Activate me baby

I recently signed up as a volunteer researcher/writer on a disaster response team for a humanitarian organization. We underwent a half-day’s training at the end of which we were asked to keep an eye on the news for any developing or possible disasters in our region, because that would mean we would be activated.

All of a sudden I felt like I was in The Manchurian Candidate meets Night of the Living Dead. It’s as if I’ll be walking along minding my own business one day and then suddenly some high pitched sound that only me and the crazy wire-haired terrier next door can hear will cause us both to tilt our heads and look to the south. The wire-haired terrier will go back to sleep while I turn and walk slowly with that zombie focus which all mind controlled beings exhibit as they strike out to do whatever it is they have been trained to do.

Instead of assassinating a president or chasing down nubile young beings who conveniently trip over small stones or dangerously long blades of grass so I can eat their flesh, however, I will be driving to an office in a big city and working on a computer. Doesn’t quite have the drama of the undead rising from their graves or the glamour of Denzel in a uniform, but it may well be this century’s version of the zombie crushing battle for the fate of the world.

Instead of spouting catchy platitudes like “kill the brain, kill the ghoul,” I’ll be saying things like “let me go online and track that down for you ma’am”. So beware evil info-hiding fiends. Armed with only a keyboard and dialup line, risking carpal tunnel syndrome and preternaturally pale skin, our brave hero will stop at nothing to chase down her data. For she is super-researcher and she always gets her facts.