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?"