I've been taking a close look at Boulder, trying to figure out how an attack would have unfolded. Here's how I think it happened.
The terrain around Boulder makes defense against a zombie threat challenging, but manageable.
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West—The dominant terrain feature in the Boulder area is the Rocky Mountains mountain range, which rises like a wall along the entire western flank of the city. There are a handful of roads and trails through the Rockies, with the most important being Canyon Road, that runs from the city’s hydroelectric power plants straight into downtown Boulder.
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South—This is the direction where the greatest threat would seem to lie. Denver is less than 30 miles to the south, and it is a source of potentially endless zombie hordes. Luckily there are only a handful of roads between Denver and Boulder, passing through a region of rolling hills. Assuming the zombies tend to follow the roads, it would be possible to build a strong defense by blocking the roads where it passes between hills, and covering these blockages with fire from military positions.
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East—This direction features a number of lakes and reservoirs, which channelize movement into the narrow areas between them. Once again it would be possible to build a strong defense by blocking these routes and covering them with fire from military positions.
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North—There are larger hills and more lakes and reservoirs in this direction, which provide a basis for defense. The Boulder Airport sits outside the main metropolitan area northeast of the city. The greatest threat from this direction comes from the zombie populations of small cities like Longmont, Greeley and Fort Collins, which are more than 50 miles away.
Because of the terrain the largest concentrations of military forces are probably going to be to the south and east of Boulder, with lesser forces to the north and very little covering the west.
Here’s how I think the attack took place:
1. Zombie Griggs comes over the Rockies from the
Chinook crash site and approaches Boulder from the west.
2. It comes across the hydro-electric plants that support the city, attacking and turning the maintenance crews and guards and knocking out the power.
3. With its new posse, Zombie Griggs travels down Canyon Road into downtown Denver, just blocks from the City Council Building. The people at the command post learn of the attack when the zombies charge into their building.
4. At this point Boulder is effectively split in two, with zombies spreading out in all directions from the city center. Troops from the southern defenses attack into the city, retaking the City Council Building, and drawing the attention of the zombies in their direction.
Datu and Hope are probably in the northeast area of Boulder, south of the airport. This is where most of the medical facilities in the city are located, and it will facilitate their eventually making it to the airport and evacuation.
Pegs and
Kelly are also described as being in the north side of the city, so there is a chance they too will make it to the airport.
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