Speculation: How long would it have taken....

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

I would like to add that we have European multilingualism as well.

Personally, I would like to raise the question: what happened to NORAD. Should it not have been one of the safest places on Earth?

[scbubba]

I would like to add that we have European multilingualism as well.

Personally, I would like to raise the question: what happened to NORAD. Should it not have been one of the safest places on Earth?

Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD and USNORTHCOM Alternate Command Center) is pretty stout for withstanding just about all conventional attacks. It was originally designed to withstand a 30 megaton blast. I believe it has pretty good defenses against airborne chemical (and biological) attacks as well. There is (or at least was) a pretty good storage of food & water for long term residency (to the best of my knowledge).

But, as they say, it just takes one to undo all of that... I'm going to assume that there would still be comms between NORAD or USNORTHCOM and Fort Irwin if they were still around. So, I think they either got compromised by having turners get in early or the "delivery vehicle" for the Zed spread was something that even Cheyenne Mountain wasn't set up for.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

Hm, I see. However, NORAD has not been mentioned on the show, has it?

[scbubba]

Hm, I see. However, NORAD has not been mentioned on the show, has it?

Good question. I don't think so but I could be wrong.

[Cabbage Patch]

...Given the location of Irwin and the time that had elapsed (about 3 months since Zday when Michael & crew arrived and then 5 more months before Red Winter), was it a foregone conclusion that the Zeds would have gotten there eventually? Or not?

One of the factors I've always considered key to the survival of Fort Irwin up to this point is its isolation. The main base is 45 miles up a secondary road from the nearest town. The only ways I'd expect a Z to find it is if it followed someone there, which appears to have been what happened in the end. I suspect that Irwin had stood up to many minor incursions by Zs up to the point of Red Winter, and that it could have held out just fine if it hadn't been for the combination of the Little Ones and the Boulder refugees.

...The question popped in my head thinking about some out of the way places in this country that aren't near the big cities at all. How many of them are basically Zed free at this point in the story? Or is Irwin/Boulder an anomaly in the WA universe?

I've been wondering what made Boulder special. Yes, it's a little off the beaten track, but it's still serviced by freeways and it's not that far from the Greater Denver metro area. I suspect that if Boulder, and Fort Irwin, and the Colony could hold out that there should be other isolated pockets of humans surviving elsewhere in the country.

[LiamKerrington]

I suspect that if Boulder, and Fort Irwin, and the Colony could hold out that there should be other isolated pockets of humans surviving elsewhere in the country.

I hope so.

[Cabbage Patch]

I've often thought that some of the old European walled towns might have a good chance of surviving the zombies. I remember once driving around the walls of Hamelberg and realizing how hard it would be to force your way in.

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

I've often thought that some of the old European walled towns might have a good chance of surviving the zombies. I remember once driving around the walls of Hamelberg and realizing how hard it would be to force your way in.

"Europe - protected against zombies since the middle Ages"

It is morally arguable but the GDR secured whole Berlin with a wall:

[LiamKerrington]

"Europe - protected against zombies since the middle Ages"

It is morally arguable but the GDR secured whole Berlin with a wall:

Wasn't it just half of Berlin? And the subsequent question would be: Did it keep zombies inside or protect the ones within the wall against zombies from the outside ...



@Cabbage_Patch: This is a good point. It can be easily extended to any fortification in France and the UK as well. And I guess these strongholds would last for just as long as a) no single zombie got inside and b) the resources keep the people alive. During the last 1 1/2 centuries these places have been urbanized a lot. And the old rooms and storages, which were used as such during sieges in medieval times up to the early industrial age, were transformed into living-places, shops, workshops and garages. Therefore the amount of ressources would be very limited, if a zombie-apocalypse would kick in WA-style ...
The same, by the way, would apply, for most bunkers from the World Wars, which still exist.

Germany as such would be in real trouble. Imagine: We have like 80 Million people living here, while in the USA about four times as many people live; as a contrast the area covered by Germany is about 1/25th of what the area is like in the USA (Germany: about 360,000 suqare-kilometers; USA: 9.6 million square-kilometers; not sure what this would be in square-miles). Therefore we have a much denser population. The infrastructure offers a tight network as well, which supports the spreading easily. So, all in all I would say: Germany could be the European nation which could fall much faster then any other nation on the territory of the EU ...

All the best!
Liam

[Cabbage Patch]

Liam,

One thing I would never do is count the Germans out in a fight. I agree that the German cities, just like the ones in America, would fall quickly. But walled towns would have a chance, as would the many restored castles and fortresses. Those places were made to keep out enemies that were a lot like the zombies, and we've seen in WA that zombie siege craft consists mainly of standing around and waiting for someone to open a door. I agree that water and food will be a problem; none of my German friends ever seemed to have more than a day or two of groceries in their home. But the walled places all had wells or rivers to provide drinking water, and those will still be there. And the German civil defense agency always seemed very efficient, so we can hope for well-stocked supply bunkers hidden in the towns.