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.

Wrong Turn

I savor the taste of the steak as it hits my lips. The warm juice from the medium rare prime rib is running down my throat. Damn it tastes so good. I look down and see the steak, my baked potato, a house salad and a basket of bread. I look across the table and Erin is eating a portion of grilled eggplant covered with sauteed vegetables. She looks at me in disgust as I have a hunk of meat hanging out of my lips. Damn vegetarians always looking down on us meat eaters. Oh well I'm going to sit here and enjoy my steak, every single bite of it. I'm savoring the warm chuck of beef as I chew it slowly as to draw out every little bit of flavor. As I'm dipping my fork into the potato to take a bite I feel something is wrong. Everything is just to perfect. Regardless I push the fork into the bulk of the potato and scoop out a mouthful. As it draws near my lips I hear a loud horn go off and snap back into reality.

Damn I was sleeping and Erin knows it. She is staring at me like I stole her wallet right now. She hates it when I fall asleep in the car while she is driving. She gets so bored driving across the country that she relies on me to talk to. She sneers at my and asks me if I had a good dream. I tell her I did and I wish I was still there. To be honest since all of this has happened I would rather have a dream like that than have any other type of dream.

Food has become scarce for us so we discuss making a stop somewhere and raiding a store for supplies. She wants to stop at the a regular grocery store, but I convince her otherwise. Because of the last few encounters we have had with these mindless creatures we are running low on ammo so we need to restock, what better place than Bass Pro Shop. You're one stop shop for all things survival.

We travel along the highway avoiding the broken down cars and bodies that litter it looking for a viable exit. After searching for over 3 hours we find a sign for a Bass Pro saying that it is 2 miles down the road at exit 82. We decide that this is it and I start to prep the supplies we do have in case we run into trouble. I grab the last two clips for my desert eagles, load the shotgun up, and fill the chamber on the 9mm we grabbed for Erin. We have to grab everything we can in the shop without drawing any attention to ourselves.

We finally come to the exit and see that this Bass Pro is in the worst possible spot...a mall. Contrary to popular belief a mall is one of the worst places to be in a situation like this. If you think about it where do the most people congregate; the mall. Dammit I should have known. Everything in the world has gone wrong and now that we need supplies life decides to kick us in the nuts again. Regardless we decide that we don't have much of a choice we need to stop, not only are we low on food and ammo but we are nearly out of gas.

We pull into the lot and start to survey the area. I notice a few grazers wandering through the lot but they are far enough away that they wont be a issue. Besides I would rather not waste what little ammo we have on them and in turn draw attention from anything else that might be around. As we approach the doors I see a few bodies laying around, luckily for me they appear to be dead dead and not the walking dead.

Erin pulls the car up to the doors and stops the car. I grab my handguns and throw the shotgun over my back. I'm hoping that I wont have to use them at all but from the scene I'm seeing at the doors I have a bad feeling about this. I hop out of the car and quietly close the door and to not alert the grazers. I creep up to the door and grab the handle, its unlocked I'm not sure if this is a good sign or a bad sign. On one hand the door being unlocked means easy entry for me, on the other hand it means that this place was either abandoned or whatever happened here went down so fast they didn't have a chance to lock the doors.

I slowly slid the door open and slipped inside. The place has a stale smell of death permeating throughout. Dammit of course it would smell like death, hell every place we goes to smells like death lately. I scan the area quickly to make sure nothing is near me. I look across the plane of store and see a few moving shadows. I can only hope that those are living people making those shadows and not what I think they are. I grab the radio and call out to Erin letting her know the entrance is clear and I'm going to start moving further into the store. She lets me know she is going to park at the door and come inside.

I move forward making sure to stay in the well light areas just in case the shadows were people in hiding so they don't try to shoot me thinking I'm there to eat them. Then again these people may see me as a threat and shoot me anyways. I swear I can never win. I turn towards the gun section to start stocking up on ammo just in case the shit goes down. As I turn the corner into the ammo isle I see what is left of a body laying on the floor. Well that pretty much confirms my fears that something is in here and is hiding somewhere.

Out of nowhere the radio crackles as Erin lets me know that she has entered the building. I damn near pissed myself when that radio went off. Stupid thing I had it set to loud and now I can hear something shuffling towards me. At least from what I'm hearing if it is one of the creatures it is only a grazer and not a sprinter otherwise I might be worried. I stand up and start looking for where the noise is coming from and see a head moving slowly through the isles. Damn thing is only two rows down from where I am. I guess I'm lucky Erin called me on the radio otherwise I would have never known it was there and run headlong into it while I was grabbing supplies.

I'm still hesitant to take a shot at the creature since we are indoors and if anything else is here then the report from the round will draw their attention for sure. I start looking for anything I can use to manually assault this thing while making as little noise as possible. I notice that there is a portable pan set at the end of the aisle. Hmm maybe I can just beat this thing to death. I walk down to the set and tear it open, feels real light maybe to light. I grab the biggest pan from the set and start stalking my prey.

I creep over to the aisle the creature was in and start looking for him. Of course he isn't there now, why would he be? Just my luck. I stand up and start looking again, he isn't anywhere to be seen. Suddenly I hear a scrape on the ground behind me and turn to see him lunging at me. Dammit how had he gotten behind me? I swing the pan with everything I have and hit the creature right in the face. The pan bends in half and the creature just stands there. Fucking aluminum pans, if I get out of this I sure as hell as not grabbing a set of those. I start to run down the aisle only to stop in my tracks. There is another one standing in front of me. That explains it he didn't get behind me, he was there all along I had just run into another one.

I'm standing in the aisle trying to figure out what the hell to do and the two slowly shuffle towards me. I'm in a aisle full of ammo and yet don't want to shoot these things for fear of drawing in any other ones that are here. Shit, shit, shit, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Suddenly I hear a whoosh fly past my head and turn to see the creature behind me fall to the ground with a crossbow bolt sticking out of its head. I turn back and see Erin standing at the end of the aisle with a big grin across her face. Damn how many times is this woman going to save my life? The other creature turns and starts moving towards her. Erin's big grin dissipates as she realizes she doesn't have another bolt in the crossbow to drop this one. I look around and still have nothing to bludgeon this thing with. Now I'm not about to let Erin show me up by having her save me and me not return the favor. Suddenly it hits me. I start running full bore at the bumbling creature and cock my fist back. With everything I have a drive me balled up first into the back of its neck. The impact sounds like it shatters the bones in my hand, but lucky for me it wasn't my bones that had broken. The force destroyed the bones in the creatures neck severing its spine and killing it instantly. As the creature falls to the floor I look back and Erin and let her know that puts me in the lead for creativity. She just looks at me and lets out a little chuckle. I look down and see what she is laughing about, the creatures flesh had decayed to the point that at parts it was falling off. The force of my punch had broken through the skin and now the flesh was stuck to my hand. Great, here I am standing here trying to look cool with the dead flesh of some guy hanging from my fingers.

I tell Erin what to look for and we start gathering all the ammo we can. Once my hands are full of boxes of shells I look to the back wall and see the guns all over the racks. I'm in heaven. I feel like a kid who was just given a free pass in Toys R' Us. I start looking through and notice that each gun has a lock on the trigger. Of course here I am with a huge selection of weapons and no way to use them. Guess Ill just have to make do with what I already have.

I radio to Erin and let her know to start looking for food and anything else that may be useful while I start loading the ammo into the car. With the stock we are taking we will be set for a huge firefight in needed. Now its time to find some food, that damn dream made me hungry (not that I'm not always hungry).

I venture back into the building and radio for Erin. No answer. I try again and still no answer. Thoughts start racing through my head. Could something have happened? Did she call for me on the radio and I didn't hear it? I start running up and down the aisle looking for her. I'm hesitant to call her name out because there may still be some grazers roaming around and I really don't want anymore rotted flesh on my hands today. As I turn down the beef jerky aisle I hear Erin's voice come over the radio. She is quietly telling me to stop being a dumb ass and running around the store like a maniac. Damn woman. I stop and ask her where she is, she lets me know she located the food aisle and started grabbing whatever she could find. She tells me she had to put her radio down so she could fill the basket she grabbed and that's why she didn't answer. I should have realized that, instead I jump to the worst case scenario. I guess that's what living in this age does to a man.

I work my way over to her and see she has a basket completely filled with trail mix and other assorted meatless products. I should have known that's what I would get for letting a vegetarian do the food shopping. I start looking through the basket trying to see what I would eat. Erin just looks at me and laughs. I give her the evil eye and she points down the aisle to another cart. As it turns out she already grabbed yummy meat filled products for me and just put them in another cart so they wouldn't touch her food.

As we are wheeling the carts back towards the doors I hear something crash into a rack of clothes behind us. I turn around and see a sprinter dashing towards us. I push Erin out the door and pull out one of the desert eagles from my belt. I fire off a round and hit it in the chest. That sure as hell grabbed its attention, but unfortunately for me didn't even come close to bringing it down. I start running through the aisle trying to lose it but this thing is quick. Finally I get a idea and start running for the back of the store.

See at the back of the store on the wall is the giant fish tank and I want to see if this bastard can swim. I dash for the stairway next to the giant glass tomb and start to climb. Now I'm not sure if these things can climb or not but I don't really want to look back and find out until I hit the top. I hit the top and look back to see the thing traversing the steps, slowly but he sure is hell is making a effort of it. I starting crossing the faux rock formation to the other side and of course the creature tries to follow. Just as he stepped off of the stairway and was standing in front of the water I chucked one of the fake rocks at him and caught him square in the head. The blow startled him and caused him to lose him balance. With a splash he fell back into the water and started to sink. I guess since he doesn't have any air in his lungs he doesn't float. What happened next was a huge surprise to me.

Now I had mentioned before that the outbreak affected not only humans but all living creatures and it turns out fish were no different. The fish is the tank quickly darted toward the creature that had just fallen into their domain. Like a swarm of piranha going after a wounded cow they tore into the flesh of the creature. The frenzy was almost to unnerving to watch. The water splashed around as the fish had what was probably the first meal they hadn't eaten since the outbreak. Once they were down all that was left was a skeleton that was still twitching. I could feel my stomach starting to revolt against me at the sight so I hurried down the fake hill and began dry heaving at the bottom.

Once I regained my composure I headed for the front doors. While I was inside dealing with the sprinter Erin had loaded the car, found the gas station, and filled the car. When I got outside she was sitting on the hood looking bored. She just looked up, called me a slacker, and climbed back into the car. Well it looks like we are hitting the road again and continuing our journey east. We are about 2 days out from Michigan and hoping to hit it before the snow starts. Onward Ho!!

Like a Video Game

Wow I have never seen a 5' 2'' girl look so monstrous as Erin did when I told her my plan to go east and find my friends. See Erin grew up back east as well and moved out to Arizona because she absolutely hates the snow. So when I told her that I was going to go see if my friends back there were still alive she nearly exploded with anger. Once she was able to get out all the yelling and throwing of random stuff she reluctantly agreed to accompany me...thankfully.

I have done the trek across the country one time by myself and I couldn't ever imagine doing it alone again. Erin has made the trip quite a few times and knows the way by heart so that will make it a little easier on us. Since Erin basically is my GPS for this little adventure I agreed to let her drive. Little did I know what a pain in the ass decision that would turn out to be.

The first thing we decided was that we needed to find a running car that we could use to start our trip. The problem with that is that when the outbreak occurred many people were driving all over the country and millions of people crashed there perfectly good vehicles trying to avoid what they thought at the time were living people running through the streets. The other issue with this was that Erin insisted that the car had to be green. Here we are fighting to stay alive in a zombie infested world and Erin is still little Ms. Green...figures.

What to drive, what to drive. We figured the best thing to do was to find a dealership and just grab a new car that we knew wouldn't have any issues. Sounds easy right? Wrong!! Turns out lots of other people had the same idea but came unprepared and had been either mauled or turned into one of the creatures. SO now we are walking onto a parking lot filled with living dead and traversing what can only be described as a maze of cars trying to find a specific one, oh joy.

We traveled along until we found a VW dealership that didn't look like it had many of the creatures around it. I came up with plan to weed any of them out to help facilitate the process of locating our new car. I sat on the top of a crashed vehicle just outside of the lot with my .50 cal rifle a decided to pick of anything I saw moving. I swear I had flash backs of Halo as I popped off round after round into the creatures wandering in and out of the Beetles and the Jettas. I went through over 20 rounds hitting head shot after head shot to eliminate of possible foes. Damn if this had been a video game I would have gotten a medal or something. Blood and brains flew everywhere as the creatures dropped one by one. In the end the lot looked like something out of a horror movie. I guess that's kind of fitting since it feels like we are living in one.

Once the lot looked clear Erin and I moved in closer to start looking at the cars. I'm guessing what the people who attempted to do this before us didn't realize is that you cant just walk onto the lot grab a set of keys and expect to jump in any vehicle and drive off. I'm sure this lead to a lot of confusion for those people as they ran car to car trying to figure out which car they could start while trying to avoid the monstrosities wandering through the lots. Hell at one car we found a set of keys still in the door...with a hand still holding them, but no body to be found. Damn poor soul killed trying to escape. Lucky for me both Erin and I were smarter than that. We decided that one of us would stay in the lot and call out the vehicle numbers over the radio while the other searched for the keys inside. Of course I'm the one who headed into the building to search for the keys while Erin stayed outside in the lot that I had already cleared of creatures. Damn women I swear I'm to nice, next time she is going into the creepy building alone.

I figured I should probably go in prepared just in case there was a free stragglers left wandering around inside. I grabbed to desert eagle handguns and put them in my holsters. I strapped a 12-Gauge on my back and prepared myself for war. Little did I know at the time I wasn't the one who was going to need the mini armory I was carrying.

Once I got inside I let Erin know I was going to start searching for the key room and that she should start looking for the car she wants to take. After about 10 minutes of searching I located the keys in a small office no larger than a closet. There were hundreds of keys on the was so finding a specific one wasn't going to be as easy as I had hoped. I radioed Erin to let her know I had found them and to let me know what car she wanted. She started to call out groups of numbers relating to the vehicles in the lot. I searched up and down for each number, but had very little luck since there seemed to be no order to the organization of the keys on the wall. In between Erin's radio traffic I heard something coming from down the hall. I called out to Erin over the radio and told her to stop for a second I had to do a little investigating.

I poked my head out of the office and didn't see anything right off hand. I slowly stepped into the hallway and looked around. I felt like a kid crossing the road, "Look both ways before crossing!" I could hear my mom's voice in my head warning me. Who knew that her warning would still apply here at the end of the world as we knew it. I stopped in the middle of the hallway and listened again. The noises seemed to be coming from a cubicle about 15 feet from where I was standing. Something that we have learned about these creatures is that they respond very quickly to loud noises, so I got the genius idea to stomp my foot on the ground to try to get the attention of what ever was behind the wall. After my foot hit the ground I began to regret what I had done but alas it had already been done. I waited for a second and watched the wall. Nothing happened. So I stomped again, and again nothing. At this point I was confused and couldn't figure out what was making the noises. Slowly I walked towards the wall, gun drawn waiting for something to pop up. Still nothing. I reached the cubicle wall and crouched behind it. I double checked the two .50 hand guns to make sure the safety's were off. I jumped up with the guns out ready to start shooting. What I saw behind the wall nearly made me double over and start vomiting.

Laying next to her desk was what I have to assume was a female employee of the dealership gasping for air and bleeding out. Her neck looked like it had been torn apart by a buzz saw as it was shredded. She was on her last breaths and would not last much longer. I could barely stand to look and she stared at me waiting for her death. Knowing that she would come back to life once she died I pointed the gun at her head and pulled the trigger, putting a bullet through her brain. At least she wouldn't have to come back as one of these abominations.

As I sat thinking about what I just had to do Erin's voice came back over the radio. She had heard the gunshot and was frantic trying to make sure I was ok and still alive. Alive yes, ok no. That was one thing that had always bothered me since the outbreak had occurred. Not only had I become a killer of the undead, but now I had to kill people to save them from coming back as a rambling semblance of a human being that did nothing but kill. If I ever made it through all of this then I guess I may have some sins to atone for, but for now I did what was necessary for survival. I grabbed the radio to respond to Erin and let her know I was headed back to the key room and the building was clear.

It turns out that I had spoken to soon. As soon as I had let go of the mic button I turned to see a sprinter less than 5 feet away rushing towards me. Dammit he must have been the one that attacked the girl and I had drawn him to me when i fired the gun. The behemoth hit me like a ton of bricks. The sprinter had probably previously been a mechanic at the dealership. He was easily 6' 6'' and over 300 pounds. His mass hit me and sent me flying to the ground and skittering across the smooth floor. When I hit the ground the two guns in my hands shot out and went across the room. Great here I am with no weapons in hand with undead baby Huey standing a few feet away. I scrambled to my feet and began to run down the nearest hallway. I could hear his footsteps behind me as he gave chase. I ducked into a small office and shut the door. I dove over the desk and hit the ground behind it. No sooner did I hit the ground than I heard the door shatter and his mass hit it. Damn this guy was big and apparently he saw me as dinner. I was crouching behind the desk hiding and hoping that he would think I had disappeared.

He sat in the doorway scanning the room trying to figure out where I had gone. See the thing about these creatures is that they are not really all that intelligent. It doesn't matter how smart one may have been they had been when they were alive, once they were turned their only thought is to hunt and kill. Luckily for me this guy probably hadn't been all that smart in life and now he was even dumber in death. I watched from under the desk as he slowly turned and started to walk away. I remembered I had the shotgun strapped to my back. I grabbed the strap and pulled it around until I had my hands on the trigger. As the creature turned to exit the room having lost his prey and jumped out from behind the desk and fired off a round. The shot hit the creatures mass and sent him reeling forward. Bad shot on my part as the creature turned around and lunged for me. I swung the point of the shotgun up and blasted another round into the creature. This one hit the mark as half of his face blew off in a cloud of blood and bone. The lumbering giant fell backwards and twitched. The shot hadn't completely killed monster but had incapacitated him enough that I could go over and finish him off. I stepped up to his body, stood over him and pointed the gun at what was left of his head. I cocked the gun and pulled the trigger. The pieces of his head that were left flew apart if a millisecond and ended what must have been a miserable existence for this guy.

I was sweating bullets and wondering how I had been so lucky to have survived that little surprise attack when i again heard Erin's voice over the radio. Only this time it was not Erin's meek little voice asking if I was ok, but her screaming at the top of her lungs. I hauled ass out of the office, ran back out to the lobby grabbed my handguns and made haste to the lot.

I had been careless with firing off all of those rounds and it had attracted the attention of a wandering pack of sprinters that were nearby. Dammit why had I agreed to let Erin stay out there alone. We should have never split up. I burst through the glass doors and screamed for Erin to start running towards me. She ran as fast as she could towards the doors while I tried my best to cover her. I hit 2 of the creatures in the face with .50 cal rounds while doing my best to avoid Erin. I slammed the doors shut and did my best to hold them once Erin had dove through.

As I held the doors as tight as possible Erin grabbed the shot gun from my back. I yelled for Erin to run into a cubicle for cover. She ducked behind a small wall while I let go of the doors and ran as fast as I possibly could. My body was still sore from the mass of undead that had plowed into me earlier so I wasn't able to move at full speed. I ducked behind another wall a few feet from Erin. I heard the creatures rushing in trying to hunt us down for dinner.

The four creatures that had burst through the doors were running through the lobby smashing into everything in their way. I figured it would be able to take down a few and draw them away from Erin by making a loud noise. I grabbed the computer monitor on the desk next to me and heaved it over the wall. Without knowing it I had hit one of the creatures in the face and had done nothing but piss it off more. The creatures head popped over the wall and began snarling at me. Since I wasn't expected this I jumped backwards and fired off a single round. The shot blew through the creatures eye splattering pieces of brain and flesh across the lobby.

No sooner did I see the creatures head explode than I heard Erin's shotgun go off and see a spray of blood come from the wall near her cubicle. Damn I had taught her well she was handling herself like a pro zombie killer right now. With two down that only left us with two to still drop. I peeked out from around the corner and saw the remaining two running towards Erin. Damn my mind was racing, I had to do something to stop them from getting to her. I ran out from behind the wall and did my best linebacker impression as I drove my shoulder into the nearest creature. The force knocked the both of us down to the floor. As I hit the ground I saw Erin running out from behind the wall with her shotgun ready and she started firing at the one that was still standing. She hit it with three rounds before it finally fell. She turned her attention to the one I had knocked over and pulled the trigger, but heard nothing but a echoing click. She was out of rounds and standing in the wide open. I scrambled to my feet and yelled for Erin to get out of the way. I unloaded everything I had into the creature as it slowly got to its feet. In my haste I had missed its head with every round. As it rose slowly and started to move towards us I noticed that the monitor I had thrown at them earlier was now only a few feet from me. I ran towards the monitor and grabbed it from the ground. With everything I had left a sprinted towards the now standing creature and smashed it in the head with the screen. With a dull thud the creature collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.

Exhausted Erin and I both sat in the nearest chairs in the lobby and looked at the carnage that had ensued. We had managed to kill 7 of the undead between the two of us and had come out alive. I'm not sure how long our luck can hold out before one of us gets injured in one of these fights. but for now we were alive and safe and that's what mattered.

After getting some rest and raiding what food was left in the building Erin and I decided on a car from the lot. I guess a 2010 Golf TDI isn't the worst way to travel across country after the apocalypse, at least we'll get good gas mileage.

I'm Not Alone

Finally have a chance to stop and log another entry. In the past few days a lot has occurred that I can honestly say a year ago I would have said was impossible. Its funny to think that just a little while back people obsessed over things such as cars, clothes, and other designer items. I always laughed at those people that would go out and spend $400 dollars on a purse just because it said Chanel or LV on it. Or those people that would go out and spend $100,000 dollars on a car. Those same people are now either dead or the walking dead, and here I am hot wiring their $100,000 dollar car and beating the hell out of it. The irony of the whole situation helps a little in keeping me amused while I fight for my own survival.

I guess I should make something clear before we get to far. I am not exactly alone in my little adventure here, I do have a companion moving along with me. A girl named Erin is traveling with me right now. We have known each other for almost 10 years now and always told each other that we would be around for the other if needed. I guess this situation fits the bill for that promise. Its kinda funny that of all the people I could be left with in the apocalypse I would be left with the one person in the world that I am the polar opposite of. More irony in a world of destruction.

A few things you should know about Erin. She is the essential tree-hugging hippie, green, PETA member. Before this all occurred she would be the person you would find outside of a KFC protesting their treatment of animals. Or the person who would see a woman walking in a fur coat, run up to her yell fur is murder, and throw a can of paint on her. While I'm the one who drove the hummer and ate all the meat I could, she drove a bio-diesel car and was a vegetarian. I can say that there is no way I would have ever thought that it would be her and I in the end.

So here we are the hippie and the carnivore traveling across the country trying to figure out what to do next. The arguments between us are far and few, but when they occur I even feel bad for the creatures roaming around us. Hell if I heard one of these arguments from the outside, I would try to attack us I would run (or in the case of a grazer hobble) away as fast as I could and hope I didn't get caught in the shit storm to come. Ha, who would have ever thought that I would feel sympathy for a mindless killing machine.

Well back on track. To give you a idea of the things we are facing along the way Ill tell you about our little adventure into the strip club. I know anyone reading this is thinking "WTF, A strip club???" Now hear me out at the time I thought it was a good idea. My logic was that who the hell would go to a strip club when the world is about to end. Of course this lead to a massive argument between Erin and I that escalated into her threatening to shoot me. In the end of course I won since I just took her gun away and told her I was going to leave her outside. Word of advice never listen to me when a strip club is involved regardless of the situation.

Once we got into the strip everything seemed cool. The lights were still down low and the music was going loud. Of course me being me the first thing I looked for was the booze. Come on who doesn't want to down some booze in the safety of a gentleman's club to escape the hell outside. Erin first thought of course was a little smarter, she started scavenging for anything would could use along the way. After she disappeared for a few minutes I started to hit the bottle. Sat down on one of the coaches and relaxed. For some reason my mind drifted off to my friends back east and wondered if any of them were still alive or if they had succumbed to the outbreak as well. As I started to drift off my peace and tranquility was broken by Erin running by me screaming "You Dumb Ass!!!" at the top of her lungs. After a second or two of that I finally looked back from where she had come to see why she was running. There coming out of the room she had left was 5 sprinters coming after her, and my brilliant idea to take away her gun had left her defenseless.

It turns out the the night of the outbreak in the particular club there was a bachelor party going on in a private room. Who knew? So instead of us finding a abandoned building that we could rest in we had walked into what could only be described as a nest full of creatures.

I jumped up and threw a handgun to Erin since I had left my dufflebag full of weapons behind the counter of the bar. She started shooting at the sprinters coming at us full speed. Its hard to imagine exactly how fast these brain dead beings are, but imagine being chased by a rabid wolf that has nothing on its mind other than killing you for dinner. Erin fired a round right by my head a hit a sprinter diving at my right in the head killing it instantly. Thankfully I had taught her how to shoot when this all occurred or else I would have been screwed. The creatures noticed where the shot had come from and started running toward the loud noises. To give Erin her credit she was a natural shot with that handgun. She was able to take down 2 more with shots to the head, and all this without hitting me with a single round. Unfortunately Erin had exhausted all of the rounds if the gun and was now without a weapon of any sorts. This is where my ingenuity took over and I came up with a great idea. I picked up the chair next to me a whipped it as hard as I could toward the closest sprinter. Luckily for me these things are dumb as hell and he didn't try to move out of the way at all. The chair caught it square in the midsection and knocked him over. I ran over and drove the heel of my boot square into the creatures face. The crunch of the bone as his skull collapsed was vile and gut wrenching. After three more stomps the creature finally stopped moving.

While I was busy stomping the hell out of this brain sucker (they don't actually suck brains by the way), Erin was busy running around trying to avoid the one sprinter we had left. At this point she had it on the other side of the room away from the bar where all the weapons were sitting. Of course she would be no where near the only chance she had to kill this thing. I ran to the bar, grabbed the bag and ducked under the bar. Once I had my favorite little toy out I yelled for Erin to start running towards the bar. She hoped across the stage, barely missing the greased up pole on the middle, and ran towards the bar. While she was running towards me I couldn't help but laugh, here was Erin the borderline feminist up on the stage of a strip club. If you had told me that one day Erin would be up on the stage I probably would have pissed myself laughing and yet here it was occurring in front of my own eyes. As Erin closed in on the bar area I ducked down a bit so the creature wouldn't see me and change course to go for the bigger stationary meal. Erin rounded the corner of the bar and I stood up, the creature was about 5 feet away. One second the room was filled with a loud boom from my shotgun the next the room was covered in blood and flesh from what was left of what I can only assume was the groom to be.

This is where everything goes black for a little while. See I remember firing the shotgun and watching the zombie explode, the next thing I know I'm waking up on one of the coaches in a corner with a splitting headache. It turns out Erin was so pissed at me about coming in here and not checking it before I hit the booze that she had grabbed a bottle of vodka from the bar and smacked me in the back of the head with it. Gotta say that girl has one hell of a swing with a bottle. After Erin was done yelling at me, which lasted over a hour by the way, we finally checked the rest of the rooms and barricaded the doors. I'm guessing there are not to many people out there that can say that they have slept over night in a strip club but at least now I can.

So for now we are holed up here waiting for morning. As I sit here and write this I cant get the thoughts of my friends back east out of my head. I guess I know where I'm headed now. Until I know what happened to everyone I know I will not be satisfied. I know Erin isn't going to be happy with this decision and its quite possible she will say no and walk away. I hoping she decides to keep traveling with me since I'm not sure how long I will last on my own.