The Last Days (3 book omnibus)
Date: 2013-07-08 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Zombies
Description: You begin by reading Jillians personal journal of events. Then you will meet Kate, who finds Jillians body and her journal as well as finding Angel; a girl abandoned in the midst of the undead. Finally, join Kate and her friends as they struggle to survive the zombie apocalypse and make it to a shelter in Georgia. There; they hope to find a way to eradicate the dead above. You begin by reading Jillians personal journal of events. Then you will meet Kate, who finds Jillians body and her journal as well as finding Angel; a girl abandoned in the midst of the undead. Finally, join Kate and her fri

The Last Days

Books I, II & III

Written

By

Julie Cooper Brown

Copyright©2013JulieCooperBrown Thank you for purchasing this book. This Book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed for any commercial or non-commercial use without permission from the author.  Quotes used in reviews are the exception.  No alteration of content is allowed.  If you enjoyed this book, then encourage your friends to purchase their own copy. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to person, living or dead, or places and events are purely coincidental. The characters are a product of the authors’ imagination and are used fictitiously. Your support and respect or the author of this product is appreciated.

All rights reserved.

Copyright©JulieCooper-Brown2013

ISBN: 1490530134

ISBN-13: 978-1490530134

DEDICATION

Dedicated to the fans of The Last Days Series. Thank you for reading.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

i

1

The Last Day in the Life of Jillian

1

2

Kate’s  Calling

115

3

Angel

252

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my family and friends (old and new) for their support.

book i
the last day in the life of     jillian

October 20, 2013

12:34 A.M.

I’m not really sure how I should start this out; I’ve never been much of a writer. Since I have only two bullets left, which are reserved for use in the very near future, I might as well start from the beginning of the events that led us here. It will give me something to occupy my mind, sort of detach me from the situation at hand so I can better cope. Someone has got to leave of record of these things; I guess it will be me. Not that I believe that there will be anyone left to read it, I just think that if I put it down on paper that it will help me to realize that I will not be committing murder and suicide. I will be showing us a great act of mercy.

Never in a million years would I have ever thought that I would have to kill him.

I’m not going to kill him because of arguments, or money, or infidelity. You know… the normal reasons spouses usually kill each other over. I am going to kill him because, he has been bitten.

Bitten? By what?

A zombie.

A what?

I said zombie.

Zombie!? Awwwe, nooo waaay, Dude!

Yes, way.

He’s been bitten by a rot faced, shit kicking zombie. I know… I can hardly believe it myself.

I have accepted, (for the most part) that Evan is going to become a zombie and try to eat me. I don’t know when. I know that in the movies it only takes a few minutes for them to turn after being bitten. I guess it would have to since they need to fit all that action into one hundred and twenty minute shows. Not now, though.

In the real world, the virus that has invaded our country, could take up to three days. That’s a good thing; it gives you a little time.

It has now been twenty-seven hours since it happened. His breathing is becoming shallow now, so I may have just a few minutes, possibly a few hours. I will go on as long as I can.

I will begin by telling you a little bit about us.

My name is Jillian Drake and I am here with my husband Evan. We are both 37 years old. We were living in Ft. Myers, Florida.

I have waist length wavy auburn hair, blue eyes, a straight nose, and a little gap between my two front teeth. I like to think it’s my trademark. I’m a little chunky, I haven’t always been.  Pleasingly plump is what I call it, though I have lost quite a bit in light of the past few week’s events. (Too bad it took a crisis to get me to lose 20 pounds).

Evan used to tell me that I looked like (with my mouth shut) the beautiful actress Rachel Weisz (who I’m guessing is not so pretty anymore). I didn’t agree, but I’ll gladly take it.

I met my husband while I was working in a diner. He walked in the door with the most amazingly beautiful bright green eyes, and dark brown hair that is just half a shade from being black. He was wearing a white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, blue jeans that fit him very well and work boots. In my book, there isn’t anything in the world a man can wear that makes him hotter than that. Whew! I swear I couldn’t concentrate!

I botched every order I took except for his. I couldn’t keep my eyes off his mouth, perfectly plump, beautifully shaped lips that are a natural shade of purple.

He caught me looking a couple times and I was only slightly embarrassed, I wanted him to see me looking.

I know that might sound bad, but just from looking at him, I felt tremors in places I didn’t know I had. Imagine my elation when he asked me for my number. I even did a little victory dance in the middle of the dining room after he left, which earned me some pretty funny looks from the other patrons.

It was definitely lust at first sight. We dated for a few months before we got married, barefoot on the beach.

It was just the two of us and Reverend Hostetler, the cute little old Amish preacher that performed the ceremony. It was perfect. Evan did get a little impatient with the longwinded speech the Reverend was giving about marriage and as soon as he paused, Evan interrupted and said as sweetly as possible, “Can I kiss my bride now?” and the preacher said “No, I’m not finished yet.” We all laughed at this and finished the ceremony.

We spent the next two days and nights in a beachfront room at the Island Pier Hotel.  In the evening we pulled our chairs down on the sand and kicked back with our beers in hand, without a word we watched the sun go down while we listened to the sounds of the Gulf. It was definitely a Corona moment.

Pretty much inseparable ever since, we have never spent a night apart. That was seven years ago.

I know - I know. It’s the shortest love story you have ever heard. There’s no time for an epic romance novel, or the steamy erotic tale it would be if I included the juicy bits.

So now, I will get to the point.

I am guilty of being addicted to Resident Evil games, zombie movies, shows, and books. I had seen Return of the Living Dead when I was ten and it scared the shit out of me, but I knew it was only make believe so I became a little bit of a zombie fanatic.

Even though I was so fascinated by zombies, they went on the back burner for a little while after I read ‘Interview with a Vampire’.

I fell in love with Lestat, as did everyone else on the planet. It was all about vampires after that.

I wanted to be one so bad; I really wish I could be one right now. I would make Evan my immortal companion before the Infection set in enough to ravage his body and transform him into a being that I used to love to be frightened of. Yes, it is a fantasy world I sometimes live in. Evan used to tell me so all the time.

Anyway, all the time that I was mostly into vampires, I still loved playing any zombie killing game I could play, as long as it had a good story line.

I could live through the terror with Leon or Claire while playing Resident Evil, I could endure the attacks of the twitchy nurses and their giant syringes in Silent Hill.

I was okay because, I was only playing a game.

It’s not a game now.

There are no puzzles to solve, no pieces of medallions to find, so I can use them to open the big door at the end of the hall. No cryptic message leading me closer to a lab holding the cure, and no little green healing plants around every other corner.

There is also no option to restart.

If there were I would’ve hit that button a thousand and one times.

BUT, there is most definitely a big, bloody YOU ARE DEAD.

I thought I had paid attention to details when I watched all those horror movies over the years.

I guess not or we wouldn’t be trapped. I have a personal mental list called ‘Places you NEVER hide during a Zombie outbreak’ and rule number one is… DON”T HIDE IN A FUCKING ATTIC!

But here we are, stuck in an attic. It couldn’t be helped, we were left with no other choice - and I swear, if I hear a Halfer (I will explain them later) start yelling, “I know you’re up there, Jillian. I know - because I can smell your BRAINS!”

Oh My God! I will go psycho bat-shit crazy before I get the chance to complete the task that lies before me.

That used to be my favorite line from Return of The Living Dead. Not anymore, since I find us in an eerily similar predicament.

Just so you know killing the Infected is messy. You can’t even get a little bit of infected blood or tissue on you. In the movies and on TV, they just whack them up and blood is flying everywhere in their faces and all across their mouths and shit.

Well, here in the real world, if it gets on your skin ANYWHERE you are ‘subject to change’. We only know that because of our friend Jimmy.  I’ll tell you about it if I can get that far.

And it only makes sense, right? I mean, if you can be infected by injection or by a bite and even a scratch, it has to flow through the blood stream to affect the brain. How else could it be carried through the body?

Well, I’m no doctor, but I’m almost sure that I am right.

And no, the previously deceased do not come back, clawing their way out of their graves screaming for brains. Those people have already made their peace with God and they are left at rest.

GOD’S PUNISHMENT

I’m pretty sure all this has to do with the Apocalypse, Armageddon - THE END OF THE WORLD!

I believe that because, God said “AND YE SHALL BE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!”, “AND THE EARTH SHALL BE SWALLOWED UP!”, “THE DEAD SHALL RISE!”

Not the exact quotes but you get the idea. I can, however, quote Revelation 9:6.

“And in those days men shall seek Death, and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”

I think that the latter was meant for unbelievers, I’m not sure, but it seems to fit this situation in some cases.

Don’t worry, I’m not gonna quote the whole Bible to you, I’m only giving the reasons why I think this particular curse was laid on us.

I think that the USA is suffering the worst kind of plague because of our actions.

USA is the Land of The Free right? The land in which you can worship many Gods except the God this country was founded on. . The land where the ‘powers that be’ have removed the Ten Commandments from our schools and public places despite the protests of not only the truly devout, but non- practicing Christians as well. This is a land where the people have more faith in sex and gold than they have in The Creator.

In this land, women can show, sell, and bargain with the whole of their bodies if they want to. Homosexuals are allowed to proclaim it and be proud. Not that I have anything against them. I’m just putting it out there. Our children are having sex before they are in their teens. Lewd and lascivious acts are even happening in churches of all religions.

Our Pastors are sleeping with the Deacons wives, the Deacons are sleeping with the men and women of the congregation and our Catholic Priests are raping young children and getting away with it.

God said, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

I don’t go to church, and I’m not exactly a saint. I just don’t feel like I have to stand in a room full of hypocrites for God to know my heart.

I have a lot of flaws as does everyone else, (one of them being my consistently foul mouth) but no matter how I’ve lived my life, I have always believed in God and that He created us, and that we will all be held accountable for our actions. That we will all suffer for our own sins as well as the sins of others.

And now, I believe it’s time to pay the Piper.

This curse is a punishment given to us because of our desire for flesh.

It’s as if He held out his hands and said to us, “IF IT IS THE FLESH THAT YE SO GREATLY DESIRE WITH ALL YOUR HEARTS, THEN IT IS FLESH YE SHALL SURELY HAVE, IN ABUNDANCE!”

And with the snap of His fingers came a bolt of lightning and the Infection was cast down upon us.

Those who are attacked by a flesh eater, become a flesh eater. Those who are killed without injury to the brain, they too, become flesh eaters. Those who are lucky enough to get away will just be running, until all the resources are dried up. They will starve to death, and become an Infected, or be left with the decision to commit suicide and not become an infected.

It’s kind of like being able to choose between Heaven and Hell. What do you do?

“To be or not to be?  That is the question.”

I think someone great once said that. I don’t know who. It doesn’t matter any way, that’s just about the gist of it. Either way, we are screwed. There is no escape. We found that out the hard way.

There are SO FUCKING MANY OF THESE THINGS! And these zombies don’t just eat brains; any part of your body will suffice.

It’s just like the movies in which the intended victims are running, and the killer keeps dragging ass but they ALWAYS catch up to them. There’s NO WAY OUT!

I just want to go back home now. I am really angry that Evan got bit. I should’ve been right behind him.

If he were okay; I’d say let’s just go home and die in OUR bed, surrounded by the familiar things that we worked so hard to obtain. We didn’t even want to leave, but it wasn’t safe to stay. But REALLY! Where the fuck is it safe to stay these days?

Ugh! I’m so frustrated!  I apologize for the language but it’s the only way I have to vent; and if I shouted it out loud like I really want to, I’ll just stir up the Infected downstairs. I can hear them moaning and groaning down there, reminding me that there is nowhere left to run.

Game Over.

They DO know we’re up here; they just can’t get to us because when I pulled up the ladder, I tightly wrapped the cord around a nail I saw sticking up out of the floor to keep it from being pulled open. They will have to drag some kind of furniture up to stand on and pry the lid somehow to get up here. The ones down there now aren’t smart enough.

I can just see them now.

Standing under the hatch, open mouthed, milky-eyed and staring at it, waiting for us to come down. Why not? They have all the time in the world.

Now, the Halfers - I’m kind of worried about because they still think like a human and possess insane speed and strength for about three hours or so before they become full out zombie. As far as I can tell, there aren’t any of those down there. Not yet.

Damn, two months ago I would’ve sworn on my life, that I could survive if a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ were to occur. It’s apparent that I can’t.

Evan is sick and I’m alone now. All I have left to do, is wait.

So, I will tell as much as I can recall, as accurately as I can while I’m waiting.

This may not be as action packed as you would expect, it is only my account of what it was really like for Evan and I to remain alive during a real zombie apocalypse.

I’m sure there were people in larger groups running around, with a much more interesting tale to tell. But not us, we chose to be alone.

So, I’m not going to say much about some of the people we ran into, because there weren’t many. I’ll just say that few people we did meet all felt the same way we do. Less people together, the less threat of being caught. No threat of one of us turning on the others if someone decided to keep being scratched, or bitten a secret.

We talked, swapped stories, shared survival tips, traded supplies and parted ways.

And as far as killing zombies, there is no glorious tale of kill or be killed. We did have to kill quite a few, but we were better off dodging them than we were if we would have stayed to fight them.

It all began on Thursday, September 12th.

THE DISASTERS

I awoke that morning with a suffocating sense of dread.

I felt like there was something seriously wrong. It was so strong that my heart was racing and I was shaking inside. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, I was sure I would faint.

Anyone else might’ve thought they were having a heart attack, but I had those feelings often enough to know what they were.

Sometimes, things did happen. Minor things and they weren’t as bad as the feelings would lead me to believe, but this time was different, it weighed much too heavily on me.

I knew it wasn’t going to be a small thing.

I went back into the bedroom and looked in on Evan to make sure he was still breathing. No reason why he shouldn’t be, I just wanted to cross that out.

I thought to call my sisters, but it being so early in the morning (five thirty a.m.), I didn’t think my call would be received with much warmth. I made a mental note to call them at eight, turned on the television and booted up the computer.

I needed to get online and continue my job search; I had been out of work for a month by then and was bored out of my mind, not to mention the hard time Evan was having keeping us afloat. He was working six days a week insulating new homes, and he was just plain tired.

I checked my phone and saw that I had no missed calls. I checked my Facebook page, thinking, if something was really wrong, anyone who didn’t have my phone number would message me.

There were none.

I took a deep breath, put aside my fears for the moment and began my usual routine.

I went into the kitchen and turned the stove on low and started heating a skillet, hit the ‘START’ button on the coffee pot and put Evan’s work clothes on the hook in the bathroom.

The pan was hot enough by then so I cracked two eggs into the skillet and packed his lunch while I waited to turn them.

I just couldn’t shake my bad feeling and I didn’t want Evan to go to work. I wanted him to stay home with me, that way I could be sure that whatever was wrong had nothing to do with him.

I flipped the eggs and watched them cook while I tried to get it out of my mind, I knew we couldn’t afford for him to stay home.

When the eggs were done I put them on a plate to cool and went in to wake Evan.

“Hey, it’s time to get up.” I shook his foot and turned off the air conditioner. He always slept with it on because he liked the chili temperature of the room and the sound of it put him to sleep.

“Man, I just wanna sleep all day,” he said groggily “do I have a few more minutes?”

“No, I’m sorry,” I said as I leaned over and kissed him.

“I let you sleep as long as I could. Your clothes are on the bathroom door.”

“Okay, I’m up.” he said throwing the blanket off of him, smiling as he looked down towards his rigid member. I really wanted to, but the feelings I was having made sex the last thing on my mind.

“No, Evan. Not right now.” I said regretfully though I could not keep from admiring the beauty of it.

“Okay, your loss…” he said and got up and went into the bathroom, mumbling something mean under his breath.

While he showered, I put his eggs on bread and still contemplated on asking him to skip work today. I knew he would say no, so I decided against it.

He came out dressed for work and he smelled so good. I went to him and buried my face in his neck, inhaling his scent and hoping it would calm me. It didn’t, it only made it worse. He hugged me back and asked “What’s that for?”

He left one arm around my waist and the other reached out for his egg sandwich.  Food, the (second) first thing a man thinks of upon waking.

“I love you.” I said and went to sit in the recliner while he ate and checked his Facebook.

I still just could not get rid of that feeling. It was driving me nuts!

I sat shaking my leg and chewing my jaw as I tried to think of ‘Things That Could Go Wrong Today’.

I was already out of a job so that wasn’t it. All the housework was done except the few little things I had to do after Evan was gone, and I couldn’t call my sisters for a couple hours yet.

I didn’t know what else it could be.

“Is there something wrong with you today? You turned me down and now you’re eating your fingers.” Evan asked and I snapped back to the here and now, I didn’t realize I had started chewing my nails.

I looked at my index finger and silently cursed to myself, I had chewed it down to the quick and was a little pissed at myself because I had been letting them grow for a month and they were getting long. Now I was missing one.

“No - just, I don’t know. I’m feeling real bad today. I think something is wrong, but I don’t know what and I hate feeling this way.”  I stood up because the anxiety of it was getting the best of me and I couldn’t sit still.

“There you go with them feelings again, is that what kept me from getting laid this morning? I keep telling you that its panic attacks and you won’t go to the doctor. Make an appointment today. I mean it.”

His tone was a little cold but I knew he meant well, but I could tell he was still a little aggravated because I had turned him down this morning. I had never turned him down before.

“It’s not panic attacks, it’s something else and I can’t put my finger on it! It’s not the same as usual, Evan.”

Then it was out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“Please, will you stay home today?”

His eyes softened and he could tell that I was very distraught.

“Jill, obviously something’s bothering you and I wish I could stay, but I can’t. The bills are due and missing even one day of work puts us out for a month. I can’t stay home just because you have a bad feeling. I’m sorry, but I have to go. I mean, right now. I’m gonna be late. I love you.”

He kissed me. “Call me if you have to, I’ll keep my phone close.”

He went to the sink for a quick drink of water and said to me over his shoulder, “Make the appointment.”

With that he grabbed his cooler and left. He thought I was going crazy. That was the last thing I needed, it only added to my stress.

I poured a cup of coffee, sat down in front of the computer and lit a cigarette. It was time to get the ball rolling, I needed a job a.s.a.p., and too much time on my hands probably contributed to my sense of impending doom.

I checked Craigslist for any new listings in the ‘food and beverage’ department, (I was a short order cook) and still the same stuff as yesterday.

I logged onto Snagajob and searched through those listings as well. I filled out a couple of applications, and then checked my email for responses to previous job inquiries, no responses.

I was getting even more aggravated and decided I just needed to try to relax for a while. I got a pillow and blanket out of the bedroom and tossed them and myself on the couch. I scanned through my choices on Netflix and settled on a movie I had already seen. It didn’t matter because if things went the way I’d planned, I wouldn’t last fifteen minutes. I was kind of exhausted from the worry and I wasn’t sure that I could sleep, but I was gonna try anyway. And I did.

The clock on the TV said nine o’clock when I woke so I slept for two hours.

I refreshed my browser and got up to pour another cup of coffee. It was still hot because I left the pot on, but it was thick and strong so I added a little warm water and lit another cigarette. Yes, those are my vices. I love my coffee and cigarettes.

I picked up my cell and hit the auto dial for my sister April and got her voicemail. I waited for the beep and after what seemed like forever, it finally came.

“Hey, it’s me. I was just calling to say hi. Well, actually, I’m feeling a little weird today and - well, I just want to know if you guys are okay. So - give me a call when you get this. Love you, bye.”

I then tried Marie but the prerecorded message said “The customer you are trying to call is temporarily unavailable”. She didn’t have minutes on her phone. I hated those prepaid phones.

I decided to take a scalding hot shower and as soon as I stepped under the spray and lathered up, I felt the tension in my neck and shoulders begin to melt away. After a considerable amount of time standing there, the hot water was gone and I had to get out. I don’t do cold showers.

I wrapped my hair in a towel, dried off and threw on an old pair of sweat pants and one of Evan’s T-shirts. I loved wearing his clothes, I could wash his shirts five times over, back to back, and it seemed I could always smell him.

Then the phone rang.

I looked at the screen and it was April returning my call.

“April! Hi, thanks for calling me back so soon.”

“I just got in from Zumba class, and we’re going out with the girls tonight. I thought I’d call you back before we go shopping for something to wear…what’s up?”

“You go to Zumba class at eight o’ clock in the morning?” I asked exasperated.

“Well yea, what’s wrong with that?” she asked.

“Nothing - I’ve just been uptight all day, and wanted to check on you two. Is Marie there?”

“Yea, she’s here, you wanna talk to her?” “No, just tell her I love her, and put some minutes on her damn phone, I can never reach her. I guess since you guys are okay, and Evan is okay, then I have nothing to worry about. I’ll let you get off here. I have a few things I need to do myself.”

“Okay, I love you, bye.” And she hung up before I could reply. I wish I would have talked to Marie.

Satisfied that all was right with the world, I checked the MSN page for the news. Cable was too expensive to have; one hundred and forty channels and half of them were Spanish versions of the first fifty channels. I don’t speak Spanish therefore I don’t need Spanish channels. Highway robbery is what it was, so we just paid for internet service and got our news from websites.

Everything was NOT right with the world. The first thing that caught my eye was the picture that was posted with the headlines.

It just looked like a mass of crumbled buildings and deep gashes in the earth. I scrolled down the page so I could read the headlines.

‘Multiple Quakes Rock the Entire Continent of Asia’

I scrolled down a little further to read the story and was shocked.

It had destroyed most of the continent. Seventeen earthquakes all within a few minutes of each other, all measured nine on the Richter scale.

I watched the attached video and was horrified.

A camera that was mounted on the top of the news building captured only 7 seconds of video before it too, was consumed by the great chasm the quake had created.

The camera was shaky of course, you could see the buildings sway and then topple over onto the people on the ground. Then you could see the ground opening up and people and buildings were being sucked into it until finally the camera itself and the building it was mounted on toppled as well. The video was over.

After the initial shock I went to my Facebook to post the link, these people were going to need some help. Someone had already shared the link and there was another link, to a post that was labeled,

‘No Plans for Rescue’ and

‘Resulting Tsunamis Wipe Indonesia Off of the Map’

I called Evan to tell him about it and I thought he was gonna say that’s why I was feeling bad earlier.

As soon as he answered, he said, “I know, quakes in China, and…” I cut him off.

“Not just China, Russia, India and everything in between and apparently Indonesia is under water, they’re not making rescue efforts.”

“You must’ve read that wrong, I’ll see it when I get home. I’m on the way, do I have any beer?” he asked and I was already prepared with the answer.

“You only have two.”

“Well, I’ll stop and get some so we don’t have to get back out. See you in a few, love you babe.”

Evan arrived home a short time later, got a quick shower and grabbed a beer from the fridge. After reading the story and watching the video, he said nothing, only shrugged and sighed. I could tell the wheels were turning in his head. I was expecting him to bring up Revelations, but he didn’t.

Evan liked to talk politics and religion, and I stay far away as I can from both of those subjects, usually.

I was concerned that he didn’t have anything to say about it, I don’t know if he didn’t say anything because he figured I wouldn’t want to hear it, or if he just didn’t know what to say.

I actually wanted to talk about it but I let it go.

We continued our day with a short walk, lasagna for dinner and a movie we had been waiting to see since it came out. We went to bed around eleven thirty.

I tossed and turned most of the night and finally got up around four a.m. to check the news again.

I was concerned about the quake victims. It didn’t seem right; you would think they would have to conduct a search for survivors. The quake news had now been minimized and a much larger picture of West Minster Abbey was on the screen, there were people lying everywhere, some were even lying in the doorway like they had been walking through and dropped dead right where they were standing. The headline…

‘United Kingdom Suffers Unexplained Sudden Deaths! Death Toll Two Hundred Thousand and Rising!’

Are you kidding me?

It went on to say that three airplanes had crashed when the pilots fell unconscious at the controls, and all flights in and out of the UK were cancelled until further notice. Hundreds of car accidents and even some emergency personnel suffered the same fate en route to the scenes.

I thought these disasters must be a hoax; someone has a sick sense of humor. People were dying in such great numbers, it seemed impossible. I became very afraid, and knew then, why I was feeling so terrible.

I woke Evan much earlier than I was supposed to, he wasn’t happy about it either. I started rattling the situation off to him and he grew frustrated with me because I was feeding him so much so fast.

He squinted his eyes and ran his hand over his face and said,

“Tell me all this shit when I’m fully awake, will ya? It’s too much for me right now. I’m getting my shower.”

And he stormed into the bathroom this time. His morning grouchiness was something I could never get used to. I knew I was overwhelming him a bit so I went ahead and started a pot of coffee and paced while I waited for him to come back out.

“What in the hell is going on, now?” he asked as he finished combing his hair.

“Just look at the picture first.” I said, as I settled back against the counter with coffee in hand and watched him as he scanned the picture.

“It’s West Minster Abbey, what about it?” he said with an attitude. Ouch, so damn grouchy!

“What’s wrong with this picture, Evan? Look at it, really look at it!” I said with a little attitude myself, as I pointed out the bodies. I shouldn’t have gotten so snippy because he really needed glasses, had since he was a child. He just didn’t like to wear them. I watched his face and saw it change when he realized what he was seeing.

“Holy shit, this is…”

I had a bad habit of cutting him off.

“You are NOT going to work today.” I told him.

“Yes, I am. That’s there, Jill. Not here. I have to go to work. The world doesn’t stop turning. We had this conversation yesterday. Why are we having it again today?”

“That could be contagious and could be …” I was going to say spreading to here, but this time I was the one cut off, by Evan’s cell phone.

It came with the convenient feature of Voice Announced Caller ID, with a lifelike smoky female voice; it said ‘Call from - Gloria’. She is the office manager at Coopers Insulation. Before it could begin its annoying chime of a ring, he picked it up.

“Good Morning.”

I could only hear his end of the conversation.

“Yea, my wife and I were just talking about that - Okay, then - No, not at all. I’ll be there within the hour - Okay, see ya there.”

He looked at me and said “Well, you got your wish. Our job for today cancelled. We gotta go pick up my paycheck though, and she is only gonna be there a little while. Let’s go.”

We drove the twenty minutes to the shop, and Gloria was already gone but had  left it in the mailbox with a note saying they had included a bonus and that she would call on Sunday if they were going to open up shop on Monday.

A bonus, that was very nice of them. We needed it. No matter what was going on around the globe, life here continued. We did our grocery shopping and took care of other things that needed to be done.

I could go on about the rest of the night and the next day, but nothing else really important happened until Monday. I’ll just tell you about our weekend, but first, I need to check on Evan.

********

Evan has fallen into a deep sleep so much like death, except that I can see his chest rise and fall with his short jerky breaths and he is sweating profusely. His skin is cold and clammy, and his face is ashen. I can see small squiggly veins protruding all over his body.  I tried to wake him if only for one last look in his eyes and one more kiss, but he is not responding to me. As I lie next to him, I hold his hand and cover his face with kisses; I know that at any moment my husband will no longer be here. His soul abandoning its wounded vessel and I will have to kill the monstrosity that’s been left in his place… and then - me.

I wonder if God will forgive me. I wonder… if I can even do this, or will I just let him devour me. I imagine it will be much like the vampire stories, when the willing victim squeezes her eyes shut as the sexy vampire moves in to deliver to her, his immortal kiss.

I am so scared. I could do this right now, while he’s sleeping but I don’t know if he’s really just sleeping, or if he’s just unconscious till the end.

A few hours ago, he was awake and completely coherent, though weak and in moderate pain.

He was holding me, consoling me, when he is the one who has been bitten. I think if he didn’t focus on me, he would be driven mad in the last moments instead of spending them with me.

We cried and talked a little bit, apologized to each other for all the mean things we’d ever said during our fights over the years. We were really good together, but like a lot of relationships, when it was good, nothing could stop us. When it was bad, man, it was really, really bad and we had both said some things that we regret. Then we laughed because he said, “What do ya mean no blood pressure, no pulse?” and “Send more paramedics.” (More lines from RLD) We didn’t laugh because it was funny, we laughed at the pure irony of it. Then we cried even harder. I’m still crying.

I wish he would’ve agreed with me yesterday when I said I wanted to end it right then. I told him this gun was powerful enough to kill us both with one bullet. I told him I didn’t want to see him turn into a monster.

“We can’t do it that way, Jill. What if it doesn’t kill YOU? What if it just leaves you with brain damage and they’ll get you anyway? There’s no one else here to make sure you don’t come back.”

I had been looking down and he put his hand under my chin to turn my face up to his and looked me in the eyes and kissed me, he lingered there for a few seconds, savoring the kiss just as I was.  He then said “It’s better for us if we just hold each other for a bit, while we still can. I know I‘m never gonna be able to hold you like this again and I want to shut everything out and just feel you, okay? And you won’t have to see me as a monster, as soon as I stop breathing, you shoot me, okay?”

I was too upset to speak and was hanging my head again because it hurt so much to look in his eyes, I was sobbing heavily by this time and he turned my face up to him again and used his thumbs to clear the tears that were flowing down my face in heavy torrents. It seemed at the moment that I could not run out of tears.

“I mean it, Jill. Don’t wait. It has to be done this way. I love you…”

He pulled my face down into his chest and I wept almost soundlessly trying not to excite the dead below us.

“You know…, you could try sitting on it one last time.” he said and I looked up at him. He had his right eyebrow raised, and I thought about it for just a second, but instead I playfully slapped his leg and declined.

He just hugged me tighter and said “I don’t think it’ll work right now anyway.”

He never failed to shock me with his ability to think about sex at any time.

I snuggled my face even deeper into his chest to inhale the sweet masculine scent of his skin, to feel the silky hair on his body caressing my cheek and the feel of his strong arms around me.

And while I enjoyed this so much, I thought to myself, how in the Hell am I supposed to know which breath is truly his last? Sometimes they don’t even get to die, they just turn. I was terrified that I would suddenly feel his teeth clamp down on my head, I feared that I would have to look into a face I didn’t recognize, into eyes that didn’t know us.

We remained in that position until he became too weak to do anything but lie here and I put our backpack of clothes under his head and rearranged myself to lie next to him. I lightly caressed his body with the tips of my fingers, hoping that it soothed him. I didn’t even know if he could feel it, but I did it anyway, just in case.

Soon after, he drifted off to sleep. Maybe because the virus had taken over too much of him and exhausted him, or maybe he just needed a break from the situation.

It must seem that while I am writing this, I can’t be grieving. I assure you that I am.

I’ve have cried so much that I have no tears left and my ribs are sore  from the sobs that have been wracking my body because I have to hold them in. My lungs feel as though they are going to explode. I am powerless. I have no way to get us out of this. And even if by some great miracle, someone showed up and wiped out the Infected downstairs and told me everything was fine, I would not go. It is the end of the line for Evan, his journey is over, and mine must be as well. As I said before, we have never spent a night apart, I wouldn’t start now. It seems I still have some time left, so I’ll continue.

********

Saturday went okay. We didn’t hear anything else except the updates on the disasters.   The coastline of Australia was flooded out up to a hundred miles in. The quakes caused a tsunami to slam the northeastern borders of Africa, the Ural Mountains in Russia collapsed, and tremors were felt clear into the North European Plains. There were MILLIONS presumed dead. If they attempted rescues, it would only take more lives.

There wasn’t anything we could do except for live our life. Sunday we decided to have a cook out.

Most of the time we kept to ourselves, we didn’t know many people anyway, we moved down from Ohio just a few months before. We did befriend a few of our closest neighbors.

There was Old Joe on our left, ex-military, deceased wife and child. He never remarried. He must’ve been around sixty - two, with a crew cut and strong political views he liked to bring up whenever we saw him. It made good conversation for Evan when they got together.

The elderly Widow Evelyn, seventy - eight years old and white hair and didn’t have a tooth in her head; she was so cute and reminded me of my grandmother. I chatted with her at least once a week over coffee in her small but comfy kitchen. She lived five houses down and across the street. I met her on a walk I took when we first moved here.

Then there was Jake and Sue McCall, raven haired, mid-thirties couple on our right. They had two small tow-headed boys, Brian and Bobby, who woke us every weekend without fail, at seven in the morning with their hollering and screaming while they played in their back yard.

And last but not least, The Pattons, Dan and Dawn.

They kept to themselves also and were childless. I think they were in their late twenties; we had only spoken to them in passing a few times.

They were always very friendly when we did see them, and had attended a party that Jake and Sue hosted. They seemed pretty fit, and were always wearing sweats, so I guess they spent a lot of time at the gym. They lived directly across from us.

Then there was Jimmy, who I mentioned earlier and will get to telling you about him soon. But we hadn’t seen him for almost a month by this time though he did call occasionally. Most of the rest of the houses were unoccupied due to economy and we just never spoke to any of the people in the other homes that were.

So we invited them all to our cook out.

Jake, Sue and the boys came over first. Then Old Joe came out and Evelyn made the short but tiring trip to come as well. I saw her coming down off her porch and went down to help her, I tried to put my arm in hers and help her but she slapped me away and told me she could do it herself. She wasn’t mean about it, only embarrassed that I would think she needed help. She was stubborn.

The Patton’s declined because Dawn had just gotten back in from a trip to Tennessee visiting family and wasn’t feeling well.

Evan made barbeque ribs and chicken wings for us, and hot dogs and hamburgers for Brian and Bobby.

After everyone got their fill, Evan, Jake and Old Joe went over to Old Joe’s garage with their beer to admire his rebuilt 1976 Monte Carlo and talk politics.

Sue, Evelyn and I stayed in my back yard talking about the disasters among other trivial things as we watched the boys play.

All in all, it was a good time. I walked Evelyn home and when I got back, the rest were gone.

Evan did not get a call from Gloria, so it was taken that he didn’t have to work the next day. We cleaned up the yard and put everything away then called it a day.

Monday morning came with the news of volcanoes erupting in Hawaii, and above normal sweltering temperatures in what was left of Africa.

Some, well, a lot of people died from heat stroke and multiple large scale fires were burning.

There was a small article about a cannibal having to be killed in Atlanta.

Authorities blamed it on bath salts; I thought nothing of it because it had happened before.

With everything going on I figured we’d get killer hurricanes and tsunamis here as well when the time for our destruction came.

I was wrong.

THE INFECTION

Tuesday morning there were many more reports of cannibals. Several came out of Atlanta, some from Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama and two reports from northern Florida. As we read these articles and watched the attached videos, I told Evan to go over and see if Old Joe had a gun he could sell us. He just laughed at me and said “What? You think this is like them zombie games you play? If God is going to take us out, it’s not going to be like that. What does it matter? The state of Florida is gonna collapse into a giant sinkhole.”

“Don’t scare me like that,” I said “I would much rather get eaten by a zombie than be buried alive.”

I thought I meant that at the time, but now I have changed my mind.

A few hours later, while I was doing the laundry for the week as Evan dozed on the couch, I got a text message from my sister April.

‘Live Presidential Address on CNN. You need to watch.’

She knew we didn’t have cable so she sent me the link. I typed it in and the President wasn’t speaking, but a spokesman for the CDC was introducing a doctor to explain the situation.

He stated that one of their researchers had been careless with a sample of an unidentified virus. The “careless” Doc got sick, and then he went all out Zombie about a day and a half later. It took anywhere from two to seventy - two hours to fully incubate. They referred to them as the Infected. They said they didn’t know how it managed to escape the compound, that there was no cure as of yet and that they were working around the clock to find one. That everyone could continue their life as usual, with a few precautions in place with the help of the military.

If there were a death in the family, do not assume that they are just dead. They could only be brain damaged and awaken with a craving for human flesh, and they were nothing of the person they once were.

We were to promptly, but respectfully, find a way (preferably a bullet), to destroy the brain of our recently dead.  If done within minutes after death this could be contained.

He then told us that our Secretary of Defense would inform us on the measures to be taken by the government and how this will help us maintain control.

Then the Secretary of Defense came out and said that troops were going to be stationed in all cities and neighborhoods throughout the United States and they would need more soldiers, and encouraged any citizen that was interested to immediately sign up. No one would be denied. The recruiting stations would be open twenty - four - seven at this point. He said that there were a lot of troops killed while stationed in other countries as a result of the natural disasters that had taken place.

The mail would cease and all banks and government offices were to be closed.

He also said that they would put Mobile Medical Units throughout as well to examine the residents for infection and those to be found ill would then be taken to the hospital to be monitored.

He was sure that the spreading of the virus could be stopped in this manner. He said that with our cooperation, this would remain under control. He didn’t say anything about the recent disasters that had occurred. Our President was not available for comment; he and his family were safely tucked away in an undisclosed location.

That is never good in a situation like this. I understand though, how he would be the first to be whisked away to safety. Or maybe he wasn’t really safe. I thought that maybe the virus had already invaded the White House.

And with that bit of information, I then began digging through our things and pulling out what could be used as weapons.

Evan is a black belt in Tae Kwan Do and he had a few useful things, wooden nun chucks and a pair of scythes. I also had my own pair of chucks that he bought for me, a pretty shiny pink set that could be transformed into a club by screwing them together in the middle.

I also got out our biggest knife. We could possibly be under threat of other people as well, because when it got out of hand it would be every man for his self. I informed Evan that now would be a good time to go on over and talk to Old Joe about a gun. Turns out, he had only one and he had plans on using it.

Like I said in so many words, the CDC was wrong- despite the governments’ efforts, it could not be contained. That shit spread like wildfire.

And I was right about them being zombies.

What I don’t understand, is that they don’t know how it got out. I have a hard time believing that.

The CDC had the power to stop it right then and there by quarantining the compound and destroying all samples and the infected. Isn’t that what they are there for?

And what were they thinking? They should’ve known it couldn’t be controlled. With the whole world falling around us, what would make them think they the States could survive?

They should’ve just nuked this country; we would have welcomed the swift destruction.

Needless to say, when the CDC made their announcement, people had closed up their stores, and the government took most of the inventory from the bigger chains and used them to distribute from their centers.

Within the next couple hours, the medical units were in place and soldiers were at the end of the block with a megaphone.

They instructed every family member to come outside and line up for examinations and blood samples.

Evan and I waited on Old Joe to come out and we all walked down and got Evelyn.

Jake and his family were already in line when we got to the end of the block.

Dan Patton was just a few people behind me so I asked him about Dawn, and he said she had gone back to Tennessee to be with her family. I thought that a little odd because she had just got back, but good for her. She would be with family.

I asked him if he wanted to hang with us later if he were going to be alone and he said no, but he looked a little skittish and would not meet my eyes. I didn’t think on it too much.

I decided to call my sisters while we were in line, got no answer and the voicemail didn’t pick up.

As I was putting my phone away, I saw that Jake and Sue were having their turn.

They began with Sue, I couldn’t really see what was being done, and I could only see their faces.

I saw a look pass between the two, their expressions changed. You could see they were struggling to remain calm. Then they began exams on the boys and ended with Jake.

One of the Medical technicians said a few things to Jake, handed him some papers and they all kissed and hugged Sue.

A soldier walked her over to a second truck that was parked at the corner. I wondered about that, I assumed it was the transport to the hospital. Jake then turned and went home to wait for her return.

It took probably a good two hours to check all of us in this block. When it was over, they had taken the entire Cruz family, all six of them, and one each from the Jones, Briar, and Holt households. They had taken both of the elderly Crafts.

After the last examination, we were told over the megaphone that our vehicles were not to be moved and we were to remain on our street of residence. We could communicate with the neighbors, but if anyone seemed to become ill, inform them immediately.

They told us that shelters were being established in Punta Gorda, Cape Coral and South Ft. Myers, and at time of completion we would all be moved there temporarily. Until then, they had turned one grocery store per neighborhood into a Government Emergency Supply Center and only one family member was allowed to board the bus that took us there, accompanied by three U.S. troopers.

The bus would be around at five o’ clock a.m., and to be outside of your house if you were going, because if we missed this bus, another wasn’t coming around until next Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, the bus did show at five o’clock and I was ready and waiting there with Evelyn.

I figured we were gonna need quite a few things since we didn’t shop for this on Friday.

Evan did not want me to go, but I went despite his protests. I used Evelyn and her frailty as an excuse. He was afraid something would happen while we were separated and that he’d lose me. I told him that it wasn’t that bad yet. That no matter what, I would return. He kissed me deeply and when I broke loose and gathered my senses, I told him that I was surely coming back for more of that, and winked at him.

I boarded the bus, signed my name, and I signed for Evelyn on the clipboard that was handed to me by the driver and we found our seats.

The Supply Center ran just as your regular Food Pantry.

You went in, said how many members were in your household and they gave you the weeks’ worth of food that a family that size was allotted.

Of course you had to stand in line but it was a much quicker process since they didn’t ask for identification, I took both of ours just in case.

They also had clothes as well if you needed them. You gave them your sizes and they gave each member one pair of jeans, one pair of socks, two long sleeve shirts and one pair of boots. I’m glad I got in line for that, the long sleeves and boots came in handy.

After that was done, I was instructed to find my bus, give my name and wait for the others from my street that I rode in with.

I chatted with Evelyn about what was going on while we waited, and an hour or so later I was back at home with no special events to report to Evan.

He did have something to report to me, though. Sue was never returned and no one had come to tell Jake anything, he was worried sick. We became worried as well but didn’t know what we could do.

So, Evan and I walked down to the corner to speak with one of the soldiers assigned to our street.

He said that when she was well enough and cleared of infection she would be taken back home. It was the same for all who were taken. And they had taken quite a few from our little street.

I don’t know what his intentions were by doing this, but he then pulled out his iPhone and showed us a video of what may happen to a person when they became infected.

This is where the Halfers come in and I only call them that because, just for a little while, they seem normal and think somewhat normally.

The video was very disturbing.

Someone had been recording their friends while they were skateboarding. A young boy slid down across a rail sideways, and landed perfectly, and into the frame came a man and a woman that I thought were running from something or someone else.

The woman slammed into the boy and knocked him down, but it did not stop her, she stumbled but she kept running.

The camera operator followed the chase. The man caught up to her, you could hear him yelling though you couldn’t hear what he was saying.

He reached out as he closed the distance between them, got a handful of her hair and yanked her backwards.

She was screaming bloody murder and he began screaming as well as he tore into the back of her head with his teeth.

The operator of the camera was getting bold, and nearing the scene. You could hear the people that had gathered, saying, “Oh, my God.  Let her go, dude.” People began crowding around them, you could see that they wanted to try to help, but they were in shock of what they were seeing.

While the woman still screamed, the man was taking chunks out of her face then spitting them out. He threw her down and his hands went up to grasp his head and he screamed into the air and was crying, the bystanders were petrified and no one seemed to move any closer to them at that point.

The woman tried skittering away, begging him for her life, but he saw her and pulled her back to him, fell onto her and tore into her breast.

They were both covered in blood and the camera man was getting even closer.

The man was crying in great anguish and now we could hear that he was screaming that he was sorry. He stopped biting her long enough to vomit on the ground beside her. Then with a look of disgust he continued to tear into her body.

The woman had stopped screaming by then, but the cries of the man continued as he ripped something out of her and resumed eating. His face was a mass of different emotions, but the emotion that showed most on his bloody face was pain.

The camera guy got a little too close, the man saw him and his expression changed into one of a predator, then he sprang up off the ground quick as lightning and rushed him. The camera fell to the ground. The people began screaming and running in all directions. The video was over.

The soldier went on to explain to us that not all of the people infected became this way, just a few.

It was something to do with an individual’s immune system. They were actually normal except for the Hunger controlled them, and they had uncanny speed. That after about three hours of being in this state, they then became your ‘regular ole zombie’.

He told us that all infected were taken over on Bayshore to the Sweet Bay parking lot to be put down and burned with the rest of the Infected in a great big bonfire.

He said that since our neighbor hadn’t returned yet, that she was most likely roasted by now, and if we took a big whiff of the air we would smell her burning, and he said all that with a smile.

He said for us not to mention what we saw on the video to anyone, (knowing we would) and then he told us to get on back in our house lest the same thing happen to us. He was feeling pretty good about his new found position of authority.

I found myself taking a deep breath through my nose and saw that Evan had, too. I could sure enough smell the faint stench of burning flesh.

A wave of anger swept through me and I raised my hands as if to grab his throat and choke the life right out of him.

Evan grabbed me just in time; he bear hugged me from behind and folded my forearms down across each other in front of me. The fucker laughed at me.

How fucking dare he, I wanted to slap the smile off his face so bad I could hardly control my limbs, I was shaking with self-restraint, trying not to fight to get away from Evan and box that boy’s ears.

I was so mad that I felt my face burning as if I could suffocate from the heat of it, and I became a little faint.

Sue was not just my neighbor, I considered her my friend. She had a husband and two little boys waiting at home.

As I thought of these things I screamed so loud and long in the boy’s face that he flinched and raised his gun, but he kept smiling.

Evan was angry as well, but remained in control to keep me from getting myself killed.

The guy did have a gun, and could shoot us and say he had to because we were infected.

As calmly as I could through a clenched jaw, I told him that his mother should have choked him to death with his own umbilical cord and accused him of joining the military just so he could kill people.

(I had forgotten for the moment that anybody could sign up and be a soldier in the midst of this mess and I’m willing to bet, that’s how he managed to get a gun.)

I asked him if he would be smiling if that were his mother, or sister, or wife.

He said that his mother was a whore, his sister was a cunt and he had never taken a wife.

I told him it was because he was a greasy little bastard with no respect for life.

Evan told me to shut up for my own good and turned me in the direction of home and walked me a safe distance away from the soldier and let me loose.

The little bastard was still smiling, UGH!

Sorry about the language, I just can’t help myself when I think of the things he said and how they didn’t even affect him. I was sure that he would get his. They say every dog has their day. And I’m a firm believer in ‘what comes around goes around.’

I was furious! Why this video wasn’t made public, I don’t know. I could only guess it was to keep the panic down. People should know about this so they know how to better protect their selves.

I knew when they said cannibals on TV, but this took the cake. This was no ordinary zombie, these mother fuckers could think, feel and run so fast! And they had absolutely no control over their actions.

That made them more dangerous (and scarier) than any other zombie ever written of.

I couldn’t imagine the pain of eating the flesh of my loved one, unable to control it and KNOWING ABOUT IT! SEEING IT! Oh my God is right.

When we got back to Jake’s to tell him what the soldier said about Sue being returned when she was well, we decided not to tell him the rest.

We were afraid that if we told him, he would get his self killed because he would run down there demanding answers and the arrogant little son of a bitch would shoot him just because he would be running at him.

Jake knew we were holding something back, I was sure he had seen my sudden display of anger, but he did not press us.  He hung his head and went back into the house.

We told Old Joe about the video and the things the soldier said. He went into his house and got out his shotgun.

“If that boy comes walking down this way, I’m gonna blow his cold - hearted head off. Men like that is a disgrace to our country.”

To make a longer story short, the next day, Thursday, the soldiers came back to Jake’s and took the two boys. Jake was begging them, to let him go with them, the boys were crying and struggling in the arms of the soldiers.

Old Joe, Evan and I, were all crying and pleading with them as well.

“What could it hurt?” I asked them. “Just let him go with them.”

The fucker I talked to the day before was standing there holding the door on the back of the truck open and I thought  about what was going to happen to them and I cried much louder, unable to control it. He seemed to enjoy watching this unfold. We were unable to convince them. Asshole told us to mind our own business or we would be shot, ignoring the evil eye he was getting from the other soldiers. One of them spoke up, seems they didn’t like him either.

“Shut the fuck up, Clark. We’ll do no such thing. These kids here are infected. We have to take them.” He bent down to Jake and said “I’m sorry.”

With tears in his eyes and a stone cold face, Old Joe told the still smirking soldier, ”I got you in my sights, boy.”

And he replied “Whenever you’re ready old man.”

With that Old Joe nodded and said, “I’m gonna show you what this old man can do. All in due time, boy, all in due time.”

They kept Jake pinned face first into the ground until the truck was gone around the corner.

The soldiers that had held him down let him up and sympathized with him, the female, I noticed her name was Roland, she told him they weren’t trying to hurt him only restrain him, that everything was gonna be okay and that they would be with their mom.

The doctors would make them better and they would come home.

I don’t think she believed what she said either, but it was nice of her to be so kind to him. She tried to give him a hug. He pushed her away and stormed into the house.

I looked up at Dan and Dawn’s house and saw movement behind the curtain. I wondered why he didn’t come out.

We went over to talk to Jake; he wouldn’t let us in and refused to come over to sit with us. What else could we do?

We went on back over to Old Joe’s porch and devised a plan to get more supplies because this wasn’t gonna be over any time soon.

We asked Old Joe if there was anything he wanted, and he said “Just some chew and an opportunity to kill that boy.”

We waited until dark.

The only problem we would have would be getting around the soldiers. We knew that ‘asshole’ Clark was on the corner we needed to cross, there would be another soldier on the other side of the street, at the opposite corner at the dead end. There would probably be one patrolling the main street between blocks as well.

Old Joe waited until the soldier on the dead end turned into the yard of an empty house, to relieve himself I guess.

He walked up toward Clark under the pretense of wanting to talk to him. I didn’t think it was gonna work on account of what he had said to him earlier, but it did.

While he did this, Evan and I sprinted through the backyards and shot across the street unnoticed.

Evan busted the glass of the convenient store and unlocked it, while I kept watch. We were still unnoticed. There were no Infected in there and we were able to quickly fill two duffle bags with mostly nonperishables. They did not sell tobacco of any kind so they didn’t have any, but there was a connecting door between the store and the tobacco shop. It’s a good thing, too. I would be needing cigarettes soon, and since my chances of dying increased a hundred fold over the last few days, I was going to get my smoke on. Evan kicked the door in and we proceeded to go into the store room beyond.

We weren’t expecting to find Infected in here, supposedly it hadn’t spread like that yet, but we discovered that they had lied to us. And neither one of my sisters had called me back yet. I wanted to get this over in a hurry, I had to get back and get a hold of them.

There were three infected people in the tobacco store. I know one of them was the owner, Shirl.

A forty-something husky voiced biker chick, with bad teeth, who obviously wasn’t as tough as she looked, because here she was all zombiefied and looking to eat us for dinner.

I shouldn’t say mean things about her because she was always so nice, and would give you store credit if she knew you.

As I was saying a silent prayer for her, Evan’s hand shot out as faster than I can blink and split Shirl’s head clean open with one powerful swing of the chucks. She went down and brain matter began seeping out of the large gash that he put in it. It was so gross. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to see a lot of that.

The other two were young boys somewhere between sixteen and twenty years old, both with a good strong build. One was blonde and the other was a redhead. I didn’t recognize either one of them, but I think they were her sons.

I didn’t think I had it in me, but when I saw the blonde one turn towards Evan and he wasn’t very far from him, as quickly as I could I whacked his head with my pink, shiny club.  He must’ve been ‘undead’ for a while by then because his skull gave way very easily, and I leaned back away from him just in time to avoid a huge sluice of blood coming right at my bare face.

Eww. I would’ve puked so hard if that shit had hit my face.

I threw down the club and turned around in time to see Evan front kick the redhead into the wall display, which fell apart when he hit, causing a slightly heavy bong in the shape of a dragon to fall on its head. It did not kill him, but did put a dent in his skull.

Evan picked up the dragon, (made a sly comment about how much they were asking for it) held it high above the zombies head and dropped it on him. His head collapsed easily as well.

The tag said $59.95. It’s value to us… priceless.

(Those commercials crack me up; I knew I’d find a way to use it someday.)

That was our first encounter with actual zombies. If I implied that we weren’t afraid, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We were terrified, but in a situation where you have hungry zombies ready to eat you and they were the only thing between you and what you need, you either run, fight, or die quickly. Well, you get attacked quickly; you only WISH that you would die quickly.

We grabbed a few cartons of cigarettes and several cans of chewing tobacco for Old Joe. We got rolling papers, three Zippo lighters, lighter fluid, a flashlight and a .357 magnum with six boxes of bullets that were behind the counter. What a find! That’s a hell of a gun! Somebody up there was looking out for us.

In the Resident Evil games, it could take a zombies head right off! I had hoped it worked that well for us and it later proved to be true.

Old Joe was still occupying the asshole on the corner keeping his back to us. Again we shot through the yards and into the back door of our house.

We came out of the front of the house as he was returning from his talk with the soldier and he came up on the porch to sit with us.

I gave him the chew he asked for and we told him about having to kill some Infected, and about finding the gun. He asked us what we did with the weapons we had, and I told him we left them there.

I didn’t want to bring them home with that nasty shit on them, we had the gun now. We didn’t need them.

I went back in the house to get my cell phone and I had a missed called from April and she left a voicemail.

April and Marie were on their way to a shelter in downtown Cincinnati.  She said that soldiers came and evacuated everybody, directing them to drive their vehicles to a supposedly safe place, The Y.M.C.A., and she would call me when they got there, if I didn’t call her first. She said they loved me and hoped I was okay. So, I tried to call her and there was, again, no answer. I was a little ticked off that I missed the call.

Downtown? That’s the last place I would go, downtown is so heavily populated, and if there are infected there, and I would think it would be in large numbers. That didn’t sit right with me, now I was crazy worried!

I never got the call. Thirty minutes after I got her message I tried to call again. My phone just beeped three times and said “NO SERVICE’ on the screen. So I tried using Evan’s phone, he also had a ‘NO SERVICE’ message on his screen. I then got on the computer to try to get on Facebook because she had internet on her phone, but the little computer icon at the bottom of the screen had a red x across it. I clicked on it and it said ‘No Internet Access’. What the hell? Now they were cutting us off from the rest of the world? We still had electricity; I plugged both of our phones in to charge, thinking that it may just be temporary.

I don’t know why, with everything I knew about zombies, I just wasn’t willing to accept that this was real. I just went with the flow, of course I did what I had to do at times, but….it was surreal. ****

We could do nothing at that point except obey the orders of the military to keep ourselves safe, maybe if we’d have tried to run away soon after, we wouldn’t have lasted a day. Who knows?

I know you’re probably wondering what happened to Evan’s family, he had none, just me.  He was orphaned as a child and spent most of his teen years in foster homes until he ran away at the age of sixteen and went out on his own. He did spend some time in prison for felonious assault in his early twenties, (the reason why we couldn’t just out right buy a gun). He had calmed down by the time I met him. Thank God, because he would’ve been a handful. ****

I went back out to tell him about the internet and phones and just as I started to speak, we heard a gunshot from Jake’s house.

So, of course we ran over there and Old Joe was the first in the door, he told Evan to come in, but I was to stay outside.

I didn’t want to see anyway, I already knew in my heart what he had done.

They had taken his wife and his children; he knew they weren’t coming back, so he killed himself. We didn’t even know he had a gun, he didn’t mention it.

When they came back out, Evan had Jake’s gun. It was a .357 as well.

We were suddenly finding ourselves fully armed.

We stepped down off his porch, and again I looked up to see movement behind the curtains at Dan’s house. We hadn’t seen him since the day before and with that, I thought of Evelyn. I had to go and check on her.

On the way to Evelyn’s house, the Holts and Briars were outside, huddled together talking. I waved and no one waved back. They only glared at me. What was that about? These people didn’t come out when they were taking Brian and Bobby and acted like they were the only important people on the street. Whenever we did see them I was used to them ignoring me like I wasn’t even there. I mean, we’d never spoken before. I never really had the opportunity. When I was working I left for work at six a.m., and didn’t get home till late afternoon sometimes. I didn’t really associate because I was tired and had things to do at home as well. So, fuck ‘em.

I didn’t have time to buzz around the neighborhood making new friends.

Oh, well. No love lost. We kept to those close to us, our neighbors on each side, Evelyn and sometimes the Pattons.

Evan has been moving restlessly in his sleep. He tried to speak but I could not make out the words even when I put my ear up to his mouth. His lips are dry and cracked now and his nose and mouth have formed a sticky white film inside them. I drizzled the last of our water into his mouth, and lovingly placed my hands on his face and kissed him.

I don’t care how gross that may seem to you. He is the love of my life and I will have killed us both by the time the virus could disable me. With that kiss, everything we’ve ever done together raced through my mind… I saw our first kiss, first fight, our first apartment, the sexual chemistry between us, and our wedding. It’s true, your life really does flash right before your eyes.

I am afraid that Evan will be a Halfer. So I tied him up with some rope I found in a box up here along with a photo album, a utility knife and the pen and paper I am using to write this with. I only bound his feet and hands. I did not hog tie him because I don’t want him in more pain than he’s already in. He has begun to jerk around a little bit, and a couple of times I thought I heard him say my name in a whisper, but I’m not sure.

I won’t kill him yet. I can’t because I know that he’s still in there somewhere, and yet another part of me tells me that it’s cruel to let him lie here like this just because I can’t bear to let him go. I think he’s probably ready, but I’m not. I also know that what I’m about to do will definitely land my soul in Hell (if I weren’t already headed there), but I keep praying for forgiveness. If not, then I can only hope it will be a much nicer hell than the one I’m in right now. I don’t think it can get any worse than this. ****

Evelyn was fine, for the moment.

I asked her about the Holts and Briars, and she said they were just mad because no one from our house was taken, that we were being favored for some reason. I said that that was just ridiculous. Neither one of us was sick. How petty and childish. I filled her in on what had happened so far and she didn’t have anything to say about it. I then asked her to come to our house and she refused, she refused when I offered for us to stay with her, and refused when I told her Old Joe said she could stay with him. She wanted no part of it, she didn’t care about what was going on outside, she was perfectly safe in her own home. She had plenty of books to read and her cats would keep her company. She said she’d been having ‘the insomnias’ and was looking for her medication. I went to the bathroom and opened her medicine cabinet, there they were.

The type on it was so small I could barely read it, no wonder she couldn’t find it. I gave her two from the bottle and set them on the end table next to the chair. I kissed her forehead and told her I’d check on her later.

You must understand, for the first few days, it was nothing like the movies. There weren’t zombies running around everywhere, there were a few, and the troops took them out pretty quickly. Our little street was a dead end, with woods and dense brush at the end and behind every house, the only cross street was Tamiami Trail, and our street did not pick up on the other side. I think that is why we didn’t see a lot of the things that were going on, it seemed we were cut off from everything else and our little world was the only one that existed. We were sort of secluded.  I think that’s why we bought that particular house, for the privacy. ****

Continuing on, for the most part they showed up sporadically. It must’ve been because the amount of time it took for them to change. It didn’t get out of hand until the soldiers began changing. I may, or may not get into that later; there are still a few things I want to tell you right now, while my memory is still clear. I feel a faint tingling and a funny taste in my mouth and feeling a little… air-headed. I better get on with this, while I still can. I think it’s the virus from kissing Evan. This reminds me….

DIRTY DEEDS

Friday morning, I sat on my porch steps with my back to Evan and Old Joe who were sitting on the porch swing talking. Through all of the things happening lately, we hadn’t seen Dan. I wondered what was going on with him, he was alone now. I also wondered if he and Dawn had split up, they just didn’t say anything to anybody.

They didn’t seem like they had many problems, but everybody does. I felt sorry for him, so I decided I would go and check on him, Evan broke me from my thoughts.

“Jill, we’re going down to talk to the watch dogs on the corner, there are two now. The one from the dead end is gone and two new ones replaced him, there’s also a new one up at the corner with Captain Crude. I want to see what else is going on and if things are changing for the better.”

“Oh, really, two now, huh?” I said as I craned my neck out to see. So Little Asshole had a partner now. “I hadn’t noticed. Well, while you guys are doing that I’m gonna go and check on Dan, see if there’s anything he needs. I noticed he didn’t take the bus to the pantry with the rest of us. He may need some food.”

“No, come to think of it, I haven’t seen him, have you?’ he asked Old Joe, and he shook his head no.

”Just be careful. And I’ll be right back.”

They went on down to the corner and I went in the house and made a small bag of canned goods and fruit for Dan and headed over there.

As I crossed the street, I looked up towards Evan and he had his hands on his hips and looked back over his shoulder to meet my eyes. He was going to have something to tell me.

I knocked on the door and stood there waiting for him to answer. After about thirty seconds I knocked again and put my ear to the door to listen for him. I heard nothing at first, but then I could hear faint music coming from the back of the house. I went around the side and I could see the garage door was open. The music was coming from there.

I walked back to the garage, bag in hand and saw the CD player sitting on the work bench next to an open Playboy magazine and a crushed cigarette in the ashtray that continued smoking.

I then went to the back door and knocked, still no answer so I peeked through the window. No movement. Maybe he was in the shower. I headed back toward the front and planned on leaving the bag of food at his door, but passing his side window I saw a flicker of light and stopped to look through the small slit in the curtain. I was beginning to feel like a peeping tom.

I closed one eye to get a better view and I could see the door on the other side of the room was open. I put my hand over my eyes to shield from the early morning light and pressed my face against the window and what I saw still sends shivers up my spine.

Dawn was not in Tennessee like he said. A lamp without a shade was on the end table and was shining brightly over her form. She was strapped down to the bed, her hands bound at the wrist and hung from a hook in the wall above the head board. Her head was propped up on a pillow, and a bungee cord was strapped across her chest above her breasts, making her bosom look full and swollen. Her legs were spread far apart and tied to the foot board by her ankles. Her skin had a bluish hue, and her face was bruised severely. Her eyes were closed and she was still.

At first I had thought he beat her to death and was getting angry with myself for not seeing the signs or hearing her screams. How could someone do this? I was not a nosy neighbor and I was ashamed looking in on this, but there was no gag on her mouth so why didn’t anybody hear her??

Then her eyes opened, they were the eyes of the dead.

I could clearly see now, that she was infected. Her head jerked in the direction of the door. She began to …what seemed like sniffing the air, she was snapping her teeth together and turning her head at odd angles, and I don’t think she was able to see. She was beginning to struggle. Why would he keep her like this?

I was about to find out, and what he did made this whole scene so much worse.

Dan had come into view, he was completely naked and his organ was small and erect.

I thanked my lucky stars for the size of Evan. (It’s amazing how you think the most inappropriate things at the worst times.)

I should’ve turned from the window just then but I couldn’t. He then slathered some kind of lubricant onto his - you know, while he looked at her. And for just a second I thought that maybe he was going to masturbate instead, which isn’t much better considering he’d be beating off to a dead woman. He didn’t look nervous or afraid and he certainly didn’t look ashamed. Which he should have!!! I could not believe he was going to do this. But he did! I gathered that this was not his first time.

I watched with disgust as he got onto the bed between her legs and sat back on his calves, put his thighs under her legs, causing them to bend at the knee and fall further apart. She was still sniffing and snapping at the air, he entered her and grabbed both her breasts, squeezing and twisting them in a way that would have brought a living woman to tears.

His head went back and he proceeded to rape the reanimated corpse of his wife.

There’s a word for that, necrophilia, or maybe now we gotta come up with a new word, for screwing the living dead.  Zombiephilia?

How disgusting! I was horrified.

He continued his grotesque pumping into her body and leaned forward to put his face just a hair out of reach of her snapping teeth. He was teasing her! And he was enjoying it! This was beyond wrong in so many ways!

Before I could stop myself I slammed my open hand on the window and ducked.

Shit, what was I doing peeping anyway? I didn’t need to see that. I should have run for Evan as soon as I saw Dan walk into the room.

I looked back in to see if it got his attention, it must’ve startled him because he had fallen on top of her and she had a good size chunk of his cheek in her mouth trying to tear it off. He wasn’t even screaming, only using his hands to press her face away from him. I then noticed he had several older bites on his arms, he would be infected as well.

I dropped the bag of food I was holding and ran home to get Evan. I threw open the door and they jumped up in surprise.

“Evan, he is fucking a dead woman! I mean zombie. Dawn. She’s a zombie, and he’s fucking her and I scared him and she’s biting him, right now!”

I said all this fast and frantically and Evan grabbed me by my shoulders.

“Calm down, Jill. Tell me slowly.”

“I’m gonna go get a soldier.” Old Joe said and hurried out the door.

“I went to give him food, he wasn’t answering. I heard music in the garage he wasn’t there either, so I looked in his window. I shouldn’t have, I know, but I did. And he was screwing her!”

I was still speaking a little too fast for him and my pitch of my voice kept rising; I was becoming hysterical as my mind continued to process it.

He pulled me outside to go catch up to Old Joe.

He and the soldiers were already knocking on Dan’s door, one of them was Asshole. They had their guns raised.

He answered the door and looked right past the soldiers and glared at me.

His cheek flapping and blood covered his face and upper body and hands.

They rushed in and told him to put his hands behind his back, cuffed him and sat him on the couch. The ‘Asshole’ went back into the bedroom and the other soldier, Fraley was the name on his jacket, remained in the living room with us.

Fraley asked Dan how long Dawn had been sick, and why he didn’t inform them. Dan did not answer. Fraley also told him that he is infected and will be taken in to the hospital to be examined.

After what seemed too long for Clark to be back there, we heard a shot and Dan continued to stare me down.

Clark finally came back into the living room and said, “Woo wee, you sure had it made! Fine woman like that, got the zombies, and you was still giving it hell. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. But you know what this means. You been bit, lover boy. Looks to me like you have been bitten, a lot! Put up a fight did she, now? Better dead than alive, huh?” and he snickered.

Dan suddenly changed right in front of our eyes, he screamed and then rose up off the couch without a word and bit Clark’s nose clean off, the other soldier, Fraley, quickly shot Dan in the head and threw Clark on the floor and cuffed his hands behind his back, pulled him to his feet and said,

“Well Clark, it seems to me that you know what happens from here, and to be honest with you, there is none more deserving than you.”

He nodded his head at us, told us to get home and got on his radio to dispatch a unit to pick up Clark and the bodies of Dan and Dawn. We told him about Jake’s body and he said they would remove it as well.

Old Joe looked at Clark and said “My, oh my. How the tables have turned. You gonna get to see what it’s like to burn in your bonfire, boy.  I’m just sorry I’m not the one throwing you in.”

Then Clark spit a great big gob of blood at Old Joe, only a little made it far enough to hit him in the face. Fraley threw him down on the ground again and pinned him down with his foot.

Clark started screaming and fighting and it looked like he was going to spit on Fraley as well, but Fraley put his gun to Clarke’s temple and said, “Now we both know, that I have every right to put a bullet in your brain, right now. Don’t make me do it.”

We went back home and Old Joe went in his house to clean up.

JIMMY AND SUE

Once Evan and I got back in the house and settled down, he told me what Fraley told them.

The infection was spreading too quickly and the troops were having trouble keeping it under control in the outer lying neighborhoods.

Some of the soldiers were turning as well. The food busses were cancelled and the shelters they were working on were not yet functioning. At the end of the day, they were to abandon post and return to headquarters for further instructions, they were removing the remaining soldiers and placing them somewhere else.  I asked Evan why the soldier would tell him this, he told me that he asked him the same thing, and Fraley said he told them so we could run.

It wasn’t an hour after they hauled the bodies away, that I heard the commotion of people right out front.

We stepped out on the porch to see what was going on. All of our neighbors save for Evelyn and Joe, were out there looking at Jake’s front porch. This had brought them out of the house. We stepped down to the street to see what they were looking at. The other people paid no mind to us then.

Sue had come back, and she was leaning weakly and sluggishly slapping at the front door. Her clothes were dirty and torn in places. Her hair was a tangled mess. I’m sure we were all feeling sorry for her for just a moment, knowing what had happened with the children and Jake. Someone’s shoe scraped the ground, she heard it and her head cocked to the side, she slowly turned around, limping. We all gasped at this, she was infected.

Her bloodshot eyes were sunken into deep dark sockets, a part of her bottom lip was missing and her right arm, her neck and right leg had big chunks of them missing.

The wounds were a weird mix of yellow, purple and rust red. Oh, she looked just terrible!

But yet she was standing and knocking on her own front door! Sue turned back around and began hitting the door again; she didn’t try to attack anyone. No one said a word or moved.

The soldiers had seen us all gathered and were walking our way to see what we were gawking at.

Fraley saw her condition and shot her from where he was standing, blood splattered across the door. He gave Evan a look, and we all returned to our homes.

But I was upset. How could she know where to go? She knew that was her house. She was dead by all rights, but she knew and that bothered me. I wondered how it looked to her.

That is why I know that Evan is still there, somewhere deep inside. And that is why I will not put a gun to his head while he is looking at me. A part of him may be conscious enough to want me to do it, but he has no way to convey to me if he does.

Well, now is a good a time as any to tell you about our friend Jimmy. He’s the reason I know you’ll turn if you even get the infected blood on you without being injured.

Jimmy used to live across the street from us until he broke up with his girlfriend. He was around twenty - three or twenty - four, I can’t remember, but anyway he was just a good kid with a lot of problems so Evan took him under his wing.

He was always doing crazy stuff to his hair like spiked Mohawks and dying it blonde, the next time we’d see him it would be shaved off and back to black and then the next time after that it would be a different style and color again.

The kid called us Mom and Dad sometimes. We trusted him enough to let him spend a few days with us when he fell on hard times. When he wasn’t staying with us, he would pop in from time to time and check on us to see how we were doing.

We had tried to call him when all hell broke loose, but he never answered.

We were worried about him but there wasn’t anything else we could do and we didn’t know exactly where he lived. We kind of figured he’d show up sooner or later, and he did.

When he showed up, we were in the house trying to go through the rest of our things assessing what we were going to take with us, because we were leaving first thing in the morning.

We heard Old Joe, repeatedly shouting at someone.

“GET DOWN! RIGHT NOW! I SAID GET DOWN!”

We ran out to the porch to see what’s going on and it was Jimmy, and he had blood all over him.

No wonder Old Joe had his shotgun on him. Jimmy had his hands in the air and was already down on one knee saying, “I’M GOOD, MAN! I’m GOOD! Old Joe, It’s me, Jimmy! I’m OKAY man! PLEASE!! Don’t shoot me, man. I swear, dude!  I’m okay.”

Old Joe lowered the shotgun, walked over and grabbed Jimmy’s hand to pull him up, clapped him on the back and said “I’m sorry, son. You just never know these days. You never know.”

He then looked at his hand and noticed he had gotten blood on him and shook his head in disgust and said “Get the hell off the streets, kid. And what are you doing out anyway? No one should be out. The troopers are damned near gone, and the dead is gettin’ thicker. I don’t know how you managed to make it past that soldier up there looking like that.”

“Evan, I’ll be waiting for you in the morning. Jimmy, you’re more than welcome to come with us.”

He was coughing hard as he went back into his house. I know now, that he was getting sick from Clark spitting in his face. Even if we knew about it then, what could we have done to stop it? Not a damn thing.

We went down on the lawn as Jimmy was picking up a metal fence post he had been carrying and walked up to us.

“Put that thing back down and go out by the shed. I’ll go get some clothes for you and Evan can spray you off out there. You ain’t coming in the house with blood on you” I said.

So, Evan hosed him down and he went in the shed to change. The pants were a little too big for him because he was so skinny, and he used a shoe string from an old pair of Evan’s shoes, to hold them up.

They came into the house and I had resumed gathering our things and listened to them talking.

“So, how did you make it past the soldiers?” Evan asked.

“I came in through the woods behind the empty lot, and when he wasn’t looking I ran but Old Joe seen me, hawk eye that old feller is. I thought his hollering was gonna get me killed. I’m glad they didn’t hear him” he replied.

“Did you cut yourself, what was all the blood?” I asked as I looked him over and turned him about.

“Dude! I got to kill a zombie! It was cool! I was riding my bike up 41 from San Carlos, headed here to your house and got a flat. I had to start walking. That thing just came out of nowhere and the only thing I saw was that fence post, so I picked it up and blasted his head like I was hitting a homerun, man! He tried to get up, so I hit his head about five more times. Smashed it up! It was nasty but I got a lot of anger out of me when I killed it” he chuckled. “I don’t feel bad cause it wasn’t a real person, then I started taking the side streets up this way.”

“Who were you staying with?” I asked.

“Some girl I met a couple weeks ago, but she didn’t come home after leaving on the bus to get food yesterday. So I figure she’s gone, I reckoned I’d come here with y'all, but I had to get up here quick as I could. We gotta get outta here, now. I saw four troopers bust in a door and shoot everybody in the house. They weren’t even infected!”

“See, Jillian!” Evan said as he sprung up off the couch and began pacing the floor. “I told you this was going to happen! I’ve been telling you for years!”

Evan had been dreaming about U.S. soldiers, breaking into citizen’s houses and shooting them down without explanation, ever since he was a boy. I thought it ridiculous at the time.

I cut him off.

“Now, wait a minute. How do you know they weren’t Infected, Jimmy?”

“Because the man said he wasn’t! They just kicked in the door, raised their guns and the man said that there weren’t any Infected in there. I didn’t hear any of the troopers say anything. They just started shooting and the others inside were screaming and begging until they had all been shot dead. They didn’t even use their machine guns; they shot them one at a time. It scared me to death! I ran as fast as I could to get off that street so they wouldn’t see me out. It ain’t safe to stay here anymore. I would have tried to call you but I lost my phone last week and I don’t know your number without it.”

“The phones went down yesterday, internet too, and only static on the radio. We can’t get any information,” I said. “How do you know they weren’t just a rogue unit?”

“I don’t,” he replied “but do we really wanna stick around and find out?”

We updated him on things that went on around here.

After we told him about Dan and Dawn he said, “I always knew he was a sick fuck. No pun intended. I never liked him.”

“Well,” Evan began, “It’s eight thirty (p.m.) right now. We’ll leave at dawn. Old Joe wants to leave at eight, but I think the earlier the better. I don’t think the few soldiers that are left here are gonna come shooting us down. Fraley told us to run, so I know he’s not going to come up here and shoot us. Jill, make sure we have enough for all of us, we don’t know how long it will be before we will be able to get a hold of anything. We all need to rest. We’ll sleep in shifts. I’ll go first so I can watch during the night. Don’t let me sleep longer than five hours, but wake me if you need me or anything else happens.”

He went into our bedroom and shut the door.

I continued with my checklist and finished packing up and noticed Jimmy had fallen asleep sitting up. I left him there and started gathering our weapons, two guns and a pair of scythes.

I walked over to Old Joe’s and knocked on his door, to tell him we were leaving earlier. He did not answer, I assumed he went to bed, we would see him in the morning.

About an hour went by and Jimmy woke up. He went into the bathroom and I heard the sink running and I thought I heard him vomiting, I thought he was probably sick from what he’d done earlier. He stayed in there for a good ten minutes, when he came out he asked me, “Do you mind if I go back to sleep for a while?”

“Of course not,” I told him “Get all the sleep you can. We’re leaving early.” He lay down on the couch and was out like a light.

I sat and rolled the last of my smoke, it was just a small joint.

I knew I wouldn’t be smoking it any time soon so I tossed it in my purse and forgot about it.

Around two thirty in the morning Evan woke up and got in the shower. I put the clothes I wanted him to wear on the back of the door, and then went back over my list again to make sure I had everything.

Evan finished his shower and told me to go get some rest. I told him to go over early and get Old Joe, that I had tried but he didn’t answer.

I needed some rest, though I wasn’t sure if I could fall asleep. I prayed for everyone’s safety, I prayed for my sisters to be safe.

I knew it was going to be the last time I slept in my bed and I wanted to enjoy it.

I got into bed and borrowed deep under the covers. I must’ve fallen asleep pretty quickly because I don’t remember anything after that thought, until I woke up to a gun shot in the house.

It startled me so bad, that when I jumped up I almost broke my neck, because my feet were tangled in the blanket. I kicked it away and flung the door open to see the wall ahead of me in the living room covered in blood and brains and I could see the soles of Jimmy’s tattered shoes.

It took a second for my mind to adjust to what I was looking at, I thought of what Jimmy said about the soldiers and the fear hit me like a brick.

I felt an icy chill work its way from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, causing the sensation of my hair standing on end and an empty, hollow feeling in my stomach developed. Where is Evan?

I ran up the short hallway and it seemed like it took forever until I saw Evan, standing stock still with the gun still aimed at where Jimmy must’ve been standing, there was a faraway look on his face.

I looked down at Jimmy’s body on the floor, the back of his head was blown out and its contents were now sliding down the wall onto the back of our couch.

I went up to Evan and softly told him “It’s okay. You can put the gun down now.” I put my hand on his arm and gently pressed to make him lower it. He was still looking at the bloody wall and clearly in disbelief of what he’d done.

“I had to, Jill. I fuckin’ had to. He was coming for me. He woke up and he was crazy looking, and came at me! He was one of those things in the video, Jill. I had to. Oh my God, Jill! I killed him!”

He put his face in his hands and wept. There was nothing I could do to console him. He was the one who had remained calm through all of this, and I had never seen him break down in this way. Killing Jimmy was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. I knew he was going to need a little time.

“It wasn’t Jimmy anymore, Evan. He would have killed you,” I said with tears blurring my vision and I rubbed his back, he shrugged me off. I didn’t take offense.

I went into the bedroom, got the blanket off the floor and covered Jimmy’s body. And that was the end of Jimmy.

We loved him; he would’ve done anything for us. This was truly a loss.

I sighed and told Evan I was getting a shower. I was too shaken up to enjoy it so I made it quick. When I came out Evan had regained his composure and had put our back packs and bags in front of the door.  I dressed and we got our things and took a last look around. We would never see our home again.

LEAVING HOME

We threw our belongings in the truck and Evan went to see if Old Joe would leave with us. He didn’t answer. Evan tried the door and it was unlocked, and he peeked his head in and pulled it back out quickly and shut the door. When Evan got in the truck he only said “Old Joe cannot come with us.”

I didn’t want to think about why Old Joe couldn’t come with us. I told him we were going to go and get Evelyn.

We rolled up in front of her house and I ran up to the door and was going to knock but it was partially open. I took a deep breath not knowing what I would find and pushed it the rest of the way open.

Evelyn was lying on the chaise lounge, head tilted back and her mouth was open and a book in her lap. I didn’t see the cats that were usually fighting for space in her lap. I felt her wrist for a pulse and there was none. I saw the empty bottle of sleeping pills I found for her yesterday on the stand next to her.  I understood immediately.

That bottle was almost full when I found it for her. She had overdosed. She did not suffer.  I contemplated shooting her so she didn’t come back. I even put the gun to her head. I found I could not pull the trigger. I went out and pulled the door shut behind me.

When I got into the truck Evan looked at me and I told him, “She’s dead.”

He didn’t say anything, he pulled away from the curb and we headed north up the Tamiami Trail to the shelter they had supposedly still working on up in Punta Gorda.

It was only twenty miles. The one in Cape Coral would’ve been closer, but they had built a barricade around the city a few days ago to keep anyone from going in or coming out, and it was too dangerous to head to the one in South Fort Myers, we would have had to go through downtown and there would be too many infected, there. We would never make it.

Well, Evan is awake now, he’s not in the condition I was hoping he would be in, and I am terrified. He’s a Halfer.

He spoke to me and his voice is gravelly and deep, not his own. He asked me to untie him; he said that he loved me and that I smelled so good. He said for me to give him a kiss. I did not.

I think I am losing grip on reality here, or I’m just becoming numb. I got the joint I rolled few weeks ago out of the bottomless pit I call my purse, which, somehow oddly enough, I managed not to lose. That’s unbelievable! I can lose it in ten minutes at the bar. It’s filled with things that are all useless now, ID’S, social security cards, prepaid cards, Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie receipts and our cell phone. Well, that’s not completely useless. I can still tell the time and look at our pictures and videos, at least until the battery dies.

Well, I have decided not to smoke it… because if I do, I will not only be a crying sad mess, I will be a crying sad paranoid mess. I’ll be freaking out, man! (I said that with a whisper in my stoner voice.) Forgive me if my humor is out of place, it’s the only thing keeping me sane. So, I’ll continue as long as I can and pick up where I left off. ****

Things kind of moved pretty fast after that.

We were on our way up to Punta Gorda.  The only problem was we were low on gas. Real low, when all the bad things started happening everybody was lined up at the stations. The lines ran a mile down the road. Eventually, all the stations ran out of gas and never received another shipment. We didn’t get the chance to get any.

When they brought in the troops and tried to organize it all, no one was allowed to drive their vehicles, so there weren’t many cars on the road we could syphon from, besides, we didn’t have a hose.

We did make it to about two miles outside of Punta Gorda, and we got out and started walking. The stretch of 41 we were on was mostly devoid of Infected and the few we did see; we were able to run past.

It was tiring because our packs were full, but we made it into Punta Gorda without a problem.

A mile into town, we saw a mob of Infected ahead that were surrounding what looked to be a disabled school bus.

I did not want to see, for fear it may be children trapped and there’s no way we could save them, and it would haunt me for the rest of my days if it were.  We’d never be able to get them away from there, and where would they go then. We decided they were safer on the bus than they would be with us. We had no choice but to go that way. If we were quiet we could make it, for all their attention was on the bus.

As we got closer we could see that it wasn’t a school bus, but a county bus carrying inmates. I don’t know where they thought they were gonna take them to in the midst of all this. They were still alive. I could see the panic on their faces and they knew they were never going to get out unscathed.

We wanted to help them. There were just too many there for us to do anything other than put ourselves in danger. So with great remorse and heavy hearts, we took advantage of them being distracted and moved on.

Eventually, we ran into a man that escaped that bus. He said that the guards at the county jail drove them out there, parked and took the battery out, then got into a waiting police cruiser and they left them there. He said he kicked the emergency door in the back and it just came open real easy, like it wasn’t even shut and he ran. They saw him but drove on, probably assuming the Infected will get him before too long anyway.  When I asked why the other prisoners didn’t run, he said there were too many zombies coming already, that they must’ve been afraid to get out.

I think he was bitten during that escape, he didn’t look well.  He was heading home he said, to find his wife. We wished him good luck and he went on his way.

So, it will be a couple hours until he is full zombie and I can do this. In the meantime I’ll try to keep from wigging out. It’s hard not too, though. He has opened his eyes and they are no longer the bright green they were in life. They are now the palest blue and blood shot, and he is pleading with me. He said that if I came closer, he would only take a little. He said it will make him feel better. Isn’t that what I wanted, for him to feel better? He said he is sorry that he wants to taste my flesh. That he wonders if it will taste as good as my vagina does. But he used the other word. Yes, I cuss like a sailor, but I hate that word. It’s just so vulgar.

He is struggling in his restraints, but I tightened them up so he won’t be able to do anything but slither towards me, and I can just scoot around myself to avoid being within his mouth’s reach.

Part of me wants to go to him, hold him, and let him tear into my neck in morbid embrace.

And here I sit, rocking back and forth. I do it because it’s comforting to me. I’m trying to block out his words. I’ll tell you of the time we were out just cruising around town and we started discussing SpongeBob for some odd reason.

He asked me if I knew where SpongeBob came from. I said, (because this is what I thought)

“Yea, he’s a used up sponge the kitchen staff of a ship threw overboard.”

He laughed so hard at me and told me where sponges really come from. I laughed until tears rolled from my eyes.  How could I be so dingy?  No, I’m NOT a blonde. I’m just not that educated on sea life.

I need to end this soon, I am beginning to be nauseous and I have a slight headache and I don’t know exactly how this works. Evan didn’t tell me what he was feeling during the changing; I’m guessing it was like this. I really kind of feel like lying down but I want to finish this. So, I will leave the small stuff out, and try to sum up the rest for you, quickly. ****

My birthday was just five days ago.  I didn’t realize it. Evan reminded me. We were hungry and looking for new shelter when we saw a restaurant tucked in the corner of a small shopping plaza. So, we went there. After a thorough zombie check we barred the door with tables and searched for food and found some beef in a deep freezer that hadn’t completely thawed yet.

It wasn’t any good to us though for two reasons. Number One; how are we going to cook it? By this time the power was down everywhere. So the microwave there wasn’t any help.

Number two, we had seen too much in the past month and neither one of us had the stomach for it. Any species of flesh just didn’t seem appealing to us, at all.

We looked around a little more and found several varieties of can goods, some packets of Capri Sun (for kids’ meals I guess) and a few cases of bottled water.

We then sat Indian style behind the counter and I ate peaches while Evan ate chicken noodle soup.

We talked about old times and friends. Things we’ve done together. Things we would like to do. We did not talk about what was going on. For those few moments, we really didn’t worry about anything.

We finished eating and spread table cloths on the floor and used our backpacks as pillows. He told me he had something for me and pulled a little lump of newspaper from his pocket.

I opened it and it was a tiny glass teddy bear holding a red heart that says ‘I Love you’.  He told me “Happy Birthday”. I kissed him and thanked him for it. He told me he got it on one of our scavenger hunts a few days before. I carry it in my pocket now, and I have looked at it a hundred times.

Evan and I weren’t ones to beat around the bush when it came to sex. We’ve always had wild, hot, raw and steamy sex. On the floor, bed, dresser, couch, chair, just all over the place sex, always great. But that night, we made love. I kind of hate to say it in that way, because it sounds cheesy and all, but that is what we did, and very intimately. It was slow, and passionate and beautiful. We took our time, while whispering loving words, then fell asleep holding one another.

Under the circumstances, it had been a great birthday.  The next morning (or should I say a couple hours later), Evan said we should stick around here for a couple days not only because of the food, but also because we had found a big bag of clean service towels. We were able to use those and some of the water to clean ourselves up. It felt nice to be even a little bit clean.

We stayed there for three days.  We tried to live as close to normal as possible, given the situation. We had both gotten some much needed rest. I slept as he kept watch and vice versa. There were pretty many gathered out front by then.

They couldn’t see us because we stayed behind the counter and low to the ground, but I know they could smell us.

Twice, I peeked out at the windows and saw several gathered there, both hands and their faces pressed flat against the windows. They were certainly sniffing us out. The fear I felt in my heart that moment is nothing compared to the fear I feel now, as I watch my husband die before my eyes and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.

So, the time came to leave there, too. You can’t stay in one place too long.

BITTEN

It has been 37 hours now, since he has been bitten, and such a very small bite.   We were sneaking through the streets to find other shelter because the restraunt wasn’t safe anymore. Evan was probably five feet in front of me.  I should’ve been watching closer, but I was distracted. We heard a woman screaming and I tried so hard not to see it.

We couldn’t help, we had run past a group of Infected, and though they couldn’t run after us, they were headed in our direction. Navigating my path had left me no choice but to look that way and I saw a little girl and she was a Halfer.

She was tearing into the belly of a severely wounded pregnant woman who was screaming relentlessly up until then, dying of either her injuries, or fright. I’m going to go with the latter.

I was frozen in place by the shock of the scene unfolding before me.  As sickened as I was by the sight, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the child.

There are no words to describe all that I saw and what I was feeling.

I wondered if the child was her daughter, or her niece. Or maybe she was just a random little girl that had been chosen to end her life.  Then... she looked right at me.

A bolt of fear shot through me as I thought she was going to come after me, but she didn’t.

She sat there on her knees looking at me over the mass of flesh she was eating.

I think, it may have been some part of the unborn child. I know I saw it, and somewhere, deep down inside, I know what it was.

My memory will not allow me to recall. Thank You, Lord.

And she was looking at me with insolence, like a spoiled brat who had just gotten her way by getting the candy bar she demanded to have, and was daring me to take it from her.

I heard Evan half-whisper, half-shout at me to “COME ON!”, and as I turned to catch up to him, an Infected female lumbered out from behind the van that Evan was standing next to, and latched onto his right shoulder.

I went to the left side of Evan and stood in front of him. My goal was to shoot her and make the gore spit out behind them. I had to try to keep the blood from getting on him. He was wearing a hooded raincoat but I didn’t want it on him at all. I raised my gun and fired even though I was scared to death that I would miss and hit Evan because of bad aim. Well, by that time I got pretty good with a gun so my shot was true and my bullet entered the left side of her head and exploded out the other in a fine spray.

We didn’t think he’d gotten bit, he said that he didn’t feel anything. But when we finally found a place to stop for a moment, we took off his rain coat, jacket and shirt; we found that it was the smallest thing.

One of her teeth had made the connection, but I shot her before she could really get a good size bite. It was a very small puncture. The bitch managed to break the skin. That’s all it took.

For the whole day we searched for a place to rest, for the night, but since the number of Infected increased by at least three times, it was hard to find even a partly empty street. There were always at least three hanging out in the street. You don’t want them to see you go in anywhere. They may not be fast, but they will follow you, and they will wait for you until something else distracts them. There weren’t many living people left to run, so the chance of them being distracted was almost none.

We didn’t know our way around this area so it seemed like we were running in circles, all the houses were the same, until we got to this street, Spirit Lane. To a big house that had no business here, among all these other little houses. I was happy for it, it looked comfortable.

Of course I weighed the options, it was a much bigger house, so the number of Infected that could be in there could be few or many. But also more places to hide. I just felt that it had to be this house. We couldn’t run anymore anyway. Evan was getting weaker.

When we arrived here in this house, it was in good condition, it must be someone from up North’s winter home. We checked the first floor and there were no infected. I told Evan to sit at the table and rest until I was through checking the second floor. There were two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. There was still running water. No zombies.

I didn’t worry much about the curtains on the first floor, they were sort of heavy in the living room, and the only window in the kitchen had a thick shade. They could not see us from the street. I went to the bathroom and got a thick towel to put over the window on the back door. We were safe for a while.

I checked the cabinets and found two cans of corn and a box of stale crackers. Evan by this time, was not only weak and freezing to the bone, he didn’t feel like eating, so I didn’t eat either.

I got a large mixing bowl from the kitchen and went upstairs. I put my pack in front of the first bedroom door and Evan went into the bedroom.

I filled the bowl with water from the sink and found a wash rag, a new bar of soap and a towel. I took it in the bedroom and washed Evan’s face and under arms, I turned my back, so he could wash the rest of himself. When he was done I washed the bite for him. He said it was sore, and it was definitely an angry red.

I changed the water and got different rag and bar of soap and repeated the process for myself.

Evan lay down on the bed, and I covered him up and sat leaning back against the head board so I could watch him.

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. I didn’t plan on sleeping but dozed off anyway.

We woke up because we heard noise down on the first floor, and light footsteps running into the next room and shutting the door. Someone else was here, but I was not going to check it out.

I remembered that I shrugged off my backpack in the hall just outside the door and it had things in it that we would need.

I tried to quietly open the door to snatch the bag, but the staircase was only a few feet from the door and one of the Infected climbing the stairs, saw me.

I grabbed the pack and shut the door quickly and frantically scanned the room for a place to hide. The dresser was too heavy for us to move and the only other furniture was the bed and an end table. I felt helpless for just a second. I did not want to be eaten alive.

Evan looked up and saw the cord to the hatch, so he pulled it and a ladder came down. He refused to go first, so I scrambled up there and extended my hand to him and he grabbed the blanket off the bed. He threw it up to me and I tossed it aside and extended my hand to help him up the rest of the way. He had gotten weaker during his sleep, but he was not yet disabled. As soon as we started grasping the rungs to get the ladder back up, the zombie opened the door.  We pulled it up far enough for me to get the cord and yank it up the rest of the way. I fastened it to a nail as I explained earlier. We barely made it.

That is how we got trapped here. That was yesterday. We heard nothing else from whoever had run into the other room. No screams or anything. So, I’m sure there is a live person somewhere below us. I had distracted the zombies when I opened the door to get my bag, maybe it saved a life, for now. I hope they get a chance to escape.

THE TIME HAS COME

9:46 A.M.

He is full out undead now, and I feel sorry for him. He looks pitiful. Such a lost and helpless look on his face, and the moans, it sounds like he’s weeping. This is all too much for me. He doesn’t know anything but gnawing hunger now. The zombies are victims, too. They didn’t ask for this. These zombies were once the people we love, friends and family.

I should’ve ended this, hours ago, but I wanted to finish my account of the events. And now, I have. What I could most clearly recall anyway. I hope that you may have found some of this useful. Though I don’t know what you’ll use it for. I know it’s the end of the world, so if you find this, It’s just a matter of time for you as well.

If I could’ve had just one more cup of coffee with this last cigarette I am smoking, that would’ve been good.

For the past three weeks, we have been doing nothing but running. If by chance, this curse is lifted from us and my sisters managed to survive, I want them to know that Evan and I did not get torn apart and consumed in such a grisly manner. I want them to know we took the easy way out when we realized there would be no escape. I want them to know I was thinking of them in my last moments. April and Marie, I love you.

I know it seems sudden, but I have nothing left to tell you. These are the last few moments of the last day of my life and I want to say that I got the chance to know happiness and true love, and I have few regrets. Life could’ve been so much harder for me, as it was for so many other people.

I am going to go to him, and I’m going to wrap my arms around him and kiss him. I am going to imagine that we are headed to a better place. The moment he sinks his teeth into me, from behind his head…I will pull the trigger. This is a .357, ya know. If it does what I think it will do, one bullet just might be enough. We will die locked in a macabre lovers embrace forever.  It’s looking like we are both going to get what we want after all.

Stand here my friend

And cast an eye,

As you are now

So once was I.

As I am now

So you will be,

Prepare for death

And follow me.

-Anonymous

book ii
kate’s calling

October 24, 2013

10:22 A.M.

I am Kate Roland. I was a Private First Class soldier in the Army, until the world began falling apart. Then I became just another human being fighting to save my life. Why? I don’t know. I’m surely not going to find the man of my dreams and get married, have babies and live happily ever after. No chance of that, ever.

I have always thought that if the world were going to end, it would be because the sun or some other heavenly body would hurl out of the sky at astronomical speeds and slam into the earth, shattering it into a billion pieces in an instant. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Nope. We’re not that lucky.

Instead we get to receive the Plague of the Undead. I’ll admit that I was dumbfounded when I heard of the dead rising. It was straight out of Hollywood, that couldn’t happen. Once you’re dead, you’re dead.

The people that died in the earthquakes and tsunamis, fires, tornados; those people were the lucky ones.

Now, I imagine it was scary enough, and I can imagine the fear they must’ve felt. Probably as scared as I am, it’s just a different kind of scared. They were truly blessed to be given a quick death. If there were any survivors, they are surely dead by now.

I can’t believe that the United States hasn’t collapsed as well. I understand why. We had obviously chosen our own fate.

Zombies? Really? Come on. I’ll bet my life that it was man made, and they (meaning the government) put it out there. Where else would it come from?

Jillian felt it was a punishment from God. Me, not being very religious, fell it was done to assess some kind of population control. There are too many people in this country. We have immigration problems. Maybe they wanted it for border control. No matter what the reason; I think it was already in the works before the disasters occurred.

I think they developed and planned it. They couldn’t have picked a worse time to release it, and they probably thought they could handle it, but it became bigger than they ever imagined.

Yea, that’s what I think happened. Why didn’t they eliminate all threat of this spreading when they had all the resources? Somebody purposely let it walk right out the front door.

No matter. There’s no sense in trying to figure it out, I’m not even sure what I believe, now.  I can’t change a thing.

No, I’m not bitten, or infected at all. I do have a sprained ankle, which is one of the reasons why I’m still here in this cemetery. If my ankle were not injured, I would have already tried to leave.

As beautiful as it is, I can’t stay here forever. But I can stay here for now. I need a rest anyway.

My ankle will be healed in a few days and I can go on my way. For now, I’m tired of running, and I’m tired of hiding. If I had a bullet, I would use it. But I have long since run out of ammo for the only weapon I have left. Maybe my future travels will lead me to an armory. A girl can dream, can’t she? You never know, obviously anything can happen.

As I mentioned a moment ago, I am currently staying in a cemetery, The All Souls Cemetery in fact. I know because I saw the great big sign beside the front gates. I am somewhere in southern Tennessee. Imagine that. Believe it or not, in the midst of the rising dead, a cemetery is the safest place to be. For some reason, the dead here do not rise, they can’t hurt me.

I have always been fond of cemeteries, and I found a beautiful crypt to hang out in. Someone really loved Markus McNeal because his crypt is all decked out with a curtain, a loveseat and a few framed photos, and a blue plush throw blanket. It has come in handy because it’s been just a little cold outside. There was a Cuban cigar, but I smoked it. I’m not usually a smoker, but I made an exception in this case.

I love the quiet, peaceful surroundings and the natural beauty of cemeteries. I can actually hear birds chirping and a nice crisp breeze is blowing through the trees causing the leaves to rustle and fall from their branches.

I am writing this down because I agree with Jillian, (I’ll fill you in on her momentarily) someone needs to keep an account of what has gone on here. I got the idea from her, not to mention I am bored and need a distraction, just as she did but not with the urgency that she had needed one. Thank God. I could choose my fate at this moment.

Jillian didn’t think there would be anyone left to find her notes, but I found them, and I have hope that someone will find mine as well. I might make it a point to personally give it to someone, but that’s not likely. I don’t think I will find anyone else alive in these parts. If I succeed in getting out of here, I will start my own history for the new world, if there is one.

A few things have happened over the course of the last week, small subtle hints that made me believe that maybe this world will have a second chance. It gave me something to look forward to, when there was nothing but the undead to count on a week ago.

I don’t think it will happen very soon, it may take years or even decades, and I don’t think I will be able to hold out that long.

I have to say that I love the spot I am hidden in, but I don’t have the means to stay here for a lengthy amount of time.

Eventually I am going to need to leave, I’ll need food. The body is driven to survive and hunt down its needs.

If I ignore it, I will starve to death, if I don’t, and I go out in search of food, (and since I have no means of self-defense at this point) I will be risking a painful and horrific death. So, for the moment, my injury is saving my life. Otherwise I would be too stubborn to stay here for more than a few hours of good sleep.

The truth be known, it’s not death itself that I fear, and if or when we die, but the manner in which it will occur.

I am definitely afraid that it may be by the hands of the infected, but I am going to do my best to insure that my death will not result in my being some lucky zombies’ main course. I am terrified of that happening.

I would like to tell you about Jillian, and how she has affected my life. I feel the need to tell you about her, so you can follow what's going on here and why she has such a great impact on my life at the moment.

She was not a friend, though I met her once, I did not know her personally. But after reading the journal she had left behind, I feel like I know her very well.  In an odd way she has become my friend and confidant. I talk to her sometimes.

Of course she doesn’t talk back, I’m not crazy, and I just imagine that I am talking to her instead of myself.

I looked at the pictures and watched the videos that were on her phone before the battery died. I still have it as well. I have kept them with me since, and I plan on keeping them along with my notes. It’s written in the same pad of paper.

I’m also going to say that I knew her heart. She was a good person, with a foul mouth, but we’re all guilty of that on occasion, I myself have had a really bad mouth lately. It was sad how it ended for her and her husband.

She was the only zombie I felt any sympathy for, and I shouldn’t feel bad because in the end I know that’s what she wanted. She didn’t want to be that way.  Well, nobody does. These zombies are living, breathing- well, they don’t breathe but they are definitely in there somewhere. I could tell from her reaction when I aimed my weapon to shoot her. I will get to the telling of that event soon enough…

Once again, I am not religious. But I feel blessed that I didn’t have to be alone for the entirety of my journey. I am lonely now, but I have memories and this worn pad of paper to keep me occupied.

Dave Fraley, a friend from high school, was also in the army. He signed up the same time that I did and I haven’t seen him since boot camp. We just happened to be posted in the same area. Dave was a really good guy, and I miss him horribly.

He had very kind eyes a weird shade of grey, an even kinder sort of silly smile and dishwater blonde hair that grew in every direction. Back in high school we called him Fuzzy and he didn’t mind. He knew it was a term of endearment. He always kept to his self, did what was needed to be done without complaining about it, which was good. Most men I’ve encountered in my life bitch and whine more than any woman ever could. When I ran into him, I felt relieved, just to be around someone familiar was a good feeling.

We had been stationed in Ft. Myers, Florida together, and when the other troops began disappearing only to resurface as the Undead, all military personnel were told to kill EVERYONE in sight. Infection or not, and that was the last order we had gotten from our Commanders. We have not heard from them since.

Dave and I decided that we weren’t up for murdering innocent people. So we drifted off on our own, checking on the people that remained, and telling them to keep inside and lock the doors. That it was not safe outside for any reason. After we left, if they decided not to listen to us, well I guess they didn’t make it. I know that some of them were probably killed later by the other troops that consisted of uncaring and heartless individuals following orders, like Preston Brooks. What a character.

He was a Marine that Dave and I ran into while trying to gun down a mob infected. I have to say that if it were not for him, we may not have made it. So I will give him the props he deserves for that, we obviously needed the help.

There were at least twenty undead, and when you have to ensure a head shot with every one of them, it’s almost impossible to do that without some of them closing the distance between you and them.

Sure, we could have opened fire with automatics, but we would have been wasting precious ammo, we didn’t have an endless supply. So, I used my .22. Yes, I know it’s a puny gun, but a gun none the less and a .22 bullet to the brain has the same outcome as a larger caliber gun with less of a mess being sprayed about. No muss, no fuss. You don’t want any of the infected gunk on you, at all. Dave was using his M1911 pistol.

Preston appeared out of an alley and started picking off the ones closest to us.

For the first few minutes, he seemed to be an alright guy. He spoke with an air of quiet authority and seemed concerned for our safety, until he began telling us about his partner. His voice changed, and the look in his eyes went from intelligent and friendly, to distant and filled with quiet rage.

We quickly grew suspicious of him and immediately did not trust him not to kill us as well.

As we sat in an abandoned storehouse, gathered around the small fire built to give us an ample amount of light, the shadows of the flickering flames served to make his face look more sinister.

“I had a partner. Jan, I called him. Jan didn’t want to follow the commands we were given.”

Dave and I looked at each other and we didn’t have to speak, our psycho radar was spinning out of control.

“See, him being so uncooperative… he became part of the problem. He didn’t give a damn about the solution. So, I showed him how it’s supposed to be done.”

“How what is supposed to be done?” Dave asked.

“Well, I showed ole Jan how to follow orders. First, I shot the man of the house. I put the gun right between his eyes.” he said this while pulling his pistol from the holster and a turning it about in his hands.

“The wife and kids started screaming, so I wanted to make it quick for them, I fired my weapon and it didn’t go off. They all cried a little harder, and I think Jan pissed his self! Well, I fired again, and then I wasted no time putting slugs in the rest of them.”

He laughed and slapped his knee. He looked up at us with an evil smile.

“So, where’s Jan?” I asked cautiously, though I knew the answer. I just needed to know if my instincts were right.

“I shot him! What did you think I was going to do? He didn’t have the balls to be a real man, and take out the threat as we were told! He was standing back in the corner sniveling like a little cunt, he was.”

Dave and I both looked at him in shocked silence. I noticed that we both had our hands on our own weapons.

“What’s the matter with you two? They were infected, they just hadn’t changed yet. Don’t get all weird on me now. I saved your asses!” he said realizing we had taken a defensive stance.

I relaxed a little only to keep the peace and Dave followed my lead. I then as  nicely as I possibly could, told him he needed to find another group, that we didn’t follow orders and if he thought that we were just going let him shoot us, he was wrong.

It still bothers me, if they had been infected; they would not have been worried for each other’s life.

He felt justified in killing them, and there’s something wrong in a person’s head when they can enjoy committing an act like that. After that, I decided that he was undercover twisted, but soon realized that he wasn’t trying to hide it at all.

Those people weren’t bothering anybody; they had every right to defend their selves and try to find their own way to survive.

I still believe that the government made the virus. They made the call to kill everyone else. Why not? It’s sickening and makes me wonder what else they were responsible for over the years. It pisses me off, I think that's why I keep going back to it but as I said before, I don't know what to think.

Getting back to Preston, he was rude, crass and bossy. Though we didn’t take orders from him, we just let him entertain himself by going along with it as long as it was a good plan. There would be an opportunity to get rid of him soon enough. We had hoped.

The morning of day two with Preston, Dave told him “We don’t trust you. If you even look at us so much as sideways, I will blow your brains out and feel no remorse, just as you did to your partner.”

Preston seemed to think about what Dave said for a moment, and then smiled and said we had nothing to worry about.

I think the only reason he didn’t try to kill us is because he was lonely, and maybe he thought he might’ve had a chance with me.

We found that he was great at planning an escape or attack when he was being serious.

But in the short week he’d been with us, we saw about five different personalities come out of him.

This guy changed emotions like you change underwear, and he behaved very immaturely at times, which did shock us the first time we had seen it, it was a complete personality switch, and it was on after that. Dave and I secretly nicknamed him Sybil.

Preston also thought he was God’s gift to women, and he wasn’t anywhere near as good looking as he thought he was. He was sort of slinky with dirt brown hair and beady little brown eyes that darted around all the time. You can’t trust a guy with shifty eyes.

Moving on, when we discovered Jillian and Angel, we had heard a single gunshot. It had been pretty quiet on the streets for a while and we hadn’t seen any other soldiers for quite a long time, so we assumed it was a civilian. And based on hearing only one shot, it’s most likely a suicide.

We stood looking at the house.

A small, beautiful Victorian style home, though not near as big as they usually are. That pretty little house belonged in a field with the nearest neighbor at two miles, not crammed in the middle of the one floor ranch style homes that dominated the road. It must have been custom built.

It was the only home on the block with the windows still intact, the most logical place to hide; I assumed that was where it came from……

FINDING JILLIAN

October 20, 2013

10:37 A.M.

“Are you sure this is where it came from?” Preston asked.

“No,” I said, “but we’re gonna search the house anyway. We need a place to rest and this looks like the best we’ve come across lately. Let’s go and see what’s up.”

It had been at least two days since any of us had sleep. I was just about ready to collapse from exhaustion. I walked on up to the porch and Preston and Dave followed me up.

“Alright, we’re gonna get in here and find out what’s going on, clear it out if need be and we’ll stay here for the rest of the day and head out tomorrow morning.”

I sighed loudly as Preston repeated what I had already pretty much said. He’s one of those guys that repeat everything he hears, adds something to it, and believes it was his idea.

Preston was hell bent on killing everything in sight.

So far he had shot a squirrel, a dog and three cats.

What an asshole, we didn't argue with him much because we knew he had a loose screw or two, though I did throw up an argument about the animals and he countered with the defense that they could possibly be carrying the virus as well. We couldn't know for sure so I let it go.

He was still trying to ‘follow orders’. We hadn’t run into any ‘live’ people in five days, so we never got the opportunity to keep him from murdering an innocent, I think he was a little intimidated by Dave, but wouldn’t admit it.

“If there are any people in there, Preston, you shoot one and I won’t give you the chance to shoot another.” Dave said.

“Well, you two were told the same thing. What makes you above the command? Nothing. When we get back to Base, you will probably be reprimanded.”

Preston said as if he was telling us something we actually gave two shits and a fuck about, we could really care less, given the situation.

“Um... Preston, I don’t give a shit about your Base, and I have just two words for our command center, IF it even still exists. We haven’t heard from them in four days. How long has it been since you’ve heard from your people?”

He looked down at the ground without saying anything.

“Exactly,” I said and turned to Dave. “It was only one shot, I don’t think there’s anyone left alive.”

“Okay, Roland you kick in the door and Fraley you take the lead. I’ll bring up-”

“Let’s get this straight right now, Preston. I’m tired of playing the game your way. You don’t give me orders, and you don’t tell me what to do. You can ask me but I can’t guarantee I’ll do it. I don’t like you, and you’re lucky we let you follow us along. I don’t give a fuck if you are a Marine or not, which I’m suspecting you may not be…The one thing I’m sure of, is that you’re a fucking murderer.” Dave was not afraid of him in the least.

Preston sneered and opened his mouth to say something and I moved between them and put a hand on both of their chests pressing them back away from each other because they had  gotten a little too close over the last few seconds.

“Now, that’s enough. We’re standing out in broad daylight and there’s infected walking around here somewhere. I’m tired and I know you guys are too. We could all use some rest. Let’s get on with it.” I said.

Though the both of us hated him with a passion at this point, this was no time to quarrel. They quieted and we let Preston lay out his little plan.

“Okay, as I was saying. Roland, kick the door. Fraley, take the lead and I’ll bring up the rear. Now, Go!”

Ignoring Preston, I walked up to the door and put my ear against it. I could hear the moans of the infected but it was sort of distant.

“I hear something, there’s at least three or more, possibly on the second floor.  Let’s take it slow and quietly.” I tried the knob and it turned.

“What the fuck are you doing, Roland?! I said kick it, not make love to it!” Preston said loudly behind me.

“We want to be able to shut the door, asshole! And shut the fuck up.” I said and was getting a little pissed off  myself now, so I flung the door open, took the lead and we rushed into the living room of the house with weapons aimed high.

I headed for the staircase directly ahead and climbed the first five stairs in one quick easy stride.

“UNITED STATES MARINES!” Preston shouted. Dumb Ass!

I looked back at him to say “Shut the fuck up!” and an Able Infected appeared at the top of the staircase and screeched. He bounded down the stairs towards me at an incredible speed, so fast I had no time to react and he nearly got hold of me. And I thank God for Dave.

The infected had been so close to me that I was a breath away from meeting my maker. Dave shot from behind me, tagged him right between the eyes and I flattened my body against the wall to let him tumble down past me and land at Dave’s feet.

“Thanks.” I told him.

“Anytime, thanks for taking lead. I was going to do it; I just wanted to give him shit about it. I hate him more every minute that goes by.”

Preston had already begun searching the first floor so Dave and I took the second floor. I was partially hoping that one would get him while we were otherwise occupied so we didn’t have to save him. I didn’t want to worry about finding him standing over me while I’m sleeping like he did the last time we were able to stop for a rest. I’m pretty sure I can guess what was on his mind.

We ascended the stairs and there was a room maybe ten feet from the top landing, the door was open and there were several more Infected than I thought and they had already begun their slow lumbering toward us.

We picked them off quickly. The only good thing about this situation is that they move pretty slowly, and I thanked the heavens that there were not anymore of the quicker breed of Infected.

The room wasn’t very big, with only a large dresser, a full size bed and end table. No lamp. The bed had been slept in the blanket was missing. There were water bottles full of cigarette butts that floated atop the surface of the remaining contents. I remember thinking how disgusting the water looked now brown and tainted from the tobacco.

I also thought that whoever it was at least had enough respect not to put them out on the floor, even though the owner would probably never be back to see it.

A crumpled washrag sat in the floor next to an overturned bowl of dirty water, (being overturned by the head of a zombie when it hit the floor and the water was now spreading about his head in a nasty bloody puddle) and a bar of soap. Through all that they were still concerned for their hygiene.

“Well there are eight of them here; there might be some up there though.” Dave said as he nodded his head toward the ladder extending from the ceiling, leading up to what I thought was crawl space, but it turned out that other than the slanting ceiling, you could actually stand up in the middle of the room and it was much bigger than what I thought.

The end table that should have been beside the bed had been moved to just under the hatch and a filthy jagged edged knife lay in the floor.

“That fucker on the stairs I killed,’ he said “that’s what he was doing. He was up there before he heard Prestons’ big mouth. I reckon there’s somebody up there.”

I didn’t want to go up first, so I said with a wink and a nudge forward with my elbow,

“You go first.”

“Okay, wait for my signal.”

I waited at the bottom as Dave went up through the hatch. I heard his footsteps as he searched through the room above.

“All clear, come on up.”

I climbed the ladder and stooped to pick up a cell phone that was close to the opening of the hatch. Dave continued on a little further into the attic.

I flipped the phone open and it was still working. The picture on the screen was of a smiling young couple, early thirties maybe, cheek to cheek and the ocean behind them. I recognized them from Eiler Street down in North Fort Myers.

I saw them when we had to go back and pick up two children. They were upset and trying to convince us to let the boys’ father go with them. I wish I would’ve done it; the kids may have had a better chance of surviving if we had. They weren’t even sick, they just took them because the mother was infected, and were afraid that the children would be as well.

I think maybe they pictured those sweet little innocent boys turning and being able to easily approach adults, thus attacking them and spreading the infection quicker. People (well, most people) see a child that looks hurt or distraught and they want to help. These days that is dangerous.

“Kate, Come here.” I walked over to where Dave was standing in the corner under the slant, and the bodies of the couple in the picture, were on the floor.

“Look at this,” I said and handed him the open phone “You remember them?”

I met these two during my post at Eiler Street.”

“Yea, me too. I told them to run. It’s a shame; I thought they’d make it.’ He looked at the picture and then at them.

“They’re unrecognizable now.” he said as he shut the phone and gave it back to me.

I put it in my inside jacket pocket. I don’t know why I wanted it then, but I’m glad I kept it, because the more I read of her story; the more I would have been tempted to go back up and get it. The pictures helped me visualize what she was writing. Jillian took several different pictures of Evan during the change and each one was worse than the last.

The male as I now know as Evan, was lying on his right side and his hands were bound behind his back, his feet were bound at the ankles. His body looked to be in a later stage of decomposition than hers. I figured he turned first since he was the one tied up. His face was a shattered mess.

The female now known as Jillian, was lying on her left side facing him, and her face seemed to be in as bad a shape as his. There were bits of Evan’s brain matter clinging to her face, neck and upper chest region, but I really couldn’t tell what was hers and what was his, it was all sort of a mushy red and black mess, with specks of white bone, shards of teeth and ripped flesh in several places.

There were bites taken out of her right outer thigh and a small portion of her rib cage showing.

“Looks like the Abled cut the string and got in here. I hope she was already dead.” Dave said.

The gun is behind Evan’s head, the angle of the gun and her hand indicated her intent to kill them both with one shot.

I picked up the gun with a shirt that was lying in the floor. One bullet left in the chamber.

“It’s a .357. Good choice, looks like it did the job. “I said while laying the gun back down on the floor “She was already gone.”

I thought about keeping the gun but I was already carrying an MP5, a .22 caliber handgun, and a machete in a sling on my back.

I could easily trade it for my .22, but the gun had a something nasty sticking to it and I didn’t want to risk getting it on me.

“What’s this?” Preston asked as he walked up from behind us, kicked Jillian in the back and snickered. Her body remained stiff and only jumped forward a little with the impact.

He was being sneaky, we didn’t hear him approaching. He pulled his gun to shoot her but I put my hand on the barrel and shoved it away.

Dave stared at him with hard steely eyes. I thought he was going hit Preston but only dropped his head and focused his attention on something in the floor. I imagine so he could distract himself from what he really wanted to do.

“She’s gone asshole. This was our gunshot. She’s not gonna rise, she killed herself before he got to her. And don’t kick her again, have some respect!”

I turned to look him square in his ugly beady little eyes.

“What the hell was that downstairs? What fuckin’ part of slow and quietly don’t you understand? That thing wouldn’t have charged at me if you didn’t make all that noise! I was almost killed! United States Marines” (I said mocking him) “We’re not fucking Marines. In fact, you’re not even a Marine anymore. It’s every man for his self, now. You can’t see that? We need to be a team if we’re going to get through this alive and you are not a team player. You’re creepy and sneaky and don’t you EVER let me catch you standing over me while I’m sleeping again. In fact, tomorrow, we’re splitting off from you.”

“Let me just shoot her one more time to make sure.” he whined.

Really?

But we should have been used to that by then.

I shook my head in disbelief. “You don’t even care, do you? Did you hear even one word I said?”

This dude was nuts, one minute he was acting like he was a bad ass, the next, a whiney little bitch, and that’s what he was doing.

He just wanted to kill everything breathing or not, as long as he got to kill something. He needed Prozac or something. I think he was Bipolar or schizophrenic or some other type of social psychotic condition that I can’t pronounce.

He must’ve felt robbed when he didn’t get to shoot any of the Infected downstairs. On the other hand, now that I think about it, why didn’t he come up to help when he heard us firing our weapons? He was probably hoping they would take us out.

“Okay, Preston.” Dave said, “You’ll be better off staying away from me from this point on. You’re a rude, disrespectful bastard, and your loud mouth is going to attract unwanted attention. Now, remember that I said that, because when those things are on us again and it’s your fault, because of your lack of use of common sense, I will have no mercy. This means I will shoot you right in the fucking balls before I let you put the two of us in danger. I will NOT blow your fucking brains out to put you out of your misery while you’re begging for your life. I will let those things eat you alive.” Dave said in an eerily calm voice.

Yep, he was pretty fed up with Preston, who just stood there with his creepy little eyes narrowed, biting his lip and breathing hard through his nose, like it’s supposed to scare someone. INTIMIDATION FAIL.

.

“I don’t know how the fuck they even let you join the Marines.” I said with disgust.

“Kate. I’m taking this pack downstairs and see if we can use anything.” Dave picked up the back pack that was lying a few feet from the couple. “The other one is under their heads, we won’t be able use anything from that.”

“Did you run into any infected downstairs? What were you doing and why didn’t you come to see what was going on when you heard our fire?” I asked Preston.

“I was locking up! The back door was open. That’s must be how they got in. I locked all the doors and blocked the main entry with the sofa. I covered the windows with blankets I found in a small laundry room under the stairs. The only other rooms are a kitchen, large living room, a half bath. There’s a full bathroom just outside the door to the room below us and another bedroom beside it that’s about the same size and it’s clear.” I laughed to myself.

“As if I have to explain anything to you.” he said sarcastically with knitted brows.

“Thanks for locking up. So please, just go away now.” I told him.

He started to stomp away but then so suddenly and loudly, startling me and about causing me to jump out of my skin; he said, “Hey! Would you look at that?”

He was smiling as big and goofy as a kid in a candy store. “It’s my lucky day.”

He picked up a marijuana cigarette that was lying amidst the contents of an emptied purse that had been scattered in the floor. He put it in his mouth and got a lighter out of his pocket, I slapped it out of his mouth just before the flame hit it.

“What is your fucking problem, Roland!?”  He said clenching his teeth and balled his fists; he bent to pick it up and feigned dusting it off.

“YOU! You’re my fucking problem asshole! Flex your jaws all you want, Preston.  Take that shit somewhere else and smoke it, I don’t want to smell it. And by the way, getting high right now is the worst mistake you can make. You’re not sitting at home playing fucking Resident Evil, Asshole! I shouldn’t have to tell you that. I don’t know where your head is at, you don’t make any sense.”

I put my hand over my eyes and rubbed my temples, he was giving me a migraine.

“I can’t wait to get away from you.” I said with much less anger than I felt.

“Fuck you.” he said and stormed off taking the marijuana cigarette with him.

I picked up the I.D’s I saw lying with the rest of the things on the floor and looked at them.

Jillian Drake, October 15, 1976. She had auburn hair and blue eyes; five feet and seven inches tall, and one- hundred and eighty- two pounds, Organ Donor, lots of good that did. Good pic, hardly anyone takes a good picture when it comes to identification photos.

Cute shoes, too. They were white K Swiss with their little emblem outlined with a pretty sea green thread, and told myself I would have to get me a pair. I then realized that I would probably never get to shop for shoes again.

They looked a little too small for my size ten and a half feet. I stand five feet eleven inches so; a big foot is to be expected. I looked at my scruffy boots and thought to switch them but decided not to.

Besides, I didn’t want to put my feet in possibly infected shoes, and it would be stealing.

Yes, even though I would be taking them from a dead person, it would still be stealing no matter what the excuse. I pushed the thought away and set my goal to staying alive as long as I possibly could.

Next ID, Evan Drake. May 16, 1976. He had brown hair, green eyes, five feet nine inches tall, and weighing in at two- hundred and five pounds.

They were alive a little over an hour ago. Well, she was anyway. I dropped the Identifications on the floor and turned to leave.

I saw a pen and pad of paper about ten feet to the right of the bodies. The pen didn’t seem to have anything on it, but I rolled it off of the paper with my boot anyway and picked up the pad of paper with a handkerchief that I found in my back pocket.

I moved closer to the little window that faced the street, the daylight illuminating the page so I could make out the words.

I’m not really sure how I should start this out; I’ve never been much of a writer. But I’m stuck here and have only two bullets left which are reserved for use in the very near future, I might as well start with the beginning of the events that led us here.

It says 12:34 A.M.  It was 10:54 A.M. by my watch. She started writing it not even twenty-four hours ago. I flipped through the pad and saw that she had written many, many pages. I sighed, folded it over in my hand and bent down to pick up two of the several lighters that were also scattered across the floor and wondered why she had needed so many. But then again they could be useful. Wasn’t that why I picked them up?

There was a comforter lying on the floor under Jillian’s feet.

The missing blanket. I picked it up and draped it over their bodies and proceeded to go back downstairs. My boot got caught on a nail sticking up that had the majority of the hatch cord wrapped around it.

So that’s how she kept them out of there so long. I was wondering where she got all that time to write.

JILLIAN’S RISING

Downstairs, Preston was kicked back in a recliner smoking that damn joint.

The room was smoky and it reeked of pot.

He deliberately smoked it to piss me off.  I was too tired to give in to my anger at that point. I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear me. “You’re an idiot.”

He gave me the finger. I stepped over the body of the Infected that tried to attack me and went into the kitchen with Dave, who was already eating a ration of pork and drinking bottled water. He threw me one and I caught it as I was sitting my pack and the papers I found upstairs onto the table. I drank it in two big swallows. Apparently I was thirsty.

“What’s that?” he asked motioning to the paper with his head. I slid it across the table to him and began rifling through my bag to see what I had to eat.

Several granola bars, an apple, an orange and a couple rations of pork and beef. Hmm. What to eat? I settled on a granola bar.

Dave quickly flipped through the pages and slid it back to me. “Let me know how it ends.”

But little did we know the end was yet to be seen.

************************************

Oh, my head...what is that smell? It’s so dark…

Jillian sat up and the blanket that Kate had thrown over them fell away.

Wait a minute….where…I’m still in the attic. I’m not dead…

She looked down at her hands and could see they were bluish and swollen; globs of bloody flesh fell off of her face and chest to land in her lap.

Eww…

Her first reaction was to fling the carnage off of her, but her hand had reached for it with eerie speed and she was unsure at that moment if she had popped it in her mouth or chucked it somewhere behind her, she really didn't want to know.

She tried to lift her arms with her own will and her body would not respond. She tried to talk aloud and could only hear a low growl emit from her lips.

Oh… I’m dead all right… just not as dead as I should be. FUCK! Am I really still thinking?! Oh, this is so much worse than I thought it was going to be…

I can’t feel my face, I can’t feel anything! I can’t speak. I can’t move my arms at will... But I can think, and I can taste. Whatever is in my mouth is bitter and oddly sweet at the same time, but it feels nasty… Eww... it's probably that thing I...eeeww! Don’t think about it, don’t think about it! I don’t want to know! I don’t want to know!

What the fuck it that SMELL?

************************************

“So!” Preston barges into the kitchen in his usual loud and obnoxious manner.

“I’m going to take the second bedroom, and you two can fight over who’s gonna have first watch; unless you want to follow me up, Roland. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a tall, curvy True Red in my bed.” he said while winking at me and grinding his hips.

I shivered and goose bumps covered my entire body, as he confirmed my suspicions of why he had been standing over me the other night.

I am sure he would have raped me had Dave not been there.

I remained calm, even though I wanted to slap the grin off of his face; instead I rolled my eyes and asked “What makes you think that I would follow you to bed?”

“I see the way you look at me, you want me.” he replied.

What the hell?

“Keep dreaming, Chuckie. I wouldn’t sleep with you if my life depended on it.” Dave giggled at the Child’s Play reference.

“Get over yourself; your tits aren’t big enough. I only wanted a foot rub while I try to sleep.”

Dave was not laughing now.

“Why don’t you just take your ass upstairs already, be on your way before I do something I won’t feel bad about, nor will I regret.”

“Oooh, I see.” Preston put his hands on his hips and nodded his head.

“You want some True Red too. I have no problem with sharing, if that’s the case. I don’t mind a sword fight every now and then.”

Dave’s face turned purple and he stood up kicking his chair out from behind him across the kitchen floor.

“I don’t think of her that way! I have known her for years, and if I did think of her that way, I guarantee you; I have a much better chance than you do. And as far as a sword fight, you’re barking up the wrong tree, all you will get is disarmed. So, get the fuck out of here.”

Well, what Dave said was true; he did have a better chance, but not because I was attracted to him physically, because I wasn’t. I had never thought of him that way either, but if I had to, at least it would have been with someone I knew and cared for, and the personal contact would have been nice.

It had been a long time. The last time I had sex it was with my boyfriend of five years, Gregg.

I loved him deeply, but he was an alcoholic and an angry one at that. When he was sober he was the greatest guy with an awesome sense of humor and he was amazing in bed, but it got to the point where he was never sober.

If an object was green he would say it was blue. If you told him, “No, it’s green” he would call it a challenge and the fight would be on. He thought that every ones actions were a direct jab at him. His drunken rages and lack of memory of them pushed me away. I had endured it for long enough. I hated to go, but I had to.

I remember thinking that he probably died a happy man, sitting in a bar so drunk he couldn’t stand, a mob of infected hotties tearing at his flesh. I quickly wiped that vision away. I hoped it hadn’t ended like that for him. I was still deeply in love with the man he once was.

“Okay,” Preston threw his hands out to the side. “Have it your way, it’s your loss. Try not to need me.” And with that, he headed upstairs.

I don’t care that he didn’t like my tits. Yes, I am small chested but I have nice nipples and a great ass. But being so tall for a female, I ended up intimidating most men.

I was not going to let Preston’s criticism of the girls get me down. I like them just fine and so has everybody else that has seen them.

I’m sure my face reddened as I thought of my bad habit of flashing them when I drank a little too much.

I didn’t drink often but when I did it was tits out, usually because someone would make a comment about them being small. I guess I felt I needed to show them how nice they really were.

I had the tits of a twenty year old. Big chested women could never claim that, and if they could it had cost them a lot of money. I snapped out of my self-reflection and asked Dave “So, how do you want to do this?”

“We can start by getting this body out of the middle of the floor. We’ll put it in the laundry room. I found gloves in the pantry. Here, put these on.” He tossed me a packet of latex gloves “Then you can read that thing you found or sleep awhile. I’ll take the first watch.”

“No, I can’t sleep when it’s daylight, no matter how tired I am. You go first. Besides I would prefer that you be awake while I’m sleeping. I don’t trust his creepy ass not to try to rape me. I worry more about what he’s capable of than I do the damn zombies.”

“Yea, leave me alone with him, that’s a great idea. He might be gone when you wake up.”

I scowled, even though I didn’t like Preston, I really didn’t want him murdered either, I just wanted him away from us. I wasn’t sure if Dave was joking or not.

“Don’t give me the evil eye.” he laughed at me “I wouldn’t kill him; I’d just scare him a little.”

************************************

Jillian saw Evan’s bound feet and her gaze swept up his body to his shattered face.

Oh, Evan…I’m so sorry.

She was sobbing inside, she bent to kiss his arm, but her body reacted differently. She bit him instead.

Oh, God, I bit him! Please…I don’t want to! I DON’T WANT TO BE THIS! I do NOT want to be this! I know now that Evan had the intention to kiss me but could only do what his body commanded. He bit me. I knew he would, I had planned on it. But I didn’t plan on waking up dead. God… I have believed in you all my life and tried hard to do better! Please don’t let me be this, take my soul and throw it in the fiery pits of Hell! ANYTHING BUT THIS! Why can’t I shut it out?!!... This is so bad…

She could hear herself moaning now, but in her mind screaming and crying harder than she had ever done before.

Can I go down stairs? Can I get up, to do that?

She stood up and slowly walked toward the hatch.

YES! Yes, I can! I hope I can find something sharp to try to slam my head into, maybe the corner of the table… HA! Fat chance, getting that lucky. Now I know why Sue came back, she knew she was home. How she must’ve worried about her husband and kids…  I’m so glad she didn’t know. How sad… This is one hell of a curse, to leave the conscience in the decaying body. You really meant it when you said that we would seek death and wouldn’t find it. REALLY!!?? DID WE REALLY FUCKING DESERVE THIS?! HOW ABOUT THAT LITTLE GIRL, WHO ATE A FUCKIN BABY!? DID SHE DESERVE THIS?!! THANK YOU! JUST WHAT WE ASKED FOR, HUH?

Jillian screamed in her mind.

They can think, taste and smell. Walk and see… And no one knows… And guess what? What? It’s not they anymore, it’s us… it’s fucking ME!!

She tried to scream aloud and still nothing but gurgling moans escaped her lips.

And FUCK that smell is so strong…!

***********************************

Jillian slowly made her way down the ladder and stumbled on the last few stairs and landed on the floor beside the bed, the only sound, a muffled thump.

Preston was in the bathroom and heard the noise, but when he looked in to see what it was, he did not see her. He resumed washing his face in the sink.

Preston thought that he heard something and looked out into the hall to see what it was.

He saw no one and there seemed to be no movement coming from the bedroom where the infected lay slaughtered.

He continued to wash his face. He smiled and checked his teeth. Turned his face from side to side, he needed to look his best.

Tonight would be a big night for him. He was going to fulfill the fantasy he’d had about these two since he met them.

He would pretend to be asleep and sneak down and shoot Dave in his fucking balls, a second before he would shoot him between the eyes.

Or maybe he would get his sword fight after all. He’d hold the gun to Dave’s head as he pulls out Dave’s rod and plays with it. He’d tell him if it didn’t get hard, he’d kill him. He’d dig his fingers into Dave’s eye sockets while he attempted to make it work for him,

He’d have to remember to gag and tie Kate before he shoots Dave. Kate would not hesitate to kill him once she saw her friend being attacked. His plan was getting more difficult with every thought.

He’d tie her up and then he’d have Kate’s hot ass in any position he wanted. He’d show her what a real cock looks like, up close and really personal. He thought he might choke her to death with it, but figured that wouldn’t work; he would not put it past her to bite it off.

Though he grew erect thinking about it, he decided against it and figured he’d just shoot her in the heart after he had his way. Then after her death, he would have her again before she reanimated, just as he did to Jansen, the Marine he had stolen his uniform from.

Fucking bitch thinks she’s too good. He wanted to rip her pretty red hair out while fucking her from behind. She would scream all right. She would scream for mercy. Disrespectful bitch. She will learn never to disrespect him again.

“I’ll bet he’s been fucking her, this whole time,” he said in a low whisper while staring at his self in the mirror “I see the way they look at each other. They can’t wait to get away from me so they can fuckfuckfuck. Well, tonight they will be fucked for sure.”

He had so many plans for them he couldn’t decide on one. He rubbed the bulge in his pants as he anticipated the night ahead.

“Kate, do you remember Sunny Wright from high school?”

“Yea, bleach blond and dramatic. We had two classes with her. She was always causing chaos, full of drama and she was bitchy.

“Yea, why? What about her?”

“She was one of the people who turned during the run to the Medical Center. The fucked up part is I could swear on my life, that I saw a spark of recognition in her eyes. I know that sounds crazy, but it seemed like she knew who I was. She even held out her hand to me, she didn’t try to bite me. It seemed that time stood still for that moment and all the memories from high school flooded my mind. Did I ever tell you that she kissed me once?”

“No, you failed to mention that.” I said after clearing my throat, a little jealousy peeking through because even though I was never interested in Dave, I knew for a fact that he had a crush on me in high school.

He was always around to help me, to carry my books, or walk me home on a dreary day. Then suddenly one day, he just wasn’t around. Not like he used to be anyway. I kind of missed him. It was nice to have someone hanging on your every word even if you didn’t want them. I realized that this was probably why he stopped.

“I was standing at my locker getting out my books for the next class, and she appeared out of nowhere.  Put her hand behind my head and kissed me right on the lips. I wasn’t in love with her or anything but, it sure was a real nice kiss.”

He was silent for a moment and I didn’t know what to say.

“I almost walked away from her, didn’t want to kill her. I thought, for a second; that maybe I could hide her somewhere until a cure was found, but came to my senses, realized there is no cure and that she was infected.

I was watching several of the others fall under the attack of many at once and others searching for someone to bite...or biting the first thing they saw.

I had no choice but to do it. And it hurt me. Everything just got out of control after that. I didn’t stay to fight, there were too many of them, and after Sunny, I just didn’t want to have to kill anyone else that I knew.”

“I’m sorry. I haven’t had to put down anyone I know yet. I hope that I don’t. But I don’t think there’s anything human left in them, Dave. It may have looked like she knew who you were, but…”

“A woman from Eiler Street came back to her house. The mother of those two boys we took. I shot her, too. She was banging on her own front door. I saw her turn and look at everyone who was watching. She made no attempt to attack; she turned back around and continued hitting the door. I shot her quickly because I didn’t want to entertain the thought of her being in there somewhere, and that was after Sunny. I think they know, I think they are aware, just not in control.”

“That’s what he Able Infected do, so it’s possible, I guess. But after so much time, I would hope that all traces of memory of their lives would be gone. Either way, we can’t look at these things like they’re people anymore. And if they are still in there somewhere… they’ll hurt us anyway whether they want to or not, and we will be putting them out of their misery if that’s the case.”

“I know, Kate. It just makes it harder.”

************************************

Jillian got up off of the floor and saw the bodies of the Infected all over the room.

Someone ran into the other room when we woke up. I hear water running and there’s a man in the bathroom… Who is he talking to? Is there someone else here? Maybe he will help me… I can’t wait until this is over. But he smells so good! Maybe I can get just a little taste …

Preston was unaware that she had risen and was looking right at him.

What am I thinking? I don’t want this for anyone.

Her hands went up to grasp her hair at both sides of her head, but she didn’t realize that her body had begun to react to certain thoughts inside her head.

Well, it doesn’t matter what I really want... I’ll just go with the flow and pray he has a gun.

************************************

“I guess I’ll hit the couch and try to rest. I’ll keep one eye open.” Dave stretched his arms out and yawned. “I’m beat. You can wake me in a couple of hours; I just need a power nap.”

“Okay,” I said, “I’m gonna try to read some of this, maybe there’s something in there that will help us along.”

“I doubt it… you see what happened to them.”

He walked into the living room and settled on the sofa that was barring the door. He kept one foot on the ground and his arm over his eyes. I began reading the notes Jillian left behind.

They loved each other, that is clear, and I am not religious, but I sort of agreed with her on her theory about why this happened to us.

It is odd that the other countries around the world had been demolished by natural disasters and we were being eaten by the dead.

I never really thought of it that way until I read her thoughts on that. I know it was a slip up of the CDC, but is it coincidence that the virus escapes while the rest of the world is caving in? However it got here…it’s way too late now. I was not expecting what happened next.

“GET THE FUCK OFF ME!”

I heard Preston scream. I jumped out of my chair with the papers still in hand and ran for the stairs.

Dave; ahead of me, was already at the top, looking into the bathroom. I could see one white shoe with a pretty green emblem, Jillian’s shoe.

I thought she was a goner. I remember thinking that he deserved it for kicking her earlier.

Dave had not shot yet, I didn’t know why until I recalled what he had said to Preston earlier.

When I hit the landing and looked into the bathroom as well, Jillian was sitting on the floor with Preston in her lap and her face buried in his neck, his hands trembling violently; preventing him from pulling his gun. His eyes rolled back in his head as he fainted.

She mentioned both Dave and I in her writings, so I wondered if she would connect with that. I want to know if they are still conscious. She also mentioned her neighbor who had come back to her own house as Dave had said.

It was worth a try, the more we could find out about this, the more it could help somewhere down the road. I spoke her name.

************************************

“Jillian”

That’s me! She said MY NAME...my papers in her hand… and praise Jesus, they have guns! I will be free…Why are you taking so long?!  I’m a fuckin Zombie! See…see… a zombie! I am eating this man, shoot!

I said her name to see if she would look up. When she did, I could see that her right eye was turned down as if she had suffered a stroke.  And her temple looked like so much raw meat. She had several teeth marks around her lips, a bite from Evan; their last embrace.

I still don’t know if she was responding to her name, or just the sound of my voice, but her whole face changed. It went from an evil expression; to stunned, then puzzlement and finally recognition.

Prestons’ blood and gobs of his flesh were dripping from her open mouth onto his chest. She cocked her head to the side and just looked from me to Dave, then back to me, then back to Dave again. ********

‘Know them… Roland and Fraley… I know them!  Oh please hurry!   That’s right Roland, pull it out, baby. Thank you, thank you, and thank you! End it soon, end it now, PLEASE?! A nice deep dark black hole at the end of that gun, I never thought it would look so inviting. My escape at last. Now I lay me, down to sle-

She didn’t move to try to get at us, only closed her eyes and dropped her head. Her arms fell out to her sides, and if the dead could sigh, I’d say that’s what she did.

Dave was right, and I knew what she wanted.

I shot her in the top of her head, and her body slammed back against the side of the bath tub and Jillian was no more.

Dave shot Preston to make sure he wasn’t getting back up, either.

He followed me down the stairs.

“I told you, Kate. She knew us. They are still in there.”

“I know… what can we do about it? Nothing at all. It’s not like we have a cure. I don’t think there’s anyone left who can come up with one. So, locking them all up until that happens is out of the question. We have to kill them. We are doing them a big favor by killing them. They don’t want to be trapped like that.”

“I guess not! She looked like she was ready.” He said while looking up at the landing where her foot still sat just outside the doorway.

“I read in her notes that she slowly watched Evan change and he was in the abled stage for a bit… she called them Halfers. Funny name for them but I guess it fits. And she did plan on killing them both, the gun must’ve jerked away from her sending the bullet through his head but only grazing her face on its exit, causing little damage.”

“Yea, but it looked like it entered the left side of her forehead at the temple. That had to be a brain shot.” he said.

“It couldn’t have been, she came back to life. Did you see the teeth imprints around her lips? I think she passed out, from shock or fright. It would have been after her death that the Abled infected got up there, or she would have shot it first. Also, she had kissed Evan during his change and was telling of headaches and nausea, tingling of the lips, it was working on her, too. She mentioned both of us in her notes.”

“What did she say?”

“She talked about meeting you when Clark was bitten, how Clark showed them the video that wasn’t supposed to get out. I’d like to know how he got it, and she talked about me when I was trying to console the father of the two young boys. She really hated Clark, I’ll tell you that. She also spoke of her neighbor returning, she shared your feelings on that issue.”

“I want to read it now.”

“It reads like a book, but I know it’s all true.”

“No, I really don’t want to take the time to do it. I’ll take your word for it. Was there anything useful in there?”

“Not anything that we don’t already know. Get some sleep, I’m gonna go shut the bathroom door; just in case. Then I’ll take the recliner, I don’t have to worry about Preston now.”

I wasn’t happy about what happened to him, but I was not really sad either. He was a dick and he was a danger to our safety. I got upstairs and lifted Jillian’s leg by the foot that was sticking out of the bathroom. I pushed it in and leaned it against the sink and shut the door. I turned to go back down and I heard the door to the second bedroom creep open. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Preston said that room was clear. I spun on my heel and dropped to one knee with my weapon aimed and ready to go.

I was very surprised to see a little girl standing there.

MEETING ANGEL

I scared her when I drew my weapon, she jumped and put her thumb in her mouth, her other hand clutching a fluffy teddy bear wearing blue pajamas and nightcap decorated with crescent moons and stars to her chest, she began walking backwards.

“Hey.” I put my gun away and sat back on my heels. “I’m sorry, you scared me to death. I’m Kate. What’s your name?”

She pulled her thumb out of her mouth just far enough to speak. “I’m an Angel.” She popped her thumb back in her mouth.

“Your name is Angel?” She nodded her head yes. “How old are you, Angel?”

“I’m six years old, I think.” Her two front teeth were missing and ‘think’ came out as ‘fink’.

“Why don’t you come downstairs with me?”

“Are you gonna bite me?” She asked, with a worried look.

“No, Honey. I’m not going to bite you. I’m not going to hurt you at all. I want to help you.”

I stood up and held out my hand. She gave a big smile and it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in weeks. She put her hand in mine we went down into the kitchen. Dave was sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him with that. He’d find out soon enough, because he was going to be babysitting while I slept later.

“Do you have any food? I haven’t eaten in decades!’ She said so seriously. I laughed and said “Of course. I have an orange, do you like oranges?” I held it out to her.

“I love oranges!” She said excitedly but ‘love’ came out as ‘wub’, and she snatched it from my hand and bit into it.

I laughed at that, it was cute. Her face scrunched at the tartness of the skin and she pushed it out of her mouth with her tongue.

“Here, I should’ve peeled it for you in the first place. Forgive me; I don’t have much experience with children.”

She giggled, placed her teddy bear in the empty chair next to her and said, “It’s okay. I forgive you.”

Forgive came out as ‘forgib’.

“I don’t have to peel them at home. I thought I could just eat it.”

She was adorable. Little golden pigtails that were askew on her head, one still supported by a wrinkled purple ribbon and giant almond shaped eyes that I couldn’t decide if they were green or blue. They sparkled like diamonds in the light. She was wearing a filthy purple dress, frilly socks and white Mary Janes on her feet. She looked like a precious porcelain doll someone had tossed aside. Poor thing.

I peeled the orange and found a saucer to put the slices on and gave her a bottle of water.

“Don’t you have Kool Aid or somefin?”

“No, I’m sorry, I don’t. All I have is water, and water is good for you. You need the hydration.”

“What’s hydr… um, I can’t say it. What is it?”

Somehow I forgot I was talking to a six year old.

“Never mind. I’ll tell you some other time. Just trust me, you need it.”

“Okay.”

It was time to find out where she came from.

“Angel, do you live here?” I asked.

“No. Daddy brought me to here, it’s his Grammys’ house but she died. My Auntie Vibian, (probably meaning Vivian) lives here sometimes but she’s not home. Daddy said he should go look for her.”

“Is your Daddy coming back?” I knew it was unlikely but I thought I’d ask.

“No, he said he was prolly gonna die and that you would come for me. Even vough I was scared and I cried but he said I would be okay and he left. He was gone a long, long time so I went outside to find him because I was hungry and the scary monster was trying to get me.” Angel made her hands into claws and raised her arms above her head when she said that, and then she began to cry.

I picked her up and put her in my lap and rocked her. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and she laid her head on my shoulder.

“He said that I would come for you?” I was confused.

“He didn’t say a name, but he said someone would come and here you are.” She lifted her head to look at me, tears spilling from her eyes and sniffled. “It must be you. He said I was special and you were gonna take me where I am supposed to go.”

“Well, of course you’re special. And I’ll try my best to get you where you need to go. Where are you supposed to go, Angel?”

“I don’t know. He said you would know where to take me.” I didn’t know. I didn’t have a clue where she had to be. And I couldn’t guarantee that either one of us would make it to her mysterious destination alive. I continued to gently rock her and smooth her hair. She fell fast asleep.

Did she know Evan and Jillian were in the house? Why had her father left her here alone and helpless? What a dick.

I tried to ease myself up out of the chair so I wouldn’t wake her and Dave came strutting into kitchen.

“Daaaamn. How long have I been asleep? I am not responsible for that.” He said rubbing his chest with one hand and pointing at Angel with the other. “I don’t even remember you, lady. I want DNA.” he joked.

I put my index finger over my lips to let him know to be quiet and went into the living room and carefully laid Angel on the couch and covered her with the afghan throw that was on the back of it.

“Oh, only about an hour. You feel better?”

“Yea, a little bit. I’m assuming you didn’t get any at all. Where’d you find the girl?”

‘She was here all along; it’s her aunt’s house. Jillian mentioned hearing light footsteps, so it must’ve been her. Her Dad brought her here and left her alone. Told her someone would come and get her, and it looks like we’re it.”

“What are we going to do with a child? We can hardly survive ourselves.”

“We’re not leaving her here when we go.” I said, almost mad at him because I thought that was what he was implying. I should’ve known better. Dave couldn’t do that if he tried, he’s too good hearted.

“No, we’re not. I couldn’t do that. I just don’t know how we’re going to travel.”

“We’ll figure something out, she’s pretty small. You can carry her in your pack.” I tried to make it funny, but the tone in my voice was flat, and I sounded like I was serious. It did to me anyway.

I was too tired to try to sort it out, my eyes were stinging and I was having a hard time keeping them open suddenly.

“Go lie down, Kate. If she wakes, I will watch her, until she starts acting like a nut anyway. Most kids that small do. How old is she anyway?”

“Six.” I left Dave in the kitchen and went to sit in the recliner. I kicked out the foot rest and fell asleep within seconds.

It was dark and I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face. I heard a clap of thunder but did not see a flash of light. I could hear the rain begin to pound the roof, and I put my hands out in front of me in search of a wall or a light switch and found none. I heard the voice of a preacher in mid sermon, in the distance, shouting out scripture with conviction in a powerful voice.

“But… the children of the kingdom… shall be CAST OUT... OUT into the outer darkness…There shall be weeping…and gnashing… of TEETH!! Can you say Amen, Brothers and sisters?”

I pictured him leaning against the podium as he removed his handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiping the sweat from his brow, and looking out upon the people of his congregation with scorn. “AMEN!!”

The congregation shouted in unison. It was getting louder and I tried to follow it to its source; I continued to feel my way around, moving forward inch by inch until my hands passed over a door.

“The Foxes of the earth have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where… to lay his head.”

“AMEN!”

I found the knob and turned it.

“Follow me, and let the dead…bury the dead…”

The door easily opened into a room that wasn’t as dark, and I could now see a little from the flashes of lightning illuminating the room for a second at a time; giving it the effect of a strobe light.

The voices of the preacher and his pupils had died away and I saw that Dave was holding Angel up in the air by the hair of her head and was forcing his other hand into her belly.

She was kicking her legs and her mouth was open in a silent scream, her hands beating at Dave’s arm, trying to make him release her. Her teddy bear had fallen to the floor below her and the blood from her stomach began dripping onto its face.

I tried to run to save her but I could not move my feet, I looked down and my feet were gone; emerged into the floor up to my ankles. I grabbed the back of my right knee to pull my foot out of what suddenly became a foul-smelling puddle of blood and raw meat. It would not budge. I tried to pull my gun, but it wasn’t there.

The thunder and lightning continued and Dave had yanked a fist full of Angel’s bowels out and shoved them in his mouth, the rest of her entrails spilled out onto the floor.

I tried to scream and found I had no voice. Her body went limp and he flung her like he was throwing a weightless rag doll, across the room where she slammed into the wall, bounced off of it and landed in a twisted heap on the floor.

She was facing me and her eyes were open and a look of fright was forever etched on her face.

It all seemed like it was happening in slow motion. It became dark again and I started to panic. Another quick flash of lightning revealed Dave coming at me with his teeth bared and I threw my arms up in front of my face to fend him off.

I fell backwards as he toppled onto me and ripped into my arm.

I awoke with a scream, and Dave and Angel looked at me in confusion. They had been sitting on the floor working on a puzzle.

“You, okay?” Dave asked.

“Yea, damn nightmare.” I said as I leaned forward and covered my face with my hands in relief. It was just a dream; a very vivid, lucid dream. It seemed so real.  I heard scripture clear as day. I don’t know one verse from the Bible by heart. How did I get all that? Are those even real verses?

“Where’d you get a puzzle?” I asked to get my mind off the haunting voice of the preacher and the macabre image of Angel’s eviscerated body in a mound on the floor. Angel pointed to the entertainment center, the bottom storage door left open. There were several more puzzles stored within.

“Aunt Vibian wubs puzzles. This one looks like Heaben, Kate. Isn’t it butiful?”

I picked up the puzzle box and it did look like Heaven, the sun shining brightly through the clouds to illuminate a waterfall running into a crystal blue stream. Flowers of all colors shapes and sizes scattered all through a green landscape with a golden road leading behind the cliff of the waterfall. Several birds dotted the limbs of majestic trees, and many other animals positioned at the edges of the road.

For some odd reason all I could think of was ‘Follow the yellow brick road, follow, follow’, something like that, and it was becoming a mantra in my head.

Shit, I didn’t need that at the moment. It was not the time to sing tunes from a seventy three year old musical. If I didn’t get it out of my head, I would surely start singing it just to scratch that itch.

And now that I think about I; it did help to wipe the nightmare out of my head, as it served to distract me just now.

She got up to point out something in the picture.

“My house is right there. You can’t see it because it’s hiding.” She pointed to the road leading behind the waterfall.

“I’m sure your house is beautiful. I will have to see it sometime.” I gave the box to her and she sat down in the floor and resumed arranging the pieces of the puzzle.

“I didn’t know how to entertain her.” Dave said “I told her I wished I had games for her to play, and she came up with this. It’s better than nothing.” He got up off the floor and we walked into the kitchen, leaving Angel to study the pieces of the puzzle intensely.

“Did she say much of anything?” I asked him.

“Yes. I think the zombie in the laundry room is her father. She said he had gotten bitten on their way here. I assume he left her here because he didn’t want to hurt her; the problem was, he became an Abled and came back for her. He must’ve thought it was her in the attic.”

“I’m glad she didn’t see him like that. She told me earlier that the scary monsters started chasing her when she went outside to look for her dad. I guess she forgot to close the door while running from them and the ones upstairs followed her in. Preston said the back door was open when we got here. Jillian said in her notes she heard someone run into the other room, but she had left her bag in the hall and opened the door to get it. They saw her; it distracted them from going after Angel.”

“It saved her life. She’s a lucky girl. We’ll pack up and leave at first light. I’ll carry her until I get tired, then it will be your turn.” He said.

“I have no problem with that…” My walkie-talkie crackled to life. It had been days since we’d received contact and I grew excited.

“Hello… anybody on this frequency?” There was a little static but we could hear just fine. I responded.

“Yes! Who am I speaking with?”

“My name is John ma’am. We’re looking for other survivors. How many are with you?”

“There are three of us.”

“Where are you?”

“We are in Punta Gorda,” I struggled to remember the numbers I had seen on the front of the house. “The address is nine two six Spirit Lane, just off U.S. 41.”

“We’re about twenty minutes from there. Do you want us to come and get you?”

“Yes, but we want to wait until morning. It’s too dangerous in the dark. Where are you coming from?”

“We are in North Port. And daylight is only a few hours away. Hang tight and I’ll radio you when we head out. Will you be okay for that long?”

“Yes, we’re safe right now. My name is Kate, and I’m here with Dave and Angel. We will look forward to meeting you. And thank you. We didn’t know how we were going to get out of here.”

“You’re welcome. See you in a while. I’ll keep my radio tuned to your channel… in case you need to contact us beforehand. Be safe.”

“I will keep mine on as well.”

Dave and I looked at each other. They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. We were both thinking the same thing. We were going to get out of this house, hopefully; As long as nothing happened to them or us in the meantime.

I decided to try to get some more rest, the dream kept me from benefitting from my sleep, and I was still so exhausted. I looked at my watch and it was 3:30 in the morning already. We didn’t have long to wait.

“I’ll set my phone alarm for six,” Dave said “I’m gonna sleep a little more too. You take the couch this time.”

I looked into the other room and Angel was asleep in the floor. I picked her up and she didn’t stir. I lie back on the couch with her on my chest and quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

ESCAPE FROM SPIRIT LANE

“Spirit Lane, are you ready?” I shot off the couch and got my radio off of the kitchen table.

“Yes, we’re ready.” I saw that Dave was already up and had our packs ready to go.

“We will be there in ten minutes, wait for me to give you the okay to come out. I wanna make sure you have clear passage to the van.”

“Okay. We’ll see you then.” Dave moved the couch away from the door and looked out the peep hole. “There are a few Infected out there.” He moved to the window and peeked through the curtain.

“Quite a few. Get on the radio and tell them. There are five that I can see.”

“John, there are five out in front of the house.”

“Gotcha, Kate. Tank will take care of it. We’ll be there in a sec.”

I grabbed Angel by the hand and readied myself at the door, Dave beside me.

“Where are we going?” Angel asked and I replied, “I don’t know, but away from here.”

“Are we gonna go where Daddy said I had to go?”

“I’m sure we’ll get there sweetheart, but right now I just need you to be quiet and get ready for me to pick you up. You got your teddy?”

“Yep, I don’t go anywhere wifout Teddy.”

We heard gunshots and I looked out the window again to see a bearded, heavy set, gray haired man with aviator shades in the driver seat of a blue Chevy van, picking off the Infected. That must be Tank.

From the kitchen we heard a door slam into the wall, at first I thought it might be one of our rescuers coming in. Angel squealed, “Daddy!” and tried to break free of my hand, I jerked her back and she realized that her daddy was not okay. She screamed louder and started sobbing, saying “No, Daddy, no.” She hid her face in the crook of my neck.

I could not believe what I was seeing. I don’t know why considering all the other impossibilities that have become possible over the last six weeks.

Dave shot him right between the eyes earlier, he disabled the brain. How is he back up and standing? Blood was had dripped down the bridge of his face from the wound and spread out across his lips and chin. The pattern probably created while he was lying on his back in the laundry room.

Dave was as shocked as I was and stood staring at him in disbelief. I turned my back to Dave offering him the machete strapped to my back since a bullet obviously wasn’t enough to do the job. He removed the weapon and I turned back around so Angel could not see her Fathers final fate.

In one swift motion Dave decapitated him and his head hit the floor and rolled a few feet away. His face holding the same expression I had seen on Angel’s face in my dream. His body dropped on its knees, fell forward and remained animate.

It tried to pull itself forward and blood seeped from the stump creating a dark red puddle that spread out, like it was in search of a host and almost touched my feet. I stepped back so not to get any on my boots and get further away from the headless body in the floor.

I instantly thought of Jillian and Preston among the other dead upstairs. Were they going to come back again?

Dave and I stood stock still and listened closely for those upstairs to rise. We didn’t hear anything but Angel’s soft sobs into my shoulder, and decided that they weren’t coming back to life anytime soon.

“COME, NOW!” John said over the radio. He didn’t have to tell us twice. Dave tossed the machete across the room and threw the door open, he put his hand on my back to guide me out first. I held tight to Angel and ran as fast as I could to the open back doors of the waiting van. I noticed the bumper sticker said, “If God is for me, then who can be against me?”

Tank and Dave were shooting the Infected that had begun to drift towards us. There were many more than five.

Once Dave was in the van, Tank hit the gas and turned left on U.S. 41, still firing out his window. I remember thinking how lucky we were to survive in there that long. There were so many more infected out there than I thought but yet there were none outside when we arrived. Angel was still quietly sobbing and I positioned her in the middle of the seat between Dave and me. She protested, “Don’t let me go.”

“I’m not letting you go; I’m only putting you on the seat so I can be comfortable. I’ll still hold your hand.” I told her.

“Okay.” She squeezed my right hand tightly and snuggled Teddy in the crook of her elbow and put her thumb in her mouth. I was going to come up with a way to break her from that, but for the time being I left it alone.

The van was really nice, one of those custom jobs. It had gray fuzzy seats that looked like they were very comfortable. The first seat in the back was full length and even reclined a little. There were two bucket seats behind it that were just like the two front seats, and another full length seat that could be folded down into the floor of the van to make space in the very back. The windows even had cute little curtains. A spirit bear necklace was hanging from the rear view mirror.

I recognized it only because a former employer of mine had given me the exact same one a few years ago. I still have it somewhere in my back pack.

THE SPRINGS

“Nice to meet you, I’m John and this is Tank.” Dave and I both shook the hand he held back to us. John was a little older than I expected, and Greek. He had short white hair and a friendly smile. Tank was a big man, on the heavy side, but it suited his temperament. He wore aviator sunglasses, and had graying hair and a full beard. He possessed a nice smile as well. Changed the way you looked at him.

“It’s nice to meet you, too. I am obviously Kate and this is Dave.” Dave gave a quiet salute, I don’t know why he didn’t say anything, and I think he was just unable to trust as easily as before.

“And who is this little angel?”

“Angel.” I said.

“Oh, so she is an Angel. It’s very nice to meet you Angel.”

“It’s berry nice to meet you too. Are you gonna take me where I gotta go, cause I fink my house might be there and I wanna go.”

“Well, where are you to supposed to go?”

“I don’t know, I fought you know.” And with that she just hugged Teddy tighter and folded into my lap.

“So you two are military. I gotta tell you, when we saw your outfits, we almost hightailed it outta here, but I saw the girl. You know the troops that are left are killing everyone.”

“Yea, we know. We don’t follow those types of orders. We took off on our own. We’re in the business of saving lives, not taking them.” I answered.

“I tell you that is good to know. You know what Angel? We have a little girl back at our camp just about your age and she’s been a handful. But I think with a new playmate, it might calm her down. Would you like a new friend Angel?” John asked her. Her thumb remained in her mouth and he nodded her head.

Yes she would, I hope it would brighten her spirit. Kids are resilient and I think with a little distraction she may be able to forget about her father for a little while.

“So, where are we headed?” Dave asked.

“We have shelter at the Mineral Springs in North Port. There are ten of us all together, well thirteen counting you three. Let’s see. There is Tisha, my wife. Our nephew Allen and his girlfriend Krista, they are just teenagers, a couple of elderly women that were already there when we got there Maude and Jewell. She’s cranky, you have to ignore her. Kimmy, she is five years old, her social worker, Miss Blake and a young man we picked up on our run yesterday, Seth, I think his name is. We’ve set up there, it’s the perfect place. There’s a café, showers and the main attraction, the mineral pool. Everything is in working order, at least until the generators run out of gas. We’ll burn that bridge when we get there.”

“Sounds great. How do you know it’s safe?”

“Most of the residents there took off when the Infection surfaced. The ones who remained turned and the troops took them out. So, Tank and I set up a perimeter around the site everywhere that access was visible. There’s still a little left to finish, but hopefully with your help, we’ll get it done in no time. Of course we’ll give you a chance to rest. We’ve got extra sleeping bags and pillows. We’ve set ours up in the hallway. We can lock the doors on both ends and will be able to see any infected that might be able to wander its way in. Really convenient actually, we’ve been there for the last seven weeks and everything’s been going good so far.”

I looked down at Angel and she was looking at me, shaking her head ‘no’. I started to ask her ‘what?’ and Tank said, “We have a problem.”

John had been turned around in his seat talking to us, and we hadn’t paid attention to anything other than John. He turned around and we all looked ahead at the parking lot for the mineral springs.

There was several infected spread throughout the parking lot.

A young woman and a teenage boy carrying the meanest looking child I had ever seen on his hip, who was steady beating at his head ( with a naked Barbie doll ), and he was trying to fend off her blows, ran out in front of the van. The woman held her right hand out in front of her and pushed the young boy carrying the child back out of the way of the rapidly approaching van with her left.

Tank slammed the brakes to avoid running them over and we all were flung forcefully against the back of their seats. When the van stopped the woman’s outstretched hand was touching the hood.

“Tisha!” John cried and jumped out to usher them safely into the van as Dave opened the side door and began firing at the infected. The three jumped in and John jumped in the back with them.

Dave continued firing at them as he got in the passenger seat and locked the door, now firing out the open window. Tank was firing out of his side as well.

I could see that John’s wife Tisha was exceptionally younger than he was. He was probably around fifty five or so, whereas I guessed her age as no more than thirty.

She had shoulder length brown hair; it was pulled up in a ponytail, short bangs and a full figure. She was not fat by any means, only a little plump which suit her well. The boy, Allen, had jet black hair, but you could tell he was truly a blonde by his roots and his very pale eyebrows and lashes. He also had each end of his bottom lip pierced and was sporting small silver hoops in each hole.

He sat the fighting child in the seat next to Angel and she continued to swing at Allen. Tank floored it to get us away from the surrounding dead and we saw many more heading in that direction, but stopped and watched us as we drove away.

The girl was still pummeling at Allen.

“Settle down, Kimmy! I will take your Barbie away!” Tisha scolded her. She shoved at Allen one more time and he was laughing at her. She stuck her tongue out at him and turned to Angel who was clutching her teddy by the arm.

Kimmy bit her lip with all of her teeth showing in an evil sneer (she would make this expression quite often when she was being bad, but when wasn’t she?) and snatched the bear from Angel and ripped its little nightcap off its head and slammed it down into the floor board.

Angel screamed and picked Teddy and his cap up off the floor and screamed in Kimmys face. “You hurt my Teddy!”

“I will KERE your Teddy!” She said pointing her little chubby finger in Angel’s face.

I’m pretty sure she meant kill. I smacked her hand away and she gave me the evil eye. This was the worst child I had ever encountered.

Her little black dress didn’t seem to be dirty, she had Mary Janes as well, and those were black as well. Her hair was coal black as well and very short and uneven, standing straight up in several places. Her fingernails were dirty and bitten down to the quick. The strangest thing though, was her eyes. They were a brown so dark the color of her irises bled into her pupils and you could not tell where the pupil ended and the color began, making her eyes look solid black. They were like big orbs of black, there were whites at the very edges. She looked crazy for real.

Angel noticed her eyes at the same time I did, climbed into my lap and whispered in my ear.

“She’s not a little girl, she’s a crazy demon.” I guess it would look that way to a child.

Little Kimmy had been holding her naked Barbie and she was pulling its hairs out one by one. She had been at this a while, I could see many little bald spots on Barbie’s head, and she was missing a hand.

I tried to speak to the girl thinking she just needed more interaction to calm her down.

“Aww, what happened to Barbie’s hand?” I asked her. This little brat got up on her feet in the seat and stood in my face and screamed,

“I ATE IT!” What a Brat! She then stuck Barbie’s foot in her mouth and began gnawing on it. Tisha put her hand behind Kimmys knees and it made her fall to the seat on her butt. She struggled to get back up but Tisha held her there.

“You settle down! One more outburst and I’m taking your doll, I mean it! SIT! DOWN!”

“I bet she would explode if I had a clove of garlic to shove in her mouth.” Allen said from the back making us all snicker which pissed off little Kimmy, who turned in her seat and started swinging at him again.  Then Tank said from the front,

“Hey, Dave. Take that cross you are wearing and touch it to her forehead, if it burns her, we may have to perform an exorcism.”

We were all laughing at her now, her eyes grew wide as if she perceived that statement as a threat and so she hit Allen harder.

Tisha grabbed her by the waist and forced her into her lap and held her there. Kimmy raised her hand to hit Tisha and thought better of it when Tisha said

“If you hit me, I am going to slap the shit out of you. No court in the world will convict me. Try it.”

Kimmy slumped into Tisha arms and became very quiet, though she was staring at Angel intently and making mean faces. She wasn’t much of a demon after all; they don’t balk at the threat of a good slap. Children do.

“So, now that that we have Kimmy settled down, I’m Tisha, and this is my nephew Allen. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry about Kimmy, she has ADHD. She’s a handful sometimes… well, all the time.”

She held out her hand and I shook it. I introduced myself and Angel and Dave took the honor of introducing his self.

He was loosening up a little by then with this new crowd. Even chatting it up with Tank. He took to him pretty easily. I had been listening in a little bit and Tank used to be in the Army as well, was even featured in a book about war.

(It was a popular one that, though I can’t for the life of me remember the title.)

I know that I have read it, because when he said the name of it I recalled a little of it and even the picture he was talking about.

He also owned a Bar and Grill in somewhere in Ohio; he had been in Florida on a vacation with his wife and daughter, who unfortunately didn’t make it.

“What happened back there?” John asked. He was devastated and now they had no supplies as well as no place to live.

“It was Seth, John. He was infected when you brought him in yesterday.” Tisha answered.

“No, he wasn’t he was fine. He didn’t show any signs of illness. He had no injuries.”

“How do you know he had no injuries, John? Did you check him? Did you, Tank?” She asked with a little attitude.

“No, we asked him and I felt he was being truthful.”

“Well, he wasn’t. He lied. Allen saw a bite on his back in the shower and asked him about it. Seth told him it was a dog bite. Allen came to tell me, and I confronted him. While I was confronting him, he changed… right in front of me, John. He almost had me. Do you want to know who saved me? Jewell. Cranky, old, bitchy Jewell. She shoved her cane right in his fucking eye. Turns out she wasn’t so damn bad after all. You two and your bleeding hearts, put us all in danger. I swear.”

She slammed herself against the back of the seat and squeezed the squirming Kimmy tighter. Wow. I guess I couldn’t blame her.

“What the hell happened that they all got infected? Why is our shelter ruined?” Tank asked.

Tisha looked back at Allen and we all followed her gaze and I did not expect Kimmy to say,

“Krissa fupped Sef! They were kissin’! Cause Awen was sweepin!”

Allen slapped her in the back of the head and she said “OW!” and scrunched her face while she rubbed her head.

I looked at Allen and could see the hurt on the young boys face as he began to tell us about it. “Well, Kimmys right. Krista did sleep with Seth, and I guess that’s how she became infected. She didn’t die though. Just like Seth she turned almost immediately and I saw her attack Jewell, Jewell fell to the ground but without her cane, she couldn’t get up so Krista jumped on top of her screaming and crying but biting her still. I tried to help but Krista turned on me, so I ran to get Tisha, who was burying Seth on the other side of the lake. By the time we got back over here, Krista had attacked Maude and Miss Blake, too. And Jewell was coming back to life. Baby Reagan here was standing there laughing at all of it, (he slapped the back of her head again) I picked her up and followed Tisha to the parking lot. And then you guys showed up.”

“What about the Infected in the parking lot? Why were they here? We have been safe for weeks.”

“Krista and Seth had snuck off to the store, I don’t know what for. I guess they followed them back.”

Allen still had his head down and I could see a tear run down his cheek and he wiped it away with his shoulder. I wondered how long they had dated.

“Three years.” Allen said. I didn’t realize I had spoken aloud.

“She’d done it before. I forgave her every time. I wasn’t going to forgive her this time, I’m just mad that I didn’t get to tell her that. She didn’t even know I knew.”

He pulled an iPod from his pocket and inserted the earphones. I heard very clearly, Rob Zombies ‘Dragula’. A great song, I love Rob Zombie. Though I didn’t feel the mood called for music, it wasn’t loud enough to bother anyone. I figured if that was all the enjoyment this young man could get out of life right now then he had every right to it. His girlfriend was dead now and I know that had to hurt, but she had cheated on him as well and there would never be any closure for him on that end, I’m sure that had to sting.

The signs said we were travelling north on I-75 now, and even though we had to slow down a few times to pass abandoned vehicles, I was amazed at the ease of access to the road. It should’ve been harder than that to travel. We should’ve had to abandon our vehicle as well. But somehow, the way was clear.

The clouds had begun to darken some time ago and we could see a big storm was brewing. We were nearing the Georgia state line when the thunder and rains started. Large gusts of wind caused us to weave all over the road. It was dark out by that time and Tank spoke from the driver’s seat.

“These rains are too heavy, I can’t see. It’s hard to control with the winds. We’re almost out of gas, too. I’m gonna pull off the next exit, see what we can find.”

He pulled off at Turner Road and made a left off the exit. We drove maybe a mile before the van sputtered and died. We were out of gas.

“Looks like were walking from here.” Tank said. “We’re gonna wait till the rain lets up though. Who wants to stay up and watch for us?”

“I will.” Dave volunteered.

“I will, too.” Allen said from the back.

“Okay, I’m gonna sleep a bit, wake me in an hour and we’ll head out.”

Tisha, John, Kimmy and Angel were all already asleep. Barbie was hanging by her one hand from Kimmys mouth and I knew that when she woke up, Barbie was a goner. That child even looked mean in slumber. What the hell happened to make her behave like that? Angel’s head was in my lap and she was hugging her teddy tight, its nightcap she clutched in her other hand. Tisha had her head on John’s shoulder and John’s head had fallen against the back of the seat.

I didn’t want to doze off but the rain hitting the roof of the van made it impossible to keep my eyes open, and the passing winds became a lullaby. It’s a beautiful sound, and I forgot for just a moment the situation we were in. I slept remarkably well.

When I awoke, Tank and John were awake and everyone else was still sleeping. Dave and Allen had gotten in the very back seat to sleep when John and Tank woke to relieve them.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

Tank turned to face me and said “We’re gonna head to my place, in Ohio. I don’t know how yet. I don’t want to leave my van though. I think there was a gas station about a mile back. I couldn’t tell because of the rain. It was sitting pretty far off the road. Maybe John and I will head down there for gas.”

“No,” I said “Dave and I will go when he gets up. How long has he been asleep?”

“A couple hours, maybe three.” John answered.

“How long did I sleep?”

“Around five hours, the rest of them should be waking up soon.”

“So you have a bar and grill, Tank?”

“Yes, Tank’s is what it’s called. Open since 1987. I worked hard to make it what it is. I hate to see it tore up, but the last time I had phone contact with my place; the guy I have running it, Mojo; was there with a couple of the waitresses and they were holed up in there. He had killed several infected, had the place locked up tight and he may still be okay. We have lots of food supply, a shotgun and plenty of shells and excessive amounts of alcohol. In which I am going to indulge in as soon as we get there.” He said with a smile.

He was a nice man and he looked intimidating, if only because of his size; but when he smiled it was like looking at a whole different person. Made you wish he was your father.

“Mojo’s a little guy, but he’s tough. I think he’s okay. I just want to get there. Those of you that don’t want to go that far; well just let me know when you want out. I’ll try to get you somewhere safe. But I want to get back home.”

“I don’t think any of us have a choice on where we want to go, so Tank’s it is.” John said.

“Well, I‘ll wake Dave up, we’ll go and get gas and food if there is anything left that not spoiled.”

“I’m already up, gotta get out and stretch. Give me a few and I’ll be ready.”

“Yea, I need a good stretch, too. My legs are starting to cramp.”

“I wanna go.” Allen said as he was sitting up rubbing his eyes.

“No,” said Tisha “I want you to stay here, Allen.’

“Aunt Tisha, I’ll be fine. They won’t let anything happen to me.”

“Not if we can help it. Let him come along, it’s daylight; we’ll be able to spot them in time.” Dave said.

“Alright, but you better come back alive. I mean ALIVE, alive.”

“I wanna go, too.” Angel pouted.

“No, Angel. You stay here. I don’t want to take you out there It’s not safe for you. I’ll be back. I promise.” I had hoped that I wouldn’t make myself out to be a liar.

“But I don’t wanna stay here wif Kimmy. She’s bad.”

“Come on, Angel. Come up here with me. I won’t let Kimmy bother you.” Tank said.

She looked from me to Kimmy, who was ripping the legs off of Barbie and smiling. She saw her looking and ran her finger across her throat simulating a blade and pointed to Teddy.

If the Kimmy hadn’t been so mean and serious, I would have laughed at a child giving that kind gesture. Angel looked at Tank and jumped off my lap into Tank’s. She put her arm around his neck and tucked Teddy close to her chest and stared at Kimmy.

“Okay, Kate. Please hurry.” her little voice so serious.

She was very leery of Kimmy. Of course I didn’t blame her, if I was a little kid I’d be scared of Kimmy, too. Shit, I was already scared of her; the kid was mutilating her Barbie for crying out loud. No telling what she would’ve become had things had been different and she’d been allowed to grow up.

“Alright, let’s get the show on the road.” I said as we stood outside the van making sure our weapons were loaded. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining brightly; I closed my eyes and took a deep refreshing breath of the air.

Dave, Allen and I proceeded to walk the mile to the gas station. We didn’t talk much, too busy watching out for infected that might’ve emerged from the woods on either side of us.  We made it there in fifteen minutes.

The Flying J was set back from the road a bit, which was why Tank couldn’t really make it out during the storm. In the daylight it looked ominous, several abandoned vehicles were scattered about the lot and there were four of the infected wandering around. As we neared them, they noticed us and headed our way. Dave quickly put them all down. I was praying that they would be the only Infected we saw. I kind of knew we were asking for too much.

“Let’s go inside and check for Infected, when it’s clear, you two come back out and syphon gas. I’ll gather what I can from inside.” I said as I peered through the windows of the store. It looked clear so far.

Dave went in first, and I let Allen go behind him. He did have his own weapon and as I saw him sneaking around with his gun in front of him, he looked like a little boy playing cops and robbers. I think he was getting a thrill out of it. He had not been allowed to do something like this before. Unfortunately, he’s too young (nineteen) to realize exactly how serious this really was. That he was probably going to be dead sometime in the near future. I dismissed my thoughts and Allen and focused on my task.

“It’s all clear over here. I’ve got a gas can. Come on, Allen. If one is all we have then that will have to do. We’re going to have to stop here on our way back to the interstate.” Dave said as he grabbed the gas can from the shelf and Allen followed him out.

I continued looking for supplies and found quite a few bags of chips that were still good, a few cans of potted meat and several cans of cola. I found a travel sewing kit and took it too, so I could fix Teddy’s nightcap. I took some of the wrapped plastic spoons that were scattered atop the fountain area. It wasn’t much but it will do for now.

No matter what the situation, nature calls and I had a sudden urge to use the bathroom. So, I made a beeline for it but before I entered I heard a thumping noise coming from inside. I eased the door open slightly so I could look in.

A female infected was continually slamming herself into the floor length mirror mounted to the wall. I don’t know if she was trying to hurt herself or if she didn’t realize that she was looking at herself at all.

It was sort of comical because every few slams she would stop and shake her head and look perplexed, then resumed slamming into mirror. I really had to go; I was crossing my legs at this point and doing the ‘I gotta pee’ dance.

I was going to shut the door and find an isle to go in, but just before I could she saw my reflection in the mirror. She did not turn around like I thought she would. Instead she backed up a little bit and then ran at the mirror, thinking she could get at me through it I guess. When she hit it that time, she bounced of it onto the floor.

I almost laughed, but controlled myself because if I laughed I was definitely gonna pee on myself and I also had to kill her.

She didn’t make it off the floor before I pushed the door all the way open and put a bullet in her head. I then quickly ran into the stall and squatted over the bowl. I didn’t care if whoever sat there last was infected or not, I wasn’t going to put my ass on it. It seemed like I was peeing forever.

Relieved that I got that out of the way, I tried the sink and it worked. I washed my hands and inspected my face in the mirror. I was a little dirty but other than that I looked okay. I left the bathroom questioning myself on why I even cared at that point. I took one more, quick look around the store for anything else I could find and went outside with Dave and Allen who had been popping the trunks of the cars that were there.

They had found five gas cans in total and were syphoning gas out of a truck for the last one. They worked pretty quickly.

“You guys did well, that should fill up Tank’s van.” I said.

“Yea, at least we won’t have to stop here on the way back. Hopefully it’s enough to get us to another place we can get more.” Dave said as he tightened the cap. “Let’s go.” And we set out on our walk back to the van.

Everyone was very happy to see us when we got back, well; everyone except for Kimmy. She ran up and stomped on Allen’s foot just for meanness.

I wanted to stomp on hers but then I felt like that would be immature of me. I have just never wanted to slap a kid that bad. Allen mugged her away with has hand and she fell on her butt. No one said anything.

We used a funnel that Tank already had and put the gas in the van. It almost filled it completely. We would be good for a while.

We got back on the interstate and the following six hours were pretty much uneventful except that Barbie was now only a torso and Kimmy was chewing on the rounded stump that used to connect the head to the body. She saw me looking, stuck her tongue out at me and gave me the finger. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. We crossed into Georgia and Tank told us his gas light was on. He said we could probably make it another twenty miles before we were completely empty.

THE HIDEAWAY

“I know a bar called the Hideaway, just about three miles off the interstate, on Loch Laurel Road. Take the next exit.” John said. The few cars we had seen over the last few miles had been pulled over and abandoned, we assumed they were out of gas as well so we didn’t stop to check.

“Since when do you know about bars in Georgia?” Tisha asked, “You don’t drink.”

John turned around in his seat and faced her, he looked a little nervous and said; “I was an alcoholic once. It was hard to get sober, but I did it. I never told you because of how you talked about your ex and his drinking. I didn’t want to scare you off. Anyway, a friend of mine used to own it until he died; he left it to his nephew. I used to stop in from time to time to see how he was when my route took me through this area. I don’t even know if it’s still there but it’s worth a shot. Might be some supplies or something we can use. Maybe some cars to get gas from. There are no stations off the next three exits. ”

“You used to drive a truck or something?”

“Yes, Tisha. I did.”

“I wonder what you else you haven’t told me. You want to tell me anything else I should know?” She was being just a little sarcastic, I don’t really think it mattered to her though; she still had a genuine smile on her face. You could tell she loved him by the way she looked at him.

Tank pulled off the exit and it didn’t take long to get there. The Hideaway was a good name for it, the driveway leading to it was at least a half mile long and the bar itself was surrounded by dense woods on both sides and the back. In the parking lot in front of the building there were three cars and one SUV. The door to the SUV was open and as we rounded the lot we could see a man slumped over in the seat. Tank stopped and Dave got out to approach the vehicle and an able infected shot out from under the SUV and grabbed Dave’s’ leg.

Tank got it with his shotgun and it splattered its head all over the ground. It was like popping a balloon. Its hand opened up and twitched before flopping to the ground.

A little of the carnage dotted Dave’s right boot and cuff of his pant leg. Dave then shot the man slumped in the seat just in case. I looked at Angel and she was looking at Dave with a worried expression. I think I even saw a tear, but if I did; she wiped it away very quickly.

“I’ll walk to the door; I don’t want to get this on anything in the van. I’ll clean it up when we get inside.”

Tank parked the van directly in front of the door and we all got out. Allen kept his distance from Kimmy since she liked to abuse him so much.

Unfortunately Angel had to pass her to get out of the van, and Kimmy grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her down hard.

My first thought was to slap the kid but Angel quickly recovered. She was up off the ground and slapped Kimmy herself before I knew what was happening.

Kimmy was holding her hand to her face staring at Angel in disbelief. Suddenly her expression changed and she started screaming at the top of her lungs. Tisha promptly clamped her hand across Kimmys mouth to muffle the screams.

Angel then stood back and smoothed her crooked ponytail, saw her one remaining purple ribbon on the ground and picked it up. She handed it to me and I put it in my pocket. I would put it back in her hair later. I took her hand and we went through the doors. Tank and Dave were already in and looking for other Infected. There were none. There was still a little daylight left and we took advantage of that and searched for supplies to take with us.

We did get lucky in not finding anymore infected, and lucky in finding more goods. There were sodas, candy bars, chips and pretzels. The bar had a very small kitchen, but there were canned goods on the shelf. The cooler was full of warm bottles and cans of beer. I had offered one to Tank but he declined saying that he would wait until he got home to his own bar before he was going to drink. I gave a bottle of Pabst blue Ribbon to everyone else, including myself. No one had any more than one beer.

Tisha and I sat at a booth with the two girls and Tank, Allen and John sat on stools at the bar. Dave disappeared for a moment, I assumed to clean up his boot and pant leg, and to make sure that none of it hit his skin. He returned and sat in a chair at a table close to the door. Angel no longer seemed to be afraid of Kimmy and the two sat across staring at each other across the table. Kimmy was making faces as usual and sticking her fingers in the arm sockets of what was left of Barbie. The men at the bar were talking amongst their selves and Dave sat and watched the door. I wondered how Tisha ended up with someone as old as John. So, I asked her how they met.

“I used to work at a small lunch café called Noah’s Ark. He came in for a Rueben every Thursday. We chatted here and there during his visits and became friends. He started going out of his way to come in on Tuesdays as well. Then one day he just started coming in with flowers or something I might’ve mentioned wanting. I grew fond of him. I knew he was much older than I was. It didn’t matter to me though because I really was taking a liking to him. I had never been given gifts from a man before, well; not from anyone that didn’t expect something in return. John didn’t want anything. He was being his self. He didn’t even ever ask me out. I was the one who approached him for a date. So, we went to a festival they were having downtown and had a great time. The rest is history.”

She started picking at the label on her bottle of beer and looked over at him. He must’ve felt it because he looked back at her and smiled. “I love him more than I can even explain.”

I thought of Jillian and Evan and I became saddened. I pulled Jillian’s phone out of my pocket and hoped it was still working when I opened it. It still held a charge. I told her who they were and about the notes I found and how it ended for Jillian. Her eyes welled up with tears while she was looking at the pictures and listening to me talk about them.

“So you think that their minds are still functioning while their bodies decay?”

“Yea, I do. But there’s nothing we can do to help them other than give them a final death.”

She pondered on this for a few minutes and then said, “What about you, Kate? Was there anyone special in your life?” She looked over at Dave who seemed to be caught up in his thoughts.

“No, no one special in a long time. The last guy I was with was an alcoholic, and a mean one at that. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I left.”

“What about Dave? I think he’s a little sweet on you.” She said.

“He’s not sweet on me,” I laughed “I’ve known him for many years. I’ve known him since high school.”

“Oh, I thought you two had something going on. My bad. But I know for sure Allen is sweet on you. He told me so.”

“That’s so nice, but I am gonna have to break his heart. He’s way too young for me. He doesn’t need to think about girls right now anyway. And he’s only crushing on me because I’m the only other warm blooded female here besides you and the girls. Hopefully we’ll all survive long enough for life to become normal again, but I don’t think that is gonna happen. Have you always had custody of Allen?” I asked.

She looked down and tears were forming in her eyes again, her chin started to tremble and I felt bad for asking.

“I’m sorry, Tisha. I am just being nosy. I shouldn’t ask personal questions.

She wiped at her face and sniffled. “No, it’s okay. Allen belongs to my little brother Calvin. He didn’t make it. He was attacked at work before we all knew what was really going on. I went to claim his body and it was gone. Later that night, he showed up.

John shot him. Allen didn’t see him and he doesn’t know that his dad came back. He thinks his dad died from a head wound caused by a fall at work. I couldn’t tell him the truth. I don’t want him to know.

Of course at that time everything got worse and we had to run. I was going to tell him but he made a comment about being happy that his dad wasn’t around to have to worry about him (Allen) being eaten by a zombie. His dad worried about him an awful lot.

He was over protective, ya know. And Allen was just as protective of him. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him after he said that. So, when you said that they were still aware inside… I wondered what my brother was feeling when he came back.”

She broke down in loud sobs and John came over from the bar and wrapped her in his arms and rocked her. A few seconds later Allen was holding them both and crying as well. Nothing was said of why she was crying. They all knew. . I felt sorry for them. I had not yet lost anyone close to me, well not that I had to witness.

I took the last sip of my beer and looked at Angel. She was leaning on my arm fast asleep, and Kimmy was still staring at her. Tisha regained her composure and John and Allen returned to the bar. John has his arm around Allen and Allen laid his head on John’s shoulder. He wiped the tears from his eyes.

I gently moved her off my arm and got up out of the booth and laid her down in the seat. I asked Tisha to keep the demon child away from her thinking that a task would distract her thoughts.

She laughed at the demon child reference and said “Absolutely.”

I saw a door by the restroom that I hadn’t noticed before and it opened up into a small room with a full size bed and two comfy looking chairs. I closed the door and I went into the bathroom. I propped the door open with the waste basket so I could see what I was doing, did my business and went back out to the main room.

“How long do you think that Angel’s father was down before he got back up, Kate?” Dave asked me. They had obviously been talking about how we found Angel. I had forgotten about him rising for a second time.

“It was somewhere around five, six hours, maybe seven. We sure didn’t expect that to happen.” I said as I looked over at the booth and Angel and Kimmy were both sleeping now. Tisha had gotten up to sit at the bar with John. Everyone was turned in their stools looking at Dave. I took a seat in the chair next to him.

“Well, we haven’t seen anyone else get back up after being shot so, maybe it only happens to the ones who go through the abled stage. It could be some kind of genetic anomaly. We just have to be more careful. I thought I’d let you guys know so if it happens it won’t be a surprise. You have to decapitate them. The bodies can’t get to you without the head and vice versa.”

Everyone had become silent and it was getting dark outside.

“I found a room with a bed and a couple chairs, and we have a long trip tomorrow if the cars out there have gas to syphon. I’m gonna grab Angel and take one of the chairs. I assume you want to keep watch, Dave?”

“You assume right my friend. Allen will keep me company, won’t you Allen?’

“Yea, I’ll stay up with you.” He left the bar stool to take the seat across from Dave.

“I’m ready for a little sleep, too.” Tank said as yawned and stretched. Tisha picked up Kimmy and walked up to John.

“I’m gonna stay out here with them for a while. I’ll be in shortly, Tisha. I love you.” John said.

“I love you, too.” Tisha kissed him on the lips and followed us into the room.

I am standing in the middle of an amusement park. I didn’t know how I got there. The multicolored lights gave me an ominous feeling. I had lost my key and didn’t know where it could be. I could see and hear the band of undead clowns on stage singing.

It’s the one and only boogie man! He creeps, he hides, he sneaks, he slides! If your little feetsies are hanging off the edge of the bed, you’ll run on STUMPS motherfucker!

I saw an entrance to a ride, the flashing lights above the door said it was the Tunnel of Terror. I didn’t want to go through the doors but I was being pulled in. As I neared the doors they swung open and I could see the dead lining the tracks of the tunnel, I could see the overhead lights illuminating the platforms ahead on each side. The brakes of the ride released with a loud clanging sound that echoed throughout. The chains on the track began click clacking as I moved forward; I looked down and was strapped into the seat of the ride, my arms down at my sides unable to move.

The reanimated corpses of Jillian and Evan were in the first platform to my right. Evan’s disfigured face dripping blood and muck onto the seat as leaned over the rail and blindly swiped at me. The drops hissed and bubbled as they sizzled and burned into the upholstery of the seat.

Jillian did not try to harm me, only turned her back to me. Her long beautiful hair flowing down her back, it was moving in waves and seemed to be alive.

On the left, Dave was walking back and forth with his MP5 in hand and when I passed he screamed and put it in my face and pulled the trigger. I was shaking from fear and relief. The gun did not fire and he laughed at me. He then gave me a salute and turned the gun on himself. I squeezed my eyes shut just a millisecond before he pulled the trigger because I didn’t want to see my old friends brains splatter against the wall. I heard the thump of his body hitting the floor. I could hear the band outside louder than ever.

Little Jimmy, Jimmy…GOT EM!

Driven by death itself, only the satisfaction of slaughter will cause it to return to the Darkness from which it came.

The ride continued and before I reached the platform I could see Kimmy all covered in tiny specks of blood, laughing and slashing angrily at something that I could not yet see. As I approached she looked at me and held out her little left hand and she was holding my key! It was gold and attached to a shiny, purple, heart keychain. It glistened even in the dim lights of the tunnel.

I started to reach for it, but realized my arms were still chained down and now I could finally see what she had been doing. A life size Barbie doll was chained to the wall stripped of all her clothes.

There were many cuts and slashes across Barbie’s body and Kimmy had a pair of scissors in her hand. Though Barbie bled from her wounds and tried to pull away from oncoming blows, her face remained waxen and expressionless. Kimmy ran to the giant doll and scaled her body with one jump to latch onto Barbie’s waist and began making quick jabs to her face with the scissors and ripping her hair out with the other hand. Barbie tossed her head from side to side. And the band played on.

The Worlds’ Greatest Boogie Woogie Wu will come to you. Slumber party sleepovers, intimate nights! Whatever the occasion of the midnight hour, he will gladly come and fuck that shit up!

I could now see the end of the Tunnel. A huge cross in front of me was glowing bright yellow and Angel appeared on the track crying for me to help her. The cross then turned blood red and began melting. A huge black figure came from behind Angel and folded her into its arms until her cries became muffled and she disappeared. I began struggling in my restraints and instantly broke free. The ride was over and I was outside in front of the gruesome band and a female with long, blood matted hair and a missing arm was now singing…

Please don’t let me fall asleep, cause the boogie man will creep. Through my window in my room, stab me with a broken broom.

It was so strange, I realized I had heard the song many times before but could not put my finger on it. I looked around for Angel and I saw John and Tisha in line for the Ferris wheel. I ran to them for help and when they turned around, they were undead. What I thought was a cone of cotton candy at a distance I could now see was a cone of bloody brains. They continued taking bites from it and staring at me as I backed up into the arms of another undead. And I screamed…

“KATE! Wake up! It’s just a dream!” Tisha was shaking me by the shoulders and she looked so concerned. “Man, you scared the bejesus outta me! You gonna be okay?”

I grabbed her and hugged her.

“Thank God it was a dream.” I was relieved she wasn’t dead or undead for that matter and that everyone was probably alright. “Where is Angel?”

I stood up and smacked my own face to make sure I was awake. I have never in my life had such vivid dreams as I have had lately. I didn’t ever want to dream again, or sleep again for that matter. Unfortunately that couldn’t be helped.

I now immediately figured out what the song was, for it would not stop echoing in my head. It was Boogie Woogie Wu by Insane Clown Posse.

It didn’t surprise me that the band I conjured up in my head was undead clowns. I’ve always liked that song, the music was good and it was a great Halloween tune to scare the kiddies with, but I don’t like it so much at that moment.

And what was that key for? I don’t have a key like that. I’m sure the rest of the dream had to do with what was going on, but I felt like some of it was a message of sorts, though I can’t be sure what kind of message.

One thing is for sure, I have to protect Angel. She so innocent, well except for the good slap she gave Kimmy, but Kimmy deserved it.

“Everyone is outside. Dave and Tank are syphoning gas and John and Allen are putting the stuff we need to take in the van. I was coming to wake you when you started screaming. What kind of dream were you having?” She asked as we walked out into the bar. I saw Angel and a wave of comfort washed over me. I guess if everyone is okay then I will be fine for the moment.

“It was just a bad, bad dream. They have been really lucid lately. I’m glad you’re all okay. How come you didn’t wake me sooner? I would’ve helped.”

“Dave said to let you sleep a little longer, that you were gonna need the rest. Besides, there really wasn’t anything for me to do either. The guys took care of it all.”

Angel ran to me and I picked her up and hugged her.

Kimmy looked at me with her creepy weird eyes and laughed. I don’t know why. She then walked up to me and opened up her hand and held it out to me. In her palm was a small shiny purple heart, though there was no key attached.

I felt the goose bumps rising all over my body as I remembered her hand holding out the keychain in the dream, and thinking it was mine. I reached out with my free hand to get it, and she snatched it away and ran out the door. I thought she was giving it to me and I admit I was stumped. I didn’t recall seeing her with it before.

Where did it come from? Or had she had it the whole time and I just didn’t pay any attention to it? Why else would I have dreamt about it?

Tisha and I let Allen and John go through the door with their bags first, and we followed them out. The guys were finished syphoning gas and filling the tank so it was time to roll. I was happy we would be back on the road.

THE CHURCH

Once everyone was settled in the van and Tank began heading down the half mile driveway, I was feeling normal again; as if the dream had stayed behind with the bar. We all talked for a little while and learned more new things about each other. Dave was not very talkative through the conversation and I didn’t want to put him on the spot by asking him what was wrong in front of everyone. He’s usually a private kind of guy so I would respect that and talk to him later. Now that I look back, I recall that he was a little pale and withdrawn.

The conversation eventually grew stale and I was watching the road pass us by through the window, lost in my own thoughts of the purple heart that Kimmy held. Where in the world did this kid come from? So, I asked Tisha.

“Where did you find Kimmy, Tisha?”

“She came with Miss Blake, about two weeks ago. They just showed up at the front doors of the mineral springs. At first I thought they were sick because of Kimmys demeanor,” (she chuckled) “But when I realized they were okay I let them in. I didn’t think that anyone even knew that there were people at the springs, so it was funny when they showed up knocking on the door. Miss Blake was nice enough, but Kimmy had her wrapped around her little finger.”

“Did she say where they came from?” I thought showing up unexpected to a place no one should have known anyone was there was a little odd.

“No, I didn’t even think to ask.  I was just helping someone in trouble.” I was not satisfied so I asked Kimmy.

“Where did you come from, Kimmy?” This bratty child answered me with,

“Don’t speak to me, Bitch.”

I was taken aback by not only her language, but her adult tone and she showed no sign of the childlike pronunciations of her words as she has done this whole time.

“Kimmy came straight from Hell.” Allen said as he raised his hands in front of his face to protect himself because Kimmy had turned in her seat and began beating at his head with Barbie’s torso. I snatched it from her and threw it out the window. She screamed and raised her fist to hit me and before I knew it Angel had Kimmy by the wrist and said “You don’t hurt my Kate.”

She squeezed Kimmys wrist and Kimmy screamed louder and cried out, “You’re burning me! You Bitch, you’re burning me!” I told Angel to let go and she did, her face remained passive as if nothing happened at all.

She loving placed Teddy cap and his head and pressed it down to try to make it stay. Kimmy pulled her arm to her chest and rubbed it as she glared at Angel with more hatred than any child should ever carry in her eyes. They seemed to glisten with it. On her wrist there was a deep red hand print. It did look very sore, but there’s no way Angel could have burned her.

I got the sewing kit out of my jacket pocket and began threading the needle and began sewing Teddy’s hat back on his head. Angel smiled brightly at me. I would never get tired of seeing that.

“See Tisha,” John said “you and your bleeding heart invited the Devils Spawn into our midst.’ He chuckled getting a kick out of throwing her own words back at her.

We all got a good laugh and Kimmy settled down for a bit. I finished with Teddy and then got the purple ribbon out of my pocket as well and put Angel’s hair in a ponytail and tied the ribbon around it.

I was becoming worried about Dave because he was being less social when he had been fine only the day before. But still, I let him alone. I knew that when he was ready to talk to me he would, and if he didn’t, I was going to approach him. After all, what are friends for?

We had gone pretty far, we had crossed into Tennessee and it began raining again. It was pretty cold outside and the only one prepared for that kind of weather was Tank. He told me where a jacket and sweater were in a Rubbermaid storage bin that was in the very back of the van. I got them and handed the sweater to Tisha, I then asked if anyone else might’ve wanted the jacket and they declined. So I covered Angel and myself with it and dozed for bit. I slept better than I had at the Hideaway, and felt a lot better when I woke up.

It was dark by then and still raining, but was raining much harder than before. I looked back at Dave who was laid out across the very back seat. His face was turned toward the seat so I could not see it.

I wanted to wake him to see if he was okay, but I thought he might be coming down with something considering we weren’t used to such chilly weather, so he would need to rest. We would need to stop for gas soon, so I told myself I’d wait till then to wake him.

Suddenly we heard the tire pop and the van weaved violently across the road. We were thrown around and forward and finally the van slid fifteen feet or so before we screeched to a complete stop.

“DAMN IT! I don’t have a spare! We used it on our way to Florida.” Tank yelled.

“We’ll have to wait for the rain to stop, and then we’ll walk.” John said

“Walk where? I don’t want to leave my van until I can see daylight. I’m sorry. This is probably the end of the road for all of us.”

“No, Look!” Angel said. We all looked in the direction of her pointed finger and about a hundred yards ahead of us sat a tiny white church. There were no lights of course and it was very dark. We were in the hills of Tennessee, there were woods everywhere. The cross on top of the church seemed to be brighter than the rest of it, which is probably how Angel saw it. The dream came back to me again and I dismissed any thoughts of it. It had been too strange.

We grabbed what we could and got out and walked the three hundred feet to get there in the rain.

Tank in front and Dave behind us watching for Infected as we went. As we got closer, I saw a shimmer of silver beside the church.

I squinted my eyes to keep the rain out so I could see.

It was the most beautiful red mustang I ever saw. I wondered who it belonged to. It looked to be a 1965 model. I would make it a point to check it out later.

We approached the door and it was chained shut from the outside. This could’ve been a bad thing. I thought maybe a horde of undead, were chained inside.

I did not want to be the one to let them out. Tisha and I stayed huddled at the entrance with the girls in our arms while the guys checked around the sides.

I think I heard Tank whistle as they passed the pretty red mustang.

John and Allen returned a minute later but Tank and Dave were gone for several minutes. I handed Angel to Allen, and told them to run if I didn’t return in one minute. I got around the side and Tank and Dave were coming back, accompanied by short nervous looking elderly man. I saw his collar and realized he was the Pastor or Father, whatever his religion called for.

“Kate, this is Father Barrett.” Dave introduced us and then broke into a coughing fit. He needed to get out of the cold rain. We all did, we were soaking wet shivering at this point. Father Barrett only nodded at me and we went to the doors. With shaky hands he produced a key ring with several more keys on it than anyone should need, other than a super or something. I noticed a shiny red key. Must be the key to the mustang.

He unraveled the chain and let us all in, then he shut the doors behind us and chained them back up from outside.

I put Angel down on the floor and she walked away while I was helping to organize the stuff we were able to carry and sat them in the pews. Father Barrett came back in from the side door, I was guessing.

“I am not locking you in; I’m locking the others out.” He laid his key ring on the alter. Angel stood staring at the large Jesus nailed to the cross on the wall at the back of the church. She did not look away for a second, and I am almost sure that she nodded her head once but didn’t speak.

I looked around for Dave and saw him sitting in one of the back pews. He was holding on to the cross necklace that he’s worn since high school. I assumed he was praying so I left him alone for a while. He had never expressed whether or not he had a religious preference, so I wasn’t sure.

Tank and the others were talking to Father Barrett so I joined them.

“Thank you, Father, for letting us in.” I said.

“You’re very welcome, though you probably won’t want to stay here long. I have a spare tire in the church van out in the garage. The van doesn’t run, so you can take all the tires if you like. There’s even a hand jack back there. I suggest you be on your way at first light.” He said quickly and walked behind the pulpit to grab a bottle of scotch and pour a shot. “I’d offer you some, but it’s all I have left.” He downed the shot.

“Now, there are two small rooms to the left that we used to use for daycare, if you feel like lying down. This room here.” He pulled a red curtain back to reveal a set of double doors that were chained up like the front doors.  “In this room, is the risen dead of my congregation, well, most of my congregation. Do not touch these doors, do not touch my keys. You see why I say you won’t want to stay.”

They heard us because they became restless and were shoving the door and moaning. The door opening just a little but held together by the chains. One of them had their fingers out through the slit and Father Barrett pushed the door shut and it snatched its fingers back.

“Now go, get some rest. Eat. Do whatever it is you have to do and then you must leave in the morning.”

“How did you get them all rounded up to go in there?” Tank asked him as he eyed him suspiciously

“Some of them were already in there for a meeting to discuss what was going on.”

“Obviously one of them were infected, but all of them? How many are in there?”

“Thirty one.” Father Barrett looked down and took another shot of scotch.

“And you did this all by yourself? No one helped you?” It did seem very weird that this one little man had herded all those undead into that room all by his self.

“Well, no. Another member of my congregation helped me.”

“What happened to him?” He really wanted to know because for some reason Tank did not trust the Father. Tank wasn’t going to let it go.

“Her. Diane helped me and she’s in there as well. I guess your next question will be is how did she get in there? Well, don’t bother to ask. I pushed her in at the last minute. She was sick too, and beginning to show signs. I could not risk my life!” He stomped back behind the pulpit and produced another bottle of Scotch. This one was full. He was shaking violently as he poured another shot, he spilled some of it. We hadn’t been there fifteen minutes yet and already he’s had three shots. He was half soused. Tank and I had looked at him in disbelief. Lies, lies, lies from the Father. He would be the last person I would expect to lie to us. It’s every man for himself for sure.

“How do you know they were all infected? Had any of them turned before you locked them in there?” Tank kept drilling him.

“One had turned. A few others were injured in the scuffle. I could not be sure who was infected and who wasn’t. I locked them all in.” He said this with no remorse. What kind of man of God did this type of thing?

“You mean to say… that you locked them all in and only a few were infected? You locked innocent, very much alive people in there with them?” Dave had entered the conversation and wasn’t happy.

“You’re no Man of the Cloth! You’re a murderer of innocent people. What makes your life more important than theirs? You’re a selfish piece of shit, and you will get yours!”

Dave had walked up to the pulpit and backed the Father against the wall.

Father Barrett was definitely nervous now, and trying to cower away from Dave yelling at him. Dave slammed his fist into the wall beside his head and disappeared into the hall that led to the restroom.

Father Barrett stood there for a moment and cried. He slid down the wall to his butt and wrapped his arms around his knees. I looked back at everyone else and all I could see was Kimmys ugly little face and black eyes, she was laughing.

I went in search of Dave and found him still in the bathroom. I knocked gently.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure, only you though.” He was sitting on the edge of the toilet seat, I stood leaning on the sink.

“You don’t look too hot. You okay?” I asked. He shuffled around on the seat and put his head in his hands.

“No, I’m not okay at all.” He tilted his face up to look at me. The only light in the bathroom was a short stubby candle and I could barely see his face. “Bring the candle and come closer.” He said.

I did as he asked and approached him with the candle held up. His face was really pale now, and the white of his eyes a bright pink. There were also bags under his eyes and they were bluish in color. He didn’t look like this, twenty minutes ago. I inhaled sharply and stepped back. I almost dropped the candle.

“Oh, Dave, Dave. No, no. What happened? When, How? Damn!”

“When I went into the bathroom at the Hideaway to wipe the blood off of my boot. Some got on my hand and I have a small cut on my index finger.”

He held his hand out to me and the little cut was an angry red. The sadness washed over me like a bucket of ice cold water and I reached out to hug him and to try to comfort him but he pushed me away.

“You know that if anything of me gets on you, it’s over. I don’t know how long I’ve got but it can’t be a long time. Take this.” He removed the cross from around his neck and put it on a piece of tissue and gave it to me.

“Find a way to wash that off. Keep it for me, please. It means a lot to me, my mother gave it to me. I want you to get them and get out of here. Father Barrett is not right in the head. I don’t trust him.”

I was crying harder than I had ever cried in my life. This was my friend and it hurt to know there was nothing I could do to help him.

“Dave, what are we gonna do? There’s still time I’m sure!”

“Time for what, Kate?” He yelled. “Nothing…there’s no time for anything. My main concern is you and Angel. I care about the others, but you have to be safe. Angel is important, I can see that. Can’t you?” I was beginning to feel that way too, but I didn’t want to leave my old friend to suffer through this alone.

“I’ll stay with you, and then I’ll do it for you.”

“No, I will do it myself; at the right time. I have a feeling something is gonna go down and I need to be ready when it does. Maybe because I’m dying I can feel the tension getting ready to snap better than anyone else. But we have to go back out there and pretend for a while. If I turn, then do what you have to do. If I don’t then just take it as it comes. Okay?” I was so sad now; I didn’t even care about anything else at that moment. I nodded my head yes and turned to leave the bathroom.

“Kate,” I turned around to face him. “You’ve been a great friend. You’re a great soldier and I am proud to have known you.” I began sobbing and wanted so bad to hug him and say goodbye.

“Shouldn’t I be the one to say those things to you?” I sniffled and wiped the tears from my eyes, I had to gather myself together before I got back out there in front of them.

“So, the feelings are mutual my friend.” I said. “Just know that I am hugging you, in my heart.”

Dave knew he was Infected earlier when he told Tisha to let me sleep in.

I walked back out to the auditorium, my heart in my throat.

I heard Dave come out of the bathroom behind me and he went straight to the back pew that he was sitting in before.

I spotted Angel sitting in the floor in front of the alter with Teddy in her hands and she was talking to it. I could not hear what she was saying. Kimmy sat on the front pew looking bored, I guess because she didn’t have anything left to torture. She began to eyeball Teddy.

I started to approach Angel and take her into the other room for a while just to get away from it all. I was not comfortable with the fact that only a weak, old wooden door with a chain separated us from at least thirty undead. Just as I reached her I saw the neatest thing I have ever seen in my life as well as the meanest and the weirdest, all in the same ten minutes.

A little multicolored bird flew out from behind Jesus’s head and landed on Angel’s right foot.

She giggled and stretched forward to pet it. The bird hopped forward so Angel could reach it.

Then all at once, several more birds swooped down from the ceiling. The flutter of their wings creating a cool breeze that circled throughout the room. Many different kinds of birds and they all sat on or near Angel.

It was a spectacular sight, we were stricken with awe. There were probably a hundred or more. I had never seen so many birds at once. We laughed and giggled as well as they frolicked around Angel.

They tweeted and sung their little bird songs. They were lifting her hair in places and a few of them rubbing their faces on her cheek. She laughed and played with them. I felt like I was watching an urban rendition of Snow White.

We had all been glued to the spot watching this when Kimmy angrily got up out of the pew and ran over and screamed and stomped her feet, trying to scatter them. She pointed her finger at the birds and yelled, “GO AWAY!”

One little lavender bird flew right up in her face, making Kimmy go cockeyed to look at it. It pecked her very hard on the tip of her nose and blood welled up from the spot.

Kimmys face grew beet red with anger and faster than I could ever imagine a child moving, she snatched the little bird right out of the air and slammed it on the floor of the church. Then she smashed its tiny head in with the heel of her Mary Jane. We stared at her in shock. I don’t know why because this was classic Kimmy. We had just never seen her murder anything that was truly alive before. It was then that the weirdest thing happened.

The birds grew eerily silent and not a one of us made a sound. Every bird in the place had turned to look at Kimmy and cocked their little heads from side to side. Two of the birds closest to their fallen feathered friend hopped over and inspected it.

The others still were waiting in silence. It was so quiet in the church you could hear a pin drop. Even the undead were silent.

Both birds nudged it with their heads and began tweeting angrily.

Without warning every single one of those birds screeched at the same time and flew directly at Kimmy.

Their little beaks were pecking at her legs, arms, face and pulling her hair. Little drops of blood welling up everywhere that they pecked her. She flailed her arms trying to beat them away and screamed so loud. The birds had her completely covered now and we could only hear her screams. The dead in the room behind her became excited and began shoving against the door again. The wood crackled and splintered at the handles.

THE END

Dave ran up behind me and threw Tank’s jacket over Angel and scooped her up, we all seemed to break free of our trance.

Tisha grabbed Allen and ran to John. I screamed for Tank to grab the keys from the alter and Father Barrett sat there praying, making no attempt to move to save his self.

The doors were breaking open and they were shoving their bodies through the opening.

The birds continued to attack Kimmy and backed her into the doors. The undead that had not yet escaped began pulling her through the doors and her screams were deafening as they fell upon her, devouring her in a macabre feast.

The birds, satisfied that Kimmy was being punished, flew to the ceiling and disappeared in an instant.

I turned around to see where everyone else was and Angel’s Teddy was sitting in the floor, facing the room Kimmy was being consumed in, a perpetual smile on his face. I picked him up and scanned the room.

Dave was by the hall that led to the side door holding Angel and waiting for me. Father Barrett was being attacked by who I hoped was Diane. (The helper who he had betrayed) They both deserved their fate for being so selfish. I ran toward Dave and he handed me Angel.

“They’re all outside, now go! I’ll get your bags and toss them out this door. I won’t be coming back out.”

Angel put her little hand on Dave’s’ face and I pulled it away.

“No, Kate. It’s okay.” She replaced her hand on his face and said “You did well, Uncle Dave. You did real good.”

He smiled weakly at her and ruffled her hair. He looked at me for a moment and I could see several undead nearing him.

“Dave, they are behind you.” He pushed me out the door and pulled it shut. I ran to the red mustang that I so much wanted to see earlier and gave Angel to Allen who was sitting in the back.

Tank already had fired up the engine and it was purring like a kitten, a very powerful kitten, (I thought with delight) but quickly forgot the car when I heard the side door slam shut again.

I looked back and Dave had thrown my two bags out the door. I ran to pick them up and just as I snatched the straps and began to take off toward the car, the windows of the church blew out behind me and I realized that Dave had set off the grenades that he’d been carrying this whole time. I had forgotten about them.

I threw myself to the ground and covered my head. When I looked up through the smoke I could see the historical Ohio license plate on the cherry mustang. XCAP4U.

I pulled myself up and ran toward the car, I was able to throw the extra bag in through the window and Tisha tried to open the door to let me in. I pushed the door shut.

“There’s no room for me. You guys go on. “

“But Kate, I’m not leaving you. “ Tank said.

“Yes, you are. I’m gonna wait for Dave and we’ll be fine.” I winked at Angel “Take care of my girl. And if I’m ever in Ohio, I’ll look you up.”

Tank gave me a sad smile and said “I’ll be waiting on you.” With that he drove off the lot and turned left straight onto 75. The birds were now flying over head of them, as if they were leading the way. I felt that they would be safe.

I picked up my pack and pulled my gun out. I wanted to find Dave.

I searched the area surrounding the church. But I never found him.

In fact the church was completely destroyed. And I didn’t find the little purple heart that Kimmy was holding.

After I heal, I may go back and search again, but something tells me not to.

In my travels away from the church, I did encounter a few zombies, which is why my ankle is sprained.

I tripped over a tree stump as I was running backwards trying to shoot them so they couldn’t follow me. I got them, but I hurt my self pretty bad. I will be okay for now.

I washed the necklace Dave gave me in one of the small lakes in this cemetery. It’s shining very brightly as I wear it on my neck. I will never forget Dave.

It feels good to get all this off my chest and maybe I will survive. And if I do, I’ve got a date with some friends.

book iii
angel

Part One

October 24, 2013

2:35 a.m.

Dave could not believe that he had mustered up the strength to scale the wall into the cemetery, only to find the gates were less than a hundred feet away, and unlocked.

He sat back against the large oak tree that hid him from view and pulled Allen’s iPod from his front jacket pocket. He found it on one of the pews and had meant to give it to him; but everything happened all at once and he had forgotten about it, until now.

It was still working and he had looked through the playlist. The kid had several great songs downloaded onto the device; he wouldn’t mind hearing a few of them. He inserted the ear phones and hit play.

Buried Alive by Avenged Sevenfold began its guitar intro and he could not help but cry

.

He had to take care of this and soon. He didn’t want to become a soul trapped in a dying body, but ultimately, that was all we were anyway. We are dying from the moment we take our first breath. The only mystery in death is when or how.

His own cause of death held no mystery for him any longer. He could feel the infection ravaging his body. His muscles have become stiff and sore, each step he had taken in the last few hours had been painful. His clothes were drenched with the sweat that continuously seeped from his pores, even at rest. His eyes feel as if they are bulging out of his head, there is a sour taste in his mouth and his head is pounding.

The latter could be the result of the gut wrenching bout of vomiting that he had succumbed to only an hour before. He had taken some of the ibuprofen that he had in his pack, but it did not help. He really didn’t expect it to, but he had hoped it would have at least taken the edge off.

He thought about what had happened at the church. He knew something was going to happen, he could feel the tension in the air; he just didn’t know it would unfold so soon. He was relieved that it had happened while he was still in the condition to help.

No one looks forward to that kind of situation, but when you know it’s coming, you really just want to get it over with.

He had managed to kill most of the infected inside with the grenades, but there were a few, very wounded stragglers, that he shot in the vast field behind it. He saw what he guessed was recently a sixteen year old boy, wondering aimlessly, his arm hanging by the skin, his face slack and jaw askew. He even thought he saw little Kimmy trying to crawl out of the building, hair and face on fire. He did not want to end up like that.

He thought about Kate and how much he still cared for her, he was grateful that she had escaped death this time around. Hopefully she would continue to do so. That is of course, why he gave her the cross, to help carry her though her journey. It had always worked for him, until now. So it must just be his time.

He had thought about the rest of them as well, he had seen the mustang drive off as he was running from the church. He prayed that they had made it to Ohio. As far as he knew it was their next destination, but with the way it is now; they could end up anywhere, or not make it very far at all.

He thought about his parents. He was adopted at four years old and he remembers the first time he had laid eyes on Jim and Brenda Fraley.

Their faces lit up with such joy, that he thought they couldn’t possibly be the cause of it. He was the cause, though. They were so overjoyed to be getting the son that they had wanted for so long.

They had let him do whatever he wanted, which wasn’t a bad thing, as long as it was within reason. They had let him be whatever he wanted to be, supporting him in every decision and every event.

They had been even more understanding when he began going through the phases of adolescence. He said he wanted to start a band, they bought him a guitar and a set of drums, his father had helped him set it up in the garage. When he died his hair blue and decided to wear all black, they had taken family pictures. They said that they had liked his style. They never refused him anything and he never gave them a hard way to go. They were awesome parents and he could not have asked for more.

When he returned home after learning how far the infection had spread so quickly, he had found his parents; already infected and they had tried to attack him with more speed and strength than they had actually had in life in over 20 years.

He had hoped that this virus didn’t mutate into a strain that will cause every infected to be so treacherous. If they mutate in this way in large numbers, no one has a chance. They are too strong and too quick, those who have managed to survive this long won’t have a chance in hell.

His parents change frightened him, saddened him and almost broke him. He pictured their sweet faces as they were in life and they melded into the rotting, bloody masks that they had become.

For a moment, he had wanted to collapse at their feet and let them attack him.

He would have rather died than to have to hurt them in any way, zombie or not. The only thing that motivated him was he knew that they would have wanted this. They would not have wanted him to give up so easily.

He had no choice but to kill them and at the time he had not yet had thoughts of them having a conscience, as he did now. It was ripping his heart out and he finally broke down in tears and released a grief stricken wail that he had been holding in for so long. He knows now, that they had understood why he had to put them down. They were in their own world of pain as well, and he knew that once it was done, they had been at peace.

He did not feel sorry for his self, the way things were going, he was sure that this world would never be the same. He wouldn’t miss a thing.

As the song came to its extreme climax, he didn’t waste another second, just as quickly as he had done everything else in life; he put his gun under his chin and blew his own brains out through the top of his head.

They splattered against the tree behind him and bits of his brain flopped off the bark and hit the ground. It had been such a powerful shot that blood that had covered the dying leaves of the tree and was now dripping back down upon his lifeless body.

8:15a.m.

If you did not know that more than three quarters of the population were now the living dead, it would appear to be just another gloomy autumn morning. The streets and sidewalks are wet and littered with leave and limb of the trees as they begin the process of shedding, to conserve their energy for the approaching winter.

The remnants of the latest showers were dripping from the tree branches as the cold heavy winds cause them to sway to and fro. The sun obscured by thick, dark clouds that threaten to unleash another heavy rainstorm before the hour is up and preventing its warmth from beaming down upon them.

It had rained so much in the past week you would think that it was in the middle of spring, but it is late October and the rain has an icy chill; it would freeze you to the bone if you were standing out in it.

The roads were slick as well and once again surprisingly clear. It should not have been that easy to travel the eleven hundred miles from Florida to Ohio. They shouldn’t have been able to get that far. Sure, there were times when he took a turn to try for a shortcut, but those areas were blocked and crowded with the dead, moaning loudly and reaching out as the headlights illuminated their decaying faces.

He saw them a bit differently now. He had heard the conversations of their being conscious and able to feel and at times, display emotion.

He remained quiet while he picked it apart and analyzed it. Coming to the conclusion that although they were still aware, they could not be allowed to survive. They would kill you no matter what their inner thoughts were, so they had to be destroyed.

Tank and his companions were still alive when by all rights they should’ve died many times over.  Somehow, they have managed to make it. By the Grace of God, he was sure of it. There’s something about that little girl, too. He didn’t know what, but he felt that he had to protect her, though at times it felt like it was the other way around, like she was protecting them.

‘Maybe she’s a real angel’, he thought, but why would God trust her to be safe with a gang of average sinners instead of a band of loyal Christians?  He quickly scratched that question as he thought about Father Barrett.          On the outside, he looked the part. On the inside he was as cold as ice. He had to be, to lock his entire congregation in a room with infected people. He entrapped them and they died what he was sure was a terrifying death, all to save himself.

Father Barrett had gotten the end that he deserved.

His thoughts then turned to Dave, it was a brave thing that he did, blowing up the church and killing the infected within to save them. He wondered if Dave had made it out and hoped that Kate was okay. It wasn’t likely.

She was in open field and they’d seen many undead as they drove away from the area. He didn’t know how much ammo she may have had left, if any. He had hated to leave her there.

They had travelled from the church in Tennessee, to Ohio with a flock of birds flying overhead most of the way, disappearing only after dropping a little purple heart into the hands of Angel. He normally didn’t think much about religion one way or the other but the birds made him lean a little closer to thoughts of an existing higher power.

They had stopped in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the parking lot of a place called Camp Washington Chili to syphon gas, and everyone got out to stretch. The area was deserted other than a few undead lumbering around in the BP and Shell stations nearby.       There were quite a few cars in those lots but they were safer doing it in the chili parlor lot.

There were enough cars and if it just so happened that it wasn’t enough, they would have tried their luck with the other lots. Fortunately, they were able to get plenty.

John looked into the drive-thru window; he hadn’t seen any dead inside either. He did mention that the sight of the interior of the restaurant made him very hungry. It looked very clean and the décor reminded him of an old school diner, shiny stainless steel rimmed counters and red capped stools, black and white checkered floors and big, comfortable looking booths.

He imagined that he could hear a classic from the 50’s blaring from the old Wurlitzer jukebox in the corner. He said all this with a silly dreamy look in his eyes and Tisha laughed at him.

Tank had told them he had eaten there once and the chili was great. The restaurant had made quite a name for itself, existing for seventy three years, winning awards and national recognition with their secret chili recipe. The owner had a reputation of being very sweet and down to earth. All that being said, everyone was even hungrier and wished they had gotten a chance to try the ‘Best Chili in the Country’ (Said the banner that had been strung up above the entrance of the deserted restaurant).

Their thoughts of hunger didn’t last long when the birds became restless. Angel had been standing next to Allen holding his hand and clutching her ever present sleepy time bear in celestial pajamas. The cap that Kate had sewn back on still held in place.

The birds swooped down to fly in front of her face and they frolicked around her as they did before when they found them.

They were all sorts of colors and several different species and it was an amazing sight. They had seen some strange things lately; so this display did not surprise them, nor did they fear it because they knew the birds were not there to harm them.

A bird that was identical to the pretty tiny lavender bird that Kimmy had smashed, (he guessed was a hummingbird) appeared and hovered in front of her with the purple heart in its beak. Angel looked at the bird and knitted her brows and held out her right hand. The bird dropped the heart into it, chirped and flew off through his flock of feathered friends and high into the sky, the others followed behind him.

She stared at the heart and they could see it was no bigger than a quarter and that may have been too large of an object to compare it to. It was very shiny as well and he’s never seen anything shine that way.

They wondered what it was for but no one said a word as they all watch the birds slowly disappear. Angel palmed it tightly and seemed to be lost in deep thought. For a child of six, she could show some very adult expressions at times.

John and Tank finished getting gas from the abandoned cars and Tank ensured that everyone was in before getting in the driver seat himself and took a long look at the sky to see if maybe the birds would come back. He had hoped they would, he didn’t feel as safe without them flying overhead.

It was only sixty two more miles to get to Dayton. Tank would be home sweet home, though he didn’t really feel it would be all that sweet because he was returning from his vacation without his wife and daughter. It weighed more heavily on his heart now that he was in familiar territory.

They had been out shopping for souvenirs and never returned. He had waited there for them; not knowing where to look and when he finally decided to shoot his way out of the dead ridden motel, he thought he saw his wife but quickly looked away. He did not want to see her that way and he didn’t think he would have been able to shoot her as well of afraid of seeing her decomposing face.

He had kept busy enough to distract himself from those thoughts by surviving and worrying about other people, pretending he was on a mission himself so he could block out the memories that threatened to break his calm. He still had others to worry about, but it was really hitting home now and he was having a very hard time containing it. Just when he thought he would lose his composure, Angel extended her hand from the back seat of the mustang to put it on Tank’s shoulder. She didn’t say anything.  It didn’t take away his sadness but it did remind him that he had a purpose at the moment and that was to remain levelheaded and get them safely to the bar. He had never been happier to see the sign that hung above the door.   Tank’s Bar & Grill, since 1987.  He was very proud of his bar. When he bought it, the kitchen could fit only two people within it and sold only lunch. Now the kitchen was big enough to accommodate several cooks and produced insane amounts of hot breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as wings and nachos during business hours. There was always a line out the door and a waiting list. It was strange for him to pull up into an empty lot at eight o’clock in the morning.  He turned onto Anderson and entered the back parking lot.

As hard as it should have been to get there, it should’ve been just as hard to get out of the car and into the place. When they arrived there was no infected surrounding the bar.

Though they had driven through a small crowd of infected when exiting the highway and could see them at the other end of the block and up at the intersection of Wayne and Wilmington Avenues, but that was it. They were able to pull right up to the back door.

Tank got out his personal keys and rushed to the door to unlock it, and held it open while the rest of them filed in. Shutting the door and keeping his eye on the road leading between buildings to the secondary parking lot across the alley; where the dumpsters were standing, he got back in the mustang and parked it away from the door. Someone else may need easy access in.

It was odd that all the infected had all gravitated away from there; he thought that they must be stalking a victim. The thought of driving up there to see if he could help came and went; he did not have the strength to be a hero right now. He entered the heavy steel door that was a direct entrance into the kitchen, and was pleased to finally be home.

Everyone was waiting for him to come in and made a path for him to get by, except Mojo.

Mojo, who was a bit short for a man but carried an air of authority regardless of his size, adjusted his Ohio State cap on his head and scanned the faces of the people that Tank had brought back with him. The last he had heard, Deb and Stephanie had never returned and since they were not in the crowd, obviously that had not changed. He clasped Tank’s hand and clapped him on the back.

“Good to have you back, boss.” He did not look Tank in the eyes, for he did not want to see the pain that he knew lingered there and no words needed to be said on the subject. Tank would not appreciate being coddled; he was a reserved type of man. With only a nodding of his head, Tank moved past him and exited the kitchen through the swinging doors into the main bar.

Mojo introduced his self along with Kristen and Belinda, the servers that had gotten stuck there.

There was Woody, the flamboyant and hilariously entertaining neighbor and Troy, a regular customer that preferred to be there over anywhere else, with the free liquor and olives.

Tisha introduced herself and the rest of the crew that came with Tank.

“Well,” Mojo said, “You guys must be hungry. I’ll open a few cans of soup. You’ll have to eat it cold, and have your drinks hot but it’s better than nothing.” With that he went down into the basement storage to get the soup while Kristen led the rest of them into the main bar where Tank sat at his favorite table. She handed Tisha a few bowls and they set them in front of each person, Belinda gave them spoons and crackers.

Mojo returned from the basement and used the tabletop opener to remove the lids from the giant sized cans and dished out chicken noodle and vegetable soup.

Everyone was grateful for the meal but Tank did not touch his.

He was lost in his thoughts, swigging Gentleman Jack straight from the bottle. He preferred it on the rocks, but did not have that luxury since the power was out.

He looked around the bar as everyone was getting their bellies full. He was satisfied that they were all safe and content for the time being, however long that would last.

He noticed Mojo and the others had moved the sports team tapestries to cover the windows but left a small gap at the top to let in the light. He noticed the unlit candles on the floor; he was not looking forward to tonight.

He watched Angel with curiosity and waited until she finished her last bite to ask her to come over.

“Sit with me, Angel.” Angel walked over, Teddy still in hand and jumped up in his lap.

“What did the birds give you Angel?” He asked because his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He knew it was a purple heart, he had seen it, but he didn’t know what it was for. It had to be important for the birds to have gotten involved. He had never seen anything like that happen ever in his life.

“My heart? My Daddy gave it to me. He said it was a key.” She answered.

“How did the birds get it?”

He scrunched her face and threw out her arm and said “I don’t know! Maybe from my pocket when they played with me.” She scratched her head and shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, what does it go to?”

“I said the vewy same fing!” She out one hand on her hip and Tank laughed at her and tousled her hair.  “Daddy said a safe place.”

“Can I see it?” He asked.

She pulled the little heart out of her pocket and placed it in Tank’s hand. He turned it about, trying to see if there was anything different about it besides the small perforations in it. They created a Z pattern and it glimmered with the slightest touch of light. He tapped it on the table, it was sturdy. A little tougher than a dog tag. Maybe it had to be dropped down in a slot. He didn’t know. He couldn’t figure it out. It belonged to Angel. It was obviously meant for her. He gave it back.

“Okay, it’s a pretty key, none the less. You go on back over with the others.”

Angel hugged him and walked away.

Tank took another swig from the bottle. The liquor warmed his guts, but it did not serve to cloud his mind. It made the memories more vivid. He just could not take anymore. He really needed some sleep, a body can only take so much and at this point; his mind could take even less.

He wondered if he had a pillow and blanket in his office, which was located on the second floor and was mainly used for storage, but one room had been converted into an office that Tank had furnished with a big comfy couch.

He excused himself and told everyone to make themselves at home. Standing at the foot of the staircase, he looked up and he had a powerful experience of déjà vu and he knew he would not be coming back down those stairs alive.

He unlocked the office door and it revealed to him the great big couch that he so loved and yes, he had left a blanket and pillow there the last time he stayed.

He kicked off his Nikes and removed his aviator shades from his head, placed them on the desk and lay back on the pillow. It was only a few seconds before he was sleeping soundly.

1:15 p.m.

“Okay, so the Big Man went up to get some rest. I know you’re all tired, but as you know we can’t all sleep at the same time. There are blankets and pillows in the upper dining room just up those five stairs there.”

He pointed to them because if you weren’t really looking, you wouldn’t see them.

“There are only enough for three, so those of you who choose to wait can wander the bar. Do not go outside for any reason, that’s a given. Help yourself to drinks, but no one is allowed to get sacked. I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but it’s best if we all keep a clear head on our shoulders.”

Allen, Tisha and Angel went to the upper dining room to sleep first. John sat at the bar near Troy, wondering why the guy was still wearing his fishing hat and vest. He thought maybe he’d been fishing just before he came here.

Woody sat at the end of the bar nursing a glass of Patron.

Mojo looked at the soup bowls left on the tables and turned to Kristen and Belinda with a smirk, “Chop, chop, bitches. Clean this shit up. What do we pay you for?”

They both giggled for they really loved it when he talked to them like that. It was not disrespect but an inside joke and Kristen had a comeback.

“Okay, Tiny Tim. Hop up on my shoulders and I’ll give you a lift. I need that bus tray off top of the beer cooler.”

He didn’t let too many people get away with the short jokes. He was short for a guy, but stout and strong. And it didn’t bother him at all when Kristen did it. They sort of have a history. She’s even shorter than him and built nice as well, plump in all the right places; he thought.

They were in love with each other and had been a long time. On again off again relationship, both lived with other people. Over one little thing they couldn’t get their shit together, so they stayed apart. Remaining frenemies, both angry with the other because of the distance they have to keep, but keeping their cool in the presence of others.

The girls cleaned up the bowls and cups and Mojo sat at the bar on the left of John. When the girls returned, they sat with Woody who was going on about his ex he threw out just before the infection outbreak.

“Oh, no Giiirl! I told his skanky ass if he wanted his clothes he better bring himself a fire extinguisher! I cut it all up, I mean all of it, and threw out into the street and lit that motherfucker with my pretty pink Bic lighter. This one right here.” He held up his lighter to show them and they giggled. “That shit went up in flames like Aqua Net. Bitch, I was out there making smores, drinkin’ Bud Light! I laughed till I thought I was gonna crack my sack! I was having a fantastic time watching that shit go up in flames!”

He guffawed and continued “He is lucky I didn’t have a gun, I’d have popped a cap off in his ass for sure!”

The girls gasped at this and he said,

“No, Bitches. I literally mean his ass. I wouldn’t have killed him. I just wanted to show him that this bitch don’t play. Uh uhn. He was supposed to tell his wife about me months ago!”

He continued to entertain the girls with more of his hilarious break up stories while Mojo had a chat with John and Troy continued to eat olives as he listened to all that was going on around him.

“So, how’d you end up meeting up with Tank?” Mojo asked John.

“We were on our way back to mineral springs… we had a shelter set up there. I had been out looking for survivors and supplies. I drove past a motel and saw a horde surrounding him. He was shootin’ ‘em left and right but they was getting closer, there were gonna get him. So I drove through the horde, running the closest ones to him over and threw my door open, he jumped in. Thanked me and he didn’t really have much to say after that. It took a while for me to get him to open up.”

“Yea, he’s that way. He doesn’t wear his feelings on his sleeve and it’s like pulling teeth to get something out of him. I’ve known him for five years now. He’s a good man. Do anything for you as long as you’re good to him.”

“Yea, I figured that out, and a hell of a shot too.”

“How’d you end up in here instead of at home, I mean, there couldn’t have been much business to keep you here.”

Mojo nodded over at Troy, “See, old Troy over there? He’s a regular. You would be surprised the things people will brave just to get out of the house and get a drink or a hot meal. Rain, snow, tornados, zombie outbreaks… it’s all the same. The customers want a place to be and honestly, I’ve been here a long time and I spend most of my hours of the day here anyway, why not?  It’s much safer here.

Came in for my regular shift, the walkers started getting bad so I stayed, and the girls stayed. Everyone else went home and I haven’t heard from any of them since.

Troy showed up just three days ago. He’d been on a fishing trip with his buddies. They had no idea what was going on, until of course they got closer to the city. Troy just drove his truck on through.

We heard a crash and looked out the window to see him crash into Cousin Vinnie’s pizza parlor window, luckily he didn’t get hurt, but I went out with my shot gun and helped him out of the truck and we got back in here, just by the skin of our teeth. There were pretty many out there and we shot quite a few. If you look out that window above the table over there, you’ll see his truck and the bodies of the walkers on the ground.”

“I saw it on the way in, we ran a couple of the bodies over, had to get by. So, what happened to Troy’s friends?”

“They wanted to go home.” Troy piped in and sat in the stool on the other side of John. “So, I took them home. They were brothers; whole family lived in the same big house. As soon as they hit the door they were toast, all of em zombies and fell on top of them so quick. One had looked directly right at me, you know,”

He used his to fingers in a V and pointed from his eyes to John’s eyes

“Right at me. It seemed when we met eyes, it was like clicking on a zoom button or something. Suddenly it was like we were standing face to face! Close enough to kiss me! And we had an understanding, he understood I was alive and I understood he was coming after me, so I floored it and was gonnie! I was not gonna sit there and let him get to me. He was one of them, you know, whatever the fuck their called but, man they are fast! There wouldn’t have been anything I could do for my friends.”

No one had anything to say about that because really, there wasn’t anything else he could’ve done except for get himself killed.

“How come you guys didn’t know what was going on? Didn’t you have a radio or anything to keep up with the news?”

“No, we took CD’s and cassettes. Yes, I said cassettes. We were getting away from the world and so we listened to music and fished, grilled out and drank massive amounts of beer. We had a great time. We only left because we ran out of beer and the store was closed. The next store would be too far from camp and to close to home to go there and back. We went back to camp and packed up our things to head home. It wasn’t until we started seeing what we thought were crazy people on the street. Then we saw notices everywhere and realized our cells no longer worked. It was then they decided not to go to my place but to go home and check on their family. I couldn’t blame them and who was I to stop them?”

“What made you come here instead of home?”

John asked.

“I drove by my place, there were too many. I love this bar so I thought if anyone was around they would be here.”

“You got lucky that I decided to look out the window to see who had crashed. You may not have made it to the door.” Mojo said.

“And for that, my little friend, I am thankful to you and shall be indebted to you for the rest of my days.” He said jokingly.

Taking a cut a Mojo’s height was not a good idea but he thought just this once he’d slip it in and Mojo thought that just this once he’d let it go.

“That’s the only one you get, Troy. Next time you won’t have any days left at all.”

They continued chatting and everyone joined in the conversation. Just for a little while, it seemed like a regular group of people enjoying a drink with friends at a bar.

Upstairs, Tank lay deeply immersed in dreamland, with his wife and daughter. They are happy and laughing, they are alive.

He kisses Debbie for the first time in a long time and he savors the feel of her lips and the smell of her breath. Everything is good and they are in a place where there is no such thing as the living dead.

His subconscious is unaware that it is only a dream. They were happy and that was all that mattered. He didn’t feel a thing when his heart gave up.

October 25, 2013

9:35 a.m.

Kimmy had stolen the pretty little purple heart from Angel’s pocket as she lay sleeping in the booth. She had seen it while they were in the van, it was peeking from Angel’s pocket and she couldn’t wait to get ahold of it. She didn’t want to ask for it, afraid that Angel would say no.

Once she had gotten it, she had stared at it for long periods of time when no one was paying attention. The pretty little heart was a light in the darkness for her.

She only showed it to Kate because she had wanted Kate to chase her and play with her. No one seemed to want to play anymore because Kate did not come after her.

Yes, Kimmy was a bad little girl in their eyes, but down inside she had just wanted someone to talk to her without being mean, someone to hold her with love instead of restraint.

So, no matter how bad Kimmy was, she was not a demon spawn after all.

In fact, if you had known her before all the problems at home began, you would have said she was a sweet tempered, beautiful child. She washed her hands before and after every meal, said please and thank you, and said her prayers every night at bedtime.

She could not help that her world was turned upside down when her father lost his job. He began drinking heavily and abusing her mother relentlessly. Her mother, being a weak and spineless woman, let it go on and in turn, took her frustrations out on the only thing that her husband loved. Kimmy.

Every time her husband beat her, she would wait until he left to take it out on the innocent child that she hated with a passion that no mother should be able to possess for her child.

The last time she exploded on the poor girl; she had taken scissors to Kimmys long, black wavy hair.

Her father had never allowed it to be cut, he wanted it to grow long and beautiful, and so it did.  Her mother did not see the beauty of her child, though. She saw only the man that abused her and ruined her life, every time she looked at her.

Kimmy looked just like her father, deep black hair and even deeper brown eyes, except Kimmys irises were insanely large. Even through extensive testing the doctors could not determine the cause. Her mother thought it creepy and called her evil.

Besides the crude hacking job she did to Kimmys beautiful tresses, she had also blacked both of her eyes and bloodied her lips.

Poor Kimmy did not understand what she had done wrong and did not allow herself to cry. She took her beating in silence.

Upon arriving home, her father was very drunk and when he saw the condition Kimmy was in; he beat her mother relentlessly until the screams ceased and she lie motionless with her eyes open and staring accusingly at Kimmy.

The sight frightened her terribly but she was not afraid of her father. He walked over and picked her up to hug her and remained that way until the police showed up to take him away.

The State social services were called in to take custody of Kimmy for she had no next of kin to be released to.

Miss Blake had fallen in love with Kimmy immediately and understood why she behaved so aggressively. She continued to show her love and kindness through all her temper- tantrums and let the child mutilate as many Barbie’s as she wanted to. She figured that if Kimmy could take it out on the dolls, then she will have gotten over the anger and violence by the time she reached her preteens.

Too bad Miss Blake didn’t make it. To others it had seemed that Kimmy had been laughing at Miss Blake’s demise, but she was not. She was crying in the only way she knew how.

No matter how rotten of a child she had become in the span of her short, sad and lonely life…she had died a death she did not deserve.

Kimmy had been left with people that had misunderstood her, had thought she was a demon, and had allowed her to be attacked by a flock of birds and eaten by ghastly creatures.

No, she wasn’t a demon child at all, but she was now a part of the growing population of undead. Her face and hair is partly melted away from the fires in the church. There are hundreds of little holes covering her body from the pecking of the birds. She sat in the street, Indian style, gnawing on the fresh corpse of a cat that had wandered across her path. She had no thoughts or memories, luckily for her. She only knew that she was hungry and the cat had filled the void. So, she continued feeding.

10:00 a.m.

It had been only one day but Kate decided it was time to go. Her ankle was still a bit sore but she could put her weight on it and after making several short laps around the crypt she had taken for shelter, discovered that she could run if need be. It would be painful but she could do it.

Her pack on her back and armed only with great courage, she exited the cemetery through the front gates. She was unaware that Dave’s decaying body lie only a few yards away. It was best that she did not see it.

She had no ammo for her gun and was only a little worried. She had given in to the fact that if she were to come upon a horde of infected, she would die. Still, she walked on and was able to avoid the few she had seen. It would not be so easy when she reached the city.

If she is attacked, she will let her mind wander far away and try to achieve inner peace as her body is being torn to shreds and consumed. What else could she do?

Her only goals at the moment were to find ammo or a loaded weapon and a vehicle. She had a long walk ahead of her until then. If she happens to get that lucky, she will join her friends in Ohio. She had to find out if Angel had made it.

She had just made it out of the field and into a little suburb when she saw Kimmy sitting in the middle of the street, feasting on what looked like it might’ve been a cat or a rat.

She wasn’t sure but the size of the child and the burned and tattered dress led her to believe that it was definitely Kimmys reanimated corpse. The hair had been burned away.

She stood still for she didn’t want to attract her attention. She looked all around her and the only thing she saw was a large heavy slab of rock.

A weapon, yes, but it posed a problem. She would have to get close to use it and if she was too close, the blood spatter would get on her and when blood spatters, it does so in such fine tiny droplets that you can’t see everywhere it went. She didn’t want it on her.

Just then Kimmys head lifted from her victim and her spine stiffened. She thought must have smelled her.

Kate picked up the rock and as Kimmy wobbled to stand on her feet, Kate ran up and kicked her back down, knocking her on her back and slammed the rock down on her face.

It was okay though, the slab of rock was wide enough all around and served also as a blocker from the spatter.

She still checked herself and satisfied that she had found none, she turned and walked away from Kimmys now truly dead corpse.

She cursed to herself as she thought about the purple heart; it should still be in Kimmys dress pocket. She sighed and found a long twig on the ground that she used to poke at the pockets to see if there was anything in them. Not feeling any resistance she decided that it was so small she would have to look harder. She got down on her knees beside the body and cringed at being so close the carnage. She dismissed it quickly and lifted one of the pockets open with the twig and peered into it, seeing nothing she tried the other pocket. Nope, no purple heart. She stood and tossed the twig on the ground and proceeded to the abandoned military jeep that was a hundred or so yards away.

Inside the jeep, she found a rotting corpse and a nine millimeter pistol, almost exactly like Dave’s.

She rooted through the jeep and found several clips for the gun and more food rations. She put all she could in her pack and checked the ignition for keys as she exited the vehicle.

Grateful to have ammo, she walked on in search of a vehicle that she could drive away.

12:30 p.m.

Allen awoke with boundless energy, being the young man he is, and wanted to hear a little music. He looked through all the bags for his I-pod. He wanted to use it while he could before the battery died and he was getting upset because he couldn’t find it. He had asked everyone if they had seen it lying around. No one had, so he figured it must be outside in the car.

He sat at the bar brooding because he knew he wasn’t supposed to go outside and he wanted so bad to go and get it.

At this point mojo was asleep at a table in the far corner and John had taken the pallet in the floor upstairs when Allen had gotten up.      The only ones left were Woody, Troy and the two girls. The only one he didn’t want to piss off was Mojo.

He was contemplating not saying anything to anyone and just going on outside to get it. It was daylight and he would be able to see and there probably weren’t many infected out there anyway. Just as he started to get up out of his seat Woody spoke to him.      “Whatcha thinkin’ bout doin? I can see it in your face. Spill it.” Woody lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in his face. Allen coughed and waved the smoke out of his face before he replied “I think I left my i-pod out in the car. I want it. I’m gonna go get it.”

“Not without me you don’t! I will watch over you but I want to listen to it, too. That’s the deal and you better make it fast. I don’t plan on being zombie kibble and I promise that if they attack; I will run!”

“Then just stay in here, I don’t need you if you ain’t gonna help.” Allen said and then got up to go through the dark kitchen to the back door.

“I was joking! Wait for me!” and Woody ran in front of him to block the door.

“Wait! Look out the peephole first. We don’t want to run head first into a crowd.” He said.

Allen looked out the peephole and didn’t see anything. He started to open the back door slowly and Troy quietly entered the kitchen and slammed his hand on the stainless steel table behind them, startling them both. They all but jumped into each other’s arms, Woody letting out a high pitched squeal and squeezed his eyes shut.

“It’s just Troy.” Allen said and pushed Woody away from him. Woody let out the breath that he was holding and Troy spoke.

“What the fuck are you two twits doin? You gonna risk your life for a fuckin’ I-pod? Are you serious?” He asked with serious attitude.

Allen shrugged and said “Well, yea. I mean, it’s just right there. I’m pretty fast. How hard could it be?”

“It can be very fuckin hard; you ain’t using your head. They come out of nowhere sometimes. I ain’t agreeing with this at all but if you insist on going, I’ll stand right by the door and listen for you, but I’m telling you man, you better hurry.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Woody eased the back door open and peeked his head out slowly. He looked left to right and up and down and saw no infected. There was no telling what might be around the other side of the building but they wouldn’t know until they got to the car if there were any over there.

Allen shoved him out the door and ran in front of him to the mustang they had arrived in sitting in the third spot from the door. He flung open the passenger door and dived in the back looking for it in the floor boards.

Woody tiptoed his way to the car, looking all around for anything to move. Satisfied with his conclusion that none were near, he lit another cigarette and leaned back against the trunk and stared at the side of his building which shared a lot with Tank’s.

He so wanted to go home and see if his cat was still okay. He was thinking of talking Allen into going over there with him when he was done here. He had done him a favor, so Allen could do one for him.

He put cigarette in his mouth and rubbed his hands together and looked down at them. There were getting dry and cracked, they looked like old people’s hands. He looked up and the cigarette fell from his mouth.

The infected that had somehow made his way towards Woody unnoticed was only a few feet away. Woody recognized his recently dumped lover and tried to scream but no sound escaped his lips. He paid no mind to the other infected moving nearer to Allen as his former lover attacked him.

Allen had searched the floor boards and down in the seats as well and found no sign of the missing i-pod. He decided that the glove compartment was his last resort, maybe one of them had found it while he was sleeping and placed it in there. He opened it and the little light inside came on, casting its dull glow onto the papers inside. He took them out and noticed the name on the title. “Well, thank you Mr. Eggerton for the use of your fine vehicle.” He folded it back up and put it back in the glove box. He was finally accepting the fact that he wasn’t going to find it, that he had probably left it at the church.

“All right, Woody.” He yelled, “Thank you. Let’s get back in-.” He turned to exit the passenger door that he had left ajar while searching and was stopped by the massive bulk of a dead man reaching for him, and he screamed.

Tisha woke up with a start and flung the blanket off of her. “Where’s Allen?” She asked alarmed.

“Him and Woody went out to get his I-pod, Troy is watching the door.”

“Are you serious? You guys let him go out for that?” She ran towards the kitchen and slammed into Troy, who was running back in to get the shotgun, he screamed that Allen and Woody were being attacked.

Tisha ran ahead of him and barreled out the back door. She could see Woody being mauled by an infected but could not see Allen on the other side of the car.

She ran unarmed to get sight of him and screamed loudly as she saw he was lying under two infected and his eyes were glazed, blood bubbling from his mouth, his hands pushing weakly at his attackers.

She barely heard the shot gun as Troy blew the head off of the zombie that killed Woody and the second shot that insured that Woody would not come back.

Tisha whaled at the zombies mauling Allen, her hands and legs flailing and landing wherever they could, while she continued to scream out at the top of her lungs.

“GET OFF OF HIM! GET OFF! GET OFF!” She screamed at them as she beat at them with her fists and kicked at them as hard as she could.

They lost interest in Allen and fell upon Tisha, ignoring her blows, one sinking his teeth into her shoulder the other stayed on its knees and grabbed her leg; his teeth ripping through her blue jeans and the blood spilling out instantly.

She screamed and continued fighting, ripping chunks of hair off of their heads, and feeling their skin smoosh grossly beneath her hands with each blow, nausea swept over her and she gagged.  Tisha knew it was over for her but she was so angry and distraught; she would continue to fight until she was dead. She wanted revenge and she was going to have it. They have killed her precious nephew, the only thing left of her baby brother.

She reached down and gouged her thumbs into the eyes of the infected mauling her leg. Unaware that the zombie on her shoulder had been shot and fell away from her until the head she had her hands on exploded in a gory mess right before her eyes.

Still she did not relent from stomping on it and kicking it. Then she dropped down to the ground weeping and holding Allen, who was still hanging on but the blood now streamed from his mouth and his stomach was a mass of entrails.

She held his hand and kissed his face. All the memories of his birth, his growing up and his pain when his father died flooded her mind, the pain of her failure to protect him as she had promised.

She was not afraid to die, now. In fact, she welcomed it with open arms.

She looked up after seeing legs in front of her and it was John. He was crying and pointed the gun at her. She closed her eyes and nodded her head. “I Love You.” He said. He shot and the bullet entered her face just below the cheekbone, but it did the job. He shot Allen as well.

By that time everyone had gathered outside, all were quiet and surprisingly, there were no other infected around.

John dropped the rifle on the ground and hung his head as he walked back inside of Tank’s. Troy picked it up and followed in behind him. Mojo shut and locked the door.

“I’m going up to check on Tank. He didn’t come down.”

No one said a word as John went into the bar ahead of them and cuddled up to Angel, who seemed to still be sleeping soundly. He stifled the scream that threatened to leave his lips in fear of frightening her awake. He could not believe that his whole reason for living had just died and he had fired the bullet that had made it final.

Somehow, needed to find the strength to carry on.

Angel was only pretending to be asleep. She had heard the screams from outside and when she sat up, she saw no one.

She got up to go see if anyone was left and ran back into her pallet and pretended to sleep when she heard  the door open. She didn’t know if it would be her friends or the scary monsters.

Now that John was lying behind her crying, she wanted to cry herself, because that meant that someone was hurt.

She missed her mom and dad, she missed Kate and she didn’t really understand what was going on, she only knew that her little purple heart was very important.

She snuggled closer to John who then put his arm around her and held her tightly.

“Mojo’s been up there a while.” Kristen said as she looked toward the door that led to the hall. “I’ll go up and see what’s going on. He’s probably just talking to Tank. I’ll be right back.” Troy said getting off the bar stool and grabbing the shotgun to take with him.

“You never know.” He said.

He went through the door and up the stairs, he could see Mojo standing still on the office and he was looking at something. He didn’t see that Tank was lying dead on his couch until he actually entered the room.

His face was bloated and discolored, but the look on his face was peaceful one.

Neither of them said anything, but Troy handed Mojo the shotgun and patted his shoulder. He turned and went back downstairs with everyone else.

Kristen looked at him and Belinda asked “Well, they okay?”

Troy looked down and said “No, Tank’s gone. I reckon Mojo will be back down in a minute.” He said with a heavy sigh.

“I’m gonna go up with him.” Kristen said as a sob broke form her lips and she stood to go. “No, just stay here. It won’t be long. He needs a minute.”

Then the shot rang out and they had known that he shot Tank only because he didn’t want to take the chance that he might rise.

A few seconds later they heard the sound of him coming down the stairs and Mojo entered the room and spoke quietly.

“No one is to go outside, for any reason. If you want to go outside, you go out alone and you don’t come back.”

“Hey man, it looked safe; he only wanted his i-pod.” Troy said and Mojo cut him off.

“It looked safe? So, you let them go outside? It’s a fucking zombie world out there now! Looked safe?”

The volume of his voice increased on the last two words and everyone looked at him in shock. Troy looked at him and said in a low voice “I’m sorry, man.”

“Why the fuck are yall looking at me like that? You’re sorry? We have just lost three people! For a goddamn I-pod! What the fuck? And yall are looking at me like I’m nuts!”

He took a deep breath, “Now Tank is gone, too. I don’t know why. It could’ve been natural but I am not sure. I had to shoot him and I am pissed right now. Don’t any of you, go back outside. You want to do something? What? There’s NOTHING BUT DEATH out there! Be my guest; just don’t pull the rest of us down with you.”

With that he went through the basement door and Kristen followed him.

“No, Kristen. I need to be alone.”

She turned and went back to sit at the bar with the rest of them….

Part Two

September 9th 2013

For the forty years that Dr. Stephen Pierce has been working in this field, he always made absolutely sure that his working space was immaculate. Files and other lab tools were placed on other tables. He could not afford for there to be accidents with the kind of samples that he frequently tested. Besides being afraid of tripping over something and dropping the samples, he also preferred to stand. So he removed all chairs and stools that were within twenty feet of his work space.

He has been accused of being overly cautious at times, but he could not be careful enough when it came to handling these viruses, especially the one he was peering through the microscope at right now.

X3LZ-22 had originally been created to help with immunization for a rare strain of Influenza that swept through the nation a year before. It killed over 2000 people. They needed an inoculation in case that strain resurfaced in public. Somehow, it only strengthened and mutated the virus.

When the new sample was tested on lab rats, it yielded shocking results. Nothing like it had ever been seen before.

They first tried it on a pair, male and female.

The male became lethargic then unresponsive and after a few hours, he stopped breathing. The female took a lot longer to react to the virus, immobile and breathing heavily for several hours.

Dr. Pierce went to his desk to jot down of few notes and when he returned to remove the deceased rat, the male was once again alive but acting very strangely. The female had not succumb to death as of yet, and the male was put into her cage and he immediately attacked the female aggressively, relentlessly biting her and swallowing the flesh he had ripped away from her squirming body.

When tested on several other rats, some of them became fiercely violent within as little as thirty minutes, the others took quite a few hours to cease breathing and reawaken. They had conducted a brain scan on two of the rats, and recorded brain activity still, even after “death”. And upon further research they also found that their hearts do not completely stop beating. The results showed that there was one heartbeat every four to five minutes, which was very strange indeed. The brain should not have been able to function with such a gap between heart beats. It did not allow sufficient blood flow, as well as encouraging and speeding up the process of decomposing the body. All respiratory function ceased. What was the point of the beating heart?

When done with all test rats they had had tried gassing and overdosing the rats, but they would not die. Nothing short of smashing its head by dropping weights on them, could keep them down, making the discovery that you had to destroy the brain in order to destroy the virus.

Further tests had shown that it could only be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and or an injury caused by the infected.

This could not be tested on humans. The results would be disastrous.

And this was why he had to be so very careful with this one. He did not want to try to improve it, it was useless now. It would have to be frozen and disposed of, as are all dangerous samples. What he wanted was to find out what element of the virus was causing the reanimation and violent reactions. If he could isolate the genes that reanimate, they could be thoroughly examined and possibly used for other purposes.

He had been at this for five hours now, and he could not tell which gene was responsible for the reawakening.

Growing frustrated, he removed the slide from the microscope and put it in a secure container labeled ‘Biohazard’ and removed his gloves. He then unclipped his I.D. badge and swiped it to exit the room. It sealed shut behind him.

He had worked up an appetite and now it was lunchtime. He bumped into the new courier on his way to the cafeteria, he had not met him before and he wanted to take the time to say hello, but the young man seemed a bit nervous.

He said hello and quickly made an excuse for why he couldn’t stand and chat with the Dr. for a moment. Not really thinking much of it, Dr. Pierce continued on with thoughts of a cold tuna sandwich and hot fries.

Brady, a scrawny, timid little man with an exceptionally pretty face thought himself insane that he was going along with this.

He had never been a thief or liar. He had never disrespected any one, in any way. He had never even hurt a fly. Two million dollars in his account was enough to convince him to participate.

He’d never have to work again; his wife would get off his back about the mortgage and the car payment. He could buy a houseboat as well and vacation on it whenever he wanted, if possible; without the Missus. Didn’t someone once say that money is the root of all evil?

At first he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to get the key card.  It was easy enough though his nerves almost gave him away. The good doctor had no clue.

Brady rushed down the hall when he saw Dr. Pierce, pretended to be looking at something on the wall and slammed right into him. Brady’s hand went into the pocket of Dr. Pierce’s his lab coat and swiftly removed the card. Pierce didn’t even know, in fact he acted as though he wanted to talk.

The doctor held out his hand for a shake and began to introduce his self, but Brady, who was still moving fast, turned to mumble that he had somewhere to be. It was a little rude, but given Pierce’s reputation he wouldn’t dwell on it long. He was betting it would be harder to give it back than it was to take it.

What do they want with this anyway? He thought as he looked at the writing on the small piece of paper he had been given.  X3LZ-22.

He approached the door and swiped the security card. The red light blinked twice and turned green. The buzzer sounded and he entered the room. When he walked into the room he was amazed at the brightness of it, everything shining silver and white and completely immaculate.

He looked around for a clue of where to begin. The door to the large walk-in freezer labeled with a great big BIOHAZARD sign would be the most logical place to start. He didn’t know how much time he had, it seemed like twenty minutes had gone by already.

He was scared to death of getting caught; he just wanted to get it over with. Make his withdraw from the bank and disappear far, far away from here. As he walked past the worktable towards the freezer something red caught his eye.

He turned to look and advanced toward the table. It was a red box, rectangle in shape. He approached the table and saw that it was marked biohazard as well and the white lettering on the top of the box, neatly written in white grease pencil, X3LZ-22.

If this wasn’t luck, he didn’t know what was. He breathed a sigh of relief, he would have to search no further. He held the case in his hand; he wondered what a virus looked like. He thought that he probably wouldn’t be able to see it anyway, that to the naked eye it would be invisible.  Unfortunately, his curiosity had gotten the best of him. He opened the box with the off handed thought that he should’ve done it with gloves on. It’s too late now.

He removed the slide from its case and confirmed what he already knew, that it could not be seen. He held it a little closer to his face, though he dared not breathe. He didn’t know what it was but he didn’t want to accidentally inhale it.

He strained to see if there was anything at all and saw only a faint outline of the smear the swab that had passed over it left behind. He removed the top slide and laid it on the table, not realizing the he had laid it sample side down, smearing the virus on the edge.

He was so involved in his study of the slide and replacing the top piece back on that he didn’t know that he had replaced it virus side up this time, nor did he hear the buzzer sound and the soft swish of the door sliding open.

“What are you doing?” Dr. Pierce’s eyes were wide and he held his hands out to show that he was not going to attack in any way. He had wondered what happened to his extra key card, and now he knew. Brady had swiped it from him and he didn’t even feel it.

He pushed thoughts of the key card away and tried to remain calm. He did not want a struggle to get it back. He wasn’t sure if Carl had made any progress on a cure for this particular virus, he hadn’t heard from him in weeks.

The last he had heard was that Carl had come up with a temporary solution, a sort of muscle relaxer that only caused the infected rats to become immobile and lie there with their eyes darting about. If this were to get out now, he wasn’t sure if they could control it.

Brady stood frozen, like a deer caught in headlights and before he could concoct a plausible story.

“Listen, I don’t know what’s going on here.’ Said Dr.Pierce “We can talk about it, whatever it is, but you MUST put the slide back in the case and place it on the table. Be slow and careful. We do not want that to get out.”

“I’m sorry Doctor. I have to have it. Please just let me walk out of here. I won’t hurt you, I promise. I really need this.” Brady, having premonitions of losing two million dollars and the rest of his life over this little piece of glass he was holding by the edges, began sweating bullets that streamed down his face in rivulets, dampening his shirt.

“You cannot take that out of here. That could potentially wipe out half the population, we have no cure! Trust me, nothing good came come of this.” He said as he began to sweat substantially as well.

Brady eyes the doctor and guessed him to be maybe sixty five, give or take a year. He was sure he could over power him. He tried to rush past Dr. Peirce and did not expect the strength that the aged man possessed.

Dr. Pierce latched onto his shoulders and the only thing Brady could do was lift his hands to push Dr. Pierce off of him. By complete accident the slide had dropped out of Brady’s fingers and down into the Doctors shirt collar. The sweat that had accumulated there, caused the slide to adhere to his neck, and a faint tingling began where the slide was stuck to his neck.

Dr. Pierce knew then that the slide had been tampered with and the virus was seeping into his pores, thus beginning the infection of Dr. Pierce. Both men became still and quiet.

Dr. Pierce stumbled away from Brady. He peeled the slide from his neck, placed it in the biohazard trash bin beside the table. Brady remained standing in shock.  “Doctor… what will that do to you?” He asked in a quiet whisper.

“You just killed me…” He replied as he dazedly walked to the emergency phone, dialed two numbers, and said three words. “Biohazard Security Breach.”

The alarms sounded and within seconds several security guards in hazmat suits entered the room and they apprehended Brady. “Take him to room four and I will go to room five. Have this trash bin incinerated immediately after I exit the room.”

Dr. Pierce got his hazmat suit off the hook on the wall put it on. He then picked up the emergency phone again but only to call his good friend and colleague, Dr. Carl O’Dey to explain the situation.

When the conversation was over, he ripped the cord from the wall and placed the phone in the biohazard container as well.

The cleanup crew did as they were told and were satisfied that all traces were removed by removing the biohazard bin.

No one had known the virus had been smeared onto the table, so when the night janitor came in to clean the room and empty regular trash, he placed his hand on the table to hold himself up while leaning over to pick up a small piece of paper that Brady had dropped.

He looked at the piece of paper, saw the code and decided it wasn’t important; he crumbled it up, switched it to his now contaminated hand, tossed it in the garbage and proceeded to sweep and mop.

Though it was against the rules, the janitor worked gloveless, and he had a nasty habit of not washing his hands after work, or play, or even rest room visits.

At the end of his shift, he clocked out and went home to his wife.

They made love that night and he used the same infected hand to touch and enter her in her intimate places.

His wife went to work the next morning as usual, to the local high school where she worked as a calculus teacher to freshmen. Soon after arriving she had become dizzy and feverish, developing a horrid nosebleed that flowed ever too freely, leaving her face pale and pasty, and unsteady on her feet.

A caring student rushed up to try to help her staunch the bleed, getting blood all over his hands and shirt cuffs.

He accompanied her to the school nurse while she waited for an ambulance to transport her to the hospital. The student stayed with her and bought a coffee from the machine while waiting.

He fed the coins in the slot with dried blood flaking off his fingers with every one and contaminating the hospital coffee machine. And in this manner the infection was released into the general public.

September 21st

“Do you understand the destruction you have caused?”

Brady did not answer.

“Do you understand the disease that you have let out? Do you have anything at all… to say for yourself?”

Agent Jack Kelly circled the table where Brady sat cuffed to the chair. He was very nervous and tired and hungry. He could not wait to get home.

“I’m sorry,” he cried “I didn’t know what it was; they offered me two million dollars! I just thought I would be returning something that may have been stolen from them. Two million! To steal a slide and bring it back. I thought, ‘nooo problem’. Great! Hey, send me to steal the real live version of zombie juice! It’s okay! I don’t mind! Fuckers!  My luck, I knew it sounded too good to be true.” He said while pretending to ignore the two way mirror in front of him. It didn’t matter, no one was behind it.

“They wanted you to steal a virus from the CDC, and you had to steal a level 5 security clearance card to get to the virus…”

“I didn’t know it was a virus!” Brady yelled and fought his restraints.

“Don’t yell at me! You might’ve not known it was a virus, but you had to know it would be dangerous! It’s locked up in the goddamned CDC! What did you think it would be?” Jack screamed back at him and slapped his hand down on the table. He rubbed his temples to try and relieve the migraine that had set in and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Brady, you come off as somewhat of a … smart man.  It seems like you could’ve put two and two together. I wanna show you something… Now, I know you’re feeling alright because you have been quarantined for the last twelve days, it only takes three to change, if you had been infected.”

He picked the remote up from the table and turned on the monitor.

“No, you got lucky. Poor Dr. Pierce didn’t. He was a world renowned scientist, reduced to a docile yet dangerous monstrosity, such a sad ending for such a great guy. We had to blow his brains out, and it was more for him than it was for us!”

There was a quick rap on the door just before Pat walked in carrying a CD case, which she handed to Jack. Pat is Jack’s partner and friend. He had known her for 25 years and it seemed like forever at the time. He was only forty eight, and looked everyday more like a sixty year old. Crow’s feet gathered at the corners of his hazel eyes, a full beard with lots of gray streaking the auburn beard he’s accumulated after a month without shaving. He was what you might call ruggedly handsome.

Pat being in her early sixties didn’t look a day over 45, her shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and large brown eyes gave her an air of youth. They had no romantic interest in each other but they made a great team.

Besides, his nine year old son Ethan loved her. She was there for his birth, and was there to comfort him during his mother’s death. And now she was his full time baby sitter since there was literally no one to leave him with. Not that he would trust anyone else to protect his son in this situation.

He took the CD from Pat and inserted it into the DVD player.

“I was going to show you the footage of the three stages of Pierce’s mutation, but instead, I have something that might actually help you to come up with some kind of answer on the identity of your employers.”

He pushed play and stepped back with his arms crossed, studying Brady to gauge his reaction.

The video came on dark and the operator switched it to night vision. It was footage of a pile of infected that were about to be burned. The camera man neared the pile and focused his camera on one blonde woman, her body slung across the others in spread eagle fashion.

She was completely naked and her body riddled with bites, chunks of flesh missing in various places and pieces hanging by the skin in others.

Her eyes were still open.

A trooper to the right of the camera lit a match and threw it on top of the pile. The gasoline that had been poured on the pile ignited with a flash.

Brady’s face turned five shades of purple until all the color drained from him.

“I see you recognized that person?” Jack asked.

Brady began screaming and hopping in his chair, kicking out and trying to break free.

“Calm down, Brady. Listen; there is absolutely nothing you can do now. Calm down and talk to me.  That’s your wife, isn’t it?”

Brady stopped struggling and his chin rested on his chest. The tears flowed steadily down his face as he thought about how he often ignored her and she had done nothing but love him and worry about their financial security. She was a great wife and she was beautiful. He didn’t deserve her in the first place.

He could’ve done without seeing her that way. He assumed she would be at home waiting for him, he did not know that it was this bad.

“Yes, my…my wife.” He sniffed trying to clear his nose.

“As much as I hate to rub salt into a wound, I had to show this to you. I lost my wife a few years ago, I know how it feels. But I don’t think you understand the extent of damage to this country that one man…You… caused. Your wife would still be alive, along with a five hundred thousand or so other people, including the President and his family, if you had not thrown that sample at Dr. Pierce. If only you had not broken into his lab and picked up that dish. And we’re still counting, Brady. For every one person that gets bitten and changes, they infect at least six. Our population will be wiped out within a month. We have no way to stop it. We will be extinct.”

Jack sat down at the opposite end of the table.

“I have a nine year old son, Brady.  His name is Ethan. He is not going to live a normal life, if he lives at all, because of you. Could you please tell me who hired you?”

Brady leaned forward in his chair as far as he could.

“I don’t know. I got a call from a restricted number on my cell. I answered it. The guy asked me if I wanted to make two million dollars. I said yes. He told me what I had to do. I refused at first, thinking it was a set up or a prank call. I even said as much. Then I said that when I see two million in my bank balance I would do it. When I hung up I figured that was the end of it. The next morning, I went to the bank to withdraw funds for the day and sure enough, there had been two million dollars deposited into my account. The teller had an envelope for me. I didn’t ask her who gave it to her. I was too shocked. I had two million dollars in the bank. The only thing in the envelope was the little piece of paper with the virus code. So, I came to work and tried to do it.”

“How were you going to get it to them? They didn’t leave any other information?”

“I don’t know. I guess they were going to call me to set something up.” Brady replied.

“Well Brady, I think you’re telling the truth, and all I can do is let you go. I just needed to have this talk with you. Even if you did tell me who did it, it would do us no good. I just wanted to know. I needed to show you the destruction you have caused. And your Two Million… you can’t forget about that, you have no way to get it or spend it.”

Jack unlocked the cuffs that held Brady to the chair.

“You are free to go.”

Brady stood up and took a tissue from the box on the table.

“That’s it? I can go home?” He asked, puzzled.

“You can go where ever you want. You can’t stay here. We don’t have the means to take care of you. I must warn you though,” he said as he tossed Brady a 9 mm pistol. “You’re probably not going make it too far. It’s not what you would expect. Have a great day.”

And with that Jack walked out of the interrogation room leaving the door open.

“You mean I’m not going to prison? You’re not going to lock me up? And you’re giving me a gun?” Brady asked as he shoved the gun in his jacket pocket.

Jack noticed this and did not comment, but looked at him for a moment, wondering if he should feel bad for what was about to happen to this man, and decided that he shouldn’t.

“Prison would have been a better place, yes. But unfortunately, everyone’s dead, and I’d take that out of my pocket, if I were you.” He turned and walked away.

“Wait, how do I get out of here?” Brady asked.

“You see those double doors? Go through there, turn left and you will see two guards. Tell them that I said to let you out.” He said and continued walking away from Brady.

“Agent Kelly!” Brady yelled and Jack stopped without turning around.

“Thank You!”

“You won’t be thanking me in five minutes.”

Jack walked to the open room where the others waited.

Pat, his fellow agent and friend, Ethan, Jim and Dale, these two were fellow secret service agents as well.

He sat down at the monitors, and after Pat covered Ethan’s eyes with her hands, he watched with them as Brady was escorted to the back door.

One of the monitors had direct view of right outside the back entrance and lot leading to the garage. The dead were everywhere. The guards placed him in front of the door, gave him a card key and told him to wait fifteen seconds and open the door.

Brady thought it odd, but he would wait. He heard the lock engage on the door the guards had went through and stood shaking his leg waiting for the fifteen seconds to be up then he swiped the card. The door swished open and he exited. The door closed behind him.

He swiftly walked away from the building as fast as he could, taking for granted that the people he saw in his peripheral were alive as he headed toward the parking garage.

He reached into his pocket for his keys. His pockets were empty. It was when he turned around to go back to the building to see if he could retrieve his car keys, that he noticed the people weren’t quite right. He was thinking that they were ALL fucked up. Several infected had gathered near him while caught up in his thoughts, finally noticing, he bolted for the door.  He swiped the card key in the lock and it glowed bright red and beeped with each of the three attempts.

He was able to pound on the door once and remembered the gun he had in his jacket pocket. He didn’t even get it out before the dead fell upon him. The group watching this could see him no more. The dead even fought and bit each other to get to the fresh meat at the bottom of the pile. The sound was out so they could not hear his screams; they could only see the feeding frenzy taking place right outside the door.

Jack and the others watched this with indifference. He was the cause of all this, no one in the room felt any type of remorse.

They were the only ones left in the entire building besides the two guards.

Everyone else had been infected. Those they did not have time enough to destroy were all locked up other areas of the facility.

They had only the south wing to themselves and were severely worried. There was no way out and all the locks on the doors would malfunction when the generators ran out. So far, he knew that they had enough fuel to continue running at low grade for at least another month and a half. But time flies, and they would be helpless when the time came.

There is however, an underground shelter, about 300 miles east in Walton County, with enough provisions to sustain fifty people for a year. But they did not have the code.

Dr. O’Dey had the code, as well as the key to set off the chemical bomb that he had hastily created to kill every last one of the infected, as well as any survivors left outside the shelter.

O’Dey came up with the formula himself. The first three weeks during the infection, doctors and engineers were working round the clock shifts to build and load the mechanisms to launch the chemical bomb from several locations around the country. Thank God, they were able to complete the tasks before they themselves were attacked and infected.

The formula was created specifically to liquefy the brains and organs of the human race. The virus was so dangerous that that had been the only option, besides setting off nuclear bombs, killing everyone and could possibly leave the environment barren and contaminated so there would be no hope of sustaining life in this country for a time undetermined.

They were unsure of the chemical bombs effect on the environment so far and had stopped that research with the initial loss of power. But it was all they had and they were going to use it.

Unfortunately, Dr. O’Dey had hidden the key to the launch pad in his Aunt’s house in Florida. What was he thinking? In any case… he has a small child that was in Florida as well, having lived with her mother since the divorce and he hadn’t the time to dedicate to her because of his job. So of course, he had to get his child. He has been gone for two weeks now.

They were hoping that they would return soon, but Jack had a nagging feeling that he would have to go out into the chaos to find him or his key.

October 19th

Dr. Carl O’Dey has literally walked through hell for the past five weeks.

Since leaving the CDC, he has survived a helicopter crash, a car crash and with little to no ammo, weeks of running from hordes of zombies.

Somehow, through all this he had managed to make Tampa and his daughter, unscathed.

Then just when he thought he would actually make it to “safety” in time… he had gotten bitten.

Standing in front of the sink in his Aunts home in Punta Gorda, he rinsed the wound on his arm with hot water.

The heat felt good.

He thanked God that he had made it to his daughter; it was just a matter of time before her infected mother would find her.

When he entered the house his ex-wife had been biting herself. Filled with sadness and dread he shot her with one of his last few bullets as she looked up at him over her own arm, blood and meat falling from her lips. This was not the way he wanted to remember her, but it was now forever etched in his mind and there wasn’t anything he could do to erase it.

They had still loved each other, his job just kept him away too much and he didn’t have time for his family. His wife was tired of it, so… she had filed for divorce. It was painful, but there wasn’t anything bitter about it. They remained close friends and worked out their problems. They had gotten along much better as friends than as husband and wife, and the sex had improved immensely.

It had hurt him deeply to put her down, but he had Angel to think about so he could not give up just yet.

He found her hiding in a toy box inside her closet. He had known that he would find her there, if not anywhere else. It was her favorite place to be when she was feeling down went there any time she was upset or hurt. How happy she’d been and hard they both had cried when he pulled her out of the toy box.

The wound started burning and he turned the cold water on and continued rinsing. He noticed that his lips were beginning to feel a little swollen and his hands were discolored.

He had hoped the injection he had given himself would have slowed down the process, but apparently has no effect.

He really didn’t expect it to; he hadn’t had a chance to fully test it and was risking his life not knowing the final effects. He figured that he was gonna die anyway so he might as well give it a try.

Angel was upstairs sleeping, and he knew he’d have to have a talk with her. This was going to be hard, saying goodbye to his little girl forever. He had no choice.

Carl went upstairs and picked her up off the bed. She snuggled her face in his neck as he carried her downstairs. He did not want this moment to end, but he knew he was changing and didn’t want to hurt her.

“Angel.” He said softly with a hint of tremble in his voice. She raised her head and rubbed her eyes.

“Daddy. Where are we?” She asked looking around her and hugging her teddy bear tightly to her chest.

“We’re at Auntie Vivian’s house, baby. I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?”

He put her down on her feet and kneeled to be eye level with her.

“Listen, Angel. I am going to give you something. It’s a key, one that will save your life. You understand? Daddy is sick; I’m not going to make it.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, her eyes wide and filling with tears.

“Angel, Daddy is going to die.”  As much as it hurt him to be so blunt with her, he could not lie, she had to know. She stood crying with the teddy bear he had gotten for her birthday clutched to her chest, he pulled her into his arms and smoothed her hair. “Is it because the scary monster bit you?”

“Yes, baby. It made me sick and I want you to be safe. Now, I have some friends. They know we are here. They will come for you, Okay? When they do, don’t be afraid. Go with them. If they ask you for the key, give it to them, but not until they ask you. I’m going to take you back upstairs; you stay there until they come. Do not leave that room, do not make any noise. You know the monsters outside? You don’t want them to know you are here. Now, let me get the key.’

He went to the entertainment center and pulled out a puzzle as she watched. He opened the box and withdrew a small purple heart, there were little dots etched into the front.

“Now here, put this in your dress pocket. Don’t lose it, it’s very important.”

Angel did as her father asked and he picked her up and carried her back upstairs.

“But where are you going?” She asked.

“I’m gonna go find Aunt Vivian. I won’t be back, Angel. I will stay with you till you until you fall back to sleep. Do not leave this room. Angel, you mean everything to me. If you stay in this room until they come, you will be okay. “

“Okay Daddy, I do what you say. Not leave room. And only give key if they ask. It’s a pretty key. What … Daddy what does it go to?”

“It goes to a safe place, where you are supposed to go. Remember, only if they ask.”

“Okay, I love you, Daddy.” She snuggled her teddy bear and burrowed under the covers.

“I love you, Angel. More than anything I ever loved in my life. I want you to remember that.”

Carl lay down next to her and wrapped his arm around her, and inhaled the scent of her hair. No matter how much she’d been through, she still had that little baby smell. She squeezed his hand and soon she was sleeping soundly.

Carl gently rose up off the bed so not to wake her and shut the door as quietly.

Once downstairs, he made sure all the windows and doors were locked.  As he left the street of Spirit Lane he noticed that the dead paid him no mind.

He thought he must’ve smelled like them or otherwise they would be attacking. He got maybe three miles away on foot before he remembered that he did not leave her with the entry code. He turned around with a sigh and headed back towards Angel, the key could not be used without the code to the shelter, and the control board was housed within.

October 23rd

Jack Kelly knew the clock was ticking down, it was time to go.

He had taken one guard and left the CDC by helicopter, he was flying it himself. He had broken into Dr. O’Dey’s office and located the address of the Aunts house. It had only taken a few hours to get there and was unable to land in front of the house without damage to the rotors, so they landed in a ball field several blocks from the house.

Armed with machine guns, Jack and his companion had to navigate their way to the street on foot.

Killing several infected along the way, it seemed there was a never ending flow of them and it was hell to get to the house.

Once safely inside the house, Jack had seen O’Dey’s decapitated corpse immediately. His head lying only a few feet from the body, eyes open, mouth working, and strangely, a bullet hole right between the eyes. He should’ve gone down with that shot. Apparently not or he would not have had to be beheaded.

Removing latex gloves from his pocket, he put them on and searched O’Dey’s pockets for the key and did not find it, but he did find a small piece of paper in his wallet with the code to the entrance of the shelter. “That’s one down, one to go.”

He got on his radio and told Pat the code to enter the shelter and was informed that they had been attacked and Ethan was unharmed but the other guard and Jim, both perished.

Pat, Dale and Ethan had managed to escape and were already en route to the shelter, encountering few problems.

Pat and Dale were both a great shot, he did not worry much. He knew they would protect his son.

He stood and looked around the house, entered the kitchen and saw empty water bottles, orange peels and granola wrappers. The wrappers were military portions, so maybe his daughter was safe, and maybe she had the key. The guard had nodded towards the stairs and mounted them to go up.

He followed behind him and opened the first door on the left, it gave resistance and Jack pressed his face to the opening to peer in and saw the bodies of one female and one male. The male wearing military gear. Shutting the door he turned and motioned for the guard to go back down.

Jack went into the bedroom littered with the bodies of the dead and up the ladder that was extended from the ceiling.

Finding the body of another male, a mass of flies had gathered and spread about the room. A photo album lay on the floor so he picked it up and flipped through it.

There were several pictures of Carl and his family.

He found a picture of Carl and his daughter as well and pulled it out of the album. He had never seen her before and it would help to know what she looked like. He hoped that this would help him to recognize her dead, undead or alive.

There was nothing left here, and no other sign of Carls' daughter.

He went back down to the bottom floor where his companion waited, while they were inside the dead had all but surrounded the house.

They made a run for it, shooting all the while and attracting more infected. Jack, his heart beating out of his chest as it he had not been subjected to so many at once, ran ever so fast to get to the helicopter. Upon reaching it and flinging open the door, he turned to see the guard being attacked by several infected.

They had piled on top of him and Jack couldn’t even hear his screams.  There wasn’t anything he could do to help him, it was too late.

Jumping in the pilot seat and starting the engine, the dead that were around him began beating on the helicopter, some hanging from the feet as he rose in the air.

The only other thing he could do is meet the others at the shelter and there they would remain until they ran out of provisions or fuel for the generators housed within, whichever came first. At least they had that option. Maybe he could figure out a way to disengage the lock on the control board, a manual override, maybe.

He began flying north and was nearing Atlanta when he spotted a blue van moving at a fast pace on the freeway below, a mile or so ahead.

He thought to follow them, but the fuel gage lit up and the buzzing that accompanied it let him know he was out of fuel. He had to land and soon. No better place than on the freeway, and although he didn’t see any dead below that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

Upon landing he did not encounter any infected and searched the few vehicles that were on the road. Most were out of gas but after several hours of walking, he found an SUV with keys and a full tank. So, he headed north to see if he could catch up with the blue van. He thought it unlikely but it was worth a shot.

October 25th

2:30 p.m.

Kate had been walking several hours and never found a vehicle that had gas, or keys or wasn’t housing some sort of dead or undead body. She had a few run-ins with infected and was able to take them down without injury to herself.

It seemed that roads were becoming more clogged up the further north she had gotten and soon she may not be able to make it down the road, she would have to veer off into surrounding territories, and that would make the trip much longer and less predictable.

At least on the open road she could see what dangers lie ahead and she would travel it until she could not get by.

Soon she heard a slow approaching vehicle and turned around to see it as it pulled up and came to a stop behind her.

The driver had his gun aimed out the window at her and she threw her hands up in the air to show that she was indeed alive and coherent. She did not want to get mistaken for the dead.

The driver looked around before exiting the vehicle and she walked towards him at a slow pace, looking around herself for signs of more undead.

They approached each other and held out their hands for a shake.

“How far have you walked?” Jack asked.

Oh, about forty five miles” she replied and he noticed that she looked worn out and tired, he could see that she was limping before he stopped.

“Hurt yourself, I see. Jump in. Let’s get out of here.”

Without another word she got in the SUV and felt exhausted suddenly. The walk and fighting had really taken it out of her and her ankle was on fire.

“Where were you headed to?” He asked.

“I’m going to Ohio to look for my friends. They had managed to escape the situation we were in and they were going there. I hope they made it. Where are you going?”

“I saw a blue van travelling north a day or so ago. I was in a helicopter but had to land, I ran out of fuel. Then I walked a bit and found this vehicle. Thought I’d try to catch up to them. I am in search of a little girl.”

“Your daughter or..?” She asked.

“No, a friend’s daughter. She has something we need. I am a secret service agent, we have a shelter and a way to kill the infected, but she has a key that we need. I need to find her. I thought she might’ve been in that van.”

“Where did you see the van?” Kate asked, knowing that Tank’s van was what he was searching for.

“Back in Georgia.”

“Well, I can tell you that I was in the blue van along with my friends and two little girls. One got attacked by birds and then mauled by some infected. I ended up killing her just hours ago. She had become one of them. The other little girl...” Jack pulled out the picture of Carl and Angel and showed it to Kate.

“Is this one of the girls?”

“Yes, that’s Angel. She was still alive when they left. I’m going to find her, too. I hope she is okay. I hope they’re all okay, but I think that might be asking a little too much.”

“Where did you meet Angel?”

“My friend…” And she dropped her head as she thought of him. “My friend Dave and I found her in a trapped in a house in Florida. We had to kill several of them. I was surprised to find her. We had to kill her father, too.”

“I saw that he was beheaded and shot between the eyes. What happened there? Aren’t they supposed to go down with a head shot no matter what?” He asked.

“Yea, they are. We were just as surprised when he got back up several hours after we shot him. Don’t know why that happened. Haven’t seen it happen to anyone else before or since. Anyway, I watched out for her until we came to a church where the Pastor had locked his congregation in a room infected people and allowed them to die. My friend blew the place up and the rest of us got away. I could have gone with them but I wanted to check on Dave. He was infected already but had not changed yet, so I had to find him. But I didn’t. So, now I am going to Ohio to find my other friends.”

“Well, let’s hope we find them alive. I think we will. What are the chances of me running into you, looking for the same person? It will be okay. I have a son and a couple friends already inside the shelter. It’s back in Georgia, though. Hopefully we will make it. Without the key the girl holds, we won’t be able to kill the infected.”

“I don’t think she has anything on her, Jack. Though, she does have a teddy bear. Maybe it’s in the teddy. What does the key look like?”

“I don’t know. It could be just a regular key, maybe a card. If we find her we find the key. Gas will be difficult, but we are in Kentucky now and getting closer to them with every mile. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and get the girl and whoever we can carry and get back to safety.”

Kate thought briefly about the little heart that Kimmy had shown her but did not say anything. She was comfortable for the moment and the trials of the day had taken its toll on her and she nodded off to sleep.

Jack looked over at her thinking she was very attractive for a pale-skinned redhead, but quickly pushed those thoughts aside.

They were on a mission and he would take whoever he could back to the shelter with him once he found Angel and the key. He drove on in silence and hoped that the roads didn’t become any more difficult than they already had and the rain began steadily falling, again.

Part Three

5:30 p.m.

“Hey, wake up.” Jack said to Kate as he shook her shoulder to jar her. She woke and rubbed her eyes as she readjusted herself upright in the seat.

“Where are we now?” She looked out the window and they were crossing a bridge and saw signs for Liberty and U.S. 50.

“We just crossed into Cincinnati from Kentucky. Dayton is still a little over and hour or so away, if traffic were normal. Hopefully we don’t encounter too many more road blocks.” Jack said as he slowly maneuvered his way through the clusters of cars on the bridge. “I thought you might want to wake up a bit before we actually get there.”

“Yea, I do. We gotta be ready for anything. Thanks for letting me sleep. I must’ve needed it.” Kate said. “I sure wish I had a cup of coffee.”

“Don’t have coffee but do you want a smoke?” He asked taking a crumpled pack of Marlboro out of his shirt pocket and offering them to her.

“No, thanks. I don’t smoke often. Don’t think I want one right now, I might take you up on that later, though. All the roads been this clogged?”

“Well, most of them. I’ve had to take a few detours and run over a few infected but it hasn’t been so bad. And we’re just about there.”

“I’m hungry.” Kate said as she reached into the backseat to get her pack. “I have some extra rations. You want something?” She said and unzipped her pack to pull out a couple granola bars. She really liked those. They didn’t taste bad and gave her energy to boot. He was pretty hungry himself so he took the granola bar that held out to him.

“Thank You.”

“Not a problem.” She said and they ate their granola bars and rode in silence for several miles before Kate said “Some of them have a conscience, you know.”

He looked over at her and saw that she believed what she was saying, though he really didn’t know about that.

“No, I didn’t know that. How did you come to that conclusion?”

“I’ve seen it.” Kate proceeded to tell him about what she read in Jillian’s’ papers and told him that he still had them if he wanted to read them. She told him about Jillian herself when Kate had called her name and how undead Jillian reacted.

“I haven’t heard of that. It’s a first, but then we really don’t pay too much attention to what their faces and emotions are. We’re too busy trying to kill or run from them to stand and try to analyze their emotions.”

He thought on this for a while as the road to Dayton seemed to open up and there weren’t as many cars to dodge and creep around. They got up to a steady forty miles an hour and cruised the rest of the way.

7:45 p.m.

“What time is it?” Belinda asked as she lifted her head up from the table where she had been sleeping and swiped the drool with escaped her lips with a grimace. She was a nice girl and had only started her job at Tank’s a month before the infection got out. She looked pretty silly with drool dripping from her otherwise very pretty face. Deep set almond shaped green eyes and a full mouth with a set of gorgeous teeth, Troy looked at her and laughed, handed her a napkin and said “Almost eight o’clock. Why? Got some where to be?”

She slid him a sideways look and yawn, stretching her body out so that you could hear it crack.

“Oh, I am too young for my body to be snapping like this!” And she laughed as well. “Stay off your back and the rest of your body will heel.” Mojo said from behind her and he flicked her in the back.

“Ow. That kind of hurt.” She whined.

“Quit crying. I’ve been thinking about this, Troy.” Mojo said. “We have to leave here sooner or later, I looked out the window over the tapestries and they know were in here. They’re starting to gather out front. We’re gonna have to use the big bus to get us all out of here.”

Troy stood on a table to look out the window his self and counted twelve.

“Yea, they are, but how we gonna get to it?”

He asked.

Kristen had been sitting at the bar with her head down and spoke from under her arms.

“Tommy had the keys last, Mojo. We haven’t seen him, so how we gonna get it started? You gonna hot wire it?”

“No,” he said and pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and dangled them in the air. “I have Tank’s keys.”

“Oh, so what are we gonna do for gas, then? The pumps won’t work without electricity, if we can safely make it to a station. We took the bus to the Air Force Museum; the fuel was pretty low when we got back.”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get there. We can syphon, we just have to find a hose. I think we can use the line from the sanitizer in the kitchen; we have to find a way to rinse it out. Anyway, we gotta focus on getting out. They are gonna be trying to knock these doors down soon. Sure seems like they’re getting restless. Listen.”

Everyone quieted and listened for the sound of the infected outside. They could hear the moans of the dead and an occasional screams of the soon to be. Kristen broke out in goose bumps and said “Oh my God, make some fucking noise. I don’t want to hear that.”

“Smart, let’s make noise so we can encourage them to get at us. They already smell us.” Troy said.

“I don’t mean be loud as fuck. I just mean keep talking so we can block it out.”

Belinda rubbed her arms as it gave her the chills as well.

“I will never be able to get those sounds out of my head.” She turned to walk into the kitchen.

“Okay, let’s plan this out. It’s gotta be done right or we’re all gonna die sooner than later. John?” Mojo called out to him.

“Yeah, I’m awake.” He said from the upper dining room. “I’m just listening.”

“I’m gonna need your help. The first thing is we gotta figure out who’s gonna get to the bus. Now, it’s only across the alley, parked next to Tommy’s house. One of us has to stay by the door, the other two have to head to the bus, who’s gonna do what?”

“I’ll go to the bus.” Troy said and John said he’ll go with him. “But I’ll drive.” He added.

“Okay then. I’ll keep the door clear and provide cover for you. Kristen, you and Belinda gather all the stuff we need, but not more than you can run with. John will pull the bus up and open the doors. I want you two to stand inside by the door with Angel, one of you carry her, and wait for my signal. I’ll bang twice quickly. Then you run directly onto the bus. Don’t waste time, you drop something, leave it. Understand?”

They all nodded their heads and had worried looks in their eyes. They knew they were going to lose somebody. Isn’t that how it always went in the movies when the trapped are trying to escape?

“All right, let’s get the show on the road. You guys grab your guns and you girls get your shit together. We won’t have but a second to get on the bus. Let’s go.”

The girls immediately broke into action gathering a few things and getting Angel up. She had been sleeping a lot, but none could blame her. She was traumatized. For a child of six she had seen way too much.

The guys walked back to the kitchen and waited for the girls to get back there in their waiting positions before they exited the building.

Mojo opened the door and peered around, only one infected in the back lot standing by Woody’s body only 25 feet away. John and Troy ran straight ahead across the alley towards the bus and Mojo waited as long as he could before he shot the infected. He didn’t want to attract the attention to the others in front sooner than he had to.

He saw john climb into the drivers’ seat and he fired the shot, and it popped the head of the infected in a shattered mess. You could hear the carnage splatter onto the ground.

John had started the engine and was not expecting any other persons on board. Unfortunately, Tommy had been bitten and must’ve got onto the bus for shelter. It was there that he died, in the seat directly behind the driver’s seat. And it was there that he had risen and his mouth opened so much further than it should have been able to, and latched onto John’s whole shoulder.

John grabbed Tommie’s’ head with his left hand and he could not get him off.

He stood with Tommy tearing into his shoulder and saw Troy aiming his gun to shoot.

Straining to keep from screaming he said to Troy “Stop, Not on the bus.”

He threw himself and Tommy with all his might, down the bus stairs and out the door onto the ground. He looked at Troy and said “Do it, now. Troy shot twice quickly, one for each of them. And John was no more.

He climbed into the seat and pulled the bus out onto the street. He had to turn it around to get the doors on the right side, and it was getting crazy now. He could hear Mojo’s gun firing and knew he only had just a minute to get there. Finally he pulled up and saw headlights on the rearview mirror as Mojo banged on the door to get the girls to come out.

8:00 p.m.

Jack and Kate had gotten there just in time and started firing out the window at the other infected that were trying to close in on the survivors that they saw trying to escape. She saw Angel being carried by a female she did not recognize.

The male who stood at the doors of the bus looked in her direction and said “Hurry!”

She looked to the right at the beautiful red Mustang that Tank and the others had escaped the church in, and noticed two familiar bodies on the ground along with a few others. She did not have time to think on who they were.

They both exited the vehicle firing their weapons as the infected were growing ever so greatly in number, and headed right for the bus.

Kate saw the last girl to exit was carrying supplies and as the door shut behind her and infected grabbed her by the shoulders, she dropped the box of supplies she was carrying and it pulled her down and began biting into her face.

They made it to the bus and jumped on; there was no use in trying to save the girl outside. The driver shut the door behind them and put it in reverse, he would have to back directly out into the street.

Before he could get more than five feet away, the girl was chasing the bus and beating on the side. Somehow, the virus had mutated and Belinda was now a fully undead infected.

Blood poured from her face and mouth and she screamed and clawed at the bus.

Jack lowered the window beside his seat and fired one shot into her forehead. They all saw her drop as the driver prepared to straighten the bus and head out, and they all saw her rise again.

The wound in her head looked much like a gaping black hole, dripping blood and brain matter down the bridge of her nose, and her face expressed pure hatred. She ran at the bus faster than could be believed and she jumped, her fingers catching the top of the lowered window.

She screamed and spit, she bit at the window until Jack used his knife to pry her fingers up, she let go and fell, cracking her head completely open and finally she lie still. Her bloody face had left smears of several different fluids across the window.

The driver floored the pedal and they took off in a swerve, he struggled to get the bus under control and was able to get it corrected just before it would have slammed into a telephone pole.

Angel ran down the aisle to Kate and jumped into her arms and snuggled deep into her chest.

Kate hugged Angel tightly and asked about the whereabouts of the others. She needed no response as everyone quieted and their heads dropped in answer to her question. They were all dead.

Jack broke the silence by introducing his self and everyone followed suit.

Mojo told them what had happened since Tank’s arrival and Kate was very upset, but not surprised at their deaths.

As Jack filled the others in on his own quest, and informed them all on how the virus got out in the first place, Kate questioned Angel about the key.

“Angel, this is very important. Do you have a key of some sort?” Angel lifted her head from Kate’s chest and moved Teddy to her other hand as she dipped into her pocket and pulled out the little purple heart and held it out to her.

Kate was not surprised to see it, only stumped on how Angel had ended up with it after she had seen Kimmy with it.

“Did you take this from Kimmy?” She asked her as she took the key and examined it.

“No, my Daddy gave it to me. Then the birds gave it to me. I didn’t know I lost it.”

“The birds gave it to you?” She thought of their violent attack on Kimmy and figured that is how they got it. But what birds are intelligent enough to return something to its owner? This was getting stranger for her by the moment.

“Yea, they flew all around me and one little birdie gave it to me. I don’t know how they got it. I thought it was in my pocket.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now, we have the key, and it’s going to help us fight the scary monsters. And most importantly I have found you. I was so worried about you.”

“I was worried about you too, Kate. I knew you were the one my daddy was talking about.” Kate thought that it could have been anybody and more than likely no one at all. If Kate and Dave had not shown up when they did, Angel would not have survived long enough for Jack to get there.

She hugged Angel tighter and listened to the conversation that Jack was having with the others about heading to the shelter.

The only problem now, was fuel. This was a large vehicle and probably didn’t get many miles to the gallon. They were going to have to fill up some time or another. They had a long trip back to Georgia.

It was decided that they would try the next exit and get it done as fast as they could. But as usual everyone dreaded every stop they would have to make. They didn’t want to lose any more people than they already had.

“Take this exit.” Mojo told Troy as the neared the ramp marked ‘Middletown’.

“This area is not so populated; maybe we can get fuel with no problems. There’s a Duke Station as soon as you turn left.”

“Okay, I know where I’m at.  Troy said as he navigated the bus around the cluster of vehicles in the road. There weren’t many. And there weren’t many cars at the station either. Most places evacuated everyone to shelters in the area so most of the infected would be elsewhere. Still, they would have to look out for whoever had been in these cars.

“Pull up next to the truck at the pump, maybe they had gotten filled. Then we’ll check the others. Let’s give it a minute though, see what pops up out of the woodwork.” Mojo said as he stood with his shotgun and everyone fell silent. The quiet outside thick and making them feel uneasy.

Jack spotted an infected falling out of a car several feet from the bus and had a clear view. He shot once and it entered the top of the zombies head.

“Let’s go!” Jack said and got off the bus as Mojo followed behind with the hose and can.

“Let’s get this done quick. Troy, if it looks like you can get in the store, see if there is anything worth taking.”

“I’ll go with Troy.” Kristen said as she got up to exit as well.

“No,” said Mojo “you stay here with Kate and Angel.”

“I’ll be fine, I wanna help.” She followed Troy inside and Jack already had the hose in the tank of the truck, which thankfully; was full. Mojo had found two more cans in the lot and was beside him giving him another when he was ready, and pouring the full ones into the bus.

The bus was just about full and Jack was filling the cans again from other vehicles to take with them when Kristen screamed.

They ran towards the storefront and could see through the glass, Troy had picked up a glass jar that looked to be filled with olives and slammed it in the face of a corpse as he turned to fight the infected that had surrounded him. The scene played out in silence until a scream broke from Kristen’s throat as she watched the attack in horror, unaware of the infected trudging up behind her.

Mojo moved to go in but Jack stopped him. There would be no time. It was too close to her and in that second, Mojo screamed out her name and she turned to look as the monster pulled her down by her hair and bit into her. Still, Mojo struggled against Jack and broke free to run towards the door. Kristen looked at him and shook her head; ‘no’. He could see she was screaming the words “go back’ but he could not hear them over the loud buzzing of his own racing pulse in his ears. She held the palm of her hand out to him to signal him to stop. When she saw that he moved no closer, she ceased trying to get away and relaxed her body, giving herself over to the infected and making peace with her death.

Mojo watched the death of Kristen and his eyes filled with tears, but still a sob did not break from his throat, though he felt he would burst from the strain of keeping it in.

He broke from his trance as Jack grabbed his elbow and pulled him to the bus. The dead where on all sides now, all the noise having attracted them.

Kate was in the drivers’ seat and slammed the doors shut as she pulled out of the station and onto the road leading to the highway.

Mojo had nothing to say and sat in the very last seat near where they had stored the two extra cans of gas they had managed to accumulate. He was not in the mood for talking now. He was lost in his memories of life before the infected. There was no one from Tank’s left but him, and he was feeling really lonely for the first time ever in his life. Kristen had meant the world to him and he was blaming his self for her death. He had told her to stay on the bus, she had decided not to.

Classic Kristen, always doing the complete opposite of what he asked.  He had loved her though, and this was hard for him to take.

Finally grief had taken over; he put his face in his hands and wept pitifully.

Angel stood watching him in silence and began weeping a bit herself. She hugged Teddy tighter and went to sit in the seat directly behind Kate.

“Not much longer now.” Jack said as he walked up to stand beside Kate as she weaved in and out of the cluster of vehicles in the road. They had been driving for seven hours but it felt like a lifetime.

“I hope not, we are almost out of fuel again. Do we have any left from the station?”

“No, I put all of it in the last time we stopped. We’ll get there before we run out. We’re only about twenty miles out now. We’ll make it just in time, probably.” He said as he looked at the gauge. A quarter tank should do. He had never been there but had a great photographic memory and was elated that they were approaching their destination.

He was worried for Pat and his son. He knew Dale was with them but anything can happen. He couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around Ethan. He would be fine once he saw that Ethan was okay.

“So, the key is in the shape of a heart? Can I see it?” he asked.

“Sure. You can hold onto it if you want. You’ll know what to do with it, I don’t.” She handed them the key and it was wet with the sweat from the palm of her hand where she had kept it since Angel had given it to her, afraid that if she put it in her pocket it would somehow disappear, destroying their only chance at survival.

After drying the key off with his shirt tail, Jack inspected the key and noticed a pattern of tiny rivets on one side and micro sized grid marks on the other. The grids were almost impossible to see, but he sort of knew what to look for which enabled him to recognize them immediately. Definitely a key produced by O’Dey. He palmed it as well and they rode again in silence until they made it to the clearing where the entrance was kept.

He didn’t have a radio anymore and could not contact Pat to let him know of his arrival. He didn’t want them to be shot upon entering.

He knew that pat possessed the sense to realize it would be him coming in the door, because you had to have a code to enter. Dale he wasn’t all that sure about.

“Stop here.” He told Kate and she looked around in questioning. They were in the middle of a field and she saw no shelter in sight. Jack recognized the look of confusion and told her, “its underground, the entrance is hidden. Let me out and wait here.”

Kate opened the doors and stood up to watch him as he bent to the ground and lifted a flap of grass. He punched a few numbers and she heard a faint beeping and several  loud clicks the lock on the door was released.

“Kate, get them and come on.”

He said as he dug under another flap to find the handle and pulled a hatch door up. A stream of pale blue lights beamed from the shaft and she ushered Angel out the door towards jack as she looked back at Mojo and told him to come.

He didn’t say a word nor did he lift his head. When she saw Angel standing next to Jack, she walked to the back to rouse him from what she thought was sleep.

Two thirds of the way there she noticed a large amount of blood pooled around his feet, she stepped through it anyway and shook him by the shoulders. His head fell back, his Ohio State cap fell off his head and his arms flopped out to the sides. She saw the pocket knife fall from his hand and hit the floor with a dull thud and a faint splash as it landed in his blood.

He has slashed his arms, wrists to elbows.  The grief had been too much for him. She was angry with herself for not checking on him sooner. He seemed like he was a good man and she was sad to lose him. Losing all of the people she had lost had really bothered her, but they were so close to some kind of safety and he had almost made it, he would have made it if he hadn’t done this. She turned and headed toward the doors of the bus, partly afraid that he would change and his corpse would rise up behind her and take her from behind. She stopped and looked back at him just to make sure that he wasn’t, she didn’t want to have to ‘kill’ him, too.

“Kate, what’s going on?” Jack asked from the door. “Get him up, let’s go.”

She walked off the bus and looked at Jack, she shook her head and said nothing as she moved down into the hatch and pulled Angel down into it above her so she could support her as she went down. Jack followed last and pulled the hatch down behind him, pressing a button and engaging the locks before he descended.

“Daddy!” Ethan cried as he ran to his father, slamming into him so hard that you could hear Jack’s breath escape him from the impact of it. He wrapped his arms around Ethan and decided that that was not good enough. He picked the boy up off his feet and hugged him tight. Ethan wrapped his legs around his fathers’ waist and buried his face in his neck and began sobbing.

“Ethan, it’s okay, son. I’m here. Shh. It’s alright.” Jack soothed him and stroked his hair lovingly, his eyes tearing up as well. He thanked God that his son was still okay.

“But I thought you were dead. I thought the zombies got you and I was so scared! I was trying to be brave but it was so hard.”        Ethan said between sobs and tried to dry his eyes.

“I’m okay, see. Look. I’m not hurt at all. A little tired. Now, let’s get in here. We have to figure out how this works.”

They walked from the hall into the main room where Pat was waiting with a knowing smile on her face, and tears misted her eyes.

He hugged her tightly and she reciprocated. “So, happy you are here. I knew you would make it. Now, who are your friends?” She looked to Angel and Kate.

“Kate,” she stepped forward and shook Pat’s hand. “And this little doll is Angel, Dr. O’Dey’s daughter. Pat, where is Dale?”

“Dale didn’t make it. He sacrificed his self for Ethan and I. We were rushed before we could make into the field. I picked Ethan up and ran, Dale stayed behind to cover us. I turned and saw him being taken down.”

Jack looked to Ethan and Pat answered his unasked question.

“Ethan did not see, I kept his face in my shoulder.”

Jack nodded, it wasn’t like Ethan hadn’t seen it before. He just wanted to keep him from seeing more he if he could.

“All right, I’ve got the girl and the key. We need to get this started. Did you find the control room?” He asked.

“Yes, and there was this as well.” She handed him an envelope containing a letter and instructions from O’Dey. “You want to read this first.”

Jack removed the papers from the envelope and began reading…………

If you are reading this, then I have obviously perished. I’m going to run through this quickly, I have no time to explain further than what is written.

There is a key to the control board you will need to launch the chem-bombs. If you have the key, then you must have encountered my daughter. If she still survives, please tell her that I love her with all of my heart, and because of her the world will be right again. Now, I have some more information for you. The chemical that is being deployed will dissolve all organs of the human body, leaving only the skeleton.

Upon further research of the virus before the death of Dr. Pierce, he discovered that the virus will eventually mutate enough for the change to be instantaneous with contact of any kind and killing them may be harder than usual, by this time you may have encountered this. In any case, the chem-bombs will destroy all human life left outside these walls. If there are any other survivors and you feel the need to try to rescue them before you set this plan in motion, and then do so with the knowledge that you may not survive your rescue attempt and will not be able to deploy the bombs, failing to rid this country of the dead.  We were able to discover that the air will be safe to breathe within a month, but the soil will take a little over seven months before it will be safe enough to use for crops. So you will be here a while. Everyone try to get along, it should not be too hard considering what trials you may have endured together. Now, about your stay here.

This facility is equipped with generators that have the capacity to sustain you at full power for one year. So if you don’t run at full power, you energy reserves will last longer. The air filters are high quality and the air you breathe in will not grow stale, nor will you suffocate down here. You have sufficient ventilation.

You’ll find a food storage wing with enough non-perishables, as well as frozen meats, bottled waters and sodas to sustain up to fifty people for a year, which also means a lesser number of you will also lengthen its duration. You will find plenty of room here and several activities available in the rec room area. I hope you enjoy your stay, I mean this with sincerity. You have made it and I am happy for you. Angel, if you are there. I love you.

Precisely follow the instructions on the next sheet.

To unlock the control panel you will need to enter 6588 into the keypad beside the panel.

Once entered the cover will slide back and the board will give you a pattern in a sequence of colors, something like the game ‘Simon Says’ only much faster. It was not my intention to make it flow so quickly, I ran out of time so I didn’t have a chance to reset it.

You will need to be very fast, with perfect hand/eye coordination, it will only allow you to make one error, when that happens, all lights will go out and a three tone beep will signal the next play of the sequence.

If you get it wrong, the access board will lock for three hours, at which time you may try again.

If you are not among infected and the door is securely locked, then this will not pose a problem. But given the situation, as soon as possible is the best option no matter how safe you think you are.

Once you have completed the sequence and unlocked the control board, then enter the key into the slot and wait for the green and red buttons to light up.  The screen will prompt you to enter the code activating the time lock, enter L365KZ. This will set the lock to disengage after one year exactly and not a moment before.  I have put that setting in place because I am not completely sure that all Infected will die immediately. There was no chance to discover if the Infected with the advanced strain would be destroyed as quickly, so to be sure that none remain, you will be locked in. Once it’s set, there is no manual override. Make yourself comfortable.

The screen will then prompt you to activate all locations, hit the green button and wait for the map to appear. When all lights across the map are green, push the red button. It’s as simple as that.

Unfortunately I have no failsafe in place in case of malfunction. I pray that this solution succeeds.

I wish you the best of luck.

Dr. Carl O’Dey

“Have you looked around in here Pat?” he asked.

“Yes, and Ethan has already found the recreation room and the kitchen.” She answered smiling as the boy hugged her.

Jack moved to the board and entered 6588 into the keypad. As O’Dey explained, the cover slid back revealing a simple computer screen. Lights were scattering across the screen and finally settled in the pattern of a triangle, easy enough; but then there were several different colored lights, that pulsated out from the pattern.

Realizing that he had to repeat this pattern and right then, he struggled to remember the first ones he saw light up and where they were. He hit the wrong one. All the lights disappeared and he heard the three toned beep that Dr. O’Dey had mentioned.

Kate turned to Ethan who had been chasing Angel in a circle around them as they were trying to access the controls.

“Ethan, why don’t you take Angel, and show her where the rec room is that you found? She hasn’t had this much fun in a while and I’m sure you both could have much more fun in there.”

“Sure. Come on, Angel. They have a lot of games!” He said as he took her by the hand and led her to the corridor.

Kate turned to see if Jack had succeeded in his color chase or if they had to wait for three hours before they could try again. She saw that they would not have to wait.

“Good job.” She told him.

“You mean good job, Pat. I couldn’t try it again. Her hands move quicker than mine. I would have hit three or four at a time, I was so nervous. Now, to activate the time lock.”

Jack entered the code into the control board and the number 365 appeared at the top left hand of the screen and at the top right of the screen 8,759hrs.59m58s appeared. Time lock activated. So far, so good.

He opened his hand to look at the heart and he held it to his lips and kissed it. He prayed that this as the key, the slot was just that, a slot. It had no indicative shape to let him know that what he had was indeed the key. He looked at Kate and Pat as he dropped the key into the slot and heard a click and high pitched beep. The screen then displayed the message…

“ACTIVATE ALL LOCATIONS?”

The breath that he had been holding expelled as a heavy high, and he felt as if a ton of bricks had been lifted off of his chest.

They had the right key. He commenced to follow the remaining directions.

Ethan and Angel travelled down the corridor in search of the fun room that Ethan had found. He must’ve gotten turned around. The halls were confusing and there were many doors. Though there was light, they were dim and the shadows between the doors had a sinister look to Angel.

As they passed a set of double doors, Angel looked up and saw a picture of an eagle. She stopped to reach up to touch it and asked Ethan what it was.

“It’s an Eagle. It’s the presidential seal. That’s a big word, huh? Say it. Presidential, go ahead.”

Angel looked at him and watched his mouth as he said the word.

“Pres..identhal.” She said.

“NO, pre..si..den..ti..al. We gotta work on that for you. Anyway. It’s the presidential seal. I only know because my dad works for him.”

“But are vere people in vere?” Angel asked him.

“No, Angel, it’s THERE. I’ll teach you later. No, no one’s in there. I been here a long time,” (when in fact it had only been a day a and a half) “I’ll show you.”

Ethan grabbed the handles of the door and as Angel gasped, she stepped back in fear of what may come out of the doors.

They were locked. Ethan looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, can’t get in so we can’t tell. Come on, I think I know where we’re at now.”

Ethan took Angel by the hand and led her further down the corridor. She glanced back at the double doors, and clutched her teddy even tighter.

Angel was right to be afraid. Jack had succeeded in setting the time lock and activating the chem-bombs, they would now be unable to flee.

And if the walls of the Presidential Wing had not been sound proofed, they would have been able to hear the moans of the dead within.

Watch for

The Last Days: Book IV

The Dead Live On

Other titles by Julie Cooper-Brown

The Last Day in the Life of Jillian

Kate’s Calling

Angel

For links to old and new titles please visit:

http://juliecooperbrownbooks.webs.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Cooper Brown has been married to her husband, Jeremy Brown for six years. They reside in Fort Myers, Florida.

Note from Author:

I want to say thank you, to the many friends, family members that I have given me support during the writing of this series. There is a place called Camp Washington Chili and also a place called Tank’s Bar and Grill. There is great food and even better times at both locations. I want to say thank you to them as well for letting me use their businesses as sites for my story. Thanks To All.

-Julie Cooper Brown

Table of Contents

- Copyright
- DEDICATION
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- book i the last day in the life of jillian
- GOD’S PUNISHMENT
- THE DISASTERS
- THE INFECTION
- DIRTY DEEDS
- JIMMY AND SUE
- LEAVING HOME
- BITTEN
- THE TIME HAS COME
- book ii kate’s calling
- FINDING JILLIAN
- JILLIAN’S RISING
- MEETING ANGEL
- ESCAPE FROM SPIRIT LANE
- THE SPRINGS
- THE HIDEAWAY
- THE CHURCH
- THE END
- book iii angel
- Part One
- Part Two
- Part Three
- Other titles
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Note from Author: