Swarmed?

Erin and I sat around the fire trying to figure out what we could do. We had last watched Tony walk off alone over 4 hours ago. We had no idea where he was going or what was running through his mind. I could only imagine the anguish that was tearing him apart at not being able to find his family. I looked over to Erin and she was half lost in thought and half on the verge of tears. I sat there thinking that she was now beginning to feel the pain of loss that Tony was feeling and it was finally getting to her.

We sat in silence staring at the fire and occasionally into the woods. We had spent weeks trying to get here and now the first person we had found that we were looking for had lost his mind and wandered off alone. I knew there was no way I could leave yet I knew soon I would have no choice as there were other I needed to find. I pondered how I would locate the others; would they be as easy to find as Tony had been or would we run across more difficult obstacles along the way.

As I sat looking up at the night sky, something I had not taken the time to do in a long time, I heard a loud gunshot ring out from the woods. I jumped up with my guns drawn staring at the direction from which the sound had come. I glared into the darkness of the woods trying to see if I could see anything coming towards us. After a few minutes of looking I saw a dark mass moving quickly down the path. I trained the two handguns I was holding on the moving object as it raced down the path. As the object got closer it began to take shape, that's when I realized that the quickly moving mass was not a enemy; it was Tony.

As Tony raced from the words he yelled something that I could not make out. He turned back towards the woods and fired another round from the sawed off shotgun. I sat thinking that he was just shooting random shots to blow off steam when I saw what he was shooting at. There was a horde of zombies running through the woods towards us. I yelled for Erin to get up and run, we had to somehow get to the car and get out of here or get to higher ground and try to fight back. I dashed for the car only to realize that there was no way we could get everything loaded and drive away before we were swarmed. Erin ran to the closest trailer and dove in while Tony ran to another. I was to far away to try to reach the door to one of the trailers so I jumped on top of our car and hopped onto the roof of the nearest trailer.

I heard Erin screaming out trying to found out where I was. I yelled back telling her that I was ok and just t start shooting. I was cut off by the sound of her shotgun blowing a whole through the nearest walking dead. The pieces of the creature blew backwards and covered the rest of the horde. The proximity of the blast naked the creature back and it bowled over the nearest zombies. I ran across the top of the trailer and jumped to the next. I barely landed on the roof but gained my footing after a few seconds. I slid to the end of the trailer and started firing off shots. Shooting in the dark is more difficult than one can imagine. The rounds struck various parts of the mass of moving dead, a few dropping in the process.

As on st on the roof trying to figure out how the hell we were going to get back to the car, I heard a noise I did not think I would here in the middle of a fire fight. I heard the sounds of a ripcord being pulled and a engine starting. As I listened to the whir of the engine I could not figure out exactly where the noise was coming from. I continued to fire shots into the mass below watching the mass continue to move forward and swarm our makeshift campsite.

I watched as the mass slowly moved towards the trailers and began pounding on the walls and doors. As I continued to fire into the crowd I saw the door to the trailer Tony had run in burst open. Like something out of a bad horror movie I watched as the zombies rushed towards the now open door. I fired rounds towards the door trying to stop the creatures before they could overwhelm the trailer but I could not stop them all. As I sat firing shots I heard the distinct whirring noise get louder and louder. I listened to what I assumed was Tony screaming as the creatures rushed him.

As I ran along the trailer and again jumped to the next one in the group I heard the whirring still going but still could not understand where it was coming from. It appeared to be coming the trailer that Tony had been hiding in, the same trailer that was now flooded with walking dead. As I jumped to the top of the trailer I could tell that the noise was definitely coming from this trailer and that it was unbelievably loud. I ran to the hatch opening on the roof and looked in, what I saw blew me away.

I looked down and saw something straight out of a b list horror flick. Inside of the trailer was Tony with a welding mask over his face, his shotgun in one hand and a chainsaw in the other. I could swear I was looking at something inspired by Army of Darkness. Tony swung the chainsaw at head level and caught every walking dead that moved towards him. There was a pile of bodies in front of him getting bigger and bigger. As the creatures tried to climb over their fallen brethren Tony continued to hack away. I yelled down to him from the hatch and told him to get over to me. He slowly backed away from the mass and headed for the roof hatch. Once he reached the opening he dropped the chainsaw and slipped the shotgun back into its holster. I reached out and told him to grab my hands. I struggled but slowly pulled him to the roof with me.

I looked into his eyes once we were on the roof together and could tell I was no longer looking at the same Tony that I had known before he walked into the woods. I could see the blank stare he had, his eyes were glossed over and staring through me. I knew this was a man who knew that he may never see his wife and child again but would not accept that they may be dead. I yelled for him to snap out of it and start moving. He glared into my eyes, grabbed on of my handguns and started moving for the edge of the trailer.

He hopped over to the next trailer and stared back at me. I knew he had something planned and I needed to get my ass moving. The whole trailer was moving at this point as the creatures continued to pile in through the door. I rushed to get away from the trailer as I saw Tony raise the gun to eye level. He was taking aim at something on the ground but I had no clue as to what. I jumped just as the hammer came down on the round out of my handgun. The round flew straight into something that I had not seen previously. I now understood why Tony had been piling them into that particular trailer. Outside of the door was two propane tanks that he was had seen prior to running in. The round struck the tank and blew the tanks up. The blast tore the trailer and everything on the ground near them to shreds. The explosion was deafening but did its job. Nearly everything within the vicinity of the trailer was gone. The other trailers had rocked with the explosion. Tony and I had lost our footing on the trailer we were standing on and fell to the ground.

I slowly stood up and looked around. My ears were ringing from the concussion of the blast. I looked over to the trailer Erin had run in and watched as the door slowly opened and she stumbled out. The explosion had caused her trailer to nearly fall over and she had been banged around in the process. She walked over to where we were standing and just looked at me without saying anything, For now the threat was over as nearly everything had been destroyed. We walked through the camp ground putting the final shots into the few that were still moving.

We walked around the camp gathering up our supplies and headed for the car. The blast had knocked one of the creatures onto the hood and smashed the windshield. The remnants of one of the tanks was lodged in the creatures head. The damage to the car was pretty significant, we would need a new ride soon but for now this would have to do. We tossed everything we could gather in the back and got in. I looked back to Tony and knew in that instant that we needed to go back to his house to see if there was any sign of Karen and Abby.

Karen and Abby

I stared at the spot where Tony had been standing. By time I realized what he had said he had already dashed away back to the weapons room. I turned and looked at Erin and she was awake from her little nap and on her feet. The realization of what Tony had said hit me. Karen and Abby, his wife and daughter, had not answered the CB. His imagination had come up with the worst scenario possible and he went into overdrive. The part that scared me about the whole situation was that even though his mind was going to the worst case scenario it was most likely the one that had occurred.

I jumped to my feet and ran after Tony. I yelled for him to toss me his keys so we could start loading his Dodge Magnum since it had more room than our tiny clown car. He told me that wasn't going to happen since it wasn't running. Dammit it look like we are packing more into our tiny little car. I grabbed a armful of supplies and started loading up the car. I maneuvered stuff around to try to make room for Tony and his weapons. Damn this was going to be a tight fit, felt like playing a game of Tetris, but in the end everything fit in its place.

Tony, Erin, and I crammed as much of the weapons, ammo, and supplies as we could into the back of the car. I asked Tony where I was going to and he grabbed the keys and told me he was driving. That suited me fine since I only knew that Karen and Abby were with her parents, where that actually was I had no clue. He jumped into the front seat and immediately hit his knees on the steering wheel. Seems I forgot to tell him that Erin had been driving and seeing as she was a midget he should move the seat first, oh well. Erin climbed in the backseat, i jumped into the passenger seat, Tony revved the engine and pooped it into reverse. He spun the wheels as we backed out of the driveway, he popped it into gear and took off.

We sped along the roads at breakneck speeding avoiding anything and everything along the way. we weaved in and out of the broken down cars and bodies strewn about. I held on to the door handle and looked back to see Erin covering her eyes. We had not driven like this the whole way here and now here we were in a emergency situation flying down the road. I turned to look at Tony and saw him with a determined look on his face, focusing with everything he had to drive and not get us killed. I watched as we passed things I remembered from growing up here and realized we were headed for a town called Oxford. Oxford was best described as a one light town that hadn't really caught up to the real world. I guess this would be the perfect place to put Karen and Abby since the population was so small.

We turned off the main road and hit a dirt path. The path was clear of nearly any obstructions beyond some small branches and the leaves that had fallen from the trees. Tony drove along the path like a rally car driver racing for first. Up ahead I could see what looked like a small settlement of broken down RVs an mobile homes. This must be where Abby and Karen were being hidden. Tony slammed on the brakes and we slid to a stop. Before the car was even turned off Tony had the door open and was running towards the encampment. He had his shotguns out and was yelling for Karen. I grabbed the keys from the ignition and turned the car off. If I didn't do something Tony was going to attract the attention of everything in the area, and if that happened I'm not sure we would be able to fight our way out of it.

I flung the door open and hopped out of the car. I looked back to see Erin already had the back hatch open and was arming up. She looked at me and tossed me my .50 cals. I checked to make sure both had full clips then took off after Tony. I ran as fast as I could to catch up with him but he was a man possessed. He was on the hunt for his family and nothing was going to stand in his way. I yelled for him to slow down, he turned and looked in my direction, then turned back and continued down the path. I had almost caught up to him when he ran into one of the trailers.

I dashed for the trailer that Tony had just run in when I heard the blast of one of his sawed off shotguns echo through the woods. I reached the door in time to see Tony come out covered in blood. I stopped him before he could get to far and asked him what had happened. He told me that he just had to kill what was left of his father in law as he had become infected, but that Karen was not in there. He looked towards the next trailer and pushed me to the side. By this time Erin had gotten her weapons together and was coming to join us.

Tony went to the next trailer and kicked in the door. I looked over at Erin and told her to go check the one to our left and Ill take the one next to it. We headed for the trailers and heard Tony start yelling Karen's again. I knew he had not found her by the tone of the yell but at the same time knew that if he kept yelling eventually something was going to hear him. I pushed open the door to the trailer in front of me and headed in.

The musky smell throughout the trailer was almost overwhelming. My stomach started to turn and I could feel myself starting to convulse. I felt as though I was going to throw up but held my lunch in and continued on. I started looking around to see where the smell was coming from. I opened the door to what turned out to be the bathroom and found it empty. I took a few more steps down the hall and opened the door to the main bedroom. Laying on the bed was what was left of Tony's mother-in-law. Damn how the hell was I going to tell Tony. There was not much left of her. It looked as though she had been sleeping when she was attacked. The blood soaked sheets hid most of the damage that had been done but it was obvious she had not been aware of what was going to happen when the attack occurred. I stepped away from the door and headed back towards the entrance. As I was a few steps from the door it flung open and scared the hell out of me. Tony stepped inside and started yelling Karen's name again. He must have saw me out of the corner of his eye but not realized it was me. He swung one of the shotguns around and fired off a round. I dropped to the ground when I saw the gun get raised. The shot flew over my head and shattered the door to the bedroom. He looked down and saw it was me, said he was sorry and shot out the door. Guess I cant blame the guy I would have shot first and questioned it later to.

We all stepped into the middle on the commune and started to try to figure out what happened. Karen and Abby were nowhere to be found, alive or dead. Both of Tony's in laws were dead, one infected and one not. We continued to look around for clues as to where Karen and Abby had gone. We searched high and low for any sign of them and where about to walk away when Erin yelled for us to come over to her. She was one the fringe of the trailers looking at the ground. When we got over there she pointed out something that we had missed. There were imprints on the ground were a car had been, but was no longer there. That makes sense, Karen must have grabbed Abby and taken her in the car when she realized what was happening with her parents. With her mother dead and her dad infected she was no longer safe here.

I looked at Tony and asked him what he wanted to do. He just looked and meet and then turned and walked away. Before he turned I could see the signs of tears welling in his eyes. I could understand what he was feeling. Neither Erin nor I had any one in the world besides our friends. Neither of us had significant other to worry about, let alone a child. I had never known Tony to cry in his entire life, but here was this grown man; a ex marine on the verge of breaking down. Tony walked away from us and started down a small dirt path out of the back of the community. Where he was going I wasn't sure but I knew he was going to need a little time to get himself together and vent off what ever he was feeling before we could continue.

We waited for hours for Tony to come back to the encampment. As we waited Erin and I started working out the next steps for what we needed to do. I told her that before we left Michigan I had one other person I had to find.I had to know what had become of Sam Sam, the only person in the world that I can call my little sister. Erin told me she was ok with that but once that was done we needed to leave. The snow would start getting heavy soon and she wanted to be gone before it happened.

Tony's chapter

There is something calmly reassuring about the obnoxious “ka-chunk” noise as I chamber a shell in my Mossberg 500 shotgun. My Marine training kicks in as I focus, and I feel the sweet kiss of the synthetic stock on my cheek. There is nothing in the world but me and the fast one as he’s running right at me. As he gets closer, I feel sad, but only for a moment as I recognize him as the nice guy down the street that had the fuzzy dog. I guess he couldn’t hold out. My finger slides to the trigger. I let him get about ten feet away. The slow, steady squeeze of the trigger is instinct at this point, and the discharge of the round surprises me a little. I barely hear the shot, and though it comes as a surprise, the results do not. The body of my former neighbor falls at my feet though it is missing most of its head. That was sprayed across my lawn. Ah, home sweet home.

I went back inside my house, which was charming at one point. The inch and a half thick plywood bolted over all of the ground floor windows did nothing for its aesthetic value. If not for the stylish window treatments, all would seem almost normal. My wife, Karen, is making breakfast in the kitchen. She’s still in her sock-monkey pajamas, and I chuckle as I notice the grip of my .40 caliber Glock sticking out of her waistband. I guess things have changed more than I like to admit, and I feel a slight wave of embarrassment for thinking how hot it was that she was armed. She asks, “Did you get him?” I respond, “yeah, and he was a sloppy one.”

I hear the familiar sounds of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse emanating from my family room. My beautiful and energetic 3 ½ year old daughter is going through her morning routine, enjoying a bowl of Cocoa Puffs, and watching the antics of Mickey and his crew. We’d seen this one before and there would be no new episodes. The television had gone to static a few weeks back. We were living on our DVR’d programming and DVD collection. I plop down on the couch as Karen brings in some scrambled eggs, bacon, and a cup of coffee. She sits down in her chair and begins to eat. She casually says, “We need to go to the store, this is the last of the food.”

“Shit.” That’s all I can manage to say, as I devour my breakfast. Abby giggles and says, “Daddy said shit,” and starts singing an impromptu song using the word in very clever ways. I’m impressed until Karen scolds Abby and tells her it’s not a nice word. I catch a dirty look from my wife, reminding me of how little things have changed, except for the walking dead thing, of course.

I had been out of the house before since the world went to hell. I had raided Dunham’s and acquired all the 12 gauge buckshot and slug ammo they had, as well as every round of .40 cal and 7.62 x 54 for my old Russian service rifle. It is bolt action, heavy, and slow, but it packs a punch and is still pretty accurate for a WWII vintage. I had also raided the Sunoco up the street and had stockpiled gasoline and propane in case the power shut off. Luckily it hadn’t yet. I had 40 gallons of gas and a dozen propane tanks in the garage. What we didn’t have was food, and there was no good option for attaining any. The local Kroger is surrounded by subdivisions and apartments, which translates to lots of people, which means lots of shooting on my part. I wasn’t opposed to that, but there had to be a better option.

I stood up to get changed for my raid. I said to Karen, “I’ll be needing the Glock.” She handed it over, and I went to the basement to fetch the breach load shotgun from gun safe. I gave it to her along with a handful of shells, and went upstairs. I threw on jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, along with my black combat boots, a holdover from the Corps. I strapped the Glock to my hip, threw the extra magazine into my pocket, and slung a messenger bag full of shells over my shoulder. I went back downstairs, grabbed the long-range radio that I had to steal since the cell towers stopped working. I tested it, and got the response I was looking for. Karen said, “Please be safe, and keep me posted on what’s happening.” I said that I would, kissed her goodbye, and told her I loved her. I kissed Abby, too. She said, “Where the shit are you going?” and giggled. Apparently “shit” was her new favorite word. I told her that Daddy was going to the store.

I walked out to the garage, and inspected the Magnum. It had a full tank of gas, and only minor cosmetic damage to the front, where I had run down a few of the slow ones on my last excursion. I set the Mossberg and the Mosin-Nagant Russian rifle on the floor of the passenger side. I opened the garage, and pulled the car out, watching as the garage door closed to make sure that no uninvited guests got inside.

Where was I going? Kroger was bad. Meijer was worse. Then I thought of Sam’s Club. It was not near a residential area, and nowhere near as busy as Meijer at any given time. I finally knew my destination. As I drove the two miles, I noticed several of the slow ones devouring a deer. I thought it was odd that these undead, with all the speed of a midget tri-athlete, could catch a deer. I should have been watching the road. The fast one had bolted out of the woods from the driver’s side, apparently drawn to the ruckus across the street. I hit him dead between the headlights at about 40 miles an hour. The Magnum unnaturally bent him sideways at the waist, driving his head into the hood with such force that it left a dent. Apparently, a skull cannot take that kind of abuse, as it caved in and splattered goo up my windshield. I hit the wipers.

“Shit!” The white smoke slowly starting to come from under the hood was not what I wanted to see. I continue driving to Sam’s club, knowing that the radiator had been damaged. The temperature gauge isn’t climbing fast, and the trip is short, so I think I just dodged a bullet. I pull into the parking lot, and drive slowly around the perimeter. There are only a few dozen cars in the lot. A couple of the slow ones are wandering through the lot. I put the Magnum in park, grab the Russian Bear, and quickly put them both down from just over a hundred yards. I drive to the door, jump out, and throw the rifle sling over my shoulder, and grab the Mossberg. I try the doors, and am thrilled that they are locked. I notice a van parked in a handicapped space near the entrance. The back doors are open, so I walk over to have a peek, looking over the sight on the shotgun the entire time. The blood smear down the entire length of the van tells me that whoever was trying to flee in it didn't make it. I notice the keys on the floorboard of the driver’s side, and the plan of attack comes to me in one fell swoop. I radio Karen, and let her know I’m alive.

The thunderous crash was louder than I had expected. The glass and brick rained down on the van as it plowed through the entrance. I finally stopped about 50 feet into the store. I hurried back out through the hole in the wall, and took up a position behind the Magnum with the shotgun. If there were any of the fast ones inside, they heard the commotion, and would be coming any second. Four of them came through the hole at the same time. I thought it was funny that each was still wearing his or her blue vest adorned with friendly buttons. The first two went down with two blasts from the Mossberg. The others closed on me much faster than I had anticipated. I was able to keep the Magnum between us. It was duck duck goose, except with dead people chasing and live ammunition. It only took a few more seconds to end their miserable existence and reload.

Driving the Magnum inside of Sam’s club is a surreal experience. Even with the windows up, I can smell the stench of rotting flesh, and rotten produce. It looks like canned goods are all we get from here on out. I drive over to the canned goods, kill the car, jump out, and listen. There’s a shuffling in the next aisle. I crouch down under the racks and see one of the slow ones wandering aimlessly. Her name tag says, “Helen.” It’s obvious to me that she has no idea I’m there. She shuffles past and I climb out behind her. She never sees it coming. One well-placed butt stroke to her left temple crumples her, and ends her misery. “Goodnight, Helen,” I whisper. I listen again and hear nothing.

The Magnum holds a lot of stuff with the back seats down. I quietly fill the car with canned fruit and veggies, spam, jerky, trail mix, nuts, cereal, and whatever else I think will keep. I toss in two cases of Marlboro Lights for good measure. Fresh produce is no option, with the exception of a few bags of apples that still look edible. There’s a crashing noise behind me that sounds like it’s coming from the bakery. I close up the car, and decide to get a higher vantage point, and see what I’m dealing with. I sling the Mossberg, grab the Russian bear, and climb the rack nearest the car.

I take up watch from the top of the rack with my back to a pallet of canned green beans, and fire up a Marlboro Light. The smoke is calming. I take stock of the situation, and see a blue vested baker, wearing a blood soaked apron, standing near the bakery. I can also see two other slow ones on the other side of the store, near the light bulbs and dog food. One of them knocks a box of fluorescent bulbs to the ground, breaking them. I look back to the bakery, and notice that the elderly baker is already on the move. She has the agility and speed of a cat, hurdling ovens, carts, and other obstacles. Within seconds she is upon the slow ones. The carnage is indescribable. Limbs, flesh, and organs are torn away in a frenzy. I have to turn away. In doing so, about fifteen of the shotgun shells in my bag spill out, and bounce down the metal rack to the floor below.

CLANG CLANG CLANG

Fuck. I look to where the bloodbath had taken place across the store moments ago. There I can see the dismembered bodies of the slow movers, lying in what can only be described as a lake of blood. There is no sign of baker Granny. I wait, in silence, enjoying my cigarette and listening. I hear nothing, but I get a chill up my spine thinking about that creepy hag stalking me. They can’t climb, so I’m safe up here, but at some point I need to get home to my family.

With a bang, the teddy bear across the store explodes in a cloud of polyester stuffing. The blue smoke swirls out of the barrel of the Mosin. Within the blink of an eye, Granny baker is at the base of the rack I’m on, having been drawn in by my shot. I pull the bolt back, and slam it forward in one smooth motion. Granny baker is clawing at the rack, desperately attempting to will her limbs to climb. Fortunately for me, she lacks the coordination. I line up the shot knowing that I was freeing her soul. Boom. For a brief moment, I can clearly see the floor through the baseball sized hole in her face before she slumps over. Her soul would be able to escape through it. I climb down the rack, and get into the Magnum.

The drive home is thankfully uneventful. I radio Karen to let her know I’m on my way. The white smoke rising from the engine is far less menacing than it was, kind of guiding me home. I pull into the driveway, and over a body that Karen must have just shot. His leg was still twitching a little. In the rear view mirror, I can see that he’s no longer moving, after being rendered an undead speed bump. I pull the car into the garage, close the door, and compose myself. A few moments later, I walk in announcing, “Daddy’s home.”

Crazy Ass Ex-Marine

I was looking up from the floor at Tony standing there with a big grin on his face. He was dressed head to toe in his camouflage He had his "shit kicking" boots on and his kabar strapped to his hip. I should have known Mr. Ex-Marine would have been well suited for a situation like this.

I finally started to get up off the floor and Erin followed suit. About the time I got to my knees I heard the blast of shotgun resonate through the house. I looked over at Tony and he was holding his left hand out with the smoking barrel of his sawed off pointing into the living room. I looked over and saw what was left of a grazer crumple to the ground. The close range of the blast had annihilated most of the creatures upper torso and left it as just a pair of legs.

Once I was up to my feet and looked back at Erin still sitting on her knees staring at Tony. I guess she was a little shocked to see a real life Rambo standing in front of her. Personally I found it all amusing since I knew Tony was in his element right now and was enjoying this way to much.

I walked over to Tony and just put my hand on his shoulder. Both of us starting laughing our asses off at the scene we were standing in. Honestly when we were growing up together at no point did the two of us imagine that we would be killing zombies in his house. It all seemed surreal for a moment then I noticed something, or should I say someone was missing.

I looked over at Tony and told him we should probably do a sweep of the house to make sure it was clear and he agreed. We both went different directions and started checking each room. I started heading up stairs to check the bedrooms and could not believe the carnage that I was seeing. There were body parts everywhere from the mini slaughter exhibition that Tony had just put on. I stepped over the torso of what I assume was one of Tony's neighbors at one time and opened the door to what used to be my room. It looked a whole lot different than it did when I had lived there. The walls were covered in children's decorations and toys. I guess this was now Abby's room but yet there was no Abby to be seen.

I closed the door to the bedroom and walked over to the next door and pushed the door open. This is what used to be Chuck's room but now looked to be a office. Where I expected to see a desk was instead a pile of different guns and ammo boxes. I guess this was in the process of being converted into Tony's little armory.

Next up was the bathroom. The funny thing is I was less interested in checking the room for zombies than I was about taking a piss. Its been so long since I in a actual livable house that I was actually excites about this bathroom. As I started to get ready to do my business I heard Tony yell up the stairs at my telling me that I better not be using that bathroom since there was no longer any running water in the house. Dammit of course there isn't, why can't things go right just once. Oh well two more rooms to go.

I walked out of the bathroom and turned to the door on my right. This was the old office when I lived here and was then converted to a nursery when Abby was born. I cracked the door open and found piles of canned floor. Looks like Tony had been raiding the local Costco for food and supplies. It appeared his military training for survival had taken over and he had stockpiled everything he could find. I just laughed to myself as I thought that Tony was almost acting like a chipmunk storing nuts for the winter.

I decided it was time to check the master bedroom. I figured this would be empty since that where Tony had been the whole time when we got to the house. I opened the door and looked around. Damn it looked almost untouched and frozen in time. The bed was fully made and everything straightened and clean. There was a small pile of weapons on the bed and a few things of fatigues laid out for use. I walked around the bed and looked into the bathroom. I saw a sleeping bag on the floor. Apparently Tony had been sleeping in here for safety just in case of a situation similar to what happened today.

I heard Tony yell again and wanted to know what was taking me so long. I started to head downstairs to meet up with Tony and Erin. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I looked towards the front door and saw a sprinter heading for the door. He was running across the street to where we were standing. I raised my .50 cal and lined up a shot. Tony grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it down. He just looked at me and told me to wait and watch. As the sprinter ran passed the curb and hit the grass a explosion erupted from the mailbox. The remnants of the creature where blown far away and there was nothing left. I turned to Tony and saw him holding something in his hands with he was laughing his ass off. He was holding a detonator for the explosive in his hands. The crazy bastard had put a small c4 charge in his mailbox and was just itching for a opportunity to use it. Once I realized what he had done I could not stop laughing, damn this was exactly something that I could see Tony doing.

We shut the front door and headed into the living room. We grabbed the pieces of what was left of the bodies and tossed them out the back door. I looked out onto the patio and saw a large fire pit. I could see the pieces of what looked to be random bodies in the back yard all around. I guess that's one good way to clean up.

Once the last of the bodies where out Tony told us to make ourselves at home and relax. We sat down on the couches and took a load off. I was glad to see Erin up and moving again. I'm guessing the shock of see Tony blasting through the bodies like the Terminator was a little much for her and she was still just sitting there with a blank stare on her face. Tony walked into the kitchen and headed for the garage. I heard the door open and close in just a few seconds. What the hell was he doing, we had a lot to talk about and he knew it. I heard the door open again and Tony came walking back into the living room. The sawed off shotguns he had been carrying earlier was no replaced with two ice cold beers. He tossed me one and just said "Welcome home Diggs".

He sat down in the chair to my right and let out a deep breath. I dove right in and asked where Karen and Abby where. He explained to me that when the outbreak had happened he knew that he needed to get them somewhere safe. So he decided it would be best for them to go to her parents place since it was out of the way and not near and densely populated areas. They had been there for a few weeks now. I asked Tony why he didn't stay there with them. He told me that he knew that at some point he would be but he had the same feeling that I did, he needed to know what had become of his brother and I. It turns out he had been waiting the entire time and today was the last day that he had planned to stay out the house before he went to be with Karen and Abby.

Tony proceeded to tell me all about his survival for the last few weeks. He had setup multiple CB radios everywhere so he could try to stay in touch with whoever was out there. As I had suspected earlier he had been making trips to all the local stores to stock up on food and supplies. He had been using his Dodge Magnum for the trips but knew that the car didn't have much longer before it was going to break down. It turns out that he had hit one of the creatures on his was home and had not been able to repair the damage that had been done.

I told him all about everything we had been through in the past few weeks since it was decided we would cross the country to find out if anyone was still alive. He found it very amusing that Erin had saved my life on multiple occasions and now here I was sitting in front of him with a big bandage on my head. Damn he had a good point, guess I need to start paying better attention.

I asked Tony what the deal was with all of the zombies that had been crawling around the house when we got here. He proceeded to explain to me that he wanted to have a little fun before he left the house for the last time. He had decided that he was going to let as many in as possible and then kill them all before loading up the car and leaving. He looked at it as a way to relieve some stress before heading off to be with his wife. He looked at the pile of bodies in the back yard and started to count. Once finished he looked at me and told me that he was glad we had showed up since there were way more out there that what he had expected there to be. Without us he might not have the chance to go be with his wife and now he could.

We sat and talked for hours as the day went on. Erin stayed quite for the most part only to laugh at the occasional moment. As the night progressed I started to realize that this was the most relaxing moment we had all had in a hell of a long time. Tony looked up from his beer and told us he had to go jump on the CB, it was his scheduled time to talk with Karen before she went to bed.

I watched as Tony left the room and headed to the garage. I looked over and Erin had fallen asleep on the couch. I felt like I was about ready to do the same when I heard Tony come running back inside. He ran upstairs and I heard the former office door crack open as it hit the wall. I started to get up and go see what was going on when I saw Tony running down the stairs covered in weaponry. I just stared in confusion as he ran up to me.

"We have to go now! Karen and Abby are in trouble , I couldn't reach her on the CB. Diggs my wife and daughter could be in trouble I need your help" I just looked him in the eyes and nodded. He knew I would do what ever was needed to get to them.

T-Bag

We were closing in on the area where I grew up. In just a few minutes we would be arriving at the home of one of my best friends since I was a child. I could only hope that him and his family were ok, but then again knowing Tony he was probably having a field day killing mindless walking dead everyday.

We rounded the corner onto Waldon Rd, slowly we are coming up on the middle school I attended when I was younger. So close to my home yet I knew already there was no point in going there. I refuse to dwell on the past and the events I know that have happened so I refocus and tell Erin to turn right on the road ahead.

We turn the corner into the neighborhood that Tony lived in for years. The road was littered with bodies and streaks of blood. The blood looked fresh, seems someone had just had a little fun coming through here in their car. I looked ahead a little and saw the sign for Armstrong Dr. I cant even remember the number of times I had taken these exact turns when coming to this house, yet this time the whole situation was different. I let Erin know she needed to turn left down Armstrong and as I did I had a feeling of dread come over me. I had no idea what we were going to find just ahead and Tony's house.

Armstrong Dr. The road that Tony had lived on the entire time I had known him was relatively clear, almost as though it had been cleared intentionally so cars could get through. As we slowly went down the street looking at the houses we passed we saw some unimaginable things. Some of the yards were covered with bodies, houses were boarded up, and multiple cars sat parked awkwardly in their driveways.

We came up to Tony's house and my heart sank as I saw the front door standing wide open and a flow of creatures wandering inside. Thoughts began racing through my head. If Tony and his family had been killed I needed to know what had happened. I told Erin to stop a little ways from the driveway so I had time to get out of the car and arm myself before heading inside.

As she stopped the car I started thinking back to everything we had been through and what was still to come. I told Erin to stay in the car and that I was going in alone. She had never really been friends with Tony and had no reason to risk her life to try to see if he was still in there. She looked at me like I was crazy and proceeded to give me a quick slap to the face. She let me know hat she was no child and she would make her own decisions, and her decision was that she was coming with me whether I liked it or not.

She turned the car into the turn around across the street from the house and turned the key off. We let the car coast to a stop near the house and hoped that nothing had heard us. We gave each other a look and knew the other was ready to get armed. We both slowly got out of the car and headed to the back hatch. She hit the button for the hatch and watched as it quietly rose on its own. Once the hatch was up we both took turns keep a watch out while the other grabbed their favorite weaponry. Erin grabbed her shotgun again and started to load the clip. I swear that girl loves that gun, but then again since she has saved my ass with it a few times I cant really complain out her using it. Once she was finished loading the clip she grabbed two 9mm handguns and shoved them in her belt. She looked over at me and just smirked. Great I had created a miniature female Rambo. She moved to the side of the car and started to lookout for me. I pulled my twin desert eagles out and made sure both clips were full. I grabbed two more clips from the stockpile and put them in my back pockets. I grabbed the Remington .270 rifle and popped couple of rounds into the chamber. I figure with this we can clear a few out of the way before we started trying to get into the house.

We closed the hatch and started to work out a game plan. I told Erin I would use the rifle to drop the ones around the door so we could start moving forward. Once we reached the house she and I would work our way through the rooms to see what the situation looked like. Once we had cleared the first floor we would work our way up the the top floor and check the five rooms up there and hope we found them all alive.

Once the plan was set we each took a deep breath to relax and get focused on what we needed to do. I had to struggle to keep my mind straight and not think the worst. Erin looked over at me and knew what was racing through my head. She put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a nod, it was time to get started. I went down to one knee and brought the .270 up to my shoulder. I could see a few grazers hanging around the door. I took aim at the head of the closest one and pulled the trigger. The round struck its mark and dropped the creature where it stood. As expected the others turned to see where the noise had come from. Suddenly they started dashing towards us. Dammit I had assumed they were all grazers, but they weren't. A few were just moving slowly because they all couldn't fit through the door.

I swung the gun left to the first one I saw and fired away. The round grazed the top of its skull. Pieces of bone and flesh flew backwards. The round had done enough damage to do what I needed it to do as the creature fell forward and hit the pavement. The next one was only a few feet away and I had no time to aim. I grabbed the hot muzzle of the rifle and swung it in front of my as hard as I could. The butt of the gun struck the side of the sprinters head and caved it in. The sound of the bone breaking as its face collapsed was utterly disgusting. The gun fell from my hands moments after impact. The muzzle had nearly burned my hand, damn that hurts.

I turned to see Erin with her 9mm pointed at me. She fired off a round and hit the sprinter in the side of the skull that was not collapsed and laughed as it fell to the ground. She wiped around and let another two shots fly at the last sprinter. She hit both of its kneecaps and watched and it fell to the ground. The creature was still trying to reach her despite the fact that it could not stand up. She walked over and grabbed the rifle from the ground. She walked over to the creature as it struggled to reach her and looked down with a remorseless look. She took a mighty downward swing with the butt of the rifle and cracked right through the creatures skull. The blow crushed the bone in and smashed through the brain. Apparently she was having a great time doing this as she chuckled and tossed the rifle back to me.

We walked towards the house and crept up to the front door. The were multiple creatures walking around inside. I had two thoughts running through my head. First was Tony and his family still alive? And secondly why the hell can't this ever be easy?

We both went to one side of the front door and pulled out our weapons of choice. Erin had the shotgun ready to go and I cocked both the desert eagles. I entered the door followed by Erin. We took turns clearing the way punching out round after round. The creatures dropped left and right as the shots ripped through the air. It was hard to believe that this was the same house that we had spent many a nights at playing video games and drinking beer. The same house that I have lived in for a few years with Tony and his wife Karen.

We moved passed the front room and each worked through one side of the floor. I took the bathroom, living room and TV room. Erin went into the family room and the dining room. By time we met up in the kitchen I had one empty gun and one bullet left in the other, while Erin had exhausted all the round she had for the shotgun. This was a scene that was becoming all to familiar for the two of us; standing in a room surrounded by dead bodies some of which were still twitching.

We took inventory of what we had left and reloaded the weapons. Erin swung the strap of the shotgun over her shoulder and pulled out her handguns. While we were working our way towards the stairs we heard what could only be described as a battle cry. We heard a door on the upper floor burst open and gun blasts going off. Both of us hit the ground and covered ourselves. We waited as we heard more blast and a maniac's laughter. More rounds exploded from unseen guns and caused massive damage. We sat their on the floor and watched as a blood splatter exploded against the wall only a few feet from us. Then everything was quite.

We both looked at each other and shared a confused look. Who the hell had been doing all that shooting? Where had they come from? We waited for a second a listened as heavy boot steps worked their way towards the room we were in. I whispered to Erin to get her guns ready just in case it was necessary to fight our way out of here. I looked up and saw what can only be described as the Comedian from the Watchman movie. Standing only a few feet in front of me was Tony with a sawed off shotgun in each hand smoking a cigar. He looked down at me and just smiled.

"Diggs! What the fuck took you so long!?! And what the fuck are you doing laying on my floor?"

One Tough Ass Girl

After hours of driving we reached the border to the place where we were both from...Michigan. Have to say I didn't miss this place when I moved but now after all that has happened those memories rushed back and made me think of the happier times. Damn I hope everyone is ok, but seeing as almost everyone in the world is dead I guess my hopes cant be to high.

We were cruising along the highway avoiding all the random abandoned vehicles along the way. I guess we had made good time, since our last stop we had only been driving for a little over 5 hours and already we were closing on our destination. I looked over at Erin and smiled, while in my mind I was unsure of what we were going to find.

I look to Erin and ask if she has anyone here that she wants to find. She gave me a cold look and just told me no. I knew Erin's mom lived in Michigan not that far from where we were going, but apparently Erin knew something I didn't since she had no desire to look for her. The next 10 miles were very quite between us.

I looked around and saw all the things I remember from living in Michigan for 27 years. The leaves turning and falling to the ground were a pretty good indication fall had hit. They were everywhere, the gold, tan, red, and brown leaves covered the grass to the point where it was almost not visible. As we continued along the road something else happened that I sure as hell didn't miss, it started to snow.

As soon as the first flakes began to hit the car Erin stared at me with the look of death. She hated snow more than anything and here we were experiencing the first snowfall of the year in Michigan. I knew what Erin was thinking at that moment. One of the things she told me before she agreed to come with me on this trip was that it damn well better not snow. I told her that we should see any snow since it was the beginning of fall and it was to early for snow, guess was wrong. I looked over at Erin and just told her I was sorry but that didn't deter her gaze. What happened next was something neither of us was ready for.

As Erin was staring at me something darted across the road and smashed into the front of the car. My head slammed into the dashboard and I bounced back in the seat. Erin went face first into the airbag as it deployed. The front of the car exploded with flesh and blood as whatever we hit was demolished upon impact. Erin was out cold and I was stunned for sure. My head was reeling and I could feel blood coming down my forehead as we slid to a stop in a ditch.

Once I was aware enough to do so I unlatched the seat belt and looked around. I looked over at Erin and didn't see any blood, I guess that was a good sign. I shook her a little and she moaned. Well she was alive at least. After a few more seconds of me shaking her she came to. She looked over at me and asked what the hell had just happened. I shrugged and told her we hit something but I didn't know what.

I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open, thankfully it opened with no struggle. Good thing since after that crack to the head I'm not sure I could have put much more effort into opening it had it stuck. I looked towards the front of the car and saw blood covering the hood and bumper. Whatever we hit must have been big because not only did we hit it but it caused some serious damage to the front of the car. I could only hope that it was one of those undead bastards and we just put it out of its misery.

I walked up towards the road to see if I could find what we had hit. Damn we must have slid further than I thought because the road was easily 100 yards away. I slowly made my way through the little field feeling the blood drip down my face. I must have hit my head pretty damn hard. I felt where the blood was coming from and could feel the slice along the top of my head. Shit we didn't have any medical supplies and here I was walking around with what had to be a 3 inch gash on my head. I knew that I was going to have to get this stitched up quick or I was going to bleed out and go unconscious.

When I reached the side of the road I could only help but chuckle. Laying across the road in pieces was what was left of a whitetail deer. How ironic that Ms. Peta had just slaughtered a innocent deer trying to get across the road. I started back towards the car and could feel myself getting a little woozy. I hurried back as quick as I could and told Erin that she had plowed through one of the undead. I figure that way she wont be so upset about what had happened. I told her we needed to get some medical supplies as quick as possible, or at least I think I told her since the last thing I remember telling her was that I was bleeding badly.

Apparently as I was talking to Erin she was to horrified to respond. She later told me that my face looked like something out of the movie Carrie. I was wearing a crimson mask and was continually flowing from the top of my head. She also told me that as soon as I hit the ground she jumped out of the car and tried to wake me with no success. I had lost so much blood from my wound that I was out completely. She dragged me to the backdoor of the car and pulled me into the back seat. She jumped back into the car and hit the key, Luckily it started right up and she took off back towards the road.

She started looking for any place that we could get some medical supplies for not only me, but for herself as well. She noticed a sign on the side of the road for a hospital and started heading towards it at full speed. Along the way she swerved around multiple cars and bodies. I'm pretty sure Erin had never been so focused in her life. She told me that she kept looking back and checking on me but could not tell how I was doing due to all the blood. She later told me she was also thinking that all that blood was going to be a pain in the ass to get out of the seats.

Erin charged ahead another 5 miles down the road and quickly pulled off onto the exit where the hospital was located. She went on another 2 miles and finally saw the hospital on the left side. She quickly turned the wheel as she saw the entrance and charged for the front doors. She came skidding to a stop in front of the doors and jumped out. She ran to the trunk and started to grab some weaponry. I later found out she grabbed my two desert eagle handguns, damn her. She also grabbed her favorite shotgun and headed for the front emergency doors.

Once she entered the building she opened every door she could find looking for any sign of a first aid kit of any sort. She saw movement out of her right eye and turned in time to see one of the creatures running towards her. With out flinching she swung the shotgun around and fired off a round. The creatures head exploded as the buckshot tore through what was left of its head. The creature crumpled backwards and hit the ground with a resounding thud. Normally Erin would take the time to enjoy a kill like this but today was a little different, today she had a mission.

She continued to tear open every door she saw looking for anything she could use. She rounded a corner near the nurses desk and saw one of the creatures eating what was left of what appeared to be a nurse. She pulled one of the head guns out and fired of two rounds, each striking their target square in the side of the creatures head. It hadn't even had time to register what had happened before it fell sideways onto the body from which it was eating. Erin walked over and stomped what was left of its head just to make sure.

As Erin continued down the hallway she came across a door labeled storage. She yanked on the handle and about ripped it off as the door swung open. She ran in and grabbed all the supplied she could get her hands on making sure to get a suture kit and some bandages. She ran back out the way she had come in and again stomped the creature in the hallway once more just for good measure.

As she ran out of the door she saw one of the creatures creeping closer to the door she had left open when she jumped out of the car. She ran and slid across the hood of the car with one of the desert eagles in hand. As she crossed the hood she fired off round after round knocking the creature back and to the ground. As the creature struggled to get up she fired one more round into its skull and ending its miserable existence right then and there.

Erin looked in the backseat and could see that I was still breathing, thankfully. She tore open the suture kit and started to thread the needle. For someone that had never used one before she learned how real quick. She grabbed the handle for the backdoor and pulled it open. She used some clothes and wiped the already drying blood off of my head and looked at the wound. She grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured it all over my head drenching me. Man if I had been awake I would have been so pissed about how much that hurt, I guess there was a plus side to be knocked out. She drove the needle into my head and began the amateur stitching job that would save my life but leave me with a nasty scar. I guess its good for me that I have some thick ass hair.

As she finished with the last few pulls of the needle she began to think about what to do now. I was in no condition to move for the time being until my body was able to begin to recover from the blood loss, so she decided that we were going to stay at the hospital just in case we need any more supplies. She ran inside and grabbed a wheelchair so she could move my limp body out of the car. Once in the chair she took me inside and found a empty room that looked clean. She did her best to load me into a bed and clean the rest of the blood from my face. I later found out that while she was moving me from the wheel chair she couldn't hold on and dropped me to the floor. That would explain the bruised ribs I had in addition to the head wound.

We stayed at the hospital for another few days giving ourselves time to recover and get our bearings. We found a map and discovered we were only about 20 miles off course and we could finish the trip back to our hometown in a few hours if we didn't have any more interruptions. we decided that we would wait until the next morning and load up the car with a few first aid kits just in case we had another incident like this one.

As I sit and look back I see that I owe Erin my life. Who would have ever thought that a guy my size would owe his life to a peace loving hippie like Erin. I guess I'm lucky to have her on this trip with me. Hopefully before the end of this I would be able to repay what she has done for me, but that is something Ill have to wait to see.

Nap Time

It has been a long time since I can say I actually slept in a bed that didn't consist of the seat in a car or of some blankets laying on the ground in some abandoned building, so when Erin suggested we stop and get some rest I knew what we needed to do. I told her that was a good idea but I wanted to sleep in a big comfortable bed that actually had sheets on it. She agreed and we started looking for a place to stop.

See the problem is that going into some random house and sleeping in the bedroom there just isn't a option. The reason being that most houses were boarded up in an attempt to provide some sort of protection for the family inside. Unfortunately for most people that just didn't work out like that had hoped. Most homes didn't stand up to the attacks on them and the protection failed, leading to everyone in the house being killed. The few times I have ventured into someones house I only ran into to grab what supplies I could and got out before the stench of the bodies was to much to bare.

After discussing it we decided to try to find a hotel that we could get into and sleep there for the night. We started looking at the signs along the highway trying to find a place. About 5 miles down the road we saw a billboard for a Hilton hotel. Well something is better than nothing so we headed down that exit. We turned left down the road and started on our path to what we could only hope would be a good nights sleep.

As we approached the hotel we went over our strategy for making sure the hotel was clear. After the situation at Bass Pro Shops and having the two of us separated we figured it might be safer if we worked as a team checking one area at a time. This would take us longer but would ensure that one of us wouldn't be trapped alone and be killed. We finished working out the game plan as we pulled into the parking lot.

I looked around the lot and noticed that there was no movement, this could be a good sign. I tell Erin we need to do a lap or two around just to make sure that we were alone. After the second pass I was convinced that the lot was clear and told Erin to pull up close to the doors. As she did I looked inside and again saw nothing moving. Maybe for once we were going to be lucky and not have to fight for our lives.

Erin parked the car and we both met at the back of the car. We opened the back hatch and started to arm up just in case. Erin grabbed the shotgun and started to load the barrels with a few rounds, then took the 9mm and put it in her belt. I took my two favorite handguns, my matching desert eagles and made sure they both had full clips. We have learned that you can never be to prepared when walking into a unknown building. I pulled the rifle out and flung it over my shoulder. The two of us looked like something out of a bad cop movie but at least we were fully loaded and ready for anything.

The slowly crept up to the front doors and checked again to make sure there wasn't anything moving inside, so far all clear. I pulled the sliding doors open and ushered Erin inside. I turn and closed the doors behind us and turned the lock to make sure nothing could get in, whether it be living or dead. Erin scanned the lobby and told me she was headed to the front desk to see if there was anything of use. I looked at each of the hallways and still saw that everything was clear. Wow our luck is never this good, and now I was getting a bad feeling or maybe its just me being paranoid. Hopefully it is the later because I could really use a break from trying to fight for my life.

Erin yells back that there is nothing over there that we can use and that all the computer systems are down. Damn that would have made it much easier to find a room that we could be sure was empty. I tell Erin we should get started on checking the hallways before it got to dark out since the lack of lights in the hotel would leave us vulnerable to anything roaming around inside. I figure its a better idea to stay on the first floor in case we needed to leave in a hurry.

We started down the west hallway and went to each door one at a time. Luckily for us this hotel had electronic locks on their doors. This was actually a good thing for us since it would make impossible for the creatures to make it into or out of any room that had the door shut. We work out way down the hallway and finish checking all of the doors. Other than the smell of some dead bodies in a few of the rooms we didn't hear any movement. We look at each other in amazement, damn this is just to quite.

We headed back to the lobby and started down the east hallway. As we progressed the smell of death got stronger and more vile. We came to a stop in front of a set of double doors that were labeled "The Gold Room". The stench was emanating from here which meant bad things for us. We could here movement inside and we tried the handles. I looked at Erin and she pulled the shotgun off of here shoulder and rechecked it to make sure it was loaded and ready to go. I grabbed the two .50 cal handguns and checked the clips, full with two spare sets on my belt. I guess hitting that Bass Pro Shop was a good idea since we now had a abundance of ammo for everything we could carry.

I jiggled the door handle again to see if we could hear more movement inside. This time there was nothing. Hmm curious usually the creatures would jump at any noise they heard and started heading towards the cause of it. I crack the door open and am greeted with a report of a handgun round hitting the wall next to the door, followed by the sound of crying. I jump back from the door and hit the ground. I look over and see that Erin is on the floor as well, but that she is ok. She turns to me and asked me what the hell just happened. I shoot her a look like she is crazy and ask her what the hell she thinks it was. She just smiles and tells me that if we live she is going to beat the hell out of me for being a smart ass.

As we are sitting on the floor waiting I can hear whoever fired the round at us sobbing uncontrollably. I yell through the cracked door that we are alive and that we are no threat to them. This was followed by another round smashing through the door above us. Damn that was to close. I motion for Erin to move away from the door and into the hallway as to get out of the line of fire. The person inside yells out, telling us she doesn't care who we are that we need to leave since we might be infected. I assure her that we are not but she doesn't seem to care. Two more rounds blast through the door way way to close to my head. I tell Erin we need to get the hell away from this door and try to find somewhere else to go.

As Erin begins crawling across the floor back towards me we hear a loud scream come from inside the room. We hear the girl screaming and running around the room. The thing that both of us notice is that she isn't the only thing moving in the room. Erin and I look at each other and know what we have to do. Well at least this time we wont be fighting for our lives but some innocent scared person.

We both jump up and burst through the door with guns drawn. Once through the doors we both realize that the initial thought of not fighting for our loves was a complete fabrication of our minds. Inside the gold room there was one girl running around covered in blood, screaming as she tried to escape from the twenty plus undead in the room. It seems her shots at us had attracted all the creatures roaming around the building and they had come through the open door behind her position.

I fire two rounds into the air to gain their attention, as I do Erin yells at me asking what the hell I'm thinking. I tell her we have to try to save this girl. As I look back towards the girl I see my plan worked and the girl was safe but I could not say the same for Erin and I. The whole horde of them were headed in our direction. Dammit I knew this whole having a relaxing night of sleeping thing was a myth.

Erin slings the shot gun over her shoulder and pulls the 9mm out of her belt. She fires of round after round hitting as many of them in the head as she can but only two drop. I fire off a round from the .50 cal in my right hand and watch as the bullet tears through the closest sprinters head causing it to explode all over the rest of them. The recoil from this gun is insane and it throws off my next shot so that it only hits the next one in the shoulder knocking it over and causing a few to tumble with it. I yell to Erin and tell her to start heading for cover so she can reload as I start to run in the opposite direction. I dash 20 ft away, turn and take aim. I fire off a couple more rounds from each gun causing a explosion of blood and bone as the rounds destroy their fragile bodies. Three more down. Slowly we are whittling away at the creatures as they chase me around the room. I here Erin click the fresh clip into place and know she is going to join the fight in a second and that I need to give her a clear shot at the pack.

I dive behind a overturned table as Erin stands up and starts firing off round after round. Four more drop in the ensuing chaos. Damn she is a good shot, surprising for a peace loving hippie vegetarian. The remaining few start towards Erin. I hear her fire of a few more rounds and watch as the rounds travel through the bodies but don't do any damage. If only these things felt pain then we would be set, but the only way to stop them is to stop the brain from functioning. Erin fires again and I hear the gun click and it tried to fire a empty chamber. I look over and see Erin un-sling the shotgun from her shoulder and line it up with the heads of the creatures. She pulls the trigger and I see the mass of flesh fly from the shoulders of the entire front group. She had accidentally loaded buckshot into the chambers instead if slugs, but damn if it hadn't worked out for the best.

We were down to the final few roaming around the room. The yell to Erin to get down and take aim at the back of their heads. I squeeze the trigger and hear the bang as the round left the chamber. The splattering sound is a dead give away that I had hit my target, but how much damage had I actually done? I look over as the smoke clears and see both the creatures that were left drop down and start twitching. I had hit one right through the back of the head and the one in front had been hit in the shoulder as it left the first ones body. The force of the round had caused the creature to spin around and hit the ground a foot in front of Erin. She raised up the shotgun and drove the butt of the gun down through the creatures head causing it to cease movement.

We both look at each other and stare in amazement as we realize we just cleared the entire room without one close call. I re-holster the two handguns and watch as Erin slings the shotgun back over her shoulder. I walk over and make sure Erin is ok. She just stares at me then punches me in the jaw. Ouch, this little hippie can throw a good punch, I guess its that low center of gravity. My head snaps back into position as I hear Erin screaming at me about shooting in her direction. Pshh like I was worried I knew what I was shooting at but Erin wasn't to convinced of that. After being yelled at for a minute by Erin I begin to wonder were the girl that was originally in the room is hiding.

I tell Erin to stop and help me find the girl. We scan the room and finally see her hiding behind a table in the corner of the room. We run over to the girl and find her holding the gun crying. I tell her its ok that everything is dead but she wont respond. Erin leans down and starts to whisper to the girl trying to calm her, but to no avail.

The girl screamed for us to get away and jumped to her feet. She had the gun trained of us and was telling us not to move. She tried to scream at us more but through the crying we couldn't understand what she was saying. Erin and I started to back away and leave the room. We watched the girl the whole time as we headed for the door. I looked at the girl and could only imagine the things this girl has been through to be in this type of state. She looked like she could be no older that 20 but appeared as though she had been through more than a war torn vet would go through.

Erin and I backed out the door away from the girl as she continued to scream. I felt for this girl. Since the outbreak all of us survivors had been through so much, and having all that shoved on you at such a young age has to be a lot to bare. As we turn the corner out the door I can still hear the crying as she tried to get her composure. I tell Erin we should head over to the other hallway and try to find a room over there. As I finish saying this we hear and click and a loud bang as the handgun the girl was holding goes off. Erin dives to the floor thinking the round had come our way but I already knew what had happened. I listen carefully and know that all I will hear is silence. My heart breaks as I know that would could have helped this girl if only she had let us.

Erin and I head down the west hallway and stop at a room close to the entrance that doesn't seem to have any smell coming from it. I crack open the electronic lock and start stripping away the wire coverings. After a few minutes of messing with the wires I hear the distinct noise of the electronic lock opening and I push the door open. Erin heads inside and tells me the room is clear. I head into the room letting the door shut behind us and making sure it locks. Just to make sure I switch the deadbolt on the door turn towards to beds. I look over and see Erin already laying on the far bed, half passed out. Damn it will feel good to sleep in a real bed. I take a deep breath and notice a foul odor that I could not smell in the hallway...cigarette smoke. Of course of all the rooms I could pick I get a smoking room.

I lay down in the bed and start to think about how good the sheets feel. I lay my head of the pillows, feeling them engulf my head. As comfortable as I am I cant fall asleep. My mind keeps going back to that girl and what happened. We could have saved her, I know we could have but now she is laying dead in a hotel conference room instead of at home with her family and people that love her. The outbreak has caused life to become a former shell of what it used to be and has destroyed all notion of what family means. I feel a tear roll down my cheek as I drift of to dreamland. Hopefully my dreams are less of a nightmare than my reality has become.