Project Zomboid: The Knox Event 1993 in Real Time

July 6, 1993 (Z-Day - 3)

0600 EDT: US military blocks roads in area of Kentucky nicknamed 'Knox Country'. No reason is given. Areas within blockade include Muldraugh, West Point, Brandenburg, and Fort Knox itself.

1100 EDT: Military personnel erect fences and checkpoints within the Knox Exclusion Zone. Entrance and exit are forbidden. Reports of residents being turned away at gunpoint.

Photo: Kentucky National Guard personnel man a roadblock outside Louisville.



1320 EDT: Personnel in hazmat gear are seen within the Exclusion Zone. Air activity increases.

1800 EDT: Military clears traffic and members of the public from perimeter of Exclusion Zone. Some residents sleep in their cars, others walk north along highway to Louisville.

Photo: Traffic jams form around I-265 as a result of the military blockade on Knox County.



2300 EDT: Lightning storms over Louisville. No rain reported.

Yes, with a creative touch such as adding photos and fan-made videos.

The first publicly confirmed zombie sighting didn't occur until a week or so into the outbreak. For now, the American public and the rest of the world are unaware of what is happening in Knox County.

Initially spared as my guess.

The Knox Infection would appear in regions where the U.S. has military bases or deployments such as in the UK, Germany, Japan, Okinawa, South Korea, and Somalia. There's a theory on Reddit that the KI was brought to other countries by U.S. military personnel on leave and reported to duty. Think of it as the Wildfire Virus from The Walking Dead or the T-Virus from the Resident Evil live-action universe. KI was theorized to be airborne, which explains why so many people became sick with the fever and turned into zombies. Or why the U.S. Army or National Guard suffered outbreaks behind friendly lines. 

First post on Reddit: Knox Event Worldwide Cause

Yep, Operation Gothic Serpent was ongoing at the time of the outbreak.

See map:

Source

Closest one I could find is from 1989, so that four-year difference will have to suffice as a reference.

Second post on Reddit: The Knox Event is airborn, which is how the rest of the world collapsed as time goes on in the game


The characters we play are immune to the airborne strain, but a bite will surely make someone turn. Scratches and lacerations have less chance to become zombified.

Clark and Subic was formally turned over by the U.S. to the AFP in November 1992. So in July 1993, there are no U.S. military deployments in the Philippines. But my guess is the Philippines would eventually fall as travelers from the U.S., Japan, and South Korea may have brought the KI to the country. The AFP was also a bad state in 1993. President Fidel V. Ramos might be evacuated to Baguio. Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, and other major cities would be overrun.

July 7, 1993 (Z-Day - 2)
0900 EDT: Phoneline outage continues within Exclusion Zone. Communication with Zone is impossible. Knox Telecommunications provides no comment.

1045 EDT: Fort Knox and Fort Campbell cancel leave for military personnel.

1200 EDT: Kentucky Governor Brereton C. Jones[1] claims he is "in the dark like everyone else" regarding rumors of illness outbreak inside the Exclusion Zone.

Photo: Governor Breteton C. Jones (D), the governor of Kentucky as of July 1993.



1615 EDT: White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers[2] denies President's early return from G7 summit in Tokyo related to Knox situation.

Photo: White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers addressing reporters regarding the rumors surrounding the Exclusion as well as President Clinton's early return from Tokyo, Japan.



Photo: Amateur photograph of a line of police cars in West Point. According to the photographer who wish to remain anonymous, the convoy of police cars came from Louisville and drove towards the direction of Mauldraugh.



2300 EDT: Unusually bright meteor shower spotted over Kentucky.

Notes:
[1] Changed the governor from the fictional Cal Fairweather to OTL Brereton C. Jones.
[2] Dee Dee Myers was the White House Press Secretary starting on January 20, 1993.

Or the movie Outbreak in 1995.

There's also a theory that Spiffo's burger is the cause of the Knox Infection. It could be form of mad-cow disease.

Fixed it.