 

[Skyrish10]

Day of the got remade in 2008 and 2018, respectively. Both are terrible though.

There's even this, an in-name only sequel to Day of the Dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead_2:_Contagium

 

[Gillan1220]

There's even this, an in-name only sequel to Day of the Dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead_2:_Contagium

Ahh yes the much lesser known spin-off that I heard got some copyright strikes. Never seen this yet though.

 

[Gillan1220]

So I did an extensive research concerning about the state of the U.S. Navy similar to the Gathering Order of the 1983: Doomsday timeline. It was a difficult task but nonetheless I did complete for the 11 carriers as of 2004. This is also somehow inspired by To The Sea, a World War Z fanfiction about the U.S. Navy during the zombie war.
****************************

​

The United States Navy in 2004 was the world's largest and most superior blue-water navy. It comprised roughy 12 aircraft carriers, 13 amphibious assault ships, 13 amphibious transport docks, 12 landing ship docks, 2 amphibious command ships, a large number of surface assets such as destroyers, cruisers, and frigates, and a formidable submarine fleet, of which some are armed with nuclear weapons. At the time of the outbreak on May 7-8, 2004, many of the warships were either deployed overseas supporting U.S. military forces and other allied forces in the Middle East or Southeast Asia as part of the Global War on Terrorism but a large were indefinitely abandoned port as the bases were overrun by Reanimated Life Forms (RLFs). Some ships were fortunate enough to be at sea at the time of the outbreak but these soon became part of a large fleet of nomadic boat people had they not found a safe port to dock. As the outbreak weakened between 2007 to 2014, many of these warships were old and in need of repair. Some were outright struck for spare parts. Some settled in Hawaii which was relatively unaffected by the outbreak due to the large presence of the U.S. military on the islands. Some settled in the Aleutians, Alaska, and western Canada alongside the Royal Canadian Navy since the cold, freezing temperatures stopped the RLFs dead in their tracks. However, some have returned to what is American-claimed territory especially in the East and West Coasts, bringing with them home an estimate of 1.3 million American expatriates who were abroad at the time of the outbreak.

We here in the Department of Defense in the best of our ability tried to make this report accurate as possible, but some data may have been lost over the years due to neglect, elements of nature, and the subsequent fire that destroyed a large part of the Pentagon as Washington, D.C. and the surrounding metros were overrun with RLFs. This report is incomplete and may require revision soon.

Released October 22, 2019 under The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552,

U.S. Department of Defense
1400 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-1400

Part 1

Aircraft carriers, conventional-powered
1. USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
Class: Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Yokosuka, Japan
- VFA-27 transitioned from 13 F/A-18Cs to 13 F/A-18Es. This was the first squadron to so transition while deployed outside the U.S., transferring 11 Hornets to VFA-192. VFA-27 detached to NAS Lemoore, Calif., returning to NAF Atsugi and later to Kitty Hawk, a gruelling trans-Pacific flight.
Status: Possibly survived (highly likely)

2. USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)
Class: Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: NAS Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida or Mediterranean.
Status: Possibly abandoned or survived

Aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered
1. USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
Class: Enterprise-class aircraft carriers
Place at the time of the outbreak: Mediterranean-Indian Ocean
Status: Survived

2. USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: NAS North Island, San Diego, California
- undergoing planned incremental availability since February 23, 2004
Status: Abandoned at port

3. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Newport News Shipyard, Virginia
Status: Abandoned at port

4. USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Southern California
- undergoing carrier qualification training
Status: Survival highly likely

5. USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
Class:Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Newport News Shipyard, Virginia
- was undergoing 10-month Dry docking Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA) since February 19, 2004
Status: Abandoned at port

6. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Everett, Washington (returned home on May 5, 2004 after a 9 month deployment)
Status: Abandoned at port

7. USS George Washington (CVN-73)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Mediterranean-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf
Status: Survived

8. USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: NAS North Island, San Diego, California
Status: Abandoned at port

9. USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
- scheduled to have NSURV inspection from May 17-21, 2004
Status: Abandoned at port

10. USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
- was going to receive her second flight deck certification which encompassed all flight operations, including aircraft launch and recovery, safety, crash and salvage, fuel certifications, and training on May 8, 2004
Status: Abandoned at port

11. USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77)
Class: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Place at the time of the outbreak: Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
- was currently under construction
Status: Abandoned and left unfinished

Note: Carriers need a large crew to operate and it's difficult to determine if those crew would have boarded on time if the bases were overrun with RLFs

Amphibious assault ships
1. USS Tarawa (LHA-1)
Class: Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: San Diego, California
Status: Possibly survived

2. USS Saipan (LHA-2)
Class: Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
Status: Possibly survived

3. USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3)
Class: Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: San Diego, California
- undergoing dry dock
Status: Abandoned at port

4. USS Nassau (LHA-4)
Class: Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
Status: Possibly survived

5. USS Peleliu (LHA-5)
Class: Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Pacific Ocean
Status: Survived

6. USS Wasp (LHD-1)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Persian Gulf-Arabian Sea-Horn of Africa
Status: Survived

7. USS Essex (LHD-2)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Southeast Asia
- Docked in Sattahip, Thailand for the upcoming Cobra Gold Exercises with the Royal Thai Armed Forces
Status: Survival highly likely

8. USS Kearsarge (LHD-3)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the of the outbreak: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
Status: Possibly survived

9. USS Boxer (LHD-4)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the of the outbreak: San Diego, California
Status: Possibly survived

10. USS Bataan (LHD-5)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
- undergoing a five month Dry docking Phased Maintanenance Availability (DPMA) since March 31, 2004
Status: Abandoned at port

11. USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: San Diego, California
Status: Possibly survived

12. USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Somewhere on the East Coast of the United States
Status: Possibly survived

13. USS Makin Island (LHD-8)
Class: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Place at the time of the outbreak: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi
- was currently under construction
Status: Abandoned and left unfinished
Note: Since amphibious assault ships are basically small carriers that require less crew compared to a large aircraft carrier, these ships could escape port much faster given if the crew was able to board it on time.

 

[eltf177]

There is something that every survivor enclave would want to have, a full set of the FOXFIRE books...

 

[Gillan1220]

There is something that every survivor enclave would want to have, a full set of the FOXFIRE books...

Survivalists probably have their copies, especially those preparing for the Y2K apocalypse that never came.

 

[eltf177]

Survivalists probably have their copies, especially those preparing for the Y2K apocalypse that never came.

And worth their weight in gold.

 

[Gillan1220]

Part 2 of the status of the U.S. Navy coming soon. I did extensive research of this and it was difficult, considering not all of the data is available.

 

[eltf177]

Looking forward to it.