More dream blogging

I was bored and going through the archives when I noticed this old post about a strangely-detailed dream I had a couple of years ago. So for lack anything better to post, here's another recent one that I wrote down while I still remembered it. I had completely forgotten about that old one.

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I dreamed that the whole country, or more likely North America (at least) had been infected by what we called a "zombie virus." We used "zombie" metaphorically; those who were infected were not actually undead. Anyone who had become infected changed to a very different person. They lost all interest in their previous life, severing ties with family and friends, abandoning their jobs, and essentially became mildly retarded. They could look after themselves in a very rough way, but in general were unable to clothe and feed themselves properly. They were not aggressive except that if they saw an uninfected human they would immediately give chase and try to touch that person--the virus being extremely contagious and was transmitted by only a touch. Because of the deterioration of the mental faculties that this caused, it meant that there was a critical shortage of experts such as physicians, scientists, engineers, etc.

So pretty much all infrastructure broke down, except for in a very few isolated communities. I was in one such community that centered around an enclosed compound and was dedicated to protecting a small group of doctors and scientists. The leader of the community was (mostly by acclamation) a doctor named Dane (first name or last name--I don't know). I was one of the people tasked with patrolling the grounds around the community to stop "zombie" incursions.

They didn't come to seek us out, but they had a tendency to wander around and occasionally one would stumble over us. Since they would immediately attempt to infect us, we had to kill them on sight.

The doctors in our community were convinced that this was a virus that could be cured and prevented. They had captured a couple of "zombies" (somehow) and were studying them to find the cure. And then I went out on a secret mission to observe the "zombies." I kept my distance and watched with binoculars and so forth. I saw some of them driving cars, although very badly and none of them had the wherewithal to maintain or repair automobiles. I even saw one small group engaged in a sort of rough football game. They were essentially scavenging off of what was left of the country but had no capability to renew, preserve or manufacture anything. Eventually I was discovered but since they were all not very clever I was able to outwit them and safely return to my home community.

There I discovered that one of the captured zombies had infected someone, and almost the whole community had become infected. The disease took several weeks to manifest and the doctors were working feverishly to formulate a cure while they still had the capability. They had discovered that the herpes virus killed the "zombie" virus: in order to be safe from the disease everyone would have to be infected with herpes.

At this point, I woke up.