Big H: The Safest Place on Earth

It's been a year and three months since the initial outbreak took effect and the world began to fall apart. Quickly panic spread and turned to chaos making it easier for the zombies to take over. Yes, people call them zombies, they aren't as dumb as the people in the zombie flicks are, as soon as they were labeled as such people were sure to shoot the head if confronted. The theories amount to this, some kind of virus, trasferred through the saliva and blood of previously infected, turns people into zombies. Unlike movies where the already dead come back, it just doesn't seem to be how it works, but those who die from the attacks of these crazed undead are fair game.

At first the central governments tried to maintain order but quickly it was found that such an idea was just wishful thinking. Communications fell almost within a month, while the devices worked still there wasn't many left to use them safely. Military installations were of course the obvious answer for safety but those that weren't underground bunkers like Cheyenne Mountain or that had solid walls surrounding the entirety of the base fell. There was one other unlikely source for safety, the prison systems. High and maximum security prisons were perfectly suited for housing survivors with their high concrete solid walls and for the most part self sustaining natures and when the time came to stock up on supplies who better to send then inherently violent people? For the most part this worked out well and soon the CO's and inmates didn't care about the hatred they usually shared but now they worked toward survival, one of these prisons almost right on the pacific coast in northern California is the maximum security prison Heltfurn or as it's known to the inmates, "Big H".

Construction began on the facility, and its support facilities, back in '05 and the 10000 capacity prison opened at the end of '09 and before the outbreak began was only at around 2500 people. In retrospect the prison was built in a strategically sound area to repel zombies. At the center of a small pennisula that extends west into the Pacific Ocean is where the facility is located it is placed in such an area so out of the way that it would discourage inmates from trying to escape. There is roughly ten miles to any shoreline and the north and south shores are 100 foot cliff faces and only a few miles of shore on the west coast are sutable to enter and exit the ocean. It's nearly one hundred miles to the nearest city as well which again attributes to the isolationist idea to keep inmates from trying to get out but also, again looking back, made it even safer a place. Due to the distance from the rest of society it made it necessary to make the prison self sufficient in all facets sans one or two.

The multi-billion dollar project included more than just the prison itself, a water treatment facility was built along the southern coast that pumps clean water to the prison and on the northern shore is a solar power plant providing enough power to the water facility and the prison with enough room for the planned expansion of the prison to house over 100,000 of the nations most dangerous criminals in more of the octagonal setup's like the one used for "Big H". and the two support facilities placed at such great distances that should the inmates have a massive takeover it would be more difficult to control all the facets of life and with the water and electricity still under Department of Justice control they could use other tactics to silence a takeover. Both support facilities have helipads and house enough fuel for their small fleet of helicopters to include at each: 4 CH-53 Super Stallions operated and maintained by United States Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Green houses setup to provide vegtable and fruits for all three facilities with only meat and consumer products being brought in by the helicopters.

When the outbreak first happened live was usual at the facilities, the civilians housed at the two support facilities knew more about the situation than the inmates did but soon it was hard to not know. What prisoners who didn't want to help stayed locked up but as things got worse soon the numbers dwindled to less than 100 inmates locked up in one wing easily contained and dealt with. Nearly 2,000 civilians had been evacuated, picked up by what is known as the "Coalition", the organization of people at the facilities who now work autonamously by one of the last orders they received from the US government. Live has been easy compared to those in the surrounding cities, trips into the major ones such as Seattle and as far south as LA have shown those brave enough to venture into those lands how harsh things are. Hardly no zombies have ventured out as far as Big H but once in a while they get a straggler or two that has been travelling for weeks. Two of the first things the Coalition has done was to get more medical personnel and a source of food outside the fruits and vegetables they grow in the greenhouses. Farmlands had been raided and animals loaded up into connex boxes and transported back to the three facilities to be breed and consumed. Other projects included getting construction equipment and fuel storages moved out to continue more proactive projects like the north to south coast 30 foot berm and accompaning trench and wall reinforcements that have been done. Considering the alternatives, Big H is a blessing. In the past year though the world has gone quiet, hardly any new people have come to the facility and no contact with the government has been made in months and the overwhelming thoughts that the world has practically come to an end looms in everyones head.