I feel that something like that could happen because I look at the fact how covid started
never thought in a million years there would be a pandemic in my lifetime
as for preparing, I would wait and see which city or country this would start in and see what our government would do to get ahead of the situation. If it looks like the world will be overrun by zombies, then I will take action and stock up on items and secure my home and wait this out until a solution comes to wipe them out.