| “ | We say that it's called Monument Day because we are all monuments to the past. We survived, and the rest didn't. We found safety, and the rest didn't. We live. We live for the rest who didn't.
―Iris Bennett practicing her 10th Anniversary Monument Day speech.[src]
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Monument Day, also known as The Fall, The Turn, the Walker Apocalypse, or The Day the World Ended; is when modern society collapsed on 27 August 2010, the third day of the Wildfire outbreak. The viral disease was responsible for resurrecting recently deceased humans into zombies, mindless and aggressive vectors that kill and devour the flesh of any living bein. Humans that were only bitten later died from the secondary infection. Wildfire was declared a pandemic by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 August 2010. The high number of zombies, rioting and looting from civilians, reactions from law enforcement and armed forces, overwhelmed emergency services, and abandonment of utility services caused global, societal collapse on the third day.
In response to this collapse, martial law was declared across the planet. In the United States of America, the U.S. Military initiated Operation Cobalt. Two weeks later, the military napalmed every major city and was followed by the collapse of nations and governments across the world - signaling the end of human civilization.
Initial Stage[]
The initial outbreak originated in France sometime in late 2009 or early 2010. It is believed Wildfire leaked from la Biomédicine DDMI and spread globally via airborne transmission. It was discovered by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on 16 April 2010.
To the CDC, the virus had unknown origins and its pathology was difficult to understand. All that was understood was that Wildfire was dormant until biological death, in which the hindbrain was reactivated by the virus - causing the body to reanimate and act primarily on basic, primal instinct to kill and eat, becoming a zombie. A zombie's only desire is to consume warm flesh and blood, preferably living. A zombie's body would still be dead and continue to decay, but at decelerated rate and would expire after an extreme prolonged period of time. Bodily harm did not affect the zombie as they were already dead, but destroying the brain dud terminate, them as the brainstem was the only living part of the undead body. Once the body had reanimated, bodily fluids; such as saliva and blood, were contaminated with an active agent of Wildfire. Once entered into the bloodstream of a healthy individual, it would invade the brain similar to meningitis and cause a cytokine storm that was 100% fatal, causing death within 48 hours upon infection and subsequent reanimation.
On 25 August 2010, the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) declared Wildfire a pandemic, known as The Trials. They determined that the majority of the planet had abruptly become asymptomatic carriers that would become zombies after death. As the global population died from traditional means of death, they resurrected into zombies and began to attack those around them - causing more death through fatal attacks or infection.
Monument Day[]
France[]
Spain[]
United Kingdom[]
United States of America[]
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Monument Day began three days after the Trials. Due to prior news coverage of the virus and an increase in violence, hospital capacities, and police shootings - the general public began to act out of fear while preparing for the upcoming crisis. Schools saw a spike in absences as students were pulled from school by their parents or guardians out of fear that they would get sick - or the families themselves had died from the undead. Many people began to panic-buy and loot stores for supplies such as food, water, medicine, and survival kits. In larger, metropolitan areas - civilians began to vacate the cities and retreat to smaller, rural areas to avoid the infected. Due to the increased activity, this caused major traffic jams and gridlocks. Police, medical, and fire services were completely overwhelmed with either the undead or the living creating chaos in the crisis. With few people knowing the true nature of the virus, civilians began to protest and riot in the appearance of police officers shooting innocent, unarmed civilians when in fact they were the undead. The chaos only added to the death toll, creating more of the undead to overrun society.
As the crisis heightened, the workers of the electrical grids and communication centers began to abandon their posts to save themselves and their families. This caused for major power failures and massive black-outs. Due to so many people attempting to contact their loved ones or 911, the communications were jammed by all the calls and the centers being abandoned. Riot control then met with the protestors and looters, creating an even bigger clash and causing cities to be set on fire. Hospitals then became completely overrun as naturally dying patients, infected patients, and patients harmed from the riots became the undead. By nightfall, the country was in complete anarchy and overrun by the undead. Numerous governors called for a state of emergency and enacted martial law. U.S. Army, Marines, and National Guard servicemembers were sent into the areas to combat the undead and rescue the civilians by placing them into safe-zones and quarantine areas. All flights were ordered to land and no future flights were allowed in order to contain the virus, but several planes remaining in the sky were overrun by the undead and crashed during the night and the following morning - especially since they had nowhere to land following the major black outs in all cities across the country.
Aftermath[]
The following day, the entirety of the United States, and likely most countries, was under martial law. Those who survived were placed in safe-zones, remained in their homes, or became part of outside refugee camps. Modern society had officially ended. And while civilization itself managed to somewhat survive Monument Day, it would later collapse two weeks later under Operation Cobalt, in which the military failed to contain the spread of the virus, terminated all residents within the safe-zones, evacuated to key bases, and napalmed all major cities. As a result, governments either collapsed or evacuated to undisclosed locations and nations collapsed, effectively ceasing to exist with the world thrown into a lawless wasteland. With the world overrun by zombies, the surviving human population began to rebuild.
The Omaha Safe Zone and its satellite community, the Campus Colony of Lincoln, was the origin of commemorating Monument Day. The holiday follows Feast Day on August 26th. This involves celebrating what they have and enjoy as survivors, and includes local fair activities, ceremonial speeches, and artistic exhibitions. The holiday was recognized by the Civic Republic of Philadelphia and the Alliance of the Three.
Deaths[]
- Calvin Jasper (Alive)
- Paul (Alive and Zombified)
- Mrs. Heller (Determined)
- Robb Spanner (Alive and Zombified)
- Don (Alive)
- Patricia Taylor (Alive and Zombified)
- Leon Basset (Alive)
- Gary Taylor (Determinant)
- Wendell Rogers
- Leo Rogers (Alive)
- Atlanta Husband (Alive and Zombified)
- Atlanta Wife (Alive and Zombified)
- Maggie Palmer (Alive and Zombified)
- Palmer's Son (Alive)
- Palmer's Son (Alive)
- Judy (Alive and Zombified)
- Mike Palmer (Alive)
- Max
- Art Costa (Alive and Zombified)
- Shawn Greene (Alive)
- Annette Greene (Alive)
- Matt Sale (Alive)
- Charles Stowe (Alive)
- Jessica Diaz (Alive)
- Mrs. Diaz
- Peter Dawson (Alive and Zombified)
- Joanna Cruz
- Mr. Cruz
- Gladys Cruz
- Susan Tran (Alive and Zombified)
- Adrien Genet
- Troy
- Isaac Ortiz (Alive and Zombified)
- Kari Bennett
- Amelia Ortiz
- Esmerelda Ortiz
- Mia Belshaw (Alive)
- Kevin Belshaw (Alive)
- Marcus (Alive and Zombified)
- Suzanne
- Anthony
- Connie
- Deirdre
- Aimée's Father (Presumably)
- Aimée (Possibly, Alive)
- Lou's Parents (Presumably)
- Moof and Julien's Parents (Presumably)
- Hibou's Parents (Presumably)
- Criquet's Parents (Presumably)
- Abeille's Parents (Presumably)
- Sacha's Parents (Presumably)
- Jules' Parents (Presumably)
- Aline's Parents (Presumably)
- Herrison's Parents (Presumably)
- Sylvie's Parents (Presumably)
- Lily Carriere (Alive and Zombified)
- Billions of unnamed people
Appearances[]
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Trivia[]
AMC's official social media post on Monument Day.
- AMC confirmed Monument Day occurred on August 27 by hosting a free-streaming marathon of The Walking Dead and posted a commemorative post on August 27, 2023.
- The episode "Blair / Gina" of Tales of the Walking Dead confirms that the Fall happened on a Friday, as coworkers from Circle of Trust Insurance Company prepare for the weekend. This aligns with the real date of August 27, 2010 being on a Friday. This is also confirmed in "L'Invisible" of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, when custodians of the Louvre plan a strike on Saturday the following day.
- Episodes and flashbacks that take place on Monument Day confirm that the chaos did not fully erupt until the late afternoon/early evening time. Many people were leaving work, having dinner, and preparing for the weekend when society collapsed.
Conflicts of Fear the Walking Dead
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| Major Conflicts | Los Hermanos • Broke Jaw Ranch • The Proctors • The Vultures • The Pioneers • Doomsday Cult • Strand's Tower • PADRE • Troy's Group |
| Minor Conflicts | Connor's Pirates • Abigail Vineyard • Brandon's Group • Martha • Logan's Crew • The Stalkers |
| Events | The Trials • Monument Day • Operation Cobalt • Fall of the USS Pennsylvania • Hijacking of the Abigail • Destruction of the Vineyard • Highway Walker Invasion • Anthrax Attack on Broke Jaw Ranch • The Hurricane • Meltdown at Lonestar Power & Light • Second Meltdown at Lonestar Power & Light • Plague Outbreak at Creative Visionaries Agency • Infiltration of the Holding • Josiah's Revenge • PADRE's Experimentation • June's Revenge • PADRE's Expansion |
| Battles | Battle for La Colonia • Border Skirmish • Fall of Broke Jaw Ranch • Battle for Gonzalez Dam • Siege of the Stadium • Fall of the Stadium • Battle of Ashburn Race Track • Battle for Tank Town • Battle for the Tumbleweed Sugar Producing Factory • Fall of Tank Town • Battle of the Route 185 Bridge • Nuking of Texas • Siege of Strand's Tower • Skirmish at Manny's Salvage Yard • Battle for Strand's Tower • Skirmish at King County • Skirmish at the Sanctuary • Fall of PADRE |
Conflicts of The Walking Dead: World Beyond
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| Major Conflicts | Civic Republic Military |
| Events | The Trials • Monument Day • The Night the Sky Fell • Operation Cobalt • Huck's Observe-and-Report Mission • Genocide of Omaha • Genocide of the Campus Colony |
| Battles | Battle of the Perimeter • Rebellion at the Research Facility • Battle for the Chlorine Gas |
Conflicts of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
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| Major Conflicts | Power of the Living Conflict |
| Events | The Trials • Monument Day • Disappearance of Daryl Dixon • Mutiny on the Power of the Living Ship • Search for Daryl Dixon • Raid on La Tarasque's Castle • Attack on Fallou's Community • De Gaulle Day |
| Battles | Battle at the Abbey • Battle of the Nest • Battle of the Hippodrome |