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!!