Zombies

The blood was everywhere. I wish I had another way of recounting these events, but important bit by bit is all I’m good at. I had woken, that 31st day of January. It was only the beginning of this New Year but it was also the beginning of a very new way of looking at the world for me. I used to be a conceited douche, to use the nicest of terms. I used to see the next day as another fucked up piece of my life that I had to work to keep positive. And I used to think that my friends were always going to be there for me; that nothing bad could happen to them as long as I kept up my attitude and made myself always available for them. But as I sat there in that pool of blood, pouring from the macabre laceration in one of my best friend’s neck, I couldn’t help but think of how I couldn’t change the events I knew were about to unfold. Couldn’t do more than offer myself and my abilities to those who needed them.

It was about five in the morning and I was passed out as per usual my daily five in the morning scheduled regimen. I had never, with my trust of the world and all those within her, locked my front door since the first day I moved in. But that night I had a feeling I should, so before going to bed at 4 that morning, I decided to lock it. My choice was almost as superfluous as my ‘What happened’ when I opened the door to see Tony holding his neck together. When the stupid-white-question-from-the-movie bit was out of my system I pulled Tony into the apartment, and lay him down on the couch.

I grabbed all the antibiotics from my medicinal stash and every piece of gauze I could muster. I instantly went into medical mode when I walked back into the living-dining room area; Tony was one of my best friends and here he was covered in his own blood trying to make his neck one piece again. I sat with his head on my lap, the shredded portion of his neck facing up to me. He was barely conscious, the deep red blood seeping through his fingers had already stained the couch and was dying my pants a rich purple color. I picked up the fresh sponge I had bought and began to soak up all the blood pouring from the hole in his neck. After a few soaks I finally got to see the actual wound. The deep ragged edges and ovular shape reminded me of an animal bite but the shape was inconsistent with any of the ripping and tearing animals in this area.

I had a tub of warm water where I’d soaked some rags, one of which I grabbed up and sopped up all the dried blood. With the newly cleaned area I could finally see the whole of the bite in his neck. The blood instantly began to pour back in; there was nothing I could do for a bite like this. Whatever had bit him had gone far enough to not only sever the major artery there but almost bite though the muscles. The blood was not going to stop in time to get him to a hospital. I sat there in silence, knowing he couldn’t hear me; the pain must have been unbearable. My eyes already filled with tears I looked out the windows to my left, the bright morning was beginning to send in the golden light of the day into my living room. I stroked Tony’s hair as my other hand, which was on the non-decimated side of his neck, kept his pulse as it began to grow slow and faint.

When his pulse had stopped completely I pulled myself from underneath the dead weight of his head. My eyes hardened and my resolve steel, I retrieved the sewing equipment I had and went back to the body of my friend. I was going to at least clean him up a bit before calling anyone to pick him up. There was no harm to be done here, he was bit by an animal or something and that was the cause of his death, no need to look deeper. I looked down on him lying lifeless, blood seeping dark into the fibers of my couch. We had, many times, both spilled body liquids onto that couch, never had I felt more like it needed to be thrown out than now. Now as my roommate, my friend, bled deep into the cushions; now as his lifeless corpse stretched across it, now as his body began to settle into a still impression, now with the twitch of his hand…

“Uuuunnnnnnghh” the gurgling moan that rose from the hole in his mutilated throat was, frankly, inhuman. My face fortified, I grabbed the sword that was leaned against the corner opposite the couch. The ‘ting’ as the blade of my sword tipped the glass of the overhead light cover roused a tremor from Tony’s body. Deep in the back of my mind the 'logic and processes of life' sections of my brain tried to tell me this was impossible; but long ago I had stopped listening to the logic from the back of my mind. Pure facts and right in your face data were what I had been living with for the past few years. As fresh tears began to flow from my crusted eyes, I watched as my friend Tony’s dead body pushed itself up from the blood stain it had caused on the couch and sat looking at me.

His eyes were still there, his stare wasn’t vacant it was intensely focused on me; his mouth was dripping his own blood that had pooled when he was lying in my lap. It wasn’t as the movies and other publications had painted it’d be like. He wasn’t a lifeless being, he was somewhat conscious of my presence and the sword I had arched above my head. His eyes were on the sword as I swung it above my head, getting the momentum for the blow I was going to deliver. My face contorted in a complete cloak of remorse and anger I brought the sword in a high slashing arch to the torn side of Tony’s throat, hoping to use the already lacerated flesh as an easy aperture to his spinal cord. Looking into his eyes as the sword brought itself into his tissue I saw what I though was confusion in his eyes right before his head went toppling from his shoulders. It dropped to the floor and rolled under the glass table I had moved the day before. The fragmented look in the eyes from under the frosted glass added to its deathly look. His neck had begun to spit fresh blood onto the wall as his body slid to the left from being struck. My couch was now thoroughly covered in Tony’s blood.

I dropped to my knees and wept. My deep heaving cries could’ve been easily heard from the halls. The thin walls of my apartment kept no secrets, my bellowing sobs and intense intakes of breaths echoed in the small unoccupied area. Eye’s filled with tears I walked into my bedroom. The smells from the many dirty clothes in Tony’s bin made my cries more forceful, the memories immediately resurfacing though his body had yet to cool. I continued to cry as I clothed myself for the days ahead. Though I grieved, somehow on autopilot I put on my thickest jean pants and combat boots. The thick green flannel I pulled over my sleep tee was covered by the chains I had stolen from the band room the year before.

I had cleaned the sword and covered both Tony’s still body and head with a sheet. My rucksack was filled with all of my useful medical supplies, another pair of combat boots, and one of my many uniforms in case I needed to assume control. With my supplies, sword, chains, and the biggest knife I had in my kitchen I grabbed up a pack of cigarettes and walked to the front door.

I stood, eyes closed, at the door; not looking back but not yet ready to face this world. My eyes teared up again and I thought of all those who I needed to be near. Mentally, to keep my mind off of the present, I recounted all of my experiences over the last four years and thought of those who would help my plan come to fruition. After what felt like only a minute I opened my eyes again, I was still at the door though I felt like I should have been on the other side of the world by then. I grabbed the knob and turned, this was the point where it would all become real for me, like that first step onto the plane going to Fort Benning was. It was about to get real…I hated when shit got real.

The walk down the steps was like never before, no one really understood how I felt for Tony, it was more of an internal thing we both had. But now as I walked from where I had put his body to rest, down past the trail of blood leading to my apartment, I felt I finally could sever the ties we both had. The friendship would always be but the rest was gone now. For a split second as I reached the last flight of stairs I thought to myself ‘would it be like this every time?’ and in that split second I mentally shot myself in the leg. I wouldn’t let this happen to another one; I would let myself be taken for a distracting meal before one of my people died.

I walked over to Kierstan and Brandon’s apartment building which surprisingly enough wasn’t much of a challenge. There was no one in the streets, no sounds coming from the surrounding area. It was as if the world wasn’t aware of what was going on yet. I punched the key on the coded door and was let in by the loud tone. The door was barely closed when I heard the grunts. The zigzag of the stair case kept secret the hidden noise maker but I didn’t need to guess where it was coming from. The sound was too close to be third floor but not close enough to be first; I needed to get to third. I pulled out the knife; the sword wouldn’t have worked in those small halls. Taking the stairs slow at first I peeked over the rising and noticed nothing in the far of the hall where the first bit of the second floor extended. I waited, keeping my breathing even, though that was hard. I’m not going to lie, that was the most scared I had ever been in my life. My heart pounded louder and louder as I tried to conceal the sounds from my boots as the size 16’s clumped up the stairs like a tiptoeing horse. I could hear ragged breaths from the other side of the wall I was against; it seemed that there was someone right next to where I was centered in the smallest bit of the hall.

With only four steps to go I decided, with the closeness, I could make a run for the far end where I’d have room to maneuver. As I mustered up my courage to do it I heard foot falls move closer to the end of the hall I was facing. My heart pounded more and I felt as if I were going to die not from a bite but from an old fashioned heart attack. The footfalls moved to the far left of the hall where I could still be shielded by the wall between me and the deep breather. I peeked up and over the last few stairs and saw a woman, young by what I could gather from behind. Her long blonde hair had small bits of dried blood in them like a splatter she didn’t feel like cleaning. Her tight blue jeans were dirty and the butt section covered in mud as if she were sitting in it somewhere. I switched the knife from my left to my right hand and balanced it on my two middle fingers. The weight was almost like the two I used to own, but the blade was thinner and more for slicing than blunt force and piercing. But when the creature turned my eyes went red and I knew, even without practice with this particular knife, that it was going to sink deep into her brain in a few seconds.

The eyes were just like Tony’s, extremely aware of the fact that I stood there with a knife and was hunkered down in the shadows. Her eyes weren’t what I noticed first about her though, it was the blood around her mouth, not her own blood, someone else’s. She hadn’t a bite on her body that I could see, not one wound, but there was blood around her mouth. I knew where that blood came from, and my anger rose up in me giving me that courage that I previously had been trying to conceive. As expertly as I had ever done in the training field I balanced the tip of the blade right on my index finger and with fluid movement brought my fingers to encircle the edge of it. She had started to run at me but by the time I had cocked my hand back and in a slingshot motion bought it forward with all my strength she was still about four feet from me. The knife released from my fingers and flew the short distance to her head. Her advancing speed and the speed of my throw collided and the knife, though flimsy in comparison to the ones I usually threw, sank deep into her eye. She fell forward, her momentum carrying her body over the edge of the stairs. I stepped aside as she went diving down the stairs, the knife still deep in her right eye.

Cautiously I walked back down the stairs and pulled the knife from her face; it was really lodged in there. After wiping the blood on her shirt I returned the knife to its place on my hip, I sighed and looked down at the woman; she could’ve been beautiful without the blood crusted in her hair and around her mouth. The ruptured eye and chunks of meat stuck in her bottom teeth also took away from the possible attraction. I walked back up the stairs more sure of myself now. Though it was a stupid and useless emotion, I felt that I have avenged Tony. In all seriousness, without him I wouldn’t have known this was happening. So in a roundabout way his death helped me survive….when my reflection period was over I was standing in front of Kierstan’s front door, across from which Brandon’s front door was.

I looked down at myself, my chains and clothes had fresh blood on them. A few splatters, but still blood. This wasn’t an acceptable way to come to Kierstan’s house if her parents were home. Though this really was the “Zombie Apocalypse” so did it matter what I looked like to them? I turned and instead knocked on Brandon’s door with the belief that his family wouldn’t care what I looked like.

I rang the doorbell, waited, knocked a little, waited. After about three minutes I decide to try Kierstan’s instead, I’ll be back to him when I had some backup. I knocked on Kierstan’s door; Fenway could be heard barking from the other side. Some footfalls began to walk toward the door, but other than that and the barking it was completely quiet in the building. I pulled my knife from my hip and held it behind my back just in case. I heard the door unlock and slowly the knob turned and the door was pulled open. There stood Kierstan in a long tee and fuzzy slippers. Her face was that of someone who really doesn’t expect visitors anywhere near six in the morning. When her sleep drunk faded and she recognized me the confusion grew even more.

“Are you alone here? We need to talk, all seriousness though.” her whole body seemed to instantly wake up as I put the knife back into my hip sheath. It was rare that I said ‘all seriousness’ to Kierstan. She was who I went to for serious conversation normally; I never needed to add any kind of follow through. But as her eyes slid over my hardcore ensemble and noticed the splotches of blood she seemed to come to some kind internal resolve. She motioned me in.

“No one’s going to be home for a few hours. What’s up with you and the whole getup?” She asked. I looked at her while right behind my eyes my mind was racing. Mentally taking note to all the things she had that we could take with us, I laid out the events of the past hour. The whole time her face hadn’t changed not once. Most likely because in the short time we had known each other whether sad, happy, indifferent, creepy, sexy, nasty or awful my story telling was always the same; riddled with sarcasm and colorfully expressive hand signs and facial expressions. This time I was almost deathly passive, my eyes were steeled to keep from crying again and my jaw was taut as a bowstring, I was not going to let emotion take over at this point.

“Damn….are you okay? I mean, Tony was like-”I held up my hand to cut her off. I didn’t want to go down that path yet.

“We need you dressed and with a backpack. I’ll go through the cupboards and get all the good nonperishable shit. I have medical supplies so we’re good on that front. We gotta get moving.” I shooed her away to get dressed as I made my way to the kitchen.

Peanut butter was the first thing I looked for, pushing through the canned food, the Ramen packs, the cereal, I grabbed the huge jar. The next on my list was oatmeal, tuna, any nuts they had, and then I went back for the packs of Ramen. This would have to do for now, the rest would be useless, pure energy and sustenance was needed for now till we hit phase three of my plan.

“So this is all according to your zombie plan right?” I turned to Kierstan, she was now in blue jeans and a red tee under a thin sweatshirt. I looked down at her shoes, boots, not combat but still they would do. I grabbed the leash that was on the kitchen table.

“Yes, this is my Zombie Plan. Whenever we sat around joking about them I was always serious in how mine would go. Phase one-grab up all of my friends.” my eyes stung at that one. I turned away to put the leash on Fenway but when I bent down to clip it to her collar, I felt a hand touch my shoulder. My stomach knotted and then the tears began to roll again. They dropped and darkened Fenway’s fur, but we three sat there for a good four minutes as I tried to cry my pain away once more.

Brandon’s front door was locked, as always. His family wasn’t like me, they always locked their front door. I knocked a few more times before telling Kierstan to back up. Taking my rucksack off and pulling my sword from the sheath attached to it, I prepared for a fight. I took a deep breath and at the count of three kicked with all the force I could muster at the very edge of the door closest to the handle. The door flew inwards and before it could bounce back and close I jumped into the room sword arched.

My heart was pounding, my eyes wide and my ears trying to hear everything there was to hear. The living room and kitchen were clear but that didn’t mean that the other rooms were unoccupied. I motioned Kierstan in; she and Fenway watched the door for me. Fenway’s silence eased me a little, if she was calm I felt better. My sword still held high I walked back and checked the rooms one at a time. It was Mom and Bobby’s room that I felt the most fear from, though. I hoped the room was clear like the others; if I had to behead either of them…I’d just die inside. Luckily for me as my heart tried to get free of my ribcage, I noticed nothing out of the ordinary in their home; except for the fact that absolutely no one was home. It was rare for me to be out and about, coherently, at six in the morning, but it’s more the rarity that Brandon’s whole family is gone and I don’t notice it.

“Kierstan, is there anything in the kitchen worth taking?” I called out to her. I was looking around Brandon’s room; I knew he kept health snacks around. A box of Pop tarts and one of Nutrigrain bars was all I found though, well that and the newer and sharper sword he kept in his closet. Moving on to Chris’ room, I found another sword. I thought it an oddity that no one in Hagerstown knew what tiger claws were, the usefulness in this situation was extremely high.

I walked back out to meet Kierstan in the kitchen, Brandon’s family had a plethora of bottled and canned drinks but only the non-explosive ones could come along. It was hard for me to part with all those sodas, the flavors and such would uplift mine if not anyone else’s spirit during tough times. I looked around the house once more. It was such a quiet place, it kind of scared me.

“Random question, do you know where Brandon is?” I asked Kierstan.

“How should I know, I didn’t even know you people were awake till you banged on my door.” she didn’t look tired anymore, but there was always that hint of ‘I could use a rest.’ I knew the feeling, I had about forty minutes of sleep that night before….

“Can you call him on your phone?”

“That’ll use up my minutes.”

“We can steal a time card when we head to phase three.”

“Aight. Dialing…” she held the phone up, on speaker between us. It rang five times before a tired sounding Brandon asked hello from the other side of the connection.

“Yo Brandon, me and Kierstan are in your house, I got your swords and we have supplies, get your ass to Pangborn park. We’ll be in the men’s room, seeing as that’s the safest place I can think I that’s walking distance right now.”

“Dude, wait what’s going on?” it sounded like he was up now.

“No lie big bear, zombies…like, I Am Legend zombies.”

“He’s not kiddin.” Kierstan added.

“Be there in like five.” Brandon said, he hung up quickly. Me and Kierstan exchanged a glance then moved to the door. Five minutes for Brandon meant he was about ten minutes out for normal people. I grabbed up my rucksack and kept my sword in hand. As we walked down the stairs I kept my senses on high alert but it appeared to be clear in this building. Either the people were all sleeping or there was no one here. The latter piqued my interest, it was rare to see me watching the news, and it’d have to be the only thing on for me to willingly watch it. But it had to be pretty big for everyone to know, and so far it looked as if there was only a few infected. My hand gripped tighter on the handle of my sword as we walked outside into the morning light.

Chapter 2

There were only thirteen of us, three cars; fourteen if you count Fenway. We all looked around, the choices made would provide for the whole as of now, but in the long run we needed a more stable caravan. Kierstan, Brandon, Kimber, Victor, and I were standing around Brandon’s car. Chris Hunt, Sam, Kate, and Dillon were with Chris’ car. Jake Vann, Brian Perry, Jamie and Nick were with Jake’s car. All thirteen of us had brought something to the table that made it easier for us to get the job of survival done. There were thirteen backpacks full of food, medical supplies, useful objects like rope, lighters and matches, flashlights, paper, markers, rolls of string, knives, and other things that had seemed useful. I hadn’t tried to assume control because these were close friends that each had a sense of independence, but when it got down to it we needed a leader.

We sat in the wide open parking lot of the Wal-Mart, nothing was around that I could see. We were parked in a line; Brandon’s car taking point, then Chris, then Jake. The group as a whole consisted of not many physically accomplished members. Of the ones I would deem brutes, the guys or girls that would run out to the initial attack, me, Jake, Brian, Kierstan, and Brandon seemed the most capable. But when it came to other abilities, Kierstan and I were leads with medical and Brandon had the best driving skills. It was tough work to get everyone to understand their individual parts but when it came down to it I was just being selfish. I wanted to have only people I liked and knew could help in some way in my survival plan.

"Listen up everyone, no time to make this shit sparkle, four of our mutual friends are already dead, we need to get the ball rolling and find a safe spot to stay and set up camp. I have a plan that can keep us all alive if you want to listen and follow my lead. No I am not 'the leader of the group' I can be the spokesman, and the navigator, but when it comes down to it, I don’t like to take full control. I know where we can survive, I know how to survive, and you all are the ones I want to survive with. We will hit up some places on the way to Phase Three but as of now Phase Two is what we focus on now; we need to establish a ranking system."

"…What?" Sam asked, incredulously, "Why do we need ranks, no, I'm not trying to be a dick, but seriously we all know how to do this. We don’t need anyone in command or whatever. That’s just what I think."

"Not ranks as in leader, treasurer, and such. What I meant was more like…um…whatever you call the divisions between front man, sniper, doctor, and techie."

"Those are roles, babe, not ranks." Victor spoke up in the 'Oh my God, he's clueless' tone I'd come to associate with when people talked to me. It was comforting.

"Alrighty then, roles. I know I'm good in all four, not trying to toot my own horn, but its facts. But we're gonna need people who are strictly blah." I threw my hand out to emphasize the end. We needed people who were going to lead in each role on top of those who were versatile. "So lead techie? Need someone who can keep up communications. When we get to Phase Three we'll have radios, computers and junk." I looked around at those adjourned. No one really stepped up but I could tell by the looks some thought about it.

"He'll do it." Brian was cheerily pointing at Jake, who was trying to look like he didn’t want to.

"Jake, do you wanna do it? I mean, you were going to training for this very purpose." I looked at him with a questioning face. He looked to the ground then up at the sky, obviously weighing the options of each choice.  In the end, he nodded his agreement then leaned against his car.

"Well if he's lead tech then I want to be sniper." Brian chipped in.

"Have you even shot a rifle before?" Kimber asked.

"I was just going to ask everyone that." Jamie's expression was vague. She looked around then she and Nick exchanged a weird glance. I heaved a sigh then looked at Kimber and Victor. The two of them, though I loved them, were only here because I can't think of living without their amusement. But I don’t know how they could offer anything to the group but the entertainment of their natural comedy.

"You know what, we're just standing around here talking, and I definitely think we can do this in a safer area. I mean, look at that." Kimber pointed out to the front of the Wal-Mart where two figures had attacked a third. The figures wrestled on the ground until only the two were crouching over the body of the third. I looked away and noticed that Kate was also looking away. Dillon was cradling her in his arms but was watching the massacre. It was like every few hundred yards was an attack.

~~~~~~~~

Phase Three was to get to the base in Baltimore and grab as many supplies as possible. Because I had to do inventory on all the supplies on base I knew we could hole up and stay comfortable until the time came to move on. We drove through town; I tried to keep my eyes off all the death around us. Even in the darkening day I could see people were being tackled and eaten in the streets; groups of zombies were walking around like gangs watching and waiting for more to eat. From watching them I could tell they weren't like the zombies in the movies. Theses zombies were calculating, not vacant. They understood weapons and attacks, they knew how to express themselves to other zombies. Most of all, they ran; these were fast, running, jumping, climbing zombies. It was like they were dead but they still retained some of the knowledge they had before. No they couldn’t talk and no they didn’t do the most basic of human things but they did understand their hunger and they did eat people.

It was like the lion and the giraffe. The lion ate the giraffe, but also understood that the giraffe could do some damage. Yes the lion ate other creatures but the triumph of a giraffe was a tantalizing prize. We humans were the giraffe. Though we had superior weapons to the teeth and nails of the zombies, we also had faulty communications, incomplete information, and intense fear which crippled our possible ability to come together as one.

I directed Brandon to the turn that led to the driveway up to the small inconspicuous base. It looked just like any other business in Baltimore except that the parking lot had Humvee’s and other military vehicles parked around. I got out of the front seat and ran up to the locked gate. With the bolt cutters we acquired from Wal-Mart I was able to take the lock without messing up the gate. When everyone had driven in, I placed a new industrial lock on the closed gate; we had the key to this one. I directed everyone to drive up to the giant garage; its five large doors housed a plethora of supplies. I walked over to the small door on the side of the garage. I motioned Jake to come with me, though there most likely wasn’t anything in there, I wanted someone with me at all times.

With my sword out and ready I kicked the door to the garage open. I poked my head inside and listened for any sounds of movement, which was easy on the gritty cement ground. I walked inside and flipped the light switch. The lights flickered for a few seconds then sprang to life. The drone of the old electrical wiring was the only sounds in the garage. No one was there for what I could see. I walked over to the door button thing and pushed it so the others could park inside. It was a big enough area for the three cars to park and we had room for a lot more. The garage had seven metal cages inside of which were all the supplies anyone could need. I walked up to the last cage and grabbed the MRE's.

"Here you go everyone, calories concentrated into a delicious packaged meal." I set two boxes of MRE's down in the center of the standing people. They were all just looking around not really sure what to do. I had explained the next few phases of my plan but it seemed that no one really understood how this was going to save them. It was more of a 'you have to see it to understand' kind of thing. And as we sat around and ate our pick of food, I told them about all the things you could find in here and in the building next door, the actual office section of the base.

 I told them of the possibility of weapons in this area and in the bases around here. The technology available to us, the stored food, the clothing additions like waterproof pant, boots, shirts, jackets. We could have stayed there in the base and garage, they were fortified enough to withstand the barbaric attacks of the zombies. The showers, workout room, sleeping quarters and kitchen all added to the allure of staying in this safe spot. But the point of my zombie plan was not to think in the now, I wanted to see all that could happen and hit every possibility. With the group I had now, I could survive, but we wouldn’t live much of a life. And we surely wouldn’t have much defense if shit hit the fan.

It was about three in the morning when I was shaken awoke by Brandon, he had watch before me. I sat up in the big pile of sleeping bags I was laying in and tried to get out without waking any of the people in the pile with me. We were sleeping like gerbils, a few in a pile here, a few in a pile of blankets, and some more on actual sleeping mats. Brandon offered his hand and pulled me up; I tried to shake off the smile of irony. In our past, because that’s what it is now, he was a security guard on his way to the police force. Now he had watched over us, not a parking lot, and from a credible threat, not a possibility,

"Thanks bro." he passed the rifle to me, if was a little lighter than my M16. Before he went to pick a pile I pulled him aside to where I would be watching over the garage. There was a lantern set up on a table, the red glass didn’t provide much light but was more of a mental stability so you knew you weren't looking out into darkness. He sat in the chair across from me at the table. The rifle on my lap, I leaned back in the chair.  

"So…you can see what's happening here right?" I asked.

"You mean how you picked this place only for a rest point and to get everyone used to you knowing all that’s going to happen?" he asked without a hint of a dissenting tone. I studied his face, and it wasn’t the light but my own knowledge that told me I wouldn’t be able to read him. Of all my friends Brandon was the most guarded which is why I liked him so much, we were almost opposites.

"When you say it like that is sounds like I'm playing some kind of mind game with you all. I-"

"Aren't you always playing mind games?"

"Come on Brandon, this is serious. I'm just trying to get the plan to blossom. If we were to act like a bunch of civilians and ran around with weapons hiding in gun stores, we'd starve to death and have to deal with all the other yuppies who thought a gun store was the safest place to be. You know it’s true, big bear."

"No, if we would've gone to a gun store first-"

"We would've stocked up and had no room for the people. When we go out in a few days we can get more ammo and weapons now that we have the Humvee’s. But then, it was just a snatch and take kind of movement."

"But why do we have to have so many people? You're the one who always said you would take a few people and run." He leaned back in his chair, his expression saying he caught me.

"How are you always able to quote me like that?" I asked, "But yes, I usually say that, but I need this many people because we are not done with the pickups. Our final place to be isn't here in MD. If this thing isn't airborne, which it can’t be unless we are all immune, then we just need to get out of America. Let’s just hop a boat down to Puerto Rico or something."

"Puerto Rico?" he looked at me like I was making this up as I went, "Does that make any sense to you?"

"I'm just saying, it doesn’t have to be Puerto Rico exactly, just out of America." I huffed and leaned forward in my chair. It was pretty boring as Zombie Apocalypses go, but if I thought it through right I could avoid any of the trying tests. We could fly by the need to use force.

"So, what's the game plan from now on, man?" Brandon asked leaning into the light. I tried to read his face but no answers came from there. I pulled the smashed snack pack from my pocket and opened it to see a chocolate muffin top. I pulled some of the crumpled pieces from it and offered some to Brandon.

"Well now we need to fix up a few of those Humvee’s out there, some only have the plastic windows and we need to look at the motors to see what's going on. That I leave up to you guys, I don’t know shit about cars. Then we need to go through all the tech in here and the offices over there to see if there is anything we can use. Radios, GPS systems, computers, and see if there are any weapons around here. I know there are some in the base about twenty minutes form here, but that’s an adventure we're gonna have to do alone." He gave me a look like 'what are you planning' the crumbs on his face taking away from whatever seriousness could have been there, "It’s not the smartest thing to break into a military armory, so I only want the best driver to get me out of whatever happens. Any more people and we won’t have room for the weapons and ammo I want to take."

"That’s kinda badass. I'm in." he laughed a little. I smiled and finished off the delicious chocolate muffin.

"While we're out getting guns," I rolled my eyes at a memory of my sergeant smoking me for calling my rifle a gun, "we need others to go out and get personal hygiene supplies. Girls have needs and guys have smells so that needs to be taken care of. I'm thinking we stay here for a few weeks then we're off."

"Cool…you think any of the others are gonna miss their families?" I was shocked for a few seconds. Always the one to cut though my bullshit, I hated that about him, but it also earned him the title of best friend. "I called my mom and told her to get to a safe place. She and Bobby are at my brothers’ place."

"That’s good big bear and yeah, I think they all will miss their parents…I know mine aren't going to do well in this…but maybe they can pull though"  

I was so naïve, but it’s in my nature to think of the best even in the face of diversity. Call it a defense mechanism, call it stupidity, call it whatever you like, but it was what kept my smile up even when I was covered in someone else's blood and gore.

"Subject change?" he offered.

"Yeah, the Humvee’s. You, of course, and whoever else knows about cars can get out there tomorrow morning and look at those engines, as far as I know we only need to change some liquids and maybe a tire or two. The windows on the green ones need to go though, there's no way I'm driving into a pile of zombies with plastic windows and cheapo doors."

"Okay, so where are we supposed to find these things? I didn’t look around much but I know you don’t have a chop shop set up in that other building."

"Lol, no. But there's a big ole metal box with all that junk in it."

"….did you just say 'lol' in normal conversation?"

"Dude, shut up." I laughed and rocked back in my chair.

~~~~~~~~

"Okay, they're gonna be on high alert because of this zombie thing, so try not to get us shot and killed, kay?" I asked Brandon on our way to the base. It was the next night; the darkness was only lit but his daytime lights. I didn’t want him to go full high beams because we'd attract too much attention. The base's gate was stretching to the right of us, the front gate was about a mile up the road. We pulled off to the side of the road near the clearest patch of fencing. I decided to get the bolt cutters out and open a passage in the side for us to get in. I don’t think they would've let us in if I told them the only reason for my being there was to take weapons for my own resistance group.

I got out of the small black car and, using the light from my open door began to cut a whole section of the gate away. My ears and eyes as alert as possible with the changeling sound of the gate and the glare from the light, I cut while making sure we were the only ones around. I pulled the section of gate away and motioned for Brandon to drive up. Over the bumps of the storm drain and into the gravel road of the training area he crept.  I got back in the passenger seat and motioned forward. Brandon kept his lights low and we somehow made our way to the center of the base undetected. Occasionally I saw a person look out their window at the car driving by with its lights on low, but no other notices were given of our position.

It took all of an hour to find the armory. It was a small building in the middle of a company near the middle of the base. If we were to get caught here we'd have a long, fast, intense ride to get back out. We stopped near the back of the building; the lights were in this area. I pulled my sword out of the sheath and silently moved to the door. Brandon on the other side of it, I needlessly motioned for silence. With a quick look I peeked into the window I was standing next to. Like all bases I'd been on the windows were frosted, so if someone was inside, we were going to have to disable them. I shuffled over to where Brandon was.

"What are we working with?" he whispered.

"I don’t know. The windows are frosted, but with lights on I guess someone's in there. On high alert like this, most likely four soldiers, but still low rank. Maybe there will be a sergeant in there, but I'm hoping for someone low on the pole. They tend to be lackadaisical on night watch, and being in the middle of the base like this, they might even be complacent, just waiting for the shift change. "

"So what do we do?" he looked around, ever on high alert. I opened my ears to any sounds, and then looked at my watch. It was 1:33. The change would be at 1:45 or 2 exactly.

"I say we park on the other end of the road, lights off and watch for the guard change to come, then we'll know how many are in there and what our odds are against them. We can’t just bust in without at least that knowledge."

He nodded and we slid back into the car which we had left on, if we were to make a run it made sense not to turn the car off. Backing up onto the lawn of some other building which I couldn’t determine at that time, we waited.

It took about ten minutes before we could see some soldiers walk up to the building; they knocked, waited and were let in. Three soldiers had gone in, three came back out a few minutes later. When they were out of range I motioned for Brandon to move up to the door with the car again. We backed it up to the door, within a few feet then got out. After handing Brandon a length of rope and handcuffs I walked up to the door and pulled out a knife; ready, Brandon was on the other side of it, out of view. I knocked and waited, my heart pounding at the plan working in my mind. The door opened; I knelt and took a deep breath.

"Who are-" I stabbed the soldier in the leg while searching the room quickly. Still in the door frame, I threw my knife at the farthest soldier, who was leaning back in a computer chair. The knife buried itself in his stomach and I instantly pulled another from its sheath on my hip and ran over to the third that was just waking from his shock and dropping into a fighting stance. With my left I jabbed him in the throat before he could fully compose himself. He dropped to the floor gasping and holding his throat. I took a deep breath and looked back to the one I had stabbed in the leg; Brandon was holding his hand over the soldiers’ mouth while simultaneously holding him in a sleeper hold. The soldiers’ eyes were beginning to close when Brandon let him fall to the ground. I ran over to the one I had stabbed in the stomach and stuffed his mouth with the first rag I could find, and then pulled the knife from his abdomen. I didn’t hit anything vital, but he would bleed out if he didn’t get medical attention. Brandon got to work tying the soldier I had jabbed to the passed out one.

With all of them gagged and tied I sent Brandon to look for keys and get to work on the weapons. I had other work to do. I searched the other rooms for all the things I might need, clean cloth, strips of tape and a bucket for water were all I found of use. The solider tied and gagged, he would just have to deal with the pain. I cleaned his wound best I could then covered it with the makeshift gauze and taped it all down, the bleeding would be taken care of for now.

Brandon and I loaded as much ammo as we could into the back seat of his car and with all of that space taken, filled the trunk with rifles of every size. M16's, M240', .50 Cal’s and M4's and all the pistols they had. It was about a good twenty minutes before we had the car filled with everything we could carry.

Brandon hopped into the driver’s seat and as I was walking out my conscious got the best of me. Yes, we needed these weapons, and yes they had more somewhere on base. The stealing didn’t bother me. It was that I had a soldier bleeding out to get what we needed. I walked back into the small room and grabbed the radio.

"Uh…hello?" I asked into the radio.

"Soldier, what is your problem. This is no time for stupidity, address me right or don’t-"

"Yeah, uh, we have three incapacitated privates in the armory; one is bleeding from a stomach wound. Hurry up and get him to the hospital."

"Who is this?" I dropped the radio on the ground and ran to the car.

"Let’s go, NOW!" I yelled at Brandon. He pushed down on the gas and was off. The rattling of the ammo boxes when we turned the corner and drove on the unfinished road was loud and distracting. The lights were still on low and we were only going about thirty when we saw the red, blue, and white lights of MP's and an ambulance. It was only a few miles to the hole in the gate we made. With knowledge of our way around it was easier to get to where we needed to be. We avoided all lights and sounds till we got to the road that led to the hole. Our car on stealth mode and theirs full blazing made our escape all the easier.

"This seems too easy. I mean, what's stopping anyone else from doing this any day?" Brandon asked as we made our way down the road.

"Well not every crook has a good understanding of the inner workings of the military safety precautions and not every crook has a bad ass escape car." I smiled over at Brandon but his eyes were on the road and it was too dark to see each other completely anyways. I looked out for the tracks we left when we got in. We couldn’t completely see the gate from where we were on the road, but we could see the signs of our move from the grass to the street. I didn’t have to tell Brandon when the site came up. We could see flashlights moving around in the darkness the same time we saw the tracks. Someone was looking around the spot we had carved out of the fence.

"Oh shit. Looks like it just got fun." I cheerily remarked as Brandon turned his lights on fully. There were a few men, not soldiers by their clothing, looking at the hole. They were still on the outside of the fence, and as the car shot through and over the storm drain I caught one's eyes. The complete shock on his face was priceless and I ran the image over in my mind again and again on the drive home.

"That was intense." I commented.

"How'd you learn to throw knives that good? Surprised I never saw you do that before."

"Adrenaline and old training, big bear."

Chapter 3

"Why are you still shooting!!??" I yelled up to Victor, who was in my turret; Chris was in the passenger seat.

"There are more coming from behind! I'm trying to get them out of the way for the rest of the convoy." He yelled back from his spot up in the turret. From behind the driver's seat I kept my eyes on both him and the road. We had just left the opening of the gate and the thickness of the zombies hadn't ceased in growing around us. There were more zombies in the street than the most amounts of people that I'd ever seen here. Though I couldn’t see our turning point over the hills I could see all of the cars, bodies, and other random obstacles in my way. I drove through a small crowd of people, blood splattered up onto my windshield and I swerved trying to find the wipers.

"Where the fuck are we going, Kris?" Brandon's voice came over the radio. His voice was like a forced calm. I could practically see his face as he asked that. He, Nick, Jake, Dillon and Kierstan were drivers in this convoy. Though I had briefed them on the next phase, which included moving on to the next base and stoking up on new supplies, it seemed like no one really understood the full picture.

"We need to get to the highway, but all this shit is holding us in. it’s only a few miles down this road but there's too much junk in the road." I looked to the GPS on my window; we were close to the highway. Close as in five miles, but over the three weeks we were in the base fixing up the Humvee’s and stocking up on important supplies it seemed all of Baltimore had succumb to the infection.

"Keep mowing them down Victor, you're doing great." I yelled up to him. While dodging abandoned cars and trying not to hit any of the zombies I could only go a scintillating thirty miles an hour, but however slow I was going, the others behind me were going slower. I could hear between Victor's stops, Kimber, Kate, Brian, and Sam's pelting .50 caliber rifles. It was never ending-the sounds of screams and moaning and bullets dropping onto the roof and the thump of bodies against the sides of my truck and under my wheels. The jingling of the chains and the yelling over the com system, the screeching of tires, the crashing against the parked cars in the street.

I kept my eyes focused on the road, the blood on my windshield making that a task in itself. There was only one more hill and then an up ramp until we were on the road to Virginia. According to my friends there, the zombie epidemic wasn’t as bad, it was on the news about Maryland. West Virginia, and Pennsylvania but not much in Virginia. But even with those reports, it was still about four hours on a normal drive to Tappahannock. We had a growing zombie population and a growing abandoned car population. All these obstacles were slowing progression.          

"Victor, how much ammo do you have left?"

“Enough. Just watch the road; we need to get out of here because we're wasting bullets on nothing."

"Brandon," I called over the radio, "check the others and see how much ammo is left, then aim Kate forward because I'm pulling Victor down then I'm gonna punch through these other cars to get outta here faster. This shit's kinda thick up here and driving around is just gonna waste time and ammo. "

"Dude, no! What the hell, that’s not smart." Chris said from the passenger seat, and simultaneously Nick said the same thing over the radio.

"Stop, I'm hopping in your Vee. And don’t say no." I rolled my eyes and cursed myself for not seeing this, he's one of my favorites but I just can't see his next move clearly. I pushed on the brakes. Chris hopped out of the front seat sword ready. There was almost a line of bodies formed in the few seconds it took for Brandon and Chris to switch trucks. Victor was swiveling like crazy behind me, the rain of bullet casings flowed down my windshield and over the sides of the Humvee. Brandon hopped in the passenger seat.

"I hate that I still can’t read you Brandon." He smiled and then tilted his head toward the road ahead. I looked at the cars, buses and bodies lying in the distance between our convoy and the on ramp. I slapped Victor's leg, "Time to hang on, babe." When he had pulled himself down and locked the turret, we all bucked up. I pushed on the gas. As the speed began to build I pushed down harder till the pedal was as far as it could go. We were going about seventy when I hit the first car, a sedan that crumpled when the front of my Humvee smashed against it. The front of the Humvee seemed to take the impact and instinctively I checked the speedometer, we were building speed again and next was a bus.

Through all the bodies I'd hit it was like off-roading. The bumps and shudders of the metal frame when I plowed through a small group of zombies were small and almost amusing compared to the complete jarring of the Humvee when I tried to go through the side of the bus. Had I not been buckled down I would've smashed my face on the thick glass of the windshield. We were going an increasing sixty three miles an hour when the front of my Humvee crashed into the side of the bus. My foot still on the pedal, we were almost through when the first group of zombies jumped onto the back of the Vee. I pushed down harder on the pedal; the skidding of the tires was as portentous as a banshees screech. We were not going to get through all the way.

I put the Vee in reverse and pushed down on the gas again. Over the radio I could hear the worried yells of my friends but I blocked it out, this was time for thinking not screaming. Victor and Brandon were looking around and directing me as I backed out of the wreck as best I could; I felt the bumps of bodies as I rolled back over the advancing mob. The front of my Vee was busted up badly, and from what I heard, one of our tires was gone. When I was about a hundred feet from the bus I gunned forward again. This wasn’t Ferrari, this wasn’t a Camaro, this was a Humvee; I was going about twenty when we hit the bus again. It wasn’t enough to punch through it was enough for us to kinda squeeze through the hole I had previously made and onto the clearer other side. Obviously way back when this accident happened the bus was the beginning and the resulting pileup was what we had just come through.

"Everybody stop yelling and listen." I called over the radio, the chatter stopped but only after a barrage of questions. I never was able to get them all completely quiet in a party, "pull the turret's in and smash through the bus as fast as you can through the hole we made, our Vee is kinda broke now so when yal get through be ready to take make two lines. Nick, Chris, Jake on our left. Kierstan, Dillon on the right. Me and Brandon will be moving supplies into Chris and Dillon's Vee's. Aim your turrets in a circular design and MAKE SURE me and Brandon don’t get over run! Move now!!"

It took about ten seconds until I heard the last shot fired.

"Damn, where does this shit come from?" Brandon asked.

"Oh you didn’t know?" Victor said in a tone I'd come to know as his version or sarcasm, "This bitch here is Army strong." I smiled and moved the Humvee forward more to avoid the others that would be jumping through the small hole we made. When I unbuckled and moved around to the back of the Vee, which was extremely difficult, I heard the first screech of truck metal against bus metal.

"Brandon, grab the M240 and lay down some law out there. I'll need a clear roof for Victor to go back out in the turret, and I'll be opening the back hatch in a minute so hurry it up." He clicked the saw off safety and hopped out of his door without a sound. Once he started shooting and blood and screams could be heard and seen coming from the top of the Vee I motioned for Victor to move on up. I quickly unlatched the back compartment of the Humvee and pushed all of the supplies in the cab into the storage area back there. It was already full to capacity but I didn’t want to run back and forth from the back of the truck to the side doors to get everything.

"Kris! Dillon is here, we're ready!!" Brandon yelled over the increasing sounds of heavy fire. I slid out of the side door which was being held in mostly by Chris's Vee. Easing my way to the back of the Humvee I was showered in hot bullet casings, luckily I had on a hat and a still had my thick flannel. The blood on the sides of both Humvee’s was smeared on my clothes, though. Bits of human parts clung to the fabrics of my flannel, the green color forever lost.

At the back and out in the open I could see the wall of carnage; blood and entrails were in a neat circle about twenty feet from our position. The turrets were holding off every zombie that ran into their line of fire, but over the wall of piling bodies there was a whole mob waiting to get in. It was literally like all of Baltimore was here for us. It took us twelve minutes to get to where we were now, only a few miles from the base we had made home for those weeks. And as Brandon and I raced to move boxes of MRE's and other food supplies we had taken from stores over time, we wasted another five minutes. The mob came mostly from the sides and back, our front was an underpass and an up ramp to the highway.

I grabbed the remaining boxes, which had what was left of Victor's ammo in them and moved them in with Brandon and Kate. Victor jumped into the Humvee with Jake and Brian. With the last box going in the back seat of Dillon's Humvee we were off. While letting Dillon worry about getting to the up ramp, I switched spots with Kate up in the turret. She was a little bullet puncher; of the other four turrets she had gone through the most ammo. With a spot up where I could oversee the progression of the convoy, I was happy. Kierstan was now point with Kimber and Fenway, then Nick's Vee with Jamie and Sam. Next was Chris with our gas truck, the small industrial thing was the least protected and thus the center of our convoy. Then Dillon, Kate, Brandon and I. Then Jake, Victor, and Brian brought up the rear.

We were moving well, fewer attacks from the highway, almost nothing except the occasional road kill hit. The roads were almost as cluttered as the streets in Baltimore were, but with all the side space and central dirt areas free, we had a pretty good speed and distance going before we had to stop for the night.

~~~~~~~~

"So, does anyone know where this shit came from?" Chris asked.

"I got from that store in Jamestown, we stole like every bag they had" Kate laughed. I palmed my forehead.

"I think he was talking about the zombies…" I looked down and took another hit from my bong. Looking around, it was just like those nights back at my apartment…we were all sitting around smoking and drinking in a dark room. Nick and Jamie were making out, I was plastered, people were talking and I was trying to pay attention. The only thing missing was the smiles, and a few friends.

A tear formed and I blamed it on the smoke in this small room. We were sitting in the back room of a small Guns and Such store. The atmosphere before that question was calm, almost cheery. The smoke swirling around that room was like all the questions that we never asked each other in all that time together. My eyes not really focusing on anything I stood and grabbed another beer, my smoke stash now exhausted.

"Did anyone hear anything on the radio or on the news?  I mean, really, it couldn’t have just popped outta nowhere." Chris looked around at us; I wasn’t really paying attention during this whole thing. I know there was some talking but I kinda passed out during the explanation of how they came to be and what the airways were saying about it all.

Sorry.

~~~~~~~~

It was a dream I had every night since this whole fucked up mess started. My view was like a four player snuff film. I saw myself with my already fallen comrades. Not my military friends, no, I didn’t justify their death I just understood it more. It was the four we had lost in Phase one; the phase that was supposed to be the easiest, the safest.

In the first screen there I was, standing over Tony's body, his hand twitching, and a grumble of a moan escaping his neck hole. It was as if I were watching myself as I grabbed the sword, as I brought it over my head and looked into his knowing eyes. My physical form was bringing the blade down to connect with his body and I tried to jump in front of it. If I couldn’t save them all I wouldn’t try to do anything I had told myself. But each time the blade passed through me and sliced through Tony's neck. Each time his blood splattered on the wall and on my back. I couldn’t do a thing. Then my physical self would look at my spirit and smile.

The second was always the hardest. I would be standing in Ally's living room and she'd be upstairs packing. I could hear her panicking and crying. The slamming of doors and the moving of objects above my head offered no lies. She was angry and sad and confused; all directed at me. I was smoking a cigarette, inhaling deeply trying to hurry up the cancer as I looked down at the bodies on the floor. Her brother, a bite on his calf from his mother who was bitten on her shoulder. Both were struck down by my sword, both lay bleeding on the floor. I heard her walking down the stairs, her sobs loud now. I looked up at her, my eyes blurred by sadness also.

She had been screaming when I burst through the door sword held ready. Her brother and mom were running up the stairs when they heard the noise I made coming in. They both reverted their attention to me as I made my way to the living room. With a shared look, the mother decided to keep on up the stairs as her brother jumped down to meet me. It was so organized, not like the movies said it'd be. If I could've had both of their concentration the following events would have been negated.

As her brother came running to me I raised my sword to cut him down instantly. But as my sword arched down to meet his head I heard Ally scream from somewhere up on the top floor. In the second my attention was diverted her brother dodged my attack and slithered back over the table that was in the center of the room. I reassessed the situation and pulled my knife. His eyes were on it as I walked over to him, fear gripping me but not keeping me from the survival instinct that surfaced. He backed up more and found himself on the couch, eye level with me. His eyes were attentive to my every move but his downfall was he didn’t think through his positioning, I caught him in the neck when he backed himself into the corner. His blood on my sleeve, I wiped my blade off the area above my knee. It was when I was pulled to the ground by strong hands that I remembered there was another in the house. I rolled quickly and avoided the dissent of her mother’s face to mine. With a swift kick to the shin I broke her leg. The scream that was emitted was unearthly.

With her mind on the leg she now had no use for she didn’t notice me pull my sword out again. I quickly bought it down on the top of her head. It split the skull and embedded itself in her brain almost all the way to her eyes. It was then that I called up to Ally to pack clothes and anything else useful and come down stairs. When she finally came down I noticed she was bleeding from her leg. There was a small dark patch on her pants where the blood seeped through. I had asked her if she was bitten and she hesitated….

The third was Cameron, Kimber's boyfriend. He wasn’t the kind of guy I thought would be so easily taken down by his roommate Cory.  But according to the reports of Brandon and Kierstan, all three Cameron, Cory, and Cameron's brother were zombies when they went to get him. And Jamal, a big black guy like me was seen running after a woman in the park when we made our way to his house.

Four of my friends' deaths played in this dream, and in each I couldn’t do a thing. Each event was played in my head simultaneously and I watched, ever an observer. And each night I woke to someone shaking me, trying to get me out of the torturous REM sleep that had me.

Chapter 4

I sat in the passenger seat, window down, cigarette in hand. The hot wind blowing into the window was like a slap in the face saying 'don’t enjoy yourself you monster'. My new knives were giggling in the big box at my feet. I looked down at them and sighed. How many more recognizable faces would fall to my hand? How many more friends were unreachably beyond the grave? For all of my efforts I still had lost a few. None that were with me had even a scratch on them, but others…

The convoy had pulled into a car dealership the day before. Brandon, Victor, and I were now riding in a Ford F250. The big bed housed all of our guns and small ammo, while the Vee's still kept the rifles and automatics. Brandon at the wheel, I looked over to him. His eyes were intense, scanning the highway as we dodged every abandoned car and truck in our path. I turned and looked at Victor. He was typing away at the new computer we acquired from our last Wal-Mart heist. Every truck had a few laptops and a shit load of internet cards. Our traveling LAN kept us sane as we looked up videos, news reports and porn. Lots of porn was watched in our down time. There were only two real couples in the convoy and more power to them but we single people needed a physical release too.

I picked up my phone; the Sprint bars were still high. With a flip of the screen I opened my GPS system. We were about an hour from Northumberland County. Where I would pick up two essential members of my plan. One was a marine and the other the most avid hunter/fisher I knew. Both would ease the need for the inexperienced to use the rifles and do the brute work of going in and scoping areas for safety before settling down for a night. I had been using Brandon, Kierstan and Jake for most of my reconnaissance missions. And though they helped out a lot, I wanted more to alleviate the duty occasionally. For all the technical and medical support I had in my current group there were few who actually had experience in killing and using the right measures in aim and tactical attack.

"Chris." I called over the radio; he was in the Vee right behind me.

"Yo, what's up?"

"How much gas do we have in that boat?"

"Weelllll, we fueled up a few miles back but I think we could use more in the Vee's and that truck, do you know any places?" we had been driving most of the last week from Baltimore to the northern neck of Virginia. The only times we fueled up from the truck were when we had to get through a city. The exhaust of the drivers and passengers of the convoy were starting to show in their voices. We needed a rest. A big one, like back in Baltimore.

"Yeah, I know the perfect secluded spot where we could rest and even have some fun for a few weeks."

"Fuuuck!! Finally!" Brian piped in. the conversation was broadcast over the initial line we used on the radio. So everyone in the convoy had heard that little bit of news. I smiled. Though I wanted to keep on moving and get to our final rest point, not everyone was used to moving on and keeping to a singular plan. I grabbed the GPS from the center windshield and punched in the directions to Ophelia, VA. The only spot I knew would be almost empty any time of the year.

“Okay, lets pull over and I’ll take lead truck. Let’s switch drivers in the Gas Boat, Chris you ride with me. When we pull over Sam, take turret position and watch us. I doubt there’s anything out there, but carelessness gets you killed. Let’s do it.” We slowed down and pulled to the middle of the highway. We never stopped to the side near the forest in case of someone hiding in there.

We’d learned the zombies not only ate human flesh but pretty much anything that moved; even other zombies if they wanted. The few times we observed them we learned a bit about their interactions and habits. These zombies liked to hang in groups, just like when they were normal. A few of the more urban zombies would cause problems with the other groups like zombie gangs. But none really singularly ate human flesh. It was rare to find an actual hungry zombie; it was more like, ‘whatever moves can be killed and stored for later’. As we traversed the long highway from Baltimore to Northumberland we noticed many piles of half eaten carcasses both human and animal.

“Okay, Brandon, you drive behind, k?” He nodded and looked forward again. It seemed to me that talking to him about my dreams had caused him to become a little more distant. Before our zombie days he would listen to me blather on about the issues I had in life; but Ally had been close to him and it seemed that me being her ‘killer’ had created a rift in our previously inseparable relationship. I had tried talking to Kierstan about it but it was something Brandon and I had to work out by ourselves.

I walked down to the first Humvee in the convoy. It was Jake’s; Sam was in the turret looking out to the expanse of forest to our right. At the driver’s door Jake got out and walked up to the Gas Boat. When Chris and I were in the Vee I pulled off, then Brandon, then the Gas Boat and everyone else bringing up the end of the convoy. As I drove I thought about the rest of the plan. First we were to pick up the two in Northumberland and begin to head to Florida where the others would hop on a boat to the nearest safe island. I never intended to go with them; I just wanted to get everyone else I needed to have a happy rest of my life. With those twelve on an island I would grab a plane to take all around America to pick up those I had to leave behind.

“Chris, if you wanted to get someone from back home would you go back and get them?” I asked. Through my peripheral I saw him look at me.

“Yeah, man. Of course; but right now, I know I need to help out with this whole survival bit. I can make sure my peoples are okay from here and hopefully they can get to a safe place like us.” I looked over to him for a second, he seemed to be trying to read my face so I made my expression as apathetic as physically possible by me. It was ever the challenge to keep everyone in a secure accord, but with every effort I had I kept my real feelings from everyone but a select few. I wanted to portray the fearless but cautious leader. I knew from experience that once you let out that you had some humanity in you, you could never go back to the one people looked up to.

It wasn’t that everyone here needed someone to look up to; but I had to make myself available. In the past I was the one people went to for answers. I was the strong shoulder, the sexpert, the guy with the plans. I let myself ‘fail’ in someone’s eyes once, and since I haven’t been able to be there for them. ‘Not this time’ I thought to myself. I would be there until I could let these birds fly. My only dream in life was to have my friends get to a place where they could be safe and happy. Never had I thought my hopes would be as literal as they had become. With every ounce of my physical and mental strength I would make them a reality.

“Okay, any suggestions for what to do when we arrive?” I put out over the radio. With clever talk and a great knowledge of how the average mind works I was always able to figure what the responses of the people around me. But this group, this strong circle of like minds, was always my challenge. It could be that they are not the ‘average minds’ or it simply could be that like me, it wasn’t as it seemed in the moment.

“Have a huge orgy.” Was the first response; Kate was in the last Humvee with Dillon. I rolled my eyes but of course she couldn’t see that.

“Kate I’m rolling my eyes. Anyone have any legit answers?” my smile was beginning to widen. It only took a conversation with these guys to clear the “Zombie Apocalypse” from my mind.

“We should just get high and drunk and fall asleep in a big pile.” Came an exaggeratedly gruff voice. I laughed and handed the radio over to Chris.

“Yo yo yo, this is DJ Hunt, bitches!” I looked over to Chris with a ‘lol WTF’ face. He shrugged and smiled.

“So, who wants to go swimming? It’s, like, 90 degrees out here, and I’m sweating something fierce.” Came Victor’s reply. I nodded then tried to recall which beaches in Northumberland County didn’t have a plethora of jelly fish; when I remembered one small tidbit.

“Chris I need the radio.” He handed it over to me, “Hey, guys. We need to stop for food and body shit. The closest Wal-Mart is in Tappahannock, about ten minutes down the road. But that’s it for food around here. After we pass that, it’s only small stores and random grocery spots, which I’m guessing were the first to be raided by angst filled teens.”

“Ha-ha.” Jamie laughed over the radio.

“Alrighty then, to Wal-Mart it is.”

We had but a few minutes till we were in the parking lot of the Tappahannock Wal-Mart. I stepped out of the truck and looked out to the abandoned cars sitting randomly in the lot.’ This wasn’t a good Idea’, I thought to myself.

“Yeah, uh how about Jake, Kimber, Jamie, and Brian take up turrets. Give me a 90-90 look out. Jake and Kimber forward, Jamie and Brian back. Kierstan, you got Fenway? You her, Brandon, Nick, Sam, Chris, and Dillon come with me.”

“Sure. Let’s just take my dog into the big dark Wal-Mart.” I looked at her; sarcasm was getting to be a luxury now a days. As Kierstan walked out to get Fenway, I called over the group I needed for this raid. Brandon kept his eyes off of me and the rest of the group; a M240 in hand, I watched well out of his peripheral. He didn’t seem to have his mind in the place I’d like it to be, on the mission. I walked over to Kierstan before she joined the group.

“Hey, can you do me a favor? I need you to watch Brandon for me cuz he’s not acting his normal self.”

“Sure thing.” She walked over to join the rest of the group, Fenway trotting behind her. With the turrets on watch and my small group keeping armed and ready, I grabbed my sword and knives and made my way to the big automatic doors. When the doors didn’t automatically open I wasn’t surprised, since power had been off in most of the cities we’d hit here in Virginia.

I pulled out my knife and began to pry them open manually. After we were inside I looked around as best I could in the dark factory. My nose could instantly recognize the smell of a surfeit of spoiled dairy and produce products. The smell was intensified by the greenhouse effect from the roof pouring in the heat of the summer days. We had only just walked into the food section of the Wal-Mart when the smell of hot, rotting meat wafted into our noses. I began to cover my nose when I noticed the sound. A sloshing tearing sound seemed to echo all around me when we walked deeper into the food section to get to the nonperishables kept in the back.

Fenway began to utter a deep, throaty, growl.  I looked down to her, she was pointing in the direction we were walking; her jowls pulled back and her teeth glistening in the dim light streaming into the front door. “Hold up.”  I squinted into the dark area ahead of us. For all of my careful planning I still forgot to bring a light into this building. Usually there were lights on in the places we checked out, but I knew I should’ve been prepared. Nick was the smart one though; he produced a lighter from his pocket and lit it.

My heart stopped for an instant and then my trigger finger twitched. Pulling down hard on the trigger, I lit up everything in front of me. It wasn’t that we were surrounded, because the zombies didn’t know we were there either; but in the small bit of light I saw we had quite the outpour of zombies sitting around a pile of bloody, green meat. When the light came on it was as though they questioned ‘old dead meat, or fresh still naturally warm meat…?’ The latter a tempting thing. Once I began to shoot we could fully see the intensity of our predicament. There were far more zombies than we. And it seemed that even in the explosive light of the bullets fired, more could be seen running in. my heart began to pound more than ever and I could almost feel the adrenaline as it pumped into my veins.

I threw my gun, being slung over my shoulder, to my side to dangle and pulled out my latest nagamaki. The long sword glistened and with the light of the others I was able to see my opponents run in toward me. I gathered the strength to swing the 6 foot sword, the thin blade sliced through the air and met the first zombie in the side of his neck. It went through, blood splattering all over the zombie next to him, but there wasn’t enough time for her to react as the sword went through to her head. I raised the blade over my head then bought it down into a zombie who had watched it ascend and kept his eyes on it until it landed between his eyes and got stuck in his clavicle.

Brandon yelled from behind me. Keeping my eyes open for advancing zombies I turned to see Brandon emptying a clip into the mob of zombies. But he wasn’t shooting to kill, every one of his shots was to the shoulders and chest of the zombies. Men and women and children fell to his feet and he walked to crush them under his boots. His disregard was immediately noted in my mind. I watched as he smashed a black zombie with the butt of his M240. I turned and sliced into the stomach of a smaller zombie, his entrails spilling, causing some of the other zombies to stop and feast on the still living comrade.

I tried to keep my eyes on Nick, I had barely used him in reconnaissance. Each time I did he proved himself, taking whatever weapon given or found and making it an extension of his being. As I watched this time I could see the fear in his eyes though. Each of his shots was sloppy and wild as he tried to take out everyone in the advancing mob. I swung my sword once more and three zombies were halved in the wake of its blade. The blood was thick on the floor and each sticky step was like a mud puddle as I wadded to get from the circle of my group. My ears destroyed by the loud echoing of the shots fired, it was only the vibrations of my phone that let me know someone was trying to contact me.

With a few more swipes of my sword I receded into a darker corner of the isle. Pulling out my phone I covered most of the light to keep myself from being seen. There was a message from Jamie. I flipped the phone open and read; she was worried about the shots in the building and said there were more zombies walking around outside now.

“GET OUTSIDE NOW!!!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. Brandon looked over at me as Kierstan and Nick began to back up to the doors. I made my way towards them, rifle now in hand. I was taking aim on a fast moving zombie child when through my peripheral I saw Brandon lift his rifle and aim at me. It took half a second for me to swivel to aim at his head; but by then his finger had pulled and a rain of bullets flew past my ear. I turned to see a big zombie, almost 7 feet, sprawled out on the ground; head exploded.

I flipped to look back at Brandon but he had turned and was walking away, shooting at the occasional surprise zombie. It seemed the attacking zombies had receded into the shadows as we walked off.  In retrospect, the zombies didn’t attack us, we attacked them. And now that the fight was over, they were done with us, receding to their giant pile of putrid meat.

Chapter 5

We had begun to drive away; my mind could only see the look in Brandon’s eyes as he fired his rifle. How he looked so elated to fire those shots so close to my face. How when he let the small left tilt move his bullets to the side of my face instead of dead center with my forehead. I tried to think better of the situation but I knew I was letting the fact that he was top three in my ‘besties’ list cloud my judgment. Only once had a friend left that list to become an acquaintance in my eyes. Only once had I thought through who my real friends were. And only once had I edited the people who were closest to me in my life.

“Kris, we have a big problem. Kimber’s been bitten and didn’t tell us.” I pushed down on the brakes and my Vee swerved to the side. Sam up in the turret reflexively kicked me when we had come to a screeching stop. I got out of the Vee, the trucks behind me still coming to that abrupt stop. Walking down to the fifth Vee in the convoy, I looked up at the turret. Kimber was looking down at me, a look of knowing in her eyes. My face was a rock, this was not tolerated in any means. I motioned for her to come down to me.   

Back when we were in the parking lot of the first Wal-Mart, we had made a pact. If any of us were to get bitten we wouldn’t prolong the moment, we would be shot. In the head. It wouldn’t be a scene, there wouldn’t be a turning, and it would be ended the moment it happened. The safety of the whole was more important than ones selfish want to live through the unalterable. It was as if all that went through her ears and out the other side.

“How could you be so self-regarding?” she rolled her eyes then looked up at the fading sky, the deep red and orange of the clouds gave away how much time had passed since our last encounter with the infected. I looked at her hand, it was wrapped and the blood stained strip of cloth was balled within her fist. “This is a group effort; there is no antidote at this moment that we know of. Your actions have put us at risk. What if you changed while we slept at the next rest stop?”

“Excuse me for thinking I want to-“ the bullet went right through her head. I put my pistol away as quick as I had drew it. I turned before her body had hit the ground. There was a perimeter set, Jake, Kierstan, Dillon and Nick were knelt in a circle surrounding our convoy; they avoided my eyes and quickly entered their perspective Vee’s. Walking back up to my own I used my peripheral to check the driver’s; none looked at me except for Jamie. She had called it in but I don’t think she expected such a harsh reprimand.

When I got back in the driver’s seat I grabbed my radio. “That doesn’t happen again. We need to see every wound, both inflicted by the zombies or through our own antics.” I slapped the radio back down into its holder and slammed on the gas. We pulled off and were back on the road to getting to a peace spot.

‘How had it begun to fall apart like this?’ I thought to myself. 

~~~~~~~~

We had just entered the small area of Virginia called Ophelia. I dare not call it a city or even a town. The insignificant amount of people living there denied it such a vocation. We drove down the road I had known so well, the curves and long stretch so familiar I could do it blindfolded. After a mile of stretched road, we pulled down yet another curvy road, the gravel under our tires like a lullaby to me. Chris had his eyes open and watchful as we drove under a canopy of trees. Down to an outstretch of grass, we turned into a small driveway.

“Two Vee’s park in the grass in front of the house, the rest of you find a spot in the driveway.” I ordered over the radio. The last two Humvee’s pulled into the grass and turned to face outward. I got out of my truck and walked over to the front door. Pulling out my sword I kicked the door in; the large windows looking out to the front porch shuddered. I walked into the hall leading to the wide living room. My eyes on alert I kept the sword at hip level, ready to stab forward if something should appear. The footsteps behind me alerted me of the presence of my back up. I motioned, without turning, for two to go upstairs and check while one goes my opposite rout and search round the corner I was about to turn. When the footsteps began to slowly make their way up the stairs I turned into the living room. It was almost dark and I made for the light switch. When the lights flickered and poured their heavy fluorescent glow into the rooms I breathed a sigh of relief. Not only had the lights worked, but there wasn’t anything in the living room of the house.

Pulling my phone I flipped it open and began to text.

“Everyone to the garage!” I yelled throughout the house. I walked out the side door leading from the kitchen to the walkway to the garage door. Looking inside before opening the door, I saw a man and two females. They were Doug’s family. I didn’t see his little brother.

“If you’re looking for Matt,” I quickly turned to the voice, sword raised, “I killed him.” I let out my held breath, it was Doug. My little brother from a mother who would never understand. He stood on the stairs that led to the loft atop the garage. His crossbow leveled at my head he smiled.

I motioned for him to come down.

“Dude, what’s up with the hand signals? I killed, like, everyone that lived here. I just couldn’t do my family so I trapped them.” I looked at him, his face was a forced strong. I thought back to how much he pretended to not like his family, to when he would mess with his brother and sisters, and talk about how he wanted them to just go away. That was the Doug who didn’t know how hard it was without them. It was also the Doug that didn’t think it would be hard to just put an arrow through them. But there before me was a scared boy who tried to keep up the pretense of control.

I walked over to him and hugged him tight. At first he just stood there limp. Then I could feel tiny shudders as he sobbed into the padding that was my vest. I gripped tighter and looked away to the river that ran behind his house. The boat tied to the dock rocked slowly with the current. Doug was now six feet tall, almost grown up to me. But I saw him in this moment as my little brother again, small and wide eyed.

“How did Matt die?” I asked my voice low. I could hear the doors opening and closing behind me. The others had begun to move the ammo and weapons into the house. A pair of footsteps came out to the deck we were on but I heard them walk away. We were in this moment, I had to know.

“He came at me, running. I thought he was joking around, you know Matt. But then he tried to bite me so I punched him. He got back up so I punched him again and then ran into the garage. I heard my mom scream and my dad started yelling at Matt. I stayed in the garage and that’s when you texted me. So I got the bow and…and…” he buried his head back in my chest and cried more fervently now. I stroked his hair and stared at that boat. The waters had a glow from the setting sun, they were now purple and red.

I released the hug and pointed at the Humvee’s, “Well now we’re here. You have nothing to worry about, little brother.”

“Thanks for texting me, big bro.” his eyes were red and his cheeks stained with his tears. I pulled a gauze pad from my back pocket and handed it to him then walked back to help the moving of our supplies into his house. It was big, the beds and couches would be like heaven to us. We had been sleeping in the backs of stores and in the Vee’s for a few weeks. Holding a box of MRE’s I walked into the kitchen. Jamie was in there, cigarette in hand leaning against the fridge.

“Don’t open that.” She said as I made my way toward it. The lingering smell from when she previously opened it assured me that anything in there was spoiled. I walked around the rest of the house, assessing look out points and security. It wasn’t a very secure house. There were windows everywhere and doors that led to everything. But with Doug’s reports over the weeks, I knew he wasn’t lying when he said he had killed most of the people here. An infected bunch would be unlikely in this area.

“I’m leaving.” I heard. Turning I saw Brandon was there, M240 slung over his shoulder. In his hands he held a box of MRE’s and a flashlight. His eyes were steely, his brow was furrowed and his lips shut tight. He walked out to his truck. It was parked out by the end of the driveway. I followed him, never one to accept a proposal without a given reason.

“What do you mean by leaving’?” he ignored me and put the box in the back of the truck next to a large container filled with ammo for the rifle he had. I stared at his back as he moved around the truck checking if he had everything he’d need. I walked over to him just as he opened his door and placed my hand on his shoulder to turn him, but when he whirled I saw his fist was balled and coming at me. I ducked but he had a knee raised. We had spared much too often for him to forget my usual avoidance move. His knee took the blow of my elbow and he punched down.

Blood spurt out of my mouth when my teeth clenched around the sides of my tongue. My eyes closed I didn’t see his other fist connect with my nose. I fell back, nose broken and mouth filled with blood. Sitting on that grass shocked I looked back up at him. Tears had begun to stream from his eyes and he looked away.

Ptnk!! An arrow landed right into the top of the truck next to where Brandon’s hand was resting. I looked back and saw Doug was on top of his roof looking across at us. He was already placing another arrow in the bow. I looked at Brandon and he was glaring up at Doug; I stood and held my hand up to stay Doug’s arrow. Looking once more at Brandon I shook my head and turned.

“The only one you get on me.” I said pointing to my face as I walked back to the front porch. Kierstan was already there with a warm wet towel. Nick and Jamie were in the window, bowl in hand ready to offer me some escape.

~~~~~~~~

I sat down on the couch facing the big windows that looked out to the river. My mind already beginning to cloud from the hits taken, I leaned back and enjoyed the sounds of people moving around me. I felt the couch sink in on both sides and looked. Kate was on one side and Kierstan was on the other. They both looked at me with sadness, but I didn’t want to indulge them; I was strong and that was my default output. My face twisted into a smile and I looked at both of them. I tried a weak giggle and then I looked down to the ground.

“So are you going to say something to make me happy? I know you both aren’t buying this. I’m not even doing a good job of putting it out there.” The side of my lips lifted into a mordant smile. I wanted to recede into a deep corner but even in the darkness outside they’d follow. If nothing else, they knew my low points and follies. Kierstan leaned in for a hug and I stopped her. “He’s just angry, he’ll be back. It’s just I didn’t think when I told him everything…he’s not like you guys. I can’t just dump on him and have him take it all. You guys would understand; but he’s…difficult to get to and I think I overdid it.”

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t expect this either. He’ll be back and you can have your best friend again.” Kate said. She smiled a little. And I feigned a smile to ease her. I got up out of that comfort spot and went upstairs to Doug. He was sitting on his bed disassembling his bow. I knocked on the side of the door before walking in. Looking up at me I knew he could tell something was on my mind but left it alone to go back fiddling with his bow. I walked over to his TV and turned it on. The blue screen from the DVD player came up. I watched the logo bounce around the screen.

“So this is your group, huh?” he asked from behind me. I turned and nodded.

“These are my friends from Maryland. Or at least the ones I had time to save. Actually one was shot on the way here. Was bitten.” He nodded slowly and set his bow down.

“So what now?” he asked standing and stretching.

“Well, we’re gonna rest here for a bit. Maybe a few weeks; you already know we’ve been on the road for a while. These guys are tired and I promised some fun. After that we’re gonna be on our way to Florida.” I began to walk out of the room when I saw Nick and Jamie walk into the bathroom towels in hand. We were all dirty and covered in God knows what. Our body odor had been kept at bay by the deodorants and various other cleaning supplies we had. But after all the cold, soap less showers and wipe downs with hand wipes, a good ole hot shower with real soap and shampoo would be like heaven. I looked down at myself.

I had grown used to the garlic and pork blood smell coming from all my clothes. My skin was a bit darker than it used to be from all the stains of blood and gore that I’d come in contact with. I rubbed a hand through my hair; a feat in itself. The thick matted mess was safely held together by dirt, sweat, and my own natural oils. I was in dire need of a shower. A long hot one, but instead of heading to the shower I walked back downstairs, Doug trailing me. I walked past Sam and Chris who were sitting in the dining room smoking and made my way to the windows that over looked the garage. Outside Dillon was loading a mag into an M16. He looked over to the window I was in, the light from it illuminating his face in the dark. I watched him walk up to the door of the garage just as Doug looked out. I saw his eyes noticeably widen then shut quickly. When he opened them again they were hardened. We watched Dillon nod at me and then went out of view on the other side of the garage.  

“Shots fired!!” I yelled through the house so the rest of the group didn’t jump onto any weapon around them and take defense. As if in response to my warning Dillon began to fire. It was short, only five shots, before he walked back into our view moments later. Doug had walked off though, his composure dissolving since I arrived. I could see how it was easy to be the badass when no one was around. There weren’t eyes prying into yours to get to the sensitivity inside. Alone you could cry as loud as you wanted after a hunt. It was okay to go full out when no one was there to clamp down on your emotions. But now that we were here it was as if he had to try harder to prove he was a blasé observer.

I was grabbing a towel off the dryer when Dillon walked into the side door. “Hey, that brother of yours okay?” he asked. I nodded and made my way to the downstairs shower.  I got to the door before I could hear the soft singing coming from the other side. Brian was in there and from the sounds he was enjoying the water to the fullest. I sighed and walked back into the living room. Sinking back down into the couch I looked at the spice sitting on the table. Dillon was packing a bowl and lifted it up to me. I was still buzzing from the last one and denied it.

I closed my eyes and went off into my mind to try and figure what we should do from here. Everyone was advancing in gun play and hand to hand. I rubbed the top of my head, the knot there proving me right. It wouldn’t have been that easy a few months ago for one of them to land a blow. In Baltimore I had only taught them how to drive the Vee’s and a basic how to on the weapons. And now it seemed there was nothing to teach them. They all had a good grasp on the interworking of the Vee’s. We had learned to conserve ammo by calculating our shots. Everyone knew their part in stopping and searching. We were a well-oiled machine now that didn’t rely on orders for most things. But it was all training and no fun.

I thought of the resources we had at our disposal: Food for a month for even the most hungry of us; munchies to back up that supply. Nonalcoholic drinks for the taste; alcoholic drinks for the fun. We had enough ammo to last quite some time if we keep up the conservation we had exercised in the last few weeks. All of the weapons were in good shape. We cleaned them after every attack and kept them from the elements. The knives and swords were at the disposal of everyone but it appeared I was the only one used to them.  There was a surfeit of smokeables, both inebriating and not. Our morale had been hit but we were still trucking.

Where we were now was a peninsula; beaches on all sides were easily accessible. The summer sun hadn’t quit blazing so there in lay some fun. The lush forest and open areas gave room for more training and room for Fenway to roam. The lack of zombies also aided my cause for being here.

I had just got to all the good aspects of our stay when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I opened my eyes and pulled it out. Flipping it open I eyed the sender then read. My smile widening and I jumped off the couch. Jake, who had just walked out of the dining room, gave me a confused look but I pointed to the front lawn. A truck was pulling in, its lights illuminating the whole front porch. I guarded my eyes and walked out to meet my old friend. I ran out to his door before he opened it. The big ford truck was retrofit with a bumper which showed signs of use. The entrails dripping from it and still dried on the hood were sick but I had seen worse in the past months. The bed was covered and the lumps underneath showed promise.

The engine stopped and the lights turned off. When the door opened and the six foot five frame stepped out I smiled harder. “So, what’ve you been up too?” he laughed, looking at the Humvee’s parked around the lawn. I grabbed him up in a hug that lifted him off his feet. He was heavier than I remembered. His mass cracked my back and I set him back down. I looked at him now that the porch lights were on. Same face. Short brown hair was cropped in a high and tight, his small eyes observant and shy. He was smiling too and I patted him on the back.

“Trey…man I thought you were done for when you didn’t text me back after Tappahannock.” He laughed again while pulling a hunting rifle from the cab. I looked at the camouflaged thing with a sideways glance. ‘Was he using that thing this whole time?’ I thought. He turned back to me, a duffle slung over one shoulder and shut the door.

“Don’t you eye my baby like that. Sorry I couldn’t break into a Marine base as easily as you did your little Army bases.” I laughed once more. As always we started off a pissing contest just by looks. Still smiling I walked him up to the porch. Almost everyone was outside, no doubt wanting it to be Brandon and hoping for another fight. You couldn’t stop human curiosity, even in the Zombie Apocalypse. I waved my arm out to everyone.

“This is my group. Eleven, accounted for, one on the way.” I let out a subtle breath of hope, “You know Doug. The rest will get to know you over the next few weeks. Everyone, this is Trey.” He lifted a hand to wave. Leaving him to find a room in the house or some other space to place his junk I walked into the kitchen. I wanted to take a shower but the three that were there were being used by others. There wasn’t going to be any hot water left after everyone was done. I grabbed a beer from the cooler, the ice from the freezer keeping everything cold.

Plopping down on the couch once more, I threw my towel to the table, my campaign for a shower forgotten. “So you’re the Trey Kris is always talking about.” I heard Kierstan say from the stairs. I smiled and popped the top of the beer. The cold brew went down smooth and I sat back enjoying the conversation from around the house. All was good for tonight. I had the group safe and the possibility of a morning shower almost made me cry.

Two strong hands clamped down on my shoulder waking me from the happy comma I was achieving. “So what’s the plan, Army man?” I looked up and Trey was looking down at me. I motioned toward the couch and he came over and sat.

“MEETING EVERYONE!!” I heard Jake call from behind me. I shook my head slowly as Jake hopped the couch to come crashing down next to me. I heard others coming down the stairs. Sam and Chris pulled their chairs from the dining room in to sit around the small center table in the living room. The cup they were using for an ash tray was still smoking from the last cigarette one of them had dropped into it. I took another swig of my beer, the cobwebs of uncertainty clearing from my mind as I formulated a competent plan for the next few weeks. When everyone was sitting in some way around the table I placed my empty bottle down and sat forward.

“Well, um, this is pretty much what I have for us for the following weeks.” I cleared my throat and put on my big boy voice, “We know we have all the food and weapons we need for this crusade. But as of late we’ve been surviving, not living. So I think while here we should get all of the fun out of us because when we move again we’ll be on our way to Florida. That’s going to be a long drive and it’ll take a few weeks out of us.” I looked at each of them in turn. The oldest being…missing and the youngest being Kate at seventeen.

I had brought them into this for their own good and now we were almost to the ending point of our journey. But in preserving their lives I had left out their personalities. They were all like me in different ways. And each had something to offer to whatever world would come of this carnage. They were picked not only for my own selfish reasons, mainly being I needed company and couldn’t lose them, but also because they were useful.

“For now, I want to assess your abilities again; see who got better and who needs more work.” I looked at Trey and Doug, “I need to see what you two got also.”

“Oh, come on. I’m as good as or better than you on your best day.” Trey said. I laughed and pointed to Kierstan.

“No, you’re not.” She said. Simple and elegant; he frowned and looked at her as if he thought she’d be on his side.

“But really, we’ll all go through some sort of training from here. I need you all to start using the knives and swords too. It saves ammo and is a little easier than the rifles. Hand to hand is good, and you all have improved on the rifles and pistols. So pretty much the plan is to train and have some summer fun. And to start,” I grabbed my empty beer in hand, “who wants to help me finish these beers?”  A cheer rose and the scuffle to the cooler was comical in my semi intoxicated eyes.

Chapter 6

I wanted to pass out from fatigue; smoking was lowering my running ability. That and the sword I always kept strapped to my back. Fenway looked up at me in anticipation. She was panting a little but was trotting around waiting for me to take off again. I was a mile down the road, nowhere near where I wanted to be. We were on our way to the small store the rest had been at for the past twenty minutes. I still had about another mile to run. Fenway began to walk off without me; so independent, like her owner.

A rustle in the woods next to me made me pull the lone knife I had on my hip and crouch down into a horse stance. I looked, the sun giving me all the light I needed in the bright midday. A large shape moved around and Fenway growled. I held my hand out to silence her and inched forward; the slope of the road giving me no place to hide. Squinting into the woods I flipped my knife around to a throwing position. The doe’s head was down, munching on the greenery growing around where she was. I crept forward, the wind giving no trace of my scent to her. When I was only ten meters from her I lifted my arm to throw.

The knife flew strong, the wind carrying it. I had aimed at her head, but I knew that was a hard target to hit. I watched as the blade pierced her throat, just shy of her shoulders. Her head flew up and looked over to me then was off, my knife falling out of her fur. I sighed and looked over to Fenway who had a look of discontent on her face.

“What? I thought it was a good shot.” I hopped through the woods to where the knife had fallen. The blood on it indicating had at least hurt the deer. Wiping it back off and returning to the road I saw the truck with Sam, Chris and Jake returning. The turret was closed, the need for it moot here. I put a thumb out in good sport and they stopped.

“What were you doing in the woods?” Sam asked. I shook my head.

“Tried to get us some fresh meat.” I smiled and Fenway yawned. Lying down on my lap I looked back to whatever they had from the store. The boxes of food seemed promising, but the stock of alcohol was more than an over kill. Seems the first thing to go in this area was the nonperishables. No one thought to grab the things in the fridges. We now had microwavable breakfast and dinner foods. That was better than having canned and boxed food for every meal. But we still didn’t have anything fresh. All of the meats in every store we went to was either spoiled, eaten, or in a big pile ready to be eaten.

Upon driving into the lawn I saw there was a group of us around back. The laughs and screams of joy were loud and inviting. I left the three to bring the food in while I investigated the noise. Hopping up the deck stairs on my way back I saw glimpses of broken condoms everywhere; water spots coming from them. My mind forming what I knew was the answer to where the laughs were originating I smiled as I turned the corner. There running around the yard was Trey, Doug, Kierstan, Kate, Dillon and Brian. Each had a condom completely filled with water and was trying to hit one another with it. Around the lawn I could see the effects of the game. Burst condoms were scattered around and everyone was wet.

Shaking my head I walked into the house. The kitchen was empty, bottles and cups everywhere on the counter. ‘So this is how they came up with the idea, drunken bastards’ I laughed to myself.  Plopping down into the couch I groaned. There was a wet spot here too that I hopped was water. There weren’t any signs of a condom. I sighed and moved to the kitchen to begin cleanup. It was my job, always had been. I was the father figure in a group of adults. I always found a reason to clean or care or give. It was just who I am. And no Zombie Apocalypse would change that.

As I began to scrub the cups and various other dishes left over from last night’s movie time I thought to myself about all the people left behind. Torturing myself for things I couldn’t change was another thing I always did. I thought back to when I went to save Ally. There were many things I could’ve done differently. I had stopped at every light, every sign, even though no one was around to stop me. Even though there were zombies running rampant in the city. Even though I was in a hurry. Safety had been more important than making sure one of my group was okay. She hadn’t text me back even by the time I got to her house. I had decided to make sure Brandon and Kierstan were okay before texting everyone. I was moving slowly when I should have jumped right into action when all of this went down. There were many reasons a lot of my friends were dead. Almost none of them were related to me but by the strings of correlation my mind built.

I scrubbed harder into the grime stuck to the pot the fried rice was made in. My mind working over time I didn’t hear the others walk in, their rowdy antics completely ignored. I continued to scrub even after the mess was gone; I was in my own place. Emptying the sink and moving to open the fridge to go on a full OCD cleanse I felt a hand grab my arm. I turned, my head clearing, and saw Kierstan and Trey looking at me.  Trey looked a little concerned but Kierstan had seen this before. She moved me to the couch and sat me back down in the mysterious wet spot.

“Kris,” Trey asked, a hint of concern in his voice masked by sarcasm, “when did you become so emo?” I felt there was a tear line going down my cheek and smiled up at him.

“Girl you need to ease up.” Brian said. I laughed, his tone reminded me of a now dead queen I knew. I got up and walked upstairs and went into the room I’d been sleeping in these days. But it was already occupied by a vigorous couple. Jamie looked up at me when I excused myself then went back to what she was doing. I walked into Doug’s room and found Victor in there watching a movie. Lying on the bed I looked over at him. He was watching a movie I hadn’t seen in years, it was Edward Scissorhands. As Jonny Depp walked around the back yard looking at the destroyed landscape I noticed a look in his eyes that mirrored the look Victor had. I sighed; this was both a fun and sad place. The fun being on the side of those who didn’t really have a care. The sad being with the ones who had lost a lot in this zombie takeover.

I reached over and tapped Victor on the shoulder and he turned and looked at me.  I gave a sideways smile that we had come to associate with my wanting to talk. He looked back at the screen and for a second I thought he was going to ignore me and go back to self-soothing. But then he paused the movie got up and closed the door. Locking it he turned back to me, his face completely stoic. ‘Why are all my friends so guarded’ I asked myself before scooting back on the bed to allow him room to sit. But instead of sitting he lay down beside me. The side of my mouth lifted into a small smile.

He was either ready to spoon or ready to pour something heavy out. The latter being more than likely since he sighed heavily before closing his eyes tight. I watched him, only inches from his face on the small bed. “Why?” the one word came out of his mouth in a huff. Clearly I wasn’t the only one to think how and why had this happened.

“Why,” he repeated, now turning on his side facing the door, “of all the shit that is so possible in this world did it have to be zombies? I mean, I can get with the whole flood thing. Drowning is beautiful, like that scene in Titanic with the woman. How her hair was just flowing around her and her dress was just rippling with the water. But zombies? There is nothing beautiful about that shit.” I nodded, letting the movements translate through the pillow under our heads. “Did you know…did you know my dad was one of them?”

I paused, this was the first time I heard this. We never really talked about the people left behind just to keep up morale. I didn’t know how everyone’s family was because I had only picked up two of them, one being Ally. And after meeting in that first Wal-Mart parking lot we didn’t talk about the events in Hagerstown from then on.

Victor could tell I didn’t know, he shifted a little to get more comfortable in the curve of my body. My mind had been racing to see if there was some time I had found out and forgotten. But there was no way I could forget if Mr. Cline was changed. Something like that would have stuck out in my mind. “Victor…I, I didn’t know. I am so sorry. I know no one wants to hear that, but I know how you two were…if I had been faster maybe-“

“It’s not your fault babe. And I don’t want you trying to take this onto your shoulders,” too late, “like everyone else’s problems. You’re not Superman.” I smiled. He hadn’t poked fun at my super fantasies in months. He was the only one who kept my feet on the ground when I imagined I could fly. I rubbed his arm slowly. There wasn’t anything else to do for this. I had been completely taken aback. At first I hoped he would talk about Kimber’s incident, but it seemed almost everyone had close to forgot that except me.

“I’ve decided to go out and get someone that would help the group even more.” I told him. My arm now resting on his I could feel his deep intakes of breath and soon he was heaving heavily. Openly crying I moved closer to him and gave him a sideways hug. I didn’t know what to say. He was closer to his dad than anyone else in his life. I knew this from seeing it firsthand. How he had kept this all bottled up until now I have no idea, but as he let it all out all I could do was offer the comfort of my hold. It wasn’t every day that I had nothing of comfort to offer someone. I closed my eyes and lay by my friend until he had cried himself to sleep.

Laying still I looked into my own past and found nothing like that worth having with my own family. Tears welled up from the thought and I felt like more of an island than before.

~~~~~~~~

It was early in the morning when I first heard the annoying droning of my phone vibrating on the floor. Placing a pillow over it I went back to cuddling. Later I heard a continuous drone of a call being vibrated in. I reached under the pillow and looked at the caller ID. Flipping the phone open I heard the frantic yells of a Danish accent. When the message was relayed I hung up. I was now fully awake. One of my side groups had been attacked.

I jumped up out of bed, waking Victor. He looked up at me already alert; the past months had taught all of us to wake at a moment’s notice. As I pulled on jeans and a tee shirt I relayed the message to him. His eyes widened.

“You were organizing side groups?! Who else knows about this?” he practically screeched.

I looked at him before walking out of the door. “Brandon.” I turned and ran down the stairs. Fenway met me at the bottom of the steps and I gingerly pushed her aside. I wanted to go alone to increase the room I had for others. I ran to the living room and grabbed up one of the ready laptops sitting on the table. With a few useful cords and a bag of grapes I ran back to the front door. My Humvee was last in line since I knew I’d have to pick him up at some point. I threw the computer into the back and looked to make sure my swords, knives and enough ammo were also back there. Looking up once more before peeling off I saw a few of the group were in the windows, a collectively confused look stretched across their faces. And then I was off.

The tires squealed as I ripped the wheel to the left and right navigating the curves of this back road as fast as I could in a giant metal box. My eyes looking five turns ahead I kept my peripheral open as wide as possible. The problem I had most kept wary off was hitting a dear at these speeds. My memory began to build as I drove past a familiar spot in our journey, the blood stains still visible though now there were drag marks from where the zombies had taken the body. I tried to keep my eyes on the road. There wasn’t very much out there and I was thankful for knowing this area so well. I barely looked at the GPS and had the reaction time to swerve at every shoulder I knew would house the wide vehicle. As I turned the corner going from Callao to the stretch of highway going to Tappahannock I braced myself for another hour of nothing but strait driving.

I had almost gone on automatic when I started thinking of all the different zombies we had encountered. It seemed like in the movies you only saw two types of zombies. Either they were running and eating or they were horribly mutated and given weapons to help the other ones. I had seen none of the latter, but running and eating were popular among the zombie demographic. But there was more to it than that, we had seen firsthand. From the hiding and mellow zombies of the Tappahannock Wal-Mart to the calculating gangster zombies of streets of Baltimore. Even on the streets in Hagerstown; there were zombies who were manipulative. The run and eat ones were sent in to be a diversion for the ones who attacked from a different direction. It was as if the basic hunting skill of the humanity within the zombies was still accessible. And as scary as it was to know these zombies still had the basic thought process working for them, I was happy to never have met a mutated weapon of the zombie world.

My GPS said it would take me another 30 minutes to get to Ashland, but once I got on the highway, I never took my foot off the pedal. I was going about ninety miles an hour when I saw my first zombie in weeks. And my foot eased off the pedal for a split second. He was huge, around seven feet tall. I saw him over the line of cars in front of me from a hundred meters away. I almost had a strait path to him, with a few adjustments to keep from side checking a bumper and slicing off the occasional mirror. He was bigger than I thought when I could see him closer. Not only was he tall, but his waist was at least three feet across in the front. His chest was massive, his pecs moving out and in with each of his deep breaths. His shoulders led down to titan like triceps and bicep’s. Down to his legs, they were relatively normal. The only thing that stuck out was the fact that his calves and feet were abnormally huge in comparison to his thighs. He was a big ass zombie weapon; and now I was a ten feet away.

I closed my eyes as I drove into him, a small hope of escape…

The resulting crash was disgusting; flesh and metal met…and it was a tie. My head was inches from the windshield on impact. As I was forcibly whipped back to my chair I could see every detail of his face as it came crashing into the thick glass. His deep green eyes hit the windshield and the rest of his torso pushed it in until the greens of his irises matched the rich red that was spreading over the glass. Instinctively I pushed down on the brakes but it was too late. My speed kept me sliding until the sheer force of the cement barricade hit the lower half of the Vee the remains of the big zombie with the nice eyes flew off the hood and into the forest below. My eyes widening in fear I watched almost as if in slow motion while my Vee lifted onto the front tires and flipped ass end over head into the woods. It was only a few hundred feet of hill but as I rolled over and over, thanking God that I had put the knives in their sheaths, I felt that I would die right there. The blow to my head confirmed what I believed to be true. Then all lights went out.

Chapter 7

I woke still strapped into my seat. My eyes were blurry and for a second I thought it was the blow to the head. But when I reached up to remove my glasses and rub my head, I found my glasses were already off. I looked around for a few minutes and found them lying on the floor underneath me. I unbuckled myself and fell to the floor, which at this point was the roof. My head was reeling and there was blood in my mouth. Knives and swords were all over the metal roofing and I found the laptop had a huge crack in it. It was what had knocked me out. Climbing out of the cab I tried to stand but my legs were jelly. ‘How long had I been sitting upside down in there’ I thought before pulling out my phone. It was past 4pm. The hours ticked by while I was unconscious.

I sat down on the hill and looked into the forest. My body ached and my mouth tasted like lead. The hill I had rolled down led down to a small creek; which might’ve looked sweet without the presence of my Humvee. I tried to stand once more and this time getting a sure footing I hobbled back down to the Vee. I looked around and listened for anything, but all I heard was the annoying bubbling of the water under the metal of my Vee. I reached inside and grabbed the laptop, two swords, and a string of knives. ‘This is going to be a long walk’ I thought.

I fixed my vest, placing the knives in an X over my chest. The swords arching high above both shoulders evened out the weight of the M16 hanging low on my back. I grabbed my backpack and filled it with more knives and the laptop. Lastly grabbing the grapes and strapping the GPS to my belt, I stood and looked up the hill. It was going to be a long walk indeed.

~~~~~~~~

It was almost an hour until I found the high school. This area was mostly grass and trees. The actual populated regions were beautiful but for the better part of an hour all I could see was grass, farm lands, and trees. Many trees. My heart was near stopping when I finally reached the stretch of street that would take me to the cul-de-sac Korsgaard lived on. I looked into the bag of grapes. There was one left so I plucked it up and swallowed. Looking around I didn’t see not one zombie.

The call from Korsgaard was frantic, saying they were everywhere and he was almost overrun. It looked pretty peaceful as I walked down the street. The end of the cul-de-sac could be seen just meters down the road. It was very well secured. Felled trees surrounded what I could see over them was a few houses. As I got closer I saw there were even platforms built atop the trees, from which a woman and two men watched me.  This was a stronghold, not a traveling base like mine. Our opinions on matters such as this varied with intensifying levels. Korsgaard wanted to hole up and stay safe, I wanted to keep moving to an area where we were rid of the infection completely.

While walking up to the wall of trees I noticed there were holes in the paving, the result of high caliber ammo impacts. So they had big guns. Well I had the same, but the woman at the top of the platform…I didn’t have one of those. She was blonde, her hair almost angelically swaying with her strides as she made her way to the edge of the platform to look down on me. I walked to the big gates that led into the base. Her small frame countered by a .50 Cal held at her hip. Her body gave no indication that she could handle such a large piece of equipment….yet.

“Who are you and what do you want here?” Called one of the men, who had made their way to the side of this blonde. I regarded him with a look of discontent; he was big, bigger than Trey and I. Atop the platform he looked like a giant of a man towering over the blonde by a good two feet. I was about to call up my good friend Korsgaard when I heard a deathly screech come from behind me. I whirled, pulling my nagamaki in the process. I held the six foot sword out to my front, both hands on the handle. It felt lighter than I remembered from our last dance.

My eyes wide I scanned the terrain, I was in an open area with very little cover. The cars and other felled trees aided the attacker, the screech rang out once more and for the life of me I couldn’t pinpoint the origin. It was darkening, the sky was beginning to glow with the colors of the afternoon, birds flew and the wind blew. I pulled my phone from my pocket and text a quick message. This wasn’t the time to talk to underlings; I needed the conductor of this parade. The screech rose again and this time it seemed closer. With an eye to the street ahead I neglected to look to my sides, the fields behind the houses surrounding the cul-de-sac were bristling. Activity hidden by the wind churned sway of the field.

Thunk! I reached up quickly and felt my head; I’d been hit by something. The rock on the ground was nothing more than a pebble but was thrown with such precise aim; I turned angrily and looked up at the big man. He was looking around the area, not really focusing on anything. I picked up the rock and threw it at him, it bounced off his chest and he turned, anger I his eyes, to me.

“What the fuck was that for?” he yelled down. His hand had made its way to the rifle he had on his side. I looked at it not instantly recognizing it for the machine gun it was.

“Why would you throw a rock you country bound bamma!?” I yelled back up. The anger in his eyes was either cleverly fabricated or he hadn’t thrown the rock. Then the thought hit me and I turned this time keeping my eyes on both sides also. When a hand rose in the distance and another rock was hurled at me I pointed toward the fields. Every head turned as a scream rose and a good thirty zombies came running at me. I was the only one in the street. The only one accessible. I lifted my sword above my head and slid it back in its sheath quickly before flipping open the pouch on my thigh and grabbing another magazine.

Spray and pray was never something I condoned. It was a waste of ammo and could be very ineffective in an attack. But before I had the chance to even pop my M16 out of safety the trio above had mowed down almost half of the group that was running at me. It was completely void of aim, it was a bloody massacre, and it was reckless. I had taught everyone in my group the importance of aim and tactical shots. But as they reloaded and prepared for another volley I heard another screech from behind and in front.  Another mob came for me. At about a hundred feet away I knew that soon enough they’d be on me and force me into mixed combat. And with the group overhead, I don’t think I’d come out alive from that one. 

“Stop shooting!!!” I yelled up at them, “I’ve got this!” they stopped. I ripped the last three mag’s from my thigh pockets. ‘Five magazines, thirty rounds in each, one hundred and fifty shots; gotta make the one in the chamber count’ I thought, looking out to the crowd advancing on me. I lifted my rifle while crouching on one knee near the mag’s laying on the ground round my foot. Taking careful aim I pulled the trigger. The bullet flew and struck the screaming zombie that was perched on top of a car one hundred meters away. I took a deep intake of breath in the silence.

My arm was jarred by the endless emptying of the magazine. Thirty shouts gone in a few seconds; the zombies in the whole first wave now gone. At the low level I was shooting up from I maximized the attack potential of my rounds. Each would-be shot could go through one zombie and into the one behind it. I dropped the mag and loaded another with the practiced speed particular to one of my capability. Unloading another volley of rounds I looked around to make sure I wasn’t over run from my blind zones. I was completely in my own mind; working hard to keep the zombies at bay with my right hand I used my left to quickly pull out my sword.

In the time it took to go through sixty one shots I had taken a third of the zombies out. Some of the more resilient ones were crawling at me, their bodies full of holes, blood pouring. Some were occupied with the feast of bodies on the ground around them. I closed my eyes for a second to whisper a silent prayer I’d developed before continuing the onslaught. This was intensely tiring after the crash and the walk here. My arm tense and almost to cramping point from singular use of the rifle, I let the now heavy and smoking gun dangle at my right. With both hands I swung the sword in a circle above my head, no doubt looking cocky to the trio on the platform behind me. But it was both a show of power and a way to work the muscles in my right arm. I was ever the multitasker.

The zombies stopped their progression. Looking at one another, the questioning in their eyes was unmistakable. Their dirty coverings and mud crusted bodies made them look like a bunch of wild people. It was only the few that were feasting on the fallen bodies of their comrades that made me remember these beasts before me were subhuman. I pulled the magazine from my rifle, there were still a few shots left in it. Their attack failed the second my bullet went through the head of their leader. The organization through yells and screams was halted once she fell. Now without a leader they were reverted back to the wandering vagrants that everyone associated with the zombie demographic. I stood tall, my sword still by my side.

I was about to turn and request to be let inside when I heard a deep guttural growl echo among the mass of zombies. I looked, not believing my own eyes. From the fields to the right I saw a man walking towards me. Not just an ordinary man, he was massive. His body structure reminded me of the one I had tried to run over on my way here. His torn coveralls were bloody and the holes in his body gave number to the many shots that have been afforded his stature. It looked like he could take some lead and keep going. The mutation of the zombie infection had given him not only the height and strength but an ability to keep truckin’ in the worst of injuries.

I heard a gasp from behind me and ignored it. This was no time for questions, I had to show them I could hold my own if they were to trust me and accept me as leader.

He walked with a limp, his right leg sporting a knife from some previous attacker. As he made his way to the crowd he didn’t wait for the others to get out of the way. Throwing them to and fro and crushing the wounded beneath his colossal unshod feet he made his way to me. I had dropped into a horse stance, sword in both hands pointing to the right. He stopped about twenty feet from me; too close for any semblance of comfort. My arms were shaking still; from fear, adrenaline, and fatigue. I eyed him but couldn’t think of a point of attack. If I were to take out his legs, his arms hung low and powerful enough to hoist his body and drag himself to me. His sides were fortified, the thick muscles of his abdomen no doubt armor like in themselves. His neck, my only point of sure attack, was about two feet higher than mine. A stretch that would leave me open to bodily attack.

Perfect.

These people wanted to know why I was here. They wanted to attack with brute force and stay fortified. I would show them finesse. I’d show then the superiority of traveling and the power in honing your skills. I dropped my backpack and kicked it back against the wall of trees behind me; ignoring the laptop in there. With my long sword in hand and my other still sheathed on my back I nodded to the grotesque giant.

He came running at me and I took in a deep breath. I spun, keeping the sword in a low arch. Muscle memory took control and my foot automatically slid across the ground creating a circle and sliding me a foot to the left. The pirouette was completed and the zombie began to fall forward, legs slashed from beneath him. The circle continuing I slashed the sword above my head and brought it down into his back. It sunk in a few inches and imbedded itself in his spine. Pushing off with my spinning foot I jumped into the air pulling my sheathed sword; blade down, handle in both hands. I landed, one foot on my nagamaki’s long blade which was still in his back, the other on the handle sticking out to the left of his body. I bought the sword in my hand down hard into his neck, dissecting his spinal cord. And for extra measure jammed the handle to the right severing half his neck form his body.

My breathing was ragged and loud. Smoking had not been my friend in the last month or two. I sat in that semi crouched position on the back of that zombie for a long few seconds. It was only until I heard the shots fired into the crowd that I looked up, sweat in my eyes at the other zombies. They began receding into the fields from whence they came as the bullets chased off and finished any lingering souls on the street. I stood and pulled my sword from the now dead zombie. Living dead my ass, this one was gone. A smile formed on my lips as I wiped the blood off the blade onto his coveralls. Reaching with both hands I tried to pull my spine-lodged nagamaki from him. It didn’t budge, the blade was now fully held by the thick flesh and bone. I arched my left leg and brought it down in a halfhearted axe kick. The blade popped out of his back with a sloshy sound and a spray of blood.

My eye twitched and I tried to not show my sickness. Now I was not only tired as hell, but I had mutated zombie blood all over my clothes. Before looking up to insist the others let me in I took inventory. I had exhausted almost three magazines; all my knives were intact; both swords were in place, held tightly to my back by the sheaths; my backpack sloppily leaning against the wall of wood, I picked it up and made my way to the big metal gate. When I got there the doors were already opening to show a mid-height blonde kid. His smile was satirical and his blue eyes gave a look of pure contentment. I held out my hand and he took it in a strong grasp.

“Dude…I just gotta say now, I hate your watch guards.” Korsgaard smiled at me. I looked him over, not seeing him for a year, he hadn’t changed much. His short cropped hair was clean as ever, no hints of any bloody fighting. There must be a shower around somewhere. His jacket was a thick black leather type thing that held under it the bulges of twin pistols. I couldn’t see what kind they were but I expected something over the top. His jeans were clean and blue, faded from fashion, not use. His combat boots were the only things that gave hint of wear. The blood and mud staining them was hard caked and dried.

“So why’d you walk? It’s almost two hours from where you were.“ his Danish accent thick with sarcasm I don’t think he was even aware of. I shook my head and walked toward the main house at the base; determining this by the one most of the people were at. There were women all over this area. Girls of every hair style but only one body. Mid-size, petite, small frames and large breasts; there was a small harem here. All the females were in some sort of skimpy clothing or lingerie. Looking around I wondered how they could last in these times if they wore so little and had absolutely no body to back up a weapon.

At the stairs of the house I turned and looked around from this angle. You couldn’t see a thing beyond the wall of trees; it was at least ten feet high. The massive barricade surrounded the whole front of the cul-de-sac, the areas beyond that were brick and mortar wall topped with razor wire. I shook my head at the thought of having to stay here. It was a practically impenetrable fortress, but there was only one way out.

 Before going in the house I got a look from a ragged short man sitting on the deck. He was jock-ish, his short brown hair whipped rakishly to one side. His olive skin was smooth and taught over well designed features. But his eyes held a hint of discontent; looking up at me while he sharpened his knife. A woman on his arm gave me the same look as Korsgaard showed me in.

“Who was that on the porch?” I asked him as I dropped my gear and flopped down into an old living room couch. The room had a dusty settlement about it. As if someone very old fashioned had lived here. He sat across from me, obscuring my view to the outside, and leaned back.

“Oh no one,” his voice lifting into the whine I’d come to expect from him, “just Matt and Rose. Don’t mind them, he’s just a mechanic. So what happened to your ride?” I leaned forward and laced my fingers beneath my chin. I was still crusted with the blood from my blow to the head. The scrapes on my face were being indiscriminately scrutinized. I looked to the ground and sighed.

“I tried to run over one of those big zombies, like the one from out there. He destroyed my Humvee and it rolled over the side of a highway barrier. That was about nine hours ago, I was unconscious for a while. Then I just grabbed what I could and walked here.” His eyes had widened but were now back to normal. We were soldiers, stuff like this happened a lot. I pulled my phone from my pocket for the first time since I got to Ashland. I had texted Victor all about what happened, but I hadn’t told him to bring a convoy to get us because I didn’t know fully how many people Korsgaard had. From looking around on my way to the house I had counted ten. Mostly women in lingerie. The three guys I saw all struck me as annoyingly stuck in their superiority.

Then the insane happened. As I sat there thinking over what should I tell Victor the mammoth from atop the gate walked in and handed me a sandwich and a drink. I had come to already judge people just by their body language and what their eyes told me, but as he walked in and set the food down on the center table he smiled at me. He stuck his hand out and I took it. His grip was intense.

“Hey, I’m David” He said, I responded and looked over at Korsgaard. He had a pouty face on that made me laugh.

“Why doesn’t anyone bring ME a sandwich?” he asked; his eyes widening with sincerity. I handed him half of my sandwich and we ate in silence as I sent a few texts to my group. They were on alert but still having fun back at the base. Like I had said, they didn’t need me to know what to do.

“So, I’m going to call in a convoy to come pick you all up and bring you with me.” I said. His head whipped up and looked at me to see if I were serious. My brows furrowed and I cocked my head slightly. “That is why you called right? I mean, I’m in a safe area and we are going to be off in a two weeks. If you were to come along, we’d have more fighters and…well, more women.” His face mirrored mine with the confusion points being exact.

“Wait, I thought you were going to come here to stay? We have all we need here.” He gestured around him and I looked around the room. Not much here. He stood and placed a hand on my shoulder, “Let me show you, my friend.”

Chapter 8

I have to say that I was impressed by Korsgaards stronghold. The wall surrounded a good bit of land with sectionals for different needs. There was a forward gate which I had entered through, but behind the house a football fields’ length away was another gate. This one also had people atop a walkway looking over a road. A back road had been formed by him and his people to provide an escape in the case of a swarming. The three guards were changed out regularly; one such changing I was able to watch.

The three women atop the walkway were all identical. Not due to my nonchalant way of looking at people, but because they were triplets. The three would be beautiful by the standards of most men; my tastes ranged quite the opposite way though. Their thin bodies were covered in the usual clothing I had come to only see females in on this base. One was schoolgirl-esk; her short frilly skirt had a white and blue design that was accented by the white and blue of her stockings. Her long brunette hair sported a white bow. The tight button down she wore was tied at the base of her breasts. Her lean body was glistening with the sweat from staying in the sun. Her flat tanned belly would’ve been an object of envy for any girl.

As they made their way down the ladder and three men, one of them being the angry Matt fellow, went up Korsgaard called them over by name.  Tatiana, Natalia and Ekaterina gave me a look of curiosity. I still had my swords on my back and my M16 slung on my shoulder. Tatiana, the schoolgirl walked over and held out her thin manicured hand to shake. I lifted it and kissed it gently and her sisters giggled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Korsgaard roll his eyes.

“Nice to meet you Mr…” her Ukraine accent made my knees weak. Though her body wasn’t my type, I could sure enjoy some time alone with that voice.

“Qui…,” my last name wasn’t a favorite among the ladies as it didn’t inspire confidence, “Krismeir. I’m Krismeir.” I saw her eyes widen for a second then she looked as though she were thinking. I always had that effect when I bust out the big boy name. My old friend Constantine, also Ukrainian, thought it was so unique. I kissed the out held hands of the other two then Korsgaard I left them to ponder the origin of my name.

“This is our farm area. My parents are farmers and we have all we need to expand the farm should any more survivors come to the door. The chickens and goats provide us with the necessary milk and eggs to keep us sane. Give me powdered milk and eggs and I’d have to kill everyone in world.” I laughed. He had quite the outstretch of growing grounds. From the back wall to a few feet from the house grew all types of vegetables and fruits. The far left of the field have trees bearing fruits. Under which were baskets. The gathering would have to be done often. The land must have been very fruitful seeing as how many different plants were able to grow and in such plenty.

He walked me to the edge of the wall where an actual well was dug, the water from such was fresh and cold. From there he pointed to the house, “We also have our house going by well water so our liquid supply is well intact. The produce from the farm, the meat from the animals and anything we can hunt for or lure toward the gates, our water from wells…we are pretty sufficient here. There is no need for us to leave unless on a very rare ending we get over run.”

I looked at him with a sideways grin. He had me pegged on this one. It would be very hard to convince him otherwise. On our walk back I took note to the fact that all of the extra women who weren’t doing guard duty were toiling around the house. It was like the 17^th century here. Except the toilers were hot and in great health and supply. There had to be two women per man here. It was almost…unnecessary? And there in lay my plan. It wasn’t as though this wasn’t like a small haven in the middle of this mutated area of the world, but the need for moving on was strong.

“Call a meeting with your officials. In two hours I can have my three here. We need to talk about something. “ His eyes looked into my but I was guarded. Not that he could look into my mind just by my expression. Only two people could do that…

~~~~~~~~

“This is my left hand, Victor, he is filling in for my Top War Counselor. He does the research for our  Bio Warfare section of attacks.” He nodded, keeping quiet as he looked at each of the others adjourned on Korsgaard’s side. I pointed while introducing the others, “Trey here is my Tactician and Mechanic; also a Jarhead and exceptional with a rifle. Kierstan is my confidant and is the Lead Medic. She has the study of their behaviors under her division in conjunction with Victor.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I had just accidentally started a pissing contest.

“This is Michael, he is a former US Army Ranger and now is our weapons and tactics guru.” The man looked down at me. He wasn’t taller but an air of importance was emanating from him. “Trey is our own Attack Master, and Matt is our Mechanic.” Our groups looked at each other. Kierstan being the only girl here, she had to feel a little on the low side. But they had seen what the females here were like. To have one for more than eye candy was refreshing. She legitimately helped the cause. With mine being on the move all the time, I had a more broad group and I liked the idea of having a one up at the start of this mission.

“Well what have you called us here for, boy?” my eye twitched and I looked at the one called Michael, there wasn’t much to him. His boots and jeans were well used. The tee shirt he wore was an old dingy white thing; the stains of oil and dirt very pronounced against the white. I striated my face to Korsgaard, completely disregarding him. I could almost feel the heat from his eyes boring into the side of my head.

“We need to talk about where this group will go from here.” I said my voice level and directed at Korsgaard. “With the provisions you have and the manpower, you could really help out the cause under my supervision.”

“Wait, wait wait wait.” Their Trey said. He held out his hand and looked to Korsgaard. His red hair glistened in the bright lights in the living room. He was standing behind the angry jock from earlier, Matt. His height and weight afforded him the name String-bean in my mind. I looked at him as he began to lean in towards Korsgaard as if to whisper something.

“Hey, String-bean.” I began, he turned to me, eyes filled with anger, “this is a Counsel, not a sorority meeting. If you have a problem you speak it to the group.”  He turned his eyes to Korsgaard once more and then stood up.

“I don’t know who you are and I’m not going anywhere with you. We are safe here and we have all we need. So you and your little posse can walk right back to wherever you came from and stay there. We’re good here.” Matt held up a hand for a high five which String-bean readily accepted.

I looked over at Victor who was watching this whole thing through his intense blue eyes. His legs folded in his chair and his hands together in his lap, he looked as if he were trying to mentally control the situation. I turned and looked at my own Trey. His aggression masked by and almost passable smile, I watched through my peripheral as he began to pocket text. Kierstnan was on a whole different level though. Her eyes were watching Korsgaard and he sat back and let this little brouhaha commence. The buzzing in my pocket knocked killed the stillness in me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. It was from Trey.

After reading it I huffed a loud breath and looked to Korsgaard, once more ignoring his lackeys. “So now, has everyone in your group finished with their tantrums? Because I’d like to get home at a good time and get some food in me.” String-bean’s mouth opened and he looked at me wide eyed. Blunt sarcasm was fun, patient sarcasm was better. Korsgaard nodded and gestured for me to go on with his hand. When had he become less of a mouthy, violent, child?

“As I was saying, under my supervision I’d like for your group to merge with mine and head out to Florida with us. I have a resistance there also, comprised of Remmy, Johnson and a few others. We will be making a go for the closest island which is being checked now by the group there. The few things you have to offer will be greatly appreciated in the front for survival while on our way down there. But yes, it will be under me. You and your commanders will be under my rules and-“

“This is bullshit!!” Matt finally spoke up. His eyes were filled with anger and I looked at him like a man pitying a stray dog.

“Why do we even have to listen to this?” String-bean yelled. “WE made this base. WE gathered the people to safety. We’ve been keeping up the farm and food. Who are you? Just some traveling nigger with a few friends and some guns.” Before I could react my Trey had his fist covered with blood from String-bean’s nose.

I stood and so did everyone else in the room. Weapons were drawn, my hands were on my hip knives but I hadn’t pulled them yet. Michael had somehow procured a shotgun from only God knows where. Matt had one hand on his hip, in the other was the combat knife I’d seen him sharpening. Trey, String-bean, had in his hands a set of trench spikes the blood dripping down onto one of them. I snuck a glance and our odds. Kierstan, equally an illusionist, had pulled a M4. Trey was wielding dual pistols, both cocked and ready. Victor, the quiet studying Victor, had two darts in each hand. His aim had improved dramatically since choosing those as his throwing weapons. Under his sleeve, I hoped it was the ‘sleeping’ MedPad he’d kept the darts in and not the ‘fatal’ one.

“Hey, hey! What is this? We’re supposed to be just talking.” I held up my hands and stood between the two groups. Korsgaard was still sitting in his chair. He hadn’t stood when everyone else did. His head on his crossed hands he seemed to be thinking. “I called Korsgaard when this all started in January.  So you can say I’m the reason you’re even in this group. I don’t know you and I don’t know how resourceful you are so I can’t say if you would’ve survived without him. But I do know that you are alive and it’s in part to Korsgaard calling you and making this base. And that’s because I called him and told him what was going on before it hit Virginia hard.  So no, you don’t know who I am but know this,” My eyes squinted as I looked his group in turn, “you will respect me and my power.”

I sat down and looked at Korsgaard who was now regarding me through curious eyes. Everyone began to sit, Trey and String-bean being the last ones to fall into their seats. I took a deep breath and counted to ten mentally. People just never understood good intentions.

“I won’t go with you.” Korsgaard said abruptly. I whipped my head toward him. He was leaning back in his chair now, obviously done thinking. His smile was small but not mocking. I searched his face, he looked sincere enough. But why? Why would he choose to stay in a trap like this?

“Why? And I want a legitimate reason, man.” He looked me in the eyes, and for the first time since AIT I could see he was about to be serious with me. He leaned forward again and sighed. Then looked at his group, String-bean in particular.

“You see this guy.” He pointed to the bleeding , still angry String-bean, “You should know he was raised in a bad neighborhood in Richmond. His younger brother was killed in a drive by, and his sister was raped and murdered by a member of the Gangster Disciples. He’s not racist, he just has association issues.” I nodded and did a slight bow of the head to String-bean. His eye intensity eased a little, but I could tell he was still pissed.

“Now, about your proposal, Quick” he paused and thought more, no doubt putting the thoughts into coherent sentences. “You and I are good friends. No doubt without your planning and advice, I would not be here today" he turned to his group "It's true. But Quick, as a soldier, you must know that no plan, no matter how well made, survives contact with the enemy.” I looked to the ground and thought of all the friends lost.

“With that and mind,” he continued, “think briefly what it would take to get to Florida from here. You must cross thousands of miles of hostile terrain, with potentially little to no humans anywhere in that range. Think of the resources it would require, the logistics, the planning... and that all of that could go down the shitter the moment the group gets surrounded by a swarm of those things, a hundred miles away from any friendlies.

“I admire your determination and that of your group... the fact you have survived this long is a testament to that. But I urge all of you to reconsider your plan of action, or at least, consider my alternative. Look at what we have here. A base with strong defenses and ample resources... and room to expand. With you and your men, we could complete the securing of this base, well before any of the major swarms from Richmond, or the 'burgs notice us.

“If you do intend to move on to Florida my friend, might I suggest having your men relocate here. See if you like it. If you so desire, conduct a few scouting missions to see if you can even get to Florida still. If you so desire, you may move on from there. But me and my group... unless something changes, this is where we shall stay. Try to understand, you are telling them to follow you to a safe spot in Florida that may not even exist by the time we get there. To give up this small slice of safety and normality in this new world for an uncertain sanctuary that may just be a myth as far as they are concerned.

“Here, we have clean water. We do not fear running out of food. We have housing and electricity and things that every sane human being should. We have safety and soundness of mind and spirit... for ourselves, and our loved ones. If you know what struggles and hard times we have been through to gain this... and who has died on our way to achieve it. Trey lost what little family he had that the gangs and drugs didn’t kill. These women are from Richmond's Russian Quarter - most their brothers and fathers died fighting off the undead while they fled here. David lost his parents to the munchers, and Michael’s are overseas somewhere. My own committed suicide after the thought of living in a world where the dead walk the Earth. I even lost Jessica….” He paused and looked down to the ground for almost a minute.

“If you are going to ask them to give this up, for an island in the Florida Key's that might be swarming with muchers by now. It had better be more than some fairy tale.” He sat back and I leaned forward in my chair. Victor’s eyes had been darting back and forth between us. He knew I had a comeback, he knew I could retort with the experience and training we’d honed, he knew I loved getting the last word. But as I sat there, staring deep into Korsgaard’s eyes trying to figure him out, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

Trey leaned toward me, but I held a hand up. “What I have to offer is my knowledge. I have soldiers down there, good ones, who are searching as we speak. I keep in contact with them every day; I know they will be there when I arrive. To your loss, I give my condolences, all of you. But loss is something that we move on from. And that’s what my group does best. Move on. So I’ll have to respectfully decline your offer for sanctuary.  But only on the note that I know the younger ones easily become complacent, and I cannot move on without my entire group.”

I looked at Victor, but he was reading a text, his eyes widening. “And right now, I must say that it was great to see you again, Korsgaard, but we have to go home.” I stood and he stood. His hand was out but I pushed it aside and grabbed him up in a big hug. I leaned in close to his ear, “I’ll be back for you bro.” we pulled away from each other. I turned to Victor, Kierstan, and Trey, “Let’s go home.”

We walked to the Humvee’s parked in front of the house. It was dark out and I didn’t like the idea of coming all this way for almost nothing. I stood at the door of the Vee, wishing it wasn’t just another failed mission. We had come this far, we had survived the worse, we’ve made sacrifices; why didn’t they see this and realize we weren’t chasing a dream. The reality of the situation was that we could survive for a while, letting our experience and knowledge hold us up. But we couldn’t life without the basic needs in life. Women for my men, men for my women, real meat, real produce, real everything not just there semblance.

Chapter 9

We drove up the long winding road that ended at Ophelia. I had mostly zoned out, my thought coming and going like fireflies. My eyes were watching the trees by the road as they zip by, there within lay the animals that will make my dinner tomorrow. I had just begun to close my eyes from the days fatigue when I caught sight of a small light in the upcoming woods. I sat up and stared at the light, it was moving, bouncing through the trees. I reached over and touched Trey’s arm while keeping my eyes on the light. He began to slow down and soon we were stopped watching this light bounce through the forest.

It was far too dark for a venture into the trees but the movements of the light led me to believe there was a person out there. Trey leaned over my shoulder and peered into the darkness as if he could zoom in on the spot of light. The radio buzzed and Kierstan told us to move on, Victor confirmed this order. He pulled up aside us and stopped.

“Keep moving, we don’t have any turrets and this just aint safe.” He said over the radio. I looked at Trey, who was still hovering over my shoulder. His look of confusion matched mine. Obviously Victor and Kierstan knew something we didn’t; which wasn’t too surprising.  Trey slid back into the driver’s seat and we pulled off after Victor, Kierstan taking the rear. We drove for another three minutes until we had pulled up to the road that took us under the canopy of trees leading to our makeshift base. My mind was clearing, the thought of being back home with my friends made me feel much better. I looked over to Trey and smiled. His curious look asked ‘what the smile was for’. 

I was getting ready to exit when I noticed another car was in the driveway. It was small, not like anything I would ever condone in this convoy.  The outrageous lime green color and the retrofit turret clashed like the worse of the mechanic world. Streaks of blood added another sickening coat of paint to this Pimped reject. Its small wheels and mostly aerodynamic look were the scourge of the Zombie Apocalypse. It looked fast, except for the .50 Cal welded to the top, its maneuvering abilities were probably top notch. Only an idiot would drive this in a world where gangs of people hung out in the streets and didn’t move when they saw you coming.

I looked into the window, needing to lean down to see inside. The turret wasn’t just weld to the top, there was a crank inside. It looked made to allow the driver to keep his eyes on the road and if need be aim the turret with one hand. A trigger mechanism was worked into the hand hold of the crank. This thing was perfectly designed to work with only one person inside. The roof supports and inside work were superb; which counteracted the hideous paint and design work done to the body. I walked around the car, almost completely ignoring the fact that I was home. This small piece of work was definitely built for one but could hold another. There was a trunk, not that people would be in there, but through the back window that looked down into it I saw luggage. Someone had come here, someone that was ready to stay.

“Well aren’t you coming in?” Trey asked. My eyes instantly squinted and he looked away almost as quickly as my suspicions had risen. He usually never cared what I did; if it wasn’t directly connected to him he didn’t bat an eye. I looked at the house from the driveway. People were moving around, I saw Doug look outside from the top floor. Kierstan and Victor had walked inside and Trey was on his way there. My eyes were still squinty and I was on alert, everyone was acting so strange. Cautiously walking up to front porch I pulled a knife. Before I could get to the door I heard a voice asking why was everyone so quiet through a barely concealed whisper. I didn’t know the voice, but I knew a surprise when I felt one. I put my knife away and walked through the door like a normal person, and not a paranoid zombie killer.

There in front of me were three people. One was a woman, around twenty. Her long blonde hair and striking green eyes were hypnotic with the contrast of her intense pale skin tone. It was as if someone had made her, fabricated her existence, just to seduce men. Her wide mouth and thick lips were plush and pink, shimmering from some kind of gloss she decided to wear today. Her posture suggested that of a woman who would never walk out of the house without at least one knife, though. She wasn’t standing strait up, boobs out, hip at an angle, goofy smile on her face. She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest as if she wasn’t impressed with me; her feet were together, her back arched, head held high she looked at me. She had to have been the daughter of some high ranking military person. She wasn’t impressed and showed it by sharing a look with the guy to her left.

He was short, much too short to be taken seriously by me. She was a good 5’9” but he must have been five feet at the most. His short black hair was spiky and whimsically tussled. His deep concentrating eyes seemed to want to dissect me as he looked up and down at the layers of clothing and weaponry I wore. His olive skin was flawless. The hand that went up to scratch his chin hair was manicured, not showing a single scar or speck of dirt underneath the nails. He wore a tee shirt that read ‘ⱤƱƉ€ ϰᶓґᶁ₴’ and it took me a few seconds to realize it said ‘Rude Nerdz’ in a compilation of symbols. I tried not to show any kind of appreciation for the design, but the small shift of my mouth was noted by his ever watching eyes.

In all this time I tried to avoid the eyes of the third person. He was wearing a tee shirt in similar design to the other guy, but I didn’t take the time to look at it. I was keeping my eyes below his neck. I didn’t want to look up at his face and see that he was happy to see me. That would just pull out my own feelings in front of these new people…it was another two to impress.

I closed my eyes. This whole time the room was quiet, though the whole group was there watching. I hadn’t even walked fully into the house; I was still in the door. I lifted my head and looked at Brandon, he was watching me. He had to have known how I’d react to this. He had to know. He was the only person here who would be able to predict that. I walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. Over the years I had developed an attack I reserved for when I was really pissed with someone.

“You left…” I looked to the ground, my anger building and my fist balled. He was a few inches from me when I looked up at him, into his eyes. “You left and I needed you. Today more than ever.” My eyes scanned the ground and found some brown dirty boots. I lifted my head up ever so slightly and found Trey’s hands. The right still crusted with String-beans’ blood. I tried to think of what Brandon would’ve done in that situation, but all I could think of was how he wasn’t there. My head tilted to the right and my shoulder tensed. As if time slowed I watched as my arm slid up my right side. My fist turning to a tight crane beak, fingers pressed together and pushing down on my thumb underneath, I jabbed forward. It wasn’t even a few inches away before I saw the girl move. Her arm stretched out faster than my eyes could follow and slapped my arm right below the elbow.

My arm was pushed downward and to the left, way away from his sternum where I was aiming. My eyes widened as it’s kept it forward charge while lowering. The blow, possibly a ten in my force chart, struck almost an inch above Brandon’s belt. His face was pained as my hand pushed deep into his abdomen. He began to double over before reflex hit and his right leg lifted and jerked outward, the kick connecting with my chest.

It wasn’t until my back hit the ground and I skid to the door that my mind registered what had just happened. I lay there for a second thinking over the event. This girl was fast, but I think it was just a reflex that stopped my jab. It wasn’t well placed and didn’t deflect the actual attack, just moved it. I doubled my body and kicked off the ground; not wanting to look weak.  The air was thick with confusion and excitement; it was almost palpable. I cracked my neck and kept an eye on the girl who was now staring hard at me. Brandon was trying not to show pain, but I knew that jab had done something fierce to his midsection.

I turned and walked out the door, looking back only to motion for him to follow. This was going to be the last time I took my anger out on someone I loved. I took off my gear. The handles of my knives jingled and glistened in the light from the front porch. Walking out to the middle of the lawn I set them against a tree along with my swords. Everything in my pockets was dumped onto the ground. My breathing was deep and strained. That kick to my chest hurt, my vest had taken some of the blow, but it still hurt. I turned and saw Brandon was there on the other side of the makeshift arena.

The group was standing in a wide circle around us. Kierstan had a pack on her back, the plus sign on it indicating what she thought would happen here. I took off my vest; my face stoic like this was just another hand to hand combatant. Scanning Brandon’s face I could tell he was thinking the same thing. I wouldn’t let my feelings get in the way of this fight. ‘It has to happen’ I told myself; this would benefit us both. Letting our feelings stew was why he had left and I had taken my time to contact him.

Now in a tee shirt and cargo pants in the crisp summer night I dropped into a modified horse stance; right hand forward and left held tightly to my side in a 90 degree angle. I began to slow my breath and thought about this. As many times as Brandon and I had sparred it was hard for us to ignore the obvious moves we both used. He was a distraction fighter; using one attack to mask another. I was a pin point fighter, using my medical knowledge of the body and all of her weak points to attack. The only flaw in our attacks is that we both knew them too well. I scrunched my nose, it was the first time he had actually attacked me to hurt me. But I knew after this fight we’d both have a healthy respect for each other like we did way back when.

He charged, I never made the first move. His strides were leaning, something was wrong with his left leg. Something must have happened when he was gone. First point of attack. His right leg lifted to kick at my head and I threw both hands up to counter it. The force of his shin against my forearms was rough. Using the momentum from it i spun backwards and to the left. My left foot being my pivot point I slid my right against the grass and it connected with his planed left leg. He fell over but his arms were already up for my usual follow up axe kick. My boot caught perfectly in his hands I cursed for not wearing gloves myself. His hands shifted so fast I couldn’t think to counter as he grabbed my foot, one hand on top one under for support and rolled. I was pulled forward into a split. I cringed but tried not to cry out in pain as my face connected with the ground beyond him. He flipped over quickly and scrambled off the ground. I rolled away from him and jumped up. But he was already to my face by the time I had my composure.

His right foot planted and left arm raised I threw my arms up; perpendicular to each other, I held that pose tight and pushed one down and one up. His arching elbow connected with the top one and his knee with the bottom. I whipped both hands forward and shoved him backwards. He teetered off balance, hands swinging and leaving his mid-section open. I hopped forward, one leg raised to my waist and kicked.

“HuAH!!” I yelled as he flew backwards. He landed on his back and heaved heavily. My face was tense and my arms hurt from the dual attack. I lowered my foot and dropped back into my original stance. Brandon stood and looked at me. The anger in his eyes brewing as he noticed how indifferent I was at the attack, he wiped the blood from his mouth. I took a step towards him and whirled, foot raised to kick the side of his head. He blocked with his left the punched forward with his right. His blow connected right below where my balls were hidden in my pants. I screamed out, my pectineus now tight. I fell to the ground and grabbed at the area, the muscles were taut and aching.

I stood quickly to look strong, but my expression could only be translated as pain. Brandon’s lips parted in a small smile. My anger rose. I tried to charge at him but my inner thigh tensed up and I fell to the ground. The look on his face as I made my way to the soft grass made my insides boil. I wouldn’t let him win. Never. I twisted to the side, ignoring the pain, to fall onto my back. My hands on the ground in front of where my head lay I pulled my body up towards me and pushed upward. In a normal situation I would have flipped backwards and landed on the ground. In this one, I hit his jaw with both size sixteen boots.

I flopped back to the ground and lay from a second before getting up to see Brandon wipe the blood from his mouth. I stood tall, ignoring the increasing pain between my legs. This time I didn’t drop into a horse stance, I stood, looking at him head on and held my hands in front of me like I learned growing up in Philadelphia. His puzzled look was all I needed to smile. He shook his head and spit out some blood before mimicking my stance. His legs apart, almost like a boxer; he made his way toward me. I wouldn’t be able to ‘fly like a butterfly’ but one thing I knew how to do was sting like a bee.

He threw a haymaker and I ducked it, but his knee was lifting. I brought my elbow down on it feeling the patella shudder and jabbed forward into his mid-section. I would never fall for that one again. Using our almost equal speed I threw a left hook and it connected with his shoulder. He could have blocked that; I expected him to block that. My hand was already making its way to where his coracobrachialis would have been exposed. Instead he reached up and grabbed it with his right hand, turning to pull me into him. His left elbow was raised and it connected with the side of my face.  I felt my jaw jolt with the blow.

He continued turning and went to throw me to the ground. His right still holding mine the other went behind me to add more momentum to his throw. But I grabbed onto his left arm as he pushed me and twisted when in the air. He was pulled forward also and landed on top of me. I continued my roll when on the ground and lay on his right side. Raising my arm high I brought the elbow down in his sternum. He hitched forward and began to cough violently.

Except for his breathing and hacking it was quiet, no one was cheering. My group was used to inner fighting, it was what we did; but this was a bit extreme.  No one was rushing in to lift me and make joyful noise, no one began a slow clap, and no one even came to see if we were okay. This wasn’t a spectator sport; this was to make sure we didn’t kill each other. I lowered my head.

“Hey what are you doing?” I heard Trey yell out. That’s when I felt the blow to the back of my head. The lights behind my eyes flashed and I began to see emerging and dispersing dots. I shut my eyes and put my hands over my ears. The coughing and yelling died out and I tried to gain focus. Lowering my hands I turned to see what had hit me. Struggling with the kicking and yelling new girl in his arms Trey looked at me and winked. She had jumped into the fight, she had punched the back of my head. My glare intensified and I fixed it on her. I thought the greens of her eyes would begin to spread; her rage over what she must have accounted for my win was passionate.

I turned to Brandon quickly when I heard him spit. He was on his knees, one hand on his chest, gripping hard as he gasped for breath. Blood dribbling down the side of his mouth, chest heaving, one eye closed the other on me; he stopped heaving for a minute, “This…isn’t…” cough, “over” wheeze. I looked at him, he was too beaten to fight anymore. He was pressing forward for the same reason I had continued, we were too stubborn to let the other win. He tried to stand but stumbled. Kierstan had an arm under his before his face hit the grass. He looked up at her and she smiled and shook her head. I wanted to stand but my leg was twitching and after all the exertion i knew it wouldn’t support me.

Nick on one side and Brian on the other I got up. I couldn’t place any weight on my left leg. I could barely turn it without it tightening up on me. Eyes closed and muscles near failing I let them walk me into the living room where Kierstan had Brandon’s shirt off and was examining the red bruises that were there. Two were on his lower abdomen, one under his navel the other to the left and lower near his groin. His chest was one big red mark. The jab close to the underarm was the most pronounced of the bruises. If that had struck where I wanted it to, the fight would’ve been over before I had to smash his sternum.

I elevated my leg and asked for an ice pack. Rest, ice, and elevation would have to do for now. I tried to close my eyes and lean back but I could hear the silence in the room. No one was speaking again. It was stifling. Brandon’s gasps from Kierstan patching and prodding him were the only noises. It was too intense. And I could feel the heat behind my eyelids as tears threatened to form.

Without warning I sat up, a jolt of pain forcing the tears down my cheeks. I stood and hobbled over to Brandon’s section of the couch. Kierstan moved away and I flopped over and hugged Brandon despite his wounds. If I had walked over ignoring my pain he could ignore this pain. The warmth of his body and the tears streaming reminded me of a time when we had let all of our feelings out. Like that night I was disregarding the pains of my thoughts and subsisted in the moment I was having with my best friend. His arm reached up and for the first times since our friendship started he pulled me close in the hug. I heard him breathe deeper as my tee shirt rubbed against his chest, my tears began to flow faster as the pain of leaning over him in that position strained my muscles.

“I love you big bear….I’m sorry.” My eyes tightly closed, I tried to keep the tears from coming. He wheezed again, his mouth close to my ear. “I love you too bro…” he coughed once more, “I never should have left…” I leaned in and hugged tighter then stepped back.

There was too much emotion in the room now. I looked at Dillon, “I need like twelve shots of whiskey and a beer. And spice would be good too.” he smiled and went for my request.

“They are the weirdest couple.” I heard Jamie whisper.

“Never!” Brandon rasped. Everyone laughed; even Hulk-girl.

Chapter 10

“So what was that? It was the only time I saw you two fight like that.” Kierstan asked later that night. It was about three in the morning and I had woken to all the others still up and talking. The conversations ranged from the fight to the mysterious noises coming from the room upstairs. The only ones missing from the room were Brandon and Hulk-girl who I had learned was called Tee. I tried not to think of what was going on up there but the animation of my mind told me exactly what I needed to know.

“Well you know that whole built up anger thing I do? Well, there wasn’t anything to kill around so I took it out on the person it was supposed to be directed to.” The corner of my mouth lifted into an indifferent smile. She looked at me as if there was something else she wanted to say, but then looked to the ceiling as another round of bumps began. They were going for about three hours now. On and off I heard the bumps and moans and random bits of conversation coming from under the door. I shook my head slowly then smiled. This was the first time he had gotten any in about a year.

“We need to get more girls in here.” Brian said. He was sitting on the couch, cup in hand, shirtless. His usual mood during a party was giddy and jovial. But since our lives had been one home after another, one party after another, he was now more somber. Though he always had his shirt off; it was just who he was. I leaned back and accepted the beer Trey offered. Sitting down next to Kierstan he popped his own and we tapped cans before taking a long swig. It was pretty calming in the house. My pains were starting to minimize

 Victor was on the floor next to the new guy, Sawyer, talking. I could tell they were conversing about something serious, the looks on both of their faces constantly changing depending on who was speaking.

Nick and Jamie got up to leave when Victor stood and pulled Kierstan aside. The looks passed between the two of them as they conversed in the dining room noted a serious meeting was coming. Holding hands, they sat back down on the love seat. Jake had set his juice down on the table, the clang of the glass loud in the quiet room. The noises from upstairs and Victor’s whispering resounded in the house. Something was up and everyone could feel it.

I stood, Sawyer giving me a look. Walking up the stairs I heard Kate giggle before Brian hushed her. They wanted to hear how this one was going to go down. At the top of the stairs I looked left at the door there. Gripping the handle and testing to see if it was locked I pushed in….My eyes almost fell out.

Brandon was naked standing near the edge of the bed looking down. Tee, who was expressing pure ecstasy, was leaning back on the bed legs around Brandon’s waist. They didn’t notice as I walked into the room, Brandon continued to pump away, the head board banging against the wall. The slaps of his body against hears were sloppy and wet; someone hadn’t gotten sticky in a while. I wanted to cover my ears, but it was like watching a crash on the side of the highway. As much as I wanted to pull my eyes away from what was happening. I could never picture Brandon having sex. He was my best friend and had been there through all of my complications and all of my good times. He was like a brother; one you only saw as protective, loving, careful, and pure. But now as I tried to look away from the carnage that was him trusting against this girl…that image was totally shattered.

I crept up to him. Tee’s eyes closed her mouth open and moaning, they didn’t even know I was there. “Oh my God…” she cooed. I think I puked a little in my mouth at that point. She began to gyrate more and Brandon let out a deep moan. He moved her legs from his waist and put them over his shoulders.

“Yeah, there it is.” He said as his head rolled back. I tapped his bare sweat coated shoulder. But when he whirled, elbow raised, I only saw his wide eyes before the lights went out.

~~~~~~~~

Kierstan told me he reflexively hit me; I wasn’t too convinced. An icepack on my temple and a glare in my eyes I was back on the couch. It was too early in the morning for me to be getting knocked out. Everyone was giggling when I woke again. My eyes were fuzzy and my brain felt as if it would pop off the stem at any minute now. Victor, Kierstan and Sawyer were in the middle of the room. The grave look shared between the three made me tense; what did they need to say?

“Well, as you all know, Kierstan and I have been watching the zombies on a behavioral basis.” Victor began, “We know they aren’t the dumb random ambling zombies from the movies. They can think and even form plans from what Kris told us. These zombies have distinct behaviors ranging from gang actions to reciprocating aggression. But the key thing we missed is how different they were becoming from the very beginning. They’ve been changing.”

My eyes widened and looking around I saw everyone had the same response. It was as if a shared thought went through the group, we all hit the same conclusion at the same time. Kierstan stepped forward, “So I bet you’re all thinking what we thought was happening. That the zombies are getting smarter and have adapted to whatever situation they are presented. The zombies in the cities were aggressive and attacked in the large numbers they had. The country zombies hang out in the woods and lure people in with lights and human sounds.” Trey and I shared a glance. We were so close to going out to aid whatever we thought was out there that night. “But since we were too busy about being safe and killing anything that attacked us, we never took notice to how they did it.”

Victor nodded and motioned for Sawyer to begin his part of the speech. “Me and Tee were-“

“Tee and I, Sawyer.” She interrupted. I looked over at her with a look that would’ve said ‘shut up’ but I noticed Brandon had his hands around her waist and was leaning mighty close to her. The dreamy look in her eyes put me on edge. I tried to not look dizzy.

“Tee and I,” quick glance at her as if to ask if she was happy, “were with our friend James; living in his dad’s basement during the bulk of the attacks in Newport News. His dad was in the Navy and had a little armory down there. At first the zombies were just walking into the door and scratching at the walls and windows. We could easily shoot down the few that came daily. Finally they began to throw rocks from a distance and attack with sticks. Tee, James and I were always told to get to the basement when they attacked like that. James’ dad was afraid they’d eventually get in. It was like they knew we were the only ones left alive in the city. Once they got better at throwing rocks and using anything they could hold we began packing food in the basement in case of a takeover.

“The house was very well fortified, and the basement was cement walls finished with carpeting and other stuff. It was insulated and had a bathroom and small kitchen; even a fortified bomb shelter. The door leading down to it could even be locked from the inside. We slept on the couches down there as his dad kept lookout on the house from the top floor. After a few weeks they began to stop attacking the house as often, but by now we had the windows mostly boarded and almost everything was down there in the basement with us. It was on a Thursday I think that the last attack happened.”

I was leaning back in the couch, looking as content and peaceful as possible. This story was getting to be a bore but I knew the information was important. The look on Sawyer’s face as he told us went from resigned to almost teary as he went on. “Then one night we heard a loud crash. I was scared and Tee and James were holding each other, their looks adding to my fear. We could hear Mr. Perry yelling from the top floor. He wanted us to lock the door and get to the old bomb shelter we’d been using for a pantry. We did what he said but were scared think of what was happening. Apparently he had bombs hidden around the house in the walls.

“I didn’t know why he was forced to set off the charges at first, but as we climbed out of the ruble left from the house I could see at least a hundred intact zombie bodies. That’s not counting the ones so badly torn apart I didn’t know if it was a zombie of a leftover piece of meat.” He shuddered and Victor put his arm around him. I looked over at Tee, she was leaning into Brandon. Her eyes were closed and her lips pursed tightly, she looked as if she were going to cry. I closed my own eyes.

Sawyer took a deep breath and continued, “Where this leads is they organized enough to come up with a plan that involved getting everyone complacent. They didn’t attack for weeks and when they did it was at night and in vast numbers. They hadn’t gotten to trap setting like ours out here are doing, but this can only lead to them using weapons. What keeps us alive at the moment is our ability to use weapons. If they remembered enough to use them their selves…well we’d have ourselves a real power struggle. So far we can mow them down easily. Their savage attacks coupled with rocks and other handhelds aren a problem right now. But eventually…” he let that sink in.

The room was quiet. I was leaning back in the chair, still mulling over the idea of zombies with weapons. It was a scary thought. What had set us apart in every publication and movie was that we had our weapons and our superior though processes. But this wasn’t a book and no one was filming us. The reality of the matter was that the zombies, though dead, were not brain dead. No they haven’t evolved enough to cook, or read, or speak coherently. But what did that have to do with survival? They were surviving in the simple life they lived now. Living dead, an oxymoron I never took notice to these days. They were more alive than we thought. It took a bite or some other exchange of bodily fluids for one to get the infection that was the zombie legacy. They weren’t dead technically. They just had a standstill in humanity.

He vagrants walking around now were just a look into humanities past. They were learning how to survive though pass and fail attempts. The ones that didn’t pass taught the others what was useless. Sooner than later they will come to understand that without real weapons they couldn’t hunt the food they were after.

A chill went down my spine. I didn’t like the idea one bit. I looked over to Victor. His eyes were on me. “What?” I asked, “This is a group talk, just because I come off as leaderly doesn’t mean I’m the only one capable of making decisions.” Yes, I was a little irritated at the concepts they were putting put. But I had no right to act out against Victor. “So…what are you guys planning?” I asked meekly. He smiled and looked to Kierstan.

“What we were talking about included coming up with some sort of biological weapon. Something to take out a lot of them without us having to get caught in a large fight.” My eyebrows shot up. I was not expecting that one. ”I know right now we’re doing great but when they get smart enough to fight weapons with weapons it’ll be a bad day for us.”

I sat upright abruptly affording me the looks of almost everyone in the room. “What do you mean biological? No one here can do that! You need to analyze DNA and other junk to do that. You need to have, like, twelve degree’s in sciency stuff and whatnot.” In retrospect, my vocabulary was not at its best at four in the morning. And after oh the many head injuries and lack of a legitimate amount of voluntary sleep, I wasn’t at my best. I wasn’t even subpar. I knew Victor had knowledge in biology and Kierstan was good at medicine and other things but this was a bit much.

“This involves exploring the actual virus the zombies are passing and determining a way to target it and increasing it to kill the host. And I know that sounds like a lot to do for your people.” my people? “But without having to go into too much detail let’s just say I got this.” He smiled and I was so confused. He was like twelve years old.

“Aren’t you like twelve years old?” and that’s why I love Kate. I laughed and so did almost everyone in the room. Her expression was entirely sincere, though. His was angry.

“I’m twenty seven.” He said through grinding teeth. I noticed a quick twitch of the eye and couldn’t help but laugh again. The room was still stiflingly tight with anxiety. No one wanted to address the idea of zombies with guns. But I believed in Victor and Kierstan to the fullest. And if this midget could help out, we could possibly do it.

Chapter 11

Nine weeks had passed since getting to Doug’s house in Ophelia. Our new comrades Tee and Sawyer were showing promise in the group. Tee was already attached to the hip with Brandon. Her mean girl façade was diminishing already. The other girls in the group were starting to come to like Sawyer. He was the charmer I was long ago. His smile and way with words pulled them in; his smooth skin and mysterious eyes kept them there. Though everyone had pretty much paired up in the group, it seemed there were still stragglers.

“So why is it everyone in this little batch of survivors has a girlfriend except us?” Sam asked. Jake, Brian, Chris and I were sitting with him on the back porch. The water looked so inviting in this cooling day but it was almost fall and I knew I’d be freezing. I took another sip of my iced tea letting the lemon linger on my tongue before spitting it out onto the grass.

“I don’t know but have you noticed that Sawyer guy is flirting with all the girls?” Jake asked. I smiled and thought about how almost every girl was falling to his charms.

“It’s okay let them flirt. He’s gay.” Four sets of eyes looked over to me. I took another sip from my tea. The sun was beautiful on the water, so serene, so peaceful. The waters were slowly lapping against the rocks of the dock. The boat floating in the water swayed softly in the breeze.

“Wait….what?!” brain asked, as if the information just hit him. I chucked and took another sip. I could barely taste the vodka.

“Yeah, he’s gay. You didn’t notice that small smile every time he gets done wooing one of the girls. It’s like a sport for him. He’s just doing it to keep up appearances.” I took another sip, “Like anyone here would care.”

“Haha that’s true.” Chris said. i adjusted my chair pillow and let it lay back. The atmosphere around the house was quiet; we were moving tomorrow and a day of one last rest was good. I closed my eyes, the light of the sun turning my lids bright red inside. The smell of the woods wafted into my nose on the breeze. There was nothing that could turn this day bad. It was as if the world knew we were on our final rest for a while and wanted to let it be as decent as possible.

“So what do you think Florida will be like by the time we get there? Won’t it be all trashy and covered in water?” Sam asked. It was true that since no one was there to clean up all the junk washed up by the ocean that a lot of garbage had made its way into the once beautiful cities. Reports from my search group there told me of all that was around.