Oh, bugger. falcongirl posted about this this morning, but I thought she was just being silly. Looks like it's true though.

Muskegon is, of course, the last to hear about this, but it looks like... well, whatever it is, is coming across the water from Milwaukee. I thought being surrounded by water might have been a plus in this sort of situation, but it's looking to be a hindrance. WZZM just had an update saying that the state police have closed the Mackinac bridge, so we're pretty much stuck here in the lower peninsula until things calm down.

I'm okay- Mom and I made it down to the Frauenthal theater, where I worked for several years and could navigate it with my eyes closed. We've got plenty of food from the concession stand, basic medical supplies, and rooms that can be easily barricaded, should it come down to that. (There's also the organ cage beneath the stage, but that will be my last resort.) I have access to the roof from here, so I have a pretty good view of the lake and most of the downtown area. So far, things look pretty calm, but the cross-lake ferry will be in our harbor soon as it looks like the Coast Guard has pretty well failed in stopping its progress.

I managed to grab dad's shotgun and rifle and any shells I could get my hands on before we ran down here, but I'm not sure how far it will go. Dad's still at work- his factory doubles as a bomb shelter, thanks to the Cold War, so he should be fine there. (Plus, they have tanks. Nice, big, armored tanks.) Mom wanted to drive over there and try and get in, but I'm fairly sure they've gone under total lockdown.

ETA: Oh, awesome- someone just found where the controls are to the theater's tower cam, so now we can keep an eye on things without going outside.
( ETA2: The newspage FINALLY updated their story. Not good. )

T just updated with more affected places. It looks like it's hit midtown Manhattan already, too. Tina, are you okay out there in Queens?

UPDATE #3 [6:45PM EST]: We have yet to see any actual signs of this outbreak, but I just heard a whole hoard of police cruisers go by, heading west. It's hard to see from here, but it looks like the ferry ran aground near the channel, taking out some of the condos right on the water's edge. I'm not really sure /how/ it even navigated through there, but, well, there you have it.

Someone found a store of wine bottles, most still half full or more. Hello, molotov cocktails! Mom's checking for food other than the candy bars and licorice we found in the concession stand. Everyone here is starting to get a little bored from waiting- I'm just getting anxious. I've checked and re-checked the clip on this rifle at least five times.

UPDATE #4 [7:15PM EST]: Got ahold of T, who's still in the cement bunker as of this writing. She asked me to make a map up of the affected states, color coded by their level of outbreak. I haven't heard from anyone outside of this city, other than a passing report on the rioting and destruction in Detroit, so if any fellow Michiganders catch this, let me know how things are looking.

UPDATE #5 [10:30PM EST]: We had to move everyone up a few floors; something broke through and got into the offices on the second floor, pretty much compromising all of our old barricades. I'm about to head back up to the roof again, and all I can say is, thank goodness for hunting scopes.